Thursday, September 30, 2010

Team {Pinkoween}



Happy Thursday bloggy peeps! Guess what? It’s almost October. Do you know what that means?! Pumpkin picking, bobbing for apples, shopping for overpriced costumes, parent/teacher conferences AND National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Remember when we collaborated with
Pizzazzerie for her pink themed Halloween shoot entitled Pinkoween that was featured on Amy Atlas? Well, this month presents the perfect opportunity to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and fight breast cancer together. We would love your support!

Please visit our
Team Pinkoween page on the Susan G. Komen Passionately Pink for the Cure site. Any amount you can give would be so appreciated. Even one dollar! It adds up fast, especially if we use the power of social networking. Please spread the word with our link to Team Pinkoween and the hashtag #Pinkoween.

Also, for the month of October, Anders Ruff Custom Designs will donate $2 from each sale of the
Printable Happy Pinkoween Halloween Collection to Team Pinkoween.

Thank you and Happy Pinkoween!


-Carrie

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

{Featured Clients} Happy Bee Day Robert!

Rachel {a super mom client of ours} planned her son, Robert's 1st bee day.

Rachel was inspired by the bee day that I had for Pierson when he was 1. Oh, how the time flies - that was almost 2 years ago and I can't bee-lieve it! She hired us to design the printable graphics for Robert's 1st bee day - it was a lot of fun working with her!

I love seeing our client's parties that are inspired by the parties we have created. They always come up with something fun and unique and Rachel did an amazing job coordinating the perfect bee day!

Lots of fun eye candy to share. Thanks so much for sharing photos of Robert's special day, Rachel!

Rachel had us design an invitation that was similar to the handmade ones that I created for Pierson's 1st Bee Day....
We have this one below available in the shop, too...


Rachel had cute decor all over the party. I love the meaning of this signage.... "So much nectar, so little time". That is kind of how I feel all of the time! For me it is more "so many ideas, so little time". If I accomplished everything that I have on my "idea" list, I'd need to live to be 180!


Now, to the party photos... Look how cute Rachel's setup is!I love the bee pinata and the yellow and black tissue poms that she uses all over!
I saw these mylar bee balloons when I was shopping for Pierson's 1st bee day and thought they were adorable.... my favorite are the black balloons with white polkadots!

Her centerpieces are so cute and fitting.... Check out her honey bear containers, inspired by Pierson's 1st bee day favors...
We designed a custom printable banner for her and used honeycomb patterns to decorate and vary each letter...
Adorable drink canister....

The treats and sweets table looked so adorable!


The cupcakes looked so delish - adorned with cupcake topper logos that we designed. The favors look so adorable, too!Her cake looks like a real hive and I love the cookies!

Rachel used the party logo that we designed to personalize the cups (my favorite thing to do!)
Cute little goodie bag station and the plasticware looks so cute all lined up in the basket with the party logo in front. Favor tags shown below were personalized with each guest's name.

A closeup of the honey bear containers and the cupcake toppers...

She even made PB Honey bees, as seen at Pierson's bee day! She did an awesone job!
These things are SO yummy (picture a reeces pb cup but with crunchy goodness of graham crackers inside).... MMM!
Look how adorable Robert is on his bee day!


Rachel did an awesome job - top to bottom! Thanks for bee-ing so sweet, Rachel!

Bee Day printable design collection is available in the shop!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

{Carrie’s Favorite Things}...like Oprah’s Favorite Things, but without the freebies

HAPPY TUESDAY! It’s always a happy day when I get to blog for the super creative dynamic duo behind Anders Ruff Custom Designs: Maureen Anders and Adria Ruff.

Favorite Thing #1:

As I was thinking about what to write about today, I was poking around Etsy
and found a shop that sells some of the coolest edibles that I have ever seen: butterflies, bats, autumn leaves and more. It’s called Sugar Robot . Host a Pink-O-Ween party with pink and black bats on your cupcakes! Or, just imagine what you could do with these lovelies on your wedding cake! I think they are extremely unique and quite spectacular.






Favorite Thing #2:

Twitter. I love Twitter. I tweet a lot under @andersruff (on behalf of Maureen and Adria), but I also have a personal Twitter account where I do the typical stupid things like tweeting @aplusk (Ashton Kutcher) actually thinking that I may get a reply. The other thing I love about Twitter is that you learn about so many different companies. For example, I learned about @CurbsideCupcakes in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, I live in Charlotte, but can you imagine a truck full of homemade cupcakes that drives around like an ice cream truck? How wicked is that?!

Favorite Things #3 & #4:

Ree Drummond, blog-ess of The Pioneer Woman. I think that she is really Wonder Woman in disguise and am waiting for her to pull out her golden lasso (she does live on a ranch)! If you haven’t read her blog, you must.


Gabrielle (Gabby) Blair of Design Mom is just so hip! I love how readers write in with questions and she gives advice and then asks her other readers to chime in. She also shares tons of design tips and her fabulous finds as well. And she has six children, including a baby. And she cooks and cleans and wears the hats of both a working mom and a stay at home mom. Amazing! I have two children and last night was make your own Eggo waffles for dinner night.

Just a few of my favorite things. P.S. I also LOVE dessert.

-Carrie


Monday, September 27, 2010

{Client Party} - Ayden Airlines Boarding Pass

Ayden's Airlines Welcomes You!



Destination:

Luau Pool Party

A creative client of ours, Sara, decided to throw a Luau this summer!

