17
May 2013

new cards just in time for #nss

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We might not be attending the National Stationery Show in New York, but we do happen to be nominated for a Louie (eep!). So I felt to celebrate our nomination and the show (which we are so sorry to miss), we should at the very least put out some new cards.

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I am jokingly calling this summer 2013 collection “the missing pieces.” Because of the way I’ve always approached our cards, which is really just to create them when the inspiration strikes, I’ve realized over the years that I was definitely missing a few occasions. So, I’ve been simmering on many of these ideas for those missing cards awhile now, and this week I finally took the time to design, print, photograph, etc. I hope you like them!

Check them out…Father’s Day, wedding anniversary, wedding congratulations, and graduation cards.

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I experimented with some hand lettering with it…a few of them are actually my handwriting :-) Kind of fun and different from my usual.

Happy Friday & have a wonderful weekend!

Categories: dodeline design updates, etsy, new card monday Tags: , , , ,
13
May 2013

the best doughnuts I’ve ever had.

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This weekend we attended the Food Film Fest, and I have to say, I had had no idea what to expect and I was thrilled with what I got.

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The whole concept is very clever — you know how when you see a commercial about doughnuts, and you think to yourself, “oh man I could eat a doughnut right now” — well, that’s kind of the idea. You watch a short film (less than 5 minutes) about a food, and while you watch it, they bring you that exact food.

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…which is how I met my new favorite thing — Top Pot Doughnuts from Seattle, Washington. I mean truly, they were the best doughnut I have ever come across, maybe even one of the best pastries in general. Sadly it doesn’t look like mail order is an option, so a trip to Seattle may be in order.

That was what was so neat about it though – right here in Charleston, I got to experience food from lots of different places, over-nighted in just for that event. Canadian maple syrup, treats from Dirt Candy…all sorts of goodies.

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Look at what a good little film patron I am! I kid. I was quite surprised when I came across that one of me when scrolling through the event photos!

Obviously, I did not take any of these photos, they are all courtesy of Food Film Fest’s Facebook Page and copyright Adam Chandler.

And just so you don’t miss out on the fun, here is my favorite film from the event: Dirt Candy’s “Vegetable: Friend or Foe?”

If you have a few minutes, it’s pretty hilarious. Good way to start the week!

Categories: Charleston, Events, Food Tags: , ,
01
May 2013

studio snaps + food film fest

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Hello friends! I hope life has been treating you well lately. We have been busy as always, which is wonderful, and also taking time to enjoy spring too.

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Of course, beautiful weather means wedding season is here, so we have been busily sending out invitations and printing up fun day of pieces too, like these welcome kits for this weekend’s bride.

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I know I’ve mentioned before that, for whatever reason, the spark finally came alive and I’ve become really interested in food and cooking. I think now that I know a thing or two (albeit not much), it’s a lot more fun because I feel like I can get creative.

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I’ve also spent the last three and a half weeks really focusing some energy on health. I have to confess it’s not something I’ve spent much time on before in my life — I am a workaholic, so if there is time to be had, I usually work — but I’m really working on a lifestyle change. Making sure to exercise even just 20 minutes a day has made such a difference in my stress level. So it’s been fun to incorporate that into cooking and learning about food and nutrition and exercise. Wish me luck that I can stick with it :-)

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In that same spirit, I’m really excited about the upcoming Food Film Fest!

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A client of mine is involved in putting it on, so I can’t wait to check it out. Here’s what they have to say about it:

The Food Film Festival – the only film festival in the world where guests get to taste what they see on the screen – will debut in Charleston this spring with two events showcasing more than 15 food films! In Charleston, we will present a “Best of” exhibition of favorite food films from around the globe, along with the world premiere of a film about Lowcountry shrimping from Festival Director and Travel Channel Host George Motz.

Sounds really interesting doesn’t it? I will be sure to share some snaps and thoughts after the event!

In the meantime, though, if you want to check it out and are in Charleston that weekend, they were kind enough to share a coupon code with me that you can use (“MELT10″) to receive 10% off the ticket price. Tickets are on sale here. We hope to see you there!

So that’s all that’s going on around here right now. I’ll try to be better about posting – it’s just hard to find time sometimes between work, exercise, cooking, and play! Tell me what you’ve been up to in the comments…I love to hear from you!

