Pretty Paper in the Office: Business Card Cases

Amazing business cards should be collected like baseball cards. When you’re out and about making connections, the card isn’t the only thing that says something about you and your work. Why not treat yourself to a case worthy of those little paper pieces of yourself? – Julie

Pretty Paper in the Office: Business Card Holders / Oh So Beautiful Paper

1. russell+hazel

2. Tsubota Pearl

3. Kate Spade

4. Masakage Tanno

5. Tanner Goods

6. Kate Spade

Behind the Stationery: The Paper Cub Co.

Known for playful hand lettering and vibrant colors, it’s hard to believe that The Paper Cub Co. is only a couple years old! Owner and designer Shannon Kennedy started out in apparel design before transitioning to work freelance and, ultimately, starting The Paper Cub Co. in 2013. Following her desire to be her own boss, Shannon has found ways to make her business scalable, primarily by outsourcing printing and focusing on designing – working smarter, not harder. Read the rest of her business story below! –Megan

Behind the Stationery: The Paper Cub Co. / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Prior to starting The Paper Cub Co., I had a collection of art prints and accessories for kids called sass&peril. Before that, I was an in-house Graphic Designer for a juniors apparel brand out in California. After working in the corporate design world for 4.5 years and experiencing the highs and lows associated with that, I began to feel the tides start to shift. I felt I wasn’t fully able to satisfy my creativity at the workplace, so I began pulling my own art prints at night and on the weekends. I realized I could actually create my own products to sell online and essentially become my own boss, which is what I had always wanted all along. Plus, paper was an exciting new medium for me after all those years in fashion!

Behind the Stationery: The Paper Cub Co. / Oh So Beautiful Paper

I went freelance for a number of years, which allowed me to pour more into my own creative endeavors but still have some steady work to rely on as I built things up. In the Spring of 2013, I showed a small collection of greeting cards along with my kid’s stuff at the National Stationery Show and the stationery side of the business really took off from there. A few months later I decided to consolidate the two brands into one and focus more on paper goods under The Paper Cub Co.

Behind the Stationery: The Paper Cub Co. / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Each design originates in my sketchbook. If I am feeling the idea, I will work out the design elements using brush and ink and/or various pens on paper. Sometimes ideas are taken straight to the computer if it is a simple type-driven composition, but the majority of the designs in our collection have a hand-drawn element to them. My sketched elements get scanned into Photoshop where they are cleaned up and made into .tiff files to be used for mocking up designs in Illustrator. I finalize all designs using Illustrator as it is perfect for screen printing because it produces vector-based elements and nice solid shapes.

Behind the Stationery: The Paper Cub Co. / By the Robinsons / Oh So Beautiful PaperPhoto by By The Robinsons

Once designs are dialed in and colors are determined, I will pair them up with other designs of similar colors so that they can be “ganged up” on a sheet for printing. What this means is that I can print up to eight different designs as long as they share the same colors on a single sheet of paper. (No more printing one card at a time, how’s that for efficiency?)

Behind the Stationery: The Paper Cub Co. / Oh So Beautiful Paper

If I am doing the job myself, I have films printed for each color layer (called separations) and then I coat and burn screens using the films and photosensitive emulsion. This creates a “stencil” of the design in the screen for which ink is pulled through with a squeegee to create a print. It is quite a process, but so fun and rewarding!

Behind the Stationery: The Paper Cub Co. / Oh So Beautiful Paper

I used to screen print each one of our greeting cards, one at a time, by hand. It was a great way to utilize my skills while building the brand and creating initial inventory. I could kind of see how designs performed and create products on demand. When I entered the wholesale market and volume became an issue, I decided to get some help.

Behind the Stationery: The Paper Cub Co. / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Our friends over at Mama’s Sauce are amazing printers so it was a no-brainer to employ their screen printing services for our cards as they can fit many more designs per sheet. Since all they do is printing, they have access to bigger and better equipment and offer more professional-looking finishing services. Not to mention they are local and we can pop in for press checks or just to say hi! It’s a win-win. I still screen print our art prints and special projects, but the best decision I made was partnering with them for card printing as it leaves me with more time to design and market our brand.

Behind the Stationery: The Paper Cub Co. / By the Robinsons / Oh So Beautiful PaperPhoto by By The Robinsons

Switching to outsourcing has taught me how to work smarter and to really get the most bang for my buck out of every business decision I make. You know, pay attention to margins and all that fun stuff. I was spending so much of my own time and valuable billable design hours being the manufacturer when it was more efficient for me to be the designer.

I now have the ability to take on more freelance and commissioned work, which pays more per hour than me printing my own stuff, and it has allowed me to grow more creatively. I’m truly glad that I did it all in the beginning because investing in inventory can be a calculated risk, but partnering with the right people to help you grow your business is equally as important. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you always should!

Behind the Stationery: The Paper Cub Co. / By the Robinsons / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Photo by By The Robinsons

All photos by The Paper Cub Co. except where noted.

