shop toast: custom heart stumps

jeremy and michelle from shop toast unveiled a shiny new website last month, and i am happy to report that one of their sweetest favors can now be custom ordered. the petite heart stumps are even cuter when personalized and i can already imagine all the party possibilities (and delighted smiles) from happy birthdays to anniversary celebrations.

definitely something to remember when you have 25 peeps on your guest list and a 4 week turnaround time.

online orders welcome or stop by the studio for more details:

• where: 3434 waialae avenue, suite 3, kaimuki
• shop hours: m / w / f / sat - 12p to 6p

p.s. meet the makers with a charming peek behind-the-scenes filled with all the little things which make them smile.

long distance love

while savoring my occasional dose of paper goodness the other day, i tardily discovered the visit hawaii invitation suite by sf's hello!lucky. with so many destination i do's being exchanged in the islands, the retro fabulous design by lab partners captures a hint of aloha with swaying palm trees, surfer sweeties, and a backdrop reminiscent of diamond head to woo family and friends across the pacific.

even nicer, the collection is offered in three tropical inks (papaya, pool or tangerine with additional hues available upon request), and cards can be digitally printed or letterpressed depending on your budget.

be sure to peek the coordinating paper pretties from the vintage postcard inspired save the date to the message in a bottle motif for your rsvp's.

{photo credit: hello!lucky}

meet the press: miemiko atelier

unless you follow h|h on rss, my beautiful calling card printed by miemiko atelier (one of my lovely sponsors in case you are a stickler for that sort of detail) greets you with every post and email. i dare say it charms even more in person! the letterpress collection by oahu designer cari nakanishi was one of my very first discoveries, and our shared crush for good design combined with the revelation that we meandered down the same high school hallways helped establish our mutual admiration society.

serendipity matched cari to her vintage chandler & price press which makes the modern impression required of her artisanal small-batch paper delights. and, until a few days ago, your only chance to scoop up miemiko's lovely paper goods was to happen upon them at a handful of local boutiques.

{insert trumpet fanfare}

happily, every single letterpress offering can now be yours with a click. i have been waiting with bated breath since cari first mentioned the possibility of an online makeover, and am swooning with the news that one and all are officially welcome to say hello! gorgeousness abounds on miemiko's spanking new website from little pretties to style your gifting to sweet notes to pass to your favorite friends.

perhaps i should stop gushing and allow you to follow the jump for paper peeks. (did i mention the shop discount just for the h|h 'ohana? carry on for the 411!)

sweet flowers * mr. owl

scalloped gift tags

bird and banner

custom wedding suites can also be arranged, but for those who require instant gratification click over to the online shop and pocket 20% off your order!

• secret code: hatched20
• expires: thu, jun 30th

p.s. there may be a waitlist for the diamond head design since i scooped up a stack of note cards for my stationery stash.

p.p.s. hooray for wag+snap who snapped all of miemiko's yummy product shots!

photo.phile: dallas nagata white

happy monday! for today's photo.phile, i gathered up a few of the very pretty and romantic pictures from maui-raised & oahu-based photographer dallas nagata white. there is a sweet soulfulness to her photos which made me curious about the girl behind the viewfinder. and, while the island lovelies striking a pose first caught my eye, dallas's all consuming crush for photography captured my attention.

much to my delight, dallas also snaps the occasional polaroid, and, after clicking through her gallery, i discovered she has an eye for both finding and making a moment. dallas credits her yearlong gig assisting local fashion photographer daeja fallas with finetuning her camera chops, and i dare say she is quickly establishing her own style with every click and becoming quite a storyteller with her camera.

you may have caught word of her white twedding last year which set twitter hearts all a-flutter, and, while her hubby was deployed to afghanistan, dallas documented their year apart with a photo-a-day blog (the final welcome home photo, shown below, is très romantique!).

more peeks and a q+a with dallas after the jump!

message in a bottle

dallas & ed

{photo.phile notes}

what inspired you to pick up a camera and start clicking?
my dad was always a photographer, doing mostly nature shots around haleakala national park (where he worked until he retired), but he also has pretty much my entire life documented on slides, prints, and more recently, digital images. i'd used his old nikon a few times in high school for art projects, but it wasn't until my first semester at uh manoa (fall 2004) when introduction to photography was the only 100-level art class with openings that i got my own slr and fell in love with photography. that christmas, my parents got me a digital rebel, and from then on i was constantly shooting.

