December 8, 2011
Filed Under : News
Remember my telling you of how I’ve figured out what my packaging was going to look like for my new brand? And as promised, I’m sharing my temporary packaging for you while I’m figuring out all the other small details with the new packaging. So even while I’m rebranding, I have decided get into kraft since it’s already part of my new packaging concept. Why wait until the new brand is released to send prettier packaging? Kraft is so much better than my usual USPS mailers…
Filed Under : Invitations - Paper Projects
Yet another birthday has passed. Every year when it comes to my birthday invitations, I get all excited. It’s not every day that I get to design and assemble something for myself. Remember last year’s Kate Spade inspired set? Well this year I created a painterly theme for my invitations. I had props left over from my latest stationery shoot that I thought I’d recycle into the stationery as well as decor for the party.
I found some super thick paper that I had lying around and picked out four colors of paint (sunny yellow, ocean blue, pink, and metallic gold) from my craft box. I squeezed the paint onto the trimmed thick paper, letting the excess roll down the invitation. All the party info was printed on yellow paper and trimmed just so I could wrap it around the invitation. I secured the yellow strip with super sticky kraft tape on the back. I also added puff tape underneath the front portion of the strip to give it a bit of lift. For the envelope, I chose ones that were left over from my dad’s birthday party invitations and used the same kraft tape to seal the flap. Talk about only using what I already had. Makes me so glad that I’m a saver.
December 7, 2011
Filed Under : Palettes
A wintery mint Christmas never gets old…
These are just too sweet: these trees {image source unknown}; these mint sleeves via Etsy; this mint outfit via Vogue; this mint pie via Boulder Locavore; this hot chocolate via Edward and Irwyn; this colorful home via Mr. and Mrs. Globe Trot; these wintery centerpieces via Martha Stewart; and this pop-up snowman card via Anastasia Marie.
December 2, 2011
Filed Under : News
Remember my mentioning of how I’ve started my rebranding process? Here’s a little update…
I’ve come a lot farther than I thought I would in this short period of time. I pretty much have my new logo, website, and blog already designed. I originally wanted someone else to do all those things, but in the end found that I was having way too much fun and decided to go at by myself. Of course, I’m enlisting the help of some of my favorite artistic folks for some good feedback and the big job of coding the web stuff.
But I won’t be sharing any of that with you all just yet. Today I’ll just share my new color palette for the new brand. Lately I’ve been obsessing over all things gold. So it’s no wonder that it’s now in my palette. The whole palette revolves around the gold actually.
And I’ll also share my packaging inspiration palette as well. The gold in my color palette will reflect not just as a flat color, but also in all things metallic and glittery when it comes to my packaging. I’m currently on the hunt for some specific things I really want to have, and it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. Does anybody know where I can get gold speckled tissue paper for instance?
I have some “temp” packaging that I’ve put together for the time being, but you all won’t see my dream packaging until I officially launch sometime next year. But I will share my “temp” packaging” with you all next Thursday.
Hope you’re all enjoying the beginning of your December!
Inspiration board credits: gold sparkles via Inspire Lovely; tag via Anastasia Marie; box via Greer G {found via Style Me Pretty}; kraft envelopes via Scouts Honor Co.; boxed set via Mae Mae Paperie; box wrap via bluepoolroad; custom stamp via Oh My Deer Handmades; twine via Knot & Bow; washi tape envelope via Amanda Jane Jones.
December 1, 2011
Filed Under : Personal
This year the husband and I decided to run away from the cold and play in the sun over our Thanksgiving weekend. It was rather strange missing out on Thanksgiving with our family. I came home to no leaves on trees, Christmas wreaths on doors, bitter cold, and this weird puzzling feeling that Thanksgiving somehow got away. Nonetheless, we throughly enjoyed our little adventure…
Hello Honolulu Airport! So glad to see you once again. This was our second time back in Oahu. Last time we were there was for our honeymoon.
This was the view from our room. We got a condo a little away from the Waikiki area this time and had a good view of the harbor and every sunset.
Yup. I did bring along my slippers. Even in warm weather, I wear slippers. My feet love me for doing that.
We didn’t rent a car on our honeymoon, so we made sure to this time around. We went around most of the island and got to see the beaches that we had skipped out on two years ago.
We pretty much stopped at every single lookout we came across too. This was my favorite:
We stayed away from Waikiki for the most part since we had throughly explored it on our honeymoon (since we had no where else to go). We gave Waikiki about two days this time around, plus evenings for dinner. Waikiki Beach was really crowded and finding a spot in the sand where folks wouldn’t walk over you was mission impossible.
I also finally got to go see Pearl Harbor. I’ve been wanting to for the longest time (I’m in love with all things history) and was ecstatic when my husband agreed to take me there. We got tickets to see the Arizona Memorial, the USS Bowfin (a submarine launched the day of the Pearl Harbor attack), and the USS Missouri (a great big battleship).
The USS Arizona Memorial…
Oil still seeps out from the sunken ship. They say it’s going to keep seeping out for another 100 years. That says a lot about how much oil was on board when the ship went down.
The red portions of the map show which parts of the ship are above water. The rest is underwater and we only caught glimpses of it underneath the reflective water.
And you all know my love for paper, right? And typography. And illustrations. And photographs. I couldn’t help but snapping photos of these old letters, newspapers, postcards, etc.
This chalkboard menu in the kitchen of the USS Missouri got me all giddy:
While we were there, the wind was pretty crazy. It made the days seem cooler than they really were and it also made the waves bigger than usual. The Vans surf competition was going on as well and we headed up to the North Shore area to catch a glimpse of some of these huge waves. Unfortunately, the day we chose to go didn’t produce too big of waves. But they were back the next day and the surfing competition continued. So would have loved to see them. PS: this is one of the beaches where Blue Crush was filmed…
The Ko Olina lagoons are probably the best man-made beaches I have ever been to.
On our last day there, I wanted to go see the royal palace that the Hawaiians built for their king and queen. This was a crest on the gate. The palace wasn’t as huge as most palaces, but it was gorgeous. I loved the architecture.
And that’s just a small look into what went down on our vacation…