The layers of this invitation were intricate – the was hand calligraphy for print, laser cutting, letterpress, mounting, hand tearing, ribbon binding, foil stamping and die cutting. It was tedious but worth it. And the vintage stamps came together so well, though we had to use some newer stamps because of the size and weight of the handmade heavyweight envelopes.

The wedding programs were also pretty special… small booklets printed on textured translucent paper with white cotton organdy covers with a simple stitch bind. these are my very favorite programs!

The escort cards echoed the invitations – handtorn with laser cut slits for the ribbon.

When everything came together what we created as a giant collaborations was truly magical!

Thanks to Abby Ross Photography for the amazing photos on this one. Check out everything on Style Me Pretty!

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I was unsure about what my printed prayer would look like until I went to a vintage stamp shop in New York on my vacation. There I dug through a pile of vintage Japanese postage stamps and found my inspiration. Mine would be a sort of letter, using Japanese stamps for the recipients and United States stamps for the senders (I suppose I was speaking for everyone in the good ole USA… is that weird?)

I found out from some special Japanese fluent helpers that one of the stamps portrayed Fukushima, which isn’t where the tsunami hit, but was badly injured as a result. 

I particularly loved the coloration of the two palm tree stamps. I think they really showed the similarities between that area of Japan (not sure!) and California. This was an instant match.

Then in my not very practiced handwriting, I wrote what I wanted for Japan. I chose green ink for growth, and printed away.

I sent off 17 prints today to Japan with hopes that my message will reach far more than 17 people and that the beauty of communication will be translated.

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These are the carrying cases that all my samples have to fit in when I take meetings outside of the studio. I carry them around like a traveling sales lady. I think that would be a fun job… to go door to door designing personal stationery for everyone. I would certainly get a good sense of their personalities!

The post Mobile Stationery Unit appeared first on Tiny Pine Press.

To get there I used hand calligraphy for print for their names and charcoal grey ink (I liked the idea of it being grey instead of black as if years had taken their toll and faded the print) with just a little bit of victorian floral embellishment… popped in my inked up press and mashed on a textured but cleanly cut stock…. et voila. It did just the trick.

thanks to Gia Canali for taking the pictures… again! check out Gia’s blog for some other photographs of this wedding and invitations…

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Not to dismiss the work! these  cards were all scored, hand torn, and hand fed, scored, and the tied with two colors of thread. Still a lot more organic than just pushing print.

Plus sustainable on cotton paper, with soy ink. these cards may look charcoal and ivory, but they are really green! and look soooo vintage.

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When Gia Canali and I sat down to figure out her new business cards, we instantly fell in love with a few different combinations. She wanted to have something very organic and earthy feeling, but Gia’s photography really is magical, so we needed to get that in there too….

This amazing amazing tree free faux leather paper showed up…

so earthy and l0vely but not sturdy enough to make a card out of (but definitely durable enough to make an outfit from… that’s coming soon). we would have to mount it onto a thicker card.

A Super AWESOME bonus about this faux leather is that the dark brown side is pretty great, but the reverse side is a delicate soft pink color. Here begins our dilemma. We will end up using both sides.

For the cover weight base stock, we used one of my very favorite handmade papers in this muted plummy color. This is where we get our “magic”. This cottony stock is full of sparkle.

Mounted, trimmed, and printed in two runs… Gia wound up with 4 variations or so for her business cards. Isn’t that fun?!

ps… these photos were taken by Gia… of course!!

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Well, turns out that taking good iphone photos not as easy as just paying $1.99. BUT I was able to start learning how to use my new took as I stitched this weekend.

These photos are of an invitation I am working on right now. My client wanted to have a similar look to this invitation which i designed almost 6 years ago. (I used a black and white “film” to convey the idea that this is the OLD invitation, just so you know )

This new bride is getting married near a pine forest and really loved having that visual element stitched on.

For her, we brightened up the paper a little bit, freshened up the typeface with an added script element, printed letterpress on handmade cotton paper with a slight shimmer – using a cool grey ink color and stitched in a subtle green since her wedding isn’t in the fall… (though you can’t actually tell from my old fashioned photo…… hmmm….)

Every invitation was stitched with the sewing machine but guided by my hand which definitely requires complete concentration, and lots

of tunes in the background.

Since I am quite fond of pines so the hours of stitching breezed by as I concentrated on each one and their limbs.

Obviously, some are taller than other, wider than others, etc. but together they make an elegant stitched tiny pine forest.

The post Tiny Pines + Hipstamatic = The new old fashioned appeared first on Tiny Pine Press.

I was uncomfortable as Gia started clicking the cameras… apparently I am a “blinker”… and the more we hiked along the trail, the more relaxed (and probably sweaty) I got.

We got to the last bit of light that day and I tied on my printing apron that I carried with me up the hill. Gia got out her big old lovely 4×5 camera and loaded some polaroid film. I instantly felt in my element… In front of a BIG tree, as the sun was setting, with the mountains behind me… I was wearing my work out fit and I was comfortable.

Gia took the picture and promptly starting doing some magic work on the film and a couple of days later, she emailed this to me. Everything combined created an antique photo of me…. making me look as if I was a printer plucked from the turn of the century… (the 1900’s)

Now I can’t help but post this picture everywhere… I feel like she was able to capture me and then somehow with her chemical processes, Gia produced this vintage looking version of me.

So, all of that was to say… Gia sure does know how to make a picture. Literally….

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Just a quick note about this cute save the date postcard that I just finished for a Bat Mitzvah. The theme is travel, and I thought, what better way to send that message than by a note from the young lady to her friends from afar… complete with stripes and stamps!

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OK. I will admit that the prop master, Gay Parello (who by the way is totally cool and very on top of the look, as you would have to be to work on a demanding period show like Mad Men) came to Tiny Pine Press because she needed to have a type of printing that was authentic to the period (letterpress) in a type that was of the period (Nuptial Script). AND they needed it FAST. I think I turned this project around in 3 days.  I was more than pleased to help out one of my very favorite television shows!

In the episode they talk about bells, and silver, and maybe blue – I can’t remember – but at the end of the day they didn’t show anything but the type. You will have to take my word for it that the invitations actually did have bells and silver and there were three different versions of them.

But I will take the airtime, with or without those silly bells!

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