TULALOO GALA INVITATIONS: dream come true

Recently, Tulaloo has had the pleasure of working with Dream Come True of Western CT - an amazing non-profit organization that grants dreams to seriously, chronically, and terminally ill children from Fairfield, Litchfield, and New Haven counties. They are a volunteer based organization that relies on donations to make these children's dreams a reality. Each year they host the Dream Come True Gala, an night of great food, dancing and a fabulous auction, that brings in funds to support their efforts. Tulaloo was honored to design the invitations for this very special event.

We actually created two separate sets of invitations for the Gala, which was themed "Dream Under The Sea". The first wave of invitations was hand delivered to businesses that were interested in sponsoring the event. We created a navy blue boxed invitation, branded with a Dream Come True seal. Inside the box, recipients discovered an invitation and sponsorship packet wrapped in a translucent vintage sailing map and tied with cotton string. The nautical map was an introduction to the dreamy ocean design we created for the main invitations. Stay tuned for the Dream Under The Sea invitations, gala programs, bar menu and more...later this week!

TULALOO:elevated envelope 2

 Now that I've shared what Tulaloo mailed out for the Elevated Envelope exchange, I get to show you all the nice goodies I've been receiving int he mail! This beauty is from Danielle S in Nebraska. The front of the hand made envelope has a clear window in it, giving you a sneak peak of the contents!

 Denise made a really creative envelope that folds up in a way that reminds me of a kimono, which was a perfect choice for this Asian inspired letter. There was lots of collaged paper which added great texture.

When you unfolded the envelope, there was a pack of Chai tea, gorgeous postcards featuring Japanese prints and a really wonderful letter from Danielle. As someone who really struggled with what to write in my envelopes, I loved receiving Danielle's letter, which told about her other pen pal exchanges and inrpiration and process for creating her envelope. Thanks for sending something so pretty my way Danielle!!

TULALOO: elevated envelope 1

By now all of Tulaloo's Elevated Envelopes have been received so I get to share them with all of you! If you like Tulaloo on facebook, you may have seen an earlier post where I gave a sneak peak of my initial Elevated Envelope plans, which included pastel drawings of tiny bouquets. It was a nice idea, but after the first two I just wasn't feeling it anymore. I wanted something a little more fun and off beat. So I dropped the pastels and opened a few bottles of nailpolish instead!

 Nailpolish is fun to paint with because the colors are really saturated and it dries to a bright glossy finish. You can get some interesting effects when you mix the colors and allow them to bleed into each other. And there is very little clean up involved since the brushes don't need to be washed and are stored in their bottles! I painted an abstract design on the front of folded black cards, and incorporated the word "hello" into each. On the inside I wrote a brief note the the recipient in white gel pen, and attached a tiny envelope I made from shimmery vellum. Tucked inside the little envelope were tiny heart shapes stickers I made with nailpoish!

The folded cards were placed inside translucent vellum envelopes so that you could see the design through the paper. I addressed each in colors that coordinated with the enclosed card. This was a really fun project, and it is easy so I definitely recommend it to anyone. BUT, if you are going to try this out make sure you are in a room with plenty of ventilation. The nail polish fumes can be overwhelming!!

REAL CELEBRATIONS: dana's bridal shower

It is incredibly flattering when another special event professional chooses you to work with them on their personal and professional projects. Even more so when you are a huge fan of their work. This is certainly the case with Elisabeth, owner and designer of Blush Floral Designs. This past winter I had the pleasure of designing the holiday cards for Blush, and just recently I was able to provide the invitations and various other paper goods for the Tuscan themed bridal shower she designed for her sister in law Dana. Elisabeth had an amazing spread of Italian food, gigantic sunflowers in metal containers, burlap accents everywhere and homemade biscotti favors! Incredible. In addition to the Tuscan themed invitations, Tulaloo designed coordinating recipe cards, thank you notes and bookmarks, which were tied to the bags of biscotti.

