Letterpress Engagement Book

Studio on Fire, a letterpress studio based in Minneapolis, recently launched a blog called Beast Pieces to share photos of recent projects – and it has quickly become one of my daily addictions.  Studio on Fire produces some truly amazing work, from wedding invitations to business collateral and, now, this lovely letterpress engagement book:

Studio-On-Fire-Letterpress-Engagement-Book

The groom behind this incredibly sweet gesture worked with Studio on Fire to create a small letterpress book comprised of various emails between the couple over the past four years, collected, bound and side sewn together.

Studio-On-Fire-Letterpress-Engagement-Book

Here are the production details from Studio on Fire: The gut of the book is digitally printed in black text.  The pages have a single hit of blind letterpress on the french folded edge.  The pages are side sewn together and tuck into a custom hard bound book cover with black book cloth.  We printed a custom liner on the cover interior with silver ink on black paper.  The cover of the book and the title page are also letterpress printed in silver ink.  The paper is 100 percent cotton Crane Lettra 80 lb text.

Studio-On-Fire-Letterpress-Engagement-Book

Studio-On-Fire-Letterpress-Engagement-Book

Studio-On-Fire-Letterpress-Engagement-Book

I know most of you are already engaged, but I think the concept behind this gorgeous book could easily be applied to other wedding elements, like the guestbook.  E-mails and love notes (or at least the portions that you’d be willing to share with guests) could be complied and used to create a custom guest book either via an online printing service like Blurb or by working with a bookbinder on Etsy – like Elvie Studio, Grimm, and Brooklyn Bookbinder.  In the meantime, don’t forget to head on over to Beast Pieces for more photos of this engagement book as well as other recent projects from Studio on Fire.

{images via Beast Pieces}

p.s. For all of you fol­low­ing along over the past cou­ple of weeks — I had my French test yes­ter­day, and I passed!  I’m def­i­nitely breath­ing a huge sigh of relief today.  Thank you all so much for your good luck wishes, and to Kathryn and Chelsea for giv­ing me some extra study­ing time.  I’m on my way out to LA right now for my nephew’s Bar Mitz­vah, but I’ll be back in full swing on Mon­day — and I’ve got some fab­u­lous invi­ta­tions that I can’t wait to share with all of you!

Security Envelope Patterns

Who would ever have thought that something as mundane as a security envelope could provide so much inspiration? The patterns on the inside of the envelopes, used to secure things like checks and personal information, aren't something I ever noticed. Leave it to the eternally clever minds in Blogland to see the potential…

Flickr

Check out over 120 security envelope patterns on Joseph King's flickr set.

Pins

Or wear one on your jean jacket or laptop case, by Sweetie Pie Press, via Parcel Post.

Insideout

Or turn them inside out and mail someone a letter, via Design Sponge.

Also, Ez always has some really fun free downloads over at Creature Comforts, and she's got some cute labels that she designed using security envelope patterns. Check it out here.

Inspiring Packaging

The Dieline is a blog that's all about packaging – new designs, new products, and why the packaging works or doesn't work. To be honest, I almost never read the text – I just scroll through the photos. And every once in awhile there's something that really inspires me – that I could just see translated into a wedding invitation or party favors or a birthday gift. Here are some of my favorites…

Belvoir

Belvoir Fruit Farms via The Dieline. Don't you think the angled label, and the font, along with the simple floral illustration would be lovely as an address on invitations?

Mccraws

McCraw's Confections via The Dieline. I love how retro this is, while at the same time clean and modern. I think the colors would be nice for a stationery set, maybe with a monogram inspired by the company's logo.
Mastbros

Mast Brothers Chocolate via The Dieline. Wouldn't you love to see envelopes lined in paper like this? It would be a great way to dress up an otherwise simple invitation or note. Or maybe favors wrapped in a variety of fancy papers and displayed together. Okay, and I'd really like to try this chocolate, too…