We've been so busy this Spring with wedding invitations, note cards and designing and printing our new items that we've neglected the blog for a while. Now that our Spring line is finished, we're finally getting a chance to show what we've been working on. We're particularly excited about our journals. We printed 6 cover designs on beautiful Fabriano paper and had them perfect bound at a bindery around the corner from our studio in Brooklyn. It is a little more expensive to produce things here in New York City but we like to be able to support other local manufacturing businesses and the quality is so nice when someone is making and checking each piece by hand.  Here are some images of the new books.

One of our bespoke, monogrammed coasters has been featured in Martha Stewart Real Weddings! A great complement to any formal dining experience or a reception bar.

A couple of our wedding announcements were recently featured on the Martha Stewart Weddings "inspiration" section. Have a look at some great ideas from us and others!

Our daughter, Greta, is five and making valentines for the 24 children in her kindergarten class seemed daunting so we decided it was time she worked on her first letterpress project.  She drew a heart and signed her name on a sheet of paper and I scanned the image to create the plate for printing.  She directed the ink mixing until it was the perfect shade of pink (of course).  I printed the cards and she took them off the press and counted to make sure we had enough.  We then punched holes and added the lolly-pops.  Next up, birthday invitation designs...

We love painted edges on invitation stationery. It's such an elegant way to add a subtle pop of color. Here is a stack of invitations and response cards with lilac painted edges. It is almost a shame to have to separate the the stacks to mail out.

Paper is precious to us and we hate to let anything go to waste, so when we set up a project to print, we will use scraps of paper or misprinted cards to test the color and impression. Once we get as far in the set up process as we can go using scraps, we'll use clean paper to proof before we start the print run. Sometimes the test prints can be really beautiful with strange mixes of color and type etc...  Here is a photo of a coaster created by testing two of the new graphic prints, one on top of the other.  I would love a dress made out of this pattern!

Happy first of February!  We've just released our first set of letterpress printed Valentines.  These are available on our shop site now.  It's fun to work with pink and red ink and print sweet little notes that will make someone's day!

We're excited to be participating in a couple Valentine's Day events in the next couple weeks.  Please join us to make Valentine Coasters or drink Valentine cocktails:

We'll be at Etsy Labs on Tuesday, February 7th (from 5pm-8pm) with two of our hand presses printing Valentine coasters: http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/etsy-hands-on-valentines/  .

The next evening, Wednesday, February 8th, we'll be at Thistle & Clover in Brooklyn for a Valentine Cocktail party and shopping event: http://www.facebook.com/events/223443284407275/.

We hope to see you at one of these events!

We're introducing a new line of invitation designs featuring brighter, graphic elements. It's really fun to work with the bright colors and patterns. We printed coasters to match and I think we'll keep adding more designs to have a full range of textile-inspired bright coasters for the Spring. It's about time we start planning for the Stationery Show...