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An EGGcellent Party

4.17.2019

In the spirit of Easter, we decided to have a dEGGcorating party! We gathered all the ladies (plus Scott & Ryan) and got down to business. Check out some photos below from our EGGcellent party and get inspired to have your own!–Who said decorating eggs was just for kids?!

Each person was equipped with a bunny headband (made by us of course), a plethora of eggs and all the kits, markers, paint, dyes, washi tape you can think of. (Gloves are recommended if you prefer not to look like your egg when you’re done)

We taped up our very own Pinterest board on the wall for some inspiration–which also doubled as some really cute decoration! (Thanks Haley!)

Our egg dyeing station had pretty much every color under the sun! Check out Real Simple’s article on what you need and simple directions to follow on how to dye an egg. (This one is great for kids) Bustle has more intermediate ideas if you are feeling ~fancy~.

For a more abstract look, you can dye the eggs with whipped cream! Follow My Baking Addiction’s article on how to do it–it’s super easy to follow. (this is where those gloves would come in handy!)

And if you’re not feeling so creative, fear not! We’ve got you covered with EGG DECORATING KITS! Our dapper bunny is a great classic choice.  For a more trendy look, this unicorn decorated egg is inspired by Coachella–and even though Coachella trends will come and go, this guy will never go out of style. #timeless You can get our kits at your local TjMaxx, Home Goods, or Marshalls!

If you don’t feel like using any of these methods or if you want to mix, feel free to go freestyle and create your own one-of-a-kind design!

No matter the outcome, the most important thing is that you had fun
and if there’s one thing that we know how to do here at Elūm, it’s just that. Happy Easter!

 

Elūm’s Holiday Traditions

12.19.2018

We love the Holidays here at Elum. We’re senders of cards and gift givers, candy cane connoisseurs and mistletoe mamas. If someone shouts, “Party!” we’re there. If gift wrapping were a martial art everyone in our office would be ninjas. Black-belted, ninth dan merry-making ninjas! We love sparkles and sprinkles, goofy dancing, questionable holiday sweaters, hats with antlers, Bing Crosby, sugar cookies and hot toddies! More than anything else we love sharing and creating special moments with our friends and families. We’re filled with so much festive spirit right now we gathered the gang together, supplied everyone with rum-soaked eggnog and figgy pudding, and asked about their holiday traditions.

What’s your favorite part of the Holidays?

“Christmas morning is my favorite part of the holidays,” says Kristi C, our creative director. “Seeing my kids’ faces in the morning, so excited that Santa came to visit them. They can’t wait to open up their stockings and gifts.” Jael P, one of our production artists, looks forward to, “Staying in a cabin and heading to a cold place where it snows! Plus it’s the only time of the year when my brother and my dad help in the kitchen!” Tim P, our production designer, says his favorite part is, “Snuggling under warm blankets and watching terrible holiday movies on the Hallmark channel.” Judging from the way everyone is nodding, watching bad movies just might be Elum’s guilty holiday secret! Haley F, our senior designer, sums up the most important thing about the Holidays. “I know it’s cliché but getting to be together with family is by far the best part of the Holidays. I haven’t lived in the same timezone as my family for almost a decade, so when we can manage to all get together—even for just a day—it’s pretty special.”

Do you have any family holiday traditions?

“PJs all day!” declares production artist Mikaela L. Senior designer, Shannon L, keeps the laughter going by telling us, “General consensus in my family is that I’m a terrible cook. I bring the cheese board.” Our warehouse manager, Ryan M, chips in with, “Christmas nights at dive bars!” And Tim shares that universal holiday tradition of, “Getting awkward phone calls to out-of-town family over with by dinner.” Lindsey C in logistics tells us about her grandma. “Every Christmas Eve my grandma will make French onion soup. Christmas Day we will drink a bunch of wine while watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. This will be our first year without Grandma and I’m hoping I can pull off the soup as well as she did.” We all agree that simple family traditions, sharing food with loved ones, presents under the tree, are the things that create holiday magic.

