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April 18, 2013

WEDDING ACCOMODATION CARDS: THE BASICS

For many of our customers the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of paper in the wedding planning process is invitations. And while the invitation is obviously a vital part of the package, there are many supplemental materials that often need to be included with the star of the show. Accommodation cards, depending on your style of wedding, serves an integral role in providing wedding details.

Accommation Card — Torn edge recycled paper accommodation card

Wedding Accommodation Cards 101:

The purpose of a wedding accommodation card is to provide out of town guests with a selection of hotels in a range of prices. These cards often contain information on bridal party group rates if you have made arrangements with your local hotels. You can cut printing costs and paper usage if you can combine this card with your direction/map card. This card is an appropriate place to include information on activities if you anticipate your guests will have time to soak in the local culture.

We often suggest this card as the best location for planting instructions for our seeded papers. Letting your guests know that the beautiful invitation papers contain live seeds that will sprout if planted is critical if you want your guests to enjoy the bouquet of flowers these papers have the potential to become. Giving them clear information about the seeds will ensure your guests start enjoying your wedding well in advance of your special day.

For text examples and more paper options please check out our online selection.

April 2, 2013

NEW TO THE STORE

We now carry the ideal invitation kit for the handmade DIY enthusiast! Our plantable handmade seed paper invitation kit creates 25 panel style 5” x 7” invites.

Each Invitation Kit contains: – 25 5×7 inch cut edge panels of our handmade paper(containing flower seeds so they can be planted) – 25 cut to size (4.75″ x 6.75″) printer safe lotka seed paper pieces
– 25 recycled paper machine made invitation envelopes
– 6 yards eco-twist ribbon
– Punching template

Designed for home printing on a laser or inkjet printer, these invites are then punched, and assembled by you. Templates and downloadable instructions can be found here.

All invitation components will break down naturally in soil, but only the invitation panel and overlay contain flower seeds.

Our unique North American Wildflower seed blend tolerates partial shade; needs 4 hours a day of direct sunlight and grows to about 3′. Seeds include these perennials and annuals: Spurred Snapdragon,Tussock Bellflower, Creeping Thyme, Lilac Godetia, Foxglove, Catchfly, Monkeyflower, English Daisy, Red Corn Poppy and Showy Evening Primrose. This blend is specifically designed for safe propagation in many growing zones.

Germination may begin as soon as one week, or may take up to six weeks depending on your regional growing zone and planting depth. We recommend just 1/4″ soil coverage.

We are happy to swap paper and eco-twist colors. These DIY kits are available for $26.50 for a set of 25.

March 27, 2013

Creative Clients

We have the pleasure of meeting and working with wonderful client and shop owners all over the world. The creative and inventive uses they find for our products never cease to amaze our staff. On occasion, we receive emails from our contacts showcasing the amazing ways they have integrated our paper and ribbon into their displays, and sometimes even into their wardrobe.

Lila Bulis of Lila’s Scrapbooking sent these photos of her lovely display of our handmade papers.

Lila’s is located in Everett, and she currently carries single sheets and cards, pressed flowers, silk ribbon and eco-twist from our line. Her store is a great resource for crafting and scrapbooking aficionados.

A recent customer used our build green ribbon to dress up a hat for her son’s upcoming nuptials. We were both impressed and delighted by her stylish use of the ribbon. “I used the ribbon on the brim and also as a kind of hatband round the scarf, which goes through slots at the side of the crown so that you can tie your hat on in a high wind”. Lovely work, Ceri! Thank you for the inspiration!

Do you have a project you want to share with our readers? Please submit your creations to ote <at> custompaper.com.

March 25, 2013

Custom Hand Dyed Silk Ribbon – Logo and Branding for Business

We are happy to display our newest hand dyed silk ribbon colors! Just in time for spring we came up with this set of three colors pulled from our original watercolor art work. The watercolor work was done to showcase the flowers that sprout from our seed paper; look for the art to grace our new product tags. Using the flowers as inspiration our colorist made these three new blends to welcome spring and our new business branding. We have had the pleasure of custom dyeing silk to match corporate colors, bridesmaids dresses, home decor, stationery and new product launches. We would love to work with you on your next project. With a low minimum requirement (just three spools) it is easy to have just the right look for your newest designs.

Available in five widths and two finishes our hand dyed silk line is the largest and most flexible in the country. Nowhere else can you find such talented craftsmen and women working to produce hand dyed silk goods in small runs such as ours. We are proud of our efforts to not only produce beautiful works but also to do so in an environmentally focused manner.

Let us know how we can help make your design ideas a reality.

Earth Silk custom color matching — Custom color matching hand dyed silks

Earth Silk hand dyed spool #082 — Hand dyed silk ribbon #082 purple lavender

hand dyed silk ribbon blend 080 yellow orange and green — Earth Silk blend 080 yellow orange and green

March 6, 2013

Do it yourself seed paper invitations for just $1.00!