REAL CELEBRATIONS: molly's 40th

Can I just say that I LOVE when people throw beautiful parties? It makes me so happy to see people celebrating life and enjoying the company of their family and friends. These gorgeous photographs (by the amazing and talented Stacy Ideus) are of Molly's super fun 40th birthday party.

We had the pleasure of providing invitations and custom wine bottle labels for the party. Molly chose a starfish theme for her paper elements, and everything was created in a red, ivory and taupe color pallete.

I love the strung lights above the party area - so pretty! And the ocean concept was carried throughout perfectly without being over the top or making it feel like a THEME PARTY; it is just enough to tie it all together.

Did you notice the awesome coral centerpiece? And the little bit of coral applique on the pillow (you can see iton the wicker chair behind Molly)? Everyone looks like they are having a lovely time!

Happy birthday Molly! Thank you for sharing your day with us!!

THE WORLD WE LIVE IN: onsite dental

Recently Tulaloo provided logo design services to Onsite Dental, a dental group providing affordable care to children and adults. Dr. Grinter works with hundreds of Medicaid patients, and provides on location care to schools, community centers and group homes in Illinois. In short, he is an awesome dentist (he won the Golden Toothbrush Award) doing some really awesome things for his community. So this was definitely a cause I wanted to support.

Dr. Grinter was recently interviewed for an article in the New York Times* about some dangerous impending cuts to Illinois' Medicaid system. Check it out and lend your support or a kind word. Dr. Grinter and Onsite Dental are doing some wonderful things.

(I would love to link over to Dr. Grinter's website, his award and the articles he has recently been featured in, but blogger is being really wonky and won't let me link anything right now. If you want to know more about Dr. Grinter and the Medicaid problems in Illinois, please look him up!)

GET WED: purple wedding invitation!

Here is another sample of our newest wedding design - Madison. We've shown it before as a pocketfold, combined with an ornate patterned paper in shades of gold, cranberry and ivory. Today we are presenting it in shades of purple and cream!

We designed this invitation for Diane and Michael's destination wedding in the Cayman Islands. They wanted something light and fun, but not with a tropical theme. The invitation is printed on cream shimmer paper in eggplant and lilac ink. It is a folder style with the reply card and reply envelope tucked into a monogrammedband opposite the invite.

For added visual interest, we created both belly bands with translucent vellum and lined the envelope in eggplant paper.

Best wishes to Diane and Michael!

BESPOKE: destination belize!

Check out these fun bespoke invitations Tulaloo designed for Leigh Ann and Jason's destination wedding in Belize! We started with a palette of aquamarine, ivory and sandy tan to evoke the beach. Leigh Ann and Jason had quite a bit of information they needed to incorporate into their invitation suite, so we

housed it all in a folder style invitation tied shut with raffia. The reply card includes a full dinner menu on the inside, with the reply information on the front. To inform guests of all the activities they could look forward to over the wedding weekend, we designed an accordian fold booklet detailing each event with a fun icon in aquamarine.

The booklet and reply card are tucked neatly into a sand colored vellum band, printed with the words "Join us!"

Working with Leigh Ann and Jason was lovely and we wish them great happiness at their wedding this Spring!

CELEBRATE: up the capitol steps

McGee Financial Strategies recently asked Tulaloo to design the invitations to a very special event with Barbara Roberts, the 34th Governor of Oregon. Former Governer Roberts, the first and only female Governor of Oregon, recently published her autobiography, Up The Capitol Steps. McGee Financial Strategies planned an event to celebrate both Roberts' new book and the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote in Oregon. We were honored to play a small role in this special day.

The fine folks over at McGee Financial Strategies chose our Zion design as a starting point for their invitation. Because this event is taking place over Valentine's Day weekend, they requested a red and ivory color scheme. The invitation is a folded and layered card with a belly band, printed on red and ivory metallic papers.

We wish everyone at McGee Financial and Former Gov. Roberts a wonderful event on the 12th! Thanks for choosing Tulaloo!

