Passion Paper

New Inspiration!

2010-12-09T21:44:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-19T12:27:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-10-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-22T01:05:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-08-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-08-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-13T18:46:00.000-07:00

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)

2010-08-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-07-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-24T01:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-24T01:12:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-21T02:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-13T17:50:00.001-07:00

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?

2010-04-02T16:15:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-01-31T17:34:00.000-08:00

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.

Seasonal Palette

2009-10-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

Our studio is filled with autumn colors and silvery winter palettes! I love fall and winter! Although in California, the season doesn't get chilly until end of October or beginning of November. Right now, we're still in our Indian Summer. Last week, the temperature was about 90-100 degrees, while this week it's about 70-80. We're beginning to do more and more spring palette's such as blue's and turquoises, pinks and greens...but right now, our palettes are browns and beiges and white and silvers. You can see from our collection here: Leah's husband's 60th Birthday Roast, Megan's Old Mission in Idaho (I must say, I think is handsomely pretty, is that a phrase?), and Charlene's New Year's fuchsia stargazer lily.

We'll soon be working on lots and lots of Starfish designs - our most popular right now is Maritime Starfish, Starfish Voyage and Water Sailing! I will be adding some photos of those soon...

Please also view our new Specials for October. If you read the Special's page, one of the condition is to have your invites shipped before Dec. 15 or after Feb. 20th. Why so? Well, we'll be going on maternity leave around January. Our baby boy will be coming around then! As much as I'd love to work, I don't think I'll be much help when the baby arrives. I hope everyone understands. I will be posting a notice sometime in November, but just a heads up if you're reading this.

Happy October!

Love,
Raquel

Wax seals Everywhere!

2009-09-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

Hi! We're finally done with the website. Phew! We have a great specials happening this month until...? That's still to be determined. Check out the specials page for more information!

Here are some images of what we've worked on for the past couple of days.

Enjoy!

New Designed Website!

2009-08-20T00:45:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled and exhausted to have finished our new website design. Doing it on my own is fairly a tiring task. I'm mostly a designer and not a programmer. The hardest part of all was the navigation and the logo design. I wanted to keep the red color for our banner because it represents "passion" for me and it's also one of my favorite colors and... to maintain most of what we had but just updating it and making it more intuitive for users. I know there's still more work to do, so in the next couple of weeks, you'll probably see more changes. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do for now!

Besides our website design, I'm also finishing up Erica's Modern Vineyard Boxed Invitations. I'm having so much fun putting them together. Also working on some Beach Lounges for Michelle and Lindsey. Our whole studio is smokey from doing all these wax seals!

Here are some images of Erica's Vineyard Designs. We took the designs from Melissa K (see her designs below) and incorporated graphic grapeleaves and grapes to give it that vineyard look. She also wanted something dimensional. After much brainstorm, we suggested used corks...used corks to give it more personality because each one will be unique on its own. (do you see some of them have actual wine stains?) I think this design will soon be part of our collection area. Another client wants to use this design for the holidays. I can't wait to get started on those!

The next couple of days, I'll be working on Coral Reef, Palm Fronds, Starfish Voyage Bottles, Tere's Old Hollywood Invites, just to name a few. You can see Tere's Invitations in our Projects section.

That's it for now. Til next time, -r.

Fall colors and what's happening in the studio

2009-08-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

It's been a great week so far, busy and productive. I went to our printer's yesterday to get Erica's Vineyard cards printed. Andres will be picking them up today. After much trouble with the film, we finally got it printed beautifully. I'm extremely happy with the results! I can't wait to show you the final product!

Some things in our studio. Although I love vibrant colors, my favorite season is the fall. Andrés and I got married in October because we love all the fall colors and the weather! It's amazing that I don't have many fall pieces in our website. But I think, eventually, I'll get there. Many more people are asking about fall color combinations, so if you don't see anything that's in your color scheme, let me know! I'm happy that we do have some fall colored invites... Raline's Regal that we just finished, Megan's Cataldo Mission in North Idaho invitations (we're currently working on. you can see her process in our Projects page), and finally wrapping up Michelle's golden yellow beach lounge, and working on Cheri's custom invitations. I've attached some images here.

