kristen gara
SEE OUR NEWEST PARTY GOOD DESIGNS!
…….AND BE ONE OF THE FIRST TO GET YOUR HANDS ON THEM.
Here we go! Kristen and I have officially launched our Kickstarter campaign. If you aren’t familiar, it’s a platform creative types to raise much needed funds for things like; a documentary film, an art installation or as in our case a creative product launch.
We are finally ready and super excited for phase two of Tin Parade Vintage Party Goods. (which is to go wholesale with a brand new line) Take a look at our Kickstarter Campaign. We’ve got some awesome rewards for backers! You could be one of the first people to get the new designs!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1291657177/table-banners-for-your-parties-unique-concept
Tin Parade goods in action.
We love to get photos of our customers using our party goods. Here is a darling baseball party one of our customers did for her son using Oscars Baseball Party and other great finds.
Thanks for sharing these. We love that you used the baseball hats as the favor holders. Looks awesome.
The Eco-Chick talks Tin Parade.
Eco-Chick · The modern girl’s guide to living green & fabulous.
Tin Parade Vintage Party Goods for Your Perfect Holiday Fete
by Starre Vartan · 11/03/10
Tin Parade offers custom-designed, all-inclusive packaged parties for dinners, adult and children’s birthdays, baby and bridal showers. It is the inspiration of two women with a similar love of great design, fun events and good, old-fashioned attention to detail. Kristen and Ryan met at the mom’s version of a single’ s club—the local park.
They soon realized they had a lot in common, not least of which being children of about the same age. Besides being devoted moms and avid runners, they both had jobs in creative fields. Kristen was an accomplished advertising art director, where she produced print and television ads for high-profile clients.
Ryan is a celebrated wedding and event designer, and owner of Savoir Flair Weddings in Los Angeles. With plenty of birthday parties and baby showers on the horizon, they found themselves commiserating on the lack of beautiful, stylish, cartoon-character-free party décor on the market. As they created Tin Parade they realized that their mutual love of vintage style and detail came with a fabulous side benefit: a lot less of the paper products that pervade modern-day parties.
All of Tin Parade’s plates and party decorations are reusable and many of the details are hand- crafted of cloth. For Ryan and Kristen, Tin Parade is more than just designing parties. It is also about creating memories, because each set is timeless and classic, and is full of things you or your child will keep for years to come.
The brainchild of event designer Ryan Larson and art director Kristen Gara, Tin Parade offers themed children’ s birthday parties and baby and bridal showers. From the vintage-inspired linens to custom-made invitations and reproduction tin toys, each party set contains all the ingredients you will need to effortlessly throw a nostalgic but fresh party that will warm each and every guest.
Tin Parade’s Great Green Gala Party is one to rejoice in as an eco-friendly party set that includes:
- Invite and thank you cards made from 100% certified sustainable forest pulp
- a biodegradable wooden sign
- a sustainable and biodegradable runner made from a brown canvas created from eco-friendly hemp and organic cotton blend
- biodegradable wooden place cards and 100% bamboo plates
- birch bark centerpieces salvaged from the floors of the forest and cotton rag flower brooches sewn together from cotton rag remnants.
Come revel in a gorgeous, Earth-friendly soiree that Mother Nature herself would gleefully attend!
Starre Vartan is founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick and author of The Eco-Chick Guide to Life (St. Martin’s Press). A green living expert, she is managing editor of Greenopia and a contributor to The Huffington Post.
DIY Letterpress!
Holy Moly Ryan is freaking out!!! I must have this! There are few things I really NEED in life but really… I NEED this! Check out this new product Paper Source is carrying…I heart letterpress!
Tin Parade LOVES this new DIY Letter Press Machine
Here’s our latest Designing Moms post…”Balance: Working at Home”
Take a sneak at our work “meeting” this past week……..
Hi Mama’s.
Kristen and I at Tin Parade often get asked by other mom’s, how we do it. We have met so many mothers who love the idea of starting a business and they aren’t sure how that fits into their every day life. Well first, it doesn’t fit into EVERY day life. There have been WEEKS actually that we find it hard to even return an email. For us, we decided at the beginning, and together, that the kids (the short people as I call them) come first. And second, its ever changing really. As their ages and schedules change, we change the time and way that we work. Right now, Kristen has one in elementary school, one in preschool and one at home. I have one in preschool and one at home. So…during preschool hours we many times have a “playdate” for the little ones…they don’t understand we are “working”…they are having a great time playing with each other’s toys and we use the opportunity to get some things done together. I wouldn’t say it’s perfect…and some days it works better than other days…of course we need quiet time to work as well…we find 45 minutes to an hour and a half here and there throughout the week…during a nap…a few shared babysitting hours…in the evening…on the weekend when our husbands are home…and outside of that..we split tasks and responsibilities so that each of us can work at home in other found moments on our own. Some of our best “meetings” have been during our morning runs.
Above: Here is Kristen’s old school (vintage?) Day-Runner…next toRyan’sBlackberry… Yes Kristen, the Day-Runner grew up! Notice the kids’ breakfast?
Some business’s do require more focused time and you’ll have to weigh how much help you need…you may need a few hours of babysitting and you may need a full time nanny. Even then, how wonderful to get to be home with them. You may remember I have another business (Savoir Flair Weddings) and I do have a part time nanny for the time I put to that business as I need to be able to make quiet phone calls and such. It all depends on the kind of work you are doing…I guess what I’m saying is that it’s doable…it always is…you just have to FIND the way that it will work for you. And it IS worth it. It is rewarding to do something for yourself and it’s important. If you just start chipping away at your idea stolen moment by moment…it WILL take form and you’ll find your way…I really believe that….The hardest thing is to START. There’s never a better moment than the present. Go for it.
Kristen hates the word VLOG!
My TP other half thinks Video and Blog just don’t make the perfect…Bennifer…or Brangelina…for her ….shhhhh…(whisper) vlog… for Kristen it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard….sorry KG….I decided to post our first…..plug your ears!….VLOG! Okay KG you can unplug now…So I decided to attempt reupholstering a chair (no not THE chair, if you’ve read my other posts)….not like just covering dining room chair seats either….been there done that….easy…this….not so easy… it is so tempting to give up and call a reupholsterer….but…I push forward….I am not a quitter!…gonna take you all on my journey. Yes, I’m going to VLOG about it. Sorry!!!! ( :
