repurpose all those Christmas cards

So it's post Christmas and what are you going to do with all those Christmas cards you received? How about cut them up, fold, glue, and make an ornament for next year or for hanging around the house all year long. Here's a link on how to make an icosahedron ornament- instructions with photos step by step. It's over at Larks and Japes. Have you checked it out yet? It's an awesome bog that posts all about small event/gatherings, how to, inspiration, and they even have items for sale to help you make the event special.

Or if you want the circles already cut out for you with an assortment of printed pieces, you can buy one of our kits here. They're only $6 and have made us very happy making them this season. :)

If you make an icosahedron, send us a pic. We'd love to share it! blackbirdletterpress@gmail.com.

State notebook & necklace sets- NY & NJ charity

 We have collaborated with Mimosa by m.e. here in our muggy city of Baton Rouge, LA and have created the state notebook & necklace set. So far we have created NY, NJ, LA, IL, & AL. We were making the NY version about the time that Hurricane Sandy blew through the east coast. So we decided to also make NJ and to give 50% of the sale of the NY and NJ sets to charity. So far we have given to the Red Cross and to the Humane Society for Hurricane Sandy relief. We believe we gotta take care of each other. Check out Poppytalk's post about the project.

Each set contains 1 recycled handmade notebook and state pendant with chain. The notebook was designed, illustrated, letterpress printed, and constructed by Blackbird Letterpress. The cover shows the map of the continental US with the focus state shaded. The state's name, nicknames, year it became a state, state bird and state flower (with small illustrations), capitol, and highest point are listed. Each measures 4.5"x7" and has 72 recycled blank pages inside. The pendants are handmade by Mimosa and vary in size depending on state, usually around 3/4". Each pendant is made from recycled bronze and comes with a 16" antiqued bronzed chain. All pendants have their own unique patina and no two are alike.

Want to see your state? Let us know, comment below or send us an email to blackbirdletterpress@gmail.com. If we get enough requests we'll make it! Find them in our etsy shop, blackbirdletterpress.etsy.com or Mimosa's shop.

Poppytalk Lookbook

I'm always a sucker for Poppytalk's Lookbook each market. What a beautiful job they do. A super online magazine/catalog/gift guide. And this one is perfect for the holidays. Still need the perfect gift? Check out the holiday Poppytalk Market here.

Open publication - Free publishing - More christmas

second storie and Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale!

If you're in the Rochester, NY area come see us at second storie indie craft market, Saturday, November 24.

and check out our Black Friday-Cyber Monday sale in our etsy shop, 20% off select items.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

Want to know more about us?

Want to know more about us? Read all the details in an article in the latest Stationery Trends Interactive magazine, page 20. :)

Leah & Adam's String of Lights invites

Read more about these invites on Oh So Beautiful Paper.

It's always such a pleasure to work with clients that have a fairly clear idea of what they want as well as having a style that I love to work with! Leah first was inspired by a post on Oh So Beautiful Paper of a fabulous kraft save the date card. So we took that as inspiration to start and used the tri-fold with photo idea and made it fit her style. The photo in the save the date is by Bonnie Sen. (you can see some of the fabulous photos of Leah & Adam's backyard wedding at the link).

The whole suite consisted of a combination of fluorescent white cotton paper, kraft chipboard and envelopes, steel gray ink, accented with the elegance of Betsy Dunlap's calligraphy. Leah loves Betsy's work so we commissioned her to do the names and a few other pieces. Leah and Adam's wedding was held outside in a beautiful backyard, with lots of lights strung about in the tall trees. We went with strings of lights as the main illustration for the invitation suite. 

For the post-wedding pieces, the couple made mixed CDs to give away as favors to their guests so we printed CD sleeves. And thank you notes were important for the post-wedding etiquette.

 
A variation of the design is now available as one of our new pieces in the Blackbird Wedding 
Collection! Also check out another new design in the collection, the Scalloped Suite.

We heart Letterpress- The Wedding Issue

Open publication - Free publishing - More invitations

We <3 Letterpress has put out a beautiful online magazine called Letterpress Inspiration- The Wedding Issue. Inside you'll find wedding pieces from various printshops and design studios. And we're inside too! It is filled with gorgeous wedding suites and also tips about timing and help to prepare you while planning for your big day.

The website was created by Kristin and Ben, and is dedicated to all things letterpress. You can find interviews of letterpress studios from all over the world, from the US to Argentina and Australia to Norway. Lots of inspiration indeed! It is definitely a place for letterpress printers and lovers. Check it out here.

Martha Stewart Weddings Fall 2012!

It was pretty thrilling when I went to meet a local wedding client recently and she said "I just saw your work in Martha Stewart Weddings". "Wow, really?" I said.

