Christina & Micheal’s Villa Terrace Wedding

July 13, 2015June 29, 2015 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

Christina and Micheal got married at the end of June at Villa Terrace in Milwaukee. I love the design the couple’s brother/brother-in-law came up with: It’s modern while paying homage to their chosen venue and its current function as a decorative arts museum.We had to make a few tweaks to make them more letterpress-friendly, but overall they’re exactly as they envisioned.

I finished these several months ago (I like to keep invites under wraps until after the nuptials unless the couple says it’s ok!), and looking at them again has me excited to start printing next summer’s invitations! Getting married next summer? It’s not to early to get in touch! Visit the wedding stationery section of my etsy shop or get in touch for a custom design!

622 Studio is here!

June 30, 2015June 29, 2015 ~ 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.

I 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!

The 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.

The 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!

Love is Love

May 7, 2015April 21, 2015 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

Before I moved to Bermuda, I got in touch with all my wholesale clients to see if they wanted to stock up. Not only did this save them on shipping costs for future orders, but it also meant I had less stuff to move.

One of the designs that completely sold out were my “congrats” icons. I had tried reprinting them during one my first press days here, but they’re a fairly temperamental design and things just weren’t working out. Since then I’ve been too busy to get to them!

But a few weeks ago during my printing frenzy for Driftless Studio, I also finally got all three designs on press. They’re available in the shop—hetero couple here, and same-sex couples here and here!

Product photography

April 20, 2015April 17, 2015 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 1 Comment

I have a confession: almost every photo you’ve seen in my etsy shop or on my blog, Facebook page or instagram feed over the last two years has been taken with an iPhone. All my product photography, all those behind-the-scenes studio shots. I have professional editing software and know a few things about styling photos (former Art Director here, remember!), so things have gone well so far.

I do, however, feel something is lacking in my photos of prints and paintings. It’s a hard thing to capture the way a piece of art lights up a room to make the customer feel like it would be perfect in their own space. Since this is something I’m working on making more of (stay tuned for some exciting news in the next month or so!), I enlisted my dear friend and very talented stylist and photographer, Laura Houlihan of Laurels & Stars photography, for some help.

She has an incredible knack for creating gorgeous little vignettes throughout her home, so I knew she would knock this out of the park, but she even went above and beyond my high expectations!

Check out the photos below and pick up any of these prints here!

Modern Calligraphy

April 13, 2015 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

If you follow me on social media, you may remember the Laura Hooper calligraphy kit I received for Christmas last year. It took me three months, but I finally sat down and got started a few weeks ago!

To my own surprise, I’m completely hooked. I’ve spent several afternoons filling up the pages of my practice book until my fingers started to cramp and I feel like I’m starting to get a handle on my own particular style.

At first, it was all about consistency—mostly in width and height of the characters. I tended to start out with very large letters and they shrunk as the line went along. I also tweaked the forms of several letter forms—adding an extra loop inside letters like “a” and “o” and creating a completely different “k”—an important one since it’s in my name!

I’ve recently moved on to addresses, since being able to offer addressing services to wedding clients was the main catalyst for learning calligraphy. I still have some progress to make to figure out the layout and spacing I like, but things are coming along.

I also experimented with the white ink that came in the kit and created this lovely design below. I’m thinking I may sell it as a digital print in my etsy shop… stay tuned!