In honor of the Oscars last night, one of my favorite nights of television, I picked my font choices for each of the 2011 best picture nominations. This was a great exercise in choosing fonts based on a story or emotion.

Option 1 (vertical with 1 photo) When my friends Sarah and Pat welcomed baby Abby into the world last August, I was honored that they asked me to create their birth announcements. I created a floral illustration with pretty summer colors to frame the photo and used one of my favorite fonts, Estilo, for the decorative type treatment. I created two different options for the card. The single, circular image was their final choice but the second runner up was a horizontal design that allowed for 2 horizontal photos. I like each so much that I am selling both options in my Etsy shop. The cards come with matching, "warm yellow" envelopes and are sold in quantities of 25 ($50 per 25 cards and envelopes). Click here to view the full listing on Etsy. Option 2 (horizontal with 1-2 photos)

Image from Fonts In Use / © Schocken/Pantheon Kafka Library / Design by Peter Mendelsund I was recently introduced to a site called Fonts In Use . The inspiration for type treatments is endless! I really like how they provide the names of the fonts and the background behind the design choices. In a recent post, they highlighted the new Kafka editions from Schocken . The cover designer, Peter Mendelsund , used a combination of interesting graphics with the fonts FF Mister K and Times. View all of the covers and read about Mendelsund's design choices here .

As a freelance designer who specializes in invitations, stationery, and publications, finding the right printing vendor can be like finding the perfect size designer jeans on an overstuffed rack in a basement department store. There are so many choices, good and bad, and when you find the perfect fit you snatch them up and hope you're not hallucinating. I can use this example because it has happened to me (Marshall's in Union Square NYC, Rock n' Republic Jeans, 2006). After a few years, I think I have finally found my favorite printing companies. Although these are personal choices, I thought it would be helpful to share them with you too. Letterpress: Cranky Pressman crankypressman.com Why I chose them: Friendly and prompt customer service (not cranky at all!), affordable 1-2 color printing options for business cards and invitation suites. They understand that letterpress is expensive and do a great job offering lower price options and ideas. Digital Printing and

Finally. It's a lovely Friday when one can zip on down to Paper Source during ones lunch break. Paper Source officially opened in Center City, Philadelphia this month and I couldn't be happier. This first trip was just an "awe-fest"in which I took in all of the wondrous paper colors, ribbon selections, rubber stamp collections, and craft kits. It is such a good feeling to know that I can finally see and touch my purchases before buying. I even bought some ribbon samples to mail to one of my wedding invitation clients! This is just one tiny section - it keeps going!

The winner of my springtime library note cards is Brita! I entered the number of comments into a random generator and the 8th comment is the winner. Congratulations Brita! I am going to try to do a giveaway at least once a month so stay tuned for more chances to win some cute note cards.

A couple people have asked me to help clarify how to leave comments on my blog. It is a bit confusing, especially with all of the log-in options. Rest assured, you do not need to have an account to leave a comment. Click the below photo for a larger view of the instructions. You can also zoom in further once you click it as the JPG is quite large. Now you can enter the contest from yesterday's post !