New location in Garden City Idaho

Save the Date Originals is settling in nicely to it's new permanent home and will start to have open hours between 12-2pm on Sundays.  Most orders are handled through email- you just have to see your design before you order when it comes to custom stationery!  But locals in Garden City, Meridian, & Boise can come in to check out card stock, colors, and more, in person.  Come see just how much nicer these printed fridge magnets are than- well- some of the other magnets you may have seen.

For those who are nearby, STDO now has a limited selection of LovePop greeting cards!

Lovepop cards actually pop up.  Currently available: the Present, Pirate Ship, Rocket, Unicorn Rainbow, Cake, Champagne Bottle, Pink Stork & Blue Stork for baby showers.... and more.

Holiday cards 2014

Yep, it's that time of the year!  Early birds are already looking for holiday cards.

At STDO you can get a custom holiday card designed.  With photographs, without photographs.  Any colors.  Go with a typical matte card stock, a glossy card stock, a linen texture card stock, or maybe even card stock with a pearly shine.  You could even get color envelopes!

If someone adds an order of custom printed fridge magnets to an order of holiday cards (be it a wedding save the date or a photo favor), they will get free shipping.

http://savethedateoriginals.com/HolidayCards.php

Wedding Programs

Yep, Save the Date Originals does programs too- upon request.  This post is about a fairly simple program, a 5x7 inch folded card.  I'm not sure that I can call it vintage, but it has some vintage-esque design elements.  This program was designed for a couple getting married in an old movie theater.  Their save the dates were of course ticket themed!  Colors are simple;  white, black, grey, and some red.

Baseball Cards for a Wedding

One recent project for a customer's baseball themed wedding was: personal baseball cards to include with their favors.  I just loved the idea!

We went with 65lb laminated cards, printed front and back.  Size is appropriately 2.5x3.5 inches.

One front front is a photograph of the couple, and the back lists their couple "stats".

As 2016, you could get 50 of these for $45.00 or 100 for $80.  Pricing will change over time though;  If you are interested, contact angela@savethedateoriginals.com

Wisconsin Save the Dates

One popular category of save the date designs is... the location based design.  Maybe you don't have a theme, maybe you don't have colors, but before you send your save the dates, you at least know where your wedding will be!

For location based designs, photographs of venues are popular.  Skyline silhouettes of cities are too.

Another option is to go with an outline of the state, or a map country, with your wedding location starred.

Along those lines, here is a save the date for a Wisconsin wedding:

This is an outline of the usa, overload with a fun watercolor texture. This is a save the date card, about 5x4 inches.  This could potentally be turned into a save the date magnet.

So if you are a having a wedding in Madison, Fond du lac, Appleton, La cross, or Milwaukee, this is a good option for you.

Of course... you could also get another state highlighted instead.

Chevron Pattern Invitations

The chevron pattern has been a popular one in recent years;  And now Save the Date Originals finally has a wedding invitation with a chevron pattern!

This picture shows a basic invitation set: 5x7 inch invitation card + 3.5x5 inch response card.  The chevron rows are in varying shades of a teal blue.  The fun extra for this particular example is a lined mailing envelope with a matching chevron pattern.

Check out pricing here:
http://www.savethedateoriginals.com/details/invitations/INVFL71B.php

Yay: Flags!

Save the Date Originals is now experimenting with flags.

These won't be cloth flags- these will be printed cards attached to sticks.


What can you use flags for?  

*  You could get flags to put in your centerpieces as table numbers.

*  You could use flags as photo props (wedding date, or a "Mr" and "Mrs" pair).

*  You could get a bunch of "Yay" flags as favors.

*  You could get a couple of signs to direct people.


Pricing will vary depending on the printed design, card shape, and needed stick size.

Summer Lovebird Invitations

This invitation idea came from a set that was created for summer beach wedding in Wisconsin at the South Shore Pavilion.  The wedding colors are loosely ivory and burgundy, though there might be a few pinks here and there.  Their theme: lovebirds ❤

This design idea actually come from their save the date, which was of course smaller, but was similar.  Their save the date included a cute photograph of the couple with the wording also on the right.  Thinking to try something similar but different for the invitations, I searched for a photograph that would work well for their theme.  This photo turned up, and is just about perfect for their summer wedding invitations.  Two birds + flowers!

