WomanCraft Special Order Information

Our Products: Variety is the spice of handcraft. Our paper is made from 100% post-consumer office paper. We have the ability add botanic elements reclaimed from local florists or wildflower seeds, to make your order even more unique and special. Each vat of pulp, each sheet of paper, and each envelope is formed one at a time by hand; every item is folded, glued and stitched individually. Each item is unique. Each floral element patterns itself in beautiful, organic ways, so every sheet is different.

Our Artisans: WomanCraft Artisans are the reason WomanCraft exists. We are a social enterprise providing opportunities through jobs and job and job training in cooperation with our parent not-for-profit organization Heartland Human Care Services. We're very proud of doing this good work with the Artisans, many of our customers are delighted to support such a great cause. For more about our mission, please read Our Mission.

Our Studio: Our studio is an inspiring place and you are welcome to set up a time to visit. It is a production studio, not a retail space, so we don't have "hours," but it's worth the trip to see the papermaking process, view a wide variety of samples, and meet the women of WomanCraft. The artisans may even help you form a sheet of paper.

Our Customers: Our customers are warm-hearted people who love our hand-crafted papers and innovative invitations, who respect the skills of the Artisans and their emphasis on quality.

Working with WomanCraft: We are creative and extremely committed to customer service. Many of our invitation structures have been developed for a customer who has a specific vision. We have been in production for 11 years, and have been creating special event papers for 5 years. We still think it's fun and the artisans love doing it. Now half of our customers are from out-of-state, so we can make your invitations no matter where you live! We are a social-mission enterprise that accomplishes its mission by producing handcrafted items, including beautiful special order and wedding-related items. We put the list below together to serve as an introduction, but absolutely contact us for any details! Thanks.

Special Features:

Bring us your Bouquet! We can carefully dry your flowers and then put those flowers into paper to make a memory book, thank you notes or other keepsakes. We've used flowers from a couple's courtship in their wedding invitations, and incorporated other special petals and leaves into memorable projects -- bring us your idea! You've already enjoyed your flowers once, and we are delighted to preserve them in this unique way. Bring us your Bouquet fee starts at $25.

Custom Colors! Would you like us to mix a custom color to match the bridesmaids’ dresses, a ribbon color or other special color? Would you like us to use a specific floral element or combination of elements in your paper? Let us know! We’re usually able to come within 10-20% of your desired handmade paper color. It may be helpful to know that we start with shredded office paper; we don’t bleach our pulp; we use natural mineral pigments…all those factors mean that we can’t always pinpoint an exact hue or saturation. However, we recommend being open to the possibilities and welcoming rich, tonal variations!

Custom Floral Elements! The botanic elements we have in stock are generously donated from floral retailers (including Trader Joe's in La Grange, Jewel-Osco Stems and Botanicals) when the flowers reach expiration. We are lucky to have a variety of elements on hand. When you order, we’ll ask whether you’d like botanic elements and we can talk through some of the choices. Botanic elements do their own interesting, natural things once they are mixed in the pulp - ask for a sample or about our experience.

More than Invitations! While we do make beautiful invitations, we also offer other fabulous options, including, but not limited to: save the date, menus, ceremony programs, reception information, reply cards and postcards, thank you notes, memory books, guest books, placecards, birth announcements, shower invitations, favors, frames, photomailers, writing sets, gift bags, gift tags and more! We can also make wonderful special event items for your corporate or non-profit organization’s events or other needs.

Getting us your text!

  1. Please prepare your entire, unformatted text as a Word document. Perhaps 6-8 weeks prior to receiving your invitations would be a good time to do this. Please don’t use bold or italics or any formatting other than line breaks – it won’t be imported with the wording when we import it to our graphic design program.
  2. Please circulate it to any persons (family, friends, officiants, musicians, etc.) who need to approve it and incorporate all of their changes into the Word document before you send it to us.
  3. Please only send one final, completed text to document. Sending drafts versions or partial sections creates the risk of having obsolete or incorrect versions. It may also be helpful to know that doing the very exacting work of design more than once is an inefficient use of staff time and not fair to our donors who support our expenses – or our dedicated staff. Incorporating changes after you send your text in a Word document will be $25 per round of revisions. Please ask us if you have any questions, thoughts or concerns about this.
  4. We will prepare a design and send you PDF’s to approve before we print anything.

Special changes to your order: One of your readers has moved out of the country, the officiant would prefer to be listed as a Reverend instead of a Minister, the ceremony is starting at 2 pm instead of 2:30, the flower girl has chicken pox - It happens! In the interest of everyone's sanity and long-term harmony, we will almost always be able to make some adjustments after you give final approval to text, layout, paper, ribbon selection or other components of your order, for a reasonable fee. We will discuss the cost with you at the time the change is requested and if you approve the fee and give go-ahead on the changes, we will implement them.

Design! After we receive your final completed text, we lay it out and do the formatting for you. If you would like custom art or graphics included in your layout, please determine whether you have the rights to use the image. There is an extra $25 art fee per placement. Generally, it is most successful if you save it as a .jpeg file.

We facilitate your special requests! If there is a ribbon, text paper, rubber stamp, embosser, thermographic printing, color offset printing, letterpress printing or any other thing that helps achieve your vision, we will absolutely try to get it for you at the most reasonable available rate. We are extra helpful and accommodating by nature, and pretty thrifty. We will be happy to help put our research and experience to work for you and to charge reasonable, pre-approved amounts for these delightful options.

Calligraphy? Calligraphy does work on our paper and, in fact, looks gorgeous! Brides and calligraphers recommend using: the Zig Memory System (waterproof of archival quality) which can be purchased at most Stamping and Scrapbooking stores. They are two-sided with a narrow point and a wide point. 125 invitations with internal envelopes take about 4 pens, since handmade paper wears the sharpness of the points faster. The company website is www.EKsuccess.com. We have worked with several calligraphers and would be happy to get their contact information to you per request.

Staying in your budget! We have something for every budget to date and are happy to suggest ways to get more for less and maximize your handmade paper dollar. If you'd like suggestions, please ask. One bride actually posted on theknot.com that we're 'great' at that.

Mentioning WomanCraft: Our customers often request including a reference to our handmade, recycled paper and/or social mission on their final product, either in the body of the text, as a little 'hallmark' line, or as a sticker, usually on the bottom or back of their items. We are happy to do this as a way to get our name out, of course, at no charge to you. Just indicate that preference when you order. Other customers share their experience with WomanCraft through websites or in person, helping us to achieve our mission. We appreciate your support.

Delighted Customers! Our website links to some blog and reviews from our customers: In the Press. Please contact us if you'd like additional references.

Deposit: We request a deposit before we start work on your order. Your deposit will be based on your final projected total and applied to your bill on completion of your order.

If We Goof, we are fully committed to your delight. We will absolutely correct any mistakes on our part at no charge.

In a hurry? In general, orders are completed within several weeks of your final approvals. If you have a specific (shorter) timeline, we will try to accommodate that. If that deadline impacts cost, we will present that information and get your approval before starting.

Other social enterprises: If you are interested in connecting with other social enterprises, we know of several in our area and nationally. Urban Meadows, operated by Thresholds, a leading Chicago non-profit, is a florist in downtown Chicago. The Enterprising Kitchen, located in Chicago's Ravenswood Corridor neighborhood, accomplishes its mission by making wonderful soaps and other luxurious body care products, very nice for shower favors. See our website for additional information on other exciting and inspiring social enterprises: Organizational/Corporate Friends

Thank you for your interest in WomanCraft. Please call us at 773.521.3414 or email us at womancraft@yahoo.com.