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Checkerboard Carnival 09

What a great autumn day we had for the Checkerboard family picnic. This year the party planners gave us a Carnival! Pony rides, jumpy jump and giant slide, ring toss, bagg-o, tic-tac-toe, bbq, face painting, a magic show, balloons and a popcorn machine made the back lawn a children's wonderland. The kids ran and played and we all enjoyed ourselves. Thank you to all the people who made the day so special, with a special thank you to Kevin Pyne and Scott Boilard for all the handmade games, Matt Reynolds for the posters, and all the people who set up and took down. So much time and planning goes into the festivities, everything was so much fun. It could not have happened without all of your help!

Laura and Taylor Young

Laura Niemi and Taylor Young were married on July 11th at Tower Hill Botanic Garden. Her wedding invitations were featured in previous posts. Here is the final ensemble, hand lined by the bride herself with coordinating Asian floral liners via paper source that looked so beautiful with her magenta and gold ribbon combination.

Like her vision, the dress was Vera Wang and exemplified the beauty that she is! The texture and movement was nonstop and it looked so amazing on her. Laura wore a floral and feather headpiece, that made her look like a Hollywood star from the 40's. Taylor's suspenders, bow tie and slick hair created an even more compelling vision.

All images courtesy of Dom Miguel Photography, who worked the event the entire day, shooting some amazing photos.

CB BBQs

Every other Tuesday we are lucky enough to have a CB cookout during our lunches. They are planned by the party committee, who all deserve a round of applause for serving up dogs, burgers and veggie burgers to hungry CB'ers. They slave over grills in the hot sun or sometimes rain to bring us a yummy summertime treat, complete with ice tea and lemonade. CB has a great picnic area on the side of the building. This spot is also known for some knock down (really) drag out soccer games.

So, we DO have an art department, so our posters tend to have it going on ...at little bit!

Today, perhaps you noticed the BBQ posters around the building, this one was designed by our own Matt Reynolds in typesetting. I was cracking up as I walked in the building. I am a huge fan of Matt's quirky and humorous platestream change notices. This is taking it to a whole new level. I look forward to more of Matt's antics. Inspired by this, I am not quite sure CB burgers are reducing our carbon footprint, but they sure are tastey!

Thanks Matt for a fun chuckle! Keep it coming!

Production Secrets

When I walk through production, I see so many cool inspirations. The artisans and handwork teams work with such precision. It amazes me to see them in action. I love looking at the stacks of freshly foil stamped papers, waiting for the next step of development. I like see the face of Em, who works the Heidelberg press. When I walk by he knows I will stop and check out what he has on press. I love to see our orders being made.

Papers, coming hot off the thermography presses with our customer's event printed brilliantly...fresh and exciting. Layers are being fastened and ribbons are being tied. All of this personal contact with each invitation. Everyone here at Checkerboard helps get them out the door, and into the waiting hands of our excited customers.

We are so lucky to be a part of their events!

National Stationery Show 09 {take 3}

{waiting for taxis, dinner at savor ny, roof top fun and the 1st morning, day 1 of the show}

National Stationery Show 09

SO many people commented on how nice the booth looked. From the aisles, it looked inviting and open, modern with clean lines and a fun atmosphere... and so CB! Travis Stanton, Editor of Exhibitor Magazine took pictures of the booth and asked if we designed and executed ourselves. Yes we did!

Designed by Checkerboard, yes sir, headed up by Karen Davis who designs and sources all the fixtures and fun touches, working with Payal Kripalani and Kerry Amidon. Our booth is built by our own Kevin Pyne and Dick Novia. The computer king is Andrew Feland, who wires and installs all the CB systems. Of course, no matter how great the booth looks, it is full of albums made by hand right here in West Boylston by our amazing production staff. With that being said, we were supported by every department here.

Our dealers go without saying, for they are why we are here. So many came to visit us in New York. We love seeing each and everyone of them. We snapped pix of a few, so stay tuned!

Checkerboard once again had an amazing show in New York City for 2009, our 20th Anniversary year!