TULALOO:2011

What a fantastic year it has been! In 2011 Tulaloo helped to invite over 5500 guests to your weddings and announced the birth of your babies to more than 800 of your friends and families!!! And we aren't even counting your parties and showers into that mix! Do you have ANY idea how amazing that feels! Because it feels amazing. Really amazing.

As someone who strongly believes in the power and importance of celebration, playing an important part in your get-togethers and gatherings is a really big deal. I look forward to all the parties that 2012 will bring, and to doing our small part to help you tie the knot, present your little ones and celebrate the new year. Happy 2012!

Thank you to Heidi and Michael for the most cherished client testimonial of 2011. "You have really been such a huge part in making this a special event, and I can't thank you enough. I feel like we are celebrated, and that's not a small thing." Thank you for allowing Tulaloo to take part in your special day!

BESPOKE: heidi and michael

I am so happy to finally share this wedding invitation with you! Heidi and Michael commissioned Tulaloo to design and create a custom wedding invitation through our Bespoke design services. They wanted something really special and personal to invite friends and family to their intimate ceremony and dinner reception in November. Heidi and Michael live in California and celebrated their marriage with a winemaker's dinner, so we designed their invitation around that theme. In addition to incorporating the winery concept, we worked with a autumnal palette and lots of textures to give the invitation a warm and welcoming feel.
The invitation is letterpressed in a plum ink on Lettra cotton stock. After being letterpressed, the lovely Amanda Brooke of ARMart painted a watercolor border of grape vines across the top of each invitation. Yes, every single invitation had an original watercolor painting on it! The painted invitations were then wrapped in natural unryu paper and sealed with a wide mahogonay colored velvet ribbon and a wine cork. We packaged the completed invitations in a cork lined, burgandy linen box for mailing.
This was such a wonderful project to work on and Heidi and Michael woldn't have been more lovely. Congratulations to you both on your beautiful wedding!

CELEBRATE: party kits

I am so happy to introduce a new product from Tulaloo: Party Kits!

When clients order invitations from our Celebrations Collection they often ask for additional stationery items to complete their party. We are always happy to custom design any paper items our clients may want! We've made thank you notes, favor packaging and even shower game items, all coordinating with the invitation design. To make things more convenient and affordable for you, we are now bundling some of the most requested items in one easy Party Kit!

The two kits we currently have for sale are designed specifically for baby showers and wedding showers. Each kit contains invitations and thank you notes for the guest of honor, tags or seals for favors and the materials for two shower activities: Wish Cards and Gift Bingo. Wish cards are a way for guests to offer congratulations, wishes and words of advice to the bride/groom or expectant parents. Once collected into an album or pretty box these make a sweet keepsake! Gift Bingo is a fun shower game where guests can win prizes by getting "Bingo" based on the opened gifts!

As listed in our shop, the kit includes invitations, thank you notes, favor packaging and game materials for 10 guests. However, we can put together a package for any size guest list you need. Shown above is a party kit in our Nesting baby shower design. Party Kits are available for any design in our Celebrations Collection, and as always we will tailor the design to match your color and font preferences. We are looking forward to making your party planning easier!

INSPIRATION: vellum enclosure cards

Vellum enclosure cards have been very popular with our clients this year and I couldn't be happier about this! I love incorporating vellum into stationery because it is a simple and inexpensive way to add some visual interest and texture. In fact you can mix and match all your papers the way Lindsay chose to (above photo). We combined ivory papers in pearlescent, matte and transparent finishes to complement her sophisticated wedding invitations.

Vellum also allows us to combine images in an unexpected way. For Melanie and Joseph, we stacked a yellow vellum reception card, printed with a crimson wren, over an ivory reply card printed with a magnolia branch. The resulting effect is that the bird is perched on the branch!

Vellum is available in many colors, and even metallic finishes. So it is a nice way to bring in an accent color or a bit of shimmer.

Soon I'll be sharing other ways to incorporate vellum iny our wedding invitations and special event stationery!

