This week has been a tough one.  We mourned the losses caused from the bombing of the Boston Marathon.  Then we mourned the losses and damage caused from the chemical explosion in the (beloved) town of West, Texas.  This little phrase has played over in my mind through the week.  To hope and have courage.

Hi All,

Just a quick update today – annual USPS postage rate increases took effect yesterday so don’t forget to make sure you have the new valid rates.

$0.46 for 1 oz, $0.66 for 2 oz and $0.86 for 3 oz letters.  Priority mail rates have also gone up to $5.60 for flat rate envelopes $19.95 for express flat rate envelopes.

Your forever stamps are still valid without additional postage needed!

images provided by USPS.com

I’m a big fan of hand delivered invitations.  This summer I worked with Fluent Dallas addressing some very special invitations to their concierge services.  Each one contained a personal access code – fancy.

We kept the lettering classic in black ink and modern with the Kegan style.

This weekend a pretty neat event is happening at Union Station on Sunday, November 4 from 2-7 pm.  It is called The Art of Bridal Style, put on by November Lily and features beauty treatments, drinks and a fashion show with wedding gown designers Carol Hannah (LOVE!) and Nha Khahn.  You can purchase tickets here.  It’s a fashion focused bridal event with so many cool things like a beauty lounge with services like eyelash extensions, teeth whitening, make-up and hair stations, etc with a fashion show as well… and we can’t forget the Men’s 007 groom’s lounge and the Baubles bar (the accessories lounge).

Of course several of our friends are involved: Southern Fried Paper, Perez Photography, Wolfgang Puck

For all of you Pinterest fans out there – this contest is for you!

More important details from Bella Figura: (all of the details can be found on their blog here)

Our lead designer Jessica Tierney will be judging the contest and creating an invitation suite based on the winning board. Judging will begin on July 23, and the winner will be announced on July 27. The new Pinterest-inspired design will be released with the new collection in January 2013.

Entry deadline: The contest runs from July 16, 2012 through 12pm EST on July 23, 2012. To enter, follow the instructions above and submit the URL of your Pinterest board to the comments section below.

The grand prize: The person with the winning board will receive 100 free letterpress party invitations printed on our A6 sized cards in two inks on our 1-ply cotton paper with 1-color letterpress printed envelopes. Choose from any of our 300+ invitation designs and create the perfect piece for your next event! Be sure to take a look at our Social Album for  inspiration.
*The fine print: additional invitations, custom design fees, additional ink colors, double-sided printing, added embellishments or rush orders will incur charges.

Need an invitation to join Pinterest? Email hello@bellafigura.com and we’ll send you one right away! We can’t wait to see your entries — good luck!

Wow – I am truly honored to be included in the Best of Big D Reader’s Choice Poll.  This is my first year to be nominated (and I would love to win!).

You can vote daily from May 14 – 27 on the D Magazine site.   I am up against a very talented group of colleagues – best wishes to all :-)

Hi Guys!  Hope spring is treating everyone well.  I wanted to share this great giveaway by Bella Figura!

If you loved our Pinterest contest last month, wait til you see what we’ve got in store for March! We want to see what good means to you: is it volunteering at an animal shelter? Planting trees? Donating to your local food pantry? Building homes for the less fortunate? Whatever it is, we want you to tell us about it and show us how you’re making a difference — and we’ll give you 25 free invitation sets* just for doing your good deed! It gets better: for the grand prize, we’ll give an entire set of free invitations to the person who submits the ultimate good deed. No purchase is necessary to participate, and the contest is open to everybody worldwide!

*25 free invitation sets when you order 50 or more.

Deadline: Your good deed must be done during the month of March 2012. Good deed submissions should be made by March 31 at midnight.

Judging: The team at Bella Figura will choose the top 5 do-gooders and will post them to a finalists board on Pinterest by Wednesday, April 4. Everyone is encouraged to read about the five finalists on the Bella Figura blog from April 4 through April 11, and should “like” their favorite on Pinterest in order to cast a vote. The do-gooder with the most likes on Thursday, April 12 will win the set of 100 free invitations. You must have a Pinterest account in order to “like” one of the finalists, so if you need an invitation, email dogood@bellafigura.com and we’ll send you an invite right away.

Enjoy being good during March friends! – Nicole

Wow!  It is February friends!  I thought last year went by quickly, but January just disappeared on me.  It is almost Valentines day and I thought it was time to share a lovely little photoshoot from last year.  Maybe to have a little inspiration for a romantic weekend date!

Here in Dallas, there is a workshop twice a year for photographers called a “shootout” where everyone gets together to practice and critique together.  I was asked to help with some of the products used in this fun little session and it all turned out so wonderful so this next week I will be featuring the different photographers work.

First up many thanks to the people who made it happen!

Bride: Prianna Staley
Bride and Groom: David and Corbin Baxter, Soulbox Productions
Cake: Sugar Bee Sweets
Engaged Couple: Ebony and Jovan Wordlaw, Ebony Peoples Events
Flowers: Bows & Arrows
Hair: Ashley Bristo
Makeup: Something You… Makeup Artistry

Ring Bearer Bowls: Paloma’s Nest
Suit: D. Jones Tailored Collection
Stationary: The Left-Handed Calligrapher
Planning/ Production: After Yes and Catie Ronquillo
Venue: The Shoppes at Brownstone Village

And for the first set of photos by the talented Kelly Rucker Photography!

The Neiman Marcus Flagship store in Downtown Dallas will be hosting a wonderful 5 day long sample sale beginning on January 2nd, 2011. They will be offering 50-75% off their retail prices for many couture gowns.

Modern Trousseau will be hosting a trunk show on January 6th and 7th from 10:00am – 5:00pm at The Bride’s Room – Fort Worth.

A Pronovias Trunk Show will be held at LuLu’s Bridal Boutique on January 6th-8th in Dallas.

De ma fille will be hosted a Brides Head Revisited Trunk Show on January 13th in Fort Worth.

A Romona Keveza Trunk Show will be hosted The Bridal Salon at Stanley Korshak on January 13th and 14th in Downtown Dallas.

A Claire Pettibone Trunk show will be hosted by Star Dust Bridal in Plano from January 13th to the 15th.

The Watters Trunk Show will be hosted by The Bridal Salon at Stanley Korshak on January 27th and 28th.

I was super lucky to attend the Design Sponge craft night in Dallas a few weeks ago with my friend Shawna (who was a rock star getting us tickets to the event).  We had so much fun crafting and meeting the lovely Grace at the Mockingbird West Elm.

It was so fun walking in and receiving our books.  We then were seated at tables with fun crafting supplies – napkins, irons, fabric paint, exacto knives, pencils and surprise friends who also got tickets (Hi Ashley!)

Our craft was creating personalized napkins.  FYI, I am not a very good crafter & got a little messy – lessons learned & will definitely be better next time!

It was also super fun that half of our table are lefties!  (Which was actually really nice so we were not elbowing each other while cutting out things!)

This is use having our books autographed by Grace!