The dark red envelopes are close enough to burgundy to work, and would add a little extra awesome.  (Dark envelopes do need labels for writing the addresses on though)

When to send save the dates for other events

Another question that comes up a lot: When do you send save the dates for a birthday?  Or for a Halloween party?  Or a Bar Mitzvah?

You didn't think people only sent out save the dates for weddings, did you?  Actually, people send out save the dates for a variety of events.  If you are planning something far in advance, it's going to be a big bash or important life event, or you want people to be able to schedule time of work... well, those are all the reasons you might send out a save the date.  Be it for a wedding, a first communion, a milestone birthday, or major wedding anniversary.  School reunions & family reunions are also common events that people will send out save the dates for.

For weddings, there is a fairly clear timeline on when to send out save the dates:

But for these other events, sending out a save the date a year in advance might be considered over-doing it.

The timeline is a little shorter for these other events.  You usually send out an invitation for a wedding 2-3 months in advance.  But for other events, you might only send out the invitation 1-1.5 months in advance.

You wouldn't really send out save the dates for a wedding 3 months in advance.  But it does make more sense to send out save the dates 3 months in advance for one of these other events.

In conclusion: It depends a little on when you are sending out the actual invitation, whether the event is going to require hotel bookings for a number of guests, and whether it's on a major holiday.  What I can say is that if you are thinking about sending a save the date for something like a big 60th birthday bash, 3-6 months in advance is a good timeline.

For a big family reunion in the summer, sending out save the dates with holiday cards tends to work well.

Moving

You are moving!  Yay!

Now, instead of being repeatedly asked for the next year about your new address, you could send little notices to friends and family.

"We've moved" cards are getting more popular for exactly that reason.  Sure, you can email them the new address, and in several months, they may or may not remember which folder that email is in.

Better yet, though, is to include a fridge magnet printed with your address.  Then they really won't have an excuse not to find it.

Check out this combination of a card + a small magnet:

A card with moving truck, and the actual new address on the magnet.

To see pricing and to place an order, go here:
http://savethedateoriginals.com/details/Moved6.php

(Yes, colors can be changed)

Scalloped favor tags

Favor tags are another one of those things that aren't posted on the website right now, but are available if people ask for them.  Which is why I have a photograph of these sweet scalloped favor tags for you to take a look at:

Babies are sweet, and so are the candy favor that were given out at this baby shower.  These favor tags are pastel pink, with pastel blue, pastel green, and then purple rows of dots for added color.  These favor tags are circular, about 2 inches in diameter.

Mahna Mahna!

A new children's birthday invitation has just been added to the website:

This invitation is for a Mahna Mahna themed party.  What is that?  It's a song made famous by a muppet skit- check out this youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N_tupPBtWQ

This invitation is about 4.5x6 inches, printed on white card stock.

This customer also ordered a matching kid's shirt just for fun!

Renaissance Pirate theme

When a customer recently asked me if I could come up with a save the date idea for a pirate & renaissance theme, I enthusiastically did.

Result: 3.5x5 inch card with simple graphics in the background of a couple, a pirate flag, and a parrot carrying off a mysterious key.  The gold flourishing border is what adds the extra touch;  It's not just about piratey goodness.

I admit, pirates of the Caribbean came to mind when I was designing this.

I like this design so much that it will probably end up in the official save the date card section of the website soon:
http://savethedateoriginals.com/SaveTheDateCards.php

Modern Invitation

A new invitation design has recently been added to the website.  It can be described as "modern".

It's simple, and yet, quirky, in that the font style is fairly basic... and then it just so happens that the wording is printed diagonally.

It's for a couple that maybe hasn't picked out a specific color scheme, or wants to include multiple colors without covering the invitation with color.

It's for the couple that maybe doesn't have any particular theme in mind and/or doesn't want to go with the usual fallback of floral or swirly patterns.

PS: Square invitations are cool.

Heart Shaped Tags

How many of my posts begin with something like, "So, a customer asked me if I could do-"?  A lot of them.  Here is yet another example of something not posted anywhere on the main website (yet).  

A heart shaped favor tag:

Cute!  This was done for a bridal shower.  The tags are about 3x2.5 inches.

Hollywood Stars

I love it when customers ask me if I can make something- and it's something I probably would not have thought to make.

In this case, one of my customers asked if I could make Hollywood Stars for her to use to line a walkway at the reception.  Answer: Yes!  Introducing 11x11 inch laminated cards.

For her project, she has them printed with the names of the bridal party.

