A banner year

Photo by Kris Labang Photography | Drop dead gorgeous linen by Les Saisons

2013 has been a banner year for Emi Ink in many ways. For one, my fear of social media has gone from crippling and paralyzing to moderately anxiety-inducing (note the pretty new links to Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest). I've managed to actually squeeze in a couple of much-needed getaways (working from the road wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be). Oh, and the other reason it's been a banner year? I make banners now.

So many options, too! Custom text, different fonts, oodles of ink colors, cool card stock, bling(yay), no bling (boo), pretty ribbon ties, rustic twine. I know people are visual creatures so I'm working on creating some samples that I can show at the next wedding expo.

And what would you do with a custom-printed banner? I'm so glad you asked. This is my top 10 list in no particular order (and just so you know, I'm writing these on-the-fly)...here we go:

1. "LOVE IS SWEET" - hang it above your dessert table or candy buffet!
2. "OH HAPPY DAY" - hang it in front of the head table
3. "MR. AND MRS." - cutest ever photo prop!
4. "THANK YOU" - ask your photographer to snap a shot of you and your newly betrothed holding this banner and print up sweet thank you cards
5. "MAHALO" - see #4 (I swear I'm not getting lazy..."Mahalo" is just too important to leave out)
6. "BRIDE'S NAME *heart* GROOM'S NAME" - another photo prop (and no extra charge for printing your real names)
7. "HAPPILY EVER AFTER" - my personal favorite! head table, registration table, photo prop!
8. "HERE" + "COMES" + "THE BRIDE" - cute little ring bearers and flower girls sometimes steal the show, and you can make them even cuter with their own little banners to hold
9. "JUST MARRIED" - perfect for the head table or for photos!
10. "DO NOT DISTURB" - for the bridal suite door! Just kidding. Or maybe not? Either way, I'll throw in #11 as a bonus suggestion. 
11. "12.10.14" - a great way to commemorate your special date in photos

Like I said, it's a banner year! 

A True (and Silly) Story

First, the story I'm about to tell is 100% true. No stretching of the truth or taking creative liberties for humor's sake here. Second, I pushed to get permission to write this story because I thought it was an important story to tell. Finally, I'm going to let the story unfold at the very end because that's the funniest part...and if you don't make it to the end of the post you won't be missing out on anything.

The End:

Temporary art installation on my newly painted wall ("Not So Silly String")

The Middle:
I spotted a big ol' cockroach in the hallway, right outside our bedroom door and there was absolutely no way that I was going to turn in for the night knowing that HE was lurking around outside. I called to my husband, and he said, "Quick, get me the can!" He ran downstairs to get a broom (my fancy, expensive broom with the ergonomic handle) and I ran to get his can.

Most people would assume that I grabbed the can of roach spray...oh, how I envy those people with common sense and deductive reasoning. No, my husband was asking for his can of silly string that was sitting on the nightstand.

He returned with the broom and I handed him the silly string. His plan was to encapsulate the roach in a cocoon of silly string, thus rendering it helpless and motionless. My plan was to stand back, watch my husband channel "Spiderman", and try not to say "I told you so" when the roach escaped from his bubblegum pink web.

Surprisingly (not really) my husband's plan failed while my plan went off without a hitch.

The Beginning:
One might think that using silly string on a B52-sized cockroach was a spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment decision. Yeah, one might be dead wrong. This was a well thought-out action sequence by my sweet husband. He had bought the silly string weeks earlier and was waiting ever so patiently to "unleash the terror." In his defense, it was not well-executed since his original plan was to use 3-4 cans of silly string simultaneously and attack the roach from various angles. I believe that this would have worked. I also believe in unicorns and the tooth fairy.

But my husband humors me all the time when I have silly ideas and crazy whims, so who am I to judge?

Color coordinated

A recent home improvement project renewed my secret love for the hardware store, specifically the paint department. I can spend an unhealthy amount of time pulling out, comparing, and matching paint chips. I also take photos of the paint chip wall because, well, I can't resist. So many colors, so little time!

I've also bookmarked many a crafty project involving paint chips, but never feel comfortable going home with more than just one or two chips at a time. I just can't get past the guilt. I mean, if I removed a handful of paint chips from the store, someone at Benjamin Moore would KNOW...of this, I am convinced.

On the other hand, I have no problem recommending that my clients grab their own paint chips to communicate their wedding colors to other vendors. No guilt by association there...my conscience is clear.

Let It Snow!

