New Inspiration!

We've been busy lately with new and exciting projects here at Passion Paper! Our extensive collection of Beach and Tropical invitations are always an inspiration for destination brides from California to Thailand! Here are a couple of things we've been working on, Patricia's daughter's Sweet Sixteenth Tiffany and Ocean Union Inspired. I love her quote that they have placed on the outside tag:


" 

Life is Like Dance, You learn as you go, Sometimes you lead, Sometimes you follow, But Always, Always Dance!"

We are also on the works of creating some new and exciting artwork this coming year, one of which are elegant abstract paintings. We've also included some new detailing such as hand painted gold details along with our artwork. Here's a sample of Lyndsey's invitations. I really really love how these are coming out!

We're also creating a new baby line,  called "Nest". This artwork I created for my very close friend Emmy. I think it came out super sweet!

Vibrant Colors

A popular trend in the studio is vibrant colors! Check out Andrea's St. Thomas Invitations - Vibrant yellow cover with fuchsia wax seal!

Ordering Invitations

In Passion Paper, when should you start your invitation process?

You should mail your invites 6-8 weeks prior to your event date.

So here's a quick sheet for you:

Gothic Fun!

Halloween! This reminded me of an invitation for Christian's Haunted House Celebration. Enjoy! We had a lot of of fun working on these!

Color Trends for Spring and Summer 2011

2011 is approaching fast! Many of you have started your process on ordering and having us create custom and unique invitations! We are so very excited! 

Just a little about my design philosophy...I am a designer by trade (went to a university with a visual emphasize, studied the appropriate design apps, went to work as a designer then an art director and now this...) and although I look at design, print and interior/architecture magazines and books, I try not to be "trendy". As a designer I go with my own design instincts, base things on color wheels (can you believe we actually used this to analyze emotions at some point), and my emotions.

I rely on the brides and grooms to choose their colors for their wedding because it is their day. So far, I've noticed  a huge range of color choices, from deeply natural (ivory, coral, browns and greens) to vibrant rich colors (turquoise, yellow, dark orange)...a broader range from our usual....so I'm wondering why is that?


According to Sherwin-Williams for 2011 color thread "Status is no longer about consumption, it is about personal identity and ColorMix 2011 evokes that sense of uniqueness."..."celebrate individualism-a trend toward not being trendy at all." Well said.


I've actually heard a similar notion from Benjamin Moore as well...


Here are some of the colors from Sherwin Williams. I've included not the title, but mostly the "emotion" that's tied to the colors. Some of these colors are already showing up on our 2011 client list. I honestly love all these color choices. They are all so unique and individual and evoke so much emotion.

Enjoy,


-r.










Please also view the site:
http://www.sherwin-williams.com/pro/paint_colors/explore/paint_color_trends/2011/


And these links for more info.
http://designholeonline.com/2009/balanced-color-benjamin-moores-color-forecast-for-2011/
http://thedecorologist.com/wp/sherwin-williams-2011-color-forecast


Some content were taking directly from some of these blogs and site. Thank you.

Asher's Baptism Decorations

After a couple of months looking at the web and finally deciding I wanted a rustic (country) feel for Asher's baptism with mason jars, burlap, wild flowers etc, we, after looking at home decorations, we decided to do modern country instead. Hubby really wanted brown table clothes instead of white ones and after going to IKEA yesterday, I found these lime green table runners. They were a bit bright, but with a baby event rather than a wedding, I thought it looked really nice with the brown. Andrés thought it was rather woodsy feeling (which I really liked since that went along with our tree and owl theme). I just needed to add a pop of blue around the tables. I was going to wrap these owl fabrics round our seedlings favors and place them inside the pots, double duty as a favor and as decorations! Any suggestions, let me know. Send pictures to me via email and I can post them up!

Hand Pressed Wax Seals, really?

Yes, that's true! We individually hand press each of our wax seals to our invitations. No need for you to do it! It all started on our wedding invitations back in 2003. We love love love the interactivity of our invitations and the anticipation each one brought to our guests. We brought this feeling to our passionpaper invitations as well, adding texture, pattern, beauty and balance. ~ Enjoy and Happy Tuesday!

Asher's Baptism Event - Bird Houses

So with the theme of woodland/nature for our son's baptismal event, we wanted some decorations in the backyard. Initially, I wanted white paper lanterns, but it seems way too off on our theme. We finally thought about birdhouses--owls live in owl houses or barns, right? We know the birdhouses that we buy in craft stores are birdhouses, but we think people will get it, plus they are super cute.

Our redwood trees out back:

We added red roofs for a "barn like" look:

Asher's Baptism Invitations - Final!

