Since sweet Baby M arrived early, I thought a postal theme might be nice for her baby announcements. Just a little postmark with her name and birthday (I've changed some information here for privacy, including her name). I kept it simple.. letterpressed in gray, with a lined red and blue striped envelope.
My friend Sue Corral at Page Stationery printed these for me. Back when we were both art directors at Martha Stewart, Sue showed me the ropes, and then she left to do what every art director dreams of doing: starting her own stationery company. Page Stationery is now 11 years old, and Sue has perfected the art of letterpress printing. I love the nice thick card they use, so the letterpress makes a nice deep impression. (You can see their pretty holiday cards here..)
Lining envelopes always makes things feel special. I printed this striped pattern myself, but you can line an envelope with wrapping paper, colored glassine, old maps, copies of blown up photos, etc. I always use this tutorial, which uses a glue stick (I like to use a spare catalog for scrap paper, turning a page for each envelope so you don't get any glue residue on the next one).
So when is it too late to send out baby announcements? I always like to wait a few months to take a birth announcement photo. My babies tend to look like scrawny old men for the first few weeks, then get progressively cuter as they put a little chub on. Three months is my favorite age for pictures... you can get them to smile on cue, yet they still have that sweet new baby feel. I got these announcements out the door when Baby M was 4 months old, and they are mostly sent to friends and family who live far away and have not seen her, so I'm calling it good.
Now on to the Christmas cards!