Blue Dot Paper Shop - Blog

Up Close: What Is Chiyogami?

steve — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:31:40 +0000

You may be asking yourself, ‘What is Chiyogami‘?

I was asking myself the exact same question when I first discovered this intricately detailed Washi paper. For those of you who don’t speak Japanese, ‘washi’ simply means Japanese Paper(wa-Japanese shi-paper). When I picked up a sheet for the first time, the first thought that came to mind was wow; this paper is almost fabric, with prints resembling elegant Japanese kimonos!

Chiyogami Paper came about as a culmination of two distinctly Japanese traditions, ‘Yuzen’ and ‘Chiyogami’. ‘Yuzen’ traditionally refers to the intricate designs often incorporating gold, which were designed as prints for kimonos. ‘Chiyogami’ actually refers directly to paper printed with these ‘Yuzen’ patterns, resembling Japanese woodblock prints.

How is Chiyogami Made?

All of the Chiyogami paper in the BlueDot store is screen printed, painstakingly, by hand. Every color on every sheet has to be individually printed and set aside to dry, before the next color can be applied. Don’t worry, I have morals too, none of these products are produced by child labor or under sweatshop conditions; small family run Japanese studios produce them all!

I Love it! Now What?

Now that you’ve got a better understanding of this paper, I’m sure you’re asking yourself: “How do I incorporate this gorgeous paper into my next project?”

Chiyogami is excellent for layering and a great way to bring in a few accent colors! Check out this place cards I put together for your viewing pleasure
This paper is perfect for Origami! The patterns perfectly accent the delicate paper creations.
Cut your sheets into strips and add a little adhesive to make your own decorative Washi tape!
You’ve got an old lamp that doesn’t quite fit you’re house anymore, find one of our patterns that go along with your home décor. A little paper mache and a little drying time later, and you’ve created a new favorite decorative piece to take place of that once unsightly lamp you tried to hide whenever you had guests over.

Like our Chiyogami paper? Check out our Japanese Linen Paper!

What Do I Include In My Wedding Invitation Suite?

steve — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:09:31 +0000

What is included in a wedding invitation? A whole lot of stuff, but luckily, it appears you’ve taken the DIY route. In that case, it’s your event, you get to decide what you want to include and what can be left behind! Be sure to check out the store, I’ve made sure I have everything from this list available, what could be easier than a one stop shopping experience?

Your Invitation Suite:

Save The Date Card – This is your first announcement of your marriage! It is an excellent idea if you are having an out of town or destination wedding.
Wedding Invitation – Give your guests something to look forward to! This is your formal invitation to your big day! Try to capture the theme of your event with a personal and unique design. Who knows, your invitation will probably become a fridge decoration for at least a few of your guests. Don’t forget Envelopes!
Response Card – It’s nice to know who is actually coming! This card is how your guests will inform you of their intention to attend, or not. You will have to decide whether your response card will be a postcard, or if you will include an envelope for it. Typically, RSVP cards are A4(3 1/2 x 4 7/8) size
Additional Info Cards – These tend to be a small card used for:

Reception
Directions
Gift Registry
Accommodation Details

or any additional information your guests may need.

For your ceremony:

Programs – I don’t know about you, but I like to follow along throughout the ceremony. Programs generally include an itinerary as well as information about the wedding party and any additional information to help explain any unusual traditions you may be incorporating.

For your Reception:

Menus – At your reception, most people are going to want to know what they will be eating.
Place Cards – Clearly display your guests name and table number so they can easily find their seat
Table Cards – These cards display the table number or name.
Escort Cards – This card also shows your guest’s name and table number

After your event:

Thank You Cards – Everyone likes to be appreciated! Mail out your thank you cards ASAP. If you prepare ahead, address your thank you envelopes before your big day so all you have to do is throw them in the mail!
Wedding Announcement – Announcements can be sent before or after your wedding, and generally contain the event’s date and a brief description. Announcements are used most frequently for destination weddings to announce a reception party upon return.

Be creative! Our Huge selection of Cardstock is perfect for making your ideas come to fruition. We also stock a full selection of ribbon, pre-tied bows, embellishments & other invitation making supplies.

Design Tip: Start Early & Get Help!

steve — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:05:38 +0000

Start early! So what if your wedding is a year away, better safe than sorry!

You should begin planning your wedding stationery suite as soon as your wedding plans begin to solidify. Once you have come up with a color scheme, I greatly suggest ordering samples of invitations, inserts, place cards, envelopes and any other items you may be interested in. This will allow you to begin piecing together sample invitation ensembles, and give you a greater sense of what you may, or more importantly may not want.

Once you have decided on your stationery suite, Don’t Wait! Order your products right away. We all know, if you wait till the last minute, things will come up, and the time you thought you would have to complete your project will get cut in half.

You’re planning your own wedding? Get some help!

There are bound to be other people just as excited about your wedding as you are, whether they are you’re relatives, or you’re bridal party, call everyone together for a fun night of crafting.

Not only will this give everyone a chance to meet each other before your big day, time will fly by with great company, and before you know it, all of those invitations will be complete and ready to mail.