Hello,

So after our first attempt on Asher's baptismal artwork, I created another one with a subtle cross hanging from the tree. I also have a new technique, hand painting each card for each of our guests. Each guests will also receive a unique and different handmade paper pocketfold that contains an rsvp set, godparents, and direction card.  Enjoy! I sure did!

Asher's Baptism Artwork - First Attempt

Here's my first attempt at Asher's baptism artwork. We wanted a woodland/forest theme. I had a cross on the branch, but A (my husband) didn't get it :-(. Oh well. I will have to redo and see what I come up with. I do like my little owl. We actually have an owl living in our redwood tree so that's what triggered the idea. My little boy's eyes are also huge! I'll be doing a pen and ink, as shown, and when printed I'll be doing a watercolor splash...a new technique for us! Stay tuned...

Studio Works this week (August 9-13)

It's been a very busy week. So many bottles, so many ribbons! Jodi's light pink stargazer lily petal pochette invitations with triple ribbons! Nicole and David's custom beach initials with a new! white shell necklace. I really adore this idea! This shell necklace is like jewelry for this bottle! Hue and Adams custom tropical palm tree with vatican artwork bottles and down below, Kim and Jim's Botanical Love Birds of Paradise invitations. Off to the post office tomorrow to send some of the invitations to their guests! Whew! What a week!

Asher's Baptism - Part I

Hello! So with the studio working hard, we're also planning our son's baptism that's coming up this October. We've decided to do a whisical, woodland theme with trees, natural elements, flowers and owls. Colors would be white, light blue and some yellow. Our little baby will be wearing a traditional barong tagalog outfit from the Philippines and food would be Mexican. We're combining both filipino and mexican/american traditions into his event. The reception will be at our background that's very forest like with 2 huge redwood trees! Here's my inspiration board for some images I found. I just finished his drawing for his invitations. That image is coming up soon! I wanted a tree, an owl in a sketch feel like the tree with birdhouses. Decorations filled with flowers in mason or glass jars found around the house and baby food jars filled with candles. Our linens will be white with probably a burlap accent, like shown below and some bunting decorations and flowy banners...

Studio Works

Hello, here's what's brewing today at Passion Paper!

Kimberli's grapeleaf invitations. She decided on the sisel ribbon. It really gives it that natural look!

Stephanie's sketch of her and Donald:

Finishing up Amanda's Ocean Union II invitations. Also on the works Hue's palm tree small bottle invites and Nicole's large beach initials bottle invites. 

Enjoy!

Retro...vintage...modern...

Hello! I just wanted to share a board with you of something Rose and I are creating. I keep thinking it's a concoction of retro/vintage/modern feel to this board. I created this 3-d red poppy/flower (any color may be substituted) and used metallic papers and textured papers to give it that simple yet modern look with a touch of shabby whimsiness...is that even a word? For the inside, stay tuned. I'm thinking more simple, but still stylized.

enjoy!
~r.

Monday...Monday!

Happy Monday! I recently received two fabulous reviews from our clients this weekend, one from Sabrina who bought a custom Ocean Union Petal Pochette invitation and one from the bride's mother, Ileana, a custom white calla lilies and tulip beach inspired invitations. I enjoyed both of them very much. Here are the reviews:
From Sabrina:

"Thanks, Raquel!

They arrived on Friday, and my parents say that they look beautiful! What a special way to announce our wedding! I can't wait to see them myself!!

best wishes,

Sabrina"

And her invitation:

And from Ileana:

"We opened the box with the invitations yesterday. They are beautiful! You did excellent work and we are very happy.

Thank you!

Ileana"

And their invitation here:

 

For Ileana's invitation, they wanted something beach inspired with calla lilies, sand dollars, mums and tulips. All flowers will be in her bouquet. I made this mixture of flowers with sand dollar tucked inside. Coral was also a big color for them and after seeing some invitations in our projects and gallery pages, they found Lydia's invite with coral stripe band. We ended up using that and matched with light blue ribbon and gold palm wax seal. I used a light blue metallic crinkle paper for the hand lined envelope and to match their ribbon. I think this custom invitation came out so beautiful with all the textures and soft beach colors! 

What are we working on this week? We're working on Abbe's watercolor, Kim's grapeleaf invitations, Amanda's Ocean Union II Box invitations, Lynn's Nautical Sand Dollar box invitations... and others... Have a great rest of the week. I will try to blog as much as I can each day so you'll be updated on what we're up to.

~r.

June Studio

Hello there again! Just wanted to post some images of what we finished in June. These are only our custom invitations, not showing other invitations from our portfolio section. There's Hannah's Abalone Seashell, Cristina's beach inspired calla lilies, Alexandra's Sea Island, Alexandra's Hawaii map and turtle save the date and Tara's Ivory Camellias. We've enjoyed all of these invitations! I love all the blues and greens that came out this June. We're beginning to start off on our autumn colors this month and we're so very excited. Any questions, please let me know. Enjoy! ~r.

