Tag & Co. (& an amazing aunty)

Sometimes, in life, you're just not the best person for the job, and when it came to my baby announcements, I knew this to be the case. You see, my sister, Lissa, has not only the most amazing eye (example: we went shoe shopping when she visited, and every single pair of shoes she picked up, I had walked right by- and then, I would try them on, and they were adorable) but she is also a bonafide expert on all things stationary and paper-related. Having worked as a graphic designer, she knows layout and color and says things like "bleed to the edge of the paper" and is, in general, fantastic at designing anything paper-related (case in point: her wedding invitations. She designed them herself and had them printed, and they were amazing). So when it came time to think about baby announcements (which I did way too early, probably, like, before I even had the hospital-required carseat... ahh, priorities), I knew that Lissa was the best person for the job. That she would pick something far beyond what I ever could even dream up. And wow did she come through. I did contribute some to the effort, as I wrote the text, which I worried about since it was looooong. Most baby announcements, as we all know, feature just a small amount of text- the baby's name, weight, length, etc. But, true to form, I really wanted our announcements to tell a story, to set Tate's life down in the context in which it was created. So I spent a fair amount of time developing the text that I felt would share our story and celebrate Tate's arrival. Ultimately, what I came up with was the following:

And that, along with a dozen or so pictures, is all I sent Lissa in regards to the announcement. She spent the next few weeks huddled up at

Paperdoll, her favorite stationary store in Chicago, designing and redesigning, thinking and rethinking, and ultimately choosing a Tag & Company design for what would become the most beautiful baby announcement I have ever seen. Although true to form , Lissa didn't just use a Tag & Company template- she worked with the design studio to make something truly personal, picking out certain fonts, and pulling in colors from the photo, figuring out the layout for the large amount of text I had provided her, and generally turning what was once the "Aria" style template into something I think could only be called "Tate". Isn't it gorgeous? You can just imagine how moved I was when I received mine in the mail (I got mine at the same time as everyone else, which was so much fun):

And what the picture can't communicate is the luxurious feel of the paper- it is heavy and soft and tactile, it feels like a baby cheek. Since the announcements have been received, I have gotten dozen of compliments, which really belong to Lissa, and I have had a few requests for the name of the company that designed them. You can count on Lissa to have discovered this

Tag & Company, which has so many beautiful designs. Although none so special and beautiful as the announcement Tate had, designed for him, especially from Aunty Lissa.