G&J Collaboration: Habitat for Humanity Photo Book

For the majority of my career (four years and 2 months), I worked for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis. I arrived at Habitat with less than two years of work experience under my belt, but I immediately had an impact on the agency -- not because I was so great at my job, but because every voice mattered. In that work environment, my confidence grew, and I was encouraged to develop and implement branding and collateral materials, social media marketing, email marketing, website content, logo design, signage design, t-shirt design...the list goes on and on. Photographer? Check. Event designer and event planner? Check. I worked closely with the executive director, staff directors and dedicated volunteers on many of the projects, and to this day I consider them mentors and close friends. To call my Habitat experience life-changing is not an exaggeration. It was my life (and in many ways Jonathan's life as well) for so long, and it taught me so much. When I accepted a new job in April 2012, I was excited to start a new chapter in my career, but in my heart I felt as though I was leaving my home and family. As it turns out, I was.

Life is full of twists and turns, but I've learned that the people who truly matter stay in our lives regardless of the paths we take. In August, my former Habitat supervisor commissioned Gerald and Joan to create Habitat's 30th Anniversary Photo Book. To say I was thrilled to take on this project is the understatement of the year. Few projects fit Gerald and Joan better than creating a book collection of photos, and this project allowed me to do that while working with my Habitat family. Can you say dream collaboration?

For the project, we started by sorting through thousands of images from Habitat's physical and digital photo archives. After we had selected the photos that best told the Habitat story, we scanned and edited all of the final images and organized them by decade. Next we designed a custom layout that allowed us to have complete control over image, type and graphic placement, as well as the number of images on each spread. The custom layout also meant we could create special timeline pages and several pages with inspirational pull-out quotes. Once the pages were approved, we ordered a proof so that everyone could see and feel the finished project before we placed a bulk order. The books debuted at Habitat 30th Anniversary Gala last night, and they will be on sale via the Habitat website for the next few weeks.

It fills my heart with pride that I was able to help the Habitat team create something that will be a permanent part of the organization's history. I feel inspired and encouraged, and I will definitely be adding photo books to Gerald and Joan's current offerings!

Thank you, Habitat...for everything. You are my extended family and dearest friends, and I look forward to working with you again soon!

I also want to give a shout-out to Artifact Uprising, the Colorado-based company we used to print the photo books. In addition to using 100 percent recycled paper, their quality was impeccable and their customer service was amazing. I will be using them again soon. Love them!

P.S. Custom photo books and photo book gift certificates make great Christmas gifts. Contact us below for details!

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Our First Christmas Card Collection

We are very proud to introduce our first-ever Christmas card collection. Christmas has always been our favorite time of the year (we love it so much that our wedding date was December 15, 2007), and when I first started dreaming of Gerald and Joan, I knew Christmas would be an integral part of our business.

Fast forward several months, and our family slides came into my possession. As soon as I saw these images, I knew they were supposed to be our 2013 Christmas card collection. Our mission statement -- preserving history through design -- comes alive through this collection. These images and the cards themselves are completely timeless, yet nostalgic, and they effortlessly blend the past with the present and future.

Here's a little bit more about the collection from our look book:

The first Christmas collection from Gerald and Joan features five Kodachrome photographs from our personal archives. The images were taken at Joan's family home of Gates Mills, Ohio in the 1940s. Scanned from slides discovered after decades in storage, these vintage images transport us back to a simpler time when a white Christmas felt truly magical. To ensure each photograph shines, they are printed on heavy bright white cover stock. Inside each folded card the cover image is repeated and joined by a whimsical holiday greeting. The Christmas magic is then brought to life with a light dusting of crystal glitter and snow and embossed snowflakes dancing across each envelope flap.*

The collection features two options, plus our "little extras" -

5 x 7 Folded Card Set: A basic package of 10 cards includes two copies of our five classic designs. The cards are two-sided, and they are accompanied by 10 high quality A7 metallic silver envelopes.

4.5 x 6.25 Postcard Set: A basic package of 10 cards includes two copies of our five classic designs.

Little Extras* Three Snowflakes Embossed on Envelopes Dusting of crystal glitter and snow on cards Handwritten signatures printed inside each card (you send us your signatures and we digitize and add them to the cards)

The basic packages of 10 cards are now available in our Etsy shop. If you would like to purchase a larger quantity or a custom order with any or all of our little extras, contact us below:

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View the entire Gerald and Joan Christmas Look Book here or click on the image below.