What will you be cooking this Christmas?

“Our menu is always a mismatch of childhood favorites and new recipes we want to try,” says Haley. “Nothing says Christmas like pizza rolls and bourbon.” Lindsey tells us about her mom’s, “Roast Beast, which is a giant peppercorn-encrusted prime rib with all the trimmings.” We spend a moment in awe of Lindsey’s mom, then Nancy Z from logistics tells us, “My family loves hot pot during Christmas” and we all decide we’d like that too. And when Jael pitches in with “Honey glazed ham, a poppy seed cake and cheesecake!” and our co-founder Melissa F adds, “Noni’s cracked crab” we burst into spontaneous applause. Can you tell we’re all food crazy here at Elum?

What’s Elum’s holiday party like? Give us the lowdown!

“Sparkly & Boozy!“ declares Haley. “Super fun!” agrees Kristi. “We do a white elephant exchange, have a yummy dinner and we usually go dancing late night!” This year will be production artist, Scott H’s, first ever Elum holiday party and he tells us he, “Can’t wait!” When he asks Tim about the last Elum holiday party, Tim replies, “It was so good that I have a hard time remembering.” Lindsey helps him out, “That party was a HOOT! Tim was VERY festively dressed in a Christmas sweater. Everyone in the company is fun-loving and thoughtful. It’s wonderful to be able to unwind with such a great group of people.”

What Elum goodies will you be giving as gifts this year?

“I will be gifting Big Stack notepads to friends and family,” creative project lead, Shelby H, tells us. “They are very useful and a wonderful locally made product.” Lindsey agrees. “My family is addicted to Big Stacks. They’re the PERFECT notepad and the only way I’m guaranteed to not lose my shopping list. I’ve put one of them in everyone’s stocking as well as some Weekly Eats list pads.” Shannon will be gifting our “Letterpress journals. They’re a great practical but fun gift.” While Tim will be sending folk, “The Feliz Navidog card…’cause my son likes dogs.”

What are you wishing for in 2019?

“New experiences that will lead to new happy lasting memories for years to come,” says Melissa. Kristi adds, “Healthy Elum babies—we have two new babies at Elum that will be born in 2019! Some relief from the natural disasters happening around the world, and to spend more quality time with friends and family.” Cheers to all that! Haley and Lindsey dream of traveling. “Somewhere tropical,” Lindsey tells us, while Haley says, “Every year I try to make a bucket list of hikes, road trips and vacations— plotted at the beginning of the year to look forward to!” Our inside sales manager, Sara C, is looking forward to, “Spending more time in my garden and a full edible garden in the spring!” Tim is also thinking about gardening. He’s wondering if he can plant a tree “that yields cash and ribeye steaks!” We all laugh, and leave it to Nancy to sum everything up. “I wish good health and happiness for all the people I know.”

We raise our glasses and wish you health and happiness. We wish you time spent with loved ones and time doing what you love. We wish you all the joy and magic of the Holidays and all the wonderful possibilities of the New Year! From Elum’s family to yours.

Working It @Elūm

9.25.2018

Ever wondered what it’s like to work as a designer at Elūm? Do we really spend our days drinking unicorn smoothies while drawing unicorns (as it happens sometimes we actually do!). What does a typical day look like in our offices here in San Diego? Where do we get out ideas from? And what exactly is in our refrigerator? If you’ve ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at Elūm this is your chance to find out. We’ve gathered our boss design team, hyped them up with espresso and Italian wedding cookies (no one’s getting married we just love the sprinkles), turned on the spotlight and asked the tough questions.

When did you know you wanted to work in design?