Eco-friendly, Eco-chic Favors

It's been awhile since I last blogged. The studio has been very busy with so many custom invitations and so many new and unique artwork to be done! We're working on  sand initials invite for Nicole, a jewish shawl for Amanda and Abbe, and a custom couple artwork for Stephanie.

Besides Passion Paper, as a family, we've finally finished our daughter's 4th birthday eco-friendly flowers and bug theme party! It was a success! Now, we're off to a baptism for our newest member of the family.

I've been thinking about different themes for his baptism. First it was "The Little Prince" with light blue, silver and cream colors...lanterns hanging from our trees, simply elegant and petit! But after much thought, I wanted to go for a more down to earth, natural theme for him. It seems fitting for our little guy. Since the venue will be on our own background and in October, I thought more of just a simply natural nature theme for him. Our backyard consists of two huge redwood trees and surrounded with jasmine vines! With all that said, I've been doing research on decorations and favors. I love, love eco friendly favors, favors that can either be planted or reused. We used this idea for our wedding back in 2003 (when eco-friendly wasn't much of a hype yet). Ours is the bamboo favor. Can you believe that after 6 years (coming onto 7 years in October 11) we still have our bamboo plant.?! I had added the A loves R stamp on the pot and in the final version, we also had a custom tag that I designed.

As for Asher's baptism favors (that's our little guy's name), I love the idea of the cactus or the redwood tree, but not sure if the redwood tree would be cute for a little guy! Have fun and enjoy. If you have any ideas on eco-friendly favors, send them my way and I'll post them here. I would love to see what you come up with too!

Enjoy, -r.

credits:

1) Bamboo favor: our own personal favor

2) Birdseed favors by Dream Green Weddings

3) Redwood Tree Favors by edmontonweddingplanner.amodernproposal.com/

4) Pots of Herbs: by Heather and Jason, Manitou Springs, CO

5) Handmade soaps from 100 Layer Cake

6) Cupcake favors by Blissful Brownies

Redwood Tree Nature Inspiration Board

Hello!
One of my high school friends, Grace gave me an honor of creating her invitation for them. They are getting married amongst Redwood Trees. I was very excited! I love redwood trees. We actually have 2 huge ones in our backyard and they are one of the reasons why we bought our house in the first place.

When my husband and I were engaged years and years ago (ah, how time flies), we were actually thinking about a Redwood Forest as a wedding venue. But at last, we ended up with a mission style/old world venue because of family etc.

If I were getting married at a Redwood Forest, here's my inspiration board. I hope you enjoy them! I think they are quite lovely. There are so many possibilities out there, and nature is the best inspiration!

Enjoy!



If any of these images belong to you, thank you so much for letting me share them to my viewers. I will be happy to credit you for your images. The only images that belong to moi are the invitations that I created for my good friend, Grace.

Thinking about the oil spill

I've been extremely saddened by the Gulf Coast oil spill and every moment I have, I try to see what's happening at CNN. We've lately created a sea turtle for one of our clients, Alexandra and everytime I look at it, it reminds me of all the sea and land creatures affected by this catastrophe.


I've even discussed what's happening with the world with my soon to be 4 year old. She wanted to save the turtles and in lieu of presents, she's asking her guests to send a donation at http://www.savenature.org. Although not a direct donation to save the gulf coast at least save some part of our planet. I'm so proud of her! I've also been brainstorming on how to make her party eco-friendly...so paper scraps we have at Passion Paper, we'll be using as craft items for her birthday projects. I think any way to reuse, recycle and have less waste could benefit somehow to the environment. Here at our studio, we try to use every bit of the resources and therefore have less waste. That's why we also have no set quantity, just minimum cost. You order what you need with just a few extras and we make exactly that quantity - hardly any waste and of course, any waste, we recycle!

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!
Raquel

Blush + mauve + cream + white inspiration board

We just recently worked with jade on her custom nautical invitation. Her initial idea was all white and cream but later on told us she had hints of pink in her flowers. After some research, we found some beautiful inspirational images from the theknot.com, eluckme.com, kellyoshiroevents.com and of course jade's nautical sand dollar invitations using blush, mauve, some cream and white wedding colors. These colors are hot, hot, hot this season, according to the knot! Enjoy!

