XOXO

 

Do you know the history of "xoxo"? According to Wikipedia, "the common custom of placing Xs on envelopes, notes and at the end of letters to mean kisses dates back to the Middle Ages, when a Christian cross was drawn on documents or letters to mean sincerity, faith and honesty. A kiss was then placed upon the cross by the signer as a display of their sworn oath". Cool, right? As a type fanatic, I also just love how Xs and Os look together!

These new xox note cards are available in our Etsy shop as a set of four with four kraft envelopes. They will make a great addition to your stationery collection for quick notes to friends and loved ones. Mom might also appreciate a set for Mother's Day (see our previous blog post for a coupon code!).

Happy writing!

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Vase | DIY Centerpiece

Last week we had Thanksgiving here in Canada (I know, how weird is it that we don't share the same date for Thanksgiving with the US?). My husband and I were hosting and I wanted to have a pretty centerpiece for the table, but I didn't want to spend a fortune on one that was already made. Not to mention it's pretty difficult to find a pre-made Thanksgiving centerpiece that doesn't involve cheesy turkeys or tacky glittery bouquet inserts that say "Happy Thanksgiving!" on plastic (you know the ones I mean, right?). So I thought I'd try my hand at arranging some flowers using a pumpkin as a vase.

First I found a nice, medium-sized white pumpkin at the grocery store. In previous years, all I could find at the supermarket were the usual standard orange pumpkins – but not anymore! From bumpy, warty-looking green ones to beautiful bright orange "Cinderella" pumpkins, even my local run-of-the-mill supermarket is carrying the "fancy" pumpkins this year. My white pumpkin was from Fred Meyer (Kroger).

I gutted my pumpkin (saving the lid for later in the fridge), then cleaned it in the sink and let it air dry. To add some flair to the white skin I used gold spray paint (my favorite is this one from Rust-Oleum– buy it online, it's way cheaper!) to create an ombré look. I sprayed the bottom heavily, and lightened the spray as I went down the pumpkin. The trick is to use a light hand and spray from a distance, letting each pass dry before spraying the same area again. If you don't do this, you will get drips running down your pumpkin. Remember to stay out of the wind so you don't inhale any paint!

At the grocery store where I bought my pumpkin, I tried to find some pretty seasonal flowers in fall colors. I picked a few chrysanthemums in yellow and white. I would have liked to use something more orange/red, but the flower selection at the store wasn't as great as the pumpkin selection! (I think if I had found a large orange flower to replace the light yellow flowers I used, the result would have been better). I measured my flowers in graduated heights – white flowers were tallest because of their larger size, then medium height for the gold filler mums, and then the light yellow flowers were the shortest since I planned to place them below the other flowers.

I was pleased with how the centerpiece looked when I finished (and after my daughter helped me cut and place all the flowers – critiquing the whole time in the way that only 5-year-olds can get away with). See the top photo for the finished product.

Added bonus: now that the flowers have seen better days, I cleared them out of the pumpkin, and am now left with a pretty white and gold ombré pumpkin for my front porch.

What are (were) your centerpiece plans for Thanksgiving this year?

Simple + Pretty Religious Note Cards

A friend of mine's daughter was recently baptized and oddly enough (for a stationer), I could not find an appropriate card in my stock to give her. I went to the store and for the life of me I could not find a single baptism/Christian card that was not severely cheesy looking or overly ornate. So I put together a very simple cross design and printed it on our press. The cards are now available in sets of 4 note cards with kraft envelopes in our Etsy shop. A blue version and a blind impression (no ink) version will also be available soon.

For religious occasions we also have a few other note card options coming for different faiths. Stay tuned for photos!

Custom Letterpress Invitations | Inspired by W.W.

We recently designed and printed the above custom letterpress invitations above for Mary and Daniel from Ontario, Canada. If you follow this blog, you know I just love it when a couple wants to incorporate something special about their relationship into their wedding stationery – like a quote that they love, a graphic reference to a trip they took or the place where they met, a vintage family crest, or incorporating a grandmother's wedding dress lace as a motif on an invitation. These details are a part of your history, and should absolutely be brought to life in your wedding stationery.

