These letterpress calling cards were printed a few months back for Joy, but I wanted to print an option in blossom to see if there would be value issues with the lighter pink ink and the small type. I haven’t printed with light pink too much so it was a fun experiment to work on and I look forward to offering it to you from here on out!

Get yourself a set of 50 letterpressed calling cards by Dingbat Press.

Calligraphy on this card by: Kathryn of Della Carta
Other Calligraphers I also love that would do a fabulous name for your calling card:
Lisa Ridgely (Pen & Ink) | Emilie Friday | K is for Calligraphy

I don’t know if you do Valentine’s gifts for parents, but since I’m a daddy’s girl its something I’ve thought about because my dad often did cute little things for me when I was younger. He traveled a lot when I was really little, and he’d always try to bring home a tee shirt (hello neon with rainbow glitter Washington Monument) or the yummy brie cheese that they used to serve on airplanes in the early 90s. Sometimes I’d ask him what he brought me, which would be followed by “Just ME!” and a big kiss on the cheek.

Whether you need something for a significant other, spouse, dad or all the men in your life, why not go old-school and get some vintage planes with their name on it.

Okay so I’m a little late getting this one announced. It was such a hard decision because all of the entries were so fabulous! I’m going to have to do this again for Father’s Day!

In the end though, the main things I had to think about were if it would be something that would be fun and that I could pull off on a Sunday (our town shuts down on Sunday) and I wanted to do something that I could do with the kids and then when they went to bed we could still have fun.

Ultimately I had to make a choice and instead of picking my two favorites, I decided to pick one, and let the randomizer pick the other in all fairness to everyone who commented!

No. 11 by Britt really got my brain stewing. We “camped out” last summer in our living room when it was raining alot and the kids absolutely loved it. I think since it’s been in the negative degrees a lot this winter, that it would be fun to take a “vacation” somewhere tropic. Maybe I could start a new Valentine’s Day tradition and we could travel somewhere new each year! I’m thinking pina coladas, grass skirts for the kids, key lime pie, pulled pork on buns, deck out the front room in beach stuff and do a light show for the kids like a camp out on the beach. Can’t wait to get going on this!

The random number generated was #9, Congrats to Brenda!

I’ll contact you both letting you know you’ve won! Thanks again everyone, fabulous job!

These Poppy A6 letterpress notes were done last year for Mother’s Day I think for a client’s mom (obviously) and I found the image in my archives when I was organizing photos the other night! Printed as a set of 25 with personalization and envelope printing, wouldn’t these be great for Valentine’s Day too?

Click on the image to be directed to the listing where you can get a set of your own!

Here is the final printed piece for Alfred and Emma of Alfred Salom Photography from the Bay Area. I liked how on these business cards the acid green worked so well in contrast with the light grey. Click to see the round I design proofs as well as the round II proofs. These cards were letterpress printed on Lettra 110# paper with 2 ink colors and front sided.

All business card orders receive complementary design services that are built right into the price, something not all printers offer with their pricing packages. Of course you can submit your own files as well, but this is a great incentive to update your identity/brand at a fraction of the cost. Some of my clients start from scratch, others come to me with a logo and then we work together to establish layout, typography and design that is cohesive with the look and feel of the brand. A handful of my clients have ready-made files which I then pre-flight and edit to fit the nature of letterpress printing if necessary. What ever your needs are I would love to work it out with you!

Remember these letterpress anemone escort cards and favor tags? Well I just got word back from the bride that they are being featured on her photographer’s website Shira Weinberger along with her amazing wedding! Here’s a sneak peek below, be sure to click through to see the whole wedding!

Photography courtesy of Shira Weinberger.

Add one of these Be.MINE letterpress cards to your stash by entering the Letterpress Valentine’s Giveaway below!