Categories: Charleston, Cooking, dodeline design updates, Events, Invitations
17
Apr 2013

april wedding invitations #ww

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Last weekend was very special for many reasons…not the least of which was that two of my very favorite brides got married. Funny enough, both of them were named Maggie! We had very different styles for each of the weddings though, which is part of what I think is so fun to see. Same name & same weekend, but oh-so-different in the approach, and I have to say, I love them both!

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Maggie H and I have been working together for awhile on her save the dates, invitations, and day of paper. She adores paper so we hit it off quite well from the start, and she and her mom will both be missed as they dropped by the office from time to time. But I know her Southern Protocol wedding had to be amazing!

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For Maggie H’s suite, we had a really fun blend of contemporary trends with the traditional. Saturated out-of-the-ordinary colors, more traditional fonts, and a really fun construction. The invitation is two color letterpress, backed with a metallic brocade pattern. We really focused on the stacking of the pieces as well and how they would play with each other — alternating the corner treatment (rounded versus square), colors, etc.

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Once Paige Tanenbaum added her beautiful calligraphy, we had something really really special!

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On the other side, Maggie D loves music and planned a beautiful gray and coral wedding. All of her paper had a really casual, fun and modern sensibility.

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Don’t you just love that “awkward but enthusiastic dancing” bit?

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What have you been up to lately?

Categories: Invitations, wedding wednesday
28
Mar 2013

Weddings Unveiled Spring 2013

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You can imagine my delight to see Caren’s gorgeous wedding in the Spring Weddings Unveiled issue!

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It was such a pleasure to work with the talented team at Yoj to create all the neat paper for this wedding. We made the adorable paper cones that they filled with rose petals to toss as the couple came down the aisle, the custom monogram cake topper, straw flags, and more. So nice to see the gorgeous results of some of the more labor intensive projects like that ;-)

Happy weekend and happy Easter!

Categories: dodeline design updates, Press
25
Mar 2013

pretty minty things

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It’s funny how color trends work, isn’t it? Mint is all the rage right now and I can’t help but love it too.

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I’m noticing a lot of triangles in products and designs lately too. I really want these adorable coasters. Details bug me – as much as I love my Georgia Bulldogs, the red “G” coasters just stand out as so out of place in the living room I’m carefully curating. Yes, I know, that’s kind of silly, but aren’t these lovely?

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OK so maybe those didn’t all end up being mint but I think they looked nice together, and I’d happily take any of them ;-) I have always wanted a globe for some reason. Not sure why. And the old style alarm clocks are just so much prettier than a digital piece.

How do you feel about mint? Do you fall in with color trends or stick to your favorites? For me, I might love the trends, but I almost always gravitate back to the blue, green, and gray.

Check out the lovely finds above in these shops:

mint green scarf | vintage blue alarm clock | vintage globe | wood bunting | polygon necklace | vintage camera | mint triangle coasters

Categories: cool products/vendors, etsy, pretty packaging
19
Mar 2013

Culinary Adventures

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Sometime in the last six months or so, I have definitely gained a real appreciation and understanding of how much fun cooking can be. And now that we’ve moved and I am in love with my awesome kitchen (we have a huge island!), it’s all the more fulfilling.

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I think the biggest impediment to enjoying cooking for me was feeling uncomfortable and like I didn’t know enough to get creative. Since taking a cooking class last year and experimenting some since, I’m nowhere near an expert, but I do feel a lot better about “winging it” and trying new things.

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One of the biggest difficulties in cooking I think is less about the cooking part and more about the timing. I’ve had a couple pseudo dinner parties in the last couple months and figuring out how you’re going to get everything done at the same time is the hardest part. I really like cooking for other people but there is definitely less stress when it’s just you in the kitchen!

Over the weekend we made challah bread (pictured above) from the recipe found here. I had never made bread before and after failing twice so far at good Southern biscuits, it was nice to have a win in the bread department. It turned out so pretty!

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My awesome mixer is possibly my new best friend. I have also failed several times at frosting / whip cream before I had a mixer at all (even a hand one) — it’s almost like cheating with this thing it’s so easy! I have no idea how people ever made stuff like that before appliances came along. I clearly need to work out.

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I have tried two different buttercream recipes and I’m not sure I’ve loved either of them yet. Maybe I should switch to another frosting type. Do you have any go to recipes for that? I also tried using the French cocoa we brought back which I actually think made these cupcakes much richer and a lot less sweet. But what do I know? ;-)

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I. Love. Bruschetta. I made some over the weekend for dinner with my cousins and I just can’t get enough of it. Some part of me thinks it’s partially because the colors are so vivid and pretty — I have definitely fallen in love with using fresh produce if for nothing other than how beautiful it is.

