THE PERKS

Did I mention that we now share space with The Floral Studio who did the fabulous flowers at Mia's wedding 2 weekends ago. Anyway, the perks are almost as spectacular as the girls themselves!

FROM THE DESK OF & CORPORATE ID

So, I'm rolling the usual tuesday and wednesday posts together today since I had a busy start to the week & didn't get to post inspiration until yesterday. These are cards, designed by Kurt, that we recently printed for Kohli. She's a good friend with great style, and a joy to work with. We did the invitations for her wedding, printed these business cards, and are now working on the re-design of Red Tree's stationery system. Kohli is their rock star assistant manager! Enough links in one post already! I wanted to showcase the simplicity of the gorgeous cotton paper these are printed on, and the crispness of the printing, and how great these look all wrapped up in (you guessed it) glassine!

INSPIRATION : A. BRYAN PHOTO

Ok, so you all may not know this about me, but I used to be a professional wedding photographer... It's how I came into the land of weddings, and where I fell head over heels in love with pretty paper. It's been years since I shot a wedding, and I can't say I have missed it. It's stressful, and exhausting, and SO MUCH pressure. And then, I went to Mia's wedding, which we all worked so hard on, and which meant a great deal to us as friends of the bride and groom, and friends of some of the other vendors (we now share space with The Floral Studio who did the SPECTACULAR arrangements) and I watched Bryan work. And he shot film, from a Rollieflex, an old school twin lens camera, just like I used to shoot, and he shot with a Holga, a toy camera, just like I used to shoot, and he had an arsenal of toy cameas for playing around with. And it felt effortless and perfect. He had a second photographer shooting digitally I believe, and they shot a mix of color and black and white. I was excited, I watched them work, I knew they didn't miss a shot. There is nothing like rushing to reload film as the mother of the bride gives a speach, and STILL getting the shot. Outstanding. And here I am over a week later, still thinking about it, having an affair with film. I've pulled the polaroids out of the closet, I've ordered some film, I'm dreaming up subjects like my days in art school. This morning I got an extra special sneak peek at some of the pictures from Mia's wedding. I can not wait to share them with you once Bryan gives me the go ahead. For the mean time, feast your eyes on these, a quick selection of photos from their site. Be sure to check out their blog as well. I could go on for hours.... I don't usually swoon. I-am-swooning! They are an incredibly talented team of photographers!

REAL WEDDING SNEAK PEAK

I just wanted to share a sneak peak of Mia & Christian's wedding this past weekend! I can't wait to see the gorgeous photos from the professional photographers, but in the mean time, here are a few snaps from the Iphone! It was a beautiful wedding, and we're honored to have been a part of it! Best of luck and Congratulations, Mia and Christian!

FROM THE (messy) DESK OF

I can't even believe how fast my desk (which was clear this morning) dissapeared under a pile of paper! These are reception materials for Mia's wedding, and we are having another craft night tonight. On the docket... eating pizza, finalizing custom guest book, printing programs, hand cutting them into the frame shape on her other stationery, punching holes and stringing ribbon, die cutting the rest of her menus, and chatting about all the remaining pieces we have left. Also, I am left to using my desktop cutter for anything smaller than 8.5x11 at the moment. The full size stack cutter is parked on the floor in my sun room as it waits to be moved into its new home. It's too hard to cut smaller paper on the floor.

BROOKLYN BRIDE!

We're on Brooklyn Bride today! What an honor. I feel FAMOUS! No, but really, it is such a neat thing to see our work (especially because it's from my own wedding) on such highly respected blogs on the internet. It's really been cool. In the past, our wedding has been featured on Snippet and Ink, and our invitations have been on Oh So Beautiful Paper and Pretty Pretty Paper. Anyway, if you have not read the blogs mentioned in this post before, you better go read them now. They are wonderful. And jam-packed with outstanding wedding and paper design. Thanks Vane, Kathryn, Nole and Christine!

WE'RE GETTING THERE

As you all know from previous posts, we've been moving, for what feels like forever. First we bought this house and then we moved at the Paperie. It's been a lot of work and a lot of fun - here are pictures of my new studio in the new house. Hopefully by the end of the summer we will have the new studio at Coppermine Terrace all done and ready for pictures.

