Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! I took a break from blogging because we were closed for two weeks during the holidays but we are back and back with a fresh new website.

As 2008 ended, I was able to take some time and reflect upon the year. There were so many great things that happened for us as a company (i.e. our celebrity clients and being published in InStyle!) but I am reminded of the reason that Papeterie exists. Besides the goals of us wanting to offer stylish stationery for our clients at an unattainable price, and being able to do something we love that also pays the bills, we strongly believe in our hearts that Papeterie is here so that we can use the company to make the world a better place.

We are still exploring what that might mean exactly, but some small steps including donating 5% of our net proceeds to World Vision, the ASPCA, the Humane Society of the United States, World Society for the Protection of Animals, and KIVA.

My dream ultimate goal? I would love to open a no-kill shelter for animals.

Check back soon as we add the option of being able to choose from our list of charities that you would like us to donate the 5% too.

And again, Happy New Year to everyone and congratulations to you all that got engaged over the holidays.

The New Cosmopolitan Collection

A year in the making, we have finally launched our line of invitations with a full splash of color! Inspired by Sex and the City, the staff voted for "Cosmopolitan" as the name for the new line.

You might remember me blogging about this a year ago and wonder why it takes a company so long to launch designs or a line of invitations. Besides the creative process, there is a lot of testing on different papers to make sure that the quality will be acceptable. We have finally found a cardstock that is environmentally friendly and heavy enough for this beautifully saturated line.

Here are some of the designs. For more, please go to the Cosmopolitan section.

Bridal Shower Invitations

Brides aren't the only ones that can have all the fun picking out invitations! We've launched several new designs for the bridesmaids looking for something fun and modern for the shower.

Ornament Wreaths

I have been trying to decide how to decorate my home for the holiday season. My husband usually puts up lights on the outside but I am more of the interior person. I was browsing through Etsy and found these gorgeous ornament wreaths from seller littlepapoose. Some people are just so incredibly talented! My living room decor is in chocolate, tan, and blue with dark cabinetry so I think that the blue ones would be perfect. Of course, I tend to have a hard time making decisions when it comes to beautiful things (I just want to buy it in every color!). Hopefully, I can settle on something before the season is over!

Real Wedding: Sue and David

Earlier this summer, we had the pleasure of designing Sue Lee and David Moon's wedding invitations (picture coming soon!). Sue and David were married at the Hotel Bel Air and their theme was a 1920s Hollywood glam executed by Kelley Gin of Picture Perfect Event. Victor Sizemore Photography did a fantastic job at capturing the day and the vintage theme.

We used the Rococo invitation design from our Classic collection for the placecards and table numbers.

Congratulations again to Sue and David!

Digital Calligraphy

Nothing can really replace the beauty of hand calligraphy. The slight imperfections of the strokes and the beautiful flourishes are just a perfect finish for your invitations. Because it's done by hand, you can imagine how much time it can take and therefore, the correlating price. So I encounter a lot of brides asking me for alternatives if they do not want to write their guest list by hand or do sticky labels.

The alternative is something stationers call digital calligraphy or computer calligraphy. Simply put, it just means that we will help print your envelopes for you with our printers. If your stationer offers this, it can be a great saver for your hand! Not to mention, the prices are more affordable than hand calligraphy. There are several options that we offer at Papeterie. 1) Black ink with a font of choice (Picture 1 is in a script font that I love to recommend for digital calligraphy) 2) Colored ink with a script font and 3) Colored ink with a motif! (Shown in pics 2,3, and 4).

Using a motif as part of addressing unifies the invitation set. If the motif has been repeated too many times in your other stationery, sometimes it's good to use just a part of it (picture 2 is a good example of this)

Stay tuned as I will be posting more on different ways to dress up your mailing envelope!

Photo Program Book

Have you ever sat at a wedding reading the program and trying to match faces to the names of the bridesmaids and groomsmen? In a long list of diy projects the year that I got married, programs were definitely on the list. I wanted a program that would have pictures of our wedding party since they were such a big part of the wedding, but mainly being practical, I also wanted our guests to know who these special people were.

So here is how they looked like.

The program was made up of nine panels. The first being the cover and a panel each for the other categories (Parents of the Bride, Parents of the Groom, etc.) Warning: Do not attempt this project alone! This is a great project for your wedding party to help out.































This program became quite a popular item at Papeterie! Here's a variation that we designed for one couple.