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!

Coaster Roller

September 10, 2014September 18, 2014 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 1 Comment

My favorite new items from the last year are my coasters! The first were save the dates for this wedding, and since the minimum order of coaster blanks was 1,000 I started playing around with existing designs and wood type. Some of my faves were the drink coasters below, currently out of stock because I pared down for the move, but I’ll print some more soon!

The coasters have been so popular, I’ve since ordered a couple thousand more blanks. The first design I drew specifically for a coaster was this citrus design. I love to have a variety pack on hand for summer entertaining and I think a large quantity of single-color coasters would truly be great as part of a baby or wedding shower theme! They’re available here.

Game day coasters are also awesome—the ones below are exclusively available at Driftless Studio in Madison, WI.

And finally, most recently things came full circle for another save the date for a couple in Australia. Get in touch if you need custom coasters of your own!

Making the best of it

July 16, 2012 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

As promised: My latest print! While not quite the way I imagined, I’m really excited about it because of what I’ve learned in the process of creating it. First of all, the type: this is the first time I’ve locked up a mixed type layout this large and it went pretty well! It’s also helped me determine what typefaces I need to add to my collection.

The design: I always love letterpress prints with a lot of depth created by overlapping transparent imagery. My inks this time around weren’t as transparent as they should have been–I’m learning just how much tint base medium I need mixed into my pigment. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the outcome and I know exactly what direction to pursue in future work.

“Be kind for everyone is fighting a hard battle.”

–Plato

I believe human nature is inherently good. Why is it so easy to allow greed, carelessness and, perhaps worst of all, wanting to be right to get in the way of our nature? This last year has been a period of introspection and personal growth, and I think one of the most important things maturity teaches us is that our struggles are no more difficult than anyone else’s. Everyone has their own cross to bear; whether it’s an ailing loved one, a failing relationship, a never-ending to-do list, or financial woes. Yours is no more important than your neighbor’s, theirs is no more important than yours. With a little compassion we might just all make it through unscathed.

Be kind to each other. There are more important things than being right, looking better or getting people on your side. Treat those you encounter with kid gloves, you never know what’s just beneath the surface.

New Embroidery

February 28, 2012 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

Sorry guys, I’m officially out of clever puns for posts about embroidery at the moment. But I have been stitching furiously!

I think my stitcher’s block earlier this month stemmed from not having an image of the final product in my head before I began. So lately I’ve been creating free form designs—no drawing on the fabric before hand, no tracing a sketch. I’ve been experimenting with new stitches and techniques, all the while just adding whatever I feel like in the moment. I love the way they’ve turned out, expect more of these in the future! Of course, these are all available here.