New Retailer: The Waxwing

April 3, 2016March 29, 2016 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

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I’m super excited to announce 622 Press goods are now available at The Waxwing in Milwaukee! I’ve been wanting to get into MKE for years now, but hadn’t found the right fit—until now! The Waxwing is just my style: an eclectic mix of local and international artists and makers curated into a one-stop shop for any occasion, including when you just need to treat yourself!

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Owner Steph carries art and paper goods as well as clothing, housewares and more! She’s carrying my wood type “hello” cards in exclusive colors, along with a few of my favorite designs for any occasion! Stop by E. North Avenue to see them all! hello_multi_1563

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Snarky New Hoop Art

March 31, 2016March 17, 2016 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been friend with Nicole, who I recently visited in Houston, since she moved to Wisconsin in fifth grade. She’s one of the funniest, weirdest (in a good way!) people I know, and also happens to love the embroidery hoops I can’t seem to stop making. So when she started shouting out funny and often inappropriate phrases followed by “Put that in a hoop!” I started taking notes.

The first hoop I worked on was actually my idea—one of my favorite sayings actually! A lot of these hoops will be set in my favorite gorgeous calligraphy typeface, I just love the contrast of the cheeky message with the elegant typography—especially in such a traditional medium. It’s been super popular on Instagram, so get it here while you can!

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These little orange numbers are all Nicole. I even sent the “lolz” design her way as a birthday present last week (hopefully it has arrived and I didn’t just ruin the surprise!), but if you want your own (in custom colors!), just get in touch.

I’ve also made a few non-vulgar hoops, but where’s the fun in that? Anyway, this dreamcatcher one is my favorite. Get it here.

Well folks, now I have some sad news. I’m out of hoops. I went to the local fabric store to pick up some more, and oddly enough, all sizes were about the same price. But that means the smaller sizes cost about 5 times what they cost in the states, so I just can’t swing it. I’m exploring other ways to frame these up (which may end up being cheaper to ship too! YAY!), but in the mean time, I’ll still be stitching away! Here’s a design that doesn’t have a home yet:

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Now go away ;)

2016: All Pink Everything

March 5, 2016March 6, 2016 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

Officially, Pantone named two colors of the year for 2016: Rose Quartz and Serenity (which is a sort of pastel blue), but so far from where I stand it’s been all about lovely shades of blush pink.

First, bride-to-be Krista got in touch. I had designed and printed her save the date coasters last year and they were some of my favorites, so I was thrilled to hear from her! I’ll do a bigger reveal after their wedding day, but here’s a sneak peek of their dusty rose wrap that holds all the invitation elements together.

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Another bride from last year got in touch just after Krista. The future Mrs. O’Brien went for a more formal design for her wedding stationery, which features the same pink filigree pattern, gold family crest and formal script as her save the dates. Her invitations are hot off the press (and drying all over my house) as I type, so I don’t even have a sneak peek for you yet, but stay tuned!

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I’ve also been working on non-letterpress wedding invitations lately. I’ve been thinking about offering less expensive options for a while now, since not every bride can or wants to spend several hundred (or more) dollars on their invitations. And, as smaller celebrations become more popular, the price-per-invite goes up, since the initial supply costs for letterpress work are so high. Although personally I still think it’s totally worth it!

I recently connected with a photographer via The Rising Tide Society that offered to shoot some of my new invites! Nicole over at Simply Charming Pictures did a great job, I can’t wait to share the rest of her work! Watercolor invitations aren’t yet available online, but get in touch if you’re interested!

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As I was finishing up those big wedding projects, a new mom got in touch via Etsy about invitations for her baby girl’s first birthday party. She loved my Watercolor Ombre Fill-in Invitations, but wondered if I could make them in pink and gold instead… to which I said of course! I knew I would love the results, so I made an extra set to list in the shop—find them here!

And finally, I’ve finally started ordering a few new printing plates for my own projects. You may have noticed I didn’t launch as many new cards last year. When I first moved, I was so excited to have so much time for letterpress work that I may have gone a little crazy and printed all the cards I’d had bouncing around my head for years but never had the time to print, and my stock got a little out of hand. Not only do I have limited space to store everything, but it’s difficult to keep track of nearly 200 different designs!

Someday when I have my own shop, I’ll be able to maintain that kind of inventory, but for the time being, I needed to pare things down. I’m finally at a place now where enough designs have sold out so I’m ready to create some new work!

Far and away my favorite of the new fonts I bought a few months back is this beautiful modern calligraphy typeface. It’s perfect for wedding season! My “Mr & Mrs” cards have always been popular, but I’ve been feeling like the design needed an upgrade, so I designed these! Pick up a set here. I also wanted to created a new design that would not only work for weddings (and not even same-sex unions at that), but any joyous occasion—birthdays, adoption, engagement, graduation… you name it, this card works. Available in blush here, but I’m thinking of printing them in lots of colors… feel free to comment with what you’d like to see next!

Idaho Farm Business Cards and Stationery

February 28, 2016 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

Price Farms’ stationery is the last of my new year projects. I print a lot of business cards, but these were a particular challenge—not only are they a three-color job, but they also feature reversed-out type on a solid color flood background… twice. I printed lots of extras to allow for imperfections and mis-registration and I’m quite pleased with how they turned out!

The letterhead was a completely different story. I ordered the lighter text weight version of my favorite Crane paper and they printed like a dream! I was a little worried I wouldn’t get a good impression into such a light paper, but I was so wrong. I just love how they turned out!

To Give Without Expecting anything in Return

February 17, 2016February 9, 2016 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

I can’t beleive I haven’t shared this with you all yet, as it was one of the more interesting experiences of my trip home, but I guess that’s what you get when you’re a bad blogger…

Last fall, I designed this logo (plus a few other options, but this is my favorite!) for Laura, a Madisonian I’ve known for years, we first met through the magazine I used to work for, I got my hair done at the salon she owned for a number of years, we have lots of friends in common. She is also an intuitive reader, or, for lack of a subtler word, a psychic.

While I was home in Wisconsin, I did something very much outside my comfort zone and went to a reading with her. I actually tried not to think about it before my appointment so as not to create expectations in my mind, but even after being acquainted with Laura all this time, the experience was still not what I expected. More than anything else, it was like having coffee with a friend who wants what’s best for you and gives great advice (and might know a thing or two you haven’t actually told her).

I left feeling renewed, uplifted about life in Bermuda, the relationship that brought me here and the direction I’m moving in career-wise. There’s been more than one little nugget of advice that has stuck with me since our chat, but the one producing the most tangible results right now is when we were talking about how to grow my business in a country that doesn’t allow me to work locally. Laura told me to give (my work, my time, my expertise, etc.) without expecting anything in return (particularly since I can’t currently accept money for any of those things). Say what you will about karma, but so far it’s working out in my favor.

A few weeks ago, I was putting together Valentine’s Day orders for two of my stockists. I had pulled all the cards from my stock, and I was just short on a few things for one of the stores, which means I would have had to do two printing days for less than $10 immediate profit. Then I remembered that I had a few extra cards in a different custom design for the other store and I decided to give them those for free. When I pulled the cards I was going to give away, I happened across the exact quantity of cards I needed for the first shop!

Perfect coincidences like that remind me that the universe is working in ways that you or I won’t see until the right time… and we just have to trust the journey.