Save the Date Designs

I have been meaning to post photos of all the save the date magnets I've been making lately and can't ever seem to find time to take pictures of them all. In the meantime I figure I'll post some of the various mock ups I've created while working through the custom designs with each bride. Some people are very specific about colors, design ideas or themes while others are quite vague leaving it up to me to come up with a variety of ideas.

Here are a few to start (click on the image to enlarge it):



(for a safari theme)



And here's one photo I managed to take a while back:

You can also click here to check out the first set I made for my sister's wedding.

Vivi Dot Online Pattern Catalog

It's likely not too hard to believe that I've become quite obsessed with fabric and paper. You could say I look at the world differently now... in terms of what things would look like on a one-inch button. This obsession means I'm constantly adding to my collection of fabrics and paper which makes it quite difficult to keep my pattern catalog up to date. Knowing that I'll realistically never be 'caught up,' I've decided to post what I have so far. You can check out all of my lovely patterns (fabrics, paper prints, as well as custom made images) here:
www.ViviDotOnline.com/PatternCatalog

If you see a pattern you must have that's not currently in the Vivi Dot Online Store please don't hesitate to email me the pattern code that's listed below each circle swatch along with the product you'd like. There's no additional charge for ordering Vivi Dot items this way so get to shopping!



Email: orders {at} vividotonline.com
Pattern Code:
Product:
Shipping Address:
Shipping Preference: Select USPS or UPS (USPS is $3 for US and Canada & $4 International with no tracking and no guaranteed delivery times vs. UPS which price and delivery time varies based on location but allows you to track your shipment and is guaranteed)

All orders take approximately 2-4 days to ship (I have to make them and give them ample time to dry). Once I receive your order I will send you an invoice via email that can be paid securely online with a credit card or a paypal account.

Here is a list of my products and prices:
Buttons (Paper) = $1 or six for $5
Buttons (Fabric = $1.50 or six for $7.50
Ring = $5
Pair of Hair Pins = $6
Pair of Hair Clips = $8
Jumbo Hair Clip = $10
Earrings = $12
Flower Brooch = $15
Garment Clip = $24
Pocket Watch = $40
Watch Necklace = $40
Money Clips = $6
Tie Tacks = $5
Cuff Links = $15
Magnets = $12
Bookmarks = $6
VinoDots = $25 (paper only)

MRArt

Some friends from the other city in California recently had an art show. Duncan and I couldn't make it down to LA because it was the same weekend as Indie-Mart, but we sent our support via buttons instead.
Jesi created some awesome artwork for promo buttons that they passed out at the show. Duncan gets full credit for production on those though. He manufactured all of them while I got ready for Indie-mart. Jessi's working on some more images for me so watch out for her special addition Vivi Dot buttons soon!

Check out some of the awesome pieces below and look out for the Vivi Dot thumb tacks they used to mark everything.

Jessi's artwork at the show:


Some great pics from Bette:
Spotted! A Vivi Dot ring on that hand with the keg cup.

You too are invited to Macau China

I only had about a week to turn around the third batch of Macau invitations. This meant that I definitely had to scrap the hand made paper lotus flower. There just wasn't any way to get that many of those suckers pumped out in a week while I was working almost full time. I also didn't have time to order more gold boxes so I was back to the drawing board entirely.

I initially pictured an envelope in place of the box. I didn't want to seal the envelope so I thought it would be cool to attach a Vivi Dot and a ribbon to a brad, punch a hole in the envelope to attach the brad, wrap the ribbon around the envelope, and wind the ribbon around the brad to keep it closed.

My first stop was Paper Source to check out their envelopes. I needed to stay within the same budget for supplies which I knew would be tricky. The paper flowers were tedious to make, but they were affective and cheap- just some discounted paper from Flax, a lot of Elmer's glue, and a ton of time. It was all the other components that added up quickly and I'd need to use all of those and add some new items. I needed to put together something as effective and not break the bank.

There was a portfolio type contraption on display that looked like a good option though I didn't see any for sale. The helpful sales associated explained that it's really just two envelopes glued together. I decided to run with that idea and bought their A9 envelopes in black and metallic stardream antique gold. They also had some great metallic gold tassels that were just what i needed to spice it up a little bit.

Next it was off to Flax to stock up on some more chiyogami paper to make up the actual invitation and to decorate the outside of the envelope. I new I'd be using a lot more of this nice paper for this design which would add up fast at $10 a sheet. They were out of the prints I had previously chosen so I had to start over there too. In the end I think it was good that I was forced to mix up the prints a bit. It differentiated this new design much more and ended up working really well.

Lots of cutting and 3 bottles of rubber cement later (the nice Japanese paper really soaks it up) I'm done! Check out the 3rd (and now 4th) round of invitations:






The actual invitation slips inside the black side of the folio. The reverse side of the gold and red circle has the black and gold print from the outside of the envelope.

Click here to check out the first round of invites.

Save the Date!

My sister is getting married! Being the awesome, supportive sister that she is she wants to incorporate Vivi Dot as much as possible. This started out with the save the date cards. I've always thought that magnets that can act a reminder for the details of the wedding are a great thing to include with save the date cards. I thought I'd put a Vivi Dot twist to what's normally a flat business card sized magnet. My sister went to Paper Source (one of my favorites) and designed the note card with the '3 dots' in mind. She let me know what she wanted each magnet to say and then let me run with the rest of it. Here are some photos of the process and the finished product too:

UPDATE: related post located here.

Vivi Dot workspace:

We chose the round paper source labels for the addresses to keep the 'dot' theme consistent.

The finished product:


Save the date magnets- close up:

You're Invited to Macau China

Harrah's Entertainment needed a special keepsake invitation to send to their execs that they wanted to invite to a training/leadership trip to Macau, China. I did some research on Macau and discovered there are some very strong ties to the lotus flower. I decided to tie this into the invitation and explain the relationship between the lotus flower and Macau in some way as well.

I made a paper lotus flower out of red card stock and really nice checked gold and red chiyogami paper. I also made a card to slip under the black ribbon with the Chinese character for lotus flower and the description of its connection with Macau on the reverse side.

The actual invitation sits nicely inside the gold metallic box. The circle invitation is folded into a rectangle and tied up with a thick black satin ribbon. Once you untie the ribbon the actual invitation is revealed.