Interested in participating in the Behind the Stationery column? Reach out to Megan at megan[at]ohsobeautifulpaper.com for more details.

Behind the Stationery: Modern Lore

Inspired by the increased popularity of Instagram and Facebook, Lauren and Joel (the founders of Old Tom Foolery) created another line of primarily photo-based stationery called Modern Lore. I’m thrilled to feature the other brand under their umbrella as Lauren shares how they made the jump and transitioned to creating another brand and aesthetic. –Megan

Behind the Stationery: Modern Lore / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Modern Lore was started in 2013 out of a love for contemporary photography and paper goods. My husband, Joel, and I had been creating cards and gifts since 2007 through our other brand, Old Tom Foolery, but over the years, there were many times we had an idea for a project that didn’t fit the OTF brand qualities of being humorous, type driven, and gender neutral.
Behind the Stationery: Modern Lore / Oh So Beautiful Paper

At the same time, we saw people communicating with photos more than ever before. As people began to go everywhere with a camera built into their phones, we all began sharing moments with our images, and telling stories through social media like Instagram and Facebook. But for some reason, this trend of so many people creating beautiful, contemporary-style images hadn’t yet made its way to the stationery industry. We knew so many talented people taking great photos of both their journeys and everyday lives and decided to jump in and fill that void in the increasingly illustration-driven stationery marketplace.
Behind the Stationery: Modern Lore / Oh So Beautiful Paper

While some of our first photographers already were well-known for sharing their images and documenting their lives, like Victoria Smith of sfgirlbybay, many of our initial partners were friends of ours or people we had met in our pre-stationery careers in advertising.

But as we’ve grown, we’ve been able to partner with a fantastic group of photographers from all over the country, and together they take us on so many adventures through their photos. We work with illustrators like Lisa Congdon, bloggers like Nole and Anne Sage, and jet setting go-getters like Patrick Janelle.

Behind the Stationery: Modern Lore / Oh So Beautiful PaperInstagram photo by Patrick Janelle

It’s been really fun to watch the brand evolve over the past two years. Our first products only featured photos, and we’ve gradually incorporated text—some sweet, some cheeky—and have now added stylized illustration and color-blocked designs into the mix.

Behind the Stationery: Modern Lore / Oh So Beautiful Paper

The response to Modern Lore has been exciting to see, especially since we were a little nervous to go down a new path for boutique stationery. But as it turns out, we’re not the only ones who enjoy a nice photo and we’re proud to be stocked in so many great small shops and some larger retailers we really respect like Anthropologie and Paper Source.

Behind the Stationery: Modern Lore / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Modern Lore shares the same office and team as Old Tom Foolery, and we are based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our office is located just behind our retail shop, Greater Goods, which has proven to be a fantastic testing ground and sounding board for new products.

Joel and I both work on both Old Tom Foolery and Modern Lore, though I’m generally the point person for communicating with our photographers and collecting images to choose from for our next release.

Behind the Stationery: Modern Lore / Oh So Beautiful Paper

As our business has grown and we’ve launched new brands like Modern Lore and Greater Goods, we definitely have more projects to juggle and tasks to complete. But we are able to stay on top of things with the help of our incredible team. Free task management tools like Asana are a lifesaver for us, and our new, more complex version of QuickBooks is helping us keep track of inventory in ways we never could before.

Ten years ago, I never would have thought that Joel and I would both be working full-time on a family of brands we built from scratch. It’s been an adventure, and full of lessons we’ve learned along the way. We’re still figuring things out as we go, but we love what we’re doing and sincerely appreciate the support from all of our retailers, customers, and cheerleaders. We wouldn’t be here without you!

Behind the Stationery: Modern Lore / Oh So Beautiful Paper

All photos by Modern Lore, except where noted.

Interested in being featured in the Behind the Stationery column? Please reach out to Megan at [email protected]

Modern Industrial Rehearsal Dinner Invitations

Okay. Now I’ve officially seen it all. These modern industrial rehearsal dinner invitations from Melissa at Atheneum Creative were created by screen printing the design on individual pieces of thin sheet metal! So cool!

Modern Industrial Rehearsal Dinner Invitations by Atheneum Creative / Oh So Beautiful Paper

From Melissa: We were asked to create a rehearsal dinner invitation that reflected the very modern and industrial feel of the event. The groom’s family is in the box making business, so we knew right away that we had to work with a design that would not only be mailed in a box, but also allow the box to be part of the overall design – making sure that the box itself was more than just a vessel to mail the invitation.

Modern Industrial Rehearsal Dinner Invitations by Atheneum Creative / Oh So Beautiful Paper

We know we wanted to incorporate metal into the overall design as that would speak right to the look and feel of the day. We cut large sheet metal down to size and rounded the corners to create the invitation cards. We tried a couple different printing methods, but in the end screen printing worked the best for both design and budget. The rehearsal dinner venue itself is not industrial, so to balance the very modern look of the metal and the vintage feel of the venue we added some vintage design elements (like the dividers) to break up the text.

