We’re always interested to learn about our designer’s inspiration. Our designer Cassidy created the Dahlman holiday card for our 2023 holiday collection, and walks us through her inspiration:

Dahlman was inspired by the vintage Christmas ornaments from my great grandma’s mini Christmas tree! I’ve always loved her tree so much so I knew I had to illustrate my favorite ornaments and turn them into a pattern. I named the suite after my Oma’s maiden name Dahlman, as she’s always encouraged and inspired me to live out my dreams as an artist and designer

The color palette and illustration style was heavily inspired by Christmas cards from the 50s/60s, but especially the 1950s collection of Christmas cards designed by the amazing animator Thorten Hee. You can see these below, along with some real vintage ornaments.

The champagne matte foil and pink pearl shine give the card that retro feel and the red shine foil brings in the holiday cheer! For the typography, I used Dark Paradise for the title and Altesse script to help give the card a retro feel and Avenir helped to add a modern touch.

The card can be printed in multiple different colorways and the illustrations can be moved and adjusted to create something truly personalized. Pictures could also be added inside the big circle cutouts of the ornaments to place photos of your family or pets! I’ve mocked up some alternative color ways below.

Dahlman Option 1 – Holly paper with green shine foil, red shine foil, and champagne matte foil

Dahlman Option 2 – Backer option –  Bella white paper with green shine foil, red shine foil, and champagne matte foil 

Dahlman Option 3 –  Bella bright white paper with pink pearl shine foil, ice shine foil, & champagne matte foil

foil stamping: red shine + pink pearl shine + champagne matte | fonts: dark paradise + altesse + avenir | paper: bella bright white cotton 2-ply | size: a-6 | liner: ornaments pattern in champagne matte on metallic rose quartz text | envelope: bella cotton bright white pointed flap | digital addressing ink: cherry