My Favorite New Christmas Photo Cards

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So I’ve designed a few different Christmas photo cards lately, and wanted to share!

The first one involved me doodling a bunch of cute, whimsical Christmas sketches around the edge. I drew a Christmas tree, candy canes, ornaments, presents, snowflakes, swirls, in a chalk-like brush. Then, I made a customizable card with three boxes for your own photos, and a message that can be changed.

My favorite color scheme is the bright red and light blue; I’m really digging that color combination lately! I made a couple different options for the text:

and this one is a bit busier:

Of course, I wouldn’t be finished if I hadn’t made a green and red version as well!

Next, I decided to tackle a chalkboard texture with the same typographic Christmas tree from a couple posts ago. This one also has a custom family photo and message; I think it turned out pretty great!

I made another version with a red-and-white candy cane stripe border running between the design and message area, and the custom photo. This time I paired it with a color sample photo, of cute winter children.

I think I like it even better!

I also want to give a shout-out to this photo card, which I designed for the first time last year, actually, but which is suddenly selling like hot cakes:

And that’s all for now!

Redesigning the “Vaudeville” Suite

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So my vintage poster-style wedding invitations, which I first designed over a year ago, are by far some of my most popular designs. Here’s an example:

Vintage Poster Style Sepia DIY Wedding Invitation

Unfortunately, as you may notice there is a small typo: It says “Youre Invited” rather than “You’re Invited”. This mainly happened, I think, because I hated to break up the script continuity with a huge white space, like this:

I just don’t like that “re” hanging out all by itself over there. I think it’s because, if I were actually writing “You’re” out in cursive, I would first write the whole thing and then add an apostrophe, not write “You” and then an apostrophe, and then “re”. (Yes, I do overthink things like this!)

I’m not sure why I didn’t just add an apostrophe in a different text layer, but honestly I think I promptly forgot about it and didn’t even notice the issue for months.

Then, several people started contacting me to request that I add an apostrophe. Which, being kind of a grammar person myself (I know it’s hard to believe right now, but generally it’s true), I 100% understand, especially on wedding invitations, which should ideally be perfect in every way. The final straw was when Zazzle actually took down my most popular version of the design due to the unfortunately awkward “Youre”.

Oops.

So now I’m redesigning, which I needed to do anyway, and I think they’re coming out even better than before!

I love those colors! Such a beautiful rich chocolate brown and the cream color of the text looks almost golden.

These versions will be much easier for you to customize as well, when you click “Customize It!”, because all the design elements are on their own layer and can be removed, resized, or moved.

What do you think? Are the newer versions better, or do you prefer the older ones?

Cute Panda Bear Birthday Card

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So I just sold this cute as Panda Bear birthday card today, and I’m really excited about it:

I did a whole series of similar cute, fat animal faces that I made into cards and birthday cards. Here are some of my favorites:

Polar bear! I love the soft, pale blue and grey color scheme of this; perfect for babies!

Yellow spring baby bunny with one ear down! Need I say more?

Black kitty cat for Halloween. Aww!

And, last but not least, silly green frog with its tongue sticking out!

Getting into the Christmas spirit!

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Ok, so I know it’s waaaaaaay early for Christmas stuff, but I couldn’t help getting into the mood early this year. It all started with making this cute little guy:

I love the Christmas lights tangled in his antlers and his little pink cheeks! (I’m working on a cute little Christmas penguin in the same vein…)

Then I went a bit typographic, and came up with this simple block design incorporating familiar Christmas greetings:

And here’s a sneak preview of my other new typographic design, with cute Christmas sayings forming the outline of a Christmas tree, in a charming & precious script font:

I am totally in love with this one! I love making shapes with words, so I’m sure this isn’t the last you’ll be hearing from me on this subject!

Eiffel Tower Damask Pattern

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Annie of Perfect Postage noticed our last post about the deer antlers damask design and requested one for herself, but with the Eiffel Tower, in a soft bubblegum pink. What a wonderful idea!

So here it is: a damask design with an Eiffel Tower in the actual pattern. I haven’t seen any wedding damask patterns incorporating the Eiffel Tower yet, so I can’t wait to see what she comes up with!

