January 31, 2020

Sam Allen Creates: July thru September 2019

Although these review blog posts take more time than I ever think they should, they are always so rewarding to see finished! The months of July, August and September were full of wedding work sprinkled with some other fun painting projects and even a tattoo design! Hope you enjoy this look back to last summer with me!

July

July celebrates the anniversary of the opening of Disneyland! Since it’s my favorite place in the whole world and they just revamped the beloved castle, I wanted to spend some time creating a new castle sketch and painting. I’m totally in love with the results and have this little passion project of mine hanging proudly in my office!

The month also included this commission of a painted quote: You are a match for your mountain. Another favorite of mine—and you can get this as a free phone lockscreen on my Instagram by viewing the Story Highlights: instagram.com/samallencreates!

After a short vacation to Tennessee, I returned to a full plate of preparing for a flatlay workshop in Pennsylvania! They were in need of over 10 unique suites for their participants to practice styling and photographing. I had fun going over the past few year’s worth of design work to create updated and reprinted suites for them. The envelopes alone were a work of art! Stay tuned for the results of the workshop…

Wedding BTS

Before I share some of the wedding photos from my July weddings, here’s some in-studio behind the scenes shots… some of these you’ll see again in the final wedding photos in later months below!

As I worked on the launch of my wedding programs, my “guinea pig” bride got the special treatment with a custom written heading! Shop wedding ceremony programs here.

I loved all of these navy pieces created for this same bride, including this custom hashtag sign, which is now also available in my shop!

While I wait for wedding photos from this July wedding, take a look at these gold watercolor tags and tent cards. I wish you could see their shimmer!

Navy watercolor is definitely a favorite of my customers! Lastly, for my in-studio shots, are some name tags and note cards for wedding welcome bags!

Real weddings

Now it’s time for some real weddings! I absolutely adore how this travel themed wedding came together! They used international and domestic cities for their reception table names! Photos by Kelsey Combe Photography.

Shop Dusty Rose table numbers here, photos by Olivia Gird Photography.

Name tag placecards written in gray watercolor, photo by Chard Photo.

Styled Shoots

Now that I’ve wrapped up July’s Real Weddings, I’d love to share the styled shoots I participated in.

First up is a shoot with Stephanie Weber Photography! When she first proposed the idea of a vintage love letter shoot, I eagerly accepted to collaborate! It was such a simple yet beautiful concept and I am in love with the gorgeous results!

From our sunny California coast, we now go to the mountains of Colorado! Organized by Taylor Olivares Baxter and photographed by Neva Michelle!

Bridesmaid Cards

As I close out the month of July, here’s a look back at some bridesmaid cards painted up! I don’t always take photos of the cards, but these were definitely some favorites so I couldn’t resist! Shop Bridesmaid proposal cards and thank you cards here.

New Products

And lastly, there were a few new products launched in July! Whew, what a month!

As mentioned above, I launched my wedding ceremony program… I loved creating the custom watercolor headings—with so many varieties for my brides to choose from!

And as mentioned above, the addition of these Share the Love! wedding and event hashtag signs. I include a few fonts to pick from and a variety of watercolor paint options as well to customize the sign even further! Shop here.

And lastly, the redesign of my popular Godparent poem print but in watercolor calligraphy! With the launch of my watercolor godparent cards earlier this year, I really wanted to create a print to match! Shop my new print here, comes in 2 sizes and multiple color options.

August

Back to that flatlay workshop, here is just a peek at the results! You may recall seeing Jess Palatucci’s work on my blog last year with our Rapunzel themed styled shoot (link here), but this was all about how to photograph the details. As a stationery designer, I love these types of workshops but I am totally biased as I thrive on creating these details! Thank you, Jess!

Right after wrapping up the workshop for Jess above, I was contacted by Janita Mestre for one of her photo shoots—also which included an extensive flatlay area for the photographers to practice! Thankfully, Janita is local to me and I was able to provide her with quite an assortment of details! I love how she styled them, it was hard to pick my favorites! Thank you, Janita!

After wrapping up the work for the workshops, I created several more sets of invitations and wedding vow art to send some other photographers who were looking to practice their flatlays! Included in their packages, I made some more one-of-a-kind pieces like these wedding vow art pieces:

The month of August is also back to school time, at least around here, so I got to make this little cutie a sign to hold on her first day of Kindergarten!

I also got to paint up some Floral Last Name signs in addition to another Sisters painting for a shared bedroom. These are some of my favorites to work on, so many unique color schemes can be created! Shop Floral Last Name Signs here.

Next up, some Bible verse affirmations for a fellow wedding vendor!

Watercolor Portraits

And of course the month included watercolor portraits! From wedding to entrepreneurs to families! I love them all! Shop watercolor portraits here.