I can also see these being hung up on walls, framed at a guest table, used as place mats for the bridal party. or, used as photo props.  These can be printed with just first names, or, the wedding date, or, maybe you could get a set with a "Bride" and a "Groom".

Save the date photo idea: Get a set of 4, printed with "Save", "The", "Date", and then your date in numbers.

Starting at:
$8.50 for 1
$15.00 for 2
$20.50 for 3
$26.00 for 4

Not including shipping.  Contact Save the Date Originals for pricing on large quantities or to place an order.

Stage Monkey!

One of my customers wanted a sort of Broadway playbill theme for baby shower invitations, and she knew that she wanted to include a cute monkey.  We ended up with this large magnet shower invitation design with our cute monkey and a curtain/stage background.  Pinkish purple hues certainly work for celebrating the arrival of a baby girl, though of course the colors can be mixed up a bit if you like the idea and want to tweak it for a new set of shower invitation magnets.

There was also an accompanying response card that was fairly simple.  This is another design that is not yet posted on the Save the Date Originals website, so Contact STDO if you are interested.

I love Lucy (well, Jess) shower invitations

Another fun project... this shower invitation idea come right from a customer.

They are throwing an I Love Lucy themed bridal shower for the bride, and wanted appropriate shower invitations.  This means... polka dots and a red heart!

They decided on navy (dark) blue for the border color.  Inside of "I love Lucy", it's "We Love Jess".

The card is about 4.5x6 inches, folded, and has printing on the inside as well.  The customer came up with poetic wording about how Jess could use some recipes for the upper-inside panel.  A recipe card is held inside the lower panel of the card via two angled slits.  The recipe card is about 3.5x5 inches, and guest's will mail them back with a written recipe using another small (included with the mailing) envelope.

For those interested in getting their own set of these: (as of 2016) pricing is around $2.50-$3.00 each, minimum of 20.  Envelopes included.

And you can also get these without the recipe cards.  Or maybe you could get color envelopes!  At STDO, it's all custom made by a person, so you don't have to stick with exactly the original idea.

You could switch to a flat card instead, with printing just on the front:

Pricing for the flat version (as of 2016) is around $1.50-$2.00 each, minimum of 30.  Envelopes included.

QR Code on a Save the Date Card

QR codes: Little blocky black and white graphics that you may have seen there and there. Your phone (if it has a camera) can scan and interpret a QR code. Commonly, the QR code will take you to a website. This can be used for a lot of things; Imagine a movie advertisement with a QR code that takes you to a website with a trailer for that movie.

In the same way that website addresses have become a common addition to save the dates and even sometimes invitations, QR codes are just starting to get added in more often to personalized stationery. A good example is that I've had a customer ask me to print a QR code on the back of her holiday card. The QR code took receivers to a blog post that talked about the family happenings for the year.

This time, a customer asked me to put the QR code within their save the dates design. And it wasn't a modern style save the date design, where you could expect to get away with quirky blocky elements.

This one, to be exact:


It's a popular 5x3.5 inch save the date card from my save the date card gallery.

It took me a minute to conceive an idea for this. It turns out that you can change the colors of the QR code graphic without messing up the functionality. So I switched the QR code to cream and brown, then added in into a 4x5.25 inch version of the design:


Their QR code takes guests to their wedding website.

I have to admit, this turned out better than I would have expected for a nice wedding save the date design that has a QR code as actually part of the design. Thus, I declare this my favorite project of the month for January 2012.

*To protect the couple's privacy, the names, website, and QR code on the photographed example have been altered*

Portuguese save the dates

Save the Date Originals does save the dates. Cards. Magnets. Themes. Many sizes, many colors. Photographic, non photographic. And also in alternate languages.

Right now the only person on staff is limited to English. If the customer can speak/write English, or they have a friend that can act as a go between, they can work with STDO on a project. The project itself doesn't have to be English! Of course the customer is definitely solely responsible for proof reading in that case.

Check out the popular wedding save the date design now turned into a Portuguese birthday save the date:


Communication with the designer is done via email in English- but the customer can email the text for the design in an alternate language. Spanish is a popular alternative to English for projects.

Sometimes it gets tricky because a lot of the fonts that are available won't have that accents or flourishes needed; But for small things like save the dates, a few of those can be added right in by the designer.

This leads into mentioning that you can get bilingual save the dates and invitations. You can get some # of cards or magnets in one language, some # in another. Another option is to go for double sided printing- one language on one side, another language on the other side.