Cheap Wedding Centerpiece Candles

My wedding was absolutely awesome. Alas, we had no extra money so literally everything from the cake to the smoked pig to decorations were done by family members or close friends - which made it even more special! 

Wedding decorations are SO expensive especially  if they have that 'wedding' label. For centerpieces, we got bulk flowers from Cosco and Sprouts (due to a wrong delivery and last minute need for flowers...). We got a lot of random decor from oriental trading company and the burlap on sale at Joann's Fabric.  I always wanted to get married at our local ski hill, but due to the time of wedding, I just got a thin-fallen aspen tree, cut it up and my dad and I drilled shallow holes with a drill press & 1.5" spade-bit (I call them paddle bits?) in the pieces. A tea candle fit perfectly. It was really cool to do a project like that with my dad, fairly quick, looks great, and really economical.

We used the paddle bit again to make birdhouses. This time my husband used it as a drill attachment, which I highly recommend clamping whatever you are drilling into securely or it will spin and be well, dangerous.. 

This candle went perfectly with our burlap/sunflower wedding theme. 

Each of my nieces and nephews made these, their individual styles really shine through!

Quick Tips on How to Design a Party Invitation

Invitations. Here are the basics that I discovered while recently designing an invite for my sista's baby shower: As for layout - block out spaces in an un-symmetric-like manner. Divide text with images/graphics that are party-themed and don't be afraid to vary texts sizes and styles. If there is too much white space that looks uneven, add a dotted line or a little graphic to balance it out.  If you want to do this for cheap, print the invitation out on your own paper and glue to the top of whatever scrap paper you have and top with whatever ribbon you have. Thread a ribbon through the top to give it a personal touch.  See example below.

Yes, I know, I can't cut straight with scizzors. or spell sciszorzz. 

Another take on the same invite

and, yeah, don't use pinky-red and purple together.

Quick Tips on How to Design a Logo

Logos are essential to branding your business. The biggest mistake I made initially when learning to design logos was making them too complicated. Take the time to look (and perhaps try to draw) some top logos: Fedex, Cocacola, amazon, Apple, Disney, McDonalds - they aren't that complicated? When designing your logo, work backwards. Think:

1. Size: What size will the logo be? (a one by two inch space on a letterhead? Only on my website banner? On a billboard?) If it's going to be tiny and printed, make sure it looks great in black and white and without a lot of detail.

2. Color: Logos should look good in black and white. In some situations, your logo may mostly viewed digitally so you can be a more liberal with color and gradient (like the mozilla firefox logo and x-box 360 logo).

3. Elements: Keep it simple. Maybe a unique type (like in Coca Cola) or a tiny cute little element (like the arrow in Fedex). 

4. Research logos you like. Figure out why you like them. (simple? unique? a certain style?)

5. Brainstorm! What are adjectives or elements that describe your business? Do you want  a feeling of movement in your logo? 3D appearance? 

5. Sketch out your ideas. Even if you are terrible at drawing, you can go through so many more ideas and visualize it beforehand.

5. Then, go to the computer and draw it out.

Or, skip all that and call me. ;)

Photo Book Gift Idea: Using your photography to illustrate a poem or story.

Everybody loves Photo Books. They are sentimental. They are easy. There are endless templates on Snapfish and Shutterfly and Walmart to make them look professional. You're not going to get glue all over your fingers and spend hundreds of dollars on fancy stickers - which is what the die-hard scrap-bookers do, and frankly - a Photo book might look nicer. 

For Mother's day, I took a poem my momma wrote that I always loved. Yep, she is a closet poet. I got a photo from each of my sibs to illustrate the pages. The result was a beautiful book with sentimental photos from all around the country - each from a different kid. I have seven siblings - so I got my material from them and just put it together. You could use a poem from someone a bit more famous, or even a favorite story, and then illustrate it with your own or perhaps your own kid's photography (I am amazed at the photos my 9-year-old brother takes). Below is the result :).