CELEBRATE: holiday special

For those of you thinking ahead, we are offering a great special on our holiday greeting cards and party invitations! Place your order prior to Thanksgiving and we will discount the orice by 15%! This offer is good on all holiday cards and holiday party invitations.
Be sure to check out our new Keepsake Holiday Photo Cards. After receiving a great response to our Keepsake Birth Announcements, many clients asked for a similarly designed holiday greeting. These are available fully assembled with envelopes or with just the printed vellum band, ready for the DIYer. Prices begin at $1.90/each for full service and .75/each for the vellum band. Per card prices will be discounted for any order over 75 (on top of the early bird discount!). Please call or email to order!

TULALOO: studio progress

It has been awhile since I've posted any updates on the progress of the new Tulaloo studio space. For several weeks most of the progress we made wasn't much to look at - important, but not glamourous details like fixing the foundation and roughing out electrical work. Finally though, I have some real, visible progress to share! The french doors and windows are in and we've started framing the floor. I feel like we are getting somewhere now and am so excited to move in and meet with clients in our own space!

Have I mentioned that we are building this ourselves? By "we", of course, I mean my husband is spending every spare moment he has outside of work and family obligations building the new studio (He is amazing). We are both DIYers and he is a talented craftsman, so we are enjoying the project. But we can only devote weekends to the build, so it is taking much longer than if we hired a contractor to complete the project for us. Initially we hoped to have the entire studio complete by the end of summer, and obviously that hasn't happened. Complications arose (don't they always on renovation projects?) and parties, weddings and other fun events filled alot of our weekends. We've reexamined the timeline and are confident we will be finished no later than Thanksgiving. Thanks so much to all of you for your patience ! I can't wait to welcome you into the new space!

THE WORLD WE LIVE IN: marriage equality

This morning I had a brief phone consultation with a very nice bride. Partway through the conversation she said "This is for two girls. Is that ok? Will you do that?" And my heart broke just a little bit. I can't imagine how it feels to plan a wedding with the knowledge that vendors might refuse to work with you because of who you love.

For the record, Tulaloo does not discriminate based on sexual orientation. We are pro-marriage and PRO-LOVE.

Recently New York State legalized gay marriage (hooray!) and the fine folks over at A Practical Wedding threw a party to celebrate. And not just a party, but three weddings for LGBTQ couples followed by a fabulous celebration with some of the most excellent wedding vendors around. Turns out they are also making a short documentary about Yay New York in support of marriage equality. Check out the trailer for the documentary above.

INSPIRATION: the elevated envelope

By now everyone has received their "elevated envelope" from Tulaloo, so I can finally share it with you! The theme for the project was "summer", and we were instructed to get off the computer and work with our hands as much as possible. I spent quite awhile thinking about what summer means to me. It means warmth and sunshine and growth and a slower pace. For a long while I considered doing something about camping and hiking (a favorite summer activity for my family) or Maine (our most favorite vacation spot). But ultimately I chose to center the design around live music.

Summer has long meant live music for me. My dad is a musician, and when I was little we spent many summer weekends at bluegrass festivals while he played. Since then I have always tried to fit in shows and festivals as often as possible. Live music is always a nice experience, but there is something wonderful about an outdoor concert in the summer - even if it is just the weekly community concerts on the town green. I tried to capture a bit of that feeling in my envelope design.

Now technically, all the envelopes were supposed to be exactly the same, but I cheated a bit. I started each with a line drawing of an instrument, but after the first four mandolins I was itching for something different. So there are a couple of banjos and guitars as well. After penciling in the addresses, I indulged in some themed doodling. Again, none of the envelopes are the same, but they follow the same general concept. They each have vines and flowers climbing all over the place, most have some sort of sunburst in the background and they all have bright, happy summery colors.

Each of the envelopes is lined with a bright color, and holds a CD with a sampling of some of the music I've been lucky enought to hear live in the past 12 months. I fashioned a protective pocket out of scrap cardboard and wrapped it with a green vellum band printed with an explanation of my design. Hopefully at least some of my recipients will find a few tracks on the CD they like, and discover a new artist to listen to. The track list, for those interested:

The Elevated Envelope ~ The Soundtrack (corny, I know)

"Heart in a Cage" ~ Chris Thile

"Barton Hollow" ~ The Civil Wars

"For Good Again" ~ The Devil Makes Three

"Apothecary Love" ~ The Low Anthem

"Dirty Dishes" ~ Deer Tick

"Victory" ~ Trampled By Turtles

"Love is All I Am" ~ Dawes

"Paper Airplane" ~ Alison Krauss and Union Station

"Lover of the Light" ~ Mumford and Sons

"Why Don't You Do Right" ~ Carolina Chocolate Drops

"November Blues" ~ The Avett Brothers *

"Run Chicken Run" ~ The Felice Brothers

"Yes, Maria Yes" ~ David Wax Museum

"Lost In My Mind" ~ The Head and the Heart

"Whisky River" ~ Willie Nelson

*I actually haven't seen Avett Bros live. Yet. But I have big plans to go see them in September so I jumped the gun and included them on the CD.

INSPIRATION: the elevated envelope

If you like Tulaloo on Facebook then you may have heard that I am participating in The Elevated Envelope project, hosted by the lovely and talented Tara at Ephemera. Basically, we all had the task of designing and creating beautifully adorned and addressed envelopes that fit the theme of "Summer". We each made about 10 (except for Tara who is exchanging with all 85 of us! Yikes!!) and then mail them to one another. I'm going to share Tulaloo's envelopes with you next week, after they have been safely delivered. The above are three of the envelopes I've been lucky enough to receive in the mail so far!

In addition to the pretty envelope, we were each asked to enclose something within that explained our creation. I've received a few recipes, from people who relate summer to BBQs and family vacations, as well as a Starbucks gift card from someone who likes to kick back with an iced coffee. My kind of girl right there!

I can't tell you how nice it is to open the mailbox to discover little pieces of art on top of the usual pile of bills and junk. If you would like to take part in the fun sign up for Ephemera's mailing list to be in the next Elevated Envelope exchange - probably next January. This is not just for professional artists and designers! I hope to see some of Tulaloo's friends and clients on the list this winter!

TULALOO: on vacation!

From July 29th through August 7th the Tulaloo studio will be closed for vacation. All phone calls and emails will be returned on the 8th, and any orders placed during our vacation will begin processing then as well. I know several of you are curious what we will be up to...

Tomorrow afternoon I am hopping in the car with ony of my very best friends (the wonderful Jessica of Sparetire Design) and heading out to Newport, RI for the Newport Folk Festival! I'm really looking forward to seeing lots of great music, particularly The Civil Wars. We even scored tickets to Deer Tick and Friends afterparty show Saturday night.

Promptly upon my return from Rhode Island I will load my family into the car and head up to Ogunquit, where we will eat a ridiculous amount of lobster and watch the ocean. Maybe we'll even take a boat ride with the boys! Have a wonderful week everyone!

TULALOO: affordable letterpress

Letterpress is lovely. It is textural and soft and adds a touch of subtly luxury to wedding stationery. Letterpress printing is an art form, and the cost is reflective of that. If

your budget allows, letterpress wedding invitations are worth every penny. But, let's be real here - not every wedding budget is going to include letterpressed stationery. Flat printing is a perfectly acceptable altrnative, and can be perfect for formal events if you and your stationer work together to choose the right papers, colors and designs (a specialty of ours here at Tulaloo - we are great on a budget!). But if you really, really LOVE letterpress, but can't afford to have your entire invitation suite printed this way, consider having just part of your invitation letterpressed!By having just the invitation letterpressed, with the remaining pieces such as the reply card and envelopes flat printed, you will save quite a bit of money. Tulaloo recently created an invitation suite this way for Angela and Robin. Their ivory and blue, garden themed wedding begged for a letterpress invitation, and by flat printing the coordinating elements we were able to create this at a price point that fit their budget.

Almost all of the designs in our Wedding Collection are available in letterpress. If you are interested in this option please contact us for a quote!

Congratulations to Angela and Robin who were married on Friday!