Before your gathering, I greatly suggest you do a little work on your own. Prepare anything that needs to be printed, printers can be a little finicky and sometimes take a little more than the anticipated time. Also, have all of your supplies organized, and make stations.

A few ladies can do the trimming
Another group can do the gluing/adhering
A third group can get all of the pieces together and stuff envelopes

Good luck, and most of all Have Fun!

How To: Perfectly Hand-Addressed Envelopes

steve — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:18:55 +0000

As you have probably noticed, I really love hand-addressed envelopes, however I am also a perfectionist. This can sometimes be a bit of a conundrum, however I’ve got a quick little trick that will have you anxiously sitting on the edge of your seat, awaiting an excuse to send out a freshly hand addressed letter!

Design school left me with an affinity for perfect leading and kerning as well as a picky eye for typefaces. My natural handwriting may as well be some stone age cuneiform, because only I can decipher it. Which very well may be why I love elegant handwritten letterforms all the more.

Now I don’t mean to undermine any professional calligraphers out there, what you do is amazing, but sometimes we all want to add a little pizzazz to whatever it is that we may be writing.

Now it’s kind of cheating, but only a little, so its okay.

Prepare your copy, & layout.
Apply your favorite font.
Make any necessary type adjustments.
Make type a light grey.
Print your item.
Get out your writing utensil.
Now for the fun part! Trace over the letters.

Don’t worry if you mess up a little, …it adds character!

Once you’re finished, step back and admire your gorgeous handwriting! Depending on the type of ink you used, give them a little time to dry.

You can try this technique with our Gelly Roll Pens, a felt tip pen, chisel marker or a standard calligraphy nib and holder!

Pocket Fold Invitations – The Complete Guide

steve — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:17:57 +0000

So you’ve fallen in love with our pocket folds? So did I.

One of the first invitations I designed, I used a pocketfold, They’re Great! Everything is organized and contained inside its own pocket, there are countless ways to personalize them, and there’s no need for double envelopes!

Save you’re self a pretty penny and follow along as I show you how to make your own Pocketfold Invitations for your next event.

Select Your Pocket Fold

Blue Dot offers three different styles of pocketfold invitations:

Square Invitation, measuring 6 1/4 inches.
Landscape A7 invitation, measuring 5 1/8 x 7 inches.
Portrait A7 invitation, measuring 5 x 7 inches.

Select Your Accoutrements

Are you going with a simple clean look, or an ornate decorative look? Don’t hold back, but make sure whatever you choose, make sure it goes with your event!

Say you’re going with a 6 1/4 square pocketfold like this one. At the very least you are going to want to add a layer to the blank space to make your invitation text stand out.

Here I have used a double layer, because these are the three main colors of the event I’m Planning. This also allows for a little more leeway when designing the remaining pieces.

Choose Your Inserts

You will be including an RSVP card I’m Assuming. Don’t forget an envelope for the RSVP card unless you plan on going the route of using postcards.

What else will you need to include?

Do you need a separate card for your reception? Have you even thought about that yet?
Will your guests need direction cards?
Do you need cards for accommodation information?

Once you have this information squared away, we can select the pieces that will be neatly organized in your pocket.

For this example I’ve included an RSVP card & envelope as well as reception & direction cards.

Select Your Envelopes

Gone are the days of double envelopes, for pocket invitations at least. Select an envelope that matches the invitation suite you just poured all of your creativity into.

Remember, when selecting an envelope, think about whether you will be hand addressing all of your invitations, or you will be printing your guests addresses. This is very important, as not all envelopes are particularly printer friendly. While you can take envelopes that are difficult to print to a professional printer, you will be adding costs that will quickly stack up.

Handwriting can take some extra time, but when was the last time you received a hand addressed invitation? I bet you would be just as excited about the event as I would be.

Bringing It All Together

So you’ve selected all of your pieces, now comes the fun part, ASSEMBLY!

Sit down and take a deep breath, this could get tedious, hopefully you’ve planned way ahead of time and aren’t in a rush. If you are in a bind, work smart, take your time and do thing efficiently. Once you have constructed a mockup to your liking, work by creating one piece at a time and stay organized!

Design the layout of the printed pieces of your invitation
Print any pieces that may need to be printed (invitation, insert cards, RSVP card)
Do any cutting after printing, and make sure you measure twice! You wouldn’t want to get caught up waiting for another shipment of paper.
Next, on to the pieces that need to be attached. Get out your glue or preferred method of adherence and affix your pieces together, If you are layering, I suggest putting the glue on the back of the top layer versus the bottom layer.
Before putting all of your invitations together, make sure you let any glued pieces dry. You wouldn’t want your guest to open up an invitation that is all glued and stuck together.

In this example I used:

If you have any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you!

Up Close – Stardream Metallic Paper

steve — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:32:05 +0000

One unique collection of paper! All of our paper from Our Stardream Metallic Collection is made with a coating process that infuses real mica flecks into the paper to create the opulent shimmer that never fades.

