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CONTACT US TODAY! ...at 847-951-7920 to chat- or email us at carol@eight21studios.com

NOW find us at: EIGHT21 STUDIOS

Custom Hand Painted Wedding Invitations/Chicago Wedding Stationer/Watercolor Wedding Invitations

The Company: Our motto in the studio…where ART meets Stationery, that unique blend of designing “one of a kind” custom hand painted wedding invitations. The designers at EIGHT21 Studios offer the PERFECT alternative solution to the catalog designs of the past. We specialize in custom, hand painted invitations that NO ONE else will have. A blank canvas waiting for a colorful vision from our client’s dreams, mixed with our artistic visions, being truly custom.

We are located in the northern burbs of Chicago and service many clients throughout the United States and International as well. Most of our consultation process can be done via emails, slideshows, and/or phone calls…if you are in the Chi-town area…great! We can meet for a personal chat about the event you have been dreaming about.

ME: Carol Massa, Full of color and life, an artist in the stationery world! Old school trained, that loves watercolor and acrylics, definitely a RIGHT brainer. A designer of custom hand painted wedding invitations living in the Chicago area, working day in and day out with clients on their custom suites since 2009. Accomplished and published in the wedding market for hand-made, custom hand painted wedding invitations and custom watercolor maps.

Still us! …where ART meets STATIONERY. A little behind the EIGHT21 Studios name, the sister company was started in 2012, after my dad passed away suddenly on August 21st…he would always tell me to paint, use your talent and he was a great encourager with a creative heart himself. I began to paint more on canvases then, using my second-hand easel that we purchased on Craigslist. Experimenting and getting back into the “ART" side of things. Painting “old-school" I grab for the brush, or pen first and then tackle the computer side later.

The hashtag…It became a “joke" in a way when we would talk about things and hashtag it #821, seeing all the changes that would take place within our family during this time and how my dad was still working things out even after his death. The kids all laugh that Papa has his own hashtag (#821) (#eight21studios).

At the end of 2015, we found ourselves in a rebranding mode for varies reasons, Carol Woldhuis Designs has now combined and has become EIGHT21 Studios starting the beginning of 2016, still the same ART, just a new name, sort of! The hashtag #821 can often be found in the artwork as a sort of “Where’s Waldo" kinda thing. Our wedding guest maps always have this hidden inside some type of art like boat registration numbers, plane model number and even on a rowing team from Georgia. Just a little fun fact, about our company name, hashtag, and our dad.

During the design process, we do more than design your invitations…we build a relationship while turning Stationery into ART. We take pride in our work and quality of our designs. We use professional printers and top of the line luxury papers. Our background papers are our designs (no stock images or clip art are used here ), we create the designs to collaborate with our notes and invite suites. We hope you enjoy them too!

So let’s get started creating and designing your dream invitations!

CONTACT US TODAY! ...at 847-951-7920 to chat- or email us at carol@eight21studios.com

  • Woman-owned
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Frequently asked questions

What invitation and card products do you offer?

Custom Invitations

What services do you provide?

Assembly
Design
Embossed
Printing

What is your minimum order requirement?

50
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5.0 out of 5 rating
22 Reviews
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100% Recommended by couples
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Suzanne Sent on 01/23/2016
5 out of 5 rating
Our wedding invitations were the most beautiful invitations we have ever seen thanks to Carol Woldhuis Designs. Her custom work is unparalleled. Not only are her paintings incredible, but she utilizes paper in such artful ways. She created over seven pieces for us and each one incorporated a different, personalized touch that made it stand out. Some of my favorite features were the custom monogram and painted map of Chicago that highlighted all of our favorite places with adorable icons. She even called our florist and worked with him to make sure the flowers showcased were exactly like the flowers we were planning to have at the wedding. Our guests and I were blown away by her talent and attention to detail. She captured the romantic feel of our wedding perfectly and made everyone noticeably more excited for the big day. We can't thank you enough!
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Whitney Sent on 12/08/2014
5 out of 5 rating
Carol and her team custom designed the save the dates for my wedding. I had a pretty specific vision in mind and she made it come to life. I sent over several pictures of our venue and she just so happened to pic the one I loved to turn into a fun illustration of the venue. We received so many complements on the quality and style of the piece. While I wanted to keep the actual invitation much more traditional, and we decided to go with another vendor for that piece, I will absolutely use Carol again and recommend her to others. Her fun, whimsical style was exactly what I was looking for and the illustration is hard to beat. Thanks Carol!
C
Christina Sent on 07/07/2015
5 out of 5 rating
Carol is a true artist! We came to her wanting a romantic theme to go with our rustic style venue in Chicago. We showed her pictures of flowers and different examples of invitations using our colors navy, coral, and gold. What she presented us was far beyond anything we could have dreamed of. The invitations were so beautifully handmade and very evident that a lot of care went into creating them.
It was so difficult to choose from the array of choices she presented us but I love the one we picked in the end. She then took that design and applied it to so many other pieces including a welcome sign, Photo Booth sign, table numbers, seating charts, food escort signs, and many others placed around the space. All of the pieces tied the together so elegantly and we had so many guests complimenting on all the beautiful details.
She worked so quickly and was very patient with us when we went back and forth with so many changes! She is an absolute delight to work with and we would highly recommend Carol to anyone! Hope to work with you again in the future Carol!
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Awards

22
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2014 Winner

Professional Network & Endorsements

6 Endorsements
Sharon Ringier Events Sharon Ringier Events Wedding Planners

Carol is not your usual stationery resource. She takes custom invitations to a whole new level. I love her work and attention to detail.

Polly's Petals & Particulars Polly's Petals & Particulars Wedding Florists

Carol has the ability to capture your style, taste and vision and turn it around into a one-of-a-kind invitation. How many brides can say that their vision was interpreted, then painted by an accomplished, award winning artist and produced into invitations, table numbers, guest cards, programs and more. Her creativity is endless. The best thing about Woldhuis Designs is that the production is done by her as well, so your day isn't left in the hands of an on-line service who may or may not care whether you receive your invitiations and etc. on time. To keep your event unique and to carry your vision across the communications Carol is our choice!

Red Letter Event Planning Red Letter Event Planning Wedding Planners

Carol produces the most beautiful and unique invitations, if you can dream a design she can put in on paper for you. Your invitations will be true, original works of art.

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