“Basically, as long as I can remember,” says Sarah E our Brand Content and Marketing Director. “Art class was my favorite, sort of my way of relaxing and escaping from the craziness of everyday life.” Senior Designer Samantha K tells us high school was the time when she realized “art could become my career so I took as many art classes as I could fit into my schedule.” Shelby H our Creative Program Manager also felt the pull of design as a young child. “I would get up early in the morning before anyone else and sit and draw by myself for hours before school.”

What’s a typical day like working at Elūm? Can you take us through your routine?

“Every day is so different and exciting and full of surprises, literally,” says our Executive Creative Director, Kristi C. “Typically about 3pm we get a package of new product samples we have designed. It is so exciting to see all of our unique designs come to life everyday!” Olga G, one of our graphic designers, agrees there is no such thing as a typical day at Elūm. “Sometimes it’s crazy busy like jumping from one thing to another and other times you have the luxury of working on one thing for several days.” Sarah tells us her days consist of “photographing new products, editing, posting to social media and updating the website. Keeping it fresh and relevant.” And leave it to our Pre-Press Technician Tim P to sum up an Elūm day perfectly. “It’s like walking on a memory foam beach covered in potpourri air fresheners.” We couldn’t agree more, Tim! #elūmfresh

What inspires you as a designer?

“Literally almost anything if I am in the creative frame of mind,” Kristi says. “I was driving home in traffic from Elūm recently and started obsessing over car parts such as the hub caps on trucks and how I could make them functional. There are so many pattern and color inspirations in everyday life, you just have to be looking.” Sarah agrees. “Life in general. Exploring. Sometimes you go somewhere and one little thing can spark an idea.”

How do you know when a design is finished?

“When adding anything is too much and taking away something destroys the harmony,” declares Olga. We all agree she’s summed it up perfectly. Kristi adds a final insight, “When you stop fussing over it.”

Can you tell us a little about what you’re currently working on?

“Elum is developing Candles for the home and other products that will expand into home and tabletop,” Shelby tells us. “Candles and ceramics and soft goods,” Kristi chimes in, excitedly. “We’re creating whole new product categories!” Meanwhile designers Samantha and Olga are working on Christmas and Holiday 2019. In August! While Tim has appointed himself Beats Boss and is “making sure no garbage music is playing and we are keeping it as funky as possible in the office.” #feelthefunk

What’s the best part of working at Elūm?

“Our Staff, it is like a family,” says Kristi. Sarah agrees. “My coworkers are the best, everyone is super duper nice and supportive. Not to mention all the fun activities we get to do and events we get to go to!” Philip R, Production & Supply Planning Coordinator, tells us, “I enjoy seeing new products come to life. From the inspiration stage to the final produced products.” Tim, as usual, has his own take on things. “Being able to wear shorts and eat donuts.”

If we were to take a peek inside the Elūm lunch room what would we see?

“Empty wine bottles and beer cans!” someone shouts from the back. “Unicorns,” yells Tim. Olga keeps a straight face as she deadpans, “Every single person eating salad.” Kristi has a different take on our lunch room. “Whenever I peek my head in, there is laughter and discussions about personal lives, upcoming vacations and weekend shenanigans.” We are all about shenanigans at Elūm! #elūmshenanigans

Can you share your favorite piece you’ve worked on at Elūm?

“Hmmm, that’s a hard one,” says Olga. “I think my favorites are the regional cards and art prints.” Samantha agrees it’s a difficult question. “I have so many favorites but I really love the ice cream plate and cone napkin set, It’s a simple design but super cute!” Kristi has her own story to tell. “When I first started at Elūm I once designed a tiny print invitation that landed on their marketing materials for the masses as a best seller.”

That’s what we love about working for Elūm: we never know where our designs will take us. A mantlepiece, wedding place settings, your desk, your mailbox. Your life.

 CLICK HERE TO READ A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT US!

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Team Field Trip

9.11.2017

Adult field trips are the MOST FUN as we recently discovered on our Museum of Ice Cream team field trip in Los Angeles. If you haven’t yet heard of this magical place, it’s a pop-up art museum with nothing but ice cream themed exhibits and delicious sweet treats to accompany many of the installations.

