Bored one night, I thought I’d have some fun on Zazzle and become a shoe designer for a moment. Seeing that there just aren’t as many cute boys shoes out there I thought I’d do some mid-mod keds for the summer! Here’s what I came up with in a few hours.

These were inspired from the Beatles LOVE album and promo book for a truly mod wedding invite. The bride is looking for bright colors and handwritten typography. We established the layout first and are now on the hunt for the perfect calligrapher/handwritten touch on the first design.

The second has potential to be done in a calligrapher’s hand as well but I’m really imagining the potential of Buttermilk by Jessica Hische with the knockout and framed impression over the couple’s names…

The last option I revisited the hand-drawn mod swirly stuff (what would you call that – flourishes) with a more minimalist typographic treatment. It’s hard not to go overboard sometimes on these designs because I have to remember that the letterpress will change the whole dimension of the piece when printed. I tend to err on the less side in the design phases. We’ll see what the bride has to say!

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.

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!

I have this amazing book, by Clarence P Horeuning (sp?) that I love to draw from on occasion. Although I did have a heck of a time trying to track it down…it has since been a great resource for vintage letterpress/ad cuts. Published in the late 1800s, then again in the 30s and again in the 50s. I’m not sure what my edition is but it’s OLD, I think 1934. It has all these amazing illustrations/cuts that I’ve started to scan in and archive in my “to use someday” file. There’s also a sister companion with Victorian type, initial caps and letter-forms that are incredible. Like hundreds of pages.

Enter Karen. She is a lovely sister and is ordering a set of notes for someone special in her family (sibling). She wanted oak tress, and I thought “YES! finally I get to use some of these beauties!”

Now I know these might not even be oaks, but they look like it to me. Since they’re a little ambiguous I think they pass quite well for oaks.

So I missed posting yesterday, too much letterpress jobs going out the door! To make up for it though,  I’ve got lots of free gift tag and place card goodies (personal use) for download this holiday season. Click on the image to be directed to my flickr stream where you can download the original image file direct to your desktop – there’s more after the jump so head on over and get some goods!

The original file is letter (8.5×11″) saved at 300% so just scale to size when printing out at home or the local print-shop and have fun! Cards measure 2×3.5″ when trimmed.

These letterpress business card designs are from the proofing Round II for Alfred & Emma of Alfred Salom Photograpy. The first round of designs and concept was a good starting point for birds in flight, however Emma wanted to push the designs a little more and explore a few repeating pattern options in addition to what we had previously hashed out. The silver/grey got tweaked a little more this round in saturation to add a punch when letterpress printed.

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!

You may have seen my Letterpress Mod Mimosa cards awhile back that were available as recipe and 4Bar notes. They were a pain the bumsky to print. Registration was a bust everytime, and they became the dreaded product in my collection – until now! I’ve revised and tweaked the design a little and here is a peek at the new product shots!

To purchase, click the images to be re-directed to the letterpress store. They come paired with black index folders for easy organization in your recipe box too so if you don’t have a box and need an excuse, look no further!

These business card design proofs were done for a photographer duo in California who have a great eye and make for an amazing husband/wife team. Emma and Alfred Salom of Alfred Salom Photography came to me with their logo wanting to obviously explore letterpress business cards and some concept of the birds taking flight on their card. They were going with minimal design, small logo and something that would really stand the test of time.

After going over some blind impression options with the printing, they decided to punch the color and do a grey/citron green color combo to harmonize with their current branding and website. Check back soon for RII and the final printed piece!

I know, I know – it’s not even Thanksgiving yet! I just had to show you these though:

Since you’ll be sending out holiday/Christmas cards soon, you just might need some of these to send the right message this year. These flat A6 cards (4.5×6″) are sold in sets of 10. Letterpress printed snowflakes in moss and paired with matching envelopes. Great for a nice note or photo that can be adhered to the front. Click on the image to buy!

Note to the right that some changes are going on in my side-bar. To the right you’ll notice a lovely Colorful array of dingbats. If you click on any of those lovelies you’ll be directed to all the work I’ve produced with those ink colors, so pick your flavor and check it out! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I know we’re coming into Thanksgiving this next week here in the US, but we all know that the holidays are already on everyone’s minds. If you have been making your list and checking it twice (for mailings at least) and are looking for a mod and simple holiday card then the buck stops here. These A6 cards are letterpress printed and would fit a great wallet or 3×5″ photo of kids, family or a couple. Letterpress printed in sage, on 110# Lettra, it’s a flat card, so no need to fill the inside with a long message. Just put your photos on, sign and send off to all your friends and loved ones! Comes in a set of 10, paired with matching envelopes.

Here are more Traditional Dingbat notes I shipped out a little while ago. With three more orders of these going through the studio this week, this is climbing the charts as my hottest personalized item, and has the quickest personalization turnaround of 8-10 business days (from approval of proof).

I like these because the gift giver chose a dingbat that she wanted to double as an ampersand. If you check out the listing you can see other images of Traditional Dingbat in the thumbnails and customize yours with typeface (Goudy or Helvetica Neue), dingbat, and ink/envelope color. For +$15 I’ll print your envelopes too! The listing is for a set of 25, however I can do 50, 75 or 100 if you’d like. Get your order in before the holiday schedule gets too tight!