Megan's Golden Yellow Beach Lounge

Some other things are Cheri's Starfish Boxed Invitations. These are so popular lately that I will probably be adding them to the portfolio section. I love every color combination that people are using. Here are some images:

Besides studio work and trying to start and finish some more custom invitation inquiries, I'm also working on revamping/redesigning our passionpaper website. I did start off as a web designer and studied interactive design at school. I think the hardest job of being a designer is creating a website for yourself. That's why I still do not have an individual web presence. I did, but it's really old, like 2005. Passion Paper keeps me so busy (and having a 3 year old and pregnant) that I don't have the time to redesign anything, just update. But after much thought, it's time for a much needed redesign, especially the navigation. I'm working long hours trying to figure out the best possible solution on how people will navigate around the site, so hopefully, a new look will show sometime next week.

Anyways, I'll blog again later this week and keep you up to date on what's happening here at our studio... happy wednesday!!

New Projects in our Studio

2009-08-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of projects we've been working on in our studio. Lots of hand pressed wax seals and pops of color!

Mackenzie's Bougainvilla Flowers. Mackenzie wanted simple yet elegant invitations, but also wanted texture and pops of fuchsia and green colors.

1 of 3 Beach Lounges we're working on this week. Michelle's Golden Yellow Beach Lounge.

We've also finished Raline's Regal Invitations. She's getting married at the Crystal Plaza, stunning and elegant!

- Image by Crystal Plaza

Soon to view, Erica's Modern Vineyard Invitations and Tere's Hollywood Glamour Invitations.

Have a great weekend,
Raquel

Some New Projects in the Studio

2009-07-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

Hope all had a great Happy Fourth of July! Here are some things we've finished in the studio.

Enchanted Evening Invitations:

Melissa wanted soft and elegant invitation with a hint of enchantment and whimsy. We came up with this abstract tree like graphic with splashes of gold tint and chocolate brown ink. Topped it off with their "K" gold monogram, soft ivory petals and gold petal pochette. Below are also some table cards, their programs and menu cards. Also great for holiday invites!

Kirsten's Orange Romantic Orchids. Beautiful, I think!

Carinne's tropical and bright Ocean Union Box Invitations with seaglass, seashells and natural starfish.

Beth's custom artwork with palm tree and sunset scene.

That's all folks. We have some more in the works in the studio. Check out our projects page and gallery pages for more images. We're always here to create new and unique invitations for you! We're about to reach our 5 year anniversary date this coming week! We're so excited! Stay tuned for more upcoming savings on your future events! Thanks again and talk to you soon!

Projects in the Studio

2009-04-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

Hi! It's been a busy busy week! Here are some images of projects that just shipped out. We're in the process of producing Cristina's Fuchsia Soft Orchids, Shama's Birds of Paradise, Shaheena's St. Lucia's, Rosa's Passionate Hibiscus and Marissa's custom Coconut Breeze... and there are more in the studio...phew!

Jennifer's Oahu Save the Dates:

Amanda's Custom Sand Dollar Guestbook. You can also find her invitations in our custom invitations section (for viewing):

Latasha's Botanical Love ~ Yellow Hibiscus with left and right hand torn edgings. You can see the details on the 2nd picture.

Karina's Lovely and Vibrant Orange Calla Lily Invitations ~
Here's what Karina just said "Raquel OMG! I received the invitations and all i can say is you are amazing! They are so beautiful, i can't thank you enough for all the hard work you did, i am so happy!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
TTYS, Karina"

Enjoy!
Have a good weekend!
Raquel

Pink and Green Orchids

2009-04-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

This week has been very busy. We've created and shipped Save the Dates, Karina's Orange Calla Lilies, Olesya's Romantico with Peony artwork and more samples. We're currently working on Stacy's Kiwi Orchids, Latasha's yellow hibiscus, Shama's Birds of Paradise, Rosa's Passionate Hibiscus and Jeanna's Pink Beach Lounge. We've also had a serge of pink and green color motifs in the last couple of weeks. You can see them here for Jeanna's Pink Beach Lounge and Cristina's Pink and Kiwi Soft Orchids.