Early this year we printed the always beautiful Betsy Dunlap calligraphy for Whitney and John's invitation, reply cards and envelopes, and reception info card. To finish it off, as you can see in the magazine photo, Betsy did wonderful addressing in white on the kraft main envelope. We can take no credit for the simple calligraphy design, just for the printing. But it was definitely fun to see the invites featured!

deals on Sneakpeeq

If you're on Facebook, check out Blackbird @sneakpeeq. You can find great deals on all kinds of items. It's kind of like a game, discounts and always a good deal. We're set up there until Wednesday at noon, so stop by and see what's on special. If you become a fan of blackbird on facebook, there are even better deals! Take a peek!

more from the Ladies of Letterpress Conference

Alyson Kuhn, over at Felt and Wire has written a wonderful post about the Ladies of Letterpress conference. Great thoughts from Judith Berliner, and you can take a peek at our table in the printers' fair! See all the pics and read more about it here.


(from the post at felt & wire)

The Typewriter

We all love the typewriter, right? I can't get enough. I have 5, my most used being the Hermes Rocket. I also have my mom's typewriter that she took to college back in 1965. There is nostalgia and charm in every one. Personally I love the idea of portable communication.

Janine Vangool of Uppercase Magazine is writing a book about the typewriter! 

<<---  The Typewriter: a Graphic History of the Beloved Machine  --->> 

And here's where you come in, you can help contribute to the funding to make this book happen!
 

Janine has started a funding campaign, and you can contribute on the website, from $5- $1000 (or more!). Check out the whole story here. She has put together a great video as well. The full color hardback book will be filled with vintage graphics from advertisements to artifacts. A true tribute to the beautiful machine.


(from http://www.uppercasegallery.ca/typewriter) 

And with all that said, I did write Janine a fan email about how excited I was about the upcoming book. And I probably told her about my own typewriter collection and also about the series of woodcuts I started several years ago of ladies at the typewriter. She has posted them on the Uppercase blog! check them out here. Thanks Janine! Cannot wait until the book is out!!!



You can also see other of my fine art at the blackbird website here. 

Never seen Uppercase magazine? It is to me the best printed piece of love out there today. Full of the creative and curious, it is printed full color on luscious paper. A true tactile experience, if not more a visual explosion. You can view inside the latest issue at the link above. I'm not sure what I'd do these days if I didn't receive an issue 4 times a year. You can order one issue or subscribe. Uppercase also publishes wonderful books, Lisa Congdon's Collection a day, Camilla Engman, Dottie Angel....... And I absolutely appreciate the fact that this magazine will never be read on the IPad or other hand held device, it will remain a truly physical experience. ok, enough with the gushing.....

Ladies of Letterpress Conference!! & SALE

We are off to the Ladies of Letterpress Conference this week. (while we're gone check out our etsy shop SALE below) Can't wait, days of hanging out and talking shop with a bunch of ladies (& men). If you're headed that way, be sure to check out the Ladies Room panel and the Portfolio panel on Friday. Lots of tidbits for the lady printer and how portfolios can "expand communities".  And all of it in Asheville. I haven't been to Asheville in almost 15 years, but back then I wanted to pack up and move there. So I am super excited to go back.

Some sneak peeks of my print for the portfolio exchange and of the title page... Be sure to stop by Asheville Bookworks to see all the prints from the portfolio. Some superstars of the letterpress world, Amos Kennedy, Abigail Rorer, Harold Kyle, Baltimore Print Studios, and many more.

So while we're gone, we're offering 15% off in our etsy shop, on all items! Just use the code  ASHEVILLEBOUND . We'll ship once we get back after August 6th. Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you at the conference!

Popsicles!

We've been making lots of popsicles this summer to stay cool. Read my guest post about them at Larks & Japes, a super fun blog with entertaining tips, tidbits, kits & trips, with a hint of nostalgia, always a story.

Happy July!

Though there is a holiday tomorrow, we will be busy in the shop (but I'm hoping to take a little time to bake a blueberry pie...). We have a super large order going out by the end of the week. whew! exciting but busy.

The other day I received an email from one of our customers in Germany with photos. It's so much fun to actually see Blackbird cards in a shop in another country! I wish i could visit. I see things I'd like to buy...... It was great to meet Clemens at the Stationery Show. You can visit the Brevi Manu website here.

Happy 4th of July!

National Stationery Show 2012

 
And.... we're back... After 10 days in New York (with an awesome side trip to Connecticut with no internet or phone) we're back in full force in the studio. The Stationery Show was great. It's so fantastic to be reunited with some amazing designers/printers/ & more importantly friends and spend 4-6 days setting up, selling, dismantling in "the same boat". I am incredibly fortunate to know such wonderful people.

So here are a few pics of our booth...... (thanks again to Rebecca Kreisler for taking my seed ideas for the pop-up and making it an AWESOME animal world reality!)

We also covered the show for Poppytalk, and you can see all the pics of 40+ other artists/designers' booths in the 5 parts linked below.

part 1     

part 2     

part 3     

part 4     

part 5    

pics above: pistachio press, seed house stationers, belle and union, bruno press, chewing the cud

NSS 2012, booth 1959, & Poppytalk!

