A month or so ago a banner for Paper Culture popped up on our site. Today, I am finally ready to unveil why we began spotlighting that delectable little stationery niche of the Internet.

They are the wonderful, eco-friendly stationers that produced the birth announcements for Baby Courtland. Before she was born, I knew I wanted her birth announcement to be whale-themed (obviously). After much googling, I landed on Paper Culture and their many whale offerings. When I learned that all of their papers are 100% post-consumer recycled content and read about their eco-commitment, I was sold. While I know forgoing a paper announcement altogether would have been the most ecological choice, I am still a devout lover of snail mail and the art of beautiful stationery. This company offered a means to fuse my love of hard copy mailings with my eco-conscious side.

I worked with their lovely design team to craft the announcement. I went with purple and blue as those colors have been appearing in many of Courtland’s blankets and I love the quilted/cross-stitch design element to this card – a nod to the crafty mama from which she came. When the announcement arrived, I designed a return address label to continue the whale theme and I addressed all of the envelopes in a deep purple ink.

Finally, I knew I wanted to frame the invitation as I had with my eldest’s. I decided to put my limited embroidery skills to work and cross-stitch the whale from the invitation on a piece of fabric. That bit of embroidery was then framed with the announcement and now hangs above Courtland’s crib.

I am grateful to Paper Culture for helping make this lovely nod to my second-born possible. Now it’s time to look for holiday cards… and they are most certainly brimming in that department! What do you think, Monsters? Stamp of approval?

Photos: Courtesy of Green Eyed Monster®