We got out of the office for the day to find inspiration at this colorful and delicious museum. Plus, we brought along some of our favorite ice cream themed cards for photo ops! If you want to get a first-hand look at all the fun Elum had and get an insider peek into this sold out pop-up museum, keep scrolling!

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field TripAs the anticipation of getting into the museum grew, we were tasked with choosing a group name that was a combo of an ice cream flavor and an animal, so naturally, we deemed ourselves the Pistachio Llamas.

Museum of Ice Cream Team Field TripLike Wonka’s Chocolate Factory each room in the Museum of Ice Cream is brimming with pure imagination. Designed to provoke inspiration and bring you back to that magical feeling of kid-like wonder (not to mention it’s an ideal place to score a few amazing selfies.) The first room was a series of picture-perfect backdrops accompanied by a scoop of vanilla brownie ice cream.

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field TripThe exhibits were truly laughter inducing, with squeals of excitement erupting every time we turned a corner to see a new room. There was a small traffic jam at the banana swings as each person in our party took a turn. As you can see from our Art Director, Amy and Creative Director, Kristi below, these swings were pure joy.

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field TripWe explored our way through the banana jungle. The perfect place to style our “Birthday Bananas” card.

Museum of Ice Cream Team Field Trip

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field TripSenior Designers, Samantha and Shannon took their turn on the banana swing as Designer, Olga got lost in a sea of bananas.

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field TripThe mint room was a living art installation with three different types of mint growing inside. We were encouraged to rub the leaves between our fingers to smell the differences between them. Samantha opted to get right in the action. If greenery isn’t your thing, this room also offered mint chocolate chip Mochis!

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field Trip

Museum of Ice Cream Team Field TripSome of the team used the bright and cheerful backdrop of the Rainbow Sherbert room to snap pics of our “Every Flavor” and “Lucky Birthday” cards. Meanwhile, Regional account manager, Zoe, got caught in an action shot while she was mid-boomerang!

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field TripThen there was a quick impromptu dance party in the hallway.

 

Next, our childhood wishes for larger-than-life sweets were finally realized. This enormous popsicle exhibit had us dreaming of a world that rains down giant frozen goodness from the sky.

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field Trip

Museum of Ice Cream Team Field TripThe gummy bear installation ended up being one of our favorite photo backdrops. Each wall featured unique, bold color-blocking reminiscent of mod 70’s style with life-sized gummy bears scattered throughout. As an added bonus we got tasty gummy bear treats while we explored this exhibit. There was a mad dash to get photos in front of every wall and with every bear before we moved on.

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field Trip

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field TripThe Black Cone room was a small transitional room between the Gummy Bears and the Sprinkle Room. It was covered in sculpted chocolate cones stuck to the walls each one is unique and individually hand made. They were also doing tasters of black candies in this room that included dark chocolate covered malt balls and black licorice.

Museum of Ice Cream Team Field TripOverall, the Sprinkle Pool was the universal favorite. The pool is filled with over 93 million plastic sprinkles (about 1 million of which were stuck in Kristi’s shirt after we buried her in sprinkles.)

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field TripTime was limited in the Sprinke Pool but that didn’t stop us from making the most of it while we could (and making a huge mess).

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field TripIt’s true that everything in life is better topped with sprinkles. For the rest of the day, we kept finding sprinkles hidden in our shoes, pockets and rolled up cuffs on our jeans.

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field Trip

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field TripTo finish out the museum experience we got one last round of ice cream in the lounge and then scoped out the gift shop.

Office Life: Museum of Ice Cream Field TripHave you been the Museum of Ice Cream or any other fun art installations? We’re always looking for new inspiration and places to take team field trips so tell us about yours in the comments below!

