We know, we know…the blog has been a bit dead lately! It’s not due to a lack of work – in fact, we’ve been quite busy this past summer with some really exciting work. Our blog has been a great source of community discussion and we look forward to getting back into the routine of posting regularly – and we have some great stuff to share in the coming months!

In truth, we’ve spent much of the past year taking a serious look at our business and what we want out of it. For the last two years, we’ve had moments of uneasiness. We weren’t sure if we were just going through a creative block (it happens, unfortunately) or if we were tired of working with weddings specifically. We thought perhaps it could be the slow economy (which has certainly taught us a thing or two in itself).

Eventually though, we realized it really wasn’t any of those things. We had an unbelievable summer and had the privilege of working on some of our all-time favorite projects. These projects refreshed us and helped us realize we haven’t lost our passion for the wedding industry or, more importantly, for good design. One of the reasons we felt so refreshed was that we worked closely with individuals who are just as passionate for paper and design as us. They shared our style and design aesthetic, and the projects were truly collaborative. They trusted our expertise and recommendations and looked to us for guidance – and we had an absolute blast working with them.

Given this opportunity, we were able to reexamine and redefine who we are as designers and what we want from our company. We’ve redefined our goals and how we intend to reach those goals. We’ve retooled our processes and methods.

While a few things have changed, one thing that will stay constant is our commitment to good design and providing our clients with the best service and end-product possible.

A few updates we can share:

• We will be updating our wedding Studio Collection with additional designs and additional customization options throughout the year. We’ve already finished a couple of these designs and I can tell you they’re a lot of fun!

• Our package minimum for all custom invitation projects has increased to $1500.00. This new minimum isn’t a huge change (the majority of our clients invest that amount or more already in their packages). It’s our continued commitment to provide brides and grooms with great design and exceptional service for their investment.

• In addition to working with brides and grooms on wedding projects, we will also be placing more focus on working with businesses on corporate design projects. This is something we’ve done for years – but it hasn’t been at the forefront of our services. We have an especially unique perspective to help businesses in the wedding industry with their needs – more to come on this very soon!

• Our sketchbooks are out and we’re working on some fun new projects – stay tuned for more!

We understand that it is an investment to work with designers, and we strive to make sure that it is an expense well worth the cost. We look forward to continue to offer superior design services to all our clients, whether they are a newly engaged couple seeking invitations, or a business seeking a new image.

As mentioned in the beginning of the post, we are passionate not just about stationery design, but great design. PERIOD.

Lastly… oh, nevermind – what’s with all this seriousness? Let’s get back to the blogging fun!

One of the things we are most excited about with the launch of our website redesign is our new Studio Collection – five customizable, ready-to-order letterpress invitation suites.

We have partnered up with Nole of Oh So Beautiful Paper for a giveaway – we are giving away 100 letterpress invitations and rsvp cards (along with corresponding offset envelopes) from the Studio Collection to one very fortunate reader! Head on over to Oh So Beautiful Paper for details and to enter by Friday at 11:59 PM EST – winner will be announced Monday!

Jonathan and I are delighted to announce the (full) launch of our brand-spanking new website today! We launched partially in January, but now the site is live in full. Check it out!

Two of our biggest priorities while designing our new site were 1) that the site really show off our work and 2) that it be clean, simple, and incredibly user-friendly. The site has been a real labor of love and we’re so excited to share it with you!

One of my favorite sections is the Custom Portfolio, where you can view past custom projects. Several of our couples have shared their wedding photos with us, which really shows off how well invitations and day-of paper items can tie together to make an event seamless from beginning to end.

The FAQ section answers some commonly asked questions about our process, pricing, timeline, environmentally friendly resources, and working with us if you don’t live in the Seattle area.

The Press section features magazines, books, and websites that have written about us and our work – also in this section are several testimonials from happy clients.

Of special note is our new Studio Collection – ready to order, easy to customize letterpress invitations. More on those later this week!

We are so grateful to our amazing clients for continually inspiring us and to the other wedding professionals who have supported us and our work. I hope you enjoy perusing the new site!

What happens when four stationery designers obsessed with all things paper join forces? A can’t miss PAPERPALOOZA! Our studios are overflowing with luxury envelopes, rolls and rolls of ribbon, fine papers from India, Italy, and Japan – and so much more!

