Merry Christmas!

image source: flickr

Jurianne Matter

source: Jurianne Matter.

I remember folding paper boats when I was little, but these ones from papier artist extraordinaire—Jurianne Matter are so much more adorable. How about these angel place cards / ornaments?!

The Wedding University

design: chewing the cud

Coming soon to Four Seasons Palo Alto on February 2008.

This is not your usual wedding fair. In fact, it is not a wedding fair at all! It is an all-day seminar of valuable knowledge to educate brides and grooms on planning a successful wedding. Don't miss it... more details coming soon. Stay tuned!

Cuddle with Cider Sachets now available

image source: chewing the cud

Our "Cuddle with Cider" sachets are now available in our shop! Just in time for the holidays.
These sachets contain mulling spices for use with cider and wine.

We recommend using 2 tablespoons of mulling spices per liquid gallon of cider, so with each sachet, you can make about 3 gallons. Steep loose for approximately 45 min, then strain and serve. Easy peasy:) Hot toddy anyone?

Thanks {frolic!}, ritzy bee and black eiffel for the blog love!

ctc Holiday Cards!

image source: chewing the cud

Our new holiday cards are now available here!

Freebie Gift Tags Download

Free ctc gift tags download here and here. Happy gifting!

Gift Presentation III: Glitter without Glare

For the most part, I'm not a big fan of glitter. But used in moderation, it can produce stunning results in gift presentation.

Recently we designed a 50th birthday dinner party. Among other elements we designed were these hostess gifts, wrapped in textured Japanese washi paper and tied with double layers of contrasting ribbons.

We chose a dark-colored paper to let the ribbons stand out. However to keep the presentation interesting, the paper was textured with a herringbone pattern that that we carried through to the gift tag.

A simple yet chic way to wrap tiny gift boxes (small "sparkling" things do come in small packages...) is to top it off with glittered sculptural accents. Like these butterfly cut-outs easily made from a craft punch.

all image source: chewing the cud

Wrap your box in plain black gift wrap. Punch out a few butterflies on glitter/silver paper with your craft punch. I added a black butterfly just to make it interesting. Fold butterflies in half and glue spine onto box. Voila!

Gift Presentation II: Kraft Bag + Personalized Tag

all images: chewing the cud

For gifts that are odd-shaped or better presented in bags, one of our favorite wrapping techniques is the kraft + baker's twine combo. We've included a free template of the sticker tag, in various sizes, used in this tutorial. Download here

Materials:
kraft bag
baker's twine
personalized sticker tag

Place gift in kraft bag. Fold top over twice and secure underside with double-stick tape.


Wrap baker's twine around the vertical length of the bag several times. Secure with a knot at approximately the top 1/3 of the length. (Shown at location of ribbon). Cut off excess twine.


Download and print tag on adhesive paper. Trim with scissors or circle cutter. Paste tag over the knot.

*All my free downloads are intended for non-commercial use only. Enjoy!*

Gift Presentation I: Draw-It-Yourself Gift Box

all images: chewing the cud

At ctc, we do declare that the art of presentation is in the details! With the holidays rapidly approaching, we thought it would be fun to do a series of posts about gift presentations. Sometimes, the packaging is just as important as the gift!

First up is the DIY gift box... Draw-it-yourself, that is.

Materials:
White box
Sharpie marker, crayon or pen of your choice
Ribbon if desired

Flatten white box.

Break out the sharpie and doodle on all sides.

Finish up with a ribbon of contrasting color, if you so desire.

7x7 San Francisco magazine

image source here

We are so excited that ctc's luggage tag seating cards were recently featured in the November issue of 7x7 San Francisco magazine!

Happy Thanksgiving

image source here

Pink Olive Boutique

image source: pink olive

Pink Olive is definitely one of our favorite NYC retail stores. In fact, they were the first store to represent our card line in the Big Apple. In addition to stationery, they also carry an extremely well-edited range of unique and thoughtful gifts, getaway and baby items made by an eclectic mix of local and national artists and designers.

When I first walked into Grace's cute store, I was instantly smitten and couldn't wait to get our stationery line in there. So when Grace called last month and said she would like to carry our wedding line, I was overjoyed. Grace had even created a new area in the store for stationery lovers in her east village store, where she houses our wedding book. We are absolutely tickled pink!

spooky poison labels

image source here

Ok I know Halloween is over but these poison labels are just too good to pass up. via i love typography.