We also received a new order from Kathryn on her 2010 kiwi and pink orchid theme. We're very excited about this theme because she wants something fresh, funky, and a little bit Irish! While doing research, I am also jotting down ideas on new invitations. I will keep you posted on what I find!
Have a great weekend. Til then,
Raquel

Exciting News

2009-03-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't written for so long. How time flies. With Passion Paper and a 2 year old with ballet and preschool, things get so hectic! But I do love staying with her. She's my biggest fan and we watercolor/paint together as much as possible.

Yesterday, we received an email from Jady images about Bridget's Bottle Invitations. They said her invitations are the coolest thing, and her wedding will be featured on their blog soon. We're very excited to hear about it. I had so much fun working on Bridget's Starfish Voyage Bottle invitations. The turquoise ribbon gave her invitation so much personaliity.

Check it out at: http://www.jadyimages.com/blog

We've been very busy these last couple of months and have received some very nice comments from clients we've worked with. It makes me so happy that we have taken part on such a special and memorable day. I will be updating our home page soon on some new comments.

Some new and exciting things that are happening, our location and modern invitations are becoming more and more popular. We've created a Dominican Republic map for Jennifer.

Soon we'll be creating a St. Lucia map for Shaheena. She is patiently waiting for her artwork to be done!

Our Romantico invitations are gaining popularity too. I'm doing some sketches for some new invitation ideas. Call or email me regarding custom designs for your event. I love creating new artwork and thinking of new color and texture combinations for potential and new clients!! The easiest way is to email or fill out our custom invitation form, or if you're up to calling us, let us know ~ 650.868.0756. We are based in California, Pacific time.

Custom Invitation Form

Some things to think about, color scheme, location, decorations, budget, flowers, anything that helps us visualize your event personality. You can also email us images of your flowers, decoration ideas, etc.

til next time!
-r.

Wet Paint!

2009-03-26T18:43:00.000-07:00

I just recently finished Jessica's Pirate and Mermaid themed artwork. I had so much fun creating this artwork. She wanted purple and green tail with peacock inspiration. Stay tuned on our invitation ideas coming in the next couple of days!

New and Exciting Details and Products!

2009-01-27T17:44:00.000-08:00

We have some new and exciting details and products. In our portfolio/collection area, you'll see we have some new designs up for 2009. We're also currently working on some lavender/purple orchids for a couple of clients and creating more modern+handmade invitations.

Right now, check out our new detail, gold painted and hand torn edgings. This one is for Bridget's Bottle Invitations. Below is also an image of the turquoise ribbon with starfish bowtie. I think the ribbons made these invitations elegantly retro!

We're also developing our mint collection. We've created some mints for Jodi using our Starfish artwork. Inside each mint tin are white mints and for presentation, we've included ivory organza bags. Any of our artwork may be available for our mint favors. Just let us know!

We also have just created some Calendar Save the Dates. These are for Jessica + Matthew. They used calm turquoise backing with our starfish artwork, turquoise and passion red ink accents. If you're interested, let me know too. These are another option for save the date, both cute and functional!

My Daily Obsession-Cowgirl Cakes

2009-01-16T22:49:00.000-08:00

My daily obsession, or rather, my week obsession (in my spare time) has been researching for ideas on my daughter's cowgirl birthday cakes.(I haven't started obsessing about her invitations quite yet) I am still debating whether I should go to a professional and have it designed or if I should attempt to create. As I said on my previous blog, I have nooo experience with cake decorating, but if I have the skills and knowledge, I would probably do it. I will definitely experiment before her 3rd birthday. She's been so obsessed with Jessie (from Toy Story). Wearing a red straw hat while shopping today, she kept saying that she was Jessie and was yodeling...it was quite silly but adorable. Here are my top 3 cowgirl/cowboy designs. Our colors will be red, white and blue.

Wet Paint!

2009-01-16T00:37:00.000-08:00

Just added some new artwork this week. I haven't added these on our portfolio section, but here's sneak peak!

hibiscus leaf:

Mermaid:

sunflower:

Oahu Map:

Cakes

2009-01-15T18:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, I am totally obsessed with Ace of Cakes. I love love lovvvveeee that show. I think they are total geniuses when it comes to cake/art design. I wish I can bake and create something so uniquely fabulous. But...I haven't tried it yet. I was hoping to do some experimenting on my husband's 37th birthday, this end of the month. We'll see...In the meantime, I found some beautiful beach themed cake and 1 cupcake designs. Some of them are just works of art, I think ...how can one even cut and eat it?!?

Fuchsia and Orange Inspiration Board

2009-01-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

Wow! Orange has been a huge hit this year and last year! We've had requests for orange and green, orange and brown, orange and taupe, and of course, orange and fuchsia! In the next couple of days, I'll be adding some inspirational boards. How fun is that! So, here's our orange and fuchsia featuring our Ocean Union Orange Coral Petal and Fuchsia ribbon. Enjoy!

Sara and Andrew ~ The Reach Resort, Florida

2009-01-12T18:14:00.001-08:00

We recently received some beautiful and amazing photography from one of our recent clients, Sara and Andrew, who married on December 19, 2008 at the Reach Resort, Florida. I have to tell you, again, the photographer, Schmitt Photography, really told their wedding story. I love the richness and the mood of all his shots. Sara and Andrew purchased our seahorse invitations with just 1 seahorse artwork. She chose this particular invitation because it matched her midnight blue bridesmaids dresses, all her seahorse motifs and orange hue inspiration. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hello There!

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's already 2009...how time flies! We hope everyone has had a wonderful Holiday season and a joyful New Year. We look forward to hearing from you! Email us to just say hi or fill out one of our contact forms. We're already starting to get busy this early January. Thank you all for the kind and generous comments on our invitations and website. :-)

x0x0x,

Raquel

Our Southwest Trip

2008-11-05T16:38:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

It's been quite hectic these couple of weeks after coming home from our 17 day trip to the Southwest. My husband, baby girl and I drove to Arizona (Sedona specifically), New Mexico, drove through Colorado and went to Utah to visit family. Compared to last year, the weather was awesome ... not too hot or too cold. I have to say, though, that this trip, besides our Italy trip 5 years ago, is one of the best. I LOVE New Mexico with its beautiful landscape, architecture, and the people are so easy going! We visited so many different areas and stayed to some nice bed and breakfast places. Here are just a couple of images that I'd like to share.

Beautiful Sedona, Arizona:

The Painted Desert at Petrified Forest (you have to actually see how magnificent this looks!)

Albuquerque, New Mexico...I love the red chilies!

Here are a couple of the bed and breakfast places that we stayed at:

Elaine's, New Mexico: http://www.elainesbnb.com/

Casa Escondida, Chimayo, New Mexico: http://www.casaescondida.com/

Til next time,
Raquel

2009 Color Trends

2008-10-07T16:32:00.000-07:00

In my spare time, I do some research on colors and trends for weddings and the home!!

So, here's a little snippet of information from ezine articles. I'm glad our invitations are still hot and trendy with all the hot colors and tropical themes!

"Look out for big tropical colour schemes focusing around Turquoise and Bright Yellow Shades. Mix these colours in with a tropical wedding theme. Bold favour boxes trimmed with yellow and blue ribbons and co-ordinating place settings will give guests the illusion of the heady climes of the tropics! Ask your florist about introducing a splash of these colours into floral centrepieces and co-ordinate with wedding cake trims."

Some of our pieces that will coordinate well with that:

"Making a comeback this year will also be Bright Orange colour schemes. These will work really well when coupled with softer peach tones and the occasional shocking orange splash. You could dot bright orange cameras and bright orange petals about your reception tables for maximum effect. Tie peach favour boxes with bright orange ribbon and introduce Orange Gerberas or Tiger Lilies into bridal bouquets and floral centrepieces."

Ooooh, orange has been really popular this year and as said in this article next year too! Some beautiful invites from us...

"Pinks are always in fashion when it comes to wedding style, but as 2009 is all about making a statement, strong, luminous pinks are the shades to go for. As before, keep dresses and bridal party outfits classical and think about introducing the pink tones into reception decor. A great way to get bright luminous pink into your event is by having a cup-cake wedding cake. Each mini-cake can be tiered to give the effect of an all-encompassing wedding cake, yet a retro luminous pink icing and a fancy motif topping will give each cake a trendy feel. Mini cakes are also a massive hit with younger guests and some wedding cake specialists are able to make individual cakes to cater for various food intolerances which are worth knowing. Floral arrangements can be kept white and interspersed with bright pink feathers and co-ordinating ribbon."

Some beautiful pinks on our collection...

"So, whether you are having a tantalisingly tropical event, an outrageous orange occasion or a pretty pink affair, anyone who's anyone in 2009, will definitely be hosting a bright, bold, beautiful and full-of-colour wedding!"

Di Tullio's

2008-09-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

Working at Passion Paper has been such a pleasure! We meet so many different people and have become friends with many of them around the country! We recently worked with Lisa and Philip's invitation and have been getting emails from "Di Tullio's Fine Neapolitan Foods" newsletter. If you happen to be in San Francisco on Friday, September 12, try out Di Tullio's wonderful treats at La Cocina.

What have we been working on? It's been quite hectic, as always! We've been working on Marina's regale gold and crystal invitations, something quite different here at Passion Paper. I do honestly love it! I love combining the different colors and textures of things!

We also just finished Camaleta's turquoise and orange Ocean Union Invites:

and our good friend, Gil's invitations too.

We're also finishing up Erica's and Tim's Pineapple invitations. I really like how these came out. They came to us a couple of months ago loving the Botanical Love invitations and pineapple artwork motif. Together in our one-on-one meeting at our studio, we came up with the look and feel of their invitations. I am just finishing up some small details to make them pop even more and loving it!

We're going to start working on another friend's daughter's Princess theme invitation. Her mom has been one of my good friends from way back in high school. We were inspired by their cake. I'll post images on those later!

Besides Passion Paper, I am also a Mom! We made Passion Paper a full time work for me, a couple of months after Renée was born. She is now a spirited 2 year old! So, if you hear a child screaming or saying "Mommy, mommy, mommy!" Don't mind it, it's just her!

Til next time!

Seashell Wreaths

2008-05-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hello! I've been browsing the web a bit today and came across these beautiful wreaths from Beastropicaldesigns.com. Many people have been asking for some and here they are! Enjoy!!

View her work at: http://www.beastropicaldesigns.com

Images are from beastropicaldesigns.com

Busy Bee

2008-01-19T03:16:00.001-08:00

We've been busy, busy, busy! That's why I haven't written for so long. I don't know where December went and now it's 2008! It was a great holiday. Though, it went by too fast. We had our celebration at the house. Renée, who is now 1-1/2, was so excited to have everyone over. When she gets excited, she forgets to eat and nap! She kept squealing with delight while running along with her cousin. They are so cute! Our New Year's was really mellow and decided to just stay home with the little one.

So now another year has passed. What are we currently working on? I was finishing up a watercolor artwork of falling leaves for Kara this afternoon. I will be continuing the other half of her artwork tomorrow. I just finished the Africa map and flower for Luanne. Doing lots of production right now, well, not now at this instant. A couple of days ago I finished up a series of beach chairs and some palm leaves. Those designs will soon be featured in the site.

