| June 11, 2007 - Limitations of Embossers
Easily one of the least expensive ways to personalize, custom stamps and embossers continue to pick up steam as a wedding trend. Since we have our own custom stamp line we've learned a thing or two that might help you decide how to use and how to design the perfect stamp for you. For a couple of entries, we'll talk about this, but for today we'll focus on embossers.
You may be surprised to learn that we don't sell embossers. After all, we write about their merits, uses, and ways to make do it yourself wedding projects with them. We used to offer them, but we stopped for a few good reasons that have to do with limitations. A personalized embosser is cool, fun, and can add a really elegant touch to stationery, labels, and lots of other things. But it can't necessarily do everything you want it to do.
When we did sell these items, we found that people often used them for heavier duty purposes than for what they were made. Typically, they'd get halfway through a project of this nature when the embosser would finally break, become misaligned, or one part of the die mold would separate from the cartridge that held it.
No matter how many ways we said that card stock, boxes, and other heavy items would reduce the useful life of the embosser, we would still have this issue. Using the embossers this way was too tempting because it would work for awhile, until it didn't - about halfway through a project. Getting a replacement made would take too long and we'd end up with an unhappy customer that we couldn't help. So, we stopped selling them. If an embosser becomes available that can be used for heavy duty use and is affordable, we'll offer them again.
Most of the affordable, customized, personal embossers available right now are made for paper only. In fact, if you look closely, a lot of the magazine depictions of embosser impressions are on very light papers, vellum, and so on. Most of the places where they are sold will only guarantee them for use on paper, not cardstock or anything heavier. The die mold is made of plastic and fitted into a cartridge that can be inserted and removed from an embosser.
To make an impression on heavier items, you'll have to lean on the embosser - the personalized section of the die mold doesn't stick out far enough to do this very easily. This can make the arm of the embosser bend permanently, misalign the top and bottom of the die mold, and even cause the die mold to separate from the cartridge. All of these are basically impossible to fix without replacing something.
How do you work around this? Instead of embossing a favor box, emboss a foil label or sticker. Instead of embossing card stock, emboss a thin overlay that attaches to the card or emboss an envelope. If embossing napkins, emboss one layer instead of embossing through all the folds. You get the idea. Embossers are a great way to customize if used the right way. If used for anything more, they're really only going to cause headaches.
June 28, 2007 - Spa Theme Bridal Showers
One of the things that can be intimidating when planning a bridal shower has to do with guests that you don't really know that well. Not to worry, this is pretty typical. Most bridal showers have a broad spectrum of age ranges and relationships to the bride to be. Some are family, some are friends, some are work acquaintances, some are older, some are younger…you get the idea. Chances are, with the exception of the bride to be, that everyone there will be among a number of people that she may not know that well.
At the same time, there usually aren't enough guests that you can count on crowds, familiarity, and friendliness to carry the conversation throughout the whole event. Awkward silences? Avoiding eye contact? Perish the thought! These things won't happen at your shower and here's why.
There are certain things we all have in common - life, love, happiness, and all of that. Certainly this is a time to celebrate things like that, but you can't just get there in a snap with people you don't know that well. That's why good friendships take time to form, family bonds get stronger with age, and so on. Well, you only have a few hours so discussing those things is not necessarily going to work. The guests that are closer can share those things, but what about those guests that are on the periphery? The ones that you don't know very well are still left out of the fun. Our suggestion is to start simple, keep it light and fun.
A spa theme bridal shower is a perfect example of a theme that everyone can share. Before we get to that, there are some other reasons to consider it. It blends well with most any wedding theme. You can match the formality of it and the spa treats you use to the formality of the bride's event. Is she using a beach or garden theme? It still complements those well. Spring or summer wedding? Still works. Fall or winter wedding? A spa theme can provide a great escape and dreams of warmer days.
Most importantly, it provides a way to bond and something to talk about for people that don't know each other well. Spa treats and treatments can be shared, traded, and enjoyed. Plus, just thinking about relaxing is relaxing - so you're guests will be in the right frame of mind.
It's light, fun, not controversial, comfortable, and it will stay that way all day long. There's plenty of room to be unique with game prizes and favors. In fact, the more varieties of spa treats you have, the more people will have to talk about. Making everything look great is easy, too. Decorative towels and baskets are inexpensive and easy to come by. Flowers, chocolates, fruits, and light sandwiches are easy choices for food that will take the pressure off of you to produce something extraordinary.
Sure, there are other themes that can work well, too. We'll get to those next time. For now, check out our spa page at the link at the end of this article for more ideas and fun.
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