Seems like Summer was just last week… But, it is definitely time to get started on your holiday greetings.

Here at EnvelopMe.com, we are so excited about the brand new Holiday designs for the season by the marvelous Envelopments, Inc. design team. And even more excited to see how our brilliant customers create the most amazing holiday greetings this year.

Whether it’s your first or 51st holiday card together, a corporate greeting for clients, or any celebration or event, we’re here to help.  Remember, we can customize any of these or custom-create whatever you have in mind, or you can follow the “recipe” to create your own DIY holiday cards at home.

Explore these fabulous holiday ideas and get inspiration here.

And, if you need an early gift for yourself, we have a few more surprises coming soon, so watch your inbox or join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/envelopme.

Happy November!

www.EnvelopMe.com

In honor of Fashion Week in NYC in this past month, we’ll take some tips from top designers and celebrate color!  Top designers are showed off their palettes for Spring 2012 so today’s post will help you connect the color trends to wedding and invitation colors… be sure to join us on FACEBOOK or TWITTER for article updates so you don’t miss any).

We’re taking our color cues from Pantone, the industry’s color authority for fashion, interiors and print.  The staff at Pantone interviews the top designers and puts together a palette of the top 10 colors for each season.  You can see their color swatches and design inspiration here. There is also a section on several of the featured designers and their favorite color picks and combination, so you can read more about the colors or designer that matches your personality and style. Here are the colors Pantone has identified as the top colors for SPRING 2012 (note that these are the women’s fashion colors; there is also a top 10 for men):

From the Pantone Website

Based on these top colors for Spring 2012, we’ve put together some examples using Envelopments stocks to coordinate with the hottest looks this spring. Whether you’re creating invitations for a wedding, holiday or other celebration, you’ll find color combinations that work for you. For your convenience, we’ve cross-referenced Pantone’s Spring Trend color selections with a few of the cardstock colors we carry (and coordinating C4 Patterned Accents in these colors) to help you create show-stopping invitation ensembles.

With over 200 colors, there are many other stock options that are similar in color to the top 10 color categories, and if you’re looking for a specific color, we’re sure you’ll find something that works with your preferred color palette as well. Click here to see all our colors online or here to order a swatchbook to see colors in person.

And, of course, you can combine these colors with each other or with other colors from our selections to create your own combinations. Envelopments has developed “Color Concepts” — a feature showing color combinations in different color families. Here are just a few Color Concepts we created using the 2012 colors – but the possibilities and combinations are endless!

Click here to browse more Color Concepts.

Click here to see our gallery. And click here for even more ideas from Envelopments.

If you need assistance with color selection or design, just give us a call at 1-866-MY-INVITE and we’ll be happy to help. You can order blank supplies to print on your own, and remember, we offer complete professional design and print services as well.

Hope this helps in planning for your upcoming event!

Since Favor Boxes were introduced a year and a half ago, we have enjoyed seeing the wonderful ways brides incorporate these into their weddings, and wanted to share a few of our “favor”-ite ideas for personalizing favor containers.

The Hanging Favor Tag

Take Out box in C4 Diamond-BLO09 (Bloom Pattern)

This little “Take Out” style container, is tied with gold cord and a square 1.75 x 1.75 printed monogram seal is mounted on a 2 x 2 backing. We used a small diameter round punch like this to create the hole in the tag for the ribbon.

Tag is printed on C2 Creme Brulee with C1 Amethyst Backing

Using the ultra-cool “Pyramid” container, we had to get a little more creative with the hang tag.

"Pyramid" container in Pyrite-SUT01 (Sutra Pattern)

We used the 1/8″ punch on our 1 x 3″ tag to make a hole for our gold string.

Tag is printed in C2 Pyrite

Then, we punched another hole on the box (using the same 1/8″ punch on the tip of the last flap right before folding it in), thus creating an elegant way to hang the string on this uniquely shaped box.

The Die-Cut Favor Tag

C3 Mercury Blue "Pillow" Container

On this “Pillow” container, we used a bright pink 1/8″ ribbon wrapped a few times around and tied with a hand-punched tag.  TIP: You need to print the tags several times on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, then cut them out using the hand punch. We used one like this from Amazon. Then, we used a small diameter round punch like this to create the hole for the ribbon (two different punches).

Here’s another example using a 3″ round die cut punch (like this one), and a 5/8″ sheer blue ribbon around the “Clutch” container. You could either use the 1/8″ punch or a 1/4″ punch (larger punch is easier with larger ribbon).