DIY Kit closeup - Plantable paper — Aspen print at home seed paper invitation kit

Print at home invitation kit — Natural seed paper diy kit

We just added new photos of our latest product to help in this economic recovery. Our seed paper DIY kits are prepared with a cut edge finish to save on the hand tearing labor common to our other invitation styles. We also have included felt finish recycled paper invitation envelopes in place of our more expensive seed paper envelopes. This swap has brought the cost of these invitations down do just $1.00 for a fully do it yourself print at home Eco-friendly marvel. The kits are sold in packs of 25 for $25 and can ship with first class mail to you for about $4. Each invitation is meant to be printed at home using an inkjet or laser machine one piece at a time through the envelope feed mechanism. The envelopes have a great raised texture and pair nicely with the handmade stock. There are five colors to pick from. The colored sheets are all dyed with earth friendly vegetable dyes and are ironically named after trees (as they are entirely tree free).

We make these kits in our Seattle paper studio and ship them worldwide, typically within 24 hours. The paper twine used to hold the pieces together can be swapped out for different colors to create more combinations than we show here: http://www.earthinvitations.com/

Our papers contain a blend of wildflower seeds which include varieties that grow in all the growing regions in the US. Read more at www.flowerseedpaper.com

February 15, 2013

Love and Marriage – Seattle style

I was recently asked on our Of The Earth Facebook page if we would have a problem working with a couple from the LGBT community. For those of you who don’t know that stands for Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender.

Here is her question:

I want to share your page because I think this is pretty awesome but I need to know if you have a problem with doing invites for LGBT before I do. I would have in boxed but I couldn’t. So you can delete this and inbox me. (I’m not starting trouble, just don’t want to promote to my friends who are in the LGBT community if you don’t offer them services). Thanks.

And my reply:

Of The Earth Myssi – The best part about working in the wedding industry is being in constant contact with people who are head over heels in love with each other. It doesn’t matter who they are, how old or young, how fit or flabby, their skin color, political party or gender – we love being a part of folks getting married! The more people we touch with our earth friendly wedding dogma, the better!

Wednesday at 7:58am · Like

I wanted to share this with you here as I have struggled over the years with sharing personal views in a business setting as it is always important to find new customers and I don’t want to alienate anyone just because we don’t agree on everything. The time for that timid behavior is over.

In Washington state people from the LGBT community were finally given the right to marriage equality in December. This long overdue passing of law should help us as a country continue to recognize how much alike we all are. In subtle ways the differences between all people should continue this slide into acceptance of one another. We all struggle in life with real challenges. Having additional barriers in our way put up by small minded people needs to stop and I am happy to witness that change happening.

As another Valentine’s Day passes I am again reminded that like with the rest of the holidays we celebrate in this country we should not stop celebrating mothers, or fathers, love, the birth of this great country or the veterans that have fought and died defending it just because their respective holiday has passed. Each day we should celebrate the people in our lives with kindness and love. Be grateful that you have another day to live and breathe. Hold doors open for people, smile when you make eye contact with a stranger, tell the people close to you how important they are. Too soon it is all over and your chance to say the things you wanted to say has passed.

Do it now. Celebrate every day. Love universally.

Okay, back to work.

Kevin

January 30, 2013

More Photos from the Seattle Wedding Show

seed paper invitation with eco-twist paper twine — Bifold invitation closeup

Seed paper natural petal paper invitation with larkspur flower — Larkspur stem wedding invitation on display at the Seattle Wedding Show

Natural, rustic seed paper wedding invitation display — Of The Earth at the Seattle Wedding Show

Just wanted to share with you photographs of our seed paper invitations display at the January Seattle Wedding Show. Wallflower Photography came by our booth and wanted to snap a few photos of our display, we of course said yes! They just sent these to us and we love them!

Please note how much better professional photographers can capture our handmade invitations – even without studio lighting. If you look at our earlier post you can see a dramatic difference. Think about that next time you are shopping online; how bad photos can really impact your impression of a product.

Thanks so much for sharing Wallflower Photography! We love your work!

You can find the full set of photos from the Seattle Wedding Show on Wallflower Photography’s special wedding show photography webpage; the direct link to the 2013 SWS photo gallery is www.wallflowerphoto.com/weddingshows/galleries/SeattleWeddingShow2013.

If you want a sample invitation to hold in your hand so you can see the difference between your screen and the real thing, just visit our sample request page so you can get yours for free! Be sure to tear off a bit and plant it to watch what grows. Our unique blend of seeds that are embedded in our papers is listed below.

Our North American wildflower seed blend paper contains all of the following wildflower seeds:

Perennial
English Daisy

Perennial
Tussock Bellflower

Annual
Lilac Godetia

Annual
Monkeyflower

Biennial/Perennial
Foxglove

Annual
Dwarf Spurred Snapdragon

Perennial
Showy Evening Primrose

Annual
Red Corn Poppy

Biennial/Annual
Catchfly

Perennial
Creeping Thyme

This blend is specifically designed to be mailed and planted in all growing regions of North America. With the proper care some of these flowers will thrive from New Mexico to New Brunswick.

