Monday, October 31, 2011

A Personalized Thank You...

Recently, Kelly Dolata and the gals from A Savvy Event in Sonoma came to me to help them thank some very people. They recently spent a weekend up at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe for a Wedding FAM weekend.

They had such a wonderful time and wanted to thank the team up at the Ritz in a special way.

Kelly had a great idea of making the gift personalized for the team. She wanted to highlight where each woman was from, but also have a group gift and keep the whole thing cohesive. 

We decided an small individual gift for each gal along with a small gift from Sonoma county that they could enjoy together would work well. To pull it all together, I created an icon that would represent both the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe and A Savvy Event in Sonoma. And, since we are smack dab in the middle of the fall season, the color palette, font and basket all evoke a lovely autumnal coziness. 

Here are some images of the final product and some more details of the gift!

Cranberry, Orange, and Gold ribbons around a wooden bushel basket give this gift just the right touch of that fall and harvest feeling. It features a Thank You note for the whole team secured to the front of the basket. A script font with a wine glass and pine cone icon melds  the feeling of Lake Tahoe outdoors and Sonoma Wine Country with sophistication.

The basket contains a small gift personalized for each gal. This one is for Placerville, CA native Andrea, and is a small bottle of wine regional to her home town. Each individual gift has a personalized note featuring the wine glass and pinecone icon mounted on wine colored paper and secured with the cranberry, orange, and gold ribbons.
Clodagh, from Ireland got some traditional Irish soda bread handmade from John Campbell's Irish bakery in San Francisco.
Some 100% Kona coffee (Peet's) should keep Blanche's Hawaiian roots very happy!
Two bottles of Sonoma Syrup Company drink mixes along with a nice bottle of spirits was a little something representative of A Savvy Event's locale that the whole team can enjoy!
The inside of the Thank You note from A Savvy Event that adorns the front of the basket.
The basket has a personalized Thank You note to each of the gals.  The Ghiradelli solid milk chocolates in the shape of the Golden Gate Bridge are a special little extra provided by Woods&Company.
Another view of the whole basket before departing to its recipients!



Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Appel & Frank Holiday Shopping Event!

Holiday Cards? Already?

I know you are probably thinking, "but summer just officially ended last week!"

If you are the kind of person who thinks about these kinds of things in advance, then you'll want to save this date. If you are the kind of person who waits until the last minute, you'll ALSO want to save this date!

So, if you are in the San Francisco Bay Area please put Wednesday, December 7, 2011 on your calendar!

Woods&Company will be participating in Appel & Frank's Holiday Shopping Event this year. Items available at the event will include handmade holiday cards, gift tags, gift cards, and more. You'll also be able to order custom made cards, invitations, and of course, gift baskets.

It's never to early to think about how you are going to tackle all the things on your holiday "To Do" list!

For more information about Appel & Frank, take a look at their website:

www.appelandfrank.com

Hope to see you all there!


Thursday, September 22, 2011

Caring For Baby and Making Baby Shower Invitations!

The past year, I have had the most amazing addition to my life: my daughter Katherine. Life has certainly changed since Katy arrived, but the change has been most definitely for the better.

I have been busy all year not only taking care of Katy, but continuing to work on creating fun and unique gifts and paper goods for my clients. Every project has a great story and I absolutely LOVE designing for people's special events.

The fact that the project I'm featuring today is a for a friend of mine makes it even more special. My good friend Jessica and her husband Dave were expecting twins this past summer, so I, along with a few other good friends, threw Jessica a baby shower. The theme was "Twice As Nice With Two". We knew they were having a boy and a girl, so we kept the theme gender neutral and went with zoo animals in bright, fresh colors.

I designed the invitations, as well as the party favor bags, tags and the champagne glass tags. The paper is from Paper Source and the fonts used are Island of Misfit Toys and Caviar Dreams.

Inside of Invitation

Invitation Text Detail

Envelope with Coordinating Label

Open Invitation and Envelope

The petal enclosure card was banded with the animal theme paper and secured with a coordinating sticker .

Detail of the coordinating sticker

Detail of Animal Paper Band

I also designed the favors and champagne glass tags for the baby shower.

Fabric Drawstring Candy Bags with Handmade Labels. 

Detail of the Tag

Printed Glassine Bags Filled with Cookies

Animal Crackers filled the bags, fitting the theme of the party as well as the mother-to-be's favorite snack!

Personalized Champagne Glasses

Ready For Toasts!
I am happy to report that Abby and Ryan were born on June 22nd 2011! They came a little early but are both doing great!