Walt Whitman's "Among the Multitude" from his famous Leaves of Grass was a special poem for the couple – here is a snippet:

Among the men and women, the multitude,
I perceive one picking me out by secret and divine signs, 
Acknowledging none else – not parent, wife, husband, brother, child, any nearer than I am;
Some are baffled – but that one is not – that one knows me.

For the 3rd edition of Leaves of Grass, a copper plate was used to deboss the leather cover. We put together a reverse image of the plate for letterpress printing, and also used an Art Nouveau font for the bride and groom's names. A dark warm green was used for the custom ink color.

(Coincidentally, when I received this custom letterpress wedding stationery order a few months ago, my husband and I were in the midst of a few very intense binge viewing sessions to finish up Breaking Bad. If you are a fan, you know how Walt Whitman poetry plays a part in the series – especially the bathroom scene towards the end! This scene is probably the only thing I have ever watched on television in my life that has made me get out of my chair and throw my hands up in frustration. I was so angry at Walt for being so careless! Gah! It still makes me angry!)

In any case, these invitations were a pleasure to produce – and we wish all the joys of married life to Mary and Daniel!

If you would like to find out more about having your own custom letterpress wedding invitations designed and printed by Sunlit Letterpress,contact us today! Bookings for Summer and Fall weddings are filling up fast, so don't miss your spot!

Letterpress Giveaway (Closed) | "Love Is" Art Print

Hello Letterpress Lovers!

Has Spring sprung where you live? I was away for a few weeks on vacation and returned home to a much greener Spring than when I left (and luckily managed to skip the worst of my allergy season while away – thank goodness!).

This Spring we are putting together a few letterpress art prints; something new for Sunlit Letterpress. Up until now we've focused primarily on custom stationery and letterpress wedding invitations, and some ready-to-wear stationery products. I'm not sure why I've never ventured into art prints until now, maybe a lack of time to sit and put something together?

I wanted our first art print offering to incorporate a passage that was important to me. This is a very well-known Bible passage; probably because it is so often used as a reading in Christian weddings. But if you really study the reading you see how it truly is a road map for unconditional love – no matter your faith. Our patience is often tested by our significant others, our children, our family members – and yet we must learn to stay the course and be kind. True love does not insist on having things go our way all the time – sometimes we have to embrace compromise and sacrifice our wants and needs for others. True love endures the most difficult challenges of everyday life and the struggles of difficult times of sickness and loss. True love has no limits and never fails.

This piece was printed on our Chandler & Price press using black and a light pink ink on Crane Lettra 110 lb. 100% (tree-free) cotton cover and measures 5" x 7".

We are giving away one of these prints to a lucky reader! To enter, simply leave a comment below and tell us where you would place this print in your home. Entries must be posted by May 5, 2014, at 7 PM (Pacific) and one winner will be chosen at random. Open to entries worldwide. Winner will be announced as an update to this post after the draw. Sorry, personal friends and family of Sunlit Letterpress are not eligible. 

This print is also available in out Etsy shop for purchase – makes a great wedding gift, or addition to your gallery wall! If you are a wedding industry vendor, this print would make a great thank you gift for your clients.

Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Letterpress Candy Favor Bags, Candy Buffets + More

Have you ever been to a wedding with a candy buffet? (Like the one in the photo above from Sweet Bliss Weddings). I haven't been to one at a wedding (which is sad considering my ridiculously out-of-control sweet tooth), but I have been to one at a wedding industry event - and I loved it!

The candy buffet/candy bar makes a great addition to any wedding, it's a fun conversation piece, guests get to feel like little kids again, it provides guests with that extra shot of sugar to keep them up late, and best of all - the candy can be taken home in little bags as favors that you know guests will use (maybe as soon as on the drive home from the reception).

For those planning a candy buffet, I've put together a little letterpress kraft bag to fill with treats that reads "love is sweet - enjoy a treat". You can buy these in our Etsy shop, but if you'd like to place a custom order for bags with your wedding color(s), or customized with your names or a wedding monogram or other graphic motif, we can do that too! Please contact the studio for more info: www.sunlit-letterpress.com

We also recently printed some 4-Bar (3.5" x 5") letterpress thank you cards printed with a yellow lace pattern and a peachy-pink "thank you" at the bottom. These letterpress note cards can also be purchased in our Etsy shop.

