Teacup Invitations August 19, 2009

This photo from a recent brial shower has been all the rage today (from what I can see).

The talented stationery designer Mimi Woo, behind Mika 78, hosted a bridal shower for a close friend only to demonstrate how creative and fantastic she is as a designer.   After this tea, who knows, maybe Mimi will have to add “slash event designer” behind her name!  The caligraphy was done by Papertastebuds

What caught my eye from her event are the invitations she made out of old tea cups and a gold marker.  These tea cups are such a creative and beautiful way to make people feel special at a bridal tea.  There are more pictures from the bridal shower event on 100 layer cake that you can see here. 

via 100 layer cake

Hand written letterpress April 24, 2009

Linda & Harriet Letterpress (via the sprague lab)

I feel like a lot of cool letterpress work comes out of Brooklyn.  Every time I look for new and different examples of letterpress, I end up back in New York!  Here is another great example of the talent coming out of Brooklyn: Linda & Harriet.   I was drawn to this company’s stationery for its very cool handwritten letter press card.  I think it looks pretty impressive and I am happy to have stumbled across the find on the Sprague Lab blog. 

Here is a quick look at some of the other letterpress designs from Linda & Harriet

Thumb Greeting Thank You Hearts (via Linda & Harriet)

Look at these orange pigs!

Orange Piggies Note Cards (via Linda & Harriet)

Save the Date Card (via Linda & Harriet)

Pingg.com: Ultimate Soft Copy Email Invitation February 14, 2009

Move over Evite.com.  There is a new company looking to occupy the email invitation space that was endorsed by Martha Stewart’s company. 

Pingg.com is prettier, easier to use, has fewer advertisements bombarding the screen.  It allows users to personalize invitations with their own jpeg graphics and has an expansive inventory of already good-looking graphics to decorate online invitations and makes creating online invitations fun and easy. 

Wait…. it gets better.  What really impressed me is that you can also elect to use multiple communication channels to send your evites; to communicate to your guests in the mediums they use- Pingg.com has Facebook+ Twitter tie-ins, allows you to SMS invitations (for a fee) and reminders, build your own event websites and print hard copy invitations (for a fee). 

Additionally, Pingg.com also creates reports to help you track and manage your RSVP list so if you intend to throw a big bash or do something for a corporate event, you have all the data in graphs right in front of you on the screen.  Beautiful- who doesn’t like effortless RSVP list management??!!

Eco Invites: Smock Paper February 13, 2009

If you are going the hard copy route when it comes to invitations and feel guilty about all the trees that will have to suffer in the process to make your event and invitations look beautiful, here is a company based out of Syracuse, New York that will put some of your guilt at bay.  Smock Paper is the print shop in the US to print on luxury bamboo paper which they developed in-house in conjunction with a European paper mill. 

In addition to using bamboo paper, Smock Paper is also a member of 1% For the Planet, a non profit organization that allows companies to donate 1% of sales to a network of 1699 environmental organizations to give back and keep the earth in business.

If my first two points don’t win you over, then take a look at some of the impressively detailed and stylish letterpress greeting cards and invitations they develop on their eco-friendly lined envelopes. (more pics to come soon)  You can check out more from Smock paper on Etsy.com

Smock happy birthday C418T (photo courtesy of Etsy.com)

Smock Happy Birthday C404T1 (image courtesy of Etsy.com)

Smock Congratulations C445T1 (image courtesy of Etsy.com)

If you are reading the post and are living in Toronto you can purchase Smock Paper wedding invitations at RSVP Studio 533 Eglinton Ave West, Toronto 416-785-1761

Down with evites; up with paper January 21, 2009

So it’s not the most environmentally conscious blog title I could have come up with but I will do my part and plant some trees come spring and justify my title in the post.

I am a self professed paper junkie.  There.  I said it.  Be it invitations, personalized stationary, thank you cards, save the date cards, basically anything that involves graphic design (outsourced), thick cardstock and colour and I am a happy camper. 

But back to the serious stuff.  Invitations for an event-

I understand that parties can be  expensive to host and that evites are a tempting alternative.  You can customize your evites, you can manage your guest lists and send out reminders.  But if I can make a plea- forget the evites. Don’t skimp on the inviations, just budget for them!

My pro invitation argument:  Invitaitons are memorable, personal, can set the mood/tone of what is to come and most importantly, people like receiving mail that is not a bill.  I don’t know about you but I smile every time I get a big envelope in my mailbox addressed in caligraphy.  I get excited to open it up and see what is inside.  How could you deny your friends and family that same pleasure!!

Contrarywise, when I see an evite in my inbox, maybe I glance at it maybe I wait for a few days (weeks) until I know I must send a response.  In otherwords, I treat my evites like any other email waiting for my attention.  Evites do not illicit the same sense of excitement or urgency-to-open.  People typically open their mail- especially if it is pretty mail.  On the other hand, if you are a heavy Internet user and receive loads of email a day, receiving an evite has a lower priority on the email-to-open list.  Just basic email hierarchy.

Here are a few solid invitation designs that I found online.  I hope they both excite and inspire.