"Style Me Pretty" blog love

image: chewing the cud

Thank you, Abby of Style Me Pretty, for posting about my work! We are so excited about launching these "cuddle" satchets soon as a ctc product. Something sweet and romantic for a winter wedding.

vote vote vote

images via my fav. bike girl

I couldn't resist...
don't forget to vote!

Giveaway at Southern Weddings

Southern Weddings is hosting a giveaway sponsored by yours truly today! Check it out here... good luck!

Survivor Soireé in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, we have partnered with event planning company byrd + bleeker in Texas and New York to spread some pink love.

Both Libby and I wanted to find a way to help in the fundraising efforts to promote the advancement of breast cancer research. We have known and been touched by the courageous stories of these survivors, many of whom are close to us. This inspiration gave birth to the concept of Survivor Soirée— a pink party to celebrate celebrate the vitality of the women who have survived breast cancer. The creative strength of both our companies resulted in these "New Beginnings" letterpress invitations (by chewing the cud) and the "Sweetness of Life" candy bar (by byrd + bleeker).

Perhaps it’s your sister. Your mother. Your best friend. Celebrate their triumph with a “Survivor Soirée”.
• Surprise your guests with these “New Beginnings” letterpress invitations by chewing the cud.
• Make your event sweeter by having byrd + bleeker create a “Sweetness of Life” candy bar and more pink party goodness.

New Beginnings Letterpress Invitations
image: chewing the cud

Sweetness of Life Candy Bar.
These are actually "Breast Cancer Awareness" candies; Hershey Kisses, York Peppermint Patties, Dove Dark Chocolate Pieces and Mars M&Ms Promise Blend. A portion of those candies' purchase price also goes towards the Susan G. Komen foundation - so really, it's a charity two-fer!
image: byrd + bleeker


Details from "Sweetness of Life" candy bar (byrd + bleeker); tags with affirming quotes by breast cancer survivors (chewing the cud); customized well-wishes cards (chewing the cud)
image: byrd + bleeker


and of course pink champagne to top it all off...
image: byrd + bleeker


10% of all proceeds will be donated to the Nellie B. Connally Breast Cancer Foundation at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at Houston

Also to show our pink love, we'd like to offer a 20% discount for you during the month of October. Email with inquiries: Here's to helping women everywhere!

P.S. Thank you Style Me Pretty for the blog love!

Gareth Pugh Does Paris

Image Source: JC Report and Style.com

English fashion designer Gareth Pugh showed his spring collection at Paris Week recently. How stunning are these architectural pieces? In my search to learn more about him, I came across this excerpt from Wikipedia. ouch!

"Though he is currently a darling of the fashion elite, Pugh claimed in March 2007 that he had yet to sell a single dress and that he struggled to make ends meet. (Until his Spring 2007 collection, his clothes were solely catwalk experiments and simply unavailable to purchase.) While constructing his autumn 2005 debut collection, shown in the Fashion East group show, he was squatting in a converted warehouse. (A court order ultimately forced him to leave the building.) He says his current studio is unheated and has only two electrical outlets. It remains to be seen whether Pugh can be a commercial success as well as a critical one, but he is slowly shifting to more wearable clothing in his runway shows and he has partnered with major manufacturers to produce some of his new pieces."

More of his collections here.

Lost Found Art

image source: here

Collections fascinate me. They reveal interesting facets of the collector's personality and provide clues to his/her life. These ones from Lost Found Art are especially lovely.

Corporate Pig

image source: corporate pig

Check out the wonderful and crazy world of Meredith Dittmar, the artist behind Corporate Pig.
Makes me want to pick up a wad of polymer clay right this minute.

Show and Tell Part Trois

image source: chewing the cud

... and finally part 3, because good things come in threes (or at least it seems that way to me these days).

Jenny and Scott are getting married in a few weeks at Scott's parents' private residence in Napa. I call it the splendor palace. Modern architecture, artfully complemented by rustic elements that blend into the vineyard landscape... think homegrown olive oil as favors, moss-covered dessert bar and wooden platters, oversized sunflowers and poppies, burlap... now you see the relevance of these invitations?

Show and Tell Part Deux

image source: chewing the cud

The bride, Eleanor, loved our Woodlands Affair invitation style, but was afraid the chipboard booklet might be too casual for her church ceremony and reception at the Intercontinental Mark Hopkins. She also loved the illustration from our Lovebirds Story style. We decided to take the best of the 2 styles and printed the final piece on luxurious cotton paper. We then matched the ribbon colors to her bridesmaid dresses. Problem solved.