I’m excited to share my letterpressed CD packaging for Lullabies for Africa. This was a really sweet project to work on and I thank Haleigh Steere for the opportunity. The album is available for purchase if you follow the link, and all proceeds will go to families adopting from Africa, as well as fund Haleigh’s trip to Kenya. To celebrate the album release, Cafe Milo in Ames hosted a sweet party where artists shared their songs under a big tent outside the cafe. So fun! Our dear friends have recently adopted from Africa and I thought I’d share a fun shot of Bobby and Little O. Scott testing out some mustaches.
This was by far my biggest challenge on the press. I had to add ink constantly and make sure that every little detail was printing perfectly. There were four separate plates in all, so it was bit grueling to execute 2000 impressions with a hand-fed press. Luckily Chad helped me print the last 500. (Husbands are the best!)
All photography shown (except last three shots) is by Logan Clement Photography.
It’s so so beautiful outside today. I was feeling confined in my office so I went and took a walk around the farm for a while. Hope you are finding beauty (or fuzzy creatures) where you are! Have a great weekend!
Amidst the busyness, I thought I would share a bit of news. 1. I bought a new camera! Hooray. It’s a Canon Rebel T3i. I’m determined to master my own product photography rather than hiring it done, so a new camera is the first step. I’d much rather hire it done, but since I live in the middle of a cornfield, this is the best option. (Luckily I have some amazing photographer friends who like to provide me direction.) 2. I broke out the scarves this week! It’s now the start of fall in Iowa, which means chilly mornings and evenings. (Love it.) This is my typical work wardrobe: Large cotton T-shirt, some sort of sweater or cardigan and leggings. (Add socks and scarf in the fall/winter.) Pretty sexy eh? What do you wear to work?
Everybody loves letterpress, so it’s great to be able to give stationery as gifts! Last weekend, I printed two sets of stationery I designed for two lovely couples: The Madden’s & The Johnson’s. Gold ink on Pearl White stock is quite lovely. These were paired with kraft envelopes.
Hope everyone’s week is going well so far. We had a crazy weekend with 2 weddings, but it was sweet to finish off the weekend on the lake with our family. (Unfortunately, I’m still really sore from wake-boarding.) This week I’m finishing up my packaging design for the Lullabies for Africa CD. I’m also doing lots of printing, so I can’t wait to share what’s been on the press.
Above are invitations I designed and printed for my dear friend Maria’s adoption shower this past spring. Bobby and Maria adopted two boys from Africa. (Their second son will arrive next week!) I’m so so excited to meet him.
Thought I would post a congratulations card I made this past week for friends of ours that just had a baby. I like the idea of sending a bunting, because it is something they can hang up and “use” for a while. I also spent a lot of time with my watercolors this past week. (A scene from my painting desk.) Hope you all have a lovely week.
Happy Monday! I thought I would post a baby shower invite that I designed and letterpressed a few months ago. I paired the invites with Paper-Source gravel envelopes and made some custom envelope liners from silver/gray patterned paper, also from Paper-Source. I ended up making paper-cranes out of the same patterned stock to use as table decorations at the shower. (Of course I took zero photos at the shower. That’s what happens when you host something.)
A few new albums that you need to listen to: Riptide by Beirut & The Whip It (movie) Soundtrack. So great! I walked down the aisle to “Scenic World” by Beirut, so I’m already very partial to Zach Condon’s music.
I’m sure I will be MIA from posting the next couple weeks as I have a flood of stationery to design and projects to print. I’m praying for floods of creativity and productivity. :)
I got some new gold and neon ink in the mail this past weekend. I’m SO excited to start printing with some new colors. I usually order ink by the pound (Van Son Rubber-Based is my fave), but since these colors won’t be used as often I went with the 1/4 pound tubes. If you are interested in ordering some ink in the tube, let me know and I’ll pass on my resource.
Finally! The canvas I had been working on for church is finished. I like how it turned out. I know with painting something this huge, I probably could’ve spent another two days refining it and getting every detail perfect. (It was hard to stop working!) But alas, I need to start on other projects. Up next, a CD package design to help fund African adoptions and a dear friend’s trip to Kenya. I also get to letterpress all of the packaging. I’m super excited.
I printed these birth announcements last weekend for my dear nephew Ralph. He’s absolutely darling and I had hoped to make announcements to match. These were printed on 100% cotton paper with a welcoming gray linen envelope. A 5x7 photo was mailed along with Ralph’s announcement.
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I’m super inspired by Dana Tanamachi. Dana works at Louise Fili, but her expertise is specifically in chalk-lettering and she creates these completely impressive chalk installations for a variety of clients. Be sure to check out the time-lapse videos…so cool. As I’ve been working on this canvas lettering (see yesterday’s post), I’ve thought of her work today. I’m not used to doing lettering in large format AND i’m not very practiced in lettering with a brush. (I swear by Pilot extra fine pens or TOMBOW markers.) This little project has definitely been a fun little challenge. I hope to finish it to share with you tomorrow.
Some other side notes…I’m trying to do a better job of sharing resources because I know so many designers who are definitely in the same boat I am. (Business owners working from home.) One thing that I’ve been excited about are a couple new apps I downloaded to help me be productive. One is Pomodoro, which helps me stay productive/efficient by challenging me to work for a specified period of time and remember to take a break. Breaks are so important, and I tend to not take them…which I think makes me less efficient. This tip was stolen from Grace Bonney. The second is Day One, which is a journal app. I use this to keep track of what I’m actually doing during the day. To stay productive, my husband challenged me to constantly track my activity, the same way I used to at the studio I worked at. This seems to help me feel like my job is “real.”
Things have been quite busy in the studio, mainly with a couple branding projects, a billboard design, and a letterpress birth announcement, which I hope to share this week. I’m also working on a canvas for our church. It’s a very fun combo of collage and acrylic paint. Here are some progress shots!
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