A New Baby is Sailing In!

There are not many things better in this world than a new baby.  And we certainly cannot think of anything better than our babies having babies.  Which is why this baby shower was so special to us.  We are absolutely thrilled to be welcoming Rachelle's daughter's baby boy, scheduled to arrive this March!  Of course, as almost every occasion in our lives, this called for a party!

This is our darling Laura, looking as beautiful as ever!

This was such a sweet exercise for everyone attending, and each friend took care to wish little Bryce Jaime all the best things for his new little life.

The dessert station was created by Candace Barshaw at Magpie Events, one of our very favorite vendors.  We knew that once they were on board to help us celebrate, we would have the finishing touch that we wanted.

 

Now all there is left to do is wait for the baby! 

Have a great day

New Shower Invitation

We did this for one of our dear friends who is giving a shower for another one of our dear friends.  We are VERY happy with the way it turned out!

Latest Productions

It's been a while since we posted photos of our projects.  Sometimes we get so busy creating that we forget to take photos and let you all see what we've been working on.  Well, we took a breath long enough today to get some pictures up of our latest productions.

We have been working on some baby items in preparation for our Etsy shop {coming soon!}  Here is one of our announcements that is a cutie-pie almost as cute as the baby herself.

The pocket fold holds a photo card of the sweet little lamby-pie.  C*U*T*E!
We are also working on banners, favors, favor tags, and baby shower invitations.  Very fun!

And remember that irresistible smile of young Aunt Ida?  Here is the final product!  The invitation itself slides into the scalloped pocket.  Sweet, just like Ida!
 

We've Got Perks {Oh, yes, we do!}

There we were, finishing up our Pomegranate road trip, stocking up on the most lovely paper you can imagine, when we were *audibly* reminded by our stomachs {in unison, mind you!} that we had gone four {4!} hours without eating!  Possibly a new record.

We both knew instantly that meant a business lunch was beckoning us in Old Town Pasadena!!  Old Pas, for you Southern California girls.

A favorite of ours HAPPENED to be right around the corner, Le Pain Quotidien.  We enjoyed tartines, and ordered, to go, a duo chocolate mousse *thingy* as our proverbial carrot, since our to do list is longer than our day.  And we do our best work after chocolate.  Are we alone here?

It's become a side note now, even though it was our original task, but we did find gorgeous paper.  Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming post featuring our finds!

Inspiration: Paris-to-New-York Flight Friend

So last month when I (Tammi) was on my way home from Paris, we flew on a 747.  I don't expect any of you to know anything about a 747.  The only reason I do is because I was flying with my sister-in-law who occasionally over the course of our trip let her anxiety over flying spill out into our conversation.  Worries like whether the plane was large enough or if we would have enough fuel to make it over the ocean (!) were among her concerns. 

But all that is to say that a 767 has three seats across in the row by the windows.  So I was squished between my husband, who always get the aisle, and a young woman in the window seat.

I thought about not being social and just minding my own business, but I am my father's daughter, and the genetic impulse won out and I started a conversation with my row-mate.

It turns out she is a stylist that lives in Manhattan who was returning from a photo shoot in Paris.  Oh, what fun!  Visions of Julia Ormond laying a scarf at the feet of two models in front of the Eiffel Tower filled my head.  {If you didn't see it, the movie is Sabrina, the 1995 version, one of my personal favorites, with Harrison Ford, Julia, and Greg Kinnear.}

After probably a half an hour of me picking her brain on everything from living in Manhattan to what a stylist does to what she did in Paris, we got to the subject of what I did for a living.  Aside from my un-fun job (court reporting), I told her about our invitation business.  Turns out, she spends time every day surfing the Internet looking for ideas for her wedding.  She's been dating her boyfriend for five years, and they are not engaged yet, but boy is she going to be ready!  We got my husband to bring down her computer from the overhead compartment, and she started showing me all the ideas she loves for her own wedding.  What fun!!  The photos below show one of her favorite ideas.  I hope she gets to use it someday!

We eventually exchanged email addresses, and she promised to keep me posted with any ideas for cards she thought I might like, and she certainly hasn't disappointed!  Can you believe what a stroke of luck?  I have a new interesting friend and an incredible resource for ideas who is willing to send those ideas right to my inbox for my inspiration!

All I can say is thanks, Dad, for passing down the gene that *knows no stranger*!

Ida Marie

My aunt's 80th birthday is right around the corner, and her husband and kids are giving her a party.  They asked us to do the invitations.  We thought it would be neat to go back and see if we could use any photos of her {back in the day}.

So we're browsing through the photos...

