About Maureen Anders

Today's introduction-
Maureen Anders
Anders Ruff Creative Director / Designer / Stylist

Maureen was brought up in Novi, Michigan by 2 interior designer parents. She grew up surrounded by creativity and design and has always had a true passion for creating her own masterpieces. Drawing and sketching, painting and paper crafts, graphic design, sewing and smocking,… the list goes on. Ever since she was a little girl, she had an obsession with paper. It was the only thing on her “wish list” to Santa every year! (She even cried with joy one Christmas after getting a huge stack of various colored cardstock and mat boards from her dad's framer).

Even with her art and design passion, she attended the University of Michigan College of Engineering to obtain a Bachelors in Industrial and Operations Engineering. She began her career with GE Healthcare as a Diagnostic Imaging Sales Account Manager. She met the love of her life during her sales training program, moved to North Carolina and hasn’t looked back!

Woven in between the mathematical equations and scientific principles came design inspiration and attention to detail. More than anything else, Maureen has always been completely fulfilled by simply designing and creating from her random daily inspirations. After she had her first son, Jeffrey, Maureen decided that the stressful and travel filled capital sales career was not going to work and she became a stay at home mom.

She loved staying home with her boys (Jeffrey, 6, and Pierson, 3), but had always needed a creative outlet to keep balance. Maureen started a business in 2006, Posh Papier, where she designed handmade invitations and also took on large scale art projects seen in House Beautiful and Lonny Magazine.

She loved working for herself, but always missed having a partner to bounce ideas off of, to be inspired by, and to collaborate with on late night projects. Maureen’s dream was to meet someone with the same goals, interests and vision. When she met Adria at a random preschool open house, it just clicked and she knew it was meant to be!

Anders Ruff has been a dream for Maureen and every day she wakes up with as smile knowing that she will never "work" a day in her life since this is her true passion.

Maureen’s Favorites:
TV Show: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, Bachelorette
Fashion Designer: Tory Burch
Hobbies: Graphic Design and Styling (of course), Restaurant Critiquing, Tennis and Zumba
Food: Chicken Picatta with Spinach
Dessert: Cheesecake (Plain with berries)
Random: Self proclaimed OCD – enjoys buying in bulk and several of the same clothing article in various colors.

About Maureen Anders

About Adria Ruff

This week, I am introducing my fabulous team in preparation for our new website launch!

We will start with Adria Ruff! Adria is a designer and stylist for Anders Ruff and has been with me since the very beginning! She has become one of my very best friends and I LOVE having daily interaction with Adria. She is funky, hilarious, edgy, beautiful, witty, creative and talented! I am so lucky to have Adria as a part of Anders Ruff!

Adria was born & raised in Lancaster, Ohio. She attended Auburn University, with a Bachelor’s of Science and studied Fashion Merchandising, Design & Product Management (specializing in Design). She met her husband in her hometown during Christmas break in college. She has been married for 11 years and has two daughters, Brynne (8) & Grayce (5).

Adria’s first job out of college was as a Costume Technician for a Ballet Company in Columbus, Ohio (Ballet Met). Following that position, she jumped over to the corporate world in Fashion. She worked for Limited Too for 6 1/2 years (now known as Justice).

Before she had her second daughter, Grayce, she quit the corporate life. While staying at home with her daughters, Adria created a small photography business in her hometown. A few years later she incorporated graphic design with my photography as well as custom invitations. (all self-taught) Once she realized what could be done with graphic design, she phased out photography and devoted her spare time to graphic work. She had finally found her true passion!!!

In December, 2009, Adria’s husband’s job was uprooted, which brought them to Fort Mill, SC. The first two months she lived here, all she did was paint and decorate her house…. until one day she bumped into (and officially met) Maureen. They hit it off immediately, and spontaneously decided to start working together in graphic design and party branding and styling.

The design work started selling immediately, and in a blink of an eye Anders Ruff Custom Designs had been created.

Adria has enjoyed the freedom of creative expression and the opportunities to attend some amazing events including a weekend at Martha Stewart's Headquarters.

Adria’s Favorites:

TV Show: Modern Family and American Idol (if only I could sing….)
Fashion Designer: Givenchy (when he designed for Audrey Hepburn), current fav: Kate Spade
Hobby: Interior Design, wii karaoke, and live karaoke, wine
Food: Prime Rib & Lobster
Dessert: Cream Puffs, Creme Brulee
Random: Over the years, Adria has aquired many nicknames. Here is the list, in this order, and she am still called these names at various times. Audrey, A-town, Paris, Gremlin, Grem, Nipsy, Nips, Ma-Slater, Honey Badger, HB, Salt

I love ya, Adria!

About Adria Ruff

Our New Logo (& what we are up to)

Hi friends!

We just had to share our new logo with you all. Our website has been "in the works" since last year...but we have been working with a programmer for the past several months. Stay tuned for the launch of our new website/blog!

