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End of the year recap – Looking forward to 2015

This time of year always has us scrambling; rushing to pack and ship orders in time for the holidays, rushing to get gifts wrapped for friends and family, rushing to complete our end of year inventory, rushing up and down I-5 to visit our loved ones.

Now that the new year has begun the next rush is on.  Our annual local bridal show begins next weekend at the Washington State Convention center which was built right over I-5 where it passes through the center of downtown Seattle.  We have new designs to add to our existing line of plantable invitations.  We have new equipment going into this bridal season that we bought at last year’s Stationery Show in NY.  We have just 7 more days to put the finishing touches on the invitations that we hope resonate with our Seattle customers.

Once that show is over we begin building a new (sturdier) crate for the NY Gift Show that runs Jan 31 – Feb 4 at the Javits center.  At the end of February we are excited to be participating for the first time in the largest show of its kind in the nation: The SewExpo http://www.sewexpo.com/.  We are excited to be part of the show and look forward to meeting many of you there.

We are excited to see what these next few months bring but want to give a quick shout out to a couple of our 2014 customers who shared their photos with us.

Here is a photo of our Earth Silk ribbon that Heather Edgar sent.

customer photo2

She runs her own business: Evergreen Flower Co. of Columbus, Ohio and was kind enough to send these beautiful photographs.  Thanks Heather!

Earth Silk ribbon on a flower bouquet.
Earth Silk ribbon on a flower bouquet.

One thing we love about the Seattle Wedding Show is the special connections we make with our local brides.  We met Rebecca and Thomas at last year’s wedding show along with Rebecca’s mom.  They were that couple you meet who you can see married forever, their shared energy and enthusiasm were infectious.  We had a great time working with them on all of their wedding plans, this pair was doing it all!  They loved that we offered so many do it yourself options as they were planning to do just as much as they could (including making their own rings).  After their event they shared their wedding web site with us (which is where this photo is from).  You should take a look!

Seattle couple assembles Of The Earth invitations at home.
Seattle couple assembles Of The Earth invitations at home.

Lastly we were excited to work on these holiday cards with a great creative team from Darien, Connecticut.  Thanks for letting us share your project Jim!  GW Hoffman

Front of seed paper holiday card.

Inside of seed paper holiday card.
Inside of seed paper holiday card.

 

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Earth Silk Hand Dyed Sash Wedding Gown Success!

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful customers!  We recently were contacted by a customer who celebrated a fall 2014 wedding who just wanted to say “Thanks” for our contribution to her wedding day.  We had worked with her to find the right silk color for her wedding, not realizing until receiving the photos just how prominent our Earth Silk ribbon would be on display on her big day.  It was so wonderful to have a window into her event and see the happiness on display.  Thank you so much for sharing!  We love how beautiful you made our silk ribbon look!

Earth Silk ribbon in beautiful fall tones.
The beautiful bride wearing a hand dyed Earth Silk ribbon sash of her own construction.
Hand dyed silk ribbon ties bride and wedding together
Earth Silk sash ties autumn wedding details together.
Wedding gown with an Earth Silk Sash
Earth Silk hand dyed ribbon sash on a wedding gown.

Photographer: R.T. Photography, Louisville, KY
Alterationist: Heather Brown Alteration, Louisville, KY
Flowers: By the Bride, Erin Tims

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How to Make 100 Ribbon Embellishments

We were thrilled to receive news of our inclusion in the latest book by the talented Elaine Schmidt: How to Make 100 Ribbon Embellishments: Trims, rosettes, sculptures, and baubles for fashion, decor, and crafts.

How to Make 100 Ribbon Embellishments
How to Make 100 Ribbon Embellishments

“Create amazing trims, butterflies, flowers and more with How to Make 100 Ribbon Embellishments. With clever techniques and a huge selection of ribbon styles to choose from, the timeless art of making ribbon embellishments is better than ever. Let author Elaine Schmidt take you through 100 ribbon designs, offering helpful hints and tips to help you make beautiful accessories to place anywhere.”

