“Wrapping” things up for NSS!

We are just one week away from the first day of of National Stationery Show, the nation’s largest stationery show – a four-day event filled with lovely goodies. 6.25 is attending this year as an exhibitor (Booth #1677), a buyer (for our store in Grand Rapids) and blogger (for Neenah Paper’s blog). I do wish I had more time to walk this show, but my  priority will be at our booth, showcasing the new items that I am SO excited to debut.

I’ve been busy putting the final touches on our new wedding album, working with printers on new types of product like mini notebooks and giftwrap, designing and preparing the booth and creating a comprehensive 36-page catalog (our first real catalog!).

I’ve attended this show before many times as Media with Stationery Trends
and once as an exhibitor, but never have I ever felt so polished, ready and nervous
as I do this year! We have worked so diligently to make this a great year for 6.25,
but it will all come down to those four days… wish us luck!

Here’s a sketch of our booth…

the actual booth walls, all set up at the printer…

the vinyls to go on the walls…

our lovely marquee sign…

and a sneak peek of a few products…
I’ve had a lot of fun designing our booth this year — more on that later! We even got some press around our extensive Trade Show (inspiration) Pinterest Board!

Let us know if you are interested in our wholesale line or wedding album
but cannot attend the show this year, I will happily mail you the catalog!
hello(at)625paper.com

Welcome Marcus – Florals Abound

I realize the last post also welcomed a floral-inspired wedding invitation, but I was finding so many great images on Pinterest for our lovely Marcus that I couldn’t help but continue the theme!

Marcus is very playful, so playful that it could even be a birthday or bar mitzvah invite. I struggled with whether or not this would be a keeper in the new album, but after playing with the colors and imagining ALL the possible variations (Marcus utilizes 6 ink colors!), I feel like this will be great design for many brides. Flowers are a huge part of the wedding day, and if you have a love for floral, this would be a perfect fit!

Check out our Pinterest Inspiration board, filled with an abundance of floral lovelies!

Oh, and want to match your postage? USPS is getting in on the floral theme this year, too!

NSS Sneaky Peek!

We’ve been busy, busy with weddings this season, which pushed back catalog prep for NSS. However, things are wrapping up (insert rimshot) with our new 2013 products and I’m excited to share a sneak peek!

We’ve expanded our catalog to not only include the wedding album, cards and calendars; but we will also have giftwrap, jotters and notepads (oh, and more cards and calendars)!

Here’s one of our Gift Wrap lines — Paint Splatter, which comes in 10 color palettes.
Super bright and will look great when all displayed together!

And my favorite new product, little briefcase jotters.
The patterns for these jotters have been in my head for a while now.
My daughter, who was born in the DRC in Africa, loves reading. There are a few
African-inspired books that she gravitates to when we read before bed. They depict a natural, undeveloped area of Africa contrasted by vibrantly patterned African clothing, commonly associated with African design. My daughter traveled home to us in such clothing, and I have been wanting to create something with an African feel ever since. I decided against bold colors and instead used a “skin” color palette to portray
our colorful family and a world of natural beauty.

We will be using the patterns in other fun products to come.

We hope to see you and meet you at National Stationery Show this year!
Look us up at Booth #1677 to see these new items in person.

Welcome Joel – Outdoor Pastels

Joel makes me think of home. As in where I grew up — on a farm in Indiana.
It reminds me of meadows, fields, hot sun and a playful youth.

I believe a couple needs to have a very certain style for this suite. It’s meant for outdoor or country weddings — more casual affairs that don’t involve fine crystal or tall glass vases. Because every country girl knows, once the dancin’ starts, there better not be
anything breakable around!

I used a pastel palette here, similar to the colors you’ll see next week with the Marcus suite. Because we’re using five colors here, I think pastels or a mix of tints from the same color work best. If using more bold colors, we can switch to using less colors like below.

Below is a mix of inspirational images. Think backyards and ball jars,
sandals and lemonade, giggling flower girls and clear blue skies.

See these photos in full and much more inspiration
on our Joel Outdoor Wedding Pinterest Board!

Welcome Wayde – Vintage Floral

One of my favorite long-time suites, but with an updated 2013 color twist.
Bring on the Mint trend; pastels and golds are hot, hot this year!

The inspiration for Wayde began with a vintage floral custom wedding
invitation suite from our 2009 archive:

The use of vintage-inspired designs from fabric, wallpaper, vintage stationery, etc., can go with many wedding styles. It’s a perfect fit for outdoor storybook weddings, but glitzed up, a vintage design can be an unexpectedly worthy of a more formal affair.

I decided to play with the mint/emerald 2013 color trend. Emerald 17-5641 is Pantone’s color of the year and mint has stepped in as more of a subtle option, as Emerald is kind of a bold color for most weddings. Gold has been a popular pairing with mint and other pastels. Embracing the gold comeback, I included some lovely, shiny gold papers with this suite for my album sample (as always, the ink colors and paper choices can be customized at no additional cost — just in case you’re more of a silver gal. ; )

Check out our Vintage Floral and Mint/Gold Pinterest board for more inspiration!

Welcome, Christopher

Pull the anchors and let’s sail away!
Introducing one of our newer wedding suites, Christopher.

We are embracing the trend and creating a fun, full wedding suite around the nautical wedding theme. This design started with this 2012 nautical wedding, located on Lake Lansing in Michigan. The Bride and Groom decided to embrace their location, and we created the perfect nautical suite with her colors: green, pink and navy.

{photo from Kelly Braman Photography}

Unlike the Benjamin design, I feel like nautical is a theme you could go all out with. Get creative and tasteful with your details and you can carry this theme through the whole wedding day. Here are some ideas below, but find many more on
our Christopher | Nautical Wedding Inspiration Board.

{Mr. & Mrs Bouys | Nautical Laptop Bag | Nautical Giftset | Striped Flats | Boat Server}

Welcome, Benjamin

As we begin introducing our newest and updated wedding album suites,
I would like to start with my favorite suite, Benjamin!

I love this suite because it’s so simple and clean. With the right fonts and colors, it could go with any wedding style — modern or traditional, formal or casual. It’s “jam’n!”

Initial inspiration for the Benjamin suite came from my own simple design style. I have been creating a lot of more graphic and bold designs in the last couple years. I wanted to take the opportunity to create a more subdued wedding suite — something that portrayed my own style, and the ombré trend was a perfect fit.

The ombré effect popped up in the hair world recently with a gradual shading of color. This trend of a color “gradient” has expanded to clothing, design, weddings, etc. The word ombré came from a french word meaning shade or shadow.

If you’re going with an actual ombré theme, be cautious to not go overboard. I can only imagine how a wedding could become a little ridiculous if everything was ombré! Pick a few details to apply the color effect and keep the overall look simple and elegant. Below are some ideas, check out more on our Benjamin | Ombré Wedding Inspiration Board.

{DIY Ombré Escort Cards | Ombré Dress | Ombré Wedding Cake}