Etsy Treasury

2paws Designs recently added my Classic Car Notecards to her Planes, Trains and Automobiles Treasury on Etsy. I'm trilled to be included in such a neat collection of handmade items. Click here to check it out.

Hello from Buffalo!

Introducing the new Hello from Buffalo cards! These beauties began with hand lettering, which was then vectorized and made into a photopolymer plate. They'll be available in the Etsy shop soon along with some other fun new cards.

Valentine's Day Card Fun

It's almost time for that most huggy-wuggy, smoochey-woochey of holidays...Valentine's Day! Which makes now a perfect time for me to show off the letterpress Lub cards available in the Etsy shop.

So, what is lub supposed to mean? Lub, as defined by the urban dictionary, is "a simple, cutesey and flirty word between like, luv and love."

I started seeing it a lot online and, the more I saw it, the more I began to like the combined letterforms of L, U and B. That led to some fun calligraphy exercises, which then developed into the final artwork for this card.

I hope you lub it as much as I do!

Happy Groundhog's Day!

As I work my way towards some fun new letterpress cards, I wanted to stop for a minute and wish everyone a very happy Groundhog's Day!

Groundhog's Day is one of my favorite holidays of the year. If groundhogs could lay Cadbury Eggs, it would be shear perfection.

This year I decided to try my hand at something different and make some block printed cards. After a few rounds of sketches, I finalized my groundhog and lettering. Then, both images were carved out of linoleum.

I chose an oil based block printing ink and printed on Strathmore's pre-cut Sugar Cane Cards. It's one of Strathmore's earth friendly options*, made from 50% sugar cane and 50% post-consumer waste fiber. The paper has a nice smooth, feel to it and a creamy ivory texture. It also has flecks of color from some of the visible paper fibers. It was really fun stock to work with. Although, I'm not sure the flecks in the paper added much to this particular project.

So without further ado...here's the final print.

Happy Groundhog's Day!

*Strathmore also has hemp and bamboo papers which I plan to test out soon!

Holiday Cards and Coasters

Whew! It's been super busy in the design studio and print shop lately, but I wanted to make a quick post to announce my new holiday cards and coasters.

These cards and coasters feature original artwork and lettering that was drawn, scanned, vectorized and then made into a photopolymer plate for the letterpress. After the tree and greeting were printed, the ornaments were hand painted to add the prefect finishing touch. Below are a couple pictures of the work in progress.

The final hand-drawn lettering was scanned and cleaned up in Photoshop.

Each letter was then redrawn as vector art.

A photopolymer plate was made from the vector files. Above is the finished plate ready to be inked and printed.

And there you have it, a peek at how my cards go from sketch to letterpress!

Ding and Happy Birthday

Whoot! Announcing two new cards now for sale in my Etsy Shop, Happy Birthday and Ding*. I'm super happy with how these turned out.

Both cards are three color and printed on ecru Lettra with a bright, sassy, yellow envelope from French Paper. And yes, that is a real cupcake next to the card. It's was a tasty fringe benefit. Mmmm...

*In case you're wondering Ding is the birthday card for my growing Geek-tionary line. (It's what online gamers say to one another when they've gained a level.)

In other news I'm pressing forward with this years holiday cards and should have some photos to post soon. Ciao!

My New Etsy Shop

I am pleased to announce the launch of my new Etsy shop! It features some of my most recent letterpress cards and stationary. Stop in and take a look! More goodies will be added soon, including holiday cards and one-of-a-kind nature prints.

"Get well, get well soon..."

Another project completed! This time it's our line of Boo-Boo Bunny get well cards. The cards will retail with handmade bunny crafts, which hold ice cubes* for all life's bumps and bruises.

I had a lot of fun creating the illustration and type for this card. It all started as a series of sketches and when I finally got to ink up the press and print the final product it felt really gratifying.

I'm really hoping the cards and crafts go over well. Not only because I really love these cards, but also because, there is a big box of the bunnies sitting behind me right now. They're all just sitting there, staring at me with their big, googly eyes...

*Ice cubes not included! :)

Close-up of card.

Card with Boo-Boo Bunny ice cube holder.