PEONIES

Just taking a break from printing to pick and photograph peonies. Mid-June the move will be done, boxes will be unpacked, and blogging will be back on schedule. For now, we're pulling late nights and early mornings.... thanks for your patience, be back soon!

LETS BE HONEST

Moving is really hard, and really time consuming. And we are still working like crazy on all the reception pieces for all our remaining May and June brides. I hate to miss blog posts, but in reality it might be spotty here for the next few weeks. I appreciate you all sticking with us through the crazy times and the move! Can't wait to show you the new space and fill you in on the details of who we'll be working with! Really exciting changes ahead. Photos are of our "inspiration board" (or 9 foot accordian fold banner) for the new space.

FROM THE DESK OF... Press Samples

Bride Magazine requested some work from us this week. Here it is all packed up, ready for it's modeling debut!

INSPIRATION

Well, we're moving, it's official. To a little loft, in a small stone building. Sounds magical, I know. So now we are dreaming up what to do in the space, what the consultation space will look like, and how our office will be arranged. This picture is a thought for our consult space, and soon, I'll post office love... picture by Photographer Malin Ngoie, found on absolutely beautiful things

HIATUS

Oh, apologies for my first missed post in 3 weeks! I'm going to miss another today... Why? Because we are packing up the studio and MOVING! So exciting. We've closed our retail store (last month) and we are focusing 100% of our efforts on our custom invitations and design these days, and are looking forward to all the changes ahead. Look for some beautiful moving announcements in the next few weeks. In the mean time, please forgive our lack of posts yesterday and today. We'll be back in full swing with an inspiration post on Monday. I've attached a little bit of eye-candy for your viewing pleasure, but it is sunny today and friday! Go buy some flowers and enjoy the day!

CORPORATE ID

Today has been a busy day - working on a ton of reception stuff for multiple spring weddings, and also in the midst of corporate ID projects, including our own! Tune in the next few weeks to see what kind of paper goodness we are working on for Red Tree, but in the mean time, here is a little idea we are playing around with for our own business cards / calling cards / appointment cards / jotters. It is true, I MIGHT just be obsessed with glassine!

CINCO DE MAYO

A few years back we had a bride getting married on Cinco de Mayo in Miami! This really was a fun project. We did tons of research and created art that mimicked traditional mexican wedding paper-cuttings. The bride and groom wanted a booklet to house all the different cards that needed to be sent and we custom built the booklet, with wrapped chipboard covers and a custom converted pocket, all built by hand. We had a lot of fun, and on a rainy Cinco de Mayo like today, we just wanted to share a little brightness and cheer!

FROM THE DESK OF...

This is a corporate ID project we are working on currently, in the live proof stage. It's also a sneak peek for next week's corporate ID feature. There are a few changes being made to the final proof before it goes into production!
Also, in honor of Cinco De Mayo, in just a little bit, I'll be featuring a wedding invite we did a few years back. Stay Tuned.

INSPIRATION

So we are spending some time re-working our business collateral as we shift our focus away from the retail store and back to life as a full time custom design studio. If you haven't visited Daily Poetics business card set on Flickr yet, be prepared to lose yourself in some of the most beautiful (and sometimes funny) business cards of all time. We were honored to be included (with our old cards of course) last year. All photos are from Daily Poetics photostream.

FEATURED PROJECT : PERSONAL STATIONERY

I love personal stationery. I love to make it, to write on it, and to give it as gifts. It is such a little luxury in life. Everyone should have some!

INVITATION DRESS AT RED TREE

Oh, Red Tree, you have done it again! Not only are the window displays FABULOUS, (best in baltimore 2008!) the in-store displays are gorgeous as well! Right now Red Tree has a wedding themed table right inside the front door for all your wedding and bridal shower gift needs. They asked us if they could use some of our invites in the display. Now, we'll admit, we didn't think they could do it... We gave them the most random assortment of colors and styles and somehow they pulled it together into one pretty dress! It's really fun to see our work in such a beautifully designed store. We are honored. Thank you Red Tree!

CORPORATE ID

Hem and Haw Designs is an event and styling studio run by Katie Watts, one of our favorite brides. If you follow our blog, you'll have gotten quite familiar with her invitations by now. Her wedding was also recently featured in Bride and Bloom magazine for spring 2009. She is a blast to work with and the unique design and colors of these calling cards speak to the kinds of styling and events Katie does. Just this past weekend she thew a Dr. Seuss themed baby shower for a mom with twins (thing two and thing one). I cannot wait to see those pictures!

FROM THE DESK OF

Yesterday's inspiration really got me feeling sentimental and I wanted to show a project that is dearer to me than most. My grandmother recently finished writing her memoir, and commissioned us to produce a short run of 60 softbound books that she could give as gifts to each of her children and grandchildren. The book is 35 pages, with a photo collage as the end sheets and a cream satin ribbon binding. The books were then packaged in 7.5 inch square boxes printed with the same cover as the book so as to preserve them for years and years to come.

INSPIRATION

This is one of those things that I have had for years, and yet EVERY time I see it, my heart just smiles. I LOVE it. I really do. And the funny part about that is, I don't have any idea who these people are, I don't know their stories, and I have no sentimental attachment to them - yet this frame, their pose, the slow fade to yellow of this photograph, I don't know where I would be without it. We moved this weekend, and I went back to the old house this morning to do another walk through, and there is was, all by itself on the back of the door, a tiny little 3 inch frame, holding it's own in an empty house. It felt quiet, and calm, and somewhat sad. Until I packed them up in crinkled white tissue paper, and set them gently on the passenger seat of my car, to make the journey to our new house, to find their perfect spot, to keep watch over our lives here, as if they were my grandparents. I will carry them around the house with me, trying them in different places, until they find their new home.

FEATURED PROJECT : GARDEN WEDDING

These wedding invitations are something we finished up recently for darling Mia over at Garnish Boutique. She is getting married this June in an outdoor Garden ceremony. She requested, peonies, dragonflies, bees and bugs! Mia is in the wedding industry herself and understands the importance of paper goods in a wedding! We really stopped at nothing with this set. There is calligraphy style guest addressing, printed envelopes, die cut reply cards, even lined reply envelopes. It is a gorgeous set and it really reflects the tone of the upcoming wedding.