Personalized Bridesmaid Gifts

One of the best things about a wedding is that you get to share the special day with your friends and family. Not only that, but you get to pick the people who you want standing next to you as you make your vows to the love of your life. My bridesmaids included my two sisters, and three close friends, and I wanted to make their gifts as personalized as possible.

First, was some personalized stationery. Each bridesmaid got two sets of stationery with matching colored envelopes, and a white Sakura gelly roll pen for the darker envelopes. It was personalized with their name and address, and with a design just for them. The cards fit in A2 sized envelopes, and had rounded corners.

Second, was a handkerchief with their first name initial embroidered in pink. Just in case tears flowed during the ceremony (and they did!), I wanted to give them a nice way to dab their tears. I also got one for myself in blue (as my something blue), which I had my husband hold for me during the ceremony in his tux pocket. One thing that I didn't account for was how they were supposed to hold the handkerchiefs down the aisle. They ended up saving the gift for another day, and just stuffed kleenex tissues in their bouquets for the ceremony!

Third, was a photo album filled with printed photos of each bridesmaid with me throughout the years. It was a boxed frame, where the top could be pulled out to store at least 40 photos inside. These three things along with a card to each of my bridesmaids, were wrapped up in large pink and white tote bags, which were labeled with name tags attached with fuschia satin ribbon.

The last four photos were taken by BKB Photography

I gave them their gifts in our hotel room right after all of our makeup and hair were done, and dresses were on. I really wanted to go through and give a small speech about what they all mean to me, but I barely got two words out and had to stop, because my makeup would have been gone! I think my expression said it all, and they knew how I felt without me having to say anything. So, if I were to give advice to any brides, do the gift giving before your makeup is done if you're the type to get emotional. That way, you can say what you really want to say, and cry away on a clean face!

~Emilie

A Glitter Sprinkled Cupcake Birthday Card

This past week, it was my friend Katherine's 29th Birthday. I recently have been in a little cupcake phase, especially from Sugar Sweet Sunshine in NYC, so I thought that for Kat's birthday card, I would design a cute cupcake. As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm going to be starting to show some of the initial sketches for some of the cards and invitations that I make.

I started out by drawing out a simple cupake with two layers of frosting on top. I thought of putting numbered candles on the top of the cupcake, but in the end, I decided to go with a simple lit candle. As you can see, my writing is pretty illegible when I think I'm the only one who's going to be needing to read it. I might make things a bit neater now that I know I'll be taking more photos of these sketches in the future.

Once I began creating the cupcake in Illustrator, I decided to add in a bit of purple into the cupcake along with the original pink and brown. I hand glittered the first layer of frosting so it looked like it was sprinkled with sanding sugar. I also hand-glittered a purple flower on the side of the cupcake and on the back of the card, along with the candle and flame. The card was personalized with "Kat" on the cupcake liner and was printed on pearlescent white metallic cardstock. The metallic brown envelope matched the chocolate cupcake, and I hand-lettered "Katherine" in white ink.

Doesn't this card make you want to unwrap the cupcake and eat it? I loved using multiple colors for the hand-glittered elements, and will probably try to do that more often in my upcoming designs. If you would like me to design a card for your friend's upcoming birthday, email me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com.

~Emilie

Adorable Baby Thank You Cards

Recently, I was asked to design thank you cards for guests who attended a one year old's birthday party. I love baby related cards because they are always so cute! Many times, they include lots of pastel colors, and fun fonts.

I started off as I usually do for any custom requests by sketching out a few designs on paper. Either a ball point pen or a fine sharpie marker on the back of junk mail, the back of a napkin, or sometimes on a fresh sheet of regular letter sized printing paper. I thought it might be kind of cool to show how these sketches relate to the final product, so in this post and in some future posts, I'll be taking photos of the actual sketch I used before I transform it into a card or invitation in Adobe Illustrator.

As you can see, it's quite a rough sketch, but enough for me to get a good idea if it would work well for a card or not. I put together about six different sketches, and fully designed two of my favorites in Illustrator to send off for some feedback. The only client requirements were that I include "Thank You" and that there be some blue in the card, so it was pretty fun to be able to have the freedom to try anything.

The final card was based on the sketch that you see above. It's a blue flower with the birthday boy's name "Dylan" in the petals in colorful letters. The flower covers the corner of a rounded frame with little blue dots that match the inside of the flower. The flower was hand-glittered for some sparkle and texture, as well as the flower on the back of the card. The card was made of a pearlescent white metallic cardstock, and the envelopes were light blue.

I packaged the set of 20 cards by tying them in ribbon, wrapping them in tissue paper, and placing them in a silver box. Let me know if you like seeing the design sketches, and I'll make it a point to add more later on. If you would like to get some custom cards made, contact me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com!

~Emilie

A Mario's Castle Wedding Card

This past weekend, my brother-in-law, Paul, got married to Che Lai at a gorgeous country club in Connecticut. When it came to creating a wedding card, I knew that it had to be something special. Paul loves to play video games in his free time. Not only will he play them, but he is also a collector of limited edition guides, games, controllers, and anything else that you can get in a limited edition. That means that he would actually buy the limited edition, and then NOT open it, and tuck it away in a bin to keep it in pristine condition. I think that truly demonstrates how serious he is about video games!