Office Life: An Ice Cream Social in 5 Easy Steps

1.19.2017

When throwing an office party it’s always important to make sure you’re sensitive to everyone likes and dislikes. Fortunately, one thing everyone at Elum can rally behind is ice-cream. So, for our last office-wide birthday celebration we threw a killer potluck style office ice cream social, and it was a total hit! If you want to be an office hero gather up a few of your favorite co-workers and follow these 5 easy steps to throwing your very own potluck office ice cream social!

Office Life: 5 Steps to a Potluck Office Ice Cream SocialStep 1:  Prep & Plan

The first order of business is getting everyone to sign up for the potluck. Elum picked up the tab for all of the basics: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and dairy free ice cream, plus all the bowls, spoons, cups, straws and cones. We asked everyone else in the office to bring in their favorite ice cream topping to share. We used this adorable sign-up sheet to make sure we didn’t get duplicates. We do birthday celebrations in our office on the first Friday of every month, if you don’t have a set celebration date, pick one and send a quick “Save the Date” email to everyone in your office with a note about where the sign-up sheet is located. It’s usually a good idea to give everyone a deadline to sign up so you can make sure that nothing important is missing from your line-up (because let’s face it, an ice cream sundae without rainbow sprinkles basically wouldn’t even taste good.) We sent ours two weeks in advance of the party to give everyone plenty of time to swoop up their toppings and not leave any room for short notice excuses.

Office Life: 5 Steps to a Potluck Office Ice Cream SocialIf you need some inspiration for good ice cream toppings here’s a list of all of ours:

  • cherries
  • nuts
  • trail mix
  • coconut flakes
  • blueberries
  • strawberries
  • gummy bears
  • Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups
  • Hershey Cookies & Cream Drops
  • Hard Root beer
  • Stout Beer
  • Chocolate Magic Shell
  • sprinkles
  • hot fudge
  • hot caramel
  • brownies
  • M & M’s
  • banana chips
  • graham crackers

Office Life: 5 Steps to a Potluck Office Ice Cream SocialStep 2:  Assign Extra Tasks 

We always tend to go a bit overboard with the party details, you can do as much or a little as you’d like as far as extras. We had several people on our team volunteer to help out with the party so we went all out. We had a little pow-wow about the extra special things we wanted to do and assigned out those tasks so that no one got stuck doing all the heavy lifting. In our case we put up a photo booth wall using rolled gift wrap as the backdrop and made photo booth props. If you don’t have anyone crafty on your team or just don’t have the time you can also buy props on etsy. The Elum crew also made a bunch of party decorations like ice cream cone garland, mini party hats and ingredient markers for the toppings table. We met up about the party extras about a week before the party date to give everyone plenty of time to get crafty.

Office Life: 5 Steps to a Potluck Office Ice Cream SocialStep 3: Decorate

We decorated our space the day before the actual party, if that’s not an option for you, make sure everyone drops off their decor contributions the day before the party so you don’t have to hunt people down before the party starts.

Office Life: 5 Steps to a Potluck Office Ice Cream SocialStep 4: Setup Ingredients

When the date of your party finally arrives and it’s time to start setting up the topping bar, have a location in mind where everyone can drop off their toppings. We bought little plastic bowls and jars for each topping, asked everyone to fill up a jar or bowl with their contribution. As a cute way to label each treat, we asked everyone to write the name of what they brought on a plastic spoon and to stick it in the bowl or jar containing their topping. This was really helpful, since the spoons did double duty as serving utensils and decorative labels for our toppings! About 10 minutes before our start time we set up an ice bucket for items we wanted to keep chilled– like whipped cream and soda & beer for floats– and a bowl of hot water to keep hot fudge and other warm toppings at a good temperature. The ice cream came out of the freezer just a few minutes before the party started.

Office Life: 5 Steps to a Potluck Office Ice Cream SocialStep 5: YUM!

Perhaps the most important part of all of this is watching the joy on everyone’s face as they craft their very own sundae masterpieces.