These came about with all the html and CSS coding I’ve been doing on some new surprises. I thought it would be great to show some love to all those programmer nerds in our lives! You can get a single Be.MINE card in the shop or try to win one with the other goods in the giveaway linked to above! Printed as a 2 color/blank interior 4Bar letterpress folded card. Paired with a matching 4Bar envelope in blossom.

Yet another fabulous photographer, Jessica Morrisy had me create not just one custom business card, but two for her two sister companies. She already had her logo, so I created layouts and pulled elements from the brand to add texture and content to her designs.

The first card is for her main business, the second for her boudoir photography clients.

Jessica was really great to work with, as she already had a good idea about what she was looking for so things went quick on the design end. I like how the direction from Jessica indicated that both of these be similar, yet still have their own feel to each brand. It was a little more challenging to keep them in harmony with each other. Check back soon for photos of the final printed piece!

Valentine’s is rounding the corner in about a month. If you need help trying to plan a surprise for your significant other (like me) then these letterpress LOVElies might get the ideas brewing:

So since it’s been ages since I’ve hosted a giveaway, here’s a special treat for you! I’ll be posting different letterpress Valentine’s product over the next few days and if you enter to win, the best TWO (2) comment/entries will get a whole set of everything below!

The GOODS:

1 set of Valentine’s mini notes and mini-lopes. (set of 4, 2 of each pattern)
1 When You Know Print
1 Set of Love 2×6″ Tags
+more…

TO WIN:
I can’t get a baby-sitter (I don’t trust teenagers with diabetic children, we’ve had issues in the past) – so I need ideas for a surprise night in for my hubby! He is amazing and I really want to do something special/fun for him. COMMENT WITH YOUR IDEA, MAYBE I’LL CHOOSE YOU (be clean, please)! I don’t know if any guys read here, but speak-up, your opinion counts!

Contest ends Friday January 15th, winners will be announced sometime that weekend!

I’ve had a few emails requesting to see the design proofs on Jessica’s cards so without carrying on much further here they are!

These card designs started as something more kinetic. From the beginning, the cards were going to have a blind impression and it was a matter of how to convey it best for Jessica’s brand and for the letterpress business cards. In the end she decided to simplify and focus specifically on her logo and contact info. To see the final letterpres printed cards and tags feel free to check it out!

These letterpress business cards and business gift tags were shipped over the holidays to another amazing photographer, Jessica Johnston. We went through a fair amount of proofs, and interestingly enough, round after round, more and more got eliminated from the card. I always try to consider using less in a design, as one of my professors once told me, “Take your favorite thing from your artwork/design or proof and eliminate it. It will become a better piece by doing so.”

I can’t tell you how many times that still rings true. I think part of being a designer is realizing how to humble yourself or your work. Many times when I am stuck, it’s because I think the design is perfect with that one little element. So often though when eliminating that specific element, I’ve just taken away my biggest crutch and can move on to a better and more refined design. Not all designs are subject to beautiful negative space and tasteful minimalism, however I think this piece pulls it off well.

Cards printed on 110# Lettra with 1/4″ rounded corners in tinted warm cyan with a blind impression.
Tags printed on 220# Lettra with 1/4″ rounded corners – same inks as cards. Punched with a 3/16″ hole, paired with matching 1/8″ ribbon. Get your own letterpress business cards here!

These tags are for a dress exchange start-up looking to rent/exchange couture dresses for events, weddings, galas or whatever suits your fancy. The client needed letterpress business tags to ship with dresses : here we are in the first round of design phases.

After watching Project Runway and seeing Robert Best, it was amazing to see how his work translated into the collectible Fashion Barbie over the last ten years. Since I now have a little girl old enough to want to play with Barbie I have started looking at all the fabulous fashion that she’s worn over the years. This project was great to get me back into the fashion spirit and search the archives of all the beautiful dolls out there. Because really, isn’t Barbie the epitome of couture and celebrity?

Pulled from old and new, these tags are my own interpretations of some of my favorite couture dresses over the years, some from Barbie, some from fashion designers – derived, revised and finally illustrated by yours truly.