Blind Debossed Flower Stationery

The old timers in letterpress would cringe if they knew how I cleaned my press. I use a more household friendly method which includes baby oil and dawn. The only downside to this method is that it takes forever to clean my press - 30 minutes to an hour sometimes. I haven't worked on my press in what feels like weeks, and with the little time I'll have this weekend, (one of my husband's friends from the Marine Corps will be staying with us!) I decided to work on my press last night, and gave blind debossing a try.

This was my first attempt at blind debossing, and I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it. It's a printing method which leaves an impression without any ink. It gives it a subtle yet delicate look, and I'm really happy on how my flower stationery cards turned out! A few of my favorite ladies will be receiving these in a few days!  I printed them with two different flowers - a Chrysanthemum and Peony - and then had to have a pop of color, so I paired them with bright, springy colored envelopes.

An Assortment of Goodies!

Remember the Blue Thank You cards I posted about last week that I made for a bride-to-be?  Well, her sweet MOH wanted to surprise the bride at the bridal shower with some more of my handmade thank you cards!  I was so honored that she wanted to purchase some of my cards. As a thank you for ordering my thank you cards, I gave her an assortment of letterpress goodies - a happy birthday card, some love/valentine day cards, and some of my favorite to and from tags in pink and orange! I accompanied each card with a coordinating color envelope and different color baker's twine for the tags!

 

More Blue Thank You Cards

Happy Monday! Hope your week is off to a great start! This past weekend I was a busy bee in my little loft studio working on my biggest order yet! (By the way, it's so great saying order!) I made over 55 blue thank you cards and heart embellished envelopes.  Remember my blue thank you notes from one of my earlier posts?  Well, the same great gal needed some more! My arm seriously got tired though, haha! Each card and envelope is made one at time, and that means pulling the lever over 100 times to ink my rollers and plate to make an impression. By the last 20 or so, I was using both arms to pull down!  Weak, I know. 

To package them up, I wanted to use some recently purchased baker's twine.  I bought all these different colors, and couldn't decide which I wanted to use. I ended up packaging them in groups of 10 and tying them each with a different color of baker's twine.  Here's a couple pics from this weekend of the finished cards:

Happy Birthday Cards!

To add to my collection of letterpress card designs, I designed two different happy birthday cards. Both include handlettering by me!  For the first card, I once again attempted to mix some inks together.  I was going for a light green, but it came out more as an olive green.  It worked out though, because I ended up giving this card to my dad for his 59th birthday!

For the second card, I was going for a bright orange and it came out great!  I've found that I'm either getting the colors just right or I'm slightly off.

I really like the orange ink! Next up, I think I'm going to add something else to the design, I'm thinking confetti in different ink colors or balloons.  Wish me luck!

Blue Thank You Notes!

I can't believe it's April!! This year is flying, and I have no idea where March went. But I'm thinking that's a good thing, because spring is finally here in the Washington, DC area. And it's about time, because I am so looking forward to warmer weather and spring clothes!

I'm still playing catch up on posting all my letterpress goodies.  I made these blue letterpress thank you cards this past fall for my friend as thank you's for her engagement party.  This was my first time using a colored ink, yay!  I have nothing against black ink, but I just love the pop of color on bright white cards. I added these cute little trio of hearts on the envelope flap.  They turned out well, and I'm actually making her some more blue thank you cards for her! She is my best customer for sure!

Breakfast at Tiffany's Envelopes

These little beauties were mailed yesterday for an upcoming (fabulous!) Breakfast at Tiffany's themed bridal shower.  Going with the theme I wanted to spruce up the tiffany blue envelopes, so I drew on the white ribbons.  When I was done, my husband thought the envelopes were made like that!  Can't wait for the bridal shower, it's going to be a great event!

Valentine's Day Cards!

Happy Friday!! Good news, I'm really starting to figure out how to work my press now! In the beginning I was quite generous on the amount of ink I used (you can tell by the birthday card I made for my sister in one of my earlier posts), but lately, I've been getting it just right! 

