good fortune + the ABCs

remember those folded paper fortune teller thingys that you'd make in elementary school when you were supposed to be doing your work? nostalgia kicked in when i discovered this neatly-designed and witty paper fortune teller on design*sponge. so awesome that sycamore street press thought of creating a letterpress printed version! you can even purchase it online.

and do you also remember when you learned your ABCs? sycamore street press has simple but design-savvy prints of the alphabet and numbers for any little junior letterpress lovers out there. i like their colour combinations and the little animals that peek out around the letters and numbers..."next time won't you sing with me?"

images: design*sponge and sycamore street press

oh baby!

this is one of the coolest birth announcements ever! its simple and stylish design is so unique and is bursting with character. it was designed by baby stella's parents tosh and victoria, and letterpress printed by mandate press in four spot colours on 100% cotton cranes lettra paper. heavenly! what a way to introduce a baby to the world.

images: mandate press

go ahead and blush

check out these playful + happy designs from blush publishing in the u.k.! they were designed by debbie ohi, an illustrator and writer who resides in toronto, canada. i love the japanese flavour and the cute expressions on the animals' and children's faces! happy day!

images: blush publishing

birthday cards!

wow, it's been more than two weeks since my last post. apologies to the blog universe! my birthday was on may 31 and i was a lucky recipient of some awesome letterpress cards from friends and family.

pictured above are samples from blush publishing, lark press, snow and graham, enormous champion, and egg press. i also threw in some other totally non-letterpress-related pics of a gorgeous bouquet of peonies and sweetpeas which i received from one of my friends, as well as the colourful, yummy, and stylish paulette macarons from hayes valley in san francisco which a friend brought back specially for my birthday. (i guess they do kinda fit in here as letterpress, peonies, and parisian-style macarons are three of my very favourite things on earth!).

SAB letterpress

tokyo is one of my favourite cities, if not my #1! and it's home to SAB letterpress a fabulous-looking letterpress studio. i was excited to find that there are a handful of letterpress studios in japan. i haven't had the fortune of visiting any of these shops in person yet but i plan to search them out on my next trip. i was in tokyo this past october but i didn't have a chance to do much letterpress-hunting as i was having fun watching my 9-month-old on his first trip overseas discover new sights, sounds, and smells in japan. :)

although the site is in japanese, the photographs on the site are amazing. unfortunately my japanese isn't good enough or i'd try to translate for you...above are some samples of their work. i really love the combination of japan + letterpress! sigh...enjoy!

images: SAB letterpress

put on your smock

in case you haven't noticed :), i have lots of favourite letterpress companies. another new fave of mine is smock paper whose parent company is boxcar press one of the largest letterpress studios in the usa. smock promotes sustainability and prints on a luxury bamboo paper. not only is smock eco-friendly but their designs are fabulous too. i especially like their beautifully-patterned, hand-lined envelopes. smock's designer is amy graham stigler who also co-founded stationery company snow & graham. pictured here are greeting cards with gorgeous hand-lined envelopes, social stationery suites, wedding invitation suites, and party invites.

images: smock paper

i like blue

blue is one of my favourite colours. i like a bunch of different shades of blue. i really like typography too. in typography class i remember feeling a bit odd that i was loving studying the parts of a letter so much. you know, the serifs, ascenders, descenders, stems, bars, bowls, etc...

i also like blue pool road which is a minimalist + eco chic stationery/design studio. they also love typography, color and especially being green. pictured above are some samples of their amazing work. i love the simple, effective designs and of course their use of type and colours.

images: blue pool road

tag me!

oooh, i found these little gems from the flourish collection from seattle, washington. these pretty round tags have a perfectly scalloped edge. each one is letterpress printed with a dainty flower pattern and tied with a silk ribbon. for more details or to purchase a package of four tags, check out their site. what girl wouldn't love to receive one of these tags on a gift?

images: the flourish collection