Emi Ink 2012 calendars!

Hot off the presses! Emi Ink's 2012 desk calendars are now on sale at the Menehune Mac seasonal store in Windward Mall. We also produced a set of limited edition notecard sets made with imported paper and blinged out with Swarovski crystals (naturally). Photos to come of the notecards, but here's a quick peek at our calendar:

We've tied a pretty satin bow to each of our calendars - the perfect stocking stuffer!

The acrylic case doubles as a stand, so you can display the calendar on your desk.

We'll be delivering a small supply of calendars to The Wedding Cafe this week for those of you who don't want to make the trek to Kaneohe. For anyone interested in placing a bulk order, just shoot me an email: emi@emiink.com

In the last 18 days...

...I forgot to decorate my 5" pumpkin for Halloween. It's still sitting on my kitchen counter.

...I finally met with my bride from Australia who was delighted with her hot pink, orange and black stationery pieces: favor tags, stickers for take-home cake boxes, guest book, table cards.

...I moved my studio to a place with a better view and less roosters.

...I wondered, more than once, if I'm a closet hoarder of paper.

...I ignored my husband, more than once, as he accused me of being a blatant hoarder of paper.

...I finished menu cards, escort cards and reserved cards for a Rastafarian wedding today. Simple and modern black and white palette accented with small pops of red, yellow and green.

...I sold a couple of my gold jewelry pieces to The Diamond Specialists and was surprised at how much cash I got back! Am now going to search for more unwanted jewelry from unwanted ex-boyfriends that might still be lying around.

...I met one of my couples the day before their wedding to deliver toss petal cones, reserved seating signs, escort cards, table cards and drink tickets. I'm going to miss working with this sweet, sweet couple.

...I tried out Cafe Duck Butt with a group of friends for pupus and drinks. Lots of laughs (and lots of soju).

...I wished that I could channel Dr. Doolittle and speak to my sick dog. It's heartbreaking to care for a pet that's not well.

...I refused to believe that not only is it November, but Thanksgiving is in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS. Time to plan the menu. Time to break out the stretchy pants.

...I finalized plans for my holiday retail items! More info coming soon.

Off to wrap chocolates at Menehune Mac's seasonal store at Windward Mall today!

For the love of monograms!

Excited to share this video of a local TV spot that aired during the Kim Kardashian wedding special recently. The Wedding Cafe was interested in pieces with a monogram design (an homage to Kim Kardashian's invitation), so I whipped up an entire suite of stationery for them: invitation, thank you card, menu, mini cupcake favor box, and program fan. I only had a few days to come up with something, but I channeled the inner Kardashion in me and blinged everything out as much as I could! Enjoy!


twc 1 from fisheyestudio on Vimeo.

Real wedding: Cheryl and Chuck

Oh, how I adore my clients. They sustain me, inspire me and motivate me to keep on doing what I love.

Exhibit A: Cheryl and Chuck

The happy couple at the Royal Hawaiian hotel

I remember my first consultation with Cheryl very well. She came in with  photos of her flowers, photos of the wedding attire for her bridesmaids and groomsmen, and a clear idea of what she wanted for her invitations. What transpired was a very modern design in charcoal gray and fuchsia, complete with a custom map/directions card and a fun wedding week timeline.

Charcoal gray pocket fold invitation with multiple insert cards and wraparound address label

I always LOVE this wedding ring shot!

The finishing touch for the invitations was a tag that Cheryl tied to the outside of the pocket folds.

Back in April, I blogged about one of my couples that was mailing invitations to Mickey and Minnie and the White House. Well, that couple was Cheryl and Chuck and I'm happy to report that not only did Mickey and Minnie respond, but so did the President and First Lady! This is what they received from The White House:

A memorable wedding keepsake for sure!

Thanks to Cheryl and Chuck for sharing these wonderful images from their wedding! (Photos by Visionari)

Happily ever after...

A penny earned...

It's official. The postal rate for a 1-ounce letter is going up by a penny on January 22, 2012 ($0.44 to $0.45).  Price for additional ounces remains unchanged at $0.20. Postcard rates are going up by three cents ($0.29 to $0.32). You can download this PDF from USPS for a complete rundown on the rate changes.

Oh, and if you're patting yourself on the back because you're planning to mail out your wedding invitations in the next couple of months, don't assume that you're in the clear. If your RSVP deadline falls after January 22, make sure that you have the correct amount of postage on your RSVP envelopes (or RSVP postcards) so your guests don't have to pony up the extra cents.

