SwissMiss

This week has felt a little like this photo for me.  We have been juggling a lot of printing with a lot of web redesign and while totally thrilling and exciting, I feel like we have been hanging on for dear life   Though, of course, I wouldn’t have it any other way!  What is that old saying about the spice of life?  I think over here, at the AP, letterpress is the spice.  And it is getting chili pepper hot in here!  We have lots and lots and oh, did I say lots? of new work to share and I will try to post a couple of our recent projects next week.  Loving all the creativity of the clients we have been working with and I know you will too.  Until then, happy weekending!

xox, A

You may have noticed that our blog is looking a little different, right?  We are working on another website revamp- not a total re-conceptualization, just a little facelift.  The blog is the easiest for us to edit so it went first and I am loving the new vibe.  We wanted to transition a bit from the more formal/classic look we have been sporting since last winter to something with a little more detail, color and playfulness.  The website will look a bit more like the old version once it is finished, nothing too major, but we did decide to go a bit crazy and really punch it on the blog look.  If you aren’t seeing the changes you may need to clear your cookies and refresh.  The rest of the site should be finished this weekend, fingers crossed!  If you have any thoughts on the new look we would love to hear them, as always, so feel free to leave us a comment!

xox, A

A little something we have been working on in the shop today, and guess what?  It’s not for a wedding!  Any ideas as to what event this little letterpress beauty might be for?  Happy Thursday!

xox, A

Melissa is one of those brides who has a very clear and beautifully conceptualized idea of the style of her wedding, which translated really well to her invitations.  Melissa spent many of her summers in the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina, enjoying the beach and both she and her hubby-to-be wanted to tie this into their wedding, which is particularly appropriate given that they decided to return to OBX for their wedding!

Melissa knew that for the invitations her love for OBX would translate in several ways: a classic nautical blue and yellow color scheme, a blind debossed (pressed without ink) sea oat design on the invitation and casual, calligraphic script with a twist.  We ended up printing her suite in our navy ink with the blind sea oat design pressed into the corner of the invite.  We tied in the yellow using cheery colored envelopes and Melissa took it even one step further and selected navy and white envelope liners to complete the look.  For fonts we used Mrs. Eaves for the roman text and Sudestada for the script, modifying the ends to bleed off the page and achieve that casual calligraphic style.

I love how the entire suite turned out and how wonderfully summery and easy it feels.  All the pieces speak directly to Melissa’s style and clear vision for her wedding.  Thank you Melissa and Bill for letting us be a part of your day!  Congrats!

xox, A

Image: here!

We couldn’t resist recognizing such a yummy holiday!  Hopefully next week we will be taking in the deliciousness at Dynamo Donuts in San Francisco with the incredibly talented Genevieve Walker of Genevieve Walker Wedding Maps and her partner in crime, Clay!  They will be leaving the bay soon and what better send off is there?  We have also never been which is pretty tragic and definitely in need of a sugary remedy.  Happy weekend guys!

xox, A

This is a very special save the date set for us.  We worked with the mother of the groom to create the paper products for this wedding and she has AMAZING style.  Nao and Aaron currently live in Japan (where Nao is from, they met four years ago at school in Arkansas) and Cathy is taking care of many of the details of their wedding stateside. They even have periodic Skype sessions to go over decisions together and catch up, which I think is incredibly cool. What did wedding planning families do before the internet?  I couldn’t even imagine.

Cathy conceptualized the design of the card, selected the fonts (a modified Gatsby, Quicksand and Sudestada for all you type nerds, like me!) and we laid it out in Illustrator in several variations.  After some high tech consultation with Aaron and Nao, the letterpress design was done, we printed and sent the 4Bar size cards to Cathy for her to work some magic.  She had a vision for how she wanted to enhance the cards and I have to say I am floored!  When I received the packaged card in the mail (who loves snail mail as much as I do?) I had to remind myself not to drool on it!  Cathy added a clear envelope, luxurious blue and gold ribbon and cornered the card on two sides to create a tag.  How special would you feel receiving something like this in the mail?  And to top it off…a Hawaii postage stamp to pay homage to the couple’s honeymoon location.  This is a great example of how a client can take a gorgeous set of letterpress cards and make them even more extraordinary.  Huge win!

