Last Minute Holiday Cards

It's not too late! Don't forget to stop by and place a same day or next day order for holiday cards!

Paper Crew • 3920 Atlantic Avenue • Long Beach, CA 90807

Shop Small • Small Business Saturday

Support your favorite small business.
This November 24th is Small Business Saturday®, a day to celebrate and
support the local small businesses that boost the economy and invigorate
neighborhoods across the country.

PAPER CREW is proud to take part in Small Business Saturday, and we’re
encouraging everyone to Shop Small® here on November 24th.
Plus, we’re having a special Small Business Saturday offer! Come in on
November 24th and you’ll get FREE GIFT TAGS WITH EVERY GIFT WRAPPING PURCHASE, or 10% OFF YOUR GIFT WRAPPING SERVICE FOR ANY
BIXBY KNOLLS SMALL BUSINESS PURCHASE.

Most importantly, get out there, Shop Small, and let’s make this November
24th the biggest day of the year for small business.
To learn more, visit ShopSmall.com.

To shop our online store visit www.etsy.com/shop/papercrew

How do you tie Vintage, Long Beach, Bus Ride, and The Queen Mary in one Wedding Invitation?

Paper Crew had the opportunity this month to work on an exciting project. A previous bride of ours referred her best friend who was in need of invitations that required some customization. She's getting married at a church in Long Beach and her reception is at the historic Queen Mary. She also has a double-decker Big Red Bus tour for her guests in between the ceremony and reception. She wanted to incorporate a few pieces that held the same "vintage" feel as an old boarding pass but she didn't want to take away from the main invitation card. So this is what we came up with:
Invitation Card in her colors of light coral and grey. 

Light Coral and Grey Twine wrapped Wedding Invitation with Matching Envelopes

Attached by grey twine is a tag announcing all the other information on the back.

Tag detail to let guests know there's more!

 Turn the invitation card around and a pocket holds all the information the bride needed to complete her theme. The outer envelope was adorned by a matching address label wrap which has a return address coordinating with the invitation with a tag-like design, tying both the invitation and reception tag design together.

The full suite

 She had a total of 4 inserts:
1. A Queen Mary reception card in the shape of a tag.
2. The remake of an original Queen Mary postcard to be used for her response cards.
3. A Big Red Bus Tour Ticket. Names of areas that the bus will stop, mimic London's bus stop posters. A perforated stub and bar codes with their wedding date and names finish the look.
4. A 6x10 tri-fold map of Downtown Long Beach, complete with line art of popular Long Beach landmarks, like the Aquarium of the Pacific, Lion's Lighthouse for Sight, and of course the bride's reception site, The Queen Mary, and the ceremony site, St. Anthony's. The map also included information on local transportation, The Passport, and local hotels, like the Hyatt, the Maya, and the Renaissance.

All the wonderful inserts in one pocket

Her RSVP cards are replicas of original Queen Mary postcards. "The favor of your response..." script is printed as though it was handwritten and she's using forever stamps with old marine boats to complete the look.

Newly Old Queen Mary Response Postcards

If you're interested in ordering similar invitations or want to create a custom suite of your own, email Paper Crew at holler@papercrew.com

Click here for Pricing and purchase information for these invitation on our Etsy shop

Keywords: wedding invitations, long beach,  long beach map, Queen Mary map, long beach wedding invitations, stationery, Paper Crew wedding invitations, RSVP postcard, coral and grey, bakers twine, the big red bus, ticket style invitations, ticket style cards, vintage wedding invitations, long beach city weddings, invitation map, wedding maps, custom invitations, address labels, tag invitations, tags

Unbelievable Details

I did not have the pleasure to attend this wedding, but the photos from Krista Mason are amazing! I can't imagine how the details from Sara from At Your Door Events looked like in person.

 

Look at this gorgeous sweetheart table from Glow Concepts - Fine Linens

 Paper Crew did all the stationery details for the wedding. Starting from the wedding invitations, we incorporated the ceremony stationery like the programs, place cards, and menus.

 The flower arrangements from Flower Allie were a great combination of purple lovelies mixed with bling!

Thank you Krista for sharing your great photography!

All shades of Purple

I can not wait to have the complete set to this invitation so that I can take more pics of all the stationery together. The shimmery dark silver and different shades of purple, violette, and lavender are absolutely beautiful to look at. Working with Sara from At Your Door Events is always a pleasure. And we'll be working together to produce the menus, table numbers and escort cards for this lovely couple.

Thinking of adding these to the Paper Crew's ETSY SHOP
What do you think?

July's Vision City Promotion

July 6, 2012 First Fridays, Paper Crew will be featuring Artist, Melanie Greenwood's Screen Print Collection from Vision Art. While traveling the world on rock tours with her musician husband and working in fashion as a model, Melanie naturally specializes in album artwork, posters, t-shirt art, logo branding and music / fashion photography. The Vision City Screen Print collections are designed to bring inspiration into any space. Each piece is printed on 100% recycled paper and archival inks. Each collection is comprised of 12 designs. 

 

Vision City is proud to introduce the first ever Greeting Card line featuring 8 designs from the "BORN FOR THIS" screen print collection. Each card is printed on FSC approved recycled Linen paper and comes with an equally beautiful envelope. This collection will be available at Paper Crew!

Meet Melanie this coming July 6th during First Fridays Long Beach at Paper Crew! Paper Crew is located at 3920 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach, California, between Roosevelt and Carson.


FIRST FRIDAYS PROMOTION:
Buy a print from Melanie's collection and receive 25% off one Greeting Card from the same collection!

In the beginning...