APARTMENT THERAPY

Apartment Therapy used this picture from our wedding in a recent outdoor entertaining article, so that is pretty fun! One of these days I will get around to posting all the places our wedding has been on the web.

FEATURED PROJECT : PAPER PARASOLS

Oh, Martha, thank you again for all your little projects! Mia (one of our best brides, friends, and reccomended vendors) came over last night to work on some crafts for her upcoming wedding. Counting down, 15 days! We used an idea from a recent issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, and dressed it up a bit with additional ribbon fringe, and tails. The parasols turned out darling and I can't wait to see her flower girls walk down the aisle with these!

PEONIES

Just taking a break from printing to pick and photograph peonies. Mid-June the move will be done, boxes will be unpacked, and blogging will be back on schedule. For now, we're pulling late nights and early mornings.... thanks for your patience, be back soon!

LETS BE HONEST

Moving is really hard, and really time consuming. And we are still working like crazy on all the reception pieces for all our remaining May and June brides. I hate to miss blog posts, but in reality it might be spotty here for the next few weeks. I appreciate you all sticking with us through the crazy times and the move! Can't wait to show you the new space and fill you in on the details of who we'll be working with! Really exciting changes ahead. Photos are of our "inspiration board" (or 9 foot accordian fold banner) for the new space.

FROM THE DESK OF... Press Samples

Bride Magazine requested some work from us this week. Here it is all packed up, ready for it's modeling debut!

INSPIRATION

Well, we're moving, it's official. To a little loft, in a small stone building. Sounds magical, I know. So now we are dreaming up what to do in the space, what the consultation space will look like, and how our office will be arranged. This picture is a thought for our consult space, and soon, I'll post office love... picture by Photographer Malin Ngoie, found on absolutely beautiful things

HIATUS

Oh, apologies for my first missed post in 3 weeks! I'm going to miss another today... Why? Because we are packing up the studio and MOVING! So exciting. We've closed our retail store (last month) and we are focusing 100% of our efforts on our custom invitations and design these days, and are looking forward to all the changes ahead. Look for some beautiful moving announcements in the next few weeks. In the mean time, please forgive our lack of posts yesterday and today. We'll be back in full swing with an inspiration post on Monday. I've attached a little bit of eye-candy for your viewing pleasure, but it is sunny today and friday! Go buy some flowers and enjoy the day!

CORPORATE ID

Today has been a busy day - working on a ton of reception stuff for multiple spring weddings, and also in the midst of corporate ID projects, including our own! Tune in the next few weeks to see what kind of paper goodness we are working on for Red Tree, but in the mean time, here is a little idea we are playing around with for our own business cards / calling cards / appointment cards / jotters. It is true, I MIGHT just be obsessed with glassine!

CINCO DE MAYO

A few years back we had a bride getting married on Cinco de Mayo in Miami! This really was a fun project. We did tons of research and created art that mimicked traditional mexican wedding paper-cuttings. The bride and groom wanted a booklet to house all the different cards that needed to be sent and we custom built the booklet, with wrapped chipboard covers and a custom converted pocket, all built by hand. We had a lot of fun, and on a rainy Cinco de Mayo like today, we just wanted to share a little brightness and cheer!

FROM THE DESK OF...

This is a corporate ID project we are working on currently, in the live proof stage. It's also a sneak peek for next week's corporate ID feature. There are a few changes being made to the final proof before it goes into production!
Also, in honor of Cinco De Mayo, in just a little bit, I'll be featuring a wedding invite we did a few years back. Stay Tuned.

INSPIRATION

So we are spending some time re-working our business collateral as we shift our focus away from the retail store and back to life as a full time custom design studio. If you haven't visited Daily Poetics business card set on Flickr yet, be prepared to lose yourself in some of the most beautiful (and sometimes funny) business cards of all time. We were honored to be included (with our old cards of course) last year. All photos are from Daily Poetics photostream.

FEATURED PROJECT : PERSONAL STATIONERY

I love personal stationery. I love to make it, to write on it, and to give it as gifts. It is such a little luxury in life. Everyone should have some!

