Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Sweethearts in Stockholm

Style Me Pretty has a feature on a lovely international wedding that used a Bleu de Toi guestbook. Tom and Athena were married in coastal Stockholm, where Athena was born. With many nationalities and languages represented at their wedding, the couple worked to make their wedding inclusive and inviting. (The programs, for example, included the expression "cheers" in several different languages.) 

I particularly love the combination of fresh elements with traditional: the beautiful old-world church, the navy blue accents, and the summery sprigs of wildflowers. 



                                                        

                                                 


When it comes to the guestbook, Athena advises:

Try and find a guestbook that you feel you will really be able to enjoy for the rest of your lives. We chose our guestbook tree so that we could put it up in our house and be able to remember that day forever and it really does make us well up inside to think of each and every fingerprint on it and how much it meant to us that each person was there to share the most amazing day with us. 
(from Style Me Pretty)

                                 



For more pictures of Tom and Athena's wedding, check out the photo gallery on Style Me Pretty.



Monday, January 27, 2014

Introducing Our New Blogger!

Hello, BDT community! I’m Kelly, and I will be joining Hilary in blogging for BDT. Over the next few months, expect to see several posts from me about BDT’s creative process; their inspiration for artwork, and fun ways we can use their art in our homes and lives! 

In the artsy city of Marfa, TX!
I'm a former English teacher and a graduate student in English Education, but I'm also a crafty person: I knit, write, paint, and play the piano. Hilary and I have been friends for 16 years; we met at summer camp after our freshman year of high school. Through the years we have shared creative dreams and ideas, experimented with painting projects, and traveled the world together. Her artwork still hangs on the wall of my childhood bedroom, and she has boxes of my poems and notes--as well as many Joni Mitchell mixed tapes I made her for days working in her art studio. :) It's been special to see where our creative spirits have brought us into adulthood. 


At Hilary's wedding in 2009
We have lots of fun ideas for the blog that we are excited about. As a blog, we especially want to feature YOU, our BDT clients. Please take a look at the client photos on our Flickr feed and then send us your photos at shopbdt@gmail.com. You can also follow the easy link on the new BDT website. We'd love to see the unique way you use and display your artwork, as well as pictures of the event you held. We look forward to hearing from you!



Monday, January 20, 2014

Clang, Clang, Clang!

We love our fun new balloon design: a vintage trolley! Especially perfect for a San Francisco 
wedding (or New Orleans, Seattle, Memphis...), this trolley can be customized on its front banners and side panels. We think this design works beautifully for representing a new union: Trolleys have a rich history; they have stood the test of time, and they symbolize both community and the joy of new journeys.


In honor of our new design, here are seven fun facts about the American trolley!

1) San Francisco cable cars are the only mobile national monuments. 

2) Each San Francisco cable car is a work of art: taking 18 to 24 months to complete, and built with Alaskan Spruce, iron, steel, and polished brass.

3) Cable cars take two people to operate them: a conductor, and a gripman (who maneuvers a 365 pound device that grips the cable). No woman was ever able to pass the gripman training course, until 1998, when Fannie Mae Barnes, aged 52, became the first.

4) In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson’s daughter was kicked off a trolley for eating ice cream.

5) “Streetcars” did not come to be known as “trolleys” until 1888, when Richmond, Virginia made its streetcars electric. The name “trolley” comes from the word “troller”—a device that allows an electronic current to pass.

6) The classic musical “Meet Me in St. Louis” devotes an entire number to the joys of riding a trolley. Songwriter Hugh Martin claimed he was inspired to write "The Trolley Song" when he saw a caption in a book about the history of St. Louis. The book had a page with a picture of a turn-of-the-century trolley car, captioned "Clang! Clang! Clang! went the jolly little trolley."

7) Judy Garland did the “Trolley Song” scene in one take. Though she flubbed one of the lines, director Vincent Minnelli insisted they keep it because Garland’s first effort was so magical.