The ability to search...

I have been a busy bee working on the new website. It has always been important to me that Belle have the ability to offer clients a search option. Do you know how impossible it is to build a search option on a website? Well... three years in the making, the search is almost complete and the power will be in your hands!

Soon, when you visit Belle Announcements you will have the option to type "owl" in the search box and wala! All things owl will come up! You will see all the designs with owls on one page. No more scrolling page by page. If you want a Sushi invitation, wala! Search "sushi invitation" and there it is.

This opens so many doors for us. In the past we have done custom jobs such as cupcake toppers and wrappers but never put these items on the website because we only have 3 or 4 options. Those designs will now be on the website.

Another amazing addition will be matching products. When you are looking at the Sushi Invitation, you will see all it's matching stationery items from thank you cards to enclosure gift tags.

More to come...

Snail Mail + 44 cent stamp = Smiles

I love getting things in the mail. Okay, I lied. I don’t like getting bills in the mail or the random pizza coupons (but I do love me some coupons!) However, I-big-fat-squishy-heart-it when I get something that has a hand written address on it. I’m giddy when I tear open the envelope and there is a whole page of that delicious mix of print and cursive that we all fall into when we long-hand a letter. I’m sure our English teachers are crawling out of their skin right now, but I digress.

Beautiful, soul-filled letters are getting fewer and farther between. It’s just easier to send a text message with everyone and their Beagle walking around with a smart phone or to fire off an email. We get digital messages with sentiments of “Happy Birthday! Happy Graduation! Congratulations on your marriage! Welcome New Baby!” How…..sad. Aren’t the life-changing moments our friends and family experience worth five minutes, a piece of paper and a $0.44 stamp?

My husband’s grandparents spend their winters in a warmer climate. We don’t get to spend much time with them because of that, but luckily for us, twice a month we open the mail box to find a letter that Grandma B and Grandpa J have sent. They tell us of their latest adventures – mostly of tours of a historic landmark they visited or the local flea marketthey spent the day browsing. Not anything that will be made into a movie, but to us? To us, it is a precious piece of our day. Over a thousand miles away, our family is sitting down and sharing their day with us. They’re not recounting the tale on a computer screen but telling a story. You can see the tempo of their writing change during the parts that are exciting and you can see the words slow down and become deliberate when Grandma writes how much she loves and misses us. It’s a gift to receive something so filled with the love of the person who wrote it.

Take the time so sit down and write a letter or even just a short note to a person you care about, or perhaps have lost touch with, today. It will take less time than what you just spent reading this but I can guarantee the smile will remain on your face for much longer. Bonus: in 3 days (give or take) when the recipient takes it out of their mail box, you can share that same smile with them.

Hi-Fi Wedding Fest

Belle Announcements recently attended Hi-Fi Wedding Fest; an independent bridal fair showcasing local businesses! It was exciting to meet all the brides and grooms-to-be. We debuted our Vintage Collection and got some rave reviews. Check out our Etsy store to see the new line, including: Retro Music Save the Date, Vintage Photo Save the Date, Vintage Teal Bridal Invitation and more. Are you looking for an easy do-it-yourself set of invitations, save the date cards and reception cards? Look at our DIY Retro Swirl Wedding Invitation Set.

Of course we can always make an original design for your wedding day! Just email us and we can customize invitations, save the dates and/or thank-yous to meet your needs. We look forward to being a part of your special day!

Gender Reveal Party Invitations

Since we introduced our first Ticket Stub Gender Reveal Party Invitations, we have received dozens of requests for additional designs. You've spoken and we have answered. Here is the first in our series of 6 Gender Reveal Party Invitations.

You can purchase this exclusively in our Etsy Store here.

Preschool Valentine's

You have a preschooler now and you are quickly discovering the strange relationship you are beginning to have with parents you’ve never met before. You communicate with them via little cards to their children from your child, written by you. The card is then intercepted in the friend’s backpack for Mom or Dad to read, because our sweet little beans are currently focusing on the letter “L” and not quite ready to read notes.

It was funny to me when I thought about it after my daughter’s first preschool Valentine’s Day experience. It is true with any of the holidays, really. I realized I was sending cards to the other parents and just pretending to be my daughter. Their kid can’t read my handwriting. They don’t care what is on the card. Let’s be honest, if there isn’t candy attached to it...I lost the kid’s attention immediately. Then I kind of asked myself why I was fretting about writing little notes and spending all this time making them look pretty.

This is where Belle’s personalized Valentine’s Day cards not only save time, they make the most sense. My daughter loves pictures of her friends. She is as excited by a photo as I am. Parents enjoy this as well. I can’t wait to share our personalized Valentines from Belle Announcements this year. They are exactly the type of card that would end up in our scrapbook so that we could remember the smiling face of that friend in preschool we loved so long ago.