Louella Court

wrapping + Louella holiday promo

{ posted by Cat, director of operations }

I don't know about you all of you out there, but around here, my weekend plans include quite a bit of wrapping. Like everybody, my hubby and I have scaled back a bit on our gift giving this year, which is all the more reason to go all out with presentation. I'm lucky to have access to an abundant source of beautiful scrap paper, and I love the time of year when I get to sit down and find ways to use those bits and pieces to wrap packages for the people I love.

With that in mind, I wanted to leave you all with a bit of wrapping fun from a recent Louella Press promotion. Because I'm not a designer by trade, this project was a treat for me because I got to step outside of my normal role and create a concept for the promo, and then design and assemble the boxes myself. Of course, most everything around here happens with some amount of team work and I had some crucial help in the form of Colleen's die-cutting, Brooke's design for the holiday message and Lisa's packaging. As someone who doesn't normally design, it was so much fun to see all the elements of the idea come to life, even in a small scale project like this one.

Good luck with all of your Christmas wrapping or craft projects this weekend! And if you have an spare minute and are so inspired, send photos ([email protected]) of your favorite wrapping projects our way on Monday... We would love to post your handywork early next week.

Merry Christmas to Me

{ posted by Brooke, designer }

The hardest part of Christmas shopping for me is not getting sucked into the temptation of buying things for myself. This year I bought only one small present for myself (which I cannot divulge here because I also bought the same thing for my sister-in-law... the hazards of having a family member who also has spectacular taste! Hehe). I am quite proud of this feat, what with all of the sparkly, pretty things glaring at me from all over the place, but that doesn't mean I'm not still lusting after a few things that I'd like to buy for myself, in particular a bag from Etsy shop made by hank.

I first came across Katie Henry's (get it?... Henry=Hank!) adorable and unique bags via Oh Joy! and became immediately smitten with her designs, particularly her "tough ruffles" bags. I love her color choices, attention to detail (check out the adorable polkadot lining directly above), and her product shots, and her prices are incredibly affordable. Katie is a fellow Philadelphian who makes all of her pieces by hand, and will even fulfill custom orders. Of course, her popularity can be detected by the fact that her shop is almost completely cleaned out for the holidays, but I'll be keeping my eye on things in January for a possible New Year's gift to myself.

Be sure to check out Katie's blog, http://madebyhank.blogspot.com/ where she features some new pieces and various musings/pretty things. 

Good for a laugh.

{ posted by Cat, director of operations }

Since we introduced ourselves on Louella Court, there is a very important element of our collective personalities that we have neglected to mention, and it's time to set the record straight once and for all.

We are a funny crew.

Given some of the high blood pressure situations that inevitably come up when working with our clients through the most emotional events in their respective lives (weddings, mitzvahs, new babies), a sense of humor is key to success. And around here, we seldom lack the ability to laugh at ourselves and each other... Mostly at each other.

There was the time we comandeered an unlikely photo of Chris wearing a tiara and ordered pink birthday invitations featuring said photo. Or the day that we packed a TPD coworker in a printer shipping box and had Vanessa open the package. The look on her face when she opened the box and Kelly popped out was literally priceless. I didn't recover for a week.

And recently, we let loose at Brooke's wedding in her fabulous vintage photo booth. Determined to get a photo strip with every possible coworker combo ("Print team!" "Former production managers!" "Us and the frightened man running the photo booth!") we left the wedding with no less than two dozen photo strips. Needless to say, we found ourselves generally hysterical. Maybe we'll make you smile too.

{ Maggie and Rach's beau, Mike, playing with Brooke's table settings / Chris shares a stogie with the camera / Former production managers Jen, myself and Brooke relive the ups and downs of life in the fast lane / Vanessa vogueing / Print team Chris and Rach being dramatic / Who's this guy? A very cute TPD hubby joins in the fun }

Neon...what?

{ posted by Rachel, print manager + designer }

Yes, it’ s not just for bud light signs anymore. Canadian artist and curator Thrush Holmes has taken neon from 80’s to o8’, with his ethereal oil, canvas, and embroidery paintings. He also released and an album of folk-indie tunes on December 5^th. So stop, look and listen…

http://thrushholmesempire.com/main.html

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=88499022

Rainy Day Stripes

{ posted by Brooke, designer }

It's nice when a little color is brought to an otherwise dreary day.  It is rainy and gray in the Philadelphia area today (and unseasonably warm for mid-December — 60 degrees!), but Maggie's colorful wellies managed to make me smile. 