As the guests arrived, Sara made a super cute sign to lead them to the party.


The Birthday girl, Ayden, arrived safe and sound with all her traveling boyfriends!


The leis, plates and birthday candles matched the invite & water bottle just perfectly!


Sara also made a handmade banner to match the party details!


She layered her party logos on glitter craft paper and tied on with satin ribbon!


The birthday girl just loved her birthday cake!




Check out the matching items Sara used:
Fun Party Logos, Water Bottle Wraps and a Matching Thank you


Thanks Sara for sharing this festive party with us!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

{Gift-lemma} Translation: What the heck do I buy for...?

Whenever one of my two boys gets invited to a birthday party, I REALLY struggle with what to buy for a gift. My oldest is eleven and at that age, a lot of the kids want gift cards. Speaking of which...isn’t it funny where you can buy gift cards these days!? Everywhere from the supermarket to the gas station. Kind of takes the fun out of it (but I will admit to buying a card at Ye Ole Card kiosk at the Circle K gas station). Invitations (at least in my neck of the woods) tend to come with very little time left to buy a gift. PSA: Think ahead about designing your child's birthday invitation and itsy bitsy Etsy your way over to Anders Ruff Custom Designs. We do rush orders!


Anyways, I found this really cool website called
uncommon goods. They offer all kinds of unique, "uncommon" items for everything from the home to the hostess. Here are some examples of fun things I found for gift giving to the younger set.

Eco Dough anyone? (for the 3-5 year old age range):


Check out these cool Hands Gone Wild! temporary tattoos for kids in the 5+ age range:
The über cool thing about uncommon goods is that they donate $1 from every gift you purchase on their site to one of three charities (you choose which one). It’s called the Better to Give Program.

uncommon goods sells a heck of a lot of good things! Check out this cool croquet lamp featured in their Recycled Home Décor section:


We like cool companies!

-Carrie


Friday, September 24, 2010

{Giveaway} BINTH $125 Store Credit


Have you ever found a store that you obsess over? When I was first introduced to Binth by my friend, Suysel (who I have said time and time again is my "go to" source for great finds), I was immediately inspired and obsessed! I found each product they sell to be a complete masterpiece - a well thought out creation that was listed with love and care.

Binth was founded as a design collective of fine artists, illustrators, writers, photographers and graphic designers. Wow, how I would LOVE to be part of one of their projects! Just wait until you see some of the fabulous products they offer!

Binth is online and they are featured in fine stores throughout the US and Canada.

This is going to be a long feature because I am in LOVE with so many of their products.

One of my favorite products is their baby book, which actually happens to be the first product they came out with in 2005. This is not your typical baby book. This is a clothbound hard cover, hand-assembled and case bound book that is printed with soy based inks. Best of all, it is crafted in the USA, like all BINTH products are. It includes a handmade keepsake box with room to store extra photos! (Genius!) This will last FOREVER. What a special keepsake for your child.

This is truly a piece of art. Each page is. Original woodland illustrations adorn the pages and this is truly a one of a kind find, in terms of keepsakes for your children.
Perfect for a special baby gift, shower gift or gift for your child or grandchild. Pages start from the day of birth through the 3rd birthday. LOVE.

Available in the original green and now they introduced chocolate brown!

Look at the amazing illustrations. These artists have major talent.
Family tree!










Binth offers some very unique pieces, such as the joker prints. How awesome are these!?
To satisfy your paper cravings (you know we have a love of paper!), make sure to check out their stationery as well.... how chic are these?
Binth just released their soy wax candles! They offer them in 8 different scents - so beautiful and unique! They are poured by hand into permanently glazed glass tumblers. I want all of them!

Here are some of my favorite, favorite products. First being their alphabet poster. This poster is screen-printed and would be the perfect post for the modern nursery, child's room or playspace. I love how they were inspired by Danish wood toys from mid-century! Vintage toys are so nostalgic and fun!




One of my favorite U.S. cities is Chicago (my sister and best friend lives there!), so when I saw this, I knew I had the perfect Christmas present planned. This is done with a hand-mixed and vibrant primary color palette. They offer this as an unframed print in archival mats for only $22! They have some other fabulous cities, like NYC, as well!
Make sure to check out their other posters and prints. They have a plethora of beautiful designs. This poster would look fabulous in Jeffrey and Pierson's playroom. (We did a primary color scheme). Off to order mine! ;-)In summary, Binth is a truly unique go-to store for memorable gifts and prints. Everything about Binth is beautiful - from the products themselves, to the craftsmanship that is put into them. Everything is timeless, but modern, unique but appealing to all.

We are THRILLED that Binth is generously sponsoring the giveaway this week. Read on!

Giveaway Description:
$125 Store Credit to Binth.com!


First Way To Enter
• Visit Binth and leave us a comment below telling us
about your favorite product.

For Additional Entries* (not required but extra ways to win!)
• Become a fan - (“Like”) Binth and Anders Ruff on Facebook
• Subscribe to Binth's Mailing List
• Post about this giveaway on facebook
• Post about this giveaway on your blog
• Tweet about this giveaway

{*For each of the additional entries, you must leave separate comments here
on our blog telling us you did the specific step (or already have done that step)
We check to see if you did the step if you win!}

Winner will be chosen using random.org on Friday at 2:00 PM.
Open to US residents only.

WINNER IS:
chelsei said...

I posted this giveaway on FB
Chelsei Ryan
pica_princess_88@yahoo.com

Comment #42!