Office Life: 5 Steps to a Potluck Office Ice Cream Social

Looking for more office party inspiration? Stay tuned to the Elum blog as we share more tips, tricks and DIYs for throwing the best office parties ever!

What’s the best office party you’ve ever been to? Share you stories in the comments below.

 

13 New Ways to Tell Someone You Love Them

1.13.2017

We’ve got a brand new batch of loving letterpress Valentine’s Day cards that have just joined the Elum line. From heartfelt sentiments for your friends to showing off your fanciest pair of granny panties, we’ve got something for everyone.

Check our our latest creations below and learn about some of the inspiration behind the new designs.

13 New Letterpress Valentine's Day Cards from Elum“This design is a play off of a classic Valentine’s Day card, a minimal all over iconic pattern and two colors of foil on black paper give a really traditional message and iconography a trendy modern twist.” –Samantha K., Designer

13 New Letterpress Valentine's Day Cards from Elum“When my boyfriend and I met we really connected on our shared passion for adventuring. We do a lot of traveling and are pretty outdoorsy but more importantly we appreciate all of the normal, everyday adventures that we get to share in our day to day lives.”  –Shana F., Designer

13 New Letterpress Valentine's Day Cards from Elum“When I was designing this card I was thinking of perfect pairings. In my mind no two flavors go together better than wine and cheese. I am not a big romantic so  I will definitely sign my name under Cheese but I do think we all should treat our lovers like the fanciest bottle of Wine – cherish every moment we spend together.” –Olga G., Designer

13 New Letterpress Valentine's Day Cards from Elum“Netflix & Chill! Just kidding….this card was actually inspired by the message of another Elum card called “Lazy Sunday.” The message from that card, “Some of the Best Times of My Life Have Been Spent Doing Absolutely Nothing With You,” has always resonated with me because sometimes it’s the simpler, quieter moments that I cherish the most. “Lazy Days” is tailored to the person who knows that the bond created by a good movie night on the couch is a truly special one.” –Shannon L., Designer

13 New Letterpress Valentine's Day Card from Elum

13 New Letterpress Valentine's Day Cards from Elum“I’m a crazy cat lady so this card was inspired by my real life desire to always be surrounded by a million cats, and of course my cat, Ramona.” –Shana F., Designer

13 New Letterpress Valentine's Day Cards from Elum

13 New Letterpress Valentine's Day Cards from Elum“I just illustrated the scientific facts.” –Shana F., Designer

13 New Letterpress Valentine's Day Cards from Elum“I have a friend who always tells her favorite people that she “loves their guts.” I’m  obsessed with that sentiment because it’s all about literally loving someone inside out, even the gross parts. It feels so genuine.” –Shana F., Designer

13 New Lettepress Valentine's Day Cards from Elum“I originally started with the inside message of this card “You’re Such a Treat” and was going to pair it with illustrations of various sweets. But when I started drawing, I got stuck on a doodle of a S’more and decided to run with it. The end result was this punny little Valentine’s card.” –Shannon L., Designer

13 New Letterpress Valentine's Dat Cards from Elum“This design was inspired by visits to my best friend’s home. She houses a collection of plants that create a cozy and inviting ambiance. Whenever I see a row of potted plants I think of her and our times together laughing on the couch surrounded by her indoor garden.” –Ali K., Designer

13 New Letterpress Valentine's Day Cards from Elum“Because we all know that when you’ve been with someone for so long this is the fancy pair!” –Samantha K., Designer

13 New Letterpress Valentine's Day Greeting Cards From Elum

What’s the all-time best way someone has said “I Love You” to you? Tell us in the comments below and give us some inspiration for our next line of love cards!

Office Life: Elum Painting Party

8.30.2016

Office Life : Elum Paint Party
We’re a versatile bunch here at Elum. Our extraordinary design team is assembled from all sorts of artistic backgrounds.  We are graphic designers, illustrators, painters, photographers, fine artists, and textile designers. Even though we come from different formal training, two things are absolutely true about every member of this team:

#1- We love to try new things.