And I can’t forget to point out, how fitting is that Anais Nin quote to Aaron and Nao meeting in the states and then moving to Japan for a bit?  Such a lovely personal touch. Can’t wait to print the invitation and response card!

Thank you for letting us be a part of your vision, Cathy.

xox, A

We have been working really hard to get the new studio in shape and we are just about there!  Yesterday our lovely door sign came and we were so excited that at 7:00 pm were were using electrical tape and a T square to line it up on the door and make ourselves official!  I have to say it looks fantastic and makes everything feel so much more real now.  The sign company we used also deserves a major shout out (Hi Signazon.com!) because they did a terrific job of doing an exact die cut on our teeny tiny Mrs. Eaves font and the even more challenging Baker Script which has all kinds of distressing mini cut-outs and calligraphic lines.  They truly did a beautiful job and it makes me so happy every time I go in or out. Little things, right?

xox, A

What’s black and white and read all over?  A pretty invite from the AP perhaps?

We printed this lovely black and blind debossed (no ink) invite for one of our international brides whose finacé is a mountie in Canada.  Pretty cool, right?  I read up about it and being a mountie is a pretty big deal.  I also saw a special on nbc during the Olympics   Julia had great style and was looking for something a little vintage, classic and unique.  We custom created the pattern blind printed in the background and used an old school banner for their names across a simple oval.  It turned out to be just the right balance of ornate and clean and I think the results are pretty fabulous.  Julia also sprung for the blind deboss of the pattern across the bottom of the invitation envelope and I can only imagine how intrigued her guests must have been to get these in the mail.  Since she is getting married this month (congrats, Julia!)  I thought it was particularly appropriate to post this one.  Plus, I don’t think there can ever be enough blind debossed invites in this world!

xox, A

On Tuesday we had the pleasure of meeting with bay area wedding planner extraordinaire, Vera Devera, who was an absolute joy to spend time with!  She came by our studio, checked out some of our work, chatted about all things wedding and even showed Bun some love.  We were recommended to her by a client she is currently working with and we feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to meet.  Not only is Vera in the wedding biz but she is a bride herself!  She has a fabulous blog: My Splendid $10,000 Wedding, which is a must-read for any bride that loves great style, a sense of humor and seriously good wedding details.  She is extremely talented and also blogs for the Bay Area Bride Guide and Wedding Chicks, other really great adds for your google reader.  And guess who she blogged about this morning?  Yep, us!  Check out the links below!

Bay Area Bride Guide

Wedding Chicks

I have been remiss in not sharing one of the most important, er adorable? members of our team with you…

Yes, this is our bun, named Bun…or Buzzerbun, Prince Bunnerkins, ChubbyBunny, Cuddlebun, Azerbaibun-whatever.  We have lots of lovey-dovey-give-you-a-toothache names for this little one.  Bun came into our lives about a year ago and is such a sweet soul.  He is the most docile, gentle creature I have ever met and would like nothing more than to have his head rubbed constantly and to nestle down in a good lap.

One of my favorite things about our press bun is that he buzzes.  Like a bee.  Nope, not kidding.  When Bun is happy, feeling playful or just wanting attention he likes to buzz and race around my feet.  He has major love for my uggs and goes on a buzzing rampage whenever they are within his line of sight.  Eventually I will take a video of this because you have no idea how cute it is until you see it for yourself.

He is also crazy for parsley and just inhales it whenever I put it in his cage (obviously, look how large and in charge he is!).  He lives near the door in our studio and is the first thing most of our clients see when they come to visit us.  He is incredibly charming and soaks up the attention like the ham he is.  Even our UPS guy stops by to give Bun’s long floppy ears a scratch. Can you tell we adore him?

xox, A