Carrie signs in

Hello.
I am the trusty assistant and self described "arbiter of all things good taste."

I truly believe it was fate that lead me here to Lisa and Bella Carta Studio. I am originally from here, in Rochester, New York. But I've spent almost 25 years away, chasing the dream of big time graphic design all over the northeast. I returned here in March of 2007, to be with my family again. And I had walked away from design.

Until I got bored and needed something to distract me from the family. Scanning the local Craigslist, I found Lisa's post for help. Upon meeting her and seeing the wonderful work she was doing in invitation design, I was lured back to help make these beautiful creations.

I am the person that makes the invitations by hand. Cutting, taping, folding, tying. Sometimes hundreds a week. And I love it.

Also, I do lots of other things here in the studio. For example, today I am painting our ribbon cabinet a clean eggshell. We take great pride in the appearance of our showroom and want to create a lovely environment for our local clients and to display the invitations and other items we create.

After this introductory post, I will be making paper "kimonos" as we are calling them for a bride who chose cute fair-trade bookmarks as her wedding favors. Her mom brought one in and wondered how they could be presented to their guests. This was after searching all over for an appropriate container that worked with both the item and the color scheme of the reception. After folding some "french roast" paper that is being used in her other wedding day stationary, we came up with a wrap that does indeed look like a kimono! These will be finished with a organza green ribbon tied around them.

I will be making 170 of these to start, all by hand. There is my afternoon.

Again, I love it.

Got to go do some work...
- Carrie