INVITATION DRESS AT RED TREE

Oh, Red Tree, you have done it again! Not only are the window displays FABULOUS, (best in baltimore 2008!) the in-store displays are gorgeous as well! Right now Red Tree has a wedding themed table right inside the front door for all your wedding and bridal shower gift needs. They asked us if they could use some of our invites in the display. Now, we'll admit, we didn't think they could do it... We gave them the most random assortment of colors and styles and somehow they pulled it together into one pretty dress! It's really fun to see our work in such a beautifully designed store. We are honored. Thank you Red Tree!

CORPORATE ID

Hem and Haw Designs is an event and styling studio run by Katie Watts, one of our favorite brides. If you follow our blog, you'll have gotten quite familiar with her invitations by now. Her wedding was also recently featured in Bride and Bloom magazine for spring 2009. She is a blast to work with and the unique design and colors of these calling cards speak to the kinds of styling and events Katie does. Just this past weekend she thew a Dr. Seuss themed baby shower for a mom with twins (thing two and thing one). I cannot wait to see those pictures!

FROM THE DESK OF

Yesterday's inspiration really got me feeling sentimental and I wanted to show a project that is dearer to me than most. My grandmother recently finished writing her memoir, and commissioned us to produce a short run of 60 softbound books that she could give as gifts to each of her children and grandchildren. The book is 35 pages, with a photo collage as the end sheets and a cream satin ribbon binding. The books were then packaged in 7.5 inch square boxes printed with the same cover as the book so as to preserve them for years and years to come.

INSPIRATION

This is one of those things that I have had for years, and yet EVERY time I see it, my heart just smiles. I LOVE it. I really do. And the funny part about that is, I don't have any idea who these people are, I don't know their stories, and I have no sentimental attachment to them - yet this frame, their pose, the slow fade to yellow of this photograph, I don't know where I would be without it. We moved this weekend, and I went back to the old house this morning to do another walk through, and there is was, all by itself on the back of the door, a tiny little 3 inch frame, holding it's own in an empty house. It felt quiet, and calm, and somewhat sad. Until I packed them up in crinkled white tissue paper, and set them gently on the passenger seat of my car, to make the journey to our new house, to find their perfect spot, to keep watch over our lives here, as if they were my grandparents. I will carry them around the house with me, trying them in different places, until they find their new home.

FEATURED PROJECT : GARDEN WEDDING

These wedding invitations are something we finished up recently for darling Mia over at Garnish Boutique. She is getting married this June in an outdoor Garden ceremony. She requested, peonies, dragonflies, bees and bugs! Mia is in the wedding industry herself and understands the importance of paper goods in a wedding! We really stopped at nothing with this set. There is calligraphy style guest addressing, printed envelopes, die cut reply cards, even lined reply envelopes. It is a gorgeous set and it really reflects the tone of the upcoming wedding.

UNPREDICTABLE

Well Thursdays on the schedule are a little less predictable. We've decided we need at least one day of spontinaity, and just through the luck of the draw, Thursday won it! On Thursdays we'll post whatever we feel like!

Today it is a little bit of heaven. I WISH I could say I went out and bought the Pantone paint, but I didn't. We just went to Home Depot with a Pantone swatch and found the closest match! What might you ask is painted such an insanely bright pink? Well, for starters, let's say this color is an Ode to Hampden, it's called Flamingo Pink.... and it lines the insides of the closets in my husband's and my brand new house! We painted the closets pink, for a little element of surprise and whimsy. It just puts a smile on your face. And aside from tying it in to design by choosing colors based on Pantone matches, it reminds me of an envelope liner. See how I did that? Enjoy!

CORPORATE ID

Wednesdays on the new schedule are going to be focused on corporate clients, so to kick it off, we are featuring Baltimore's very own "GIRL ABOUT TOWN," Stephanie Bradshaw! Stephanie came to us when she needed to re-brand her ID to convey all the different design services she offers under one fashionable umbrella. She offers retail, event and interior design as well as a fabulous newsletter titled Girl About Town. Stephanie came to us with some existing elements and we took those and ran with them. The result, a simplified color palette, bold silhouette, and just enough swirl!