Scenes from the show

My first wedding expo was back in 2005 and it's amazing how much my booth display has evolved. Maybe one day I'll post some photos and do a side-by-side comparison, but this is what my booth looked like at the most recent show:

A few of my favorite custom designs



Rows and rows of chair boxes with escort cards

 

Lots of cute favor packaging options



Our mini cupcake boxes and custom printed cupcake sleeves were a hit!

Part of our wall display showing all the paper options!


In the week leading up to the expo, I also designed a few stationery pieces for Menehune Mac's new booth display. It was a fun collaboration and I really love working with them!


A place card with vintage lace accent

 

Menu card with antique gold mat



Place card and table number card (peacock feather adorned with Swarovski crystals)

 

Menu card with harvest gold floral pattern and chocolate brown accents.

 

Table number tentfold card with aubergine mat

Wedding Expo recap...and some rambling

The Thing That I Forgot
Oops, I kinda missed the boat on this one. Emi Ink participated in the Hawaii World Class Wedding Expo this past weekend over at the Convention Center and I had wanted to do a quick post to invite everyone to visit our booth. Unfortunately, time got away from me (shocking, I know). Can we just pretend that the invitation got lost in the mail?

The Part Where I Ramble
I had fun chatting with brides (and grooms!) and I finally got to show off all the new stuff that's been keeping me busy these past few months. Luckily, I had Jessica (aka Super Intern) helping me out in the booth and coaching me through my first attempt to Facebook via my iPhone. Honestly, I don't think I could do much beyond blogging without this trusty 19-year-old secret weapon at my side. She's so patient with me and never makes fun of my silly questions even though we both know that I'm a bit hopeless. I mean it's a little embarrassing that I can never go directly to my business page without first doing an actual search for my business name...I go to the search box, start typing in "Emi" and then I have to ignore the first search result which is always "Eminem." This amuses me EVERY SINGLE TIME because I wonder if someone has ever searched for "Eminem" and then accidentally found my page instead? What a rude awakening that would be! Oh, and then there's the search result that pops up AFTER my business name...Emi Ink Tattoo. Wow. Again, the thought of someone searching for a company to ink their Celtic tribal full arm sleeve and arriving in a world of chartreuse and plum wedding stationery accented with Swarovski crystals just makes me chuckle. I'm easily amused.

I'd Like To Thank The Academy
A BIG mahalo goes out to Jessica (naturally), Les Saisons for dressing my tables in a gorgeous platinum linen, Menehune Mac for the perfect treats to fill my favor boxes, Menehune Mac (again) for including some of my stationery pieces in their beautiful new booth display, Bit of Sugar for the most adorable cupcakes to show off my cupcake sleeves and mini cupcake boxes, Sonya (she's kind of a rock star and just goes by one name in my book) for being my go-to-gal for a lot of my production needs, and a special thank you to my set-up crew (aka my parents). I think it's safe to say that I have the most "senior" set-up crew in the wedding industry but don't let their retiree status fool you...they hustle, take direction very well, and their seasoned craft fair know-how is a big help to me during my early morning set-up. And plus, they work for free.

Ok, the real wedding expo recap is coming later this week complete with pictures!

Destination wedding fun!

This custom invitation had so many charming elements to it, and from what I've heard, it was the perfect prelude to the couple's FUN wedding celebration!

The bride and groom requested an invitation in the style of a boarding pass which we housed in a vibrant lime green pocket fold enclosure. Complete with bar code, seat number and fun tropical design elements, this invitation surely got their guests excited about the destination wedding in Hawaii.

Inside the pocket, we inserted a card packed full of information for the couple's out-of-town guests. We designed color-coordinating icons to go with each category: shave ice for the "Pig Out Spots", surfboard with orchid design for the "Must-Dos" and a pair of "rubbah slippahs" with purple straps for the "Leisure Activities." This was definitely a fun one to work on!

Sweeeet

Last night's Invitations, Favors and Special Touches showcase at The Wedding Cafe was a lot of fun! Emi Ink debuted a couple of new products that were oh-so-sweet!

cupcake sleeves by Emi Ink + cupcakes by A Cake Life

I love the ability to add a personalized touch to just about everything and cupcakes are no exception! These cupcake sleeves are designed to slip around the outside of your cupcakes and you can choose from a wide variety of colors to match your wedding (or any other special event!). Emi Ink can do custom printing, too, for that extra special touch:

Clockwise from top left: "Happily ever after" with stripes, solid teal metallic,
custom printing with floral background, custom printing with text only

Kristin from A Cake Life generously donated these delish vanilla cupcakes with Lilikoi filling for my table display. I asked her to keep a neutral palette for the cake and frosting so I could show off the different  sleeves, but she offers lots of amazing flavors and design options to make your cupcakes a real showpiece! (Side note: if you want to become BFFs with people really fast, just share a box full of Kristin's cupcakes with a room full of hungry wedding vendors!)