We are so proud to be able to share this collection with you today! Ironically, November 15 happens to be our day to decorate our house for Christmas (a tradition we started in 2006), and it also marks the tenth anniversary of our first real date. :)

Discovering the Family Stories

Recently, I inherited boxes and boxes of Kodak slides from the 1940s through the 1970s. Many of them haven't been viewed in my lifetime, and as I've previously mentioned, I'm approaching the 30-year mark this Sunday. Basically, they've been in storage for a long time. Along with the slides, I have a vintage light box and other various viewers. My mother also has two projectors and a screen from the same era. In the few weeks that the slides have been in my possession, I have learned so much about my family. There are so many photos and memories that had been forgotten. Seeing them again is like getting to see our loved ones again. It is a wonderful feeling.

As if by fate, I purchased a new printer and scanner around the time the slides came home from storage with me, and the scanner has a mechanism that allows for film and slide scanning. I have begun scanning hundreds of our family's slides, and have been thrilled with the results. As the mission of our business is to preserve history through design, the irony of the slides and scanner entering my life at the same time was not lost on me. It fits what we set out to accomplish with this business perfectly.

In the coming days, we'll share these new Gerald & Joan offerings, including slide scanning and preservation. If you have memories in dusty Kodak boxes, we hope you'll consider hiring us to convert your slides to DVDs or even take the process a step further and preserve them in albums or photo books. We have personally found so much happiness from our own family memories, and we would love to preserve other people's family treasures the exact same way.

Here are a few of our family memories that we've rediscovered recently.

This is Joan on Easter Sunday by the coy pond in her landlord's backyard in Gardena.  She is wearing a suit that her mother bought her at Silverwoods in Del Amo (see a 1965 ad from the store here. Her pin and the pearl earrings were also gifts from Elsie that she brought back from a trip to the Orient. (My mother helped with the details here).

My mother at home in California. She is sitting in front of the picture that now hangs in our living room. Here is that same picture in our old house. You can see barely see the Christmas tree in this shot.

Here she is again with one of the lamps that is in our living room today. Check out the TV and the little Christmas elf that is hanging from the lamp.

My great-grandmother's sister Myrtle Robb, who was known as Mickey, and her mother, my great-great-grandmother and namesake, Laura Dumm, who was known as Grandy, at home in Ohio in the mid 1960s.

Kent W. Benham, who was known as Mr. B, in Ohio, before most of our family relocated to California.

My great-grandmother, Elsie, and Mr. B on their wedding day.

Another shot of the couple on their wedding day.

Oscar Tener, Grandy's neighbor and lifelong friend. Here he is working in his garden. He was also an avid clock master.

Aunt Mickey (left) and my great-great-grandmother, Grandy, (center) with Joan's brother's wife and her parents in Ohio in the mid '60s.

Creating a DIY Ribbon Picture Hanger

I recently inherited my great-grandmother's marriage certificate. In 1920, marriage certificates were so much more lovely than they are now! To top it off, it's in a really nice old frame, so I knew I wanted to display it somewhere. However, the metal picture hangers were attached to the front of the frame and tied to them was a dingy piece of raffia. Not lovely at all! As the raffia didn't fit the romance of the piece, I decided to use some vintage ribbon to create a new picture hanger. It was a very simple project that only took a few minutes! Here's how I did it:

- I found some really pretty ribbon that suited my frame and picture. It's vintage pink satin that I picked up from an estate sale for a song. It complemented the marriage certificate perfectly.

-As the metal hangers were on either side of the frame, I knotted one end of the ribbon to one of the picture hangers two times. Before I pulled the knot tight the second time, I added a dot of hot glue for strength.

- I measured out the length of ribbon based on the size of the frame, how high I wanted my bow to be and how big I wanted my bow to be. Then I added a little extra ribbon to that (just in case) and cut it.

-I repeated my double knot on the other metal hanger, added my glue and cut the second ribbon, using my first ribbon as a guide.

-I decided how high I wanted my bow to be and tied a knot before tying my bow. Once I was sure it was centered, a good height and the perfect size, I untied the bow (but not the knot) and added a little dot of glue. Then I retied the bow, trimmed the ends and hung my picture!

This project is totally feminine and perfect for a bathroom, lady's dressing area or little girl's room. I can't wait to hang mine this week!