Welcome to the world, little ones!


Thursday, March 31, 2011

...I Always Knew I Had SOME Style!




... Thank you Creative Designs By Toni for giving me a Stylish Blogger Award! I too, am just really getting started with blogging, so it's nice to be recognized for my work! I am truly appreciative!

To accept this award the recipients are asked to do a few things:



1.Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Award 10-15 blogs you feel deserve the award

4. Contact these bloggers and let them know about the award.

Seven Interesting Things About Myself:
1. I have a baby daughter who is truly the light of my life.
2. I am a certified interior designer on top of the work I do for Woods&Company.
3. I have run 4 marathons and am hopeful to run another one soon!
4. My husband and I are addicted to playing Words With Friends with each other on our iPhones.
5. I'm originally from Massachusetts, but when I moved to San Francisco 8 years ago, I met my husband and I've been here ever since!
6. I love summer, particularly on the East Coast. I miss warm summer nights.
7. I have a few guilty pleasures: Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Pepperidge Farm Soft Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, and cheesy 70's music.
8. (I added an extra!) I make a MEAN whoopie pie!

I am presenting the Stylish Blogger Award to these bloggers as well:

Lulu Lang
Sweet Craft Cakes
Love and Smiles
Cake, Cupcakes, and Cookies, Oh My!
Stockberry Studio
Simply Heaven Baby

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Relive Your Childhood With These Save The Dates...

... The thing I love about Save the Dates is that they are really a chance to do something really cool. It can fit right in with your wedding theme or it can be something completely different. It can show your guests your personality, your sense of humor. It's a chance to "let your hair down" and get creative!

... My best friend is getting married in September and when she asked me to do her Save the Dates I was more than honored. She sent me an idea she had in mind and together we developed it! I have to say, when she sent me the images for me to use, I nearly fell off my chair laughing!

... Jamie and her fiance Russ* decided use the Save the Dates to laugh at themselves a bit. They wanted to incorporate pictures of themselves from junior high. We used these photos on the outside, with a nice photo of the two of them from their engagement session on the inside. A fun theme of "then and now" made these Save the Dates such a great project to do.

... Since Jamie's wedding colors are navy blue and green, I used a pocket enclosure in color Night from Paper Source as the base for this project. I layered their paisley decorative paper on top of that and then added on the images and text. Jamie wanted to include hotel information for her guests, so I created a card insert for the pocket enclosure. The fonts used in this project are Honey Script paired with American Typewriter.

... What a fun project to complete! Here are some images of the final product!

* And no, Jamie is NOT marrying Fred Savage circa Wonder Years, but he could've been a stunt double!















Sunday, March 13, 2011

...Welcome Katy Joan!




... This past October, my husband and I welcomed a beautiful little girl (who is sleeping in my arms as I type this), Katherine Joan, named after my maternal grandmother and my husband's maternal grandmother. We call her Katy, and she is the love of our lives!

... Of course, we sent out baby announcements, and of course, I had to make them myself. My husband called me crazy and told me that with all the distractions that a baby creates, going to an online service to do our announcements would be perfectly acceptable. I, however, just didn't want to do that! I wanted something all our own, totally personal and unique. I actually began working on the announcements in the few weeks before she was born! I figured out the design and assembled all parts that I could before our little one arrived. Once she was born, it was just a matter of selecting the perfect picture and inserting all the important information!

... All of the materials for this project are from Paper Source. Since we did not know if our baby was going to be a boy or a girl, I went with a gender neutral theme. Her nursery has a under-the-sea theme, so I used Paper Source's octopus theme decorative paper for the envelope liners and I chose the rest of the colors based on that. I paired that with their orange polka dot paper set on chartreuse enclosures. The enclosures are tied with a curry colored ribbon. The envelope is also Paper Source color curry. The fonts used are Ecolier for the script paired with Chaparral Pro. The font color is shades of the curry color found on the envelopes.

... This project was a lot of fun to complete, and really fun to send out to all our friends and family. My husband wasn't wrong, it WAS a challenge to get them finished up and sent out while adjusting to a new schedule of 3am feedings, diaper changes and trying to get some sleep, but it was definitely worth it to have such a special, hand-made announcement as a keepsake for Katy's baby book.

... Although having a baby is a lot of work and making your own announcements might seem like too much to do, these were super simple in design and easy to assemble!









Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Bay Bella Debut!...

...Today the Best of the Bay issues of Bride 9 and Mocha Bride hit the stands today! Pick up a copy and check out Woods&Company's photo shoot!