So, for the wedding card, I decided to pay tribute to the most classic video game there is: Super Mario Brothers. The idea behind it is that Paul is about to finish the game, and he jumped onto the flag pole and rode the flag down to the bottom of the pole, then met his princess, Che Lai, in the castle. I designed all of the elements of the card, with cute touches like the flag on top of the castle with the groom's last name initial. Personalized the card with their names under a hand-drawn bride and groom. I also hand-glittered the heart, the cloud, and the flag for some added texture and shimmer. Instead of having text like "Congratulations to the newlyweds," I wanted it to relate more to the video game theme, so I included "they lived happily ever after" along with their wedding date.

I was really happy with the way this card turned out, and they loved the card! If you have an idea for a custom card for your friend's wedding, birthday, or special event, let me know by emailing me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com!

~Emilie

Personalized stationery - great for gifts!

Sometimes, the best gifts are the ones that show a personal touch, or some extra thought. Many people like writing cards, notes, or small thank you's to loved ones or friends, but not many people have their own set personalized stationery to use. This stationery set of ten cards with matching envelopes is personalized with the name on top, and with a scroll design on the corners. The cards are made of a metallic pearlescent cardstock, with rounded corners, and the envelopes are a matte moss color.

I packaged the cards and envelopes by wrapping double-faced chocolate satin ribbon around the corners, and secured it with a pretty bow. If you're interested in personalized stationery for yourself or as a gift, contact me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com!

~Emilie

A thank you card with a blue flower

Whenever someone does something nice for you, what do you do in return? Maybe it depends on what was done? Whether it was opening a car door for you, or picking the 20 prettiest flowers for you in a desert that only has one flower per five mile radius, the reactions purely depend on the person who is receiving the act of kindness. Some people would say or do nothing, and think that they don't need to because the person already knows that they appreciate their kindness. Others would maybe take it to another level and treat the person to cupcakes or dinner.

I have always been one to say "thank you". A few months ago, my husband and I stopped for ice cream in the town of Lexington, and after parking, we realized that we didn't have any quarters on hand for the meter, but tons of dimes and nickels. For a meter that only takes quarters, all of the change in the world wouldn't help. Then, there was a guy who was getting into the car behind us, who gave us a quarter and wished us a good afternoon. I said "thank you so much!" and offered to give him change, but he refused to take it. Just think, $.25 from a stranger made our day, and it's still fresh in my mind after a few months!

So, what's the point of these stories? Well, a personalize thank you card, of course! My brother-in-law did me a favor a couple of weeks ago by purchasing something that I couldn't get in Boston, and shipped it to me the next day. Instead of just mailing him a reimbursement check, I thought it would be nice include a personalized thank you card. I really like this card in particular, because if you go to your local card shop to try and find a thank you card for your brother-in-law, you probably won't be able to find one. I decided to draw a small blue flower, with accents and lettering in blue, gray, and orange. The card was made of a pearlescent white metallic cardstock and the flower was hand-glittered to add some sparkle and texture.

I always like to include some part of the design element on the back of the card around the Pink Orchid Designs logo. It makes the back a bit more interesting and ties the card together. Jake emailed me as soon as he received it with "My own custom card! Excellent!!!" and after that, I knew it was a great way to thank him. If you are interested in your own custom card, contact me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com.

~Emilie

Inspiration from Japan - A Cherry Blossom Card

Cherry blossom season in Japan only lasts for 10 days, so to plan a trip to Japan and get the timing right is nearly impossible. Luckily for me, my trip to Japan last month was at the start of an early cherry blossom season, and I was able to see a few beautiful trees here and there that were starting to flower.

So one of the few things that I brought back with me from Japan was some custom card inspiration. My friend, Elizabeth, celebrated her birthday last week, and I spent some time trying to recreate the beauty of those cherry blossoms in a birthday card for her. She loved the end result, and even though the card only has one single line of words and a cherry blossom tree, I think it makes quite a statement. The chocolate metallic envelope was addressed in white ink, and the pearlescent white card was covered with hundreds of dots of pink glitter to give each flower blossom a bit of sparkle and texture.

I love how the second photo captures how the glitter changes to different color tones in the sunlight. If you have an idea for a custom card, email me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com!

~Emilie

A valentine's day card w/ a fishbone...

This past valentine's day, I had a fun opportunity to create a personalized card for my friend, Sam. She asked to see if I could create a card similar to the "love turtles" that I blogged about back in December, but instead of turtles, a cute pair of kittens! (Sam and her fiancé own an adorable persian kitty) So, I designed some cute rounded belly kittens, along with a fishbone at Sam's request.

I finished off the card with some hand glittered elements, and also lettered her fiancé's name onto the envelope in white ink. It was simply packaged with some tissue paper in a textured box, wrapped with some twine.

Hope everyone had a great valentine's day! If you have an idea for a personalized card, email me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com.

~Emilie

Holiday cards designed for you!

With the holidays upon us, many of us send out cards, or buy those boxed sets to give out to family and friends. Each year for me, I actually only need three cards to give out for a small holiday brunch with my closest girlfriends. One year, I had bought a boxed set of 14 cards (the smallest number I could find at the time), and I still have 11 cards sitting in the box. Also, you can't re-use holiday cards for the next year to the same people unless you want the "hey, wasn't this the same card you gave me last year?", so those 11 cards will probably just sit there forever.

My solution this year, was to create a holiday card for each of the girls, personalized with their names. I created a simple snowflake design, with a happy holidays greeting underneath. I also embellished each of the snowflakes with a touch of glitter for some sparkle and texture.

If you are interested in creating personalized holiday cards for your friends and family, just email me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com!

~Emilie