I’ve been holding out on posting these letterpress biz cards because they are just SO cool, and I didn’t know how to do the write up. I think they are one of my favorite to date on the blind impression scale. If you saw the proofs for Jessica’s two sister photography businesses you’ll know that there were two sets of cards produced.  One for her family clients and the other for her goddess clients. You’ll notice on her proofs that there was a light grey outline of her logo on the blue/grey samples. That translates well to a beautiful blind impression. This was the first time I outlined a logo instead of silhouetting it. The outlined impression around and the patten ended up looking sort of quilted because the paper pillowed around the perimeter as well as on the interior. Check it out!

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!

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.

As a little gift to you, I’ll have surprises all week for you to download and prepare for the holidays! Free printable goodie #1, Dingbat Gift-wrap :) Click on the images to be taken to my Flickr stream where you can download the large image file by clicking on the images below:

The original file is tabloid (11×17″) saved at 200% so just scale to size when printing out at home or the local print-shop and have fun!

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!

This was a client designed correspondence card which went with some business cards I printed as well (coming later) for Carina of Say Dream in Australia. I have been printing a lot of grey lately and am loving it. Don’t you jyst love the blind impression at the top of the card that she illustrated?

What happens when you get these and put them on letterpress goods?

You get this!

Available now in the shop here and here! Corner rounding now available on small orders, convo or email for details.

Near the final rounds, this design came about because the bride was having a ceremony canopy made out of trees, and evidently birch trees were either part of the landscaping or just one of her favorites exact details are slipping my mind right now. The blind impression turned out so cool on this invite as the shadowing gave a really great letterpressed element to the trees. This design started out quite ornate and then got simpler as we worked on it more. By the time it printed I just couldn’t believe my eyes! There’s so much mystery in it that I love, thanks Kirstin for such a great letterpress project to work on, this is one of my favorites to date.

To read all about Kirstin’s invitation process and see some of the proofs designed click here.

Here’s to hoping you all have an enchanted weekend full of sunshine! If you missed the previous posts then click here: Proofs | Shop.

Check back Monday for giveaway winner and something special!

To get your own set of custom business cards or calling cards click here for more details.

I can’t believe it has taken me so long to blog / list these. A companion to the Mod Mimosa recipe cards, these are printed in cyan ink with a blind deboss and available immediately in the Shop.