Friday, August 31, 2012
Calligraphy Styles
Last spring I did several calligraphy projects for clients and friends. Here are some pics. I have to say, I'm my own worst critic when it comes to my calligraphy but the more I delve into my own signature styles, the more I like it. My favorite style of the bunch is the last handful with the stamps. But I might be partial; they were for Cam's birth announcements!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Brooke's Shower Invitations
Here are some bridal shower invitations that I made for a friend. My friend described the bride as "preppy with a little Lily Pulitzer in her" so I tried to make these fit her personality as much as possible. You can never go wrong with pink and green! And of course, we had to have envelopes with matching liners.
Congratulations Brooke, I hope you have a fabulous shower!
Monday, June 6, 2011
A Prippy Logo
I'm excited to share with you one of my latest projects. I offered to help my friend, Tara from The Prippy Handbook, design her blog logo. She wanted to do a play off of The Preppy Handbook cover so this is what we came up with. What do you think? And if you haven't already, you must check out her stylish blog... it's one of my favorite reads!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Letterpress 90th Birthday Invitations
I'm excited to share with you a project that I recently completed for one of my favorite clients. She asked me to create the invitations to her grandmother's 90th birthday celebration. Her grandmother is an amazing woman, very active and full of life, so I wanted the invitations to reflect her vibrant personality. I designed the invitation in InDesign and then I had it created into a photopolymer plate. I then letterpressed them onto Crane's 110lb. Lettra cardstock at The Arm. I'm really pleased with the way they turned out!
I also created matching address and return labels and lined each envelope with two different letterpress prints. The envelope liners added that extra special touch.
I also created matching address and return labels and lined each envelope with two different letterpress prints. The envelope liners added that extra special touch.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Calligraphy Projects
I've been working on lots of calligraphy projects lately now that it's wedding season. Here are some samples:
A while back, I did some work for Lindsay at Everything LEB and the other day she posted about her gorgeous invitations that she designed. I'm so honored that I got to calligraph her envelopes. Click here to take a look. Thanks for the lovely compliments Lindsay, it was a pleasure working with you!
If you are interested in my calligraphy services or would like to see samples of my work, please email me at: navybeaninfo@gmail.com for more information or visit my Etsy Store.
A while back, I did some work for Lindsay at Everything LEB and the other day she posted about her gorgeous invitations that she designed. I'm so honored that I got to calligraph her envelopes. Click here to take a look. Thanks for the lovely compliments Lindsay, it was a pleasure working with you!
If you are interested in my calligraphy services or would like to see samples of my work, please email me at: navybeaninfo@gmail.com for more information or visit my Etsy Store.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Navy & White Calligraphy Project
I just finished up another calligraphy project and I love the way it turned out. The white ink on navy envelopes looks very crisp and clean and it makes the calligraphy really pop. Navy and white just might be my new favorite color combination!
If you are interested in my calligraphy services or would like to see samples of my work, please email me at: navybeaninfo@gmail.com for more information.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
New Business Cards
After taking my letterpress class at The Arm in October, I was determined to make my own letterpress business cards. I finally got around to making them last month and I'm really pleased with the way they turned out!
I rented studio time using a Vandercook SP-15 to make my prints. I designed my business card layout in InDesign and then submitted it to Boxcar Press so that they could turn it into a photopolymer plate. The photopolymer plate is created in the reverse of your design with the raised portion being the part that makes the indent in the paper. You'll notice part of my design has been cut away because I wanted to create a two color business card.
The Vandercook inked up and ready to go.
Here is the print, hot off the press. You'll see that it's only half complete because when you do two colors you need to run it through the machine twice. After the first run, you clean off the blue ink from the machine and then add the second half of your photopolymer design, re-ink the machine with the second color and run the paper through again. It's a tedious process but well worth it to get the two color design.
Here is the two color design of my business cards but the "bean" in my design isn't quite centered. I had to re-adjust my paper and to get it to print correctly.
The finished print, 8 cards to the 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.
I took a (blurry) picture of my friend Caroline printing on her Vandercook. I helped her design her calling cards and I love the way they came out! The color and geometric patterns really make them pop!
After cutting my cards out using my crop mark guidelines and rounding the corners with my corner rounder, these are the finished cards. My only complaint is that the green is slightly more yellow than I would have liked. I had to mix inks to create the green that I wanted and it was a little bit harder than expected. Regardless, I absolutely love them!
I love the texture and feel of the paper (bought, where else, at Paper Presentation) and the lovely, deep impression of my design, thanks to the Vandercook Press and my photopolymer plate. I'm officially hooked!
I rented studio time using a Vandercook SP-15 to make my prints. I designed my business card layout in InDesign and then submitted it to Boxcar Press so that they could turn it into a photopolymer plate. The photopolymer plate is created in the reverse of your design with the raised portion being the part that makes the indent in the paper. You'll notice part of my design has been cut away because I wanted to create a two color business card.
The Vandercook inked up and ready to go. 