We wanted to "clean up" our logo to give a fresh look. We had some input on the "ar" creative "look" from a super creative designer from Turkey!

We have been in business since February 2010 and have been wanting to organize our site...

We will be keeping the same colors as always (aqua, pink, lime with touches of navy) and the site will contain most of the elements that you can find on our blog... but in a much more organized fashion!

Can't wait to share!

Thanks!
Maureen

Our New Logo (& what we are up to)

{TV} Sonoran Living TV Segment Featuring Anders Ruff Printables!

Super exciting news!

The fabulous TV Show, Sonoran Living, aired Friday with a special guest - Nancy from A to Zebra Celebrations.

The show was focused on how printables are the rage and how simple they can be.
They focused on how Anders Ruff Printables can add style,
detail and eye candy to any event, dessert table, or gift!
We are SO thrilled to have Anders Ruff printables featured on the show and hope you can take a minute to watch.

Click above to see the segment!

Here is a picture from the show of Stephanie, Sonoran Living host, and Nancy.


Nancy did a wonderful job. We fell in love with Nancy when we met her in NYC. She has a successful etsy business of her own. Check out her shop here. Nancy makes beautiful table runners, banners and ribbon garlands!

Thank you so much, Stephanie and Nancy, for such an amazing segment!

{TV} Sonoran Living TV Segment Featuring Anders Ruff Printables!

{Press} The Reveal of Super P's Party!

The Big Reveal...

We are THRILLED and excited to be featured on Hostess with the Mostess today.
Super P's Party was SO much fun and we will be sharing the details here, too....
for now, go check out the post at Hostess Blog....

Thank you to ALL of our fabulous contributors!


XO
Maureen

{Press} The Reveal of Super P's Party!

{PRESS!} Anders Ruff in BRIDES Philadelphia Magazine!

It has been a very busy few months and we are FINALLY getting around to posting this really exciting feature!

The fall/winter 2010 issue of Brides Magazine featured a wedding that was planned by a fabulous client of ours, Linda Cylc. (Silk Style Events)

WE LOVE working with Linda and she always plans the most beautiful weddings!

Well, BRIDES magazine, Philadelphia, featured a wedding she planned and our work is in the article. It is the fall/winter 2010 issue.
Super exciting stuff!

We designed menus and programs for this wedding and they are featured in the 2 page spread. See below!

The wedding was at historic Glen Foerd on The Delaware. Beautiful, right!?

The program was a light pink and dark chocolate brown.

Be sure to check out Silk Style Events' website for more eye candy and inspiration.

Thanks for the lovely article, Linda!

{PRESS!} Anders Ruff in BRIDES Philadelphia Magazine!

{Martha} Our trip to NYC for the Dreamers into Doers event!

Whew! What a whirlwind of a week. We spent this past week in NYC attending the Martha Stewart Dreamers into Doers event. 75 talented women entrepreneurs in one room - along with fabulous speakers (one being MARTHA herself!).

As you saw from Adria's previous post - we got there in 1 piece... after a flight of me getting ill :-(


Here is our NYC trip journal:

Day 1 of the trip:
8:30 am Taping of a LIVE Martha Stewart Show
Lunch presentation
12:30 Workshops
Dinner w/ some party girls

While we were waiting for The Martha Stewart show to start, we met the most fabulous girl - Lindi of Love The Day. She is the sweetest thing and we totally hit it off. We have a lot in common and she was a blast to be with during the trip.

(above) Lindi, Adria and me in the Martha Studio ready for taping!

(Above) Adria and Maureen waiting for the show
LOVE seeing that Martha sign.... SO COOL!


We were in the front row of the seating!

Here Martha is with Joey after the show. Joey is seriously funny!

Isn't this SO cool!? We would LOVE to be on the Martha Stewart show someday!


After the show....
We headed over to Martha's offices and hung in the hallways of Martha's design offices. Here we are with the fabulous Caitlin Losey. Thanks to Caitlin, this event was a success!

(Below) Here we are with Danielle of A Few of My Favorite Things. She was one of our favorite things of this trip ;-). SUCH a sweet girl and we just love her!


Lindi of Love the Day is in the yellow - we TOTALLY hit it off with her.

We got to have a fabulous lunch and meet some of the other party girls that we know from online. Then we got to attend some great presentations in Martha's Photo Studio.

At the end of the day, we got to sit and listen to a talk with MARTHA herself and Susan Solomon.


Below is Martha with Susan L. Solomon, Co-founder of NY Stem Cell Foundation.

After the discussion, we got to have a photo taken with Martha.
My favorite photo is below...the one of us with Martha! (Thanks to Stacy of Scrumptious Swirls for having this fab pic taken - we are all SOOO happy)

Martha only took ONE photo before she left. I think the swarm of people scared her off (as it should have!) We were so lucky to get in the shot!

Then we headed off to dinner at the Oyster Bar with Courtney of Pizzazzerie. We then met up with some of the other fabulous girls....

