Monday, November 28, 2011

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

Friday, November 11, 2011

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!

Monday, October 24, 2011

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.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

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...

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

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.

Friday, October 14, 2011

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

Monday, October 10, 2011

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!