Here is the print, hot off the press. You'll see that it's only half complete because when you do two colors you need to run it through the machine twice. After the first run, you clean off the blue ink from the machine and then add the second half of your photopolymer design, re-ink the machine with the second color and run the paper through again. It's a tedious process but well worth it to get the two color design.
Here is the two color design of my business cards but the "bean" in my design isn't quite centered. I had to re-adjust my paper and to get it to print correctly.
The finished print, 8 cards to the 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.
I took a (blurry) picture of my friend Caroline printing on her Vandercook. I helped her design her calling cards and I love the way they came out! The color and geometric patterns really make them pop!
After cutting my cards out using my crop mark guidelines and rounding the corners with my corner rounder, these are the finished cards. My only complaint is that the green is slightly more yellow than I would have liked. I had to mix inks to create the green that I wanted and it was a little bit harder than expected. Regardless, I absolutely love them!
I love the texture and feel of the paper (bought, where else, at Paper Presentation) and the lovely, deep impression of my design, thanks to the Vandercook Press and my photopolymer plate. I'm officially hooked!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Calligraphy Season!
Happy New Year!
I'm gearing up towards my 2011 calligraphy season and I'm excited to share with you my latest project. I'm working with Lindsay from Everything LEB on her wedding invitations and I couldn't be more thrilled! Lindsay has such fabulous style and taste and I'm truly honored to play a small part in her wedding. She did an amazing post about my calligraphy today, visit her blog to check it out!
I'm gearing up towards my 2011 calligraphy season and I'm excited to share with you my latest project. I'm working with Lindsay from Everything LEB on her wedding invitations and I couldn't be more thrilled! Lindsay has such fabulous style and taste and I'm truly honored to play a small part in her wedding. She did an amazing post about my calligraphy today, visit her blog to check it out!
Would you like to see samples of my work? Please email me at:
navybeaninfo@gmail.com
for a calligraphy kit. I'll include at least 3 samples of my different styles and my rate card. Kits cost just $10.
navybeaninfo@gmail.com
for a calligraphy kit. I'll include at least 3 samples of my different styles and my rate card. Kits cost just $10.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Allyson & Andrew's Wedding
This post is about a year and 2 months late but I'm so excited to share with you Allyson and Andrew's wedding from October 2009. I finally got around to ordering the pictures from her absolutely stunning and wedding and I'm so honored that I got to play a small part on their gorgeous day.
I started off by calligraphing her beautiful wedding invitations. Allyson's wedding was on Halloween so she did an amazing job of incorporating colors and icons of Halloween in a tasteful and classy way. Her wedding colors were black and white with hints of lime green.
Her stationery suite consisted of a hotel bag itineraries, stickers for the travel candles included in the hotel bag, ceremony programs, menus, and flags for the candied apples (picture below).
The wedding and ceremony took place at The Parker Hotel in Palm Springs. The location perfectly suited this unique wedding. I absolutely adore how Allyson and Andrew were literally framed through their entire ceremony by an actual over sized frame!
Allyson had the silhouettes blown up and framed as part of the wedding decor. I love how she kept incorporating that theme throughout.
The table was set with all black linens and place cards were white pumpkins. Completely elegant and the exact opposite of what you find at most weddings.
The reception itself was absolutely stunning with amazing larger than life sized flower centerpieces and spectacular lighting.
A very belated congratulations to you, Allyson and Andrew. Your wedding was magnificently unique and completely unforgettable. Thank you for letting me be a part of your big day!
To see more of Allyson and Andrew's wedding, click here to see their wedding slideshow.
I started off by calligraphing her beautiful wedding invitations. Allyson's wedding was on Halloween so she did an amazing job of incorporating colors and icons of Halloween in a tasteful and classy way. Her wedding colors were black and white with hints of lime green.
Next, I helped Allyson design her wedding logo and stationery. She had already had her silhouette designed by Carter Kustera, a close friend of theirs whose work you might recognize from his collaborations with Jonathan Alder. She wanted to incorporate that silhouette throughout her wedding day stationery suite. I created the logo adding the date and the location, keeping it modern and a little bit funky.
Her stationery suite consisted of a hotel bag itineraries, stickers for the travel candles included in the hotel bag, ceremony programs, menus, and flags for the candied apples (picture below).
The wedding and ceremony took place at The Parker Hotel in Palm Springs. The location perfectly suited this unique wedding. I absolutely adore how Allyson and Andrew were literally framed through their entire ceremony by an actual over sized frame!
Allyson had the silhouettes blown up and framed as part of the wedding decor. I love how she kept incorporating that theme throughout.
The table was set with all black linens and place cards were white pumpkins. Completely elegant and the exact opposite of what you find at most weddings.
The reception itself was absolutely stunning with amazing larger than life sized flower centerpieces and spectacular lighting.
A very belated congratulations to you, Allyson and Andrew. Your wedding was magnificently unique and completely unforgettable. Thank you for letting me be a part of your big day!
To see more of Allyson and Andrew's wedding, click here to see their wedding slideshow.
