letterpress aloha

hello letterpress blog world! i recently got back from a fabulous girls-only trip to Maui with seven of my closest high school girlfriends to celebrate our friendship and what we called *aloha 40* or *hawaii 4-0*! :) my best friend brought my attention to Kat Reeder, a talented illustrator and designer whose work captures the spirit of the romantic, tropical, unique paradise that is hawaii. she just released a gorgeous limited edition letterpress print of one of her girls. see Kat's blog for more awesome images of the printing process (*love love!!*) at South Shore Paperie and to view more of her work.

images: kat reeder

happy spring

survived the wet winter here in vancouver and am feeling optimistic about the new season with a few recent sunny days! love these sweet designs for spring from satsuma press.

images: satsuma press

'tis the season!

season's greetings! i love this time of year as crazy busy as it is for me. i love the holiday songs, the sparkling lights, the sweet treats and warm drinks, the twinkle in the kids' eyes, and of course all those letterpress cards. these are my faves from fugu fugu press!

images: fugu fugu press

mmmmm macarons and more!

i love love macarons. those real parisian-type sweets...

my faves have just the perfect amount of crispy and chewy with a creamy filling and not overly sweet. mmmmm! this girl is most fond of macarons from laduree (originating in paris with other locations including tokyo and nyc) and miette (san francisco). sycamore street press has a series of pastry-illustrated cards which are adorable and mouth-watering.

images: sycamore street press

patterns and friends

i love love these cards from night owl paper goods. simply illustrated animals merged with cool patterns in the background. adorable!

images: night owl paper goods

oooh, letterpress on film

autumn greetings! is must be hard to believe after all these months but yes, it's a new post! :) my non-blogging life has been busy with yet another new baby in the mix – my baby girl was born on july 20th and our household now consists of three children under age four. during my blogging hiatus i have still been inspired by letterpress but haven't had the opportunity to write...

i recently came across this little film Trip Print Press & The Making Of FreshSox. i could watch this over and over and over again. i love Nicholas Kennedy's (of Trip Print Press in Toronto) description and remarks about letterpress in this day and age. i too could spend hours and hours in a letterpress studio with its tactile papers, the carefully sorted drawers of metal and wood type, and those impressions on pages...check it out and enjoy!

i also just watched for the 100th time the fabulous film starring egg press called Egg Press Work and Whirl. you must watch this one too if you haven't already.

so happy to be back and will write again soon!

uppercase types

i've become enamoured with uppercase magazine. the design and content of this high-quality publication is second to none! based out of calgary, alberta it features goodies, info and articles for creative-types such as design, illustration, photography, books, textiles, stationery, crafts and lots, lots more. when i read that their next issue (#8, available in february 2011) features letterpress it made me love them even more. :)

above is a sample of one of the spreads in the next issue. included in the letterpress issue will be an actual sample of letterpress printing provided by various letterpress studios. also featured will be an interview with studio on fire, an incredibly creative and talented studio in minneapolis which i have mentioned before...they printed the oh-so-cool-and-brilliant campfire for graphic design and branding firm swink. oooh, can't wait for issue 8 to come out!

images: uppercase

scallop me

as you may know egg press is one of my favourite letterpress studios. these pretty red and green vintagey-feeling cards have an adorable scalloped edge and cute christmassy graphics. bring on the egg nog and candy canes!

images: egg press