Photo by Joey - Age 14 - Squaw Valley, CA

“I want to leave to a lonely place
where the mountains touch the sky,”

Photo by Julia - NM

“with no other soul to see my face
and no one would here me cry”

Photo by Jack, age 9 - Yosemite CA

“A quick escape to a quiet retreat
with wild things for my company,”

Photo by me - Taos NM

“soft meadow grass beneath my feet,
no one there to make little of me”

Photo by Kristen - Portugal Beaches

Photo by Laura - Grand Tetons

“I want to rest on nature’s breast
freely choose to laugh or scream”

Photo by me - Jemez NM

“only replied from a meadowlark’s nest,
a drone of a bee, or a rush of a stream”

Photo by Skip - Southwest

“I want to go to a hidden spot
with a cabin build for one alone,”

Photo by Sophie - El Paso TX 

“where the breeze is cool and the sun shines hot.
The doorbell’s missing and there won’t be a phone”

Photo by me - Garden of the Gods CO

“ I won’t need a mirror out in God’s beauty
for I’ll feel strong and connected and wise,”

Photo by Bertie - CA

“no acting for others, no pressure or duty,
I’ll sleep when I want to, I’ll rise when I rise. ”

Pretty, huh? I love that poem, and the pics. It made for a fun and sentimental mother's day gift.

How to Design your own Custom Table

For our own dining table, we couldn't exactly find the perfect plans online. I wanted a black farmhouse table that would fit in our tiny kitchen nook. I absolutely love what we came up with:

Isn't it a beauty? 

 Things I considered were:

- Cost effective - we used this apron & legs from a Design Confidential plan because it used 2 by fours which are pretty cheap. We also used five four foot pieces for most of the table top (so we could just cut in half 8 footers, we have one extra piece to build a bird house...). We also used this stain called Rust-Oleum Ebony which is half the price as Minwax. We had extra outdoor Huntsman Urethane which we used because having two toddlers sit at your table might as well be like living outdoors. 

- I wanted NO horizontal braces due to the need to push in chairs & two high chairs.

- I also wanted very rounded corners because toddlers don't really look where they are going (okay, neither do I). 

- I wanted it black to contrast our wood floors and ceilings, as well as to go with a beautiful painting my sister did. 

- I wanted it farmhouse styl. We measured the area we needed and drafted a plan with measurements. We figured out the exact cut list BEFORE going to the lumberyard so we could plan it accordingly to reduce scraps.

- I wanted it REALLY sturdy. Our last table felt like it might collapse everytime we ate at it. We accomplished this with 4 by 4 legs.

Take home? Do it right the first time and square and measure everything. The first time we put this together it looked terrible due to a warped two by four. We took it apart, and put it back together with a few adjustment for the warping and it is now very solid.  

We did this after making our other table so we had a bit of confidence in building. It was really fun to come up with our own table top and make it fit our needs and wants. Starbucks has basically this same table (much longer, but with four by fours and a farmhouse top), proving this this design is meant for action. Thanks for reading! 

8 tips for building your own Patio Table or other Furniture.

To build your own furniture, check out amazing sites like Ana White and The Design Confidential We built the Pottery-barn Inspired 60 inch Chesapeake Dining Table from Design Confidential. The plans are totally free and awesome. (Even gives a cut list!) Tools we own are a sander, kreg-jig, and miter-saw. I exchanged some design work to have a friend taper the legs with a table saw because frankly I don't want a ton of tools I never use.  The Kreg Jig, Sander & Mitersaw we have already used this summer to build a fence for a dog run, a sandbox & 2 tables. Definitely worth the investment. Here's a photo of our lovely table:

Yep, I know, it's a beauty. Just don't look to closely... ;)

Tips!

1. COST - Sure, maybe the wood will only cost your $50 to build a $500 table. But, you also have to count in time, tools (yikes!) and finishing products (Wood conditioner, Small can of stain $10, small can of polyurethane $10). I find this palette video pretty comical - sure! your making a table out of free palettes, but this looks like it was done with $2,000 worth of tools.

2. TIME - I was amazed at how long this project sat out on our porch. We did four layers of stain plus coated it with Huntsman urethane (for outdoor). It took MONTHS. My advice for figuring out how long a project is going to take is figure out how long you think you can do it in, triple that, and add three weeks. Then, if you have kids that interrupt, add two weeks per each kid. And then make a goal of finishing it before you die. Then, if you do happen to finish it, you will be really excited rather than being stressed out if you don't get it done in your original plan of a weekend.

3. SQUARE AND MEASURE EVERYTHING! (Don't trust your eyes.. ) We had to rebuild our custom table because one leg was an inch higher then the others when we decided to slap it together.  We redid it square (the culprit was a super-warped 2 by 4) and it now is pretty solid (without have to cut down all the other legs, which we were pretty tempted to do..)

