Calligraphy Etc. Blog

Trust the Experts

Would you hire an electrician to prepare your taxes?  A seamstress to give you a root canal?  Probably not...

So why would you get your invitations, stationery and announcements from someone other than a professional stationer?  Why would you place the importance of your invitations, the preview to your big event, with someone who sells them "on the side", such as an event planner, photographer or big box party store?  Truth is, you shouldn't.  There are only a handful of professional stationers and invitation specialists that you should trust with the most important paper products you'll purchase in your life- for weddings, birth announcements, and important milestones like graduations and birthdays. It's such a specialized area of expetise that it's hard to compare someone that CAN do it, to someone who can do it WELL.

We are the experts when it comes to stationery, party invitations, wedding invitations, graduation announcements, escort cards, place cards and everything paper! Celebrating the most memorable events in your life through the art of paper is not only a time-honored tradition, but a celebrated right of passage. Rarely does one find an old love letter, invitation, or announcement, printed on delicate paper, that doesn't feel a bit of heartwarming nostalgia.  Sure, an e-vite is appropriate for some occasions, but one is never kept in a memory box, or pressed between book pages to keep for years to come... There's something to be said about real paper that makes us want to hold onto it, and for that kind of keepsake, there's no reason to let anyone but a professional handle the job. If it is important enough to do, it is important enough to do right.

As professional stationers, we will help you navigate the many options of the paper world- cardstock color, weight, printing style, lined envelope design, font, ink, wording. Afterall, we ARE the experts.  Our free advice on selections and  ettiquette can create something that is professional, attractive, and en printe that will not be just "tossed away".  Send a message that is thoughtful, sentimental and hard to discard, no matter who the recipient is! 

Let us help you with your next event and show you how easy we can make the process!  We are after all, the specialists... it's our job!

{photo courtesy of Captivated Images}

 

Girly Carnival Birthday

Have we mentioned that we love a challenge?  Recently, a customer inquired about a custom Carnival Invitation that she saw on our blog, but she wanted to mix it up a little bit for a girl's first birthday... and we jumped at the chance!  She sent us this inspiration board that she found on Pinterest {originally pinned from the jesykaditri.com blog, which is fantastic, by the way}. Immediately, we were drawn to the fun but slightly muted color tones, and we used this as the color palette for our custom invitation design.

We also added a little bunting, as there are so many cute ways that you can incorporate that into party decor (hanging on the table, icing on the cake, etc.).

What you see here are the invitations, party favor gift tags and custom 8 x 10 signs for the different carnival booths.

Thanks Julissa for letting us do this custom design, it was definitely a fun one!  {And Happy Birthday Elle!}

Ghoul's Night In Spooktacular

This Halloween, how about throwing a Ghoul's Night IN?

We love the details from this party - especially the invitation and the "shocktail" station!

Here are the details pictured above: 

This invitation, housed in a manilla envelope, is a fun play on a medical examiner's record.  With a skull image printed on vellum and attached to the "Medical Report" with a paper clip, this invitation is definitely one that guests will remember!

For the table, each place setting is framed with a black paper shoe (originally in PaperCrafts magazine in October 2005, updated template downloaded from Ellen Hutson). The shoe is garnished with a striped stocking filled with candy and a personalized tag.  Such an easy (and fun) place setting idea (that doubles as a party favor too)!

A Cocktail Cart is a great way to get any party in gear - it gets people involved!  Guests are given the opportunity to mix their own "shocktail" - in this case, with Black Vodka (Blavod), while they mix and mingle.  The featured drinks for this evening were a Black Widow, Bad Moon Rising, and Olive You to Death (you can see the ingredients on the drink cart board).

Appetizers included Mini Caramel Apples, Horsey Shrimp Cups, "Choke" Dip with Salty Bones and Spicy Meatballs.

For dinner, guests were served "Heart" (of Palm) Salad, Pumpkin Gut Soup, Grill (Chicken) Legs, Scream Beans, Stuffed Shells  and "Coffin" Cake with "Eye Scream"

As a party favor, guests even took home "Spiderwebs on a Stick" (white cotton candy wrapped around a rock candy stick and garnished with a tag and spider ring).

All in all, a SPOOKtacular evening we think!

Thinking Outside the Take Out Box

When you "think out of the box", sometimes it pays off... and we think this custom invitation sets the tone for a GREAT party!

This invitation was for a Graduation Dinner at a Japanese Steak House.  Each guest received a box in the mail that included an invitation affixed to chopsticks and a take out box full of fortune cookies - such a fun surprise!

To recreate the look, you'll need to gather supplies.  We got the chopsticks and fortune cookies at World Market.  The mailing box, translucent "takeout" box and white krinkle shred came from Container Store.

The invitation itself is printed on white cardstock, cut out and then pasted on a layer of black cardstock.  We then used some "Asian" handmade paper that we had lying around and framed out a little rectangle on another piece of black cardstock (to create the top card).  After a quick google search for the Japanese symbol for "Happiness" online, we printed it out and tied both of the cards to the chopsticks with a red satin ribbon.

The copy reads " Join us as we celebrate the graduate and wish him good fortune!"

This invitation was definitely worth "thinking out of the box" for.  In addition to graduation, it would also be a fun idea to use for a Bridal Shower or Engagement Party ("Join us as we celebrate the happy couple and wish them good fortune!").  You could even use the Japanese symbol for "Love" if you wanted to.

Happy Monday everyone!

 

Pancakes & Pajamas Party

How fun would it be to wake up in the morning and go straight to a fabulous birthday party?  Just take a look and see!
We absolutely love this Pajamas & Pancakes theme from our customer Kelly L., especially all the little details she used to make this morning shin-dig a memorable one for her daughter AND all of their guests.

