a gift...

as i was working in my studio one evening, i had a great idea to make a gift for my friend. (her birthday was in early july.) i wanted to make something she would use...so i pulled out some sketches and measurements from a project i was toying with months prior. i decided on a portfolio - functional, but beautiful.

here are the results of a few hours of labor and love:

i used japanese book cloth in her favorite colors to cover the entire piece. i wanted to have a nameplate of some kind and went with a handstitched spirograph piece with hearts (also her favorite).

the inside left side contains a pocket for various notes & a small strap to hold business cards. the right side has a couple of strips to hold a legal pad (see below).

this project was challenging and fun - i really love how beautifully this piece came out. i think i'll try making a few and putting them out on the market....

wedding set

this wonderful couple contacted a few months ago for their wedding guest book...and then ended up ordering a ton of other things too! i just finished up the whole set over the weekend. here's the final pieces:

the guest book is about 12"x9.5" inches - probably the biggest one i've made! they chose a sturdy belgian binding, giving their guests plenty of room to doodle.

they also purchased a cake cutting utensil set from a local artist in town that does amazing work with polymer clay - and they wanted a box to display the utensils at the wedding.

here's the outside:

and the inside:

they asked me to print recipe cards, which they mailed with their invitations and asked their guests to bring them to the wedding filled out with their favorite recipes. so, i made a box to house their recipe cards and a matching box for their wedding photos:

here's the whole set:

i love how everything turned out! it was such a pleasure to work with them :)

santa?

dear santa,
i would like to bring this bag to your attention, even though it is so close to christmas.

source

and i don't own a big camera. but the bag is blue and awesome.
sincerely,
me

kitchen cards!

there was a bit of a setback last week - i ordered paper to print this new set of cards & ups accidentally sent my order to canada. once the error was figured out, it had to clear customs to get back into the US. i contacted french paper and received an immediate response - they sent out a new box to me next day air. i am SO impressed with their customer service. and because they responded so quickly, i was able to print my cards for the show this weekend!

here's some pics of the printing:

there are five different designs on five different colors of paper

i used a mixture of silver & black ink - so there is a bit of sheen in the prints. the darkness of the ink really shows off the detail of the drawings.

my shop puppy :)

saved the best color for last

helper puppies - they were quality assurance for the day

this was a marathon printing day - 550 cards in over 5 hours. my arm is still a little sore...but its a huge relief to have them printed. i'm thrilled with the results and will post more once they are cut down and ready to sell!

snowman card set

the new winter card set is finally done! these snowmen started as doodles and now they are gorgeous letterpress cards. check them out:

these 2 color cards were printed on french pop-tone paper in berrylicious.

the first color is a background of white snowflakes (hard to see in the pictures)

...and the second color is a soft blue.

they are folded 4 bar (3 1/2" x 4 7/8") notecards...

...blank inside, and come with a kraft paper envelope.

soooo who wants to buy a set? :) i hope you enjoyed them! i will be busy working on books & other goods for the shows this weekend...what will you be up to?

business card printing

my press (which i've decided to name chester, after years of deliberation) had his maiden press run at his new home (the garage). chester & i had a couple of trying moments...but worked through them & basically rocked printing business cards. here's some (iphone) pics..

i originally planned to print only on stardream cover in aquamarine

but found some other stardream paper in vista (top) & aqua lagoon (middle) from previous business card press runs and decided to print them all

here's the first run in blue - i chose a brighter blue than i originally planned..

i had the printing plates made by boxcar press - who have awesome support & are very helpful

the stack of paper ready to go for press run 2

oooo pretty plum purple...

sweet!

printing went very well and i really enjoyed being able to print in our garage. i'm super excited about the new business cards and will post pictures once they are cut. they will take a few days to dry. i was also happy with how the ink colors came out on the three papers i used.

today is the big day...macbook pro is coming!

more cards...

uploaded all of the files for the next couple of sets of letterpress cards! my plates should be here next week. for the snowman cards, i'm going to try out a new paper, pop-tone by french paper in berrylicious:


and i ordered some of their speckletone envelopes in kraft for the set:


check out the other papers on french paper - it's a fun site to browse!

