Wedding Favors with a Cause

We do a lot of wedding favor packaging and tagging, as well as the donation cards (in lieu of favors, bride & groom have made donations to etc., etc.). Wedding favors are nice, and those donation cards are a nice way to honor loved ones, but what if you could do something for others WHILE giving a cool favor to your guests?

We've spoken about the Fair Trade bookmarks for which we created cool packaging so they looked great at the reception. Today I was helping one of my other clients with the same kind of endeavor. She liked the idea of the fair trade bookmarks but doesn't live local to where I am (so I could send her to the same place my other client purchased those great bookmarks). Well, I found the neatest site while looking for more Fair Trade bookmarks. Take a look at these:

Aren't they beautiful? But here's the BEST part...for each bookmark purchased (for $3.95 each), The Hunger Site funds 25 cups of food for people who don't have enough food to eat. So in other words, you're doing a GREAT thing (think of how much food that is for a simple 150 person wedding!) AND your guests get a beautiful bookmark. You can attach a lovely logo tag with an explanation on the back and put one at each place setting. They'd be gorgeous and you'd be doing such a good thing. Here's the site: http://shop.thehungersite.com/store/item.do?itemId=32643&siteId=220&sourceId=220&sourceClass=StoreSearch&index=4

There are many other options on The Hunger Site, too...take a look! Additionally, there are sister sites that give money to fund breast cancer research, child health, literacy, etc. Just use the link above and you'll see the other options in the tabs at the top of the page.

The Zen of creation

Hello all!

I just wanted to update a couple of on-going projects that I've been working on here at Bella Carta Studio.





First, I finished painting the aforementioned ribbon cabinet last week and it has been moved back into place in the brown showroom and filled again with all sorts of gorgeous ribbon. It looks great, as you can see.

Lisa also wanted me to mention the custom, personalized ribbon as featured in the book perched on top of our cabinet. We order this from Midori, a manufacturer of VERY luxurious ribbon. This ribbon can come in almost any color, a variety of widths and can be personalized with the bride and groom's names, monogram or any specific message for your guests. Please feel free to contact us for more information on this service.

The other thing I JUST NOW finished were the 170 kimonos that I was about to start when I blogged about painting the cabinet. One of the great things about my job here is the joy I derive from the act of CREATION - actually hand making: cutting, folding, taping, tying 170 beautiful little items. As I often say when I describe my job, it's all VERY ZEN. You really get into a groove doing this. It's extremely peaceful and terrifically rewarding. Especially when you see the whole lot DONE!


I had the finished kimonos out on the workroom table to count them and thought they looked particularly cool, as you can see.

Well, another week of creation and fun here at Bella Carta Studio. Stay tuned, more to come....
-carrie

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