Louella Court

Boo!

{ posted by Maggie, senior designer }

What's better than a crisp autumn night, flickering candles, bowls of chocolate, eerie music, and hot apple cider?

NOTHING!

Yes, I am a huge fan of this time of year. In fact, many years ago, a friend decided that she would celebrate Halloween as my birthday, giving me awesome Halloween gifts each year. Yay!

 

{ image of home all decked out for the season from wrightysworld.com awesome! }

No matter if you love scary movies or sweet cartoons; traditional decorations or understated autumn décor; cute costumes or serious themes...

 

{ images from reel movie news.com, tv guide.com, martha stewart, self-made mom, exalted-beauty }

...enjoy the season and have a Frightfully Good Halloween!

Corazza + Spurkland Wedding

{ posted by Nicole, director of sales }

Swans on skis — how sweet is that? 

Our bride Megan Corazza Spurkland had one of her bridesmaids, Amber Osbekoff, create this sweet illustration. Megan came to us all the way from Homer, Alaska... well, she called us from Alaska... and asked us to design all of her wedding stationery around it.

As you can see from the wedding photos below, Megan is one crafty lady! I had so much fun working with her (via-email) and hearing all of her awesome wedding ideas. 

Escort cards that would later become bookmarks adorned the wall as guests entered the ceremony and reception site.  Megan put a photo of each one of her guests on their keepsake, what a cute idea!

The snowflakes added a personal touch to the place cards, and the swans reappeared on their program and stickers. The custom jars were filled with smoked salmon, as Megan is a salmon fisher. 

Even Megan's bridesmaids had hand painted and embellished wellies!

The guys look SO handsome in their sweaters.

Festive outhouse!

 

Congrats, Megan and Jan!

{ photos by Don Pitcher }

p.s. i love you

{ posted by Terry, designer + print manager }

So I was gearing up last week to write a post about the work of the beautiful and talented Erica Domesek, my fellow high school alumna (and sister of my junior prom date — shout out to Justin!) who’s been doing amazing things with her diy blog p.s. i made this. And then what do you know, I get scooped by one of our favorite blogs, Design*Sponge! Read the d*s post about Erica here, but also be sure and check out psimadethis.com. I’m far too lazy to attempt any of her project ideas, but I just love checking out her style — from her creations themselves to the inspiration collages, handwritten type and gold glue gun featured on her site!

 

 

{ all photos via psimadethis.com }

Dressed to Impress

{ posted by Nicole, director of sales }

Another surprise Saturday blog post from your dolls!

I had to share this amazing photo from my friend Heather Brown Megosh and her son Charlie. Heather and I have known each other since first grade. We were in every homeroom class together in grade school and played on the same field hockey team in high school. She also had 3 younger siblings so play dates with me and my 3 younger siblings was SO MUCH FUN!

Heather also was the pitcher for our fastpitch softball team — and let me just say she was AMAZING! Time has passed and we lost touch with each other after going off to college — but thanks to Facebook, I am re-connected.

The reason that I wanted to tell you all about Heather does have a wedding tie in — her sister was just married! Congrats Amy!  Heather also just had a beautiful baby boy named Charlie and I am just in awe of how cute he looks in his TUX for the wedding.

 

I am not sure where Heather got such an adorable outfit, but he sure does wear it well! Watch out, grooms — Charlie is dressed to IMPRESS!

A Taste of Britain's re-opening

{ posted by Amanda, VP }

Our print client A Taste of Britain has officially moved to Eagle Village Shoppes (formerly known as Spread Eagle Village) here in Wayne, PA. The owner, Tara Buzan, continues to provide elegant English fare, teas and catering to the surrounding area. We were invited to her launch party this past Monday; Environments HC, headed up by Winnie King, did the interiors for this space, (as well as ours!) and we must say it looks FABULOUS! 

There is a private dining area that can be reserved for smaller gatherings...

 

And a main dining area...

Complete with a ridiculous tin ceiling.

 

The space was complete with custom paintings by Mario Manzoni.

 

Two Paperdolls handled all of the customized paper items, such as menus, business cards, signage and stickers, for A Taste of Britain. Here is a sampling of one of the menus that we did...

Their hours of operation are Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. Make your reservations now and stop by to see the new space!

{ Eagle Village Shoppes, 503 W. Lancaster Avenue, Suite 420, Wayne, PA 19087 | 610.971.0390 }

why does my small business need a website?

{ posted by Chris, designer }

I know this is unusual for our blog, but my post has no images! Instead, I’m going to take a break from the visual eye candy to explain why your small business needs a website.

Today, people want information quickly and conveniently. Just yesterday I sat down with Eric Salfi and Steve Cwienkala, two CPA’s who run a public accounting company called Cwienkala & Salfi. They decided they want a website — as always with a new project, my first questions were, “What's the point? Why do you want or need this?”

They brought up a particular example where they were out golfing with a couple of friends. One of the guys, a friend of a friend, was looking for a new accountant and asked Steve about his company. Steve quickly told him how experienced he is with about 40 years under his belt, in addition to his partner Eric's 20 years. Thinking to himself, with all this experience, who would say no?

The potential client asked, “Whats your website? I’ll go check it out.” Both Steve and Eric had no response, but suggested that he come to their office one day the following week to talk more. That client said he had no time to get to their office, and, in turn, they lost contact and never ended up getting the work.

This is a prime example of someone who wants to be able to do their research at their own convenience. Who knows — that guy may not have had time to look into his accounting needs until 2:45am on a Tuesday; the internet works for you around the clock and allows prospective clients to find out more about you when the time is right for them. An online presence is important on so many levels, if for nothing other than this exact reason. It’s a pretty simple concept — if you have a solid business and a well designed website that you drive traffic to (through talking, business cards, or advertising), then your business will grow.

Keep on the lookout for www.cwienkalasalfi.com to go live sometime around the new year!

come join us!

This Friday we'll be at skirt in Bryn Mawr helping to raise money for a great charity. Join us!

run up... the Empire State Building?

{ posted by Emily, production assistant }

1,576 steps, 86 floors...start running.

I'm a dedicated runner, but I find myself out of breath as I climb the 24 steps here at our studio. The Empire State Building Run-Up is an event I've been following for a few years now. It's an invitation only event and has occurred annually at The Empire State Building for 32 years. With 300 participants in 2009, the record stands at 9 minutes, 33 seconds. What a creative twist on running!

Take a look here and here for more information and facts about the race!

Dilly Dallas

{ posted by Nicole, director of sales }

The day always goes by a little faster when friends visit at the studio. Today the very talented Dallas Shaw is coming for some coffee and conversation.  Please check out her work and her blog (recently added to our sidebar under "blogs we like").   

I am in love with her fashion illustrations, they make me want to run to Anthropologie at lunch and go shopping!

  

I also love her vintage style t-shirts, so soft and cozy! Just right with jeans and pumps for a night out on the town with my hubby or with sweats when cuddling up with my puppy.

rainy day fix

{ posted by Whitney, web designer }

Over the weekend it was very cold and rainy here in the city of Philadelphia. After wearing wet shoes all day for two days in a row I decided it was time to fix the problem. To my surprise I found a lot of options when it came to a great rain boot. Of course there is the standard yellow (which, in a way, I love) and then so much more — everything from a fun citrus theme to polka dots. Here are a few of the options I found at Target.

 

 

{ all images via Target }