Earth Day ~ Part I ~ Life

Besides Passion Paper, I wanted to introduce to you that we also have 2 adorable children, a 3 month old and a 3 year old. Honestly, besides recycling and trying not to be as wasteful as possible at our home and studio (that's another post), I, as an individual, haven't really been doing my research on sustainable, eco-friendly or organic products out there until now.
I guess it all started off when my husband and I started looking for a new mattress a couple of weeks ago. Honestly, I was just concerned about how comfortable the mattress would be. My husband, my ever loving one who is so much more aware about these things, started telling me about Keetsa. I just shrugged and didn't really care too much about it because I haven't heard about this company before. So off we went to San Francisco, almost going through a one way street the other way and finally found the place at ninth street. When I came in, it was a totally different experience from the Mancini's or sleep trains. Although the place was small and smelling of green tea, there were more people in there than any place we've been to.



As posted on their site, "A Better Matresss for You and the Environment" A third of your life is spent in bed trying to achieve renewal for tomorrow. Keetsa brings you eco-friendly sleep products designed to help you get the rest you need while not taking a bite out of your wallet or the environment."

I did some research on traditional mattresses and can you believe that we are inhaling carcinogenic substances such as benzene, methylene chloride, and formaldehyde from traditional mattresses out there? Also found in searchwarp.com, "Toxic substances in mattresses could also come from the fire-retardant component of the mattress. Some brands use generic fire retardants that have been found to consist of potentially inhalable carcinogenic agents such as antimony and boric acid."

So after much research, we are going with keetsa. The whole bed was even transported in a box that you can easily take home in your car or truck, no delivery trucks or anything! So what happened to our old mattress and bed? We sold it at Craigslist. Another couple wanted it for their guestroom. Thank goodness it's not in the dump somewhere and instead is being reused again :-)!

So after all this, I've been purchasing organic materials for our little babies. As for Passion Paper, we do limit coated/metallic papers and use either lokta, mulberry or banana papers...papers that are natural and recyclable. More on that in our next postings - Earth Day - Part II - Passion Paper Materials

Happy Earth Day/Week!

Fantastic Day!

Yay! we just received an email from Kara, from Bridal Crate Wedding News Magazine,
"Just a quick note to let you know that we consider your company Wedding Newsworthy! Congratulations...we love your work! We also gave you a 4 Crate Star, which means your website is Excellent-Outstanding! Here is the link to your personal article:

http://www.bridalcratemagazine.com/the-vendors-news/2010/4/13/passion-paper.html

We also just received a rave review from Diwata and Eric. We created their coral pink Coral themed invitations and save the dates.
Here's their review:

Hi Raquel,

We received our wedding invitations yesterday. We just want to say "THANK YOU!" We love how the inviations turned out. They are so beautiful and unique. The custom coral image you did was amazing. It puts a smile on my face everytime I open the invitation.

Thanks again Raquel! So glad I found you! I'll definately recommend you to all my family and friends.

Your happy customers,

Diwata & Erik


Have a fantastic day everyone!

What are we up to?

We've been quite busy these past couple of months. With the new addition to our family and the wedding season in full gear, life and business has been hectic. More than usual, people are requesting for more customized work. I am so happy and excited about these new creations! Here are a couple of ones that we just finished and shipped. I've included the client's inspirational images to give us a better view of their dream invitation. I've also included some other ones from our portfolio that's customized with their colors in mind. Enjoy!

Debbie's Palm Tree Inspired Invitations. Images on the left are ones she has sent us for inspiration.



Elise's Modern Tropical Stargazer Lily Invitations. Some of the images she has sent us for inspiration:


Loren's Simply Romantic Invitations. Her flowers were our inspiration for colors



Teresa's beautiful white and aqua with starfish invitations



Carol's 25th anniversary invitation - Palm Tree artwork inspired

Our New Arrival!

Hello all!

I haven't written for so long...it's because we've been busy with our newest arrival in the family, our little baby boy! He was 2 weeks and 1 day early and has kept us busy! We've also been busy finishing up work from our current clients, such as a custom sand/initials invitation for Lydia, small invitation starfish voyage bottles for Lissette, large invitation bottles (starfish voyage) for Tory, Ocean Union box or petal invitations for Esther, Francesca, and Victoria and Dominican Republic map invites for Karina! Phew! There are also more on our list!!

It's been an exhausting yet fulfilling month. We've had some sleepless nights, and we're also still trying to adjust to our schedule ...so please excuse us if we haven't gotten back to you or our replies are late! We are so blessed with so many clients and potential clients. Thank you all for being so supportive and patient with us at this time!

Also keep note, please submit your order early! Although we love to work with many of you, I (Raquel) can only do so much physically. All our invitations are created by hand and therefore is a time consuming process. I enjoy what I do and take time and love on all our projects! Anyways, hope all are doing well.

xoxo,
-r.