Passion Paper

Projects in the Studio

2009-04-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

Hi! It's been a busy busy week! Here are some images of projects that just shipped out. We're in the process of producing Cristina's Fuchsia Soft Orchids, Shama's Birds of Paradise, Shaheena's St. Lucia's, Rosa's Passionate Hibiscus and Marissa's custom Coconut Breeze... and there are more in the studio...phew!

Jennifer's Oahu Save the Dates:

Amanda's Custom Sand Dollar Guestbook. You can also find her invitations in our custom invitations section (for viewing):

Latasha's Botanical Love ~ Yellow Hibiscus with left and right hand torn edgings. You can see the details on the 2nd picture.

Karina's Lovely and Vibrant Orange Calla Lily Invitations ~
Here's what Karina just said "Raquel OMG! I received the invitations and all i can say is you are amazing! They are so beautiful, i can't thank you enough for all the hard work you did, i am so happy!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
TTYS, Karina"

Enjoy!
Have a good weekend!
Raquel

Pink and Green Orchids

2009-04-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

This week has been very busy. We've created and shipped Save the Dates, Karina's Orange Calla Lilies, Olesya's Romantico with Peony artwork and more samples. We're currently working on Stacy's Kiwi Orchids, Latasha's yellow hibiscus, Shama's Birds of Paradise, Rosa's Passionate Hibiscus and Jeanna's Pink Beach Lounge. We've also had a serge of pink and green color motifs in the last couple of weeks. You can see them here for Jeanna's Pink Beach Lounge and Cristina's Pink and Kiwi Soft Orchids.

We also received a new order from Kathryn on her 2010 kiwi and pink orchid theme. We're very excited about this theme because she wants something fresh, funky, and a little bit Irish! While doing research, I am also jotting down ideas on new invitations. I will keep you posted on what I find!
Have a great weekend. Til then,
Raquel

Exciting News

2009-03-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't written for so long. How time flies. With Passion Paper and a 2 year old with ballet and preschool, things get so hectic! But I do love staying with her. She's my biggest fan and we watercolor/paint together as much as possible.

Yesterday, we received an email from Jady images about Bridget's Bottle Invitations. They said her invitations are the coolest thing, and her wedding will be featured on their blog soon. We're very excited to hear about it. I had so much fun working on Bridget's Starfish Voyage Bottle invitations. The turquoise ribbon gave her invitation so much personaliity.

Check it out at: http://www.jadyimages.com/blog

We've been very busy these last couple of months and have received some very nice comments from clients we've worked with. It makes me so happy that we have taken part on such a special and memorable day. I will be updating our home page soon on some new comments.

Some new and exciting things that are happening, our location and modern invitations are becoming more and more popular. We've created a Dominican Republic map for Jennifer.

Soon we'll be creating a St. Lucia map for Shaheena. She is patiently waiting for her artwork to be done!

Our Romantico invitations are gaining popularity too. I'm doing some sketches for some new invitation ideas. Call or email me regarding custom designs for your event. I love creating new artwork and thinking of new color and texture combinations for potential and new clients!! The easiest way is to email or fill out our custom invitation form, or if you're up to calling us, let us know ~ 650.868.0756. We are based in California, Pacific time.

Custom Invitation Form

Some things to think about, color scheme, location, decorations, budget, flowers, anything that helps us visualize your event personality. You can also email us images of your flowers, decoration ideas, etc.

til next time!
-r.

Wet Paint!

2009-03-26T18:43:00.000-07:00

I just recently finished Jessica's Pirate and Mermaid themed artwork. I had so much fun creating this artwork. She wanted purple and green tail with peacock inspiration. Stay tuned on our invitation ideas coming in the next couple of days!

New and Exciting Details and Products!

2009-01-27T17:44:00.000-08:00

We have some new and exciting details and products. In our portfolio/collection area, you'll see we have some new designs up for 2009. We're also currently working on some lavender/purple orchids for a couple of clients and creating more modern+handmade invitations.

Right now, check out our new detail, gold painted and hand torn edgings. This one is for Bridget's Bottle Invitations. Below is also an image of the turquoise ribbon with starfish bowtie. I think the ribbons made these invitations elegantly retro!

We're also developing our mint collection. We've created some mints for Jodi using our Starfish artwork. Inside each mint tin are white mints and for presentation, we've included ivory organza bags. Any of our artwork may be available for our mint favors. Just let us know!

