Beach Walk

This invitation suite was designed for my internship roommate, Jana, and her fiance, Tom. They are planning a beach-front wedding later this summer. In their effort to 'go green', we worked to creatively eliminate envelopes or additional paper inserts where we could. Below is what was printed on the reverse of their invitations, allowing for less paper to be used throughout the printing process.


We even designed response post cards instead of traditional cards with envelopes:

Paper used for all of their Save the Date and Invitations is Pearl White Metallic. The Invitation Envelopes are also Pearl White Metallic. The Invitation Envelopes are lined in Aqua Lagoon Metallic to coordinate with the flip flop detailing on their paper suite.

Tutti Fruitti

I love bright colors!!

This was an invitation sample created for a recent women's club fundraiser called "The Fruit of the Spirit" -- hence the tangarine and lime detail.

The paper used (bottom to top) was Orange Metallic with Bright White Solid cardstock. The lime green border drim is printed on the white layer.

Paris Ferris Wheel

I have been working for a while to find the perfect feminie flourishes for girly invitations like these. The design originated with my grandmother's 80th birthday party invitations, and have evolved into these shower invitations.

I'll be honest -- while I love all of my work and working with great clients, shower invitations are by far my favorite. They don't carry as much of the stress of wedding invitations and are much more personal than corporate event invitations. They are full of hope, fun, whimsy, and most of all, personality.

Of course you can select fonts, font colors, placements, paper and more to make these PERFECT for your guest of honor!

The paper used in the sample (above) is Pearl White Metallic cardstock. The paper used in the sample (below) is (bottom to top) Baby Blue Solid with Pearl White Metallic cardstocks, embellished with a 1" white satin ribbon.

Birthday Year

The Birthday Year invitations were created for my dad's 50th birthday. In talking about his 50th birthday party preparations, somehow the family got started on other things that happened in his Birth Year of 1958.

In laughing a bit over all the social happenings of 1958, we decided we had to incorporate them into the invitations somehow. Thus, the invitation below was born!


The paper used (bottom to top) was Cobalt Blue Solid with Bright White Solid. All of the fonts, font colors, and paper colors are customizable for your perfect event! We research all of the social happenings from your preferred year and run the list by you (in case there are any you would like omitted) and work up this invitation just for your guest of honor!

Champagne Wishes

These invitations were created for my good friend, Katina's, couples shower with her fiance (soon to be husband!), Seth. With a delicate color champagne glass duo at the top, the invitation lets your guests know a celebration is in store.

The paper used (from bottom to top) was Black Solid with Pearl White Metallic, setting a great tone for this elegant event. You can customize this to make it yours with over 80 paper color and finish options.

A big congratulations to Seth and Katina, who were married April 4! The wedding was spectacular and Katina was a gorgeous bride. Many happy years to you both!

Stefanie's Holiday Baptism

Our good friends baptized their baby this winter, and we created these invitations for them. With the baptism being held mid-December, baby Stefanie's mom, Christina, selected a holiday theme for the celebration.

Here are the samples we made for them to select from for this wonderful event! Many feature ribbon detailing and all feature a colored back card.

The first invitation (shown above) was the one Christina selected. It features Stephanie's monogram on the left with the baptism invitation information to the right. A 1 1/4" thick red velvet ribbon separates the two sides. The paper used (from bottom to top) is Meadow Green Solid with Natural Solid on top.

We did have a separate enclosure card for RSVP and Reception details, (shown on the left side of the photo) which featured Stephanie's monogram at the top on Natural Solid paper.

Other samples for this event that weren't selected:





The Holiday Marquee design (shown left) is printed on Pearl White Metallic with a row of bright red dots at the top and bottom.

This invitation is also great for holiday parties, housewarmings, birthdays, showers, and more! The fonts, font colors, and dot colors are all customizable for your event, and this can be mounted onto a color cardstock for an extra layer of depth and quality!



























The Golden Child is a great baptismal or first communion invitation for either gender. The top of the invitation features the child's monogram at the top with a byzantine cross beneath it.

The paper used was (from bottom to top) Antique Gold Metallic with Bright White Basic paper. Over 80 paper colors and textures are available for you to customize this invitation. It's precious in a Rose Pink Shimmer Metallic mounted on Bronze Brown Metallic for a little girl!


The Broadway Bubbles invitation (shown left) was another sample that brought in the holiday colors while focusing on the guest of honor, Stefanie. The paper used (bottom to top) was Black Basic with Bright White Basic, and embellished with the Lime Bubbles ribbon.