We were excited to create this custom invitation for the party, and can't believe how it worked so perfectly with Kelly's planning!

{Don't miss the "pancake" sugar cookie favors at the bottom- they look so real ...great job, Kelly!}

 

Don't miss the details:  A dining table with a fun sheet and propped up pillows serves as a fun (and functional) serving table - Pancake Toppings make it fun for everyone to build their own (and food coloring in the pancake batter makes it even more magical!) - Several varieties of syrup take regular pancakes from drab to fab (a great investment for just a little money) - Colorful lanterns and a pinata add color to the porch area with brightly colored table cloths - Let kids have their cereal and play with it too with a Fruit Loop necklace station - Make a "stack o cake" using cake batter on the griddle (Kelly said it was a little tricky at first, but she got the hang of it- and we think the effort was worth how great it looks!) - For party favors, mini stacks of "pancake" cookies are the perfect ending to this sweet birthday party ( again, great job, Kelly!)

Vintage Bird Bridal Shower

We love when our customers use a custom invitation design as a base for the themed details of their party!  Check out this adorable, vintage bird themed Bridal Shower from Laura N!  We love all of the little details!

From the top:  Custom vintage bird invitation from Calligraphy Etc., coffee beans in jars as party favors with the personalized label - "Love is brewing!" and a gingham fabric tie around the jar {the bride and groom-to-be love visiting a local coffee shop where these beans came from}, gorgeous flower arrangements in grapevine "nests" with accents of green moss balls, pearl-dipped marshmallows on "I DO" flagged skewers, tiny bird nests and eggs in various jars around the house, and raspberry sorbet for dessert (in beautiful vintage glasses of course!)... by the way, doesn't all of the food, especially that fruit salad, look gorgeous?? 

Well done Laura!  Thanks for sharing your party details with us!

Fashion Inspired Invitation

One of our favorite things to do is create custom invitations for our customers- especially when they give us free reign to design! 

This custom design for Cynthia sounded like a tall task- an event featuring muffins and manicures for a bridal party!  Normally, food and nail polish don't mesh well together (visually), so we tried to go a different route... following in the fashion-forward steps of the Bride-to-Be.  I asked the hostess of the party about the bride's style, and she mentioned that this girl is all about Tory Burch.  So that's where we got our inspiration for this unique invitation!

Here's the "inspiration photo": 

We loved all of the warm colors and the mix of patterns! Stripes are always a classic, and the honeycomb pattern is so earthy and yet geometric.  Even the brown and golden yellow tones of this Summer collection are reminescent of baked muffin goodness... Yum!

Take a look at our version of this contemporary and fashion-forward invitation:

What do you think?

A Photo Card Against the Grain

Did you know that you don't have to wait until December to share your oh-so-adorable family on a photo card?  It's true!  In fact, we've found that more and more customers and opting to stray from the traditional Christmas card and send a card at other times of the year instead - Thanksgiving, Halloween, Easter... even Valentine's Day (hey, it's the perfect option if you're a little behind on the Christmas card- make 'em think it's on purpose).  Going against the grain does have its advantages... For starters, your photo card during the non-holiday season is mostly likely going to be the highlight of your recipients' mail delivery (and not just "another one" in the stack).  Second, everyone likes to receive mail (other than bills) ANY day of the year, so receiving a cheerful greeting in the mail is a special treat!  The best reason?  To beat the crowd of course!  While all of your friends are stressing about getting their holiday cards printed, addressed, and mailed during the busiest time of year, you'll be done and able to enjoy your free time (with more eggnog, perhaps?).

We love the idea of a Fall/Halloween photo card, and now's the perfect time to do one!  Just take a look at these two custom ideas!  What a fun idea to use a photo of your little one in their costume?  Or for the pet lovers like us, dogs in costume (seriously, who doesn't smile when seeing a dog in a costume?)! 
Think you might want give it a try?  Let us know...We'd be happy to do a custom design for you that will perfectly fit your needs!

 

Nautical Baby Shower

We are LOVING this baby shower!  We did a custom invitation for the nautical-inspired theme, and just love how it turned out.  A nautical-themed baby shower is perfect for a little boy on the way, and such a fun event for the summer!  This poolside party works perfectly with the color scheme they chose, and utilizing the deck to cookout and serve food is a great way to get people mingling.

One of our favorite details were the matching napkins (which they ordered through us also).  On the entrance table, guests were able to fill out cards with advice for the new parents-to-be, which is always a nice touch.  The finger food was even in the color scheme - chocolate covered strawberries and tiny petit fours with blue and red sprinkles.  The party favors were little bags of cinnamon and blueberry candies of course!

What a great shower!  Thanks for sharing with us!

{ And congratulations Erin and Joel!  They just had their little baby boy yesterday!}

Finn's First Birthday

This featured custom design is a 1st Birthday Party theme that you could really get carried away with!

Here is the invitation we made for Finn's First Birthday... We're all ON BOARD for party details, but our customer Laura really outdid herself with this one!  Just look at the attention she paid to even the littlest things- from the handmade table runner and decorative sailboat she used on the deck (top right), to the party favors (little pails of goldfish and gummy sharks), to the matching water bottles (we printed the labels), sailing flag decorations, and nautical-themed cupcake toppers!  We LOVE how she used goldfish on the cake to really brighten it up and further incorporate the nautical theme (as well as a kid-friendly snack favorite)!

Great job, Laura!  We love this birthday party theme, and it looks like Finn had a good time too!  Thank you so much for sharing!

Have we done a custom invitation design for your party?  Want the chance to be featured on our blog?  Email us photos of the invitation and details!  If your party is selected to be featured, you'll receive a $20 gift card from Calligraphy Etc.!  Now THAT'S a party favor!