We also have just created some Calendar Save the Dates. These are for Jessica + Matthew. They used calm turquoise backing with our starfish artwork, turquoise and passion red ink accents. If you're interested, let me know too. These are another option for save the date, both cute and functional!

My Daily Obsession-Cowgirl Cakes

2009-01-16T22:49:00.000-08:00

My daily obsession, or rather, my week obsession (in my spare time) has been researching for ideas on my daughter's cowgirl birthday cakes.(I haven't started obsessing about her invitations quite yet) I am still debating whether I should go to a professional and have it designed or if I should attempt to create. As I said on my previous blog, I have nooo experience with cake decorating, but if I have the skills and knowledge, I would probably do it. I will definitely experiment before her 3rd birthday. She's been so obsessed with Jessie (from Toy Story). Wearing a red straw hat while shopping today, she kept saying that she was Jessie and was yodeling...it was quite silly but adorable. Here are my top 3 cowgirl/cowboy designs. Our colors will be red, white and blue.

Wet Paint!

2009-01-16T00:37:00.000-08:00

Just added some new artwork this week. I haven't added these on our portfolio section, but here's sneak peak!

hibiscus leaf:

Mermaid:

sunflower:

Oahu Map:

Cakes

2009-01-15T18:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, I am totally obsessed with Ace of Cakes. I love love lovvvveeee that show. I think they are total geniuses when it comes to cake/art design. I wish I can bake and create something so uniquely fabulous. But...I haven't tried it yet. I was hoping to do some experimenting on my husband's 37th birthday, this end of the month. We'll see...In the meantime, I found some beautiful beach themed cake and 1 cupcake designs. Some of them are just works of art, I think ...how can one even cut and eat it?!?

Fuchsia and Orange Inspiration Board

2009-01-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

Wow! Orange has been a huge hit this year and last year! We've had requests for orange and green, orange and brown, orange and taupe, and of course, orange and fuchsia! In the next couple of days, I'll be adding some inspirational boards. How fun is that! So, here's our orange and fuchsia featuring our Ocean Union Orange Coral Petal and Fuchsia ribbon. Enjoy!

Sara and Andrew ~ The Reach Resort, Florida

2009-01-12T18:14:00.001-08:00

We recently received some beautiful and amazing photography from one of our recent clients, Sara and Andrew, who married on December 19, 2008 at the Reach Resort, Florida. I have to tell you, again, the photographer, Schmitt Photography, really told their wedding story. I love the richness and the mood of all his shots. Sara and Andrew purchased our seahorse invitations with just 1 seahorse artwork. She chose this particular invitation because it matched her midnight blue bridesmaids dresses, all her seahorse motifs and orange hue inspiration. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hello There!

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's already 2009...how time flies! We hope everyone has had a wonderful Holiday season and a joyful New Year. We look forward to hearing from you! Email us to just say hi or fill out one of our contact forms. We're already starting to get busy this early January. Thank you all for the kind and generous comments on our invitations and website. :-)

x0x0x,

Raquel

Our Southwest Trip

2008-11-05T16:38:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

It's been quite hectic these couple of weeks after coming home from our 17 day trip to the Southwest. My husband, baby girl and I drove to Arizona (Sedona specifically), New Mexico, drove through Colorado and went to Utah to visit family. Compared to last year, the weather was awesome ... not too hot or too cold. I have to say, though, that this trip, besides our Italy trip 5 years ago, is one of the best. I LOVE New Mexico with its beautiful landscape, architecture, and the people are so easy going! We visited so many different areas and stayed to some nice bed and breakfast places. Here are just a couple of images that I'd like to share.

Beautiful Sedona, Arizona:

The Painted Desert at Petrified Forest (you have to actually see how magnificent this looks!)

Albuquerque, New Mexico...I love the red chilies!

Here are a couple of the bed and breakfast places that we stayed at:

Elaine's, New Mexico: http://www.elainesbnb.com/

Casa Escondida, Chimayo, New Mexico: http://www.casaescondida.com/

Til next time,
Raquel

2009 Color Trends

2008-10-07T16:32:00.000-07:00

In my spare time, I do some research on colors and trends for weddings and the home!!

So, here's a little snippet of information from ezine articles. I'm glad our invitations are still hot and trendy with all the hot colors and tropical themes!

"Look out for big tropical colour schemes focusing around Turquoise and Bright Yellow Shades. Mix these colours in with a tropical wedding theme. Bold favour boxes trimmed with yellow and blue ribbons and co-ordinating place settings will give guests the illusion of the heady climes of the tropics! Ask your florist about introducing a splash of these colours into floral centrepieces and co-ordinate with wedding cake trims."

Some of our pieces that will coordinate well with that:

"Making a comeback this year will also be Bright Orange colour schemes. These will work really well when coupled with softer peach tones and the occasional shocking orange splash. You could dot bright orange cameras and bright orange petals about your reception tables for maximum effect. Tie peach favour boxes with bright orange ribbon and introduce Orange Gerberas or Tiger Lilies into bridal bouquets and floral centrepieces."

Ooooh, orange has been really popular this year and as said in this article next year too! Some beautiful invites from us...

"Pinks are always in fashion when it comes to wedding style, but as 2009 is all about making a statement, strong, luminous pinks are the shades to go for. As before, keep dresses and bridal party outfits classical and think about introducing the pink tones into reception decor. A great way to get bright luminous pink into your event is by having a cup-cake wedding cake. Each mini-cake can be tiered to give the effect of an all-encompassing wedding cake, yet a retro luminous pink icing and a fancy motif topping will give each cake a trendy feel. Mini cakes are also a massive hit with younger guests and some wedding cake specialists are able to make individual cakes to cater for various food intolerances which are worth knowing. Floral arrangements can be kept white and interspersed with bright pink feathers and co-ordinating ribbon."

Some beautiful pinks on our collection...

"So, whether you are having a tantalisingly tropical event, an outrageous orange occasion or a pretty pink affair, anyone who's anyone in 2009, will definitely be hosting a bright, bold, beautiful and full-of-colour wedding!"

Di Tullio's

2008-09-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

Working at Passion Paper has been such a pleasure! We meet so many different people and have become friends with many of them around the country! We recently worked with Lisa and Philip's invitation and have been getting emails from "Di Tullio's Fine Neapolitan Foods" newsletter. If you happen to be in San Francisco on Friday, September 12, try out Di Tullio's wonderful treats at La Cocina.

What have we been working on? It's been quite hectic, as always! We've been working on Marina's regale gold and crystal invitations, something quite different here at Passion Paper. I do honestly love it! I love combining the different colors and textures of things!

We also just finished Camaleta's turquoise and orange Ocean Union Invites:

and our good friend, Gil's invitations too.

We're also finishing up Erica's and Tim's Pineapple invitations. I really like how these came out. They came to us a couple of months ago loving the Botanical Love invitations and pineapple artwork motif. Together in our one-on-one meeting at our studio, we came up with the look and feel of their invitations. I am just finishing up some small details to make them pop even more and loving it!

We're going to start working on another friend's daughter's Princess theme invitation. Her mom has been one of my good friends from way back in high school. We were inspired by their cake. I'll post images on those later!

Besides Passion Paper, I am also a Mom! We made Passion Paper a full time work for me, a couple of months after Renée was born. She is now a spirited 2 year old! So, if you hear a child screaming or saying "Mommy, mommy, mommy!" Don't mind it, it's just her!

Til next time!

Seashell Wreaths

2008-05-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hello! I've been browsing the web a bit today and came across these beautiful wreaths from Beastropicaldesigns.com. Many people have been asking for some and here they are! Enjoy!!

View her work at: http://www.beastropicaldesigns.com

Images are from beastropicaldesigns.com

Busy Bee

2008-01-19T03:16:00.001-08:00

We've been busy, busy, busy! That's why I haven't written for so long. I don't know where December went and now it's 2008! It was a great holiday. Though, it went by too fast. We had our celebration at the house. Renée, who is now 1-1/2, was so excited to have everyone over. When she gets excited, she forgets to eat and nap! She kept squealing with delight while running along with her cousin. They are so cute! Our New Year's was really mellow and decided to just stay home with the little one.

So now another year has passed. What are we currently working on? I was finishing up a watercolor artwork of falling leaves for Kara this afternoon. I will be continuing the other half of her artwork tomorrow. I just finished the Africa map and flower for Luanne. Doing lots of production right now, well, not now at this instant. A couple of days ago I finished up a series of beach chairs and some palm leaves. Those designs will soon be featured in the site.