Wow, I think this is the busiest time of year for us. But what fun. We're headed to the National Stationery Show in NY the end of this week. If you're attending, please come by and say hello, booth # 1959. We'll be the bright yellow corner and we have a paper cut surprise, so come see. The show is held at the Javit's Center May 20-23. It's a super great time where we get to meet and talk to our retailers, connect with our printing/designing peeps, and discover new friends and inspiration. I'm lucky to have 2 amazing cousins that put me up and help me with the show, set-up to sales. Yvonne and Margie, you rock! (And every night it's like I have my own personal chef-amazing)

While we're there, we are also reporting what we see, booths to people, for Poppytalk. So don't miss the coverage at poppytalk.blogspot.com. And you can see a little preview of what we're bringing here.

The Poppytalk Paper Pops market is up and looks great. Find Father's day gifts, paper loves, and bits you can't live without. Check out the Lookbook below, it's as awesome as ever! (I LOVE the astronaut pic)

Open publication - Free publishing - More affordable art

Blackbird Wedding Collection... finally!!

Finally, here it is, the Blackbird Wedding Collection!

We've been working steady to develop our newest Blackbird letterpress wedding designs, each ready for your customization. Throughout the years we have focused mainly on custom letterpress wedding design but we now offer 6 new designs from which to choose from. You can find more photos, as well as pricing list and customization info at our updated website. Take a minute to look around while you're there, we've freshened it up a bit.

 Coastal Suite. For those who love the water. We do spend a lot of time on the coast and the sea is life.

Celebration Suite. Weddings are truly celebrations of life and love. Celebrate in style.

Paper Crane Suite. Cranes are symbols of happiness, good luck, wisdom, and longevity. The Paper Crane gives loyalty and peace.

Oak Suite. The Live Oak tree is a symbol of strength. Wherever you are getting married, the oak will stand for love. Custom illustrated city maps are available for reply cards and save the date cards.

Tuscany Suite. For the love of the landscape, the vista, and the sense of place with a hint of lavender for devotion.

Vintage Lace Suite. A touch of elegance and grace for a special day to remember always.

Other pieces are available such as save the date cards and thank you cards. And for the 1st person to order a set, we'll give you a 20% discount off the invitations. Just remind us where you saw this and give us the code "newblackbirdwedding". (discount will be given for invitations only and upon when the deposit has been received).
 ..................................................................................................
And since we are in a sale mood, we are offering 20% off of our stationery and other goodies at blackbirdletterpress.etsy.com, enter the code SPRING2012 in the coupon space, good through May 5, 2012.

Wrap Magazine Collaboration

Wow, I'm writing this later than I had planned, but, hey, that means I'm busy in the studio huh? :)

I had an incredible opportunity a couple months back to work with Wrap Magazine. I wrote a little in a previous post. But I wanted to share a bit more.  (Read more about our collaboration in a blog post by Wrap)



I discovered Wrap from a tweet by Grace of Design*Sponge last summer, I think. And I immediately ordered issues 1 & 2. I couldn't wait until issue 3 and it was no disappointment. Polly & Chris sent me an email as they were planning issue 4. (I am a huge fan and was completely thrilled!) The theme of the issue is inspired by North America (Wrap is out of the UK) and they had a few questions about letterpress for an article. Chris had the great idea of letterpress printing the title of the article and I can't much resist getting my hands into moveable type. Though we don't have much wood type, I do have a bunch of lead type, lots of sizes and shapes. I found some ornaments and some good typefaces and set it the type, locked up the Vandercook, printed, and then photographed.

 

Wrap is now available as a subscription and so during the conversation we discussed how fun it would be to offer a free gift to the 1st 150 subscribers. And, gift tags compliment wrapping paper perfectly. Chris sent me the sweet raccoon illustration, we printed the tags, and packaged them in sets of 3. 

Issue four is brilliantly written and full of amazing illustrators as well as other interesting finds. The paper is luscious and the printing is rich. The wrapping paper side of the pages is so good you will almost want to hang it on the wall instead of using it for wrapping. I wrapped all the Christmas gifts I gave this last year in Wrap, and I have to admit, the paper made it quite special. 

It was also great to discover one of my very favorite illustrators, Julia Pott, inside the issue! (she's in the US via the UK). Check out Wrap Magazine if you haven't already. It's worth the wait of overseas shipping, it's affordable, and one of the best new magazines out there today.

Links to others in the article: ink meets paper, Inkwell Boutique (a shop I so so want to visit!), and YeeHaw Industries.

Wrap's blog post about our collaboration, is here.

And if that's not all enough, they sell single sheets of wrapping paper in "wrap packs" (also comes with a card and tape shapes), super awesome taps shapes (great alternative to boring scotch tape), and tote bags! check out their shop, here.

 Read Wrap, Wrap, Wrap