So, that’s where a lot of my non-blogging non-working time has gone :-) It’s been a lot of fun to experiment and I might start posting the recipes I’ve tried here on the blog if you guys are interested.

What about you — do you enjoy rummaging around in the kitchen trying new things or do you stick to your favorites? What are your favorites?

Categories: Cooking
18
Mar 2013

so much to share.

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I went AWOL again…sorry about that guys. I have definitely found that moving to an office made work-life separation so much easier to achieve, but I think it’s made blogging much harder. Once I get to the office, I’m ready to dive into work and get things started, and when I’m home I’m ready to relax. Blogging is somewhere in between I suppose! I am going to try to do better though :-)

We have been very very busy in the interim though…Olivia Rae James came and took photos of the studio and some of our stationery. She is incredibly talented.

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In the last couple weeks, I also found out that we are finalists for a Louie award! I know you might not know what that is, but it’s actually a greeting card award given by the National Greeting Card Association. I’m super super excited.

We also launched one of our most ambitious and fun web projects yet – The Perfect Match Studio.

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It’s a directory site for the wedding market in Florida. It was a great way to combine two of the things we love to do – wedding stationery & web design!

Speaking of websites, we used some of the amazing shots Olivia took to update our own website and blog some. I have more in the works on that coming soon, but we went ahead and did a little facelift for 2013.

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I might not have been blogging much, but we’re definitely Instagramming a lot. It makes it so easy to snap photos as we work. Right now we’re in major spring and summer wedding invitation mode and we’re getting them out as quickly as we can. I am so thankful to have Kellie three days a week now – I don’t know how I would have survived without her! We’ve both had a lot of fun finding new ways to package orders and streamline the process.

So, what have you been up to lately?

Categories: Blogs, Corporate, dodeline design updates, pretty packaging, Stationery, Web Design
12
Feb 2013

decorating with books

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I go through major highs and lows with decorating, and now that we’re in our new place, I’m definitely in one where I’m enjoying decorating quite a bit. In the past, and still now too, I struggle with the feeling of needing to finish a room. That’s how my job works…we start design projects and we finish them. But I think your home is different and you have to learn to embrace the evolving nature of it. I am working on that!

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In case you didn’t know, I am a bookworm and I always have been. My brother and husband will both tell you in a very dejected way that they had to carry entirely too many books up three flights of stairs. I love everything about books though…that they work even when the power is out, the feel of the paper, the way they take you to places faraway, and the library-like smell.

So when it comes to decorating, I love being surrounded by books. I am excited to have more places to display our books in the new place so over the weekend I experimented with how to display them.

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I am kind of in love with how the color coding thing turned out. I am trying not to get obsessive and scour all my books for the same number of each color. We’ll see how long that lasts :-)

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I don’t remember where I saw this, but I’ve also seen books done this way before where they are actually turned the other way. It’s definitely not the best for spotting a book you want, but the paper lover in me kind of likes how you see the different pages and how, although they’re all some shade of white, they are slightly different. I’m trying this out for awhile to see what I think.

What is your favorite decorating piece or trick?

Categories: decor
08
Feb 2013

moving, travel, and other things

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I meant to post this week, but between moving, a friend in town, and our normal busy lives, it just didn’t seem to happen. So here’s what we’ve been up to!

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We did some really fun paper for a wedding in January with Katherine Miller Events. Black, ivory, and pretty scripty type. We even got a shoutout from Style Me Pretty on Instagram (who happened to be attending the event)!

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Photo credit: smpweddings

Moving was a pain.

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I have been dying to open that rug for weeks so the first thing I brought to the new place was the rug and the Ghost chair. Unfortunately, there was a lot more to do after that but I felt complete.

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Moving did allow me to rediscover some dode-history.

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I totally forgot that I made it up that long ago, not even halfway through college. It was really fun to see it on those drawings from school and know that now I had actually made it a real thing.

We’ve also been mailing lots of pretty correspondence to card lovers all over the world.

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…and making some with card lovers here in Charleston.

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I am, of course, referring to Charlie, who is the only one posing for this picture. (Photo credit: Seastar Arts)

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We had a very special Creative Coffee at Spacecraft this week with Dannielle, who visited all the way from Australia. It was so much fun to hang out with her and get to know her better — we only knew each other through blogging and social media. What a cool opportunity it was to meet a fellow blogger in person!

What have you been up to?

Categories: friday wrap up
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