{behind the pig} artfully addressing the envelope

Since we received such wonderful feedback from our first look behind the scenes, I thought I'd share another glimpse into our business with the second installment of...

In May of 2011, I will celebrate my 11th anniversary in business. I take time each year to look back at how I started and I'm always amazed at where this adventure has taken me. I sometimes think I tripped and fell into this business but I know there was a plan laid out for me. Even after a long and challenging week, I know I was created for this job...or this job was created for me!

From the first installment of {behind the pig}, you learned that Piggy Bank Parties is a squiggly, little division of Autumn Writings: Digital Calligraphy and Stationery for All Seasons. Autumn Writings started as a hand calligraphy business and then I took on the challenge of perfecting Digital Calligraphy--computerized envelope addressing.

Digital Calligraphy has been the foundation of our business throughout the years and was the reason our company grew by leaps and bounds and turned a profit the very first year. When the economy took a turn for the worse, Digital Calligraphy kept our doors open when other custom invitation companies and hand calligraphers were going out of business. Today it's still a large part of our business with approximately 800 envelopes, labels and placecards on this week's printing schedule.

Why is artfully addressing the envelope important? I believe an invitation offers your guests a preview of your event. It's like a movie trailer that creates excitement and anticipation. I think an event's preview should start with the envelope. When my guests glance through their stack of mail, I want mine to be the first envelope they want to open!

Are you ready to create a preview of your upcoming event? To set the mood, choose a font and ink color that coordinates with your invitation.

You can either match the invitation font exactly or use a font that looks like it's been handwritten.

Play with the placement of the address on the envelope or add an embellishment that coordinates with your invitation.

Do you have a dark envelope? Does your printer eat envelopes? A great alternative is a label...BUT not your average office label.

Hank's Hint: Purchase full sheet labels and create your own custom shape and size. Full sheet labels are perfect for creating wrap around labels that include your return address.

Feeling adventurous? Add an illustration, graphic or photograph and use a combination of two fonts.

Here are a few of my favorites...

Two of my favorite sources for fonts are MyFonts and FontSpace. They offer an endless variety of fonts in all different price ranges including FREE! MyFonts also offers a free service called, "What the Font?" I head there whenever I need to match a font and either don't know the name or I can't remember it!

Favorite retail label sources are Online Labels and Paper Source. Online Labels offers a huge selection of labels including water resistent for those of you who like to personalize your water bottles.

I hope your inspired to create an artfully addressed envelope for your next event!

Stay tuned to Oink! for more inspiration...