Country Chic Wedding Design: Deer Antler Damask

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So I went a little out-of-the-box on this one. Considering how popular my Browning Buckmark-inspired wedding logo post has been, I decided to put together something fun and outdoors-inspired. I made some deer antlers in Illustrator, added some swirls and curls and voila! We have a lovely damask pattern. Then I grunged it up in Photoshop, put some beautiful wedding invitation wording on it (with a bit of lace for a soft touch!) and we have a unique, country-inspired wedding invitation.

And there you have it: a unique combination of outdoorsy, country charm moderated by elegant damask and lace. Don’t you love it?

I’m back! With a shiny new website and name.

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It’s hard to believe it’s been over a year since I last updated my blog – but I’m back, with a brand new website and business name!

I decided to refocus my business away from custom business and wedding logos (which are very time-consuming) towards my wedding logo templates and, excitingly, my wedding invitation designs. The name “Forever Logos” isn’t flexible and doesn’t capture all that I do – the focus there was entirely on logos, and I wanted to grow beyond just that.

So I have changed the name of my business to my own name: Colleen Michele. This way, I can feature all of my work, not just the logos. And in the future, I can even expand from wedding designs to Christmas designs, baby designs, and more!

I hope you like the new design and identity; I know I’m excited about it.

Gold Inspiration | Wedding Logo Color of the Week

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Gold Wedding Logo Inspiration Board

Gold: no substance has ever been more sought after, or fought over. And as a wedding accent color, it certainly has the cred to lend a fancy touch! From the bright and the shiny to the palest hue, from ornate, detailed ornamentation to organic designs, gold has the class and elegance to be worthy of the most beautiful of weddings. That’s why we chose gold as our color inspiration this week: because the love expressed in your wedding is more precious than gold.

The exotic fan wedding logo featured in this inspiration board is from the Forever Logos Vintage collection.

Photo Credits (clockwise from top left):

Gold & Rough Diamond Engagement Ring, Etsy | Gold Bridal Bouquet, Martha Stewart | Love is Patient Screenprint, Etsy | Indian Bridal Bracelets | Vintage Gold Rhinestone Headband, Etsy | Gold Wedding Dress | Gold Wedding Dress, Wedding Dress Gallery | Gold Reception Table, Imoni Events | Gold Wedding Cake | Golden Leaves Wedding Invitations, Zazzle

Wedding Logo Spotlight | Bold Exotic Fan

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Exotic Fan Gold Wedding Logo

Today we’re featuring a logo from the Forever Logos Vintage collection. This logo is bold and distinctive, with its exotic ornamental fan and strong typography. The fan can be interpreted in so many ways: it’s reminiscent of both a wedding cake and a fancy tiara, a stylized palm frond and an exotic fruit. The first and last letters of the last name are taller than the middle letters, creating dramatic movement within the logo, balanced by the ornate fan motif and the simple, all-caps Roman style lettering of the couple’s first names. This wedding logo works well for tropical destination weddings, weddings with a 1920s Art Deco theme, or anyone who likes this bold, eye-catching look.

The logo is featured here in shiny, metallic gold, against a chocolate brown, parchment background lit by a warm glow.

Invitation Spotlight: Victorian Chandelier Damask Wedding Invitation Set

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Victorian Chandelier Damask Wedding Invitation Set

In warm cream and black, these chandelier themed wedding invitations and stationery have at once a vintage sensibility and a contemporary confidence. The dramatic chandelier silhouette is the clear centerpiece of these invitations, and together with the distressed damask background, lends a theme of fancy, victorian-inspired elegance. The chandelier has been paired with an ornate banner, and an old-fashioned locket. The locket alternately bears the couple’s wedding date and monogram initials, in the second case serving as a sort of monogram wedding logo.

Not all pieces of the complete set are pictured here, but shown is the invitation, rsvp card and envelope (or, if you’d prefer, an rsvp postcard), thank you card, save the date postcard, and custom postage. To see all of the designs in this set, click here.

Or, if these invitations aren’t quite right for you, look at more Vintage Chandelier Wedding Invitations.

Photo Sources (clockwise from top left):

RSVP Insert | Wedding Invitation | Save the Date Postcard | Thank You Card | RSVP Postcard | Printed RSVP Insert Envelope, with Custom RSVP Postage

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