Tag: leaves

Bespoke hand-drawn save the date coasters

~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 5 Comments

krista_STD_9567Well you guys, it’s official. These are my new favorite save the date coasters of all time ever.

Bride-to-be Krista came to me with some pretty fabulous inspiration pieces featuring hand-drawn nature-inspired illustrations. She also knew she wanted to avoid a super-swashy wedding script, opting instead for more modern typography.

krista_processTaking cues from her guidelines, I went to my sketchbook—always a treat—to sketch up some leafy laurels. After spending a little time vectorizing them, I created a number of options incorporating combinations of hand-drawn fonts. A few rounds of changes later, we had it!

krista_STD_9571I printed them in a custom blue-grey from her color palette and I’m so pleased with the results!

Interested in a set of custom coasters of your own? Get in touch!

 

 

Watercolor Works: Fruit & Flowers

~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 2 Comments

I find that that inspiration comes in waves—for a week or two I’m all about new letterpress projects, the next it’s sewing, and the next it’s drawing.  Recently, I’ve felt inspired to work with watercolors again. I’ve got some top secret ideas for a new product line (stay tuned!) but in the mean time, new original paintings are available in my shop!

pink_magnolia_622P31As always, these lovely vignettes were styled and shot by the incredibly talented Laurels & Stars Photography. pomegranates_P27I’ve also been super busy with design work and have had the opportunity to work some watercolor into a recent logo project! The client hasn’t picked one yet, but I’m rooting for the watercolor!

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622 Studio is here!

~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 2 Comments

While I was away, 622 press turned seven! This year to celebrate our birthday, I’ve launched 622 Studio: the digital version of the brick-and-mortar shop I want to have someday. Now, instead of just printed goods and stationery, I’ll be selling everything I create—textiles, art, crochet accessories, paper flowers and more—in my etsy shop!

The first new product line I launched last week are my new paper flowers! Each one is made from sheet of crepe paper that I’ve cut and molded into individual petals, then assembled around a wire stem. I add a sepal and wrap the stem with floral tape, sculpt the petals a bit more, and voila! A gorgeous flower that remains fresh all year long.

single_peony_7540I loved figuring out the structure of each different bloom and shaping the petals to be as lifelike as possible. In the shop you’ll find individual blooms (perfect for home decor and craft projects!), ready-to-go bouquets and home decor. I’ll also be offering wedding services soon!

small-bouquet_7172adventure_P30The other new product line I’ve launched thus far is digital art prints! I’ve shared a little bit of my watercolor work and hand-lettering here, and this is what it’s all been working toward. I scan the artwork from my sketchbook, do some photoshop and vector work and then combine them into a design I’d love to hang on my wall.

jetaime_P4The best part about these prints is that they’re inexpensive and instantaneous: All you have to do is purchase them in my etsy shop and either print the jpg that arrives in your inbox on your home photo printer or send them over to Kinko’s, Walgreens, etc., then pop them in a frame!

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Warm Gold Wedding Invites

~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been reshooting and pitching letterpress projects to various blogs lately, and it made me think about all the projects you missed while I wasn’t blogging last year! So, I’m going to start reminiscing and featuring a few of my favorites over the next couple weeks. Remember: if you see something you like, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

First up: One of the other wedding invitations I had on my plate last year. This one was a little simpler than Amy’s wedding stationery extravaganza, but no less beautiful.

When the bride, Melissa, contacted me, she already had a design for her invitations worked up—and it featured a crest that the groom had drawn himself. I love that the couple worked together to create their invites! I helped Melissa with some of the technical aspects of the files while she had a trial version of InDesign, and converted the leaves to vectors myself.

Chen_5636Since I have two different gold inks (one that prints like shit but is very sparkly, and one that is not so sparkly, but more more reliable when it comes to print quality), I sent Melissa a few test samples with different proportions of each ink to choose from. Then, I spent a couple hours chopping up some lovely Pearl white Lettra paper and got to work!

The invitations turned out beautifully, with the simple design really showing off the impression one can achieve with letterpress.

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