(I'm tempted to be her wellie-twin and buy a pair all my own, but seeing as we already bought the same dress recently, I think that would just make me her crazy co-worker.  Hmph.)

In light of Maggie's boots, what a funny coincidence it was to happen upon this post on The Dieline this morning, featuring this limited edition Coca-Cola Light bottle designed by Nathalie Rykiel. 

Colorful stripes will never go out of style, in my book.

Holiday Cheer

{ posted by Cat, director of operations }

Before this weekend, I was feeling a tad weary of the holiday spirit. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for Christmas music and putting lights on the tree, but if I'm surrounded by these things too early in the season (read: at the mall the day after Halloween) I start feeling a bit like Scrooge.

But between decorating for our holiday open house here at the studio, eating a healthy assortment of Christmas cookies and picking out my own little Charlie Brown Christmas tree this weekend, the holiday spirit crept up on me earlier than usual and, shockingly, I don't mind. After all, it's hard to argue with an extended season of guiltless hot chocolate consumption.

With that in mind, here is a peek of our holiday open house that helped get me into the spirit....

{ Unfortunately, we were missing two very important members of the TPD/Louella crew in this group photo. Jen was under the weather and Chris was off being the best man to his newly-wed older brother. It wasn't the same without them! }

Ringing in the New Year

{ posted by Brooke, designer }

It's hard to believe that 2009 is just around the corner.  Doesn't it seem like just yesterday when you had to creatively turn that 7 into an 8 on a check that you dated with the wrong year?  The last 11+ months have flown by — for me, at least — and I'm not sure I'm ready to say hello to a new year just yet (and it is so much more difficult to turn an 8 into a 9!).

One thing that makes the transition to a new year a lot easier is getting your hands on a pretty new calendar.  I have seen some beautifully designed calendars this year, particularly of the letterpress variety, but I have to admit that some of them have started to blend together and look the same.  Until I found this lovely Nikki McClure wall calendar today on Elsewares.com:

I instantly liked the crisp graphics with their contrasty, hand-drawn quality.... and then I read the description a little further, only to find that all of these images are actually papercut designs!  Now I'm even more impressed.

Welcome to the NEW Louella Court!

{ posted by Brooke, designer }

With so many changes going on at Two Paperdolls and Louella Press, we thought: why not add our blog to the list of things to redecorate? Just around the corner from our old abode we set up shop here on TypePad, and so far we think it's pretty cozy... don't you?

Thanks for bearing with us as we make this transition — we may continue to make some design tweaks here and there, and we'll try our best to clean up some of our archived posts that are still a little bruised and banged up from the move.  Our ultimate goal is to bring you more inspiration more frequently, and your feedback is extremely useful to us.  Let us know if there is anything you like, dislike, or want to see more of on this blog (as we're still trying to find our place in Blogland).  We'll do everything we can to make your visits to Louella Court pleasant and inspiring!

Celebrating the new studio

Thank you all so very much for your patience. Since we last spoke, we've upended the studio, packed what we couldn't live without (and maybe a few extras) and started fresh in our new space. There were definitely a few crazy days in there, but hours of unpacking and many, many pizzas later, we are officially settled. And just in time to invite everyone in for a holiday open house!

This Friday night (12/5) in conjunction with First Fridays in Wayne, we're staying open late and inviting everyone to tour the studio, see our letterpress operation, decorate some ornaments with the kids and enjoy a few treats. We'll be here from 5-9pm, and we would love to see all of you here!

For those of you who can't make it, here is a peek into our new studio...

{ the long view of the studio from the entryway | a close up of our new three tiered side table where we store our samples. the lamp is an antique with a gorgeous mirrored glass shade | the "floating wall". this piece was truly a collaboration. thanks to Sarah McKay for the beautiful photo of our C&P letterpress and EB Anderson for bringing our floating wall to life. the mirrored nesting tables are antiques as are the stunning 1940's ballroom chairs on either side | our client meeting area is comfortable enough to make you feel at home | the library is our private meeting area. love the painted teal table with the earthy linen chairs | view from the back of the studio | we love our kitchen break-room! | view of the front door and our new sign }   

Many thanks again to the talented duo at Environments HC for the decor, we certainly wouldn't feel so at home without their help! Hope to see all of you Friday, and check back soon for photos of the studio dressed up for the holidays!

Find us at:
55 West Avenue
Wayne, PA 19087
(down the street from the Great American Pub)