Noteworthy Impressions

A Mermaid Tale

Our little Lily turned 4 this month and to celebrate she requested a Princess Mermaid party!  The glittering mermaid tail invitations were wrapped in waxed paper and yarn before being hand delivered.

I stitched a special shell purse just for Lily...and as for the rest of the guests...

Lily greeted each with a shell lei accented with tulling and ribbon.  Keeping with the sea theme, we used pretty seashells as shovels to dig for treasure (decorative glass shapes). Once they found their treasures, the little mermaids placed them into little muslin bags which I embroidered with their names.  (See how I made the starfish wand favors here.)

To keep the treasure hunt contained to a manageable area, we used chopsticks with tulle & ribbon puffs to mark where to dig.

After an afternoon of digging and bouncing, the girls decorated (and devoured) starfish-shaped sugar cookies.

A memorable day for a beautiful girl.

Starfish Wand How-to

I decided to make starfish wands for favors at Lily's Princess Mermaid Party and thought this might be a good time to try my hand at a tutorial. :)

Here's what you'll need for each wand:

• 4-6" starfish (we used white, but orange or knobby ones would be cute too!)
• 1/4" dowel
• acrylic paint (totally optional)
• 20"ribbon (we used 3/8" chiffon and satin ribbon with a gold accent ribbon)
• 6 rhinestones
• glue gun

I first painted the sticks a pale shade of yellow and then applied a coat of glitter paint. (I must say that the glitter was not nearly as sparkly as expected.)  I used a bowl as a rack so that I could paint the entire stick and dry with minimal contact.

After cutting the ribbon to a length of about 20 inches, I tied them together at the midpoint.  With a dab of hot glue, I attached the knot to the end of the stick and held for around 30 seconds.

To attach the ribbon & stick, I applied a generous amount of hot glue to the starfish and held the stick firmly for about a minute. After the glue hardened, I set the little rhinestones with tiny dabs of hot glue and...voila!!!

The rest of the party is coming up next!

Hawaiian Quilt Wedding

We were recently featured on the Modern Weddings Hawaii blog!

Shelley & John's wedding has to be one of my all time favorites.  We worked in collaboration with Green Honolulu and Nichole Weddings & Events for months and months to translate the unique couple's style and personalities to a beautiful Big Island event.

During my first meeting with the fun-loving couple, we came up with a healthy list items (including surfing, polo, native hawaiian birds, hibiscus, and so many more!) that were of significance to them or their families.  I created two motifs for their stationery. The first was a surfboard crest for their wedding invitation.

The second was a quilt pattern which we used throughout their reception. We pulled individual elements of the quilt to create distinctive and color motifs for use in lieu of traditional table numbers and escort cards. We even commissioned an hand-stitched Hawaiian Quilt to be hung at the entrance to the after party.

View more images and the Modern Weddings Hawaii post here.

Beautiful photography by Toby Hoogs.

Gourmet Gathering

(Photography by Kevin Lubera)

Our soft opening was a wonderful gathering of friends and event industry professionals.  The beautiful (and delicious!) hand-passed petit fours were provided by one of our favorite vendors, Gourmet Events Hawaii.

We were surrounded by overwhelming well wishes and even received a few gifts! The lovely floral arrangement above was a gift from Michelle Maeda of Flower Girls. Guests received their names in calligraphy on note cards and petit glass cabochon magnets as a thank you.

It was a perfect way to celebrate this exciting time for B&L and South Shore Paperie. We had a wonderful time and couldn't have done it without the talent of Nichole Shin of Nichole Weddings & Events, Avery Solmssen of Green Honolulu, Diana Caro-Salvador of Oahu Wedding and Kevin Lubera of Kevin Lubera Photography.  Thank you!!  :)

 

New Year, New Digs!

 

(New custom stationery design/meeting space) Beautiful photo by Travis Yanagida

Happy New Year!!

Wow...another beautiful year has flown by!  After my last post we made an exciting move.  Our old office/studio was getting a bit snug and we knew it was time to expand.  Bradley & Lily Fine Stationery has a new home at our very own paper boutique!! 

The new boutique is called South Shore Paperie.  We feature local designers like Emi Ink, Mozaic Paper, Everything is Jake, and B&L of course!  We also carry a variety of artisan lines like Elum, Carrot & Stick, Rifle Paper, Kate & Birdie and more!

The shop is tucked inside Kilohana Square in the ecclectic Kapahulu neigborhood of Honolulu. The locally owned boutiques, friendly shopkeepers, brick pavers and ficus shrubs in front of each shop make this such a charming place to work.  I love it.  Sweet E's Cafe (my new favorite lunch spot) is our neighbor and just a few steps away are Rainforest (an amazing florist) and Calvin & Susie (a lovely shop for the pampered pet!!) - to name a few.

I really enjoy designing/working in this peaceful little gem and I hope you'll come visit soon! Photos of our renovation and opening to come.  Thanks for staying tuned (again!).