Custom Project - The Small Town Big Heart Tour poster

A couple of years ago while helping a local coffee shop find musicians and books concerts I was introduced to Laurell a fabulous singer/songwriter from just North of the border in Vancouver, Canada. Though the coffee shop didn't make it, I've been able to keep in touch with Laurell and her manager Sarah over the years and love keeping up to date with all they're doing up there in the frozen tundra. A few weeks ago when Sarah contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in designing a tour poster for Laurell's co-headlining summer tour, I jumped on the opportunity! This was a super fun project to work on and I'm really proud of how the final product turned out. If you live in Canadia and drink your milk out of a bag, check out the tour dates as I'm sure they'll be near you at some point. If not check out Laurell's website here and her tour mate Andrew Allen's website here. Fall in love with their music and then support them by purchasing their albums!

Wedding Invitations Have Arrived!

Yes, it's true. Finally Paper Mango is offering wedding invitations through the Etsy store! My primary goal in diving into the wedding invitation world was to make creative and well-designed wedding invitations at an affordable price. Your invitations are the first impression your big day will make on your guests and we all want to make a good first impression, right? I just think that good design should be within reach to everyone, and considering the current financial climate most brides are looking to cut their budget with out cutting corners. Both of these invitation suites sell for a mere $3.00 which includes invite, RSVP and matching envelopes for both! Bargain! Have a gander at the two designs currently available and check back soon as more will be introduced! Pick up a sample invite here.

Last Day to Order Valentine/Singles Awareness Day cards!

Tomorrow is the last day to order your Valentine/Singles Awareness Day cards and ensure delivery by February 14th. If that's just not going to happen, let me know and I'll ship them express (extra shipping fee applies). Head over to our Etsy store to place your order!

Custom Order - 2nd Birthday Invites

Quite a few months ago I met Carey through Etsy's Alchemy feature. She was looking for some unique invites for her daughter's 2nd birthday party. Her requests were for something purple, uber girly, and that highlighted her beautiful little girl. We settled on this design pretty early on but went through quite a few pictures to make sure we got just the right one. And I think we hit the nail on the head! How great is that photo! It was great working with you, Carey. I hope the invites set the perfect tone for your daughter's party!

Custom Order - Wish Salon Brochure

Last week I had the chance to work on one of the most fun and challenging projects I've done in a long time. Taryn from Wish Salon in Scottsdale, AZ called and needed some new advertising material for the wedding portion of her business. She gave me the content and trusted me to the point of just letting me run with the project. I knew I had to do something special to give her the edge she needs in the competitive wedding industry. On top of all of that, she needed at least one brochure done in a rush for a big meeting she was having with a wedding coordinator. A few brainstorming sessions and two trips to M & Co Papery later, these creations were born. I'm really happy with how they turned out and am excited to begin working on the rest of the order! Thanks, Taryn!

Custom Order - Moving Cards for the Schonauers

The Schonauer family recently moved to the Seattle, WA area. This move was their 11th in 20 years and they were looking for a unique and humorous way to tell their friends and family where they're living now. I combined their love for the ocean and dolphins with their new location and came up with this cute moving card. Thanks, Schonauers, for letting me be part of your move. I hope you love your new home and your new cards!

Twin Shower Update

A few weeks ago I posted about a custom order for an upcoming twin baby shower. Both the mom-to-be and myself were indecisive about which design to pick so I polled you all to see which design you liked the best. I received a few comments and emails and I'm happy to announce that the decision made was right in line with most of your feedback! The only major change to the invite is the color of the little pea pod cheeks...it's going to be two girls! Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts. Here's the design of choice.

Our designs are as flexible as an olympic gymnast!

Last week I shared about the custom and semi-custom twin baby shower invitations that came across the Paper Mango path. While one of the designs was based on a current design in our Etsy store the order was initialized as a custom order. I thought today I'd share about a true semi-custom design I did this week to show how our items can be personalized to fit your needs.

Krysty Kay is an up and coming wedding photographer in the Missoula, Montana area. She was in need of a small quantity of business cards (as most new businesses, she's on a tight budget) but wanted something as eye catching and original as her photography. Krysty loved the "Lotsa Dots" design in our Etsy store and wanted the design to be customized for her new business needs. Below is a comparison of the original design and the new customized version.

(original)

(customized)

These are the types of orders I love to work on; enabling people to have custom design at an affordable price. It's especially important in business to separate your self from others competing for the same clients. Custom business cards is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to help you stand out in an over-saturated market.

Twin Shower - Custom Order

I thought I'd share a bit about a custom order that I'm currently working on and give you a little insider view at how this process works. Leah Nicole is pregnant with twins and though her mom is planning the shower, she had a very specific theme for the invitations that she wanted me to start working on. She liked the "two peas in a pod" theme but was aware that it could easily cross the line from cute-chic to cute-cheesy. I promised her I'd do my best to come up with the coolest little peas around. These two designs are the "final drafts" but neither she nor I have been able to decide on which one to run with. The first is a semi-custom design based on this invitation currently for sale at the Paper Mango Etsy store and the second is a totally new and custom design. I think both do a great job of communicating Leah Nicole's theme with out crossing that very fine chic/cheesy line. So, since we can't decide, which one would you choose if you were planning a twin shower and why? Let us know in the comments!