Welcome to the Best of New Orleans! Shoptalk 01 11 05

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SHOPTALK By Kandace Power Graves

01 11 05

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Entrepreneur Penny Tyler loves entertaining and she has a passion for helping people to personalize their own parties, celebrations and memories to be as individual as the hosts are. Tyler opened You're Invited (7815 Maple St., 324-6842) last June to expand the way people prepare for special events and how they capture their special moments for posterity.

"I love paper and I love rubber stamps and I love parties," Tyler says. She stocks an array of items to help anyone make their own invitations, journals, photo albums and more, plus shop workers will help customers make what they visualize. You're Invited also holds classes in arts such as calligraphy, rubber stamps, bookbinding, and making invitations and party decorations following a unified theme.

"I think people like to do things themselves when they have parties, but it's hard to do that when you don't know where to start," she says. "It's nice to have someone guide you."

Tyler can custom-design invitations and have them printed within a couple of days, and she will make a wedding album for a bride or share ideas about how to make an album extra-special.

"Some people want totally mainstream and traditional, and some want it to be totally different," Tyler says. "We have the ability to customize things so they'll have something totally unique. That's what I want to be about."

The shop also carries jewelry, handmade papers, journals and albums, frames, handmade ring pillows, decorative jars, candles and gifts.

Relaxation in the French Quarter Eclipse Salon & Spa (536 Bienville St., 522-3318; www.eclipsefq.com) has opened a new spa and added a wealth of beauty and relaxation services to its menu of hair cutting, coloring and styling. The full-service spa offers body treatments that include skin exfoliation and rejuvenation, detoxification, anti-aging and stress-reduction services, aromatherapy, reflexology, massage, manicures and pedicures, facials, peels, waxing, brow and lash tinting, acne treatments, body wraps and polishes, laser hair removal and more.