This is the second time Elaine has used our products, the first was in her second book The Complete Photo Guide To Ribbon Crafts. The tutorial using our silk ribbon is featured below.

Complete Guid to Ribbons and Crafts
Complete Guid to Ribbons and Crafts

This is actually not our first foray into the publishing world. Our products have also been included in Green Wedding, It’s Easy Being Green and The Everything Green Wedding Book.

Thank you, Elaine – and congrats on yet another lovely publication!

 

 

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The trouble with online reviews – How do you decide who to listen to?

A close friend of mine just had one of the worst weeks a small business owner can have. There are many challenges we face and overcome from every angle you can imagine but one of the toughest is from difficult people. He had to fire an employee this week that may end up dragging out into much drama over the next several months (or even years if it goes all courtroom). I think the hardest part for him were the very personal attacks that this employee threw around like so many dangerous, virulent seeds. These squeaky wheels get so much more attention than they deserve and as the one under attack, we often feel that there must be some truth to their accusations, otherwise they wouldn’t be saying those hurtful things right? Not so. Some people are only happy when they are stepping on other people. We need to be able to filter those people out.

With that in mind I have found a way to address an unhappy individual that I dealt with last November. I wanted to respond to her Yelp review, I wanted to find her own Yelp business page and leave her a few choice comments, I wanted to scream and throw a tantrum, but I chose to not dignify her comments with a response. And then today we received a lovely email from a customer and this is how I have decided to address the issue; by speaking about it here on our own blog.

Thanks for reading and understand that in our very connected world your every action has the ability to ripple into far greater lengths than ever before, so be nice!

Hi Kevin!

I happened to go on Yelp today and noticed that you have two Of The Earth pages on Yelp…and the more current one has only one review, a repeat of the one negative review from your original page. I wrote my own review with five stars, but combined with that other one you still only have a 3-star average.

If you didn’t create that Yelp page you can probably claim it and delete it — it’s better not to have two, so you should be able to just update the address on your original one, I’m not sure about that though. Let me know if you do delete that one and I’ll be happy to put my review on your other page.

Thanks again for the invitations — they are amazing!
Anna

Anna,

Thank you for your message. I am very glad that you are happy with your invitations.

Thanks for the gift of your time in leaving a public review for us. We really do appreciate it. I think Yelp can be a helpful tool (I have used it to find out about yoga studios close to home) but I have a bit of a beef with them (as you might guess) for more than just the Of The Earth listing but also from our many business owner friends who have spoken of their feelings of extortion when dealing with Yelp sales people.

We moved our business last July (and five years prior to that move). When we moved in 2008, our one five star review (at the time) moved with us. When we moved in 2013 to our dismay we discovered that our Yelp page was not going to move with us. Yelp had changed their policies and we had to rebuild, with new images and data our Yelp page for our new location. None of our reviews moved with us.

In December of last year we received our first review on Yelp in our new location. In Yelp’s business plan it made sense to them to ensure that that review was posted on both locations. You see, if we pay Yelp $1000 a month (no joke I talked to them at length) they ensure that any bad reviews are pushed to the bottom of the stack, perhaps even get lost on a back page, as long as the payments keep coming.

In life you have to take a few lumps, so we have put pictures and data and our hours of operation on Yelp but we don’t have to pay them or support them in any way. We also don’t have to tolerate extortion from potential customers, even if that means facing an unpleasant public statement of questionable veracity.

I am excited to read your review and again thank you for taking your time to let folks (on the interwebs) know that you were happy with your experience with us.

Wishing you the best,
Kevin

Kevin Graham
kevin@custompaper.com
www.custompaper.com
Of The Earth
7706 Aurora Avenue North
Seattle WA 98103
1.888.294.1526

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Garden Themed Bridal Shower Invitation Ideas

Natalie Pirveysian blogger at Crème de la Craft contacted us looking for flower stickers for her garden themed bridal shower invitations.  Our purple larkspur botanical stickers were the perfect addition to her special event.  Congratulations Natalie on your upcoming wedding!