Clutch container in C4White Micah REG35 (Regalia Pattern)

The Mounted Favor Tag

"Bon-Bon" container shown in C4 Raw Silk Ecru SWI73 (Swiss Dot Pattern)

For our sweet “Bon-Bon” container, we flush-mounted a printed 2 x 2 tag (C1 Classic Ecru) directly on one side of the 2 x 2 box – it fits perfectly.  Around the middle, we added a 3/8″ brown ribbon and a square rhinestone buckle. (Ribbon is taped together on the bottom using our double-stick tape.)

We love the extra touch and shimmer the buckle adds to this over-the-top favor!

The Printed Band Wrap

For the two boxes above, we printed on translucent vellum, then wrapped the printed strip around the box.

The box on the left features a C2 Champagnium “Tarte” box, with a V4 Kaleidoscope patterned Vellum.

The “Tarte” box on the right is in the  C4 Crème Brûlée-BRO17 (Brocade Pattern) with a plain (non-patterned) vellum wrap.

You could also use a solid or patterned paper (not vellum) as shown around the “Pillow” box below as a bandwrap.

C3 Majestic "Pillow" container with P4 Classic White-BRO04 (Yellow Brocade Pattern) bandwrap

Here’s another idea – combining a paper wrap with a scalloped seal. The “Pillow” container is shown with a P2 Caspian Bandwrap, and a C1 Classic White seal cut from a 2.25″ scallop punch .

"Pillow" container shown in C4 Raw Silk White-ABA72 (Abaca Pattern)

The Icing Wrap

"Wedge" container shown in C4 Serpentine REG83 (Regalia Pattern)

Sometimes you don’t need a bandwrap all the way around, as in the “Wedge”  favor container above. This “icing” label wraps around partially on the other side, and we decorated ours with a slim navy satin ribbon.  These labels are a snap for any shape box, but are especially great for favor containers in odd shapes that are less conducive to tying something around.

Our Icing Tutorial will give you the step-by step to create these easily at home. (The tutorial is showing how to make envelope addresses in Icing style, but you can make the jump to turn it into favor icing.

The Recap

Here are links to the items you’ll need to make these fabulous favors at home… Well, everything except the surprise inside, and we’ll leave that up to you!

See available Favor Container colors here (available in all cardstock colors)

See Shapes & Sizes here (scroll to the bottom for favor container options)

Order Favor Containers here

Order Paper for Wraps here or Translucent Vellum here

Order Cardstock for Tags here

Tape & tape gun for assembly (Use for mounting tags directly on the box, or adding wraps/labels. The boxes themselves do not require tape for assembly)

Rhinestones and Ribbon (Ask us if you don’t see what you’re looking for on the site yet.  We can most likely order it for you.)

Click here for font ideas for your Favors

TIP on Printing: For favor tags, die cut tags, wraps and icing, print on a larger sheet first and cut down after printing.

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Extra tools from Amazon:

2.5″ tag punch

2.25″ scallop punch

3″ round punch

1/8″ hole punch

1/4″ hole punch

TIP on Hand Punching: It has been our experience that the large die cut hand punches do not work well on the heavier stocks, especially the metallics.  Stick to using the paper stocks or C1 Classic White/Classic Ecru type stocks and they will work much better. The small 1/4″ & 1/8″ punches work fine on heavier stock.

To Plan the Perfect Invitations!

by Tayva Bloomer

You’ve found the man of your dreams and you’re sporting a bit of sparkle on a very important finger. In other words, you’re engaged! Lucky you

Now what? If you’re anything like most brides, you’re probably feeling completely elated…and slightly overwhelmed. With so much to do, when and how should you get started on invitations? To answer this question and to get your creative juices flowing, look no further. At EnvelopMe.com, our utmost priority is to help your wedding – the invitation portion, at least – run seamlessly smooth. In this four-part blog post, you will find answers to some of the most common questions we are asked about getting started, so stay tuned for more!

Continue reading It’s Never Too Early…

Order custom water bottle labels to keep guests cool

1) Personalized Water Bottles - Help your guest stay cool while at your joyous event with these adorable personalized water bottles.  If you don’t find a design that works for you wedding, we can help you design a custom label for your bottles.  Ask us for pricing on custom label design.

Continue reading 5 Ways to Stay Cool at your Summer Wedding