5. FINISH IT WITH FINISH! & use stain conditioner. You might need several coats to get the looks you want. Pre-conditioning your wood will prevent that splintery patchy look.

6. KREG JIG  (what the jeepers is that?) You can build anything with this joint-making tool. I had no idea what it was, but it seemed like every plan I found used it. It's basically a tool to line up your drill perfectly so that you can  drill a hole perfectly for a screw to pull two pieces of wood together at a perfect angle. The you can screw together a joint ( rather then glue or chisel or whatever). You can screw together wood at a ninety degree angle or next to each other. 

7. You can use wood glue mixed with wood shaving as wood filler. I tried this and it worked quite well just be sure to sand off all excess glue as stain won't absorb very well.

8. Obviously,.. BE SAFE! Read all instructions, don't operate anything you are not comfortable with, maybe even take a wood-shop class. Fingers don't grow back. Also, don't be doing this if it stresses you out or if you are in a situation where you are easily distracted or not paying attention. This should be fun! If it aint, then go buy one or get something on freecycle. Again, let's not lose fingers now.

So that's it for now. I hope some of those images help you prepare a bit. I am far from being an expert, but those sites I mentioned before (Ana White and The Design Confidential) have ton of information and advice as well as examples. Good luck, be safe & have fun! I would love to hear comments on some of this stuff (as it is quite new to me) or hear about your home projects. Thanks for reading!

How to Design an AWESOME dragon cake for kids

I'm going to keep this simple. If you want to make an awesome cake for kids - make it out of Rice crispy treats. You can form it (while still hot) in to any shape. I made my little brother an upright lego man! For this dragon cake - I stacked frozen cake around a gas station plastic cup and then formed the dragon out of rice crispy. For scales I cut fruit rollup into triangles & glued everything on with frosting. For the castle walls. I made chocolate cookies and cut holes and placed hard candy in the hole to make 'stained glass'.   I used a formula scoop for a cookie cutter (protien scoop for those of you in a different lifestyle? :)). I also threw in a couple glowsticks in the 'cave'.My neice loved this cake so much - only problem is it's super time-consuming & now my nephew wants one too.. 

Under all the frosting... 

Basic Photography: How to Use Your Camera in Manual Setting

What makes a great picture? Content (something interesting!), composition (more on that later...) & EXPOSURE.

Learning about exposure is key to using your camera in a manual setting.

Exposure will determine how much information is collected by your camera via light.

I used to think I could take a photo, not worry about the lighting (i.e., exposure) and then fix it in PhotoShop. Here is why that doesn't work:

1. If you over-expose, you get a ton of light to the point where you have  white spots in your photos. This creates blank spaces - white spots - with no data (or color) to work with, making it difficult to edit your photos.

2. If you under-expose, this is better because you won't get those bright spots - but a dark photo could have a lot of 'noise' (or specks) when you try to lighten it -- it just ain't going to look as good as if you took the dang picture right in the first place. And by right - I mean, perfect exposure.

Perfect exposure will create an accurate representation of the lighting of the object or scene photographed.

Nine times out of ten, the auto setting will be your best friend. The little computer mind of your camera will always calculate the exposure perfectly but... if it's too dark then BAM!, you get an ugly flash.

Why is the flash ugly? Unless you have a great lighting studio or lots of practice with using flash, a flash can wash out natural shadows, lighting and shading - making the photo appear more flat and less life-like..

Using natural light will create a more natural looking photo, so let's dive in to how to be in control of exposure by using manual settings.

Read your camera manual to learn how to put your particular camera in Aperture Setting, Manual Setting and adjust ISO.

Read on to learn how each of those settings can give you the freedom to take a perfectly exposed picture (and learn some cool effects).

The three pillars that make up Exposure are: ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed. You can adjust them manually to A) create great lighting without using a flash, and B) try out some fun photography techniques.

Here is a quick description of each of those pillars:

1. ISO is how sensitive the digital film is to light. I usually just leave that alone because although increasing the ISO may allow for more sensitivity (yay! more light!), a high ISO can cause grainy photos.

2. Shutterspeed is the speed the shutter of the camera opens and closes. The longer you leave it open, the more light/data will come in. With my camera, the fastest shutter speed can be adjusted from 1/4000 second to 30 seconds.