if i like the results of printing on this french paper, then i'll order more for this kitchen set. here's a sneak peek:

so much to do, so little time...i'm thinking i should stop sleeping and drink more coffee to get everything done in time.

business cards

i've been in the process of changing my name during the last month or so...and let me tell you, it's a long process. most of my list is complete, however, i'm now trying to tackle all of the items i need to adjust regarding my business. i had new stickers printed for packaging (which i'm honestly not terribly pleased with) and am working on a new design for my business cards. i am going to print in two colors (light blue/green & plum) on stardream chiara cover in aquamarine - i really love the sparkly shimmer of this paper.

here's what i came up with:


thoughts? reactions? comments? let me hear them! have a wonderful long weekend!!

adventure gear

over the weekend, hubby & i perused the sale at REI, specifically for a pack for me. a big pack. so we can go CAMPING. he jokingly said that i don't need a big pack because it's not like i'd carry anything anyway. *AHEM* we loaded up pack after pack, adjusted & yanked on a million different straps, and kept coming back to this one (of course it's blue):

credit

i was amazed at how different packs fit - and how none of them seemed to fit me just right, with the except of the ridgeline. we loaded it up with weight, strapped it on, and then i wandered around the store for a while to test it out. i've been wanting my own pack since the last long trip we went on (long = overnight). soooo now i suppose it's time for another adventure!

my MOH gift

so i need to talk about my maid of honor jamie...she was AMAZING. seriously, she kept me sane and was SO organized and on top of every little detail. i have a hard time not worrying about...well, everything...so having someone i could depend on was such a relief. and she did so many things to make me feel special throughout the engagement and our wedding trip...i can't thank her enough for everything she's done.

i wanted to design something special for her...so i bounced some ideas off of her husband and decided to make her a jewelry box (for him to fill..heh heh). its the most complicated box i've made yet.

i used teal lokta paper with gold chrysanthemums to cover the box and a butter gold japanese bookcloth for the box hinge as well as lining the lid sides & the monogrammed "J".

the lid opens to a six sectioned, removable tray lined with teal paper, for smaller items like earrings & bracelets.

with the tray removed, the base of the box has four equal sections that are also lined in teal paper. the sides of the box and the walls separating the sections are covered with the teal lokta with gold mums.

i used the butter bookcloth to hand cut a monogram for jamie...i wanted to personalize her jewelry box without overdoing it.

so what do you think? i also tried something new with the photos (the idea inspired from pobke photography). have a wonderful weekend!

gift set!

we had so many people to thank for helping with our wedding and we wanted to give gifts that were personal & heartfelt. and me being so picky probably didn't help the gift choosing process...so, naturally, i decided to make the gifts.

for our parents, i made photo album box sets in our wedding colors - red & aqua! my parents set had aqua bookcloth & blue unryu paper inside the box. the unryu paper was SO amazing to work with - has lots of inclusions of threads & felt like fabric! hubby's parents set had fire engine red bookcloth & tomato red unryu paper inside the box. we gave hubby's parents their set during the rehearsal dinner, so i unfortunately didn't get pictures of it...

box cover

inside of box

box with album inside

box & album covers

the sets turned out beautifully - probably the most difficult sets i've done yet because they were so large (9" x 12") and the materials were much more challenging than past projects. hope you enjoyed the photos!

design sponge blue-ness

i heart design sponge. seriously. great ideas for decorating, projects (& instructions!) large & small, beautiful pictures, recipes, business advice, etc...its truly a site for inspiration. since the past three months had been so focused on the wedding, i sadly neglected one of my favorite places to visit. here are some things that caught my eye as i've been perusing past posts:

i adore this color blue! go here for a tutorial on painting furniture

blue frame from here

since we've been doing some reorganizing at home, i've been oogling bookshelves:

all bookshelf pics from here

amazing refurbished chairs from here

DIY wine tube rack from here - for all of those mailing tubes i've kept! i knew they would be useful someday (right, hubby?)

pics of some cute nurseries (don't get any ideas punky!) - i just liked some of the blue items & bright colors:

blue table!
blue stand!

blue crib! LOVE all of the color in this one!

(all nursery pics from here)

blue kitchen from here

loving this color combo from here

as you can tell, my obsession with blue has not wavered in the least :) so, what websites inspire you? i'm always searching for new ones!