The Story of {ELP}

At first, I intended this blog, formerly (and probably future-ly) named "Clementine Bride" to be a style resource, of sorts. But the more I search the internet for inspiration for my stationery and artwork, the more I find myself drawn to blogs about small businesses, all things handmade, and style in general. So for now, I'm going to let this blog grow organically into whathaveyou.

The story of Emily Ley Paper starts with my personal obsession with paper. I love it. I got my hands on some double thick, 130lb stock the other day and wow. I'm such a dork, but there's something so luxurious about nice paper and nice stationery. I'll be the first to admit that when I got married, I decided to craft my own invitations and paper products because I wanted to A) save money and B) bring the style I couldn't find from other vendors into my wedding.

I've put a lot of work and thought into pricing and quality. Finding a balance has been tough, but I think I've gotten there. I beleive in the you-get-what-you-pay-for idea and FIRST made sure to purchase only the highest quality supplies. My paper is heavenly. It's Mohawk Via 100lb cover with a vellum texture. Vellum is not only a transparent paper but a term used to describe a soft texture (who the heck knew?) It was pricey for me to purchase, but is absolutely amazing when its used for a finished piece. I also invested in a Xerox Phaser 8560 which uses solid ink. This thing is a rockstar of a printer. Instead of using liquid ink or toner, it uses blocks of solid ink (they look like hardened play-dough). The printer has to heat itself up for about 15 minutes before you can use it (as it softens the solid ink). Then the finished product has a slightly raised feel similar to thermography. The colors are really vibrant too. I {love} this printer.

So anyways, my style has really grown and changed since Emily Ley Paper was launched just two short months ago. I'm totally in love with etsy as its brought me many clients and AMAZING brides to work with. I am so lucky to have worked with such great girls! I've even been comissioned to work on a few corporate logos and etsy shop banners also. So as my product line grows from just custom wedding invitations into an actual line of wedding stationery and (my new favorite) personalized stationery, ELP is sure gorw and change quite a bit in the coming months.

Monograms have become a huge favorite through my etsy shop too. I've been creating custom monograms as well as redesigning my current monograms for brides to use in making their own DIY projects and paper goodness. I really love these monograms and used one throughout our entire wedding as well. It brings a consistency to not just your paper pieces, but your entire wedding as well.

My goals now are to learn how to operate this new Canon camera I bought and learn Adobe Photoshop (o geez!) in order to put really great photos of my products online. And there's the doorbell. God bless Paper Source - or Waste Not Paper for that matter. :)