Ooh, baby, baby!

October 6, 2015October 6, 2015 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

I’m to the age where everyone around me seems to be having babies. A few weeks ago, I somehow I ended up taking charge of the décor for a friend’s baby shower (no idea how that happened…). I found the cutest marquis letters at Target, added in some Martha Stewart party decor and handmade bunting and flags. I also made a diaper cake—from scratch!

My etsy customers must be in the same life stage as I am, because recently I had a woman buy all the remaining “Holy Crap you made a tiny human” cards. At one of my wholesalers’ request, I reprinted them in pink and blue—for her shop and mine! I love these cards so much and I’m overjoyed to see them flying off the shelves.

I finally got around to printing my icon congrats cards in light pink and blue as well—plus the gender-neutral yellow at the top of this post.

Don’t worry, though, we’ve got more than cards! Of course you should pick up an everlasting bouquet for the new mama, but what about a little art for when she gets home? I just love these ABC and 123 prints in a nursery!

And of course, if you’re running behind or the baby was early, just grab one of these digital downloads, send it over to your local photo center and have a print in hand this afternoon!

Words with Friends

May 18, 2015May 13, 2015 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

As you may remember, just a few weeks before I moved to Bermuda, I bought a bunch of vintage wood type from a college classmate who was closing her shop. I never even got a chance to print with it in Wisconsin, it went straight from the back of my car to the containers I was loading into my crate.

Within the first few months, I had proofed all the type and was offering custom stationery sets in a variety of styles along with a handful of type-based note cards, but after that I focused on my attention on my spring collection and let my wood type gather dust.

I’m happy to report that I’m rather word-focused at the moment and my collection of vintage type is getting inked up regularly. Check out the stop-motion video I made of locking up type before printing!

The “hell yeah” card and others are now available in my etsy shop. Here are a few of my faves—check them all out here!

Oh hi! You made it all the way to the end of the post! For that you get a little sneak peek of something else I’ve been working on… more to come :) Thanks for reading!

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!

Debossed prints for Brain Mill Press

February 18, 2015February 15, 2015 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 1 Comment

Last week, I received an email about a rush letterpress job for a Wisconsin book printer. They were releasing a new publication and wanted something special for customers who pre-ordered the book.

I only had a few days to create the print, but luckily, they were flexible on the design, so I was able to use some of the vintage lead type I have in the shop, and they were very interested in the idea of a blind deboss, which means no waiting time for ink to dry. (Plus, inkless prints are a bit cheaper than regular ones, since I’m using fewer supplies and save quite a bit of time without inking and cleaning the press.) I’ve written about creating an impression before, and this design was absolutely perfect for creating a deep, sharp deboss.

I shuffled my schedule around a little and was able to complete these in time for their newsletter last weekend! Scroll down for more about the book and to see my bio!

Interested in a custom print for your corporate or personal life? Shoot me an email, let’s see what we can come up with!