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!