Snowflake installation! (Photo by Derek Wong Photography)

Less than a week before Erin and Matt's wedding, we added a huge project to our plate - creating a hanging snowflake installation for their ceremony site! I accepted the job before I figured out exactly how I was going to produce it (not an uncommon thing for me). Without much time for experimentation, I quickly mapped out a plan to string 50 strands of clear and iridescent snowflakes, add some sparkle to catch the light, and weight each strand with a teardrop crystal. 

I'll be honest, this was a monstrous task that took a lot of helping hands to create, pack, deliver and install (stationers are not equipped to climb ladders and thankfully I left that up to the talented crew at Vignette). I was happy just to have completed the job on time but it wasn't until I saw photos of the snowflakes by candlelight, against the gorgeous draping, and hanging above Erin and Matt that I was really able to appreciate what we had created.

Exchanging vows... (Photo by Derek Wong Photography)

Monogram - Two Ways

Custom gobo (Photo by Derek Wong Photography)

A simple but stunning way to to personalize your reception space is to create a custom gobo that projects a beautiful image onto the wall, dance floor, ceiling, etc. For Erin and Matt, we designed a simple monogram with their initials and wedding date. And performing double duty, the same monogram was printed on their custom aisle runner.

Monogrammed aisle runner (Photo by Derek Wong Photography)

Naughty or Nice?

"Naughty" favor boxes (Photo by Derek Wong Photography)

"Nice" favor boxes (Photo by Derek Wong Photography)

Continuing on with Erin and Matt's holiday-inspired wedding extravaganza...

They presented their guests with a choice of "Naughty" or "Nice" gourmet chocolates packaged in red and white pillow boxes. We designed corresponding tags and a framed sign that invited guests to make their selection at the end of the evening. Love bringing clients' creative ideas to life!

Holiday-Inspired Invitation...the nose knows

Holiday-inspired invitation (Photo by Derek Wong Photography)

If only my blog came with a scratch-n-sniff feature.

This invitation was for a winter wedding back in December. There were so many fun elements to this wedding, that I decided to cover them all in multiple posts. (When you've taken a break from writing as long as I have, you gotta ease back into a little at a time. I don't want to sprain a muscle or anything.)

So, back to the invitation shown above. My clients, Erin and Matt, wanted a festive piece that tied in with their Christmas themed extravaganza. (I refer to it as an "extravaganza" because, well, you'll see why after I'm done writing about it.) A color scheme of red and white and touches of silver worked seamlessly with the printed Christmas ornaments that festooned the invitation and response card. The outside of the invitation was wrapped with a red and white striped paper band and a little "no peeking 'til Christmas" sign...the "no" was crossed out, so technically it was a "NO no peeking 'til Christmas" sign which gets a little confusing when you think about it too long. So don't think about it too long.

The hidden gem of the invitation, though, was the scent. Yes, I said scent. Erin and Matt's uber creative wedding coordinator, Mona Hirata from Weddings by Grace and Mona, suggested that we add a holiday scent to the invitation to drum up even more excitement for their guests. Why not? I love trying new things and scent was definitely a new thing.

Erin and Matt's scent of choice was pine. Great! Little did I know that finding pine-scented anything in the month of August was near impossible. Sure, I could order something online but without the benefit of sniffing something firsthand (first nose?), online shopping was my last resort. I decided to hit up some local stores in search of essential oils. Bingo. The very first store I visited had pine...too bad it was too earthy. (It actually smelled like a rotting tree, but I think "earthy" sounds classier.) The second store I visited also had pine...well, they had an empty slot reserved for pine but they were sold out. Lots of other tree scents like sandalwood and eucalyptus were perched in their slots, but no pine.

Out of desperation, my husband and I took a spin by an auto parts store. Yes, the idea of shredding the hanging Christmas tree car fresheners sounded ridiculous, but how awesome would it be if that worked? IT DID NOT WORK. IT WAS NOT AWESOME. Lesson #1: Christmas trees that dangle from your rear view mirror do not smell anything like Christmas trees. Lesson #2: Don't tear open the package of Christmas tree air fresheners in a confined space (like your car) unless you're prepared to go rogue and toss it out of the window while driving down the highway (for the record, I didn't litter...but I did hang my arm out of the window the whole ride home).

Scarred from the whole pine fiasco, I suggested to my clients that we go with a peppermint scent. A nice, refreshing, easy-to-find peppermint scent. This was my first custom invitation that smelled as good as it looked.