Signs of Christmas...

We don't have any of our decorations out yet, so our client Christmas cards are pretty much the first signs of the holiday in our house. I'm hoping we can get everything out this weekend. We were too busy enjoying our Thanksgiving laziness last weekend to haul boxes from the basement. I'm looking forward to our tree, stockings, garland/lights down the staircase, and "candles" in the windows. What do you call those things? It's all so warm and calming.

Above are some quick snaps of a client card order that was delivered today. The cards were printed on watercolor paper—you can see some of the texture on the back. I delivered the cards already and they are loved, which I obviously love. Now I just need to come up with a design for our own cards before they end up like last year's design...non-existent.

You'll have to excuse me, my task list is calling...

Revealed: Sonya & Eddie's Save the Date

I always like to get permission before reveals like this, since invitations can be a very hush-hush matter for some couples. Since the STD's have been sent and received, and the bride is okay with sharing, all is good to go. :)

Sonya came to us pretty early in the summer, soon after Eddie proposed, asking if we could do her wedding invitations and some other pieces. Seriously?! We'd love to! I had a lot of questions to ask her so I could visualize her and Eddie's big day and the details of the stationery, but since they both live out of state (and in different states, mind you) I needed to whip up something she could fill out digitally. Sonya was fantastic with her feedback, giving us suggestions if things were confusing, etc., and that's something we're glad to hear so we can make things better.

I found out that the wedding décor would include cherry blossoms, the colors watermelon—which we matched with a paper called Pink Azalea—and black, and contemporary details. Sonya, Eddie, and I collaborated during the month of July to come up with a Save the Date that they both loved, and that the recipients enjoyed as well!

The color palette:
Photo by szeretlek_ma on flickr.


Sonya decided to do a magnet with flat backing card. I think these are really great because they're so versatile. Recipients can use the magnet to attach the entire card to their fridge, or just keep the magnet itself as a reminder. Even after the wedding is over, guests can keep the magnet as a memento. Since it doesn't say "Save the Date," it's timeless.



The hand-drawn cherry blossom branch was carried through the card and the magnet:








All wrapped and ready to be delivered to the bride:


Next, we'll be working on the formal invitation with response postcard and map card, rehearsal invitation, program, and other goodies that will pull Sonya and Eddie's wedding together and make it uniquely them. I'm really excited that they chose us to design and make their wedding stationery, but I'm even more excited to see how everything comes together.

One dreamy album...

Hooray for the weekend! What did you think of our printed goodies in the previous post? Last night I ordered some other little goodies that I'm excited for, too. It feels good to finally knock these types of tasks off of my list.

If you happen to follow our twitter and/or facebook accounts, then you may have heard about a sample album that we designed and received recently. Although it's a smaller album, measuring in at 6x6 inches, it is no less than stunning. With the full bleed and flush mount pages (printing all the way to the edges with no split in the middle), you'd seriously think that you're looking at a larger album. There are other sizes available, including 9x9 and 12x12, but this one works well for a display sample.

The photos from Joshua's newborn session were used to design this album. It comes in a pretty black box. Black doesn't match our packaging, but I think I can live with it. ;)



The front cover...


The back cover...


Full bleed page spread of the precious bebe...


You can see a bit of the page texture here. It resists those pesky finger prints nicely.


Side view of the page and album thickness...


What do you think? Dreamy?

On a different note, I can't believe I'm saying goodbye to July already. It was a pretty good month. Here's hoping August will be even better.

Printed goodies...

[Insert paragraph here saying, "I'm not dead...I want to write more...blah blah blah," and let's move on to some super fun things.]

Since (somewhere around) the beginning of the year, my task list has included the creation of branded materials. Once our website was launched in April, and we had an updated logo and brand, the need for said materials was especially high on the list. Of course, I'm not mentioning any names, but there's one person in this house who's incredibly indecisive and couldn't decide on a design. WHO COULD THAT BE?!

A couple weeks ago when our print lab had a sale, we decided to remedy the situation. We went with a simple design that matches our website, and we couldn't be happier that we actually have printed materials. AND our lab has art recycled paper that works perfectly for us. I will make a couple of changes for our next round of printing, but for now I'm giddy like a school girl at how cool this stuff is.

Posters
Rather than matching the website, we were drawn to a funky design of the posters. The paper is also different for these, a semi-gloss with a UV coating. We were totally surprised by the thickness. They are about 11x17 in size.




Folded note cards
It's way cool how the printed kraft paper looks like the cards are actually kraft.


Referral cards
They include a special message about our referral program on the back.


Appointment cards
It'll be easy to setup appointments by circling the month and date on the back. You also see the front of our accordion piece.


Accordion cards
These cards are a favorite. They include information about all of our divisions.


The back panel includes information about our referral program. In the blank space we're going to put a mini chocolate envelope with the referral cards. I can't wait to start distributing these.


So, that's one big thing that I've been up to around here. Hopefully I'll be able to post more sooner than later.

Thought for Wednesday: what are you excited about lately?