January 12, 2013

The Seattle Wedding show is this weekend and Of The Earth has lots of great invitation ideas to share

Of The Earth is at the Seattle Wedding Show this weekend and tomorrow is the last day of the show. We have filled the booth with lots of invitation ideas, ribbon and of course, handmade paper. There are also some great DIY invitation options to help trim your costs but still receive a beautiful unique product. If you miss us at the show, we have a showroom in our Georgetown studio so feel free to stop by Monday-Friday between 8:00am and 5:00pm. The wedding show is from 10:30am-5:00pm on Sunday and is located at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle.

SONY DSC

Of The Earth has been in business for 17 years and is owned and operated by Kevin and Lori Graham. We offer an array of handmade flower petal papers, many plantable, as well as all of the invitation components needed to create the perfect invitation. We also offer guest books, favor boxes and bags and an array of ribbons in various widths and fabrics. We have created a line of hand dyed bias cut silk ribbons which look lovely on invitations, favors, floral arrangements and bridesmaid dresses. We are constantly creating new color blends so there are always new ribbons and color combinations just waiting to be seen. Photos of all of our products can be found on our website, www.custompaper.com, and we are always happy to send out samples.

For more info about the Seattle Wedding Show go to www.weddingshow.com

December 20, 2012

Visit Of The Earth at the Seattle Wedding Show, January 12 and 13th.

Of The Earth is excited to be at the Seattle Wedding Show on January 12th and 13th, 2013. The event runs from 10:00am-5:30pm on Saturday and 10:30am-5:00pm on Sunday.

Of The Earth is a paper and ribbon company that has been in business since 1995. Our business started with handmade paper (embedded with flowers, herbs and flower seeds) and has expanded over the years to include many more items. Some of our more popular items are hand dyed silk ribbons(dyed in our Seattle studio) plantable favor boxes, pressed flower stickers, embellishments and note card sets. We offer fully assembled invitations, as we are happy to do all of the work, but we also offer more budget friendly options that allow the client to do as much or as little as they’d like. Visit our website at www.custompaper.com to see our many products and services.

We are currently busy in our studio prepping for the upcoming bridal show. We will have a plethora of invitation samples, DIY kits, silk ribbons, guest books, eco-twist, favor ideas and of course lots of handmade papers for you to get a close look at. Kevin and Lori, the owners of Of The Earth, will be in the booth to answer questions and discuss wedding invitation options.

Stop by and take a look. We’d love to help you plan for your big day.

The Seattle Wedding Show is the largest wedding show on the west coast. This annual event is at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center located at 800 Convention Place, 4th Floor, Seattle, WA 98101. Tickets are $17.00 and can be purchased at the door. For more details you can go to www.weddingshow.com.

December 17, 2012

Elegant, speedy, affordable and earth friendly wedding invitation options by Of The Earth

Christmas is just a week away and when the festivities and visits
with family are over, the realization hits you. It’s January and that
spring wedding you had so much time to plan for is fast approaching!

Before the panic sets in check out invitation DIY kits by Of The Earth. Both of our DIY kit collections contain seeded paper which, when planted, will sprout a bouquet of wildflowers.

Of The Earth DIY invitation kits come in many different sizes and paper styles. All of
the paper is handmade, biodegradable and environmentally friendly. Choose
from handmade papers produced in Nepal to papers made by local artisans in our Seattle, Washington studio, made the same way as when we started 17 years ago!

The Nepalese paper, we call Lotka paper, is made from the bark of the Daphne bush. Harvesting the bark does not kill the plant, it 6-7 years the still living root ball generates another harvestable crop naturally making this a great renewable material. The Lotka DIY kits come in five different colors and 8 different sizes ranging in price from $57.40 to $88.25 for 25 torn edge invitations and handmade envelopes.

Lotka invitation kits contain 25 seed paper cards, cut edge overlays,
online instructions, templates for punching and folding (if needed) and enough Eco-twist to assemble the entire order. All of the components are biodegradable and the seeded paper will bloom when planted. These invitations range in price from $2.30 -$3.53 each set.

The cotton DIY kits are made from paper produced in our Seattle studio.
Each sheet is individually made then the invitations are hand torn in our studio. The
Cotton DIY kits come in 5 different seeded flower paper options and 8
different sizes.

The cotton kits contain 25 seeded hand torn cards, cut vellum overlays,
online assembly instructions, templates for punching and folding (if needed), envelopes and enough Eco-twist to assemble the entire order. All of the components are
biodegradable and the seeded paper will bloom when planted. These kits also
contain enough supplies to make 25 invitations, ranging in price from $47.29-$112.46.

Both the vellum and seeded overlays can be printed on your home computer.
By doing the printing and assembly at home you are saving significantly over the printed and assembled invitation costs. The kits containing gate-folds and bi-folds come with a folding template. All of the printing and assembly work is done at home.

The staff at Of The Earth is available Monday-Friday form 8:00am-5:00pm Pacific time to answer any questions or assist you with assembly concerns. We can also be reached from our customer service page on www.custompaper.com.

Our invitation kits typically ship on the same day you order or within 24 hours. If you would like to order custom printed or assembled works we are happy to help you with our speedy one week production time.