This paper is the cream of the crop, best stuff around, we stock it in text weight, and cardstock as well as envelopes and a variety of invitation envelopments.

This paper stands out from the rest.

Give your next project an astral feeling with pearlescent metallic paper, envelopes or invitations. Acid Free & archival. Perfect for Cards, Invitations, Specialty Packaging or any other stationery application

BlueDot Colors – Color Combos!

steve — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:18:57 +0000

While designing birthday invitations for a friend, I found there were a few color combinations that kept standing out to me, I decided I would share a few of my favorite.

My favorite color combinations listed below are from our BlueDot Colors Collection. The following combinations quickly became a hit around the office, so I made these sets available as gift sets, each including 10 cards, 10 envelopes and a Gelly Roll Pen.

Grapesicle – This monochromatic bouquet of Wisteria & Fresh Lilac is a perfect purple combination. This is definitely for purple lovers!

Bluebird – Like that first bright, warm spring day, blue bird skies and lush green grass this combination of Caribbean Blue and Lime Juice leaves you feeling upbeat and happy.

Evergreen – Natural truffle brown paired with shamrock green, a color combination that works year round.

Pumpkin Patch – Like a crisp call day, the fiery Persimmon orange and pale Buttercup yellow of autumn foliage leaves you with a cozy sensation of crisp nights, sweatshirts and hot apple cider.

Holiday – Reminiscent of your childhood holidays this deep green paired with fire engine red gives off a more ‘antique’ holiday feel rather than the traditional bright greens.

Pinkberry – Bright, fun and full or cheer, this contemporary color combo is sure to catch your recipient’s attention.

These Combinations are available as Stationery Note Gift Sets including a gel pen. You can also purchase BlueDot Colors Envelopes and Pre-Cut Cards and Folders from our BlueDot Colors Collection by them self.

Let me know what you think!

Up Close – Blue Dot Colors Envelopes

steve — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:00:38 +0000

Up Close with our exclusive collection of BlueDot Colors envelopes.

Available in a palette of 19 unique colors that you won’t find this collection anywhere else! We stock A4 RSVP, A7, A9 and 6 1/2 Square envelopes in all 19 colors. All of Blue Dot’s envelopes are Wedding Quality & have a gum seal.

These envelopes are the brightest things around, reminiscent of your 80’s track suit. These colors are so bright and vivacious they’ll captivate your recipients right from the mailbox. You can be sure that this is the first piece of mail they will open when received.

We stock all of our BlueDot Colors in envelopes, text weight paper, cardstock, pre-cut cards & folders. We guarantee that if you order invitations in one color, and matching envelopes in the same color, the colors will be an exact match. No more worrying about receiving different colors.

Bright Flashy and Fun. Blue Dot Colors are the perfect way to add a splash of your favorite color to your next project.

Always In stock & Ship Same Day!

Up Close – Woodgrain Cardstock

steve — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:14:20 +0000

Welcome to the jungle! Wood Grain Card Stock

You love textures? So do I! This has got to be my favorite textured paper.

Woodgrain always catches my eye and stands out from everything else, I’m not sure whether it’s the natural look of it, imagining the smell of fresh cut wood, the color or what, but something about it gets me every time.

This wood grain embossed paper has a deeply embossed texture that looks unbelievably real. This paper might be you’re new favorite after running your fingers over its natural texture.

This paper isn’t just for nature themed parties and events, you can dress it up any way you like, I’ve seen woodgrain card stock used for everything from invitations to black tie affairs to military certificates. You’re possibilities are endless!

Limba, Bubinga & Tindalo are matte finished stocks in a pleasing natural color palette. Glowing Mackasar has a metallic sheen to it that is out of this world!

Now this paper is pretty heavy, so I wouldn’t suggest loading it straight into your printer unless you have check your printer’s specifications and verified that it can handle this 111lb stock. I always suggest rear or top feeding printers for printing cardstock, as they tend to leave your sheets flat, whereas front feeding printers have a tendency to curl or worse yet, not even accept your cardsock.

What Is Vellum?

steve — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:37:12 +0000

What is Vellum?
Traditionally speaking, Vellum is a type of parchment produced from animal skin. We at Blue Dot love animals, so all of our vellum is 100% vegan plasticized paper produced from cellulose fibers from fir trees as well as plants such as cotton and flax.

Translucent vellum paper is commonly used for DIY Invitations, Scrapbooking as well as other crafting uses as a top layer because of its sheer properties, allowing an image below to show through.

Can I Print on Vellum?
Our entire Blue Dot Vellum Collection of translucent vellum paper can be used in your home printer! The smooth surface accepts both black and colored inks from both laser and inkjet printers. We still suggest testing to verify your preferred print quality.

Do You Have Colored Vellum?
Blue Dot stocks an array of Traditional white and cream as well as pastel, bright and muted colors of vellum paper so you can coordinate with whatever the colors of your project may be. With our available variety of colors, sizes and weights, you can rest assured that you will find the perfect vellum sheet for your stationery application.

Vellum layers are an excellent way to make your next project look classy and unique!