Check out the entire DIY tutorial here

http://www.cremedelacraft.com/2014/04/DIY-Bridal-Shower-Invitations.html

Of The Earth offers a variety of botanical stickers in various sizes.

They can be found by following the link below.

http://www.custompaper.com/Shop/Stickers/flowerstickers.html

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SOUTHERN SPARKLE

Mary Andrews contacted us this week to share photos and details of her wedding via her Real Weddings post on The Etsy Blog.

The gorgeous affair took place in Richmond, Virginia where Mary, a Merchandise lead for Etsy, and Tim, a freelance writer, blogger and food stylist work and live.

All photos by Marvelous Things Photography via The Etsy Blog

mary.wedding

mary wedding.2

 Mary used our seeded paper to create her save-the-date, featured in the invite suite above.  We love working with all our brides, but this was one rather special considering she works for and sourced many of her wedding elements directly from Etsy.  For a list of all Mary’s resources, check out her My Etsy Wedding page.  And to follow Mary and Tim’s love story and their adventures in creating a sustainable life  in Richmond, check out their blog 17 Apart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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VERSATILITY: RIBBONS FOR EVERY OCCASION

We know we are biased, but we are consistently amazed by the projects our clients create.  Luckily, many of them are eager and excited to share said creations and generously send photos our way upon completing a project.

Jewelry designer Amanda Ace creates one-of-a-kind pieces and delivers them to clients in beautiful packaging (if we do say so ourselves) featuring our handmade papers and ribbon.

ribbon.1

It is an enormous compliment to know your designs are being chosen for a first impression.

ribbon.4ribbon.5

We recently worked with another client who created this gorgeous bridal bouquet using our silk ribbon, shown here in her wedding day portrait.  Any of you brides and creative folk reading this; be sure to share your work with us so we can feature it here.

ribbon.3

 

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WEARABLE RIBBON

It appears we have officially segued into the fashion industry: we have launched our very first silk ribbon wrap design!  This is a one yard length of our hand dyed silk that is finished with two pointed ends and a seam stitch along the entire length.

wrap ribbon

Our modern take on the classic “fairy ribbon” design is available in over 150 color options.  These Earth Silk ribbons are made by hand in our Seattle studio. We measure, mix, dye, rinse, wash, dry, fold, iron, stitch and sew to bring you this great wrist accessory.

ribbon.2

The wrap is a thoughtful, eco-gift idea and an easy and affordable accessory option to elevate any ensemble.  After years of inquiries, we are excited to offer to offer a hand dyed silk ribbon option to our jewelry-designing and accessorizing clients worldwide!

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THE GOOD EARTH CANDLE COMPANY

We often write of the custom orders we create for clients’ worldwide, commissioned projects remain to be some of our favorite and most memorable endeavors.  Recently we had the pleasure of working with Jeanette Maurer of The Good Earth Candle Company.

“The Good Earth Candle Company features a thoroughly sustainable product, it is carefully crafted in the US in collaboration with a number of skilled artisans and small companies. All candle components are made of natural and renewable materials.”

Jeanette discovered us at a trade show and worked patiently with us to create the right combination of petals and seeds to pair with her line of soy candles. The paper we make for her acts as both a label and a protective cover for her product.

“The last touch to her candles is the unique cover. Jeanette partnered with a creative “eco” printer Jen Merrill, and Kevin Graham who handcrafted the beautiful paper. The paper is infused with real flowers, ferns and seeds that can be planted into the soil to beautify our wonderful planet even more. Jeanette has passion and pride in everything she creates and is very excited to pass this on through offering high quality, very special, “Eco Elegant” products to her customers.”

Upon completion of the project we chatted with Jeanette about her experience working with us to create unique packaging for her candles.

“Kevin and his team have been amazing!  When I came to him with my custom project I was impressed with his ability to seamlessly design and execute the elements for my candle covers.  He continues to be gracious, generous and helpful even after our project has technically been completed.”

Thank you, Jeanette!  We so enjoyed working with you!