FROM THE DESK OF

We are starting a new blog schedule here at the paperie! Mondays as you saw yesterday will always be INSPIRATION posts, and Tuesdays, FROM THE DESK OF. This is where we will feature current projects either in production or like this one, ready to be picked up.




These are the product of yesterday's inspiration post! Amy at Crimson and Clover asked us for help with her table for this year's Great Chef's Dinner. Her theme - a Parisian Patisserie! You cannot even believe my delight when she told me this! What we did was design & print the subtle light pink cake pattern on slim glassine bags, leaving the frame in the middle blank, then we printed the front of the menu with the title/design and the chef's name along the bottom, so they would show through the blank spots on the glassine. We printed the menu on the back. Pretty simple, but what a stunning result! We rounded the corners and added a ribbon for a little decoration and function, it makes the menu easier to pull out of the glassine sleeve. Best of luck to Amy at this year's event!

INSPIRATION

Only the most cheerful and inspiring commercial ever made! I have been obsessed with it for months and have just been DYING to use as the inspiration on a project! Check back tomorrow to see the design inspired by this perfect beauty! Please be sure to follow the link below to see the whole clip!
This is the directors cut of a spectacular Miss Dior commercial by Sofia Coppola...

SNIPPET & INK!

Thank you to Kathryn for the wonderful feature on Ben's and my wedding from this past October!

Thank you to Nole for her feature, and Christine for hers as well!

A LITTLE BIT OF LUXURY

Seriously, It just makes you want to sit down at a clean quiet desk in a room with a view and a fireplace, and write all those friends and family you've been missing. Just a little peek of things to come as we work hard to get everything photographed for our brand new website! Stay tuned this year as we launch new and exciting projects!

BALTIMORE BRIDE

The new Baltimore Bride is out for anyone planning a spring or summer wedding. We have these out at the shop for free, so swing by and pick one up as you start thinking about your invitations. We have many great things featured in this issue, from favor packaging to themed invitations. More pictures to come!

BRIDE AND BLOOM

RUN out to the newstands and get your hands on a copy of Bride and Blooms Spring 2009 issue! It is packed with beautiful planning tips, color schemes, photography, wedding dresses, eye candy, and US! We are so honored to be featured in such a gorgeous publication. Katie Triplett and Mark Watts were married in September of 2007 at the Towers in Narragansett, Rhode Island. Katie was one of those brides we INSTANTLY fell in love with. She and Mark were so fun to work with. We've shown their invites on the blog before (check back in the old posts from 10.07.2007)
All the photographs of Katie and Marks wedding were taken by Kristen Spencer. Katie cannot say enough good things about Kristen, so check out more work on her site kristinspencer.com

nothing but the BEST

We want to thank Baltimore Magazine for naming us best stationers in their 2008 "Best Of" issue. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you... and we want to give a nod to all the other hampden businesses featured in this best of issue! If you haven't gotten it yet, head out to the newstands now, it is chock full of great little places in the city that you won't want to miss!

PRETTY IN PAPER

Our other "window"! We've been working on a bit of a new look for the store, and this pretty paper dress is our favorite new display. The dress is all paper, with little accents of vintage lace and a deep green ribbon that we carry in the shop!

UNDER THE SEA

The new window installed at the paperie this week. Whales in love. So cute!

LOVE IS IN THE AIR

Just a sneek peek of things to come at the Paperie! We are just about to release our exclusive line of Valentine's and Sweetheart cards for 2008! They will be ready for sale in the shop early next week. We are so excited to be able to offer our very own line of cards. Each major holiday, we will be releasing new designs into the shop, and periodically throughout the year we will be introducing Birthday, Thank you and everyday cards. Everything we do is custom, so keep us posted about what different types of things you might like to see! Thanks for your patience as we have been away! More frequent blogging to come.

JUST A LITTLE SHIMMER

Custom Holiday cards for Garnish Boutique, with little blue rhinestones for a little glitz!