Photo by Jamie Waters

Although I've always dabbled with creating invitations and various stationery projects for friends and family, I have to admit that the seed of this business started from the creation of our wedding invitation over 7 years ago. I think that we had about 32 proteges until we finally got the right one. And when I look back I can remember complaining about the million things wrong with the invitations. After the years went on, I think that I started looking at it differently and prefer the imperfections. It shows me that we've improved and have grown since then. Unfortunately, that was our physical state as well...ha!
 

So today we celebrate our 7 year anniversary. Here's to all our sacrifice and to the struggle that brought us to this day of appreciation. In seven years we have managed to grow our business and our family and we are so proud to have been blessed with so many customers, family and friends who have supported us through the years. 

Invitations and Stationery: Paper Crew | Lighthouse Illustration by Amanda Wright | Wedding Dress: Vera Wang | Bridesmaid dress: Banana Republic | Favors: Paper Crew | Florist: Le Petite Fluer (not recommended) | Videography: Buckley Videography | Ceremony Location: Lions Lighthouse for Sight, Long Beach, California

LA TIMES, BIXBY KNOLLS, PAPER CREW

We were included in a story in this past Saturday's LA TIMES! Of course we had to run out and get a bunch of copies everywhere! We are so proud to be a part of this neighborhood and are so pleased to see so much improvement in the area. If you're local to Southern California and haven't experienced Bixby Knolls yet, you should!
The full article can be seen on their blog here.

Do you recognize the invitation shown on the newspaper? It's Kristianna and Eric's Hot Pink and Chic wedding posted on a past blog here.

Eco Friendly Wedding Inspiration Featured on Ruffled

Last month we were blessed to celebrate our 2 year store anniversary. The last two years have been a crazy roller coaster ride and so much has grown from our little studio above the garage. Now our little hobby has grown to include an online Etsy store, a letterpress shop in Bixby Knolls, and featured on blogs like Green Wedding Shoes and now Ruffled! After the first inspiration shoot we were hooked! So what better to have an inspiration shoot for our 2 YEAR/FIRST FRIDAYS/EARTH MONTH Celebration!

Our inspiration: To celebrate Mother Earth on this year's Earth Day, with a wedding inspiration that brings some earthy elements, along with love, style and green eco-friendly ideas. Gather some very talented vendors and viola! You've got Vintage dresses, succulents, twine balls, old classic books, and distressed doors that fill our letterpress shop with recycled goodies that pay homage to our beautiful planet. Capture it all with Esther Sun Photography and you've got yourself one successful anniversary, Paper Crew style!

Our inspiration board filled with greens of trees and the blues of oceans

Vintage jewelry by La Femme Vintage

Antique Frames, Books and Globe provided from Urban Cottage
Vintage Dresses and jewelry from La Femme Vintage

Tablescape and styling by Sara Holland from At Your Door Events

Ann Cong made the food look even more amazing.
All the Event Catering was provided by Seafood World

Paper Crew provided the lovely vintage lace charger, antique brooches that we used for napkin rings and all the stationery.

 

Flowers by Sara Holland from At Your Door Events

Cake and Dessert Table by Sweets by Annie

Model: Minta Allred with Vintage Doors from At Your Door Events

Vintage gloves by La Femme Vintage

Model: Lorraine Caguin with twine balls made by Myra Greenlee from Double-Sided Tape

Vintage Doors from At Your Door Events
Hand stamped doilies by Paper Crew

Make-up and Hair by Rose in the Park
Styling by Kathleen Engel of La Femme Vintage

Paper Crew was converted! All the beautiful succulents, terrariums, and moss balls stand so pretty next to the old doors. Hand stamped doilies hang and create the bunting. Table scape extraordinaire was definitely Sara Holland from At Your Door Events She hand sewn the burlap linens, hand pinking sheared the napkins, and pulled together this wonderful scenery.

Model: Lauren Jensen

From Left to Right: Lorraine Caguin, Sara Holland, Ann Cong, Kat Engel, Chanda Alicante, Myra Greenlee, Esther Sun, Rose Park, and Lauren Jensen

And now for the party!!! Lorraine also represents Mixwell

We finished the night with a little shopping from Kat's collection at La Femme Vintage

 View all of Esther's fabulous photos from this event here.

Watch this awesome video from Love Birds Film, of how it all went down:

Venue Location and Paper Goods: Paper Crew / Wedding Photographer: Esther Sun / Wedding Planner: Sara Holland of At Your Door Events / Wardrobe Styling: La Femme Vintage / Makeup: Rose Park / Furniture: Urban Cottage / Wedding Caterer: Seafood World Restaurant / Desserts: Sweets by Annie / Videographer: Lovebirds Film / Models: Minta Allred, Lorraine Caguin, and Lauren Jensen

Feature: GREEN WEDDING SHOES

We were featured on GREEN WEDDING SHOES blog. The experience of being on this inspiration photo shoot was amazing. There were so many talented vendors involved and we were so honored to be a part of this production by their side.

SEE THE INSPIRATION THROUGH THE AWESOME EYES OF BOFFO VIDEO:


THE VENDORS:

photography: Esther Sun // coordinator + styling: Betty Lang of Vanda Events // florals: Art with Nature Design // makeup: Rose Park // hair – Jennifer Negrette with Rock Da’Fide Hair Studio // videography: Boffo Video // paper goods: Paper Crew // cake: Sweets by annie // dress: pink dress by Jessica Simpson, white dress by Max Studio // necklace: Leslie Danzis // suit: Ted Baker // bow tie: Boss // models: Minta Allred, Joseph Dixon // Special Thanks to Myra from Double-Sided Tape for your lending your talents during set-up!