We hung out at ACE - (Adria kept telling everyone to meet at AXE.... DUH!)
Here are some of the fabulous women business owners that we met and connected with while at the event....
(above - Left to right- Front) Rebecca of Fresh Chick Design Studio, Nancy of A to Zebra Celebrations, Stacy of Scrumptious Swirls, (us) Maureen Anders and Adria Ruff of Anders Ruff
(above - Left to right - Back) Andrea Alley, Courtney of Pizzazzerie, Andrea of Dolce Drive

Love those girls!

Day 2 of the Event:
10:15 am - Workshops
Lunch
More workshops

Here we are outside the entrance to Martha's design offices and test kitchens...


Pinch us - we got to meet some of the (amazing!) talent from Martha Stewart Living....
(above) Hannah Milman (SVP Exec Editorial Director of Martha Stewart Crafts)
(above) Terri Trespicio - Senior features editor for Whole Living Magazine

(Above) Sarah Carey of Martha Stewart Food...


Before we left, we made sure to get photos with some of the girls that we connected with.

(above) Maureen, Rebecca of Fresh Chick Design Studio, Jill of Modern Cupcake, Adria.
Jill and Rebecca were SO cute. I just love how playful and fun they are. I just wish we were closer (They are all the way in AZ!) Dying to try one of Jill's fabulous cupcakes. We are determined to get her to ship us some! ;-) Stay tuned for that!

(above) Rebecca of the Fresh Chick Design Studio!
Rebecca has an amazing personality (so funny) and has a great sense of fashion. She is a "real" person who is all about helping others. I could just tell from meeting her that we would get along great. Just seeing her put a smile on our face!

(above) Kim of The Celebration Shoppe.
Kim is SUCH a thoughtful and kind person. She is the type of person we would consider a "true friend". She is also a genius business women with a really good head on her shoulders.

(above) Nancy of A to Zebra Celebrations
Nancy seriously always had a smile on her face. She seemed truly grateful for this opportunity and was a lot of fun to talk to.


(above) Courtney of Pizzazzerie.
This girl has energy! I can see why her blog and facebook posts are so exciting and lively! Courtney is seriously full of pizzazz and she is a SUPER fun person to talk to! Her mom was attending as well and is the SWEETest lady ever!


(above) Stacy of Scrumptious Swirls
Stacy is a ball of fun. She is so enthusiastic and fun to be around. She is super passionate about her work and meeting new people. We just LOVE her (and her cookies!)

3 Favorite things about this trip:

1) Being able to tour Martha's corporate headquarters/design offices. I loved just "taking in" all of the creativity from her office building. It was so awesome to see the different sections of her office where people from every aspect of Martha's brand design and create. REALLY cool to see the designer's desks and what they have up on their bulletin boards. We got to walk by the test kitchens, stock rooms and prop areas... SO amazing! I was like a kid in a candy store, seriously.

2) Attending a live taping of Martha's show! It is so neat to see the "behind the scenes" from her studio and what happens to make a show successful. Got to meet JOEY and her production staff were so friendly and "together!" What a great team she has.

3) Meeting other women entrepreneurs that we have networked with online for months! I loved meeting them all in person and figuring out if their "online personality" matches them in person. Most of them were exactly as I would expect. A few were Totally different from what I expected! Pretty interesting! We build some relationships that will last and we are forever thankful for this opportunity.


Thank you to the Martha Stewart team for hosting us. We had the most fabulous time!
Hope to be back soon!

{Martha} Our trip to NYC for the Dreamers into Doers event!

{Video} Clip of Maureen and Adria from Martha Stewart Live Taping

Here is a clip of us from the Martha Stewart show live taping. (Adria had her new iPod touch that she was DYING to try the vintage video feature on)

The show was about to start.... So fun!


Also in the clip, Lindi (a new fab friend!) of Love the Day designs....

Stay tuned early Monday for all the photos and story about our trip....

{Video} Clip of Maureen and Adria from Martha Stewart Live Taping

{Dream} a little dream....

Maureen and Adria are in New York City today at Martha Stewart's "Dreamers Into Doers" event. I wonder what they are doing right now?! Are they chatting with Courtney Dial of Pizzazzerie? Are they trading tips with Kim Stoegbaeur of The TomKat Studio? Are they meeting....MARTHA??? I know that we will hear (and read) all about their trip on Facebook and right here on the blog when they return.

Typically I write up a party to post; however, today, I wanted to share with you one of the most imaginative blogs I have had the privilege of reading, Mila's Daydreams. Mila's mother, Adele, in her own words..."This is my maternity leave hobby. While my baby is taking her nap, I try to imagine her dream and capture it." As I try to imagine what fabulous things Maureen and Adria are up to in the Big Apple, take a peek at what Adele imagines her sweet baby Mila is dreaming of...




























Of course all of these photographs are superb. Which one is your favorite? Mine is the baby bunny...

Thank you Adele, for sharing with us your amazing pictures of Mila.

{Dream} a little dream....