#2- We like to party.

A few weeks ago one of our favorite clients asked us to create a hand-painted collection for their next line of desk & stationery products. Even though it’s not something we’ve done in the past we jumped at the opportunity. First we had a team brainstorm to narrow down painting techniques we wanted to execute.  Then, we organized a painting party complete with smocks,  new paints , fresh brushes and our favorite 90’s pop music playlist.

Office Life: Elum Paint Party
The final result is truly a thing of beauty. Because of our different backgrounds each member contributed something unique to the collaboration. As a result, we achieved a perfect combination of  artistic textured brush strokes, delicate watercolor washes and graphic stippling and stripes.

Office Life: Elum Paint Party
The collection continues to come together beautifully. Check back for more progress updates and info on when it will hit stores. If you can’t wait for the new collection you can buy our Reverie Desk & Stationery Collection right now at elumdesigns.com or head over to papyrusonline.com to check out the Bijou Collection, designed by Elum exclusively for Paper Destiny.

Elum is up for 7 Louie Awards (AGAIN!)

4.25.2016

Elum Louie Award Greeting Card NominationsWe’ve heard the old adage “Lucky Number 7” but for Elum it seems to be the luckiest number. For the second year in a row Elum has been nominated for SEVEN Louie Awards. Honestly, we’re so excited it’s impressive we were able to stop high-fiving long enough to get this blog post written. Without further ado, our 7 Louie Award nominations are:

Elum Louie Award Greeting Card Nominations
No 1: If Memory Serves

Back in her college days while “under the influence” someone asked our founder, Melissa, a question to which she looked at them and said, “If memory serves me correctly, I have absolutely no idea.” It got a huge laugh and led her to this hilarious card concept all these years later.

No 2: Nap Hard

We all want to go big for birthdays, but let’s get real, life is tiring.  Inspired by the “work hard, play hard, nap hard” mantra, this card was written for the girl knows a good party needs a good pre-game nap. The combination of witty messaging and extra celebratory confetti  make this card a winner in our eyes and our staff pick favorite!
Elum Louie Award Greeting Card Nominations

No 3: Priceless Torah

Bar Mitzvah cards are usually very serious. This card takes a more light-hearted approach with a playful design and humorous message. It was created to have a hand-drawn feel and ended up with a fun & unexpected dramatic comic book vibe.

No 4: Life is

Sometimes life is super amazing but sometimes life just feels like it’s totally against you. When kind words and motivational quotes fail, this card tells it like it is, with a candor that will hopefully make someone smile during a tough time. We hand lettered the message to give the card a more personal feel and used subtle colors with just enough punch to let the recipient know you are right there with them when life gets tough.

Elum Louie Award Greeting Card Nominations

No 5: Our Gnome

We know how to appreciate a good pun, which makes this card another Elum staff favorite. This sweet & silly letterpress holiday card features adorable gnomes with over exaggerated hats in a cheerful forest scene inspired by Scandinavian design aesthetic.

No 6: Rainbow Cake

Designing our same sex wedding card collection was one of our favorite projects of all time. We wanted to incorporate the rainbow, a symbol of diversity and pride amongst the LGBTQ community, and the traditional wedding cake revealing the colorful layers. It seemed like the perfect celebratory symbol of marriage equality.

Elum Louie Award Greeting Card Nominations
No 7: Everything Fluffy

We think this card pretty much sums up how every little girl feels on her birthday.  Melissa took herself back to childhood days, remembering that “magically dreamy birthday girl feeling” to come up with this message. The cotton candy hair do is the pretty much the epitome of every little girls fantasy.

Obviously we think they’re all winners but do you have a favorite? Let us know in the comments below!

Don’t forget to check back soon to find out which awards we come home with and be sure to follow us on Facebook & Instagram for up to date news and info from Elum!