If you are a follower of this letterpress blog, be sure to keep checking back over the next couple of weeks - we are planning a bit of an overhaul and redesign to improve things around here. It's been a long time since we've done anything with with the actual structure and look of the blog, and it's time to get'er done!

Desert Time

Last year I was contacted by a great couple from my hometown that are getting married this March in Palm Springs. I was excited and loved designing their invitations because I totally dig the whole Palm Springs modernist vibe and arts scene - and this was my chance to try to capture a California wedding destination on paper. I haven't photographed the whole suite yet since we haven't had a good clear sunny day for lighting in a while (Yay for living in the Pacific Northwest [not]). Anyways, above is a photo of one of the pieces with the wedding logo I created for the couple. I thought two palms together would tie the wedding and the destination together into one motif with names and the wedding date.

My family just returned from Palm Springs and while we were visiting we had a night away sans kiddies (thanks Mum and Dad). When I was sitting at the hotel pool I saw two palms staring back at me and it made me think of the invitations. So, I snapped a shot poolside.

This week we are just finishing up the menus and thank you notes for Celia and Jonathan's wedding. More photos to come!

As a side note, if you are ever in Palm Springs I highly recommend Birba Restaurant on North Palm Canyon Drive. Holy yum. And a Negroni Sbagliato that will blow your mind. The fact that it was Modernism Week meant lots of interesting people and clothing (I didn't know Pucci designed men's suits...but I'm pretty sure I saw a few vintage ones at Birba).

We are back to the sunshine in a few weeks (to HI) - maybe for good this time :)  I am looking forward to leaving all this rain behind!

Valentine's Letterpress Love

Valentine's Day is just around the corner!

Subscribe your honey to our Letterpress Lovers Club - the letterpress-of-the month club where the subscriber receives a unique letterpress stationery item once a month for the duration of their membership. Three-month, six-month and yearly subscriptions are available for purchase from our Etsy shop.

Each month the item(s) are different (a fun surprise in your mailbox!) and will include an assortment of stationery items such as notecard or greeting card sets, art prints, gift tags, letterpress packaging items, seasonal stationery pieces, and more.

Buy a membership for your Valentine or as a gift for yourself!

Three-Month Subscription
http://www.etsy.com/listing/46694579/letterpress-lovers-club-membership-3

Six-Month Subscription
http://www.etsy.com/listing/50949069/monthly-letterpress-subscription

Twelve-Month Subscription
http://www.etsy.com/listing/86357503/monthly-letterpress-subscription

A limited number of memberships are available for sale.

Your first month will ship at the beginning of the next month after purchase (i.e. buy in April and your first mailing will ship at the beginning of May). Mailings are sent at the beginning of the month.

XOXO,
Sunlit Letterpress

Happy New Year!

Hello friends – I hope this post finds you well and enjoying the holiday season! Since 2013 is about to arrive, I thought I would do an end-of-year post with a few updates.

First, I am happy to announce that Sunlit Letterpress was a finalist for Best Wedding Stationery for the 2012 British Columbia Professional Wedding Awards. The photos below are of the invitations that placed us in the top three for the British Columbia.  These invitations were for Sharon and Faizal, a great couple from Vancouver that was married in Waikiki, HI, earlier this year.

This was the most technically difficult invitation I have designed and printed to date – with envelopment printing and very tight (hairline) registration for the pieces with the background pattern and borders. Forgive the printer jargon – when one color is printed first and the second color is printed on a separate pass, and the two colors meet exactly at a point and the inks cannot overlap or be separated by a gap – this is hairline registration. With a 100+ year old Chandler and Price printing press, getting the registration right is nightmarish to say the least. Although you can’t see it on the paper or in the photos, there was a lot of blood, sweat and tears in these pieces!

A special congratulations to my friend and fellow invitation designer Tammy of Uniquity Invitations who was also a stationery finalist this year!

Although I had hoped to get back to work in mid-December, I have not quite made it back. As I mentioned in my previous post, we welcomed our second daughter in mid-October. As wonderful as having a second child has been, I was unprepared (or just had unrealistic expectations) for how much less time and energy I would have left for work/studio time with two young children. Most days I struggle to find time to fit in a shower, let alone get any work done. Our baby girl has had some gastrointestinal issues that have made things much more challenging than with our first. I am hoping that as we settle into more of a routine after the New Year that I will find a bit of time to head back to the studio – just in time for the start of wedding season. However, this year I will definitely have to cut back on the number of projects/clients that I take on because I just won’t be able to handle a heavy workload like before.

