Onwards and Upwards

Today is little bit bittersweet. I am first THRILLED to announce the launch of my new website! My husband did an amazing job helping me bring my (sometimes crazy) ideas to life and I am so, so happy with the results.

He also worked tirelessly to build me a blog on the new site, which means I will be moving my blogging from Design Bright to brightroomstudiodesign.com/blog.

Design Bright began when I was still working at my old job in advertising, unsure of where my life would take me. I knew I needed a creative outlet, so I started sharing fun, cool and clever design ideas. Design Bright has transitioned as I have and now I’m a designer and business owner. Kind of crazy how life works sometimes.

I hope you’ll join me over at my Bright Room Studio blog. If you are signed up for email alerts here, make sure to sign up again on the new site. If you bookmarked Design Bright, make sure to update your bookmark to the new page.

Thanks for everything, Design Bright! It has been a blast!

Hot Air Balloon Photo Source

Faryn & Mike’s Engagement Party Signs

What do you get when you combine newly engaged awesome friends, burritos and a couple drinks, wood slabs painted with chalkboard paint and chalkboard pens? Well, you get some pretty fun hand-lettered signs for a wonderful engagement party!

Faryn and Mike are great friends of ours and it has been so fun celebrating their engagement. Faryn is all about trees and a rustic vibe and Mike is hilarious (I called him giggles growing up….sorry to reveal that to the world :) ). So we had some fun with these chalkboard signs for their engagement party last month.

I can’t wait until their wedding and I know we’ll have lots of design projects together before then. So get excited for lots more rustic fabulousness!

Congrats again, you guys!

Photos by the bride-to-be herself, Faryn David Photography. Hand-lettered signs by Bright Room Studio

Rachel’s Lavender Wedding

Bright Room Studio reached a big milestone last month. Our first client got married! Remember our lavender and kraft bride Rachel?

She was so kind to send over this stunning teaser photo for me! Her invitation was inspired in part by her dress and the lovely subtle striped seams in her tulle skirt. How amazing is it to finally see the invitation with the fabulous dress that inspired it!

Photographer: Sean Morrison

I can’t wait to see photos from the rest of the day! Congrats to Rachel and Chris!

Quotable 2: Summer Love

As promised, more pretty designs for you as I continue my hand lettering practice. Today I’m in the summer spirit. Perhaps it was the perfect Sunday I had, outside with my hubby and my pup, or perhaps it is the beach-front anniversary trip I just booked to Santa Barbara. Nevertheless, I hope you are enjoying a wonderful summer too.

Quote from a Swedish Proverb

Photo and lettering by Bright Room Studio

Quotable AND Printable

Per the request of my fabulous friend who served as inspiration for this first quote, I’ve made this a printable file for you all! I’ve changed up the design to make it a little more home-printer friendly (don’t want to drain your ink supply!).

Enjoy and thank you for printing and sharing responsibly.

Design and lettering by Bright Room Studio

 

Quotable

Hand lettering is becoming a larger and larger part of my business so I figured I should practice and improve my skills. And good news to all of you—that means you’ll be getting pretty lettered quotes on a more regular basis! I’m always working on my script, but I’m also working on incorporating some serif typefaces into my toolbox.

Let’s kick it off with something we can all remind ourselves of now and then.

Lettering and photo by Bright Room Studio

Summer Slacking

I owe you all an apology. I’ve been majorly slacking on the blog lately. Summer has gotten busy for Bright Room Studio (which is fabulous), plus our office has been a bit in shambles thanks to some new furniture we bought. This is just making projects harder to complete and making me all around less organized.

I have some new ideas of things I want to share on the blog and some new invitation suites to photograph, but until I can get things put back together around here, here’s a little summer love from my weekend in Clearlake.

Photography and lettering by Bright Room Studio

All Wrapped Up

Sending a completed invitation suite off to a client is kind of like sending your kid off to college. Ok, perhaps not quite that dramatic, but I’m excited to be packaging up a suite for a fantastic bride to be shipped off this week!

I’ve been thinking a lot about how I want to package my work. I want it to be pretty and fun to receive in the mail. At the same time, as a person who goes through a lot of paper for a living, I’d like my packaging to be as eco friendly as possible with lots of recycling of boxes and wrapping. Plus I need to keep the precious cargo well protected! I’m starting to look in to boxes, twine, stamps and I particularly love the custom branded packaging tape.

What would you most want to receive in the mail?

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 

 

And the winner is….

First of all, thank you to everyone who entered our Love is Love giveaway! It was so fun to read all of your stories!

I spent this last weekend at my friend’s wedding (remember her sparkly invitation suite?). Seeing these two so in love made me even happier to be able to give this custom suite to a happy and in-love couple.

So without further adieu, I’m thrilled to introduce Becky and Allison!

Alison and I met three years ago while working at a summer camp. I had been on staff there for 6 summers at that point, and joked that I was there to find the love of my life. It took a few sessions for us to really notice each other, but once we did, we knew that we had something special. In the past 3 years, we’ve weathered the loss of her father, 2 years of graduate school for me, and many months of long distance. Now we’re living together in Nashville and getting ready for a big transition! I am finishing up school as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and plan to work with children, adolescents, and young adults. Al is trained in sustainable agriculture and loves her work in youth development. Our future will be full of chickens and goats and gardens and children smiling! Total dream.

 On December 23, she proposed to me at sunrise at the top of a mountain in North Carolina, with my sister and her brother hidden away in the bushes snapping pictures. It was magical– she managed to have our whole family in town AND keep it a surprise. We’re planning our wedding up there for June 14, 2014.

How adorable are they?! I can’t wait to meet them and begin their design! Maybe an invitation suite full of chickens and goats and gardens… :)

Missed this entry? Never fear! I’m offering 10% off all design services for same-sex couples until the end of July! Just mention this giveaway when you contact me!

Thanks again for all the love!

Red, White and Cute

I’m sure every blog you read has done a round-up like this, but sometimes you just can’t help be get in the festive spirit. I love 4th of July for the BBQs, time by the pool and, of course, the fireworks. But the red, white and blue look can go a little corny sometimes. Here are my favorite ways to keep your patriotic design classy. Now go put on your cut-offs and drink a PBR.

notecard / room / twine / outfit / menu / table setting / clutch / invitation