In following yesterday’s SpudNut post, I felt it suiting to show these business card design proofs that were done awhile ago for Sweetie’s Bakeshop. Delicious and delicate, these cards were really fun to design. With this specific design we needed to make sure the pool color was light enough in value so as not to pose any problems with the pink over-print. Value can sometimes be an issue in letterpress printing (and offset too) because inks are transparent by nature so there can be show-through which needs to be accounted for when presenting designs. Thankfully the client was more than flexible with the color so we could make sure there was perfection in print quality and color hue. Can’t wait to show you the finished product!

These letterpress business cards were for the fabulous Kerri McConnell who is another really fun and incredible photographer. Man I love you photographers! Kerri was looking for something, fun, fresh and modern (as you’ll note in her by-line). She was really drawn to the coach logo, something with a little vintage flair with a hint of modern clean lines and typography.

We utilized Bernhard Fashion and Estilo to give it an updated typographic vibe with a hint of Art Deco. Kerri’s old website had a lot of pink and she didn’t want to stray from that color as it’s one of her favorites. In the end we came up with a great registration black and pink design utilizing polka dots and a double-stroke border reminiscent of one of the old Coach logos. Thanks Kerri for being such a doll to work with, these were a really fun project for me to design and print!

Printed via letterprses on Lettra 110#/300GSM paper with 1/4″ rounded corners, 2 ink colors. Custom designed, you can get a sample set for yourself here to see all the different cards I’ve done and then contact me for an estimate for some for yourself!

This was a custom When You Know heart print for Kara who is getting hitched this year! I hope she had a great Valentine’s Day. Brian surprised me and took me out (even though I had a big night in planned for us) with his dad baby-sitting the kids. A few diabetic emergencies later and the prognosis is that we seemed to have survived the weekend. Great job hubby for making me feel like one in a million despite my paranoid tendencies and crazy blood glucose readings with our little guy. In the end we got lots of snuggling Saturday night with all the kids and got to sleep in Sunday!

These were for my sister-in-law for her birthday. She is so amazing, beautiful and always naturally commands attention in a room. With grace and poise, she is a great example of hard work, diligence and most of all she’s a fabulous mom.  I’m hard pressed to find another family with so many great in-laws, Happy Birthday Heather!

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!

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

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.

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!

Michelle is a translator in Singapore and came to me in need of a letterpress business card to use with her services offered for translation in both traditional and simple Chinese. She wanted the cards to look professional, and reflect the quality work she had to offer. Requirements were that she didn’t want it to be too girly (ie, too much flowers) with simple typography, script for the name and possibly a monogram. Color schemes she wanted to explore were pink/brown and latte/brown. Below are the proofs for the first round!

Amy came to me needing some tags/bookmarks for a 3mile she was participating in on October 3rd. She is a scientist and wanted something sophisticated, clean and needed it to reflect work and research that was being done to further find a cure for breast cancer. These were to be passed out during the walk so we got to work coming up with designs. Here were some preliminary design proofs that were pushed around. Finding an appropriate quote proved tough though as she had a specific message she wanted to convey. We all know someone who has been effected by breast cancer – my mom found breast lumps at age 27. My friend found lumps at 24. Another friend I had during college was diagnosed in her mid-twenties.

Finally after a few rounds of samples and designs she came up with the saying “With a little hard work, we can make our own miracles.” I think this fits so many areas of application -  though science, faith and courage we really can make our own miracles even if they aren’t the ones we anticipate in the beginning. These tags turned out being one of my favorite sets I’ve printed yet.

This announcement for baby Anya was from the Snookums line, customized with pertinent information of course. To see more vintage floral letterpress announcements click on the link above and browse the catalogue. There you’ll find a myriad of options that can be customizable for your new bundle of joy!

I’m debuting a new product over at KwernerDesign, so if you want some for FREE, head over and enter!

BACKGROUND: You may have noticed (especially if you originally came from Kristina’s blog in the first place;) that we have a tie that stems WAY back (well not really). We were in the same design BFA at our Alma Mater BYU-Idaho and although she thinks I’m the talented designer I have to say I secretly ennvied her packaging and design skillz myself. Throughout the years I have thought, look at this girl GO! I think she was the reason I started blogging for my business in the first place, I only wish we lived in the same town, I might be bugging her more than she’d like! Thanks Kristina for hosting such a great opportunity!

I know sometimes I do! These are part of the Animalia collection and I have to say, I was reluctant to get them on press b/c I just wasn’t sure if the design was finished yet. After months of hemming and hawing a large wholesale order of these finally got me on the ball. And now I’m smitten with the little lambs.

Printed 1 color and paired with blossom envelopes. 4Bar set of 6, or you can get them as a combo set with the rest of the clan (I’ll be showcasing them throughout the week).