Fill In the Blank

February 28, 2015February 25, 2015 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

While I’ve spent hundreds of hours over the years designing and producing custom invitation suites for weddings and parties, I realize not every event has the budget or timeline necessary for bespoke invites.

However, I believe more casual events deserve special stationery too, so I created the first several designs in a new line of fill-in invitations. Perfect for a dinner party, kids’ birthday, or casual shower, these flat letterpress invitations feature space to write in the details and are available in five designs—with more to come.

My two favorite designs (above) incorporate extra-special handmade elements. One features a hand-painted watercolor ombre background, while the other’s polka dots were carved by hand before being letterpress printed in baby blue ink. (And the latter has matching coasters available as well!)

These and more—bikes, daisies, lace—available in the shop!

Be Mine

January 25, 2015January 23, 2015 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

I think it goes without saying at this point that I love a good monogram. I printed myself some monogrammed coasters with my new wood type when I first got it and finally got around to listing them in the shop!

While I was working up the samples, I also made a little coaster garland for Valentine’s Day—an idea I’ve had in my head for quite a while. It turned out so cute and I think it would translate beautifully into any holiday, or for the names of the couple at a wedding!

A Year of Letterpress

January 23, 2015 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

When I redesigned my website a few months ago, I gave my card-of-the-month club a bigger presence. I love the idea of creating a relationship with stationery lovers and sending them a little something special each month.

However, the card club does skew toward gift giving, and if you know you’ll be moving sometime throughout the year, or you just want everything all at once, it wouldn’t work for you. So, I recently created a listing for a year’s worth of cards. The collection covers major special occasions—birthdays, graduations, weddings, etc.—and a handful of holidays, plus thank you cards and greeting-free notes you can use for any occasion.

Truth time, folks: I also have an ulterior motive with this one. I’m hard at work on a new collection for spring and I’m running out of space for all my inventory! So, for one more week, a set of 40 cards will run you just $80! Once things settle down and I find space for everything, they’ll go up to $100, so get them now! Go! Go buy them!

Readymade Wedding Invitations

January 8, 2015January 9, 2015 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 2 Comments

As I’ve mentioned in a few past blog posts, I’ve been working on wedding invitation designs that couple can just pluck off the digital shelf, send me their event information, and—presto!—their invites arrive within a few weeks. Last year I had several couple get in touch with too little time before their nuptials, so I thought these would be the perfect solution for last minute brides.

I’ve also recently realized that for non-designers, starting to brainstorm a design from scratch is totally overwhelming. I’ve had a few designs bopping around my head for a while that haven’t quite suited any of my clients thus far—so my hope is that by having a design in front of them, couples will find the process easier.

Find all current designs here—I’ll be adding more all the time! Get in touch if you’re getting hitched!

Mono-a-Mono

July 23, 2012 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 1 Comment

One of the best parts about buying handmade directly from the artist is the ability to collaborate on custom work. Unfortunately, this can be an expensive, overwhelming and relatively slow process, so I’ve been working on ways to make custom letterpress pieces more accessible. The solution? A customizable piece with a finite number of choices for each aspect of the design.