Modern Industrial Rehearsal Dinner Invitations by Atheneum Creative / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Since we wanted the box to be a part of the keepsake, we sourced gray boxes that would be strong enough not to get crushed and screen printed “Before They Say I Do” on the cover in gold — which set the tone for the invitation itself. The invitations were filled with shredded gray paper to keep with the industrial look.

Modern Industrial Rehearsal Dinner Invitations by Atheneum Creative / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Thanks Melissa!

Design: Atheneum Creative

Atheneum Creative is a member of the Designer Rolodex – you can see more of their beautiful work right here or visit the real invitations gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Chelsea Davis Photography

Behind the Stationery: Printerette Press

For today’s Behind the Stationery, the fun and whimsical Printerette Press is letting us in on their traditional design process as they incorporate hand painted and hand drawn elements into all of their designs. You may recognize their work from Sophie’s 1st Birthday invitations. Catherine shares about going from fashion to stationery, her team, and how they balance their calendar to split the wholesale and custom parts of the business. –Megan

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

As a little kid I always wanted to be a clothing designer. I got an art degree in Fashion Design and a job right out of college designing clothing for a big box retailer here in Minneapolis. Funny though — after working in my “dream job” for a few years, it just didn’t feel like my thing any more. The stars sort of aligned when a friend asked if I had any interest in her aging dad’s print equipment. I thought it was the weirdest, most random thing I’d ever been approached with. I had almost zero print experience and immediately told her I wasn’t interested, but then I went back to my little cubicle and ruminated on it for a while. Eventually I decided I couldn’t live without letterpress in my life. (I’m really hot and cold – can you tell?). I printed on the side while keeping my job for a year or so and eventually made the leap to full-time Printerette. The rest is inky, greasy history.
Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

We’re located in the Seward neighborhood of lovely Minneapolis — a neighborhood famous for the enormous amount of backyard chickens per capita. Depending on the day, our little shop is either a beautifully sunny, breezy, and an inspiring place to be or it’s a blazing-hot, steamy inferno. Depends. Today it’s the latter.

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

We are a letterpress print shop and so that’s our specialty. We also do some flat printing and actually love to combine the two methods to get both the color impact of flat printing and the textural impact of letterpress printing. Our combo print method wedding suites are our big thing right now.

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Our product line is in two parts: We have a small line of ready-made items like greeting cards, letter sheets, and note pads and we also have a custom line for weddings and social events. The combo really keeps us busy and on our toes! We really focus on weddings during the spring and early summer. Then, when our custom business slows down a bit, we ramp up our wholesale ready-mades. It’s a nice balance!

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Our design process for custom orders starts with a casual consultation. We like to get to know our clients and their event as much as possible before throwing in our two cents about how to create the perfect paper for them. When I’ve gathered as much info as I can, I take it to my sketchbook. Nearly all of our designs start on paper with regular old pencil, pen, and paint which is what gives our work its signature hand-illustrated and whimsical look. I only bring my sketches to the computer for small layout tweaks. Otherwise, it’s done old-school style.
designing2

My design process always starts in my sketchbook where I love to combine brushwork and pen work into my illustrations. I hand draw and hand paint all of our designs and only really digitize them when we’re ready to make plates and go to print, so you’ll see a lot of charming irregularity in my illustrations.

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

When we’re on press and the design is coming to reality, we’ll sometimes make some last minute color or placement tweaks as a team. Being able to do that is a big part of why I love letterpress printing so much; it’s such a hand-done method that the design process really doesn’t stop until the product is totally complete. We’re making design decisions all the way up to completion; where with modern printing, designing stops the moment you click “print”. Just today we decided to add just a spot of neon ink to one of our new card designs to make it pop a little more than I originally designed it to.

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

There are three of us in the studio at Printerette. Judith is the studio manager. She handles all inquiries and most Printerette correspondence. She’s the one who takes the orders and gets the orders out when they’re produced. Judith also handles all of our social media and blogging. Molly handles most of the printing. She’s the one who makes sure colors are mixed perfectly, registration is perfectly aligned, and impression is perfect. She’s one bad-ass print maker and everything that goes out the door has her seal of approval. I oversee everything creative and do most of the designing and concepting.

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

I get inspiration from lots of stuff! But lately — summer time! I’m a Minnesota gal that really lives for warm weather and I think you can see it in so much of what I make. Also, my clothing designer brain is still very much in action and I find a lot of inspiration for Printerette in clothing trends, especially with color and pattern.

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

We’re very active on social media and as we increase followers, our client base has increased as well. We get lots of “I saw this thing you did on Instagram” inquiries which is awesome. We’ve haven’t done the National Stationery Show for a couple of years, but find it to be a great way to build name recognition. And in the wedding business, we find that word of mouth is a big player in growing our client base.

Behind the Stationery: Illustrated and Hand Painted Letterpress Stationery by Printerette Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Photos by 2nd Truth Photography and Printerette Press.

Interested in being featured on the Behind the Stationery column? Shoot an email to Megan at [email protected].