This year has been a very tough one for our family on a personal level, and I am very much looking forward to it being over. Other than the birth of our second little girl, watching our oldest daughter grow and change, and attending a private party in Vegas hosted by Michael Jordan and Alan Thicke (a story for another day!), this year will go down as one of my worst. I have experienced struggles and challenges in many areas and they have tested my strength and resilience. I am very grateful to those who were there for us during the hard days – especially when my husband was very ill - and who continue to be ready to help. We are working with a neurologist and hope to have more answers about my husband's condition soon.

I hope 2013 will be better for us all!

Best wishes to you and Happy New Year!

Studio News and Maternity Leave

Hello friends! I hope this post finds you well and back in the swing of things for the Fall season. Above are some photos of wedding invitations that we printed for Emily and Kate many months ago for their wedding today, the 9th of September. We wish Emily and Kate a wonderful day and all the joys of married life! My husband and I were also married on September 9th, 6 years ago - Happy 6th Anniversary honey!

Studio News + Maternity Leave

I wanted to let everyone know that as of the end of this week, I will be starting a brief maternity leave for approximately 3 months. I'm not sure if I mentioned that we are expecting our second child this October on the blog, but I think I might have...In any case, my posts this year have been very sporadic and I did take approximately 5 months off during this pregnancy due to hyperemesis gravidarum - which if you know anything about it, it is a living hell. During my first pregnancy I had moderate to fairly severe morning (all day) sickness, but hyperemesis is not anything like that. In fact, you shouldn't even use "morning sickness" and "hyperemesis" in the same sentence, since they are in no way comparable. In addition to extreme nausea and vomiting almost all day, it got to the point where I could no longer function as a human being, let alone work or watch my 2-year old daughter; and I was lucky if I could hold down a couple of tablespoons of water at a time. Printing was certainly out of the question, and thank God for my parents and a handful of great friends that were willing and ready to help my husband and I out during those awful months. I was eventually put on medication (ondansetron - in addition to a host of other meds) that helped slow the vomiting. Ondansetron was created for chemo patients to help them during chemo treatment (when they are unable to keep food or water down). The medication helped me stay out of the hospital; and thank goodness we have good prescription coverage as a 10-day supply of just one of the medications would have cost approximately $900!

Anyways, around 5 months I was feeling well enough to start working again - and I have been working up until this point. With my daughter I printed until a week before her due date - but this time we decided that this would not be something I would do again. Printing is quite physically demanding, even though at first glance you wouldn't think it would be. But when you are heavier than normal and this extra weight is in the front of your body - standing for long periods of time, leaning over the press, lifting ink discs, cleaning, and pulling levers on paper cutters etc. can get difficult and uncomfortable. At this time I have 2-3 more print jobs to run and that will be it for a little while.

I am hoping to be back at work in mid-December - provided everything goes according to plan and I am physically able to return. Our personal lives are a bit more complicated right now as my husband is suffering from some serious neurological health issues that we are trying to get to the bottom of, all while preparing for baby #2. We are currently visiting a variety of specialists and having many tests, and I unfortunately cannot guarantee that I will be back in the studio in December as I would like to be. At this point my husband is not able to work regularly and cannot drive, so everything else is taking a backseat to his needs right now. I will post updates on the blog and our website as we get closer to December with regards to the date of my actual return.

If you are getting married in 2013 or will need letterpress stationery next year, please be in touch as soon as possible. We have bookings for mid-December already, and January gets very busy as wedding season begins - so to avoid disappointment, we look forward to discussing your stationery needs early.

We wish you the best for Fall 2012 and hope you will keep following the blog over the coming weeks as I will still try to post photos of some of our other stationery and design projects from this year!

Ready-to-Wear Letterpress Business Cards

Above is a photo of some recent cards that we printed for Taryn - using a design from our Ready-to-Wear Letterpress line.

Cards from the RTW line are pre-designed and sold in set quantities and ink colors that minimize costs. Please download our Ordering Guide (PDF) to view available designs, finishing options, and pricing.

For more information or to order your own set of cards, please contact the studio!

Custom Letterpress Business Cards for Designer

Did you know that we can print your letterpress business cards for you - even if you designed it yourself or had another designer design it for you? Yes, we do that! Maybe you've doodled your own ideas for a card on a piece of paper, but aren't sure how to translate these ideas into a draft, or aren't comfortable with design software? No worries, we're here to help! We'd be happy to take whatever start you've made and take it to print! Please contact the studio for more information and for our latest price sheet.

Above is a photo of business cards we printed for graphic designer Betty Hung - she designed the business card (we love the little icons!) and contacted us to see if the design would work well for letterpress printing. It was perfect for letterpress, and her artwork turned out nice and crisp on Crane Lettra 110 lb. Fluorescent White cover stock.

Thanks again Betty - it was a pleasure to work with you on these cards!

Custom Butterfly + Dragonfly Letterpress Invitations

Above are photos of a custom letterpress wedding suite we designed and printed for Jessica and Scott for their wedding earlier this summer. The bride had some ideas about how she wanted the invitations to look, and we enjoyed taking her direction. We also loved her color choices - a bright fuschia and coral.

This invitation had a special meaning for the couple - the dragonfly represented a family member who had passed away unexpectedly. Working with the couple to include this personal tribute in the invitation was an honor for us. Every couple that we meet with has their own story, and helping a bride and groom include something symbolic in their stationery is satisfying for me on a personal level.

Our studio is busy with invitations for Fall 2011 weddings, and Spring 2012 brides and grooms are also getting started with their stationery planning. If you are interested in a quote or more information on our letterpress design and printing services, please contact us early to avoid disappointment. Please note, our studio will be closed for a significant portion of December 2011 for holidays - so if you need your stationery early in the New Year, please do not hesitate to contact us.

In other news, in the next week or so I will be asking our blog readers for photos (more details to come later...) in exchange for free letterpress stationery...so be sure to check back with our blog again very soon!

And finally, for some reason our Facebook group seems to have disappeared. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I think somewhere along the line Facebook changed from groups to fan pages or something and somewhere in the switch we lost our page. I will have to look into this...Does anyone know anything about this or had this happen?

Canada Post Strike and Delivery Issues

Just a quick note for all of our clients, and especially our Letterpress Lovers Club members, to let you know that due to the current Canada Post strike, delivery of some packages sent in June may be delayed. Unfortunately this includes the June 2011 Letterpress Lovers Club mailing - some members in the US and Canada have received their packages, and some have not. The only reason I can fathom for this (since the packages were shipped at the beginning of the month) is that some unfortunately hit CP processing facilities when the rolling strikes started and thus have been sitting unmoved until now.

To read more about the CP strike, please visit: http://clients.infopost.ca/en/

According to the CP website, operations will resume this Monday (tomorrow). This should mean that July's LLC mailing (which will be shipped at the beginning of the month) won't have any problems with delivery. This being said, if you are concerned about receiving your mailing, we can offer courier delivery via Purolator Courier or FedEx at an additional fee.

Wedding, personal stationery, and corporate stationery clients can also opt to have us ship out your orders via Purolator Courier or FedEx if you are concerned about delivery times or future CP strike issues. Please let us know if you prefer to use these other carriers (Purolator is slightly more expensive than CP, and FedEx is generally much more expensive than both CP and Purolator).

We apologize for any inconvenience or disruption to the receipt of your LLC mailings. Unfortunately this is an issue beyond our control - but we hope that as of Monday will no longer be a cause for concern.

Now if only I could get CP to send the cheque for the insurance money they owe us for the damage of a client's art prints from December 2010...it was supposed to be coming "in two days", but that was over a month ago...sigh...

Dear Readers

Just a quick blog update to let you know that we are still alive and well at Sunlit Letterpress. We are in the middle of a busy summer wedding season and are already printing invitations for some upcoming Fall weddings as well. If you have emailed or called for an estimate, please hang tight - I promise we will be in touch a.s.a.p.

I also promise to get back to this blog soon - there is lots to update and photos to be posted!

New Cards and Mini Cards

Available here and here...