For Valentine's Day, I made my husband a bunch of letterpress cards, and it was the first time I tried mixing my rubbber-based inks. It seems pretty simple in theory, but I tried mixing two different colors and it was a hit and a miss. The first color I was going for was a light purple (eh, it came out a little different than I imagined) and the second color I was going for was a light pink (this color came out great, loved it!)

I can't remember how many different cards I designed for him (I think 6?), but here are three I made. 

Oh, and I even printed a couple of these cute little "to and from" tags. They turned out really well too!  I printed some more of these tags in orange ink too and love them! I'm going to post pics of those in another post.

Alabama Graduation Announcements

This past December my sister graduated from the University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science in Human Environmental Sciences. I'm so so so proud of her, and can't wait to see where her next chapter takes her!  I'm really hoping that she finds her dream job in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, so well, she can be closer to me and we can do all the fun sister stuff more often. 

For her graduation announcements I really wanted the design to focus on her, so her name is bold and sassy...just like her!  The announcements were digitally printed on 100% cotton paper with Alabma red ink and matching envelopes.  I incorporated Alabama's houndstooth as an envelope liner and they turned out great! I love envelope liners, they can really make the card design pop.

(At the request of the University of Alabama, these are not for sale.)

Orchid Engagement Invites!

Back in September duing a slow day at work, my friend (and coworker!) asked if I wouldn't mind designing her engagement party invitations.  I jumped at the chance, because I love all things paper.  So here they are!

I incorporated one her favorite flowers in the design, the orchid, and printed them with my new epson printer in pool blue ink on white 100% cotton paper.  I received a couple compliments on the invites at the engagement party, which was great!  My friend loved them so much, she even asked me to do her Save the Dates!! I'll be sharing those in a little bit, once everyone has received them! Even though, I'm fairly confident none of her guests read my blog, haha, just my sister!  Love you sissypants!!

Finally!

So here they are, my first couple prints with my letterpress!!  Yay! It's been quite the wait for them, huh?  I printed them right when I got back from Puerto Vallarta, but I have been so busy since then, that I'm just now finding time to get back to writing on my blog.  So without further ado, here they are!

My very first print was the birthday card for my sister.  It's far from perfect (I over inked my press ALOT) but I absolutely loved them, and so did my sister!  I printed a couple prints, and sent the best one to my sister.  Next up I printed flower stationery cards for my mom for Christmas and paired them with team envelopes.

A couple days later I printed thank you notes in black ink (this time with a much better amount of ink on my press!)  I sent two out - one to the couple I bought my press from and the second to John with Letterpress Things for all his help in getting me started.

My Press!

I've been meaning to write about my press - how I found it, trying it out, getting it, etc. - for some time now, but it's been a little hectic with Hurricane Sandy coming in to town. (On a side, but related, note - my husband and I, and our two pets faired the super storm well compaired to others in the DC area.  Our lights only flickered a couple times, and we only had a couple broken branches from our tree in our yard.) I wish a fast recovery to everyone affected by Sandy!

Let me preface and say that this post is a little longer than my usual posts.

I'll continue on with the story of my press where I last left off, which was with my "midnight idea" (which I had back in late July.) As I mentioned in a previous post, I took a letterpress class in early August. It was so much fun; I was hooked, and officially bitten by the letterpress bug.  After that, I wanted and needed to learn more.  I found all these great resources that tied my letterpress craving over till my next scheduled class.  One of those sites was Briar Press.  Oh my goodness, it is a wonderful site for those who love letterpress.  I spent most of my time browsing through the classifieds section, searching for any tabletop presses.  Pretty much the month of August was devoting to finding a press. From my research, I was on the hunt for a 6.5x10 C&P Pilot tabletop press.  I found a couple that interested me, but they were either too far away or had too much needed repairs for this novice to handle. I wasn't having any luck finding a C&P Pilot. But persistance is key!

I came across two 6.5x10 Craftsman Superior tabletop presses! (The Craftsman Superiors were modeled after the C&P Pilot presses.) The first one I came across was located in a small PA town, about 20 minutes from where I went to college - it needed new roller cores, the price was right, and appeared to be in good operating condition.  The other press I found was located in Brooklyn - it was out of my preferred price range, but came with a few supplies, and was in good operating condition. 