What's happening with our little one? To my surprise today, she finally figured out her little ABCD and shape puzzles. I kept watching her and she seems to be figuring them out by color! After that achievement, she wanted every puzzle in her room, even the complicated ones. Her daddy started teaching her the complicated shape puzzle with triangles, octagons, ovals, etc. She loves playing with her brushes and chalk too, but she's a righty (I'm a lefty)...anyways, that's it.

I'm Back!

2007-11-12T18:59:00.000-08:00

I haven't written for so long! We went on vacation for our 4th year anniversary. We TRY to go to different places for a week or more on our anniversary. On our honeymoon, we went on a 3 week vacation to Italy. That was awesomeee! Visited Rome, Venice, Milan, Sienna, Florence. It was hectic and sometimes stressful-- traveling. But all in all, it was a fantastic experience. We can't wait to go back...someday! First Anniversary (2004), we went to Hawaii...we loved scooba diving and seeing the turtles! Love Hawaii...I guess that's why I paint all these tropical and beach themes. I just love remembering our vacation there. Second year anniversary (2005), I don't think we went anywhere. Third year (2006), ah, we didn't go anywhere again. We just had our baby Renée. She was too small to travel. But this year, with Renée, we went on a road trip to the Grand Canyon! Wow, what a drive! We went to visit Las Vegas, Hoover Damn, saw the Grand Canyon (breathtaking), went to Sedona (I highly recommend this one, it is simply stunning!), and then Pheonix (to see my bro). So, we're back...and busy. We've been doing lots and lots of custom work lately. I love it! I love creating new designs and looking at different papers and embellisments and of course, getting people so excited about their own unique invitations! Alright, got to go. I'll post some pics of the grand canyon next time! Thanks for reading!

Wow! It's Getting Late!

2007-09-27T02:38:00.001-07:00

Hi! I just finished updating our site. i think I've changed the background color of the site for about a millionth time! I just love color! I finally made up my mind and used a robin blue background. I just love the combination of red and blue. I guess that's why our house decor is red and blue -- more of a moroccan /spanish/mediterranean kind of decor.

What have we done this week? I've painted a bunch of watercolor artwork. Some Lauae ferns, palm trees with a beach scene. I finished up the sand dollar watercolor artwork that everyone seems to want to see! Here they are:

It's hard sometimes to find the time. I try to wait for Renée, my almost 15 month old baby, to be asleep before I start anything. She loves to touch all the watercolor brushes and get her hands on the paints! One of these days, I'll have to get a huge piece of paper and buy her a set of brushes and paint! But I love the time to just sit down, listen to classical music or have it shuffle and just sink into the painting. It's great to have this invitation shop. As a graphic designer, it was rare to just sit down, draw and paint. I always had to use the computer. My old cd (creative director) always MADE us sit and storyboard. I loved it but it took such a tremendous amount of time.

Just a tid bit about Renée. She figured out her duplo yesterday! That was such an excitement on both her part and my part. It took her months to put 2 pieces together and she'd get soo frustrated! She finally figured it out and what joy!

What are we working on this week? Some bottle invites for Lucy at the Hilton, finishing up Olivia's Letterpress White Waves, finishing up Kelly's Big Palm Leaf, and starting on Kelly 's (another one!) custom orange tiger lily invites and some other jobs that need to get finished and shipped. Andrés is also working on Montel William's and Tara's guestbook! Their wedding is coming up!!

Hello!

2007-09-05T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hello There! We've just started this new blogspot and we're so excited about it! It's a place for us to post our ideas, and inspirations, what we're working on, our adventures as a family and business, etc, etc

It is now around 6:45 pm and just waiting for my 14 month old baby, Renée to wake up from her nap. The most exciting thing she's done this week is learn to walk! I love how she puts so much concentration on walking and seeing her excited face when she's almost at my reach! She also loves our two dogs, Zero and Echo. She loved petting them this weekend and everytime she sees a dog, she laughs!

We're also working on Carli's Special Edition Ocean Union Invites. I think they are coming out super nice! I love the light blue ribbon against the net paper. Also working on Fabiana's menus and programs and Cara's Chocolate Ocean Union invites. Way busy this week!

:-)