3. Aperture is determined by the aperture number, also known as the F number - which is how large the hole in the lens is to let light in. Here's something even more confusing: The larger the hole, the more light is let in and the SMALLER the aperture number (or again, F number) My camera goes from F4.0 (large hole) to F32 (tiny hole).

So, let's focus on using your camera in these two manual modes: Shutter Speed Priority (TV) and Aperture Priority(Av). If you manually choose Shutter Speed Priority, the camera will automatically figure out the perfect aperture (f number or size of hole to let light in) to get the perfect exposure. If you manually choose Aperture Priority, the camera will automatically figure out the perfect shutter speed to get the perfect exposure. Okay! Now the fun stuff....

Why choose Shutter speed priority?

Shutter speed is a great way to let in light and get a crisp photo if your object is STILL! If it's moving (such as a sparks or water or a running horse) a long shutter speed will just get you a blur. Sometimes you want things blurry  to show movement in your photo. See the example below - longer shutter speed allows for more light in the photos of the flowers. In the photo of my husband using a Dremel, the longer shutter speed allows for more blur of the sparks. In the photo of my niece and nephew in the rain, a longer shutter speed allows for the rain to be blurred giving, again, a sense of movement. You just have to find that sweet spot where the rain/sparks is blurred but the rest is not (also, don't forget if your holding your camera you will most likely shake and cause the scene to be blurred - use a tripod and a timer/remote rather than pressing the button with your finger to to avoid this!)

Why choose aperture priority?

Aperture determines the DEPTH OF FIELD. (This is how far in front of you the camera is going to put in focus).

Ever see those photos with a sharp foreground and blurry background? This is a shallow depth of field. A lower aperture number (i.e., larger hole in the camera to let light in) will get you a shallower depth of field. By putting an object in focus and blurring the background, your photograph will mimic how you naturally look  at objects, thus creating a beautiful, natural effect. For example, when you are talking to someone, subconsciously, you are focused on him or her and the world around you is not in focus, i.e., blurry!

Ever see a beautiful city scene where everything in the photo is nice an crisp? This is a large aperture number (tiny hole). Did you ever make a tiny hole with your thumbs to see something far away (yes, that was me as a kiddo when I was needing yet another new glasses prescription). Same thing.. .A large aperture number will create a crisp setting for a large scene. See the example below.

Frankly, you won't get this stuff until you go try it and take example shots. Use auto mode for important moments until you get lots of practice with manual modes. Don't get a blurry photo of your kid graduating because you were practicing shutter speeds.

If you are really interested in photography, I HIGHLY recommend Great Courses Fundamentals of  Photography by National Geographic Photographer Joel Sartore. It a DVD series with tons of examples and assignments. It is way cheaper than a college course. Joel Sartore is incredibly thorough with tons of examples - it's one of the best courses I've ever taken. 

Now, just to be clear - I am a graphic designer, not a photographer. I learned photography because nothing sells better than a beautiful photo and often it's just easier for me to go take the photo myself.

Also, artsy photos can be amazing and stunning, but sometimes people just want a simple photo that represents clearly what they are trying to sell or market. Take for example the 2014 Bandelier Photo Contest. The one in the upper right is the winner, the one in the upper left is one I took and decided not to enter because I thought it would be to cliche (as proven by the postcard I saw at the grocery store in the lower right). The winner's photo was super simple & yes, so cliche ---  but that is exactly what Bandelier wanted and felt represented them...

Love this photo by Maria Thibodeau. She clearly has photography skillz.

Okay now for some extra credit. Can you figure out how the photo below was taken?

Answer: I used our dance party strobe light with an long shutter speed. The flash causes darkness to be registered between movements giving it a ghost like appearance. This cool technique won me the thrill of being one of the weekly Editor's Picks for the Smithsonian Photo Contest.

Make your REUSABLE BAGS FROM BAGS! & enter to win massage

This project is in celebration of Earth Day! Yay! I am going to have a FIT Massage 1 hour massage giveaway! Comment below and I'll add you to the drawing. The massage is located at FIT Massage in Los Alamos, NM. Win one for yourself, or perhaps as an upcoming mothers day gift to a special momma? If I get over 20 comments, I'll give away two massages. How is this related? A. I think everyone deserves to be pampered once in a while and B. I designed the gift card! ;) ENTER BY SUNDAY NIGHT!