If mini cupcakes are more your style, Emi Ink now offers mini cupcake boxes available in (almost) every color under the sun. You can finish it with a pretty ribbon or a custom-printed favor tag, but I think these adorable boxes are cute enough on their own!

Interior box insert keeps your mini cupcake secure + see-through window shows off the sweet treat hiding inside!

mini cupcake boxes by Emi Ink + mini faux cupcakes by Bit of Sugar

Because I had to think of a long-term solution for displaying my boxes, I asked my friend, Lei, from Bit of Sugar, if she could whip up a few mini faux cupcakes (made from deco clay) for last night's event. Lei also created the mini wedding cakes that I've been using as place card holders for my expo displays. If you appreciate anything that's "too cute for words," please check out her website here. If you're on Oahu, you'll definitely want to catch her at one of the local craft fairs this holiday season to check out her work in person!

Invitations, Favors and Special Touches Showcase

Head to The Wedding Cafe tonight @ 6:30pm to check out the latest in invitations and favors! I'll be debuting some SWEET new goodies at the Emi Ink table and can't wait to see if it's a hit or miss with the brides/grooms (hopefully, I'm on target with this one!).

In other news, I was lucky enough to work on a lot of fun projects over the summer, and this recent invitation order was no exception. I'll have to wait a few months before I can display the complete design, but here's a sneak peek:

Balloons with Swarovski crystal accents

Can't reveal the inspiration behind the design, although I'm guessing that I've shown just enough for people in the know to figure it out themselves. Definitely an out-of-the-box wedding theme!

Knot so easy, but worth it

A couple of weeks ago, The Knot hosted a "Cocktails and Connections" event at the Laniakea YWCA for local wedding professionals. Mona Hirata and her team from Weddings by Grace and Mona did a fantastic job of pulling the event together! Emi Ink donated all the stationery for the evening, so there were a LOT of projects to manage in the weeks leading up to the event. Here's an overview of some of the pieces we created for this museum-themed event:

Valet tickets

We produced special valet tickets for Prestige Valet Service, complete with custom logo, perforations for the 3-part ticket, and a hole punch for the key ring. A lot of details went into this one and this project turned out to be the one that I was most paranoid about. Each ticket required three sets of identical numbers and I asked multiple people to proof the stack for me to prevent any mix-ups with someone going home with the wrong car!

Exhibit placards

Beautiful floral arrangements by Spinning Web Florist dressed up the event space and were cordoned off with red velvet ropes. In another area, models posing as living statues were covered in gold paint from head to toe and decked out in gold wedding gowns. For each floral arrangement and living statue, I created a museum-style placard.

Food labels

While the valet tickets made me paranoid, these tent-fold food labels made me frustrated. Ginniberries created an amazing menu of butler-passed hors d'oeuvres and for each food item, I created a raw silk white tented card to go with it. It was particularly hard to create these on an empty stomach.

Tea card

The ladies from A Cup of Tea were stationed in the corner of the room with lovely take-home tea favors for everyone. I designed a simple folded card that listed the assorted teas with a small envelope to hold a tea sample of our choice.

Admission ticket

This admission ticket was more of a decorative piece than a functional piece. It slipped into an antique gold pocket that was attached to the exterior of the program.

Interior view of program/map

While brainstorming with Mona during the early planning stages, we came up with the idea of doing a map or guide to add to the museum feel of this event. I was going to do a simple, black and white map, but after spying a detailed map of Buckingham Palace that appeared in the newspaper on the eve of William and Kate's nuptials, I decided to try a different approach. It was a lot of work, but in the end I was happy with the overall piece.

Soda bottle tags

Even the soda bottles courtesy of Waialua Soda Works were adorned with coordinating hang tags.

Favor bag tags

The finishing touch was a tag hanging from the handles of our take home gift bags.

In terms of volume of work, this was a doozie. I had the help of my normal "supporting cast" but an extra special thank you goes out to my friend, Sonya, who helped me with die-cutting some of the pieces above, and gave up an entire Saturday night to assist with the assembly. (For all of you DIY brides out there, have a crafty friend help you with your projects and it'll make the hours fly by!)

There were a lot of vendors hard at work during the event, but my projects were done by the time I arrived so I could just relax and enjoy myself. Highlights for me included the 10-minute massage courtesy of the Spa at Trump (Trump Waikiki Hotel), the AMAZING cake by cakelava (I took a quick photo with my phone, but it really doesn't do it any justice), and the friends, old and new, that I was able to chat with. Fun night!

