Paper Dolls

The other day I was on Facebook and came across a post by HTWM on Vintage Paper Doll Party (1950’s inspired) from Sweet on Parties  and I fell in love with it. It reminded me of how much I used to love playing with paper dolls.

Needless to say I am now on a mission to have a little fun with paperdolls, by creating some invitations. I will keep you posted on the designs that I come up with but in the mean time, you really should take a look at this Etsy shop that I found. Maiko Nagao of Crafty Happenings, Maiko is a graphic designer out of New Zealand and has the absolute cutest products in her store.

She has created the cutest paper dolls I have yet to see, they are part of Lil’me personalized line. You send her a picture of your little girl, and she creates the cutest little doll that looks like her and has a few adorable little outfits.  Then the best part is she will send you a pdf and you can print as many times as you want and use them for so many different projects.  Just use your imagination.

Look at the detail on the t-shirt it has the little one's name on it. I love this.

Im going to order a set using my niece's picture from when she was little, Im dying to see what they look like.

You have got to check out her etsy store and see for yourself.

Custom Invitations

What does Custom Invitations mean and why are they so costly?

I have been asked this question a lot lately and thought this was a great way to inform and introduce our readers to the world of custom invitations.

There are quite a few designers that offer custom invitations, varying in degrees of prices and quality of service.  What you need to do is find the one that fits in your budget as well as your style.   Each designer has a distinct style, and more often than not will infuse their style with yours to provide you a spectacular invitation. 

Custom Designed Invitations are unique invitations that are designed just for you.  Each design is created based on your consultation with the designer.  Your designer will gather all the information about your wedding wishes and your background, and will create an invitation that should meet your design ideas.   So when meeting with your designer for the first time, you really need to provide as much information as possible about your dreams and wishes for the big day as well as some information about you and your fiancé.

The cost aspect of a custom design invitation is quite shocking to a lot of people.  Most brides begin their shopping experience by searching online or gathering catalogues so that they can get a feel for the available products and price ranges for their invitations.  The biggest mistake that is made is confusing the prices online/catalogues with the prices for custom design.  When you order your invitations online or from a catalogue you are selecting a design that is regularly available with the only option available of changing the ink color on the design, but very little else can change on your selected item.  This keeps cost to a minimum for the producer of the invitation therefore they can in turn offer you lower prices.

The biggest factor in cost for custom designed invitations is TIME.  So much time is spent on the design aspect of your invitation, once all the information from your consultation is gathered the designer will begin to get a picture of what it is you are looking for and what message you are trying to convey to your guest.  There is so much time spent on the design process, it could literally take 3-4 weeks to come up with a suitable design for you.  Some designers will charge a design fee either on a flat fee base or an hourly base.

Production of your invitation also takes time.  Once the design is set up and all the supplies are ordered to complete your invitations.  The production of the invitation will begin.  As I mentioned, custom designed invitation are created uniquely for you, they are not mass-produced on large machines in large warehouses.  At Amira Design your invitations are created in a small studio by hand.  Which insures that you are provided truly a one of a kind invitation. The production time can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months depending on the intricacies of your design. 

You must remember when choosing a designer, that not all designers are the same and that their price ranges are going to vary.  What you need to do is research first, check reviews, check styles, talk to the designers so that you can get a feel for them, talk to friends or family that have used them before.  If you are unable to speak to a designer directly, or if you don’t know anyone who has used them before,  check their websites for previous designs that they have created. You can get a sense for their style to see if this is something you are interested in before you contact them.   At Amira Design we have a full gallery of designs both past and present, check out the gallery here.

Once you have done your review, contact the one that best suits your style and budget needs, this way you can avoid feeling frustrated, or overwhelmed.  Give yourself enough time to work on your invitations so that you can avoid feeling rushed or feeling like you have to settle for something that you don’t want.  You should consider beginning your invitation shopping 8-9 months prior to the date of your wedding.  Remember that having the design you envision, takes time to create and produce.