Back to Earth Day - It's crazy how many plastic bags I collect - not just grocery store bags, but bread bags, cereal bags, snack bags, cheddar cheese bag, potato bags, marshmallows in bags, frozen veggie bags - yikes! Well here is a project that can take all that nasty plastic (that for the most part you can't really avoid) and creating reusable grocery bags! You need: an iron, parchment or wax paper, a needle and thread (or, sewing maching...) and your bags!

Step 1: Collect your bags. Yep, when you run out of cereal or cheese or go shopping at macy's - keep the bags! Keep in mind that colorful bags and logos make for a nice final product.

Step 2 - Place bag between parchment paper and iron down. If it is a thin bag, you might need to melt, then layer on more bags (melting one at a time) until you get a thick plastic panel. Create enough panels to sew a market tote bag. Keep in mind the size you want (is there going to be celery or gallons of milk in there?) Make sure you make it big enough to hold groceries and the plastic is thick enough. Cereal bags are pretty thick, so maybe use those as the bottom of the bag. 

Step 3: Cut out panels for the pieces for your bag, and sew together to create a market tote. For straps, this is the time to use an old belt or cut up that gym duffel you never use... ;) Or you can even iron together scraps to create a handle. Attach and you are ready to shop (guilt free!)

My sister taught me this technique and it has opened my eyes to how much plastic is in my life and has given me a way to reuse it in meaningful way. Good luck and don't forget to comment below (especially if you are needing a massage ;))

Sista Julia made all the bags below from a bag collection of my other sister Sophie. 

How to Find Free "Inspiration" & Medieval Cookies

I used to be so nervous about copyrights. Everything is copyrighted! I mean come on, you can't even sing Happy Birthday in a restaurant without having to pay someone a $700 royalty fee. (Yikes, flashbacks of me as a waitress singing - I DONT KNOW BUT IVE BEEN TOLD - SOMEONE HERE IS GETTING OLD! yep, those awful yet joyfully embarrassing songs are due to dang copyrights.)

"Inspiration" and "stealing ideas" might be used interchangeably. Unless, you tap into the incredible non-copyrighted world which includes: Everything God created (make that floral pattern from YOUR photos of YOUR flowers! there's an idea!) , public domain such as (most) photos from .gov website or creative commons and anything SO OLD that well, no one is coming to sue you. How old? Read more from the government himself.

So! I took the following photos for free ancient "inspiration". You can see that swirls, hearts, and beautiful patterns are not a new thing. This does not mean use other people photography of ancient things - you gotta go take the photos. I also don't mean replicate this stuff and claim it as your work. This is solely inspiration and can be used as such.

Random photos from my traveling days. I'm sure you can find some inspiring patterns closer to home.

Disclaimer: It's been a while since I took copyrighting and perhaps some information has changed or will change. Either way, I am not a lawyer just a designer aka right-brained aka not a lawyer!!! Please do some more research if you have more questions or send me a comment :)

Now I also took some photos of some medieval looking tiles at a park in Spain. From there I created a medieval color palette using an eyedropper tool (Don't have a program such as Photoshop or Illustrator? Try freeware such as ColorZilla or Gimp to figure out colors!). Then I created some medieval cookies for the sole purpose of well, because it was a creative outlet and my hubby loves sugar cookies. Anyways, here are the results:

This looks complicated, but not really. Mix Royal Icing and add blue, green food coloring. To make gold, add about 10 drops of yellow to every one drop of blue and one drop of red. Pipe using parchment/wilton cone or if you're cheap like me, a plastic baggy and snip off the corner to create thin lines. When photographing, position cookies so you don't see any major mistakes :)

I learned how to create thin lines on cookies from Julia M. Usher. She is awesome!

Creating Color Palettes from Nature and Photographs

Colors can either harmonize with each other or create a total disgusting cacaphony. Here's a quick example: When we first moved into our house the cabinet color seemed SO UGLY! It was SO YELLOWY! The walls were a creamy yellow as well so the kitchen just made me feel a bit sick. My mom (artist and momma for 30 plus years) suggested instead of ripping out the cabinetry, just change the colors of the walls! We painted them a blue-grey Sea Haze.  The sea haze complemented the warm yellow of the cabinets and made the kitchen look inviting and well, warm! WOW. I just saved myself 10,000 remodling costs by just painting the a complementing color!