Letterpresses go fast.  If they are in good operating condition, they will not be on Briar Press for long.  I emailed both sellers, and luckily both presses were still available.  The Brooklyn press really interested me for some reason, however the seller said that he only sells his presses to those who get to try them out first. Fate was working its magic though, because my husband and I were taking a weekend trip to Montauk, which is on the opposite end of Brooklyn on Long Island, for a Disabled Sports USA event. 

As for the other press, fate was working its magic for that one as well.  My husband and I had tickets to the Penn State vs. Navy football game on September 15th. We figured we could go check out the other press then.

The week leading up to our Montauk trip, I was planning on how our weekend would pan out so that I could go see the press in Brooklyn.  On the way to the BWI airport, my husband and I were going over the pros and cons for each of the presses. Did I want to deal with new rollers with the PA press? Would that be too complicated?  Or did I want to spend close to $3,000 for the ready-to-use press from Brooklyn?  Before we even made it to the airport, I had my decision, which is actually quite a feat. I am HORRIBLE when it comes to making decisions.  I over analyze nearly everything. I decided against the Brooklyn press. It really came down to the money, I just didn't want to spend that much money on a letterpress.

A couple weeks after our trip to Montauk, and after the Penn State vs. Navy game, my husband and I headed north to Bellefonte, a quaint little town outsite of State College.  The couple I bought my press from taught me a lot about my new tabletop press. I got to try out my new press in their basement print shop, and she was exactly what I was looking for.  I happily named her "Bellefonte Press."

A Midnight Idea

Have you ever had a night where you couldn't sleep because your brain just couldn't shut down? I had one of those nights back in July. It was a long, sleepless kind of night. I maybe got 3 hours of sleep because my brain would not shut down, but for good reason.  I had a great idea!  I'll give a little recap on what led to my midnight idea. 

Back in July, I had a huge deadline for work.  It was a large, multi-office pursuit for a planning IDIQ contract for the Department of Veterans Affairs.  I'm shuttering right now just thinking about it.  It was a very stressful deadline and it almost led me to quitting my job. I was stressed, and my only outlet was the gym...when I actually made it to the gym.  So a couple weeks passed by and then comes my midnight idea. I realized that I did not have a means of being creative anymore.  And I needed a creative outlet.  All my life, I have had some type of art form that has allowed me to be creative and expressive from ballet to art classes.  I realized I needed to bring art back in to my life.  I needed to take ballet classes again, and I needed to do something fun besides work and the gym.

That night I was up for hours coming up with all sorts of ideas for future crafts. I knew it was time for me to get my hands dirty with paint, ink, and glue. It's been a couple months since my midnight idea, but it has brought me to where I am now with my letterpress.  During the week, I can't wait to get home from work to do something related to my letterpress hobby. It's been fun, I now have one creative outlet - making stationery cards for myself and family and friends.  Next up is getting back into ballet.

Loving Letterpress

Lately I have been obsessing (you could ask my husband if that's the right word), but obsessing over letterpress.  Not sure where the obsession came from, just one day I really wanted to learn more about letterpress. I've taken a couple letterpress classes at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, a local arts studio in the Washington, DC area.  In the first class we printed on two Vandercooks.  At the time I had no idea what a Vandercook even was, but it's a large flat proofing press. The class was a lot of fun! I loved it so I signed up for a couple more letterpress classes.

A couple weeks ago my mom went to a class with me and we printed small stationary cards for my sister on one of the studio's tabletop presses.  It was a lot of fun having her come with me and showing her why I have become so obsessed with letterpress.

Isn't my mom so cute?  She had so much fun too, she wants to go back and take more classes.

Two Years!

Two years ago my husband and I got married on a beautiful fall day in Hershey, PA. It's crazy to think that our wedding was two years ago! It feels like just yesterday that I was hovering over my computer looking at all my favorite wedding blogs or working on a wedding-related craft. 

These two years have been wonderful and I can't wait to make more memories with my husband!

Happy Friday!

Hello! Just a quick (and first!) post today and a sneak peek at what I've been up to lately.

Have a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend!