Sam Allen Creates: July to December 2020
As with everyone, our 2020 was all over the place! With highs and lows, and all the in between…. but our favorite part of the year, of course, was the birth of our baby girl in May. As with my son, I didn’t take a long maternity leave but slowly eased back into work just a few weeks after she was born… take a look at all the fun projects that crossed my desk in the latter half of one very crazy year!
July
July wasn’t too busy for me on the work front, although the home front was plenty busy with our 1 month old baby!
Although a shoot I worked on at the start of the year, that had been postponed due to *you know what,* finally happened and goodness, it was worth the wait! Photos by Whimsie Photographie
Bridesmaid cards
In between all the feedings and nap time for the baby, I managed to get a lot of orders out but skipped photographing them! Who has the time?! But I did snap this gorgeous dusty purple and lavender combo!
Custom watercolor paintings
My favorite commission of the month was creating this custom painting for a baby boy! It traveled with this sweet grandma from Southern California to the state of Kansas for the baby shower… I love creating pieces with bible verses for children!
August
Bridesmaid cards
This month, I’m making up for my lack of photos taken in July! I created nearly 150 bridesmaid proposal cards this month, and here’s just a few of my favorites!
Wedding BTS
While I never had my usual wedding rush over the summer, I was sure thankful for any of the wedding orders I did get! It’s such an honor to get to work with brides during such a special time in their lives.
Real Weddings
And from my hands (above) to the wedding below, I love seeing how brides display my watercolor collection items on their big day! Matthew Moore Photography
Floral name signs
My love for pink just grows and grows as the years go by! This was such a fun and feminine name sign for a little girl’s room! Shop last name signs here.
Watercolor portraits
This was such a neat painting to work on! This family has taken in several exchange students over the years so I was commissioned to create a portrait to include them all in one by happy Global Family! We used an assortment of photo references to make this happen while also creating a cohesive color scheme with the clothing to bring it all together! Shop watercolor portraits.
More fun projects!
And lastly, August is the start of school around here so I was happy to create these first (and last) day of school signs for my friend Trisha’s daughters!
September
The month started out with celebrating my mom’s 60th birthday—COVID style. It was a small gathering at one of her best friend’s houses… I don’t know what I would do without her. I’m one lucky girl to have her as my mama!
Bridesmaid cards
To help out my brides with gathering the gifts for their bridesmaids, I shared a blog post with 25+ Bridesmaid Gift Box ideas, take a look! And then see more of the cards created in September below.
Envelope addressing
One of my favorite projects of September was working on these deluxe invitation sets! Each set included an outer and inner envelope along with these pretty fall colored floral envelope liners.
Wedding BTS
As wedding season gained some traction, I created quite a few places cards for fall weddings as well as bar menus and table number guest lists (see these displayed at the Real Wedding in October below).
Real Wedding
Outdoor garden weddings and indoor ballroom weddings!
Leah Haydock Photography 
Leah Haydock Photography
Styled Shoot
After over a year of dreaming and looking for the right team, my friend Stephanie Weber combined her artistic photography talents with Naomi of Bowties and Bouquets to create the most amazing ballerina themed wedding editorial shoot!
It was such a dream team of vendors with such beautiful results… I plan to do a whole blog post on the day, but for now enjoy this sneak peek and these words from Naomi:
This inspiration is full of whimsy, swoon-worthy love and fine artistry through dance, creativity and passion. This editorial was inspired by art, movement and the dance form known as ballet. Throughout the planning and design, I wanted to convey the beauty that is expressed solely in art, the passion that we can only experience through dance and the intimate connection between two people who share a love for the same craft.
Custom watercolor paintings
To celebrate an adoption, this lovely mother commissioned a painting for display at their adoption party! She had fallen in love with my Floral Letter signs and submitted this sweet wording to use. What a special keepsake. 😍
Watercolor portraits
With COVID and families not being able to gather, I really enjoyed working on this custom portrait combining over 7 different reference images. While families can not be together in physical proximity, I loved being able to create their family whole!
Baby Milestone Tags
Last up for September… milestone tags for a cute little baby girl! Each month, this mama tags me in her monthly milestone posts and I love seeing her girl grow! Such a treasure!
October
Entering into October means full on Thanksgiving here in my office! Hundreds of placecard tags are created in anticipation of the holiday all about gratitude!
Did you notice those handpainted pumpkins in that last photo? These were created for my “aunt” for her birthday. Painting up craft pumpkins has been on my artsy bucket list for years and know I’m totally obsessed with them! I already have a list of pumpkins to make for this coming fall too!
Bridesmaid cards
More handpainted bridesmaid cards along with a peek into @hgholladay’s bridesmaid box!
@hgholladay
Wedding BTS
Looking back on these photos really makes me wonder how this was over 6 months ago already, feels like yesterday!
Real Weddings
After working on her wedding envelopes at the start of the year… to only have that wedding postponed… I was so happy to work on these final wedding goods for Erin (see more in my September Wedding BTS photos)! Hannah Forsberg Photography
And more escort cards that doubled as placecards with meal choice icons!
More escort cards tied to mini pumpkins… Love it! Photos by Francisco Gonzalez
I love how Stephanie Weber Photography gifts my handmade vow books in her welcome packages for her clients! But then to see them use the books in real life is even more amazing!
Styled shoots
While this first shoot happened earlier in the year, it was featured on Wedding Chicks in October! That was the first I saw of the photos and I was in love! Such beautiful winter wedding inspiration. Photography by Lea Marie Photography.
In addition, I also was able to send along some more navy watercolor goodness to a local styled shoot with Victoria Parker Photography and New Creation Floral Design.
Silhouettes
While getting ready for my Thanksgiving weekend promotions, I created silhouettes of MY KIDS, to feature in the promos, and of course had to include a bow on my daughter because she’s barely recognizable without one haha
November
November means getting out the last of the Thanksgiving name tags and then starting to receive the photos from my customers of their tables… my favorite part!!
Real Wedding
As the world started to shut down again, this is the only real wedding I received photos from (notice the basket of masks in the background).
Floral name signs
But as the world slowed down, people turned inward yet again and I loved creating this last name sign for my friend Stephanie’s future new home in the most perfect fall color scheme! Watch a video of its creation here.
Watercolor portraits
As the Christmas season quickly approached, I started creating more and more portraits for gifting! Watch this first family’s portrait come to life here.
Stamps
And of course, Christmas stamps! Such a fun way to decorate gifts. Shop my full collection in my Etsy shop.
Christmas cards
And lastly, a couple Christmas cards designed… one card poking fun at the craziness of the year and then this gold foiled beauty!
December
The first half of December is usually fairly busy in my shop as I complete Christmas gift orders, and then it slows down as the holidays approach.
Floral name signs
Loved creating this Floral Last Name sign using the white and green color scheme from the couple’s wedding!
As well as these Floral Letters for a pair of sisters in a purple and pink color scheme.
Watercolor portraits
And of course the last rush on watercolor portraits!
Silhouettes
Shop papercut silhouettes here.
Christmas Cards
Our Christmas card!! This was so fun to make as I drew out the floral illustration for the front to turn into rose gold foil, then I painted in the flowers for the artwork on the back.
Annual Christmas Ornaments
And lastly, creating our annual Christmas ornaments… I’ve been gifting our friends and family an annual handmade Christmas ornament for about 8 years now and while each year gets harder to come up with an idea, this is going to be a favorite of mine for awhile.
If you made it to the end of this insanely long blog post, THANK YOU!
If you are interested in purchasing any of the above, don’t hesitate to reach out via my Contact page or directly through my Etsy shop: yournewfriendsam.etsy.com