 

 

Introducing the Bijou Desk & Stationery Collection

4.11.2016

It may seem like we’ve been quiet here at Elum but behind the scenes we’ve been working harder than ever. Our team of uber-talented designers was asked to create a line of stationery & desk products for Paper Destiny,  to be sold exclusively at Papyrus stores, and of course we jumped at this amazing opportunity. We couldn’t be more excited to finally announce the arrival of the new Bijou Desk and Stationery Collection, available now at Papyrus.

Bijou Desk & Stationery Collection[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”10″ size_format=”px” color=”#a3a3a3″]The Bijou Collection[/typography]

We were inspired to create a line of products that exudes confidence but has romantic and feminine touches that bring the elements of hard and soft together seamlessly. Multi-colored designs use bold color blocking in coral, pink grapefruit, lagoon, and striking black to drive the color story. A touch of white oak wood veneer provides and unexpected natural element. Warm gold foil adds a subtle elegance and the hand brushed typestyle fashionably finishes out the collection. The name Bijou felt like the perfect fit, with every item being an elegant little jewel for your workspace.

The Bijou Desk & Stationery Collection[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”10″ size_format=”px” color=”#a3a3a3″]Gilded Notecards, Tres Important Square Notepad, 3 Pack Paper Journals[/typography]

Products like the luxe ultra-thick Edge Painted Note Boards, cleverly called a “vintage text message”, are one-of-a-kind additions to the Bijou collection. Foil stamped on 1/16″ thick soft-textured stock and carefully edge painted by hand, no other products on the market can compare to their quality and design. (pictured below)

Bijou Desk & Stationery Collection[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”10″ size_format=”px” color=”#a3a3a3″]Edge Painted Note Boards[/typography]

Every detail has been thoughtfully crafted, like the artful coptic stitch binding on the Exposed Bound Journal, filled with soft cottony sketch paper that you can’t help but run your fingers over with every turn of the page. Once you make it through your first volume you can head back to Papyrus stores, where this product will be a staple of their stationery department and we will continue to add new beautiful designs. (pictured below) 

Bijou Desk & Stationery Collection[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”10″ size_format=”px” color=”#a3a3a3″]Exposed Bound Journals[/typography]

The Bijou collection is elevated beyond an ordinary stationery line in both quality and design, with the addition of several new unique products. We adore this line so much it’s hard for us to pick favorites but the 3-dimensional Topographic Notepad that mimics map topography (pictured below) and the  Macaron Erasers, inspired by our favorite Parisian treat and finished with a delicate gold bow definitely rise to the top of our must-have list.  With 41 pieces in all, it’s easy to mix and match to find the perfect combination of beautiful office gems.

Bijou Desk & Stationery Collection[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”10″ size_format=”px” color=”#a3a3a3″]File Folders, Topographic Notepad, Gilded Notecards, Exposed Bound Journal[/typography]

Of course, true to Elum’s roots in creating the highest quality letterpress cards & invitations, the Bijou collection includes six exclusive letterpress & foil stamped box notes, proudly designed and printed at our studio in San Diego, CA. (pictured below)

Bijou Desk & Stationery Collection[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”10″ size_format=”px” color=”#a3a3a3″]Letterpress and foil stamped box notes[/typography]

This collection will create a truly chic workspace in any home or office or make an unforgettable gift.

Bijou Desk & Stationery Collection[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”10″ size_format=”px” color=”#a3a3a3″]The Bijou Collection[/typography]

The Bijou Collection is now available for a limited time, only at Papyrus stores or at http://www.papyrusonline.com/

We’re absolutely in love with the new collection, let us know what you think in the comments below. Don’t forget to connect with us on Instagram & Facebook to get up to date information about what’s coming next from Elum, new product releases,  promotions and more. Check back soon to get a sneak peek of the Elum Desk & Stationery Collection, coming in July!