Jessica S.

A Peek into the Studio – Pink Cabbage Rose, Dahlia and Waxflower Wedding Invitations

Nothing gives me greater joy than sitting at my home studio painting table and having at it.  A few months back I transformed the corner of our sun porch into a small painting space.  I spend most of my hours each week in a bustling studio with 8 other women – space to spread out and paint the hours away abounds but most days the hours fall away to much needed phone calls, questions answered and quick sketches.  So my small home studio has become a sort of a refuge….it is where I go when I want to completely immerse myself in pencil and watercolor.

Part of what I do everyday is plan…plan for paintings, new designs and then there are days when those plans come to life.  The painting I planned for David and Rachel began with a phone conversation and a plan that evolved over several quiet hours in my home studio…

We began with a Painted Bouquet look where soft pink Dahlias, Coral Cabbage Roses, Chocolate Cosmos, Red Berries and Waxflowers swirled together in a graceful flourish.  The Floral Wedding Invitation combined with Envelopments delicate Repousse pattern in soft pink.  A creamy coral layer of cardstock layer completed the look with a simply clarity.

The Chocolate Cosmos were my favorite.  Rich, deep layers of brown and crimson watercolor created an unforgettable depth here.

Months later, Jess and Steph D. created a delicate suite of Ceremony Programs, Schedule of Events and Seating Cards – each derived from favorite invitation artwork elements.  Buttery gold cardstock for the Programs evolved the color story a bit…

Each piece was individually painted with creamy white, coral and sheer shimmer inks.  David, the Groom had super specific ideas about how the paint mingled with selected papers…and wanted to make sure each brushstroke popped and had a powerful finish both to the touch and eye!

Ahh!! Loved these table numbers!

A small choice but so impactful – the creamy coral cardstock made another appearance on each place card…adore this touch.

Thanks so much to David for inspiring one of my newest floral paintings and of course to the team for bringing this new collection to life.  You amaze me everyday!

Fotini G.

Vicki K.

The darker paper adds such drama!

And the blue….wow, love the icy yet romantic feel!

I had such fun creating this sample for you!  Love the winter weddings!

Press – Momental Designs in Inside Weddings!

I have been dying to share the news!!!   Months ago the lovely Leila emailed me to say that the Editor of Inside Weddings was loving my Shimmering Winter snowflake invitation set.  A request for a complete set was made and I went right to work!  The snowflake illustration was originally created for a client in Ireland about 2 years ago.  The whimsical style and understated feel of the snowflake artwork are the perfect “canvas” for lavish hand-painted details.

I reserved the good part of 2 days in the studio to create this collection.  Yes, that is right 2 days.  The camera notices everything to say the least so stationery created for photoshoots needs to be nothing short of perfect.

Steph created this gorgeous pattern for borders and envelope liners.   The palette was rich and dramatic in shades of aubergine, gold and champagne.

I especially love the textured ivory paper placed just underneath the invitation layer.  The hand painting on this wedding invitation is truly the focus.  Creamy white acrylic fills each snowflake “petal” while bright shimmering gold ink dots were hand-painted throughout.

The Pocketfold® closure is a simple artwork tag and aubergine cardstock wrap.  The snowflakes here are overlapped to give the feeling of falling snowflakes on a cold winter day.

Nothing says elegance (in my opinion) like a wide double faced satin ribbon knot.  The ceremony program for this collection, although not featured, was one of my favorites.  Shades of white and ivory alone create a clean, winter palette  while complimenting the collection’s other warm and dramatic hues.

A huge thank you to Leila at Be Inspired PR and team for truly believing in what we do here at Momental.  Also, thank you to The Momental Girls for their unending support and creative input!

Hand Painted, Handmade Wedding Invitations – Really?

Say the phrase hand-painted wedding invitation and most do a double take…then ask “for small orders right?” or inquire “well you reproduce each one on the computer?”.  All of these are valid responses I admit as the thought of individually hand-painting hundreds of pieces is initially mind boggling.  Let me be the first to tell you, it is mind boggling, requires tremendous patience and skill, but YES,  here at Momental Designs  we have been hand-painting each and every invitation since our beginnings in 2003.

I thought I would take a moment to further explain the painting process and give a peek into the world of Momental hand painted wedding invitations.

Shortly after my wedding in 2000, I began Momental, very humbly.  I worked another full time job, where my lunch hours were spent crafting the perfect business name, reading business books and sketching invitation ideas.  My goal was to offer artistic invitations, featuring my original artwork, but to take the concept one step further.  While many invitation designers at the time offered original illustrations none were hand-painting, exclusively – so the Momental Invitation was born!  I sat for hours perfecting simple little illustrations that could be repeated entirely by hand over hundreds of pieces.  Several weeks ago I blogged about Kelley’s hydrangea invitations, where I shared a sample hydrangea from the very beginning.   We still create invitations that are entirely hand-painted much like Carrianne’s,  where over 30 strokes per invite were used!

Over time brides seemed to be requesting an increasing level of complexity in their artwork.  I adored creating detailed watercolor illustrations but knew I simply could not re-create the complexity of the paintings across hundreds of items.  After much research I found the perfect way to accurately reproduce the pieces onto each invitation.

Each Momental Invitation begins with my Original Watercolor artwork.   After reproduction of the original hydrangea above,  tiny hand-painted strokes of sheer shimmer are mindfully added on each invitation to capture the depth and complexity of the lush bloom.

The Momental Girls sit for hours adding the perfect touch to each stationery piece.

I also create simple black and white illustrations – more sketchy; pencil or pen on paper.  After reproduction of my original Poppies above we added ivory hand-painted details to each.

The Vintage Stamped collection is perhaps our most loved.  Vintage Tree,  Lacy, Lotus, Posie and Petal artwork is entirely crafted by hand, where the signature pattern is pressed into paper and hand-painted details are layered throughout.

So there you have it – if you made it through my mega post – thanks for reading.   My hope is that you will see beyond the photos, color and artwork and notice the passion that drives it all ; passion for the business as it has grown, passion for a team I am eternally grateful for and passion for creating invitations as fine art;  mini-works that become more than paper and text, but capture a moment, tell a story with every little brushstroke detail.