...Sweet                                                                                           ...Coy

...Brainy                                                                                                      ...Big Hair...Yikes!
                                                                        

...Fun

...Family

WAIT A MINUTE...back to *Family*

{Oh my word}  Look at that face!  Have you ever seen anyone more satisfied with themselves?!  And who wouldn't be, with a *bow* like that!

Yep.  That's the one we used.  No contest.

Invitation photos to follow:)

We've Won an Award!!!

This week we were informed that The Pomegranate Basket is one of the proud recipients of Wedding Wire's Bride's Choice Awards for 2011!  Below is the press release announcing our recognition for this honor.

THE POMEGRANATE BASKET IS AWARDED WEDDING WIRE’S BRIDE’S CHOICE AWARDS 2011!
{Simi Valley – Friday, January 28, 2011}

WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce The Pomegranate Basket has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for custom wedding invitations!

Recognition for the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire, the largest wedding review site in the nation.

The Pomegranate Basket stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize the best wedding professionals across the US and Canada. We applaud The Pomegranate Basket for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.”

We are happy to announce that The Pomegranate Basket is among the very best custom wedding invitation vendors within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/the-pomegranate-basket-simi-valley/d71686985a6426f6.html.

Collaboration

Collaboration:  col-lab-o-ra-tion: to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor.  

Can it be an artistic endeavor, Mr. Webster?  

Yes, I think it can, because artistically collaborate is exactly what we did with our most recent bride-to-be, Ashley.  I can't remember when we've had more fun taking the ideas of our client and making them come to life.  This was such a group effort.  Ashley came up with ideas that were similar to what we have seen before but with a distinctive flair that is very uniquely hers.  

Here is just a preview of the invitations we created for her.  We'll post more photos that include the entire wedding suite of menus, programs, place cards, and more, after we celebrate on the big day!

Love this Combo!

Okay.  When we were first asked to do a wedding suite for a wedding on October 29th in the colors "blackish and orange," of course all that came to mind was Halloween.  And not that that's bad.  I've seen the theme done quite well, actually, as evidenced at http://theperfectpalette.blogspot.com/2010/0/halloween-inspired-wedding-orange-black.html.


Once we got past that initial diversion, we dove head first into the beauty of a steel gray, orange, and cream wedding suite.  Don't ask me why, but we started with the favor tags.  I just love these little darlings.  Elegant but sweet, which happens to mirror the bride quite nicely. 

Next were invitations and RSVP cards,

followed by the programs, menus, table cards, and table numbers.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I used to say orange had no business being a color, that it was so absolutely ugly.  I'd also like to point out, though, that I have since changed my tune and it is now one of my most favorite colors in the world!

Now I embrace all that every color of the rainbow, and more has to offer.  And translating so many of those colors into the paper "beauties" that add so much personality to your special events is our dream job.

All right.  I have to be honest.  Maybe I haven't grown as much as I led you to believe.  There is a color that I'm sure has no redeeming value.  Puce.  See?  Admit it.  I know you agree.

Keep Portland Weird

Yep, there it was, right across the street from VooDoo Doughnuts. And they're proud of it. I will concede it's true on a certain level, but let's face it. We live on the outskirts of LA. We know weird. But along with weird, many of the other things I noticed in Portland were how it's brimming with art, of every kind. Everywhere. On walls of buildings, in store fronts, on people. And Portland's active. More people were out and about in the rain than I see most sunny days in my city. They say in Portland if you don't go out in the rain you'll never go out. Which I also can testify to, since we only had one day out of six with no rain (almost, until around 9 pm when it just couldn't stand it anymore). But you know what that rain brings, don't you? Flowers. Beautiful, abundant flowers. Waterfalls. The greenest forests you'll ever see. Gardens filled with robust vegetables. Trees heavy-laden with branches of fresh-as-you-can-get-it fruit. And let's not forget the beautiful old buildings of downtown, washed fresh and clean in the morning rain. And the food? Portland is passionate about their food, whether it be organic fare or the cholesterol-packing punch of the Pine State Biscuits "The Reggie" (fried chicken, bacon and cheese on a biscuit topped with sausage gravy!). Portland may be weird, but if that's part of the package, I'll take it. Inspiration there is at it's finest, and I love being inspired. What does all this have to do with The Pomegranate Basket or specialty invitations? Nothing... Or maybe everything. The same enthusiasm with which Oregonians (?!) pursue their passions is ours when we set out to create that perfect invitation, be it your storybook wedding, a darling daughter's Sweet 16, your beloved spouse's 50th, 60th -- you name it! Life is full of good things. We like to think we have a part in bringing those good things to light through the occasions we help to mark.