Picking a color palette for anything from your business to your kid's bedroom may be a daunting task. Luckily, there is lots of help out there. If you don't know your basic color theory I highly recommend this video by Karen Kavett. I am constantly visiting Color Scheme Designer 3: This site will generate colors schemes if you input the hex # for one color. E.g., you love bright purple for your living room. What the heck goes with that? Enter the hex # of the purple - or pick it out on the color wheel and you can come up with some solid color palettes (monochromatic, triad, complementary, so on). Easy.

Well, lets say you want something a little more custom. My theory is that when you look at a harmonic color palette it probably reminds you of something you see naturally. I threw together a few photos to show you some examples below: 

View fullsize

I created these from photos I have collected over the years in Boston, at the Zoo, Organ Mountains in Southern New Mexico, Paris (photo by my sister Kristen), hiking in California, etc. I'm sure you don't have to go too far to find something similar.

Tshirt Designs: Screen versus Digital Printing

A new print shop is in town - JCS Printing. Josh Stringer (co-owner) printed out these lovely t-shirts I designed below. The black one is digitally printed and the blue one is screen printing.

What's the difference you ask? Screen printing you get a custom screen for your shirt (basically a giant stamp) that you can load with ink and get vibrant colors - especially on dark shirts. Problem is each design needs a custom screen setup (major chunk of the cost) - not ideal unless you need mass quantity and cheaper if you have less colors.

Digital, on the other hand, is much like printing with an Ink Jet printer - you can get loads of detail & colors. It slightly absorbs into the fabric so you don't get that ironed-on- design-t-shirt feel. It's also bit more economical because there is no custom setup. For my situation, Josh did the digital for the black shirts and although it printed a bit darker than my original design, they look awesome. 

The LA Rugby Bombshells is screen printing - ideal because there is only one color and they wanted it very vibrant on a darker shirt. They also needed loads of shirts and sweatshirts so the setup was worth the effort.

JCS printing had a quick turn around and Josh was totally about making the customer happy (for picky me, that was really nice!). Their company has competitive prices and is local (wha?!). They do t-shirt printing and pretty soon here will start doing embroidery (yay!). I'm going to monogram everything I own... Totally recommend them and will use JCS Printing again!

Yes. I am aware that everything in Los Alamos is bomb-themed.

The front of the t-shirts.

You can reach JCS Printing at jcsprinting@gmail.com or at 505-709-8885. 

Pullover Sundress - Don't be afraid to try to sew!

For us 'non-sewers' - it's intimidating. The moment you start that dang machine and thread wads up, the needle bends and then you find the bobbin is empty - is it worth it? Yes! I made this pullover sundress because my mom had ordered matching Naartjie outfits for my girls for Easter and the company had run out of the tops in the correct size.  I glued ribbon on top of all the mess ups and uneven edges & I think (from a distance) it looks great! I remember my mom making me a dog-print dress when I was a little girl, and it was really special so again, totally worth it.

Sister Julia gave me this pattern as well as fabric so I had no excuses!

Bench Makeover

This bench was too cute to throw away.  A little thought with regard to the color palette for the safari scene and some freshly-stained ash wood and voila -  it's a bit more inviting!

Made with Ash wood, stained with Minwax Cherrywood & painted with Acrylic paint. Sealed with Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane for outdoor use.

Before picture - not bad - the bench piece wasn't actually missing I took it off to measure and well, didn't put it back...  I wanted new wood, and brighter colors for the safari scene. 

I went to the hardware store and ran into Alec Caspersen from ADC Builders. He offered to cut some scrap ash wood down for $20. They have a new Kitchen Demo room, if you need remodeling, it's worth checking out! This was half the battle - the hardware is actually steel but we spray painted it (we'll see if that stays!) Other trick: the painted animals are outlined in black sharpie to make the colors pop!

Letterpress Printing

Gutenburg invented it. It's timeless. It's lovely. It's letterpress.

I tried out a local letterpress printer, 12 Tons of Letterpress, for some personal coffee bags.  Bram Meehan, the printer, sent me a photo of the press & printed bag (posted below!). The bags are beautiful. He does wonderful work - he can even print very thin lines. I complemented business card at an AIGA meeting and it was indeed 12 Tons of Letterpress work! The card was for Think all Day - the logo is a really thin T. It looked perfect.

Letterpress is printing old fashion style - using ink & a press - the main form of printing until the 20th century. It is currently used as an artisanal form. I highly recommend this printing if you want a one/two color 'stamped' feel to a project. Letterpress looks amazing for business cards and wedding invitations, and well, coffee bags!