From pen to paper to screen

Loving this...

Obsessions

My latest obsessions (two are work-related, one is not):

My font obsession isn't a new thing, but the two shown above have struck a chord with me. I have a particular soft spot for fonts that can be dressed up or dressed down depending on how you "accessorize" them with fancy swashes and embellishments. Font treatment often gets overlooked but a subtle change can really make a huge difference in a printed piece.

I've had cupcakes on my mind a LOT in recent weeks, not because of my raging sweet tooth, but because of a fun new project that's in the works. Can't wait to spill the beans as Emi Ink ceases to be fat-free (so to speak). If only I could celebrate with another one of Trophy Cupcake's Chocolate Graham Cracker cupcake with Toasted Marshmallow Frosting. *sigh* I suppose one of those every five years is just enough to keep my obsession going strong.

This last obsession, well, kind of crept up on me. My dear husband started eating Greek yogurt a few months back and challenged me to ditch my Yoplait and try a bite of his instead. I took a spoonful and didn't care for it. It wasn't sweet enough and the texture was just...different. A couple of weeks went by and I decided to man up and give it another try (aka I was out of Yoplait, out of cereal, out of anything else suitable for breakfast). I peeled back the cover of the container, mixed in the blueberry acai, and took a bite. Not bad. Took another bite. Actually, it's pretty good. By the time I was scraping the last of the yogurt out of the container, I was hooked. We stocked up on lots of Fage yogurt over the next few weeks, but I knew in the back of my mind that I could always stop. I could always switch back to my cheaper, easier-to-find, Yoplait yogurt whenever I wanted to. And to prove my point, I bought one, peeled back the cover, and took a bite. Too sweet, too thin, too I-don't-want-to-eat-this-anymore. I was converted and my husband did this to me. I hate it when he's right.

Dashing to the altar

I didn't really have much to say about reality star, Kim Kardashian, or her upcoming nuptials, but when I spotted a photo of her wedding invitation, my curiosity was peaked. It's hard to see in this photo, but the border on the main invitation in the center is lined with hundreds of jet black hematite crystals. Love this detail and am tempted to try my hand at this. The other thing I love is the monogram that's centered at the top. The two uppercase Ks are laid out so perfectly. It's the little things like this that make an invitation stand out.

a REALLY good day

I'm turning the blog over to Emi Ink intern, Jessica, for her take on a "grueling" day of work this week...

How can you not LOVE this little guy?

I consider myself lucky to be an intern for Emi Ink. What other company has an internship work day located at a chocolate factory?! Stacey and I went to Menehune Mac to package favors. Of course, we went straight to the samples around the store! After that serious business was taken care of, we got to work. 

Pineapple snow and milk chocolate macadamia nut

We encased the chocolates with beautifully patterned sunflower wrappers that Stacey designed.The bright and vibrant shades of yellow will catch the eyes of all the guests at the wedding, and the strawberry, pineapple snow and milk chocolate mac nut will definitely be a satisfying treat!

Strawberry and milk chocolate macadamia nut

Stacey's note: After we finished wrapping the chocolates, Jana from Menehune Mac still had to add the finishing touch by tying and gluing a tiny chocolate brown organza bow to each wrapper! Lots of steps involved, but I think presentation is key, especially for wedding favors. It's so worth it to have the perfect packaging to enhance your sweet treat!

Randomness

This came in the mail...sadly, it wasn't for me:

If only every company modeled their customer service after Zappos...

Finding this in the dish rack, means someone had a bad day yesterday:

At least he washed the shot glass

Feeling a bit like my breakfast this morning:

Burnt toast = burned out Stacey

But a great consultation with a nice couple, beating the Friday rush-hour traffic on the drive home, and a table full of bright, cheery sunflowers was just enough to turn this day around. Happy weekend everyone!

inspiration anywhere: in full bloom

I purchased this huge flower pin from The Wedding Cafe a few years back. It's big, it's brown, it's fuzzy...it's totally impractical and that's why I love it. This flower has adorned everything from my tote bags, to my clipboards, to the wire shelving in my office. I often stare at this flower and wonder what spot it will inhabit next.

Today, it finds a home here, as my "inspiration anywhere" muse:

Decided to design a place card today, with the flower hanging off the left edge to leave room for the guest name. I chose a romantic script font with fun flourishes (oh, how I love fonts):

 

The elephant in the room

While wedding stationery is our main bag, every now and then we get to produce stationery for life's other special occasions. This little guy (and a bunch of his friends) will be heading east to celebrate the birth of a special little boy soon, and he'll be sorely missed around here. Nothing better than seeing a pack of sweet blue elephants in the midst of our summer wedding blitz!