BLACK & BLUE

There are so many products in this shot, I cannot list them all... to mention a few, we have beautiful letter openers, wonderful boxed sets of stationery, Christmas cards, and then some really terrific sets of patterned gift boxes so you don't even need to wrap your gifts this year - just pop them in a box, tie a ribbon on and you are good to go!

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS...

It really is. Here is the view out our window at the shop. Sorry for all the reflection from our laterns. It gets really pretty when the sun goes down, I love the way the logo on the glass becomes so clear against the dark outside. You all cannot miss Hampden at Christmas time! Not only is the shopping spectacular, a few blocks down on 34th street each year, the lights are on for Miracle on 34th street, a Hampden Holiday tradition! The next shot is just a bunch of boxed notes and individual greeting cards we have on hand, and the third is just a reminder that most of the smaller items we stock in the shop make awesome stocking stuffers and Secret Santa gifts! {stocking from Churchtown Chapeau Co. my not so secret side business!
http://chapeauco.com}

OH JOY!

We wanted to say thank you to Baltimore Magazine for including us in their Holiday shopping guide. We are featured as one of the cities best small boutiques! Thank you! Thank you! to all at Baltimore Magazine. { I wanted to give a mention to Garnish Boutique as well, one of our clients and dear friends who is also included! 5724 Falls Road in Mt. Washington } Stop in to our store for Holiday gifts, and beautiful wrapping. Be sure to ask about our personal stationery (it makes a perfect stocking stuffer) and definately be sure not to leave with out at least a little present for yourself!

PS... the letters shown above are little adhesive monogrammed cards that stick to an assortment of super sweet letterpress cards, for a gift that is instantly personalized! For more custom personalized stationery, be sure to order early!

SEASON'S GREETINGS

Make sure you get your Holiday cards early. We have boxed sets, individual greeting cards, photo cards, and of course custom Holiday cards as well!

HAPPIEST HOLIDAYS!

We've been so busy around the shop, so please forgive the lack of postings. We've been doing Holiday party invites, (more samples to come in the next couple of days) getting the store all ready for Christmas, and working on some new products as well. We will be closed for Thanksgiving, but come on out and join us for the kick off of this Holiday Season! We're back in business, Friday from 10-6 and Saturday from 11-5. We have some really wonderful gifts for everyone on your list, so get a head start on any custom orders, or pick up a gift certificate for personal stationery!

ALL ABOUT THE BABIES

We are all about the babies these days at Chellé Paperie! We've got gifts for the little one, as well as mom and dad, from Brag books to rubber stamps, and even stationery sets for when they're old enough to write letters home from camp!
Don't forget that we do beautiful custom baby announcements and shower invitations as well! Design consultations are by appointment, so give us a call or stop in to schedule.

THE FINISHING TOUCHES

Favor Tags and Menus. Fit for a wedding on the Bay. We'll show the whole set soon.
The shop has been a busy busy place these days! Please forgive the lack of posts. I promise
we'll start adding more soon!

SHOP GIRLS

Pictures from the shop...
These Wiley Valentine boxed notesets are one of the prettiest things you could give as a gift, or even better, keep them for yourself! Following are some more product shots from the floor. We are open 10-6 Monday through Friday, and 11-5 on Saturdays. Come visit us on the Avenue!


Snow and Graham boxed notes


Sweet little chirping bird magnets


Ribbon for wrapping


Paper, Paper, Paper - We offer a huge selection of decorative papers for use on wedding invitations, bookbinding projects, and wrapping gifts.

HOW SWEET IT IS

To date, my very favorite invitation set! How sweet it is.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

To all our recent brides!

LETTERPRESS PRINTING - COLOR OF THE WEEK

The plan is to try and run a new color each week and then feature in the store some smaller runs of imprintables, cards, and gift tags. These are store thank you cards for clients, some A7 imprintable invitations and some sweet little rabbit notes. Letterpress with love.

REHEARSAL DINNER INVITATION

A really fun bride and groom both working in finances asked us to do a Wall Street Journal inspired invitation for their rehearsal dinner. How great are the ticker tape place cards?

PAPER TO PRINT

cut down and ready for the press. so simple and pretty.