Hula Hoop Hula

The Hula Hoop Hula invitations made their debut last month for my grandmother's surprise 80th birthday party. The hoop scroll design is featured on both sides of the invitation with the details down the center.

It was printed on while linen card stock with a black linen back card. The final invitation measures 4" x 8" and is available for $2 per invitation. Additional directions, enclosure and response cards are available for $.75 each.

Adobe Adodo

This design was created when a client wanted to create an invitation for her rehearsal dinner at an upscale Mexican restaurant. The scroll design is a nod to the Hispanic theme of the location, while maintaining an elegant, classic look that reflected the bride and groom.

The invitations are printed on white linen cardstock with a metallic fairway green back card. The final size of the invitation is 3.5" x 7.5" and is available for $2 per invitation. Additional directions, enclosure and response cards are available for $.75 each.

Bridesmaids Bogata

This was created for a Bridesmaids Brunch the day before my cousin's wedding. The event was a nice morning affair for her bridesmaids, moms, grandmothers, aunts and close friends to get together and spoil the bride a little before the wedding weekend commenced.

I worked with the bride's colors of light orange and pink to customize the dresses on the invitation. Your wedding colors can just as easily be featured when you use this invitation for a shower or bridesmaids luncheon.

The invitation is printed on white linen paper with a light orange back card. The final size of the invitations is 5 1/2" x 7 1/2" and are $2 each. Additional directions, enclosure and response cards are available for $.75 each.

Perfect Packages

These were designed for a birthday party, when the host wanted something simple, but a little different. The sierra white cardstock is tied with a 1/4" red satin ribbon. The ribbon is secure only in the manner of tying. It is not other wise taped onto the cardstock.

This also a great look for a holiday party invitation. Instead of the flourish at the bottom, the custom design could be a small Christmas tree, star or other holiday symbol. Ribbon color, of course, is custom to your event. Hosting a baby shower? A delicate pastel ribbon would be perfect around this invitation.

Pricing is $1.75 per invitation, including ribbon and return address printed on the outer envelope. Enclosure cards are $.75 each. The size shown is a 5" square and the envelope measures 5.5" square.

Fantasy Land

These were invitations created for a summer wedding reception. The couple had been together for some time, and after a courthouse wedding, they wanted a fun afternoon reception to celebrate making their union 'official'.

We went with a bright color scheme of a coral orange and kelly green, which was inspired by the floral centerpieces the bride envisioned her their special day. The scroll work on the invitations was all a custom design, created to make a more formal occasion a bit whimsical.

The coral orange cardstock is printed in kelly green and mounted on a kelly green back card. The enclosure postcards were in the coral cardstock and there was a second enclosure card, not pictured, that included a message reading "In lieu of gifts, the bride and groom would like you to bring donations to be made to the local SPCA" and some specific foods and items were listed. The couple's lifelong commitment to their animals was something they were able to bring into their reception through these donations.

Dimensions for the invitations were 5.5" square with the enclosure postcard at 4.25" x 5.5" and the gift enclosure card at 3.5" x 2.5". All were sent together in a sierra white 6" square envelope. The Summer Wedding suite runs $2 per invitations and $.75 per enclosure card, including return address printing on the outer envelope.

Batter's Up Bar Mitzvah

I was hired to design a creative invitation for an upcoming bar mitzvah in our community. The bar mitzvah has a baseball theme and our host wanted a masculine and adult feel to a fun theme. As our guest of honor is a big Yankees fan, I designed the blue pinstripes with a thick red block print to set the tone.

The invitation in totality measures 6" x 12". The lower 4" are a perforated tear-off response postcard, which has the host's address printed on the reverse. They only needed a postcard stamp for the response (a great option in these tough economical times). They were printed on traditional white cardstock and scored before folding.

The entire invitation folded up into a 6" x 4" enclosure and was sealed with these great round baseball labels, which measure 1 1/2" in diameter and feature our guest of honor's name and the date.

Coordinating place cards and thank you notes are also available.

* Names and dates were changed upon request

It's 5 o'clock somewhere....

I was called up by a sorority sister on the East Coast to design some invitations for her company's spring cocktail mixer -- my pleasure!!

She selected my Cocktail Stripe invitation, featuring vertical stripes on each side in a celidan green with a cute wine glass and martini glass at the top. They are 5" x 7" and were printed on matte white cardstock and come with coordinating envelopes, complete with a return address in fonts to match the invitation.

These are also great for housewarmings, couples showers/stock the bar parties, cocktail parties, bachelorette parties, evening bridal showers, and birthday parties!!