What's happening with our little one? To my surprise today, she finally figured out her little ABCD and shape puzzles. I kept watching her and she seems to be figuring them out by color! After that achievement, she wanted every puzzle in her room, even the complicated ones. Her daddy started teaching her the complicated shape puzzle with triangles, octagons, ovals, etc. She loves playing with her brushes and chalk too, but she's a righty (I'm a lefty)...anyways, that's it.

I'm Back!

2007-11-12T18:59:00.000-08:00

I haven't written for so long! We went on vacation for our 4th year anniversary. We TRY to go to different places for a week or more on our anniversary. On our honeymoon, we went on a 3 week vacation to Italy. That was awesomeee! Visited Rome, Venice, Milan, Sienna, Florence. It was hectic and sometimes stressful-- traveling. But all in all, it was a fantastic experience. We can't wait to go back...someday! First Anniversary (2004), we went to Hawaii...we loved scooba diving and seeing the turtles! Love Hawaii...I guess that's why I paint all these tropical and beach themes. I just love remembering our vacation there. Second year anniversary (2005), I don't think we went anywhere. Third year (2006), ah, we didn't go anywhere again. We just had our baby Renée. She was too small to travel. But this year, with Renée, we went on a road trip to the Grand Canyon! Wow, what a drive! We went to visit Las Vegas, Hoover Damn, saw the Grand Canyon (breathtaking), went to Sedona (I highly recommend this one, it is simply stunning!), and then Pheonix (to see my bro). So, we're back...and busy. We've been doing lots and lots of custom work lately. I love it! I love creating new designs and looking at different papers and embellisments and of course, getting people so excited about their own unique invitations! Alright, got to go. I'll post some pics of the grand canyon next time! Thanks for reading!

Wow! It's Getting Late!

2007-09-27T02:38:00.001-07:00

Hi! I just finished updating our site. i think I've changed the background color of the site for about a millionth time! I just love color! I finally made up my mind and used a robin blue background. I just love the combination of red and blue. I guess that's why our house decor is red and blue -- more of a moroccan /spanish/mediterranean kind of decor.

What have we done this week? I've painted a bunch of watercolor artwork. Some Lauae ferns, palm trees with a beach scene. I finished up the sand dollar watercolor artwork that everyone seems to want to see! Here they are:

It's hard sometimes to find the time. I try to wait for Renée, my almost 15 month old baby, to be asleep before I start anything. She loves to touch all the watercolor brushes and get her hands on the paints! One of these days, I'll have to get a huge piece of paper and buy her a set of brushes and paint! But I love the time to just sit down, listen to classical music or have it shuffle and just sink into the painting. It's great to have this invitation shop. As a graphic designer, it was rare to just sit down, draw and paint. I always had to use the computer. My old cd (creative director) always MADE us sit and storyboard. I loved it but it took such a tremendous amount of time.

Just a tid bit about Renée. She figured out her duplo yesterday! That was such an excitement on both her part and my part. It took her months to put 2 pieces together and she'd get soo frustrated! She finally figured it out and what joy!

What are we working on this week? Some bottle invites for Lucy at the Hilton, finishing up Olivia's Letterpress White Waves, finishing up Kelly's Big Palm Leaf, and starting on Kelly 's (another one!) custom orange tiger lily invites and some other jobs that need to get finished and shipped. Andrés is also working on Montel William's and Tara's guestbook! Their wedding is coming up!!

Hello!

2007-09-05T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hello There! We've just started this new blogspot and we're so excited about it! It's a place for us to post our ideas, and inspirations, what we're working on, our adventures as a family and business, etc, etc

It is now around 6:45 pm and just waiting for my 14 month old baby, Renée to wake up from her nap. The most exciting thing she's done this week is learn to walk! I love how she puts so much concentration on walking and seeing her excited face when she's almost at my reach! She also loves our two dogs, Zero and Echo. She loved petting them this weekend and everytime she sees a dog, she laughs!

We're also working on Carli's Special Edition Ocean Union Invites. I think they are coming out super nice! I love the light blue ribbon against the net paper. Also working on Fabiana's menus and programs and Cara's Chocolate Ocean Union invites. Way busy this week!

:-)