i'm really happy that i started out shooting film even as consumer-friendly dslrs were starting to become readily available, because using it made me both appreciate its qualities that digital can't quite replicate, and also taught me a lot about getting the best possible image in-camera. however, these days i'm very stingy with my film since processing can be so expensive, so i find myself shooting wild and free with my digitals, but more careful and considered when i am shooting film.

photography muses that spark your imagination?
too many to really name . . . i'm inspired by everyone, including classics like ansel adams and w. eugene smith, local talents like daeja fallas, to new discoveries like one love photo (thanks to your post about them)! every day i'm on my google reader scrolling through the dozens and dozens of photography blogs i'm subscribed to, soaking in all the awesome creativity.

favorite island moment captured on "film"?
i just went and looked through all my portfolio photos, and i've had so many great moments this year! some of the big ones are my military images, because as an army wife with a deployed husband, being a little more involved in the military world with my work meant so much to me. however, one of my favorite spontaneous photos has to be my rainbow wave image, taken on christmas day 2009. it was just a couple weeks after i'd met my husband, and i was back home on maui watching the surf at hookipa with my mom, and i somehow managed to catch a rainbow in the spray!

still, i must say my favorite moment is yet to come, and will be the end of my current year-long daily photo project - the homecoming of my husband from afghanistan.

any simple tricks to share on how to best capture a lovely, evocative shot?
create an image that means something to you, and don't be afraid to be whimsical. some may see things as cheesy, or overdone, but i figure some things are overdone for a reason! shallow depth of field and the golden hour (right before sunset) are always favorites. but no matter what equipment you have or what time of day it is, if it's something that touches your heart, go for it!

which camera stays close by for everyday shooting?
my g11 is always with me no matter what, but thanks to my epiphanie purse that is actually a padded camera bag, it's easy to take along my 5d mark II, no matter how heavy it is! lenses depend on where i'm going and what i'm doing, but i'll usually have at least my 50mm f1.4 on me.

pay it forward with the best photography advice shared with you:
shoot your digitals like you'd shoot film - trying to get the most image data you can. although i can definitely create images in-camera, i'm often exposing with post-processing in mind, making sure i'm getting as much information in both my shadows and highlights. and of course, always shoot raw.

local delights that are a must in your beach picnic basket?
the ginger ono smoothie from lanikai juice, and spicy tuna rolls from wherever is closest!

mahalo dallas!

while her photography services are for hire, dallas is currently on hiatus to enjoy time with her hubby who just returned from overseas. until then, browse her gallery of i do's and 'ohana portraits at d'amour pacific, and click over to the online shop where you can order prints from her portfolio.

spring forward with tend

hello eco orb!

mainland week is about to come to a close and i hope you were inspired by the kama'aina lovelies sharing a hint of the islands in their adopted hometowns. before we wrap it up, let me introduce you to today's gorgeous find!

while visiting san diego last fall, i spied a mention of tend owner britton neubacher in a local glossie and became curious to find out more about her oahu connection. while dishing with britt over email, we discovered that we lived just down the street from each other in hawaii kai, and possibly crossed paths during after school candy trips to the pantry on the corner.

even before we shared that small world moment, the mini landscapes found within tend's earthy terrariums (known as eco orbs) already had me at hello. since i hope to one day cultivate a green thumb, it seems only appropriate that my gateway to garden nirvana be grounded with a blush of succulents and other botanical delights which are both drought-tolerant and resistant to my ineptness.

i just love how the modern terrariums are an effortless way to bring nature's abundance indoors and can be set on a table top or hung as a floating garden. britt also plants spectacular living walls around san diego, and creates eco-friendly wonders for cali weddings inspired by nearby deserts with the help of succulents, proteas, air plants, and locally harvested flowers.

let's step on the lanai for a few of the fetching possibilities . . .

autumn wedding * desert orb

hitched tablescape

desert i do's

while hawaii friends willing to source plants locally are welcome to order just the fixings, the four varieties of pre-composed eco orb kits with greenery can only be yours if you call the mainland home. until tend's online shop launches later this year, place your diy order at pigment's plant lab or make your way to the north park storefront when in san diego.

price tag starts at $25 with four sizes to woo you. and do say hello to britt if you require loveliness for your home or i do's.

p.s. find glimpses of britt's latest botanical riffs on tending to it (cheekily subtitled notes from a garden hoe), and follow her monthly column on design milk for modern plant musings.

{photo credit: 1-4/scott caligure & 5/sarah yates}