A couple of other fabulous invitations when throwing a cocktail or bachelorette party:

New Baby Announcements and Shower Invitations

I haven't put many of these on the site yet, but please enjoy some of my new baby announcements. I encourage new mothers to select an announcement style and size prior to your baby's arrival. Place the order and I will send you the envelopes with your return address on them, so you can start addressing them before the little one arrives. Once the baby is here, we can adjust colors, photos, style, fonts, content, and layout (but since we already ship envelopes, we have to stick to the ordered size). It makes getting the announcement of your new bundle of joy a little less stressful.

Joann's Baby Shower

My best friend Joann, delivered her first baby late this winter, and what better way to have celebrating the coming of baby Theo than a baby shower? These are the invitations and response card I designed for the occasion. We ended up using the last invitations with the Grosgrain Polka Dot Columns.

Like me, she's a little anti-pastel, so I went with an apple green theme, with touches of orange. The centerpieces are also photographed here. Overall, it was just lovely!

These were the invitations I ended up going with -- overall I was very pleased for the tone they set!









I added an enclosure card, since we had multiple meal selections.













This was the menu card for the shower, at each setting. A perfectly coordinated detail! They were tucked into an apple green pocket-fold napkin with a little favor of an orange dinosaur cookie cutter on top of the napkin (Joann and Matt referred to Theo as the 'clobbersaurus' when he was in-utero, since they didn't know the gender) and a small favor of a white 2" garden pail with a basil plant at the top of each setting.







I had some other initial ideas for the shower invitations. These were the ones that didn't make the cut:

Sally-Anne and Michael's Wedding Labels

First off, congratulations to Sally-Anne and Michael, who are getting married this weekend! I had the pleasure of designing not only their address labels when they recently moved, but the seals on their wedding invitations as well.

Sally-Anne has fabulous taste and her wedding colors are kelly green and hot pink. Her invitations were designed by Holland Photo Arts and my Grosgrain Round Labels finished off her ensemble perfectly!

Her invitations designers blogged about their invitations as well. Check it out HERE.

These, and any other round labels, are available for $5 per sheet of 20 labels.

Congratulations again, you two!

Wedding Monograms

A new client asked me to design some wedding monograms for them to use on their invitations, programs, place cards and thank you notes. I am more than honored to design and print them all for them.

These are all available in any colors and are $35 per monogram. You will receive in in 4 format, both in color and black & white. After the one time purchase of a monogram, you have full rights to use and reproduce the monogram as you'd like. If you order paper products featuring the monogram at the time of monogram purchase, the monogram is $10 off!

Surfs Up for Ronan's First Birthday!

I was honored to be asked to design invitations for my friend, Kelly's, son's first birthday -- complete with a surf theme. Here are a few designs I strummed up for the occasion, trying to keep the surf board as the 'one' on the invitations. LOVE the idea of a surf themed birthday (for any age really -- who doesn't want to sport a Hawaiian shirt or sundress to THE party of the summer?)

I finally have a blog!

That's right folks -- I finally broke down and decided to start blogging about my adventures in paper! Don't stress -- I've changed the names, addresses and locations in my sample work on here to protect my clients.

I live in the western suburbs of Chicago with my husband (who is a pilot and can't get far away enough from the paper business) and our three-year-old Lhasa Cocker mix, Reagan. We were married two years ago, and after making all of the paper products for my own wedding, and guests constantly asking who did my printing, it just made sense to channel my creative energies into my own business, and Bliss Papers was born.

Everything on my site is custom made, allowing all designs to be tailored to EXACTLY what you want. Nothing is pre-printed cardstock that I just add your information to.

I feature a full line of:

• Invitations - weddings, showers, birthdays, holiday parties and more!
  
• Wedding & Birth Announcements
• Correspondence & Note Cards - everyone should have a little stash of these at home
  
• Mommy cards - think business cards, but without a business on it, and with a little more personality
• Recipe Cards - Great for shower and housewarming gifts
• We've Moved Cards
• Monograms - Custom monograms for your child, the bride & groom, or just the sassy lady in your life
  
• Labels - Address labels, envelope seals, book labels and more!
• Place Cards - Because no bride wants to write them out when they can be custom printed
• Menu Cards - Let your guests know what is on tonight's menu - be it a dinner party for 10 or a wedding for 400
  
• Calligraphy services - they're more affordable than you think

I hope you will enjoy this blog, and I'll keep everyone updated with current jobs as they come along. We are working on the new web site, which will hopefully be up and running sometime this summer.