This is a great opportunity for DIY brides, scrapbookers, crafters, and paper lovers to get some fantastic goods at prices far below retail!

NEED TO KNOW DETAILS:

Date and Time: Saturday, July 11, 2009 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Location: Real Card Studio 117 First Avenue North, Seattle (enter from the alley between 1st Avenue and Queen Anne Avenue North)

pssst… The first 20 people to email sale@mmmpaper.com will receive an invitation to our EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW HOUR from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM! Get first pick of all the goodies! Coffee and yummy treats will be served.

Hosted by Brown Sugar Design, Ephemera Custom Letterpress, mmm…paper, and Real Card Studio

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After settling into our new studio, we hosted a small open house to show off our great new space! Jodi and Arianna from Woodland Flowers provided gorgeous floral arrangements for the event and we thoroughly enjoyed mingling with friends and colleagues!

Jonathan and I had so much fun creating invitations for the open house – a vintage inspired design that we then had letterpressed on chipboard. The invites were either hand delivered or mailed in gorgeous chocolate or papaya envelopes with wrap-around labels.

I promised I’d share photos of our new studio and here they are! We share the studio with a wonderful floral design company, Woodland Flowers (the beautiful flowers in the photos below were designed by them). Some of our favorite details about the studio are the large open size, the exposed brick walls, and the vaulted ceilings. The room gets a lot of natural light and feels roomy and warm.

The paint color took some trial and error – we wanted a warm and cozy gray, which proved more difficult to find than we expected. But eventually we found the perfect shade, and I can’t be happier with the results! It works nicely with the brick and with all of our white furniture.

The chairs were a find from a vintage furniture resale shop here in Seattle. Once we brought them into the studio, we discovered they are a dead-on match to the existing green carpet. At first we weren’t too sure about either the carpet or the matchiness with the chairs – but we’ve decided to like it for now. Maybe eventually we will be able to change the carpet.

We’re looking forward to many wonderful meetings with our clients in our new space!

As we mentioned a while back, we had bid farewell to our old studio a few weeks ago. It served us well for a couple of years, but after the initial move we went into serious studio set-up mode.

Above is just a quick sneak peek into what we were dealing with as we started to get things together. As you can see, there are some good bones to the room: exposed brick walls, vaulted ceilings and windows with great sunlight. Stay tuned for a in-depth before and after shots of our studio setup that Whitney will post next. We’re excited about the new studio and the chance to meet our clients here as well as all our industry friends.

We have some big news!

This weekend, we will be moving to a new studio! While we’ve loved our location in downtown Kirkland in the Brooks Building, we’re very excited to announce that we’re moving to a new, larger space! We’ll still be in downtown Kirkland – only a block away from our old location. (Literally – old address: 613 Market, new address: 730 Market).

We’re moving to a second floor studio and will be sharing the studio space with the talented ladies of Woodland Flowers. More details to follow, including before and after photos!

The move is exciting, but somewhat bittersweet, since we’ll be leaving the studio we’ve been in for the past 2 years. It has served us well – but we’ve very excited to be moving on to new digs! MORE DETAILS COMING SOON!

Just a quick update to the little challenge to ourselves – and possibly others (if you’re not sure what we are talking about check out this post):

Well, Whitney and I did it. (Personally, I did fall behind with my commenting on Friday, but caught up on Saturday.) Both of us noticed that there were a couple of days that when we went back and thought about it, we ended up commenting more that three times without even realizing it. We’ve also both found new blogs that we suddenly can’t live without – both of our google readers are even more loaded up now than they were before. Up next: week 2!

In the words of our friend Keith – Viva Communication!

I’ve been rethinking our studio recently – I think it is due for some new, fresh changes. I’m thinking lots of white (combined with the some of the dark brown furniture we already have), clear acrylic accessories, succulents, and some new storage.

left to right, top to bottom:

ikea docksta table | succulents photo from brides.com | cb2 lumiere pillar holders | west elm scoopback chair | cb2 sidecar high dining table | west elm canvas storage bins | cb2 beaker glass pitcher | cb2 zombie tumblers | cb2 format tray