Hi friends! We are so excited to announce that our work is featured in “I Love Stationery” –  a fun, inspiring and well-designed book by Charlotte Rivers.

The book is broken down by technique: Hand-Drawn Illustration, Screenprinting, Letterpress Printing, Block Printing, Digital Illustration, Calligraphy, and Collage/3-D/Sewn. Each section has a quick overview of the process and materials commonly used, and is followed by multiple pages of examples of stationery design from artists around the world, from the U.S., U.K, Australia, Singapore and South Africa just to name a few.

It is really fun to see all of the beautiful, whimsical and creative card designs that are out there. I am flattered to be among them! The book was published in the U.K. and is currently available through Amazon U.K., though hopefully they’ll do a U.S. reprint soon.

You can find it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Stationery-Inspirational-techniques-practitioners/dp/1906417695/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337097956&sr=8-1

Here’s another post from one of my inspiration sources in Chicago – Architectural Artifacts in Ravenswood. It’s a supercool space filled with salvage and antique items of all shapes, sizes and prices.

As you might have already guessed I have a moderate obsession with printed ephemera and paper (which, of course, is the main reason I own a stationery business) so needless to say I was completely enamored by the enormous wall of old paper pieces they had up in their entryway on my trip there a while back. I thought I’d share a few photos with you.

You can find this card in our etsy shop here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/69528031/let-the-good-times-roll-letterpress-card

Hello there! I apologize that it’s been so long since my last post. Although you haven’t heard much from me here, I’ve been busy creating some new designs and getting ready for the upcoming holiday season (is it really mid-October already?)

I thought it would be nice start things up again by sharing some photos from inside the letterpress studio to give you a better idea of how letterpress printing works. It is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Nothing beats being able to dream up a design and take it through the process to see it, in finality, freshly printed. Love! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into a part of what we do at Spring Olive.

As a designer I’m always looking around for a little inspiration – interesting colors, shapes, patterns. I was wandering around Architectural Artifacts (an salvage an antiques store in Chicago) the other day and couldn’t help but snap a few photos of these beautiful ceramic tiles. They have a huge selection of them, but something about these few in particular caught my eye. I love the colors and the detailing, and the way they’ve delicately weathered over time.

If you live in the Chicago area you should definitely stop by their space on Ravenswood, lots and lots of cool and quirky things to drool over. (Speaking of which I already have another post planned with pics of their awesome antique paper-covered entryway).

www.architecturalartifacts.com

Well, it’s not exactly feeling like spring yet around here so it’s hard to believe that Mother’s Day is about 1 month away! (May 8th). Need a card for mom? Thought I would share my collection of letterpress cards with you. I just finished the “happy mother’s day” hand-drawn typography one and I’m really excited about it!

You can find these cheery cards at my etsy shop here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/springolive?section_id=5780036

In honor of my hometown and of today’s festivities, I thought I’d share a card I designed. “Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler” is a phrase that’s uniquely New Orleans, borrowed from it’s rich French heritage. The words mean “let the good times roll”. It’s also a reminder to let the good times roll, not just on days like today, but every day.

You can find the card here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/69528031/let-the-good-times-roll-letterpress-card

Here is a little photo compilation I put together of my works in progress. I love the photos of watercolored and cut up pages, a beautiful mess!

Thought I’d share some photos of the process and end result for you visual types – directions and supplies to create your own fabric covered inspiration board are below.

You will need:

(1) piece of plywood, 1/2 inch thick or similar. My board is 24″ x 26″ but really you can make it any size you’d like. Just make sure if you make it larger you use the correct support for the wire/wall.

(1) piece of felt, twice as large as the board plus 3-5 inches extra on all sides. To make the board extra “cushiony” I used 2 layers of felt. You can buy felt relatively cheaply by the yard at fabric supply stores.

(1) piece of sturdy fabric larger than the board by 5 inches on all sides. Choose a fabric you really like, this will be the cover. Canvas or duckcloth works nicely, you want it to be durable so it won’t be damaged by poking pins through it.

(1) industrial strength staple gun
(1) wire frame hanging kit
(2) 1/4 inch thick furniture floor protector pads (they sell these at hardware stores in various sizes).

…………..

To make the board:

Double up the felt so there are 2 layers and lay it flat. Place piece of plywood on top. Make sure the felt is about 3 to 4 inches wider on all sides of the board. Cut away any excess felt. Next pull the felt firmly and staple along the backside of the plywood. Staple atleast 3 times per side. To create nicely finished corners cut the fabric so there are 2 triangles as shown in the picture above. Keeping the fabric from overlapping on the corners will help it from getting too bulky. Make sure you pull the felt firmly while stapling so it won’t sag.

Now you should have the felt firmly attached to the board. You’re halfway there! Repeat the same process to adhere the top layer of fabric to the board. Make sure you have the fabric facing right-side-down. Again, make sure you are pulling firmly and take care at the corners to create a nice finish.

Now, attach the wire hooks and wire to the backside of the board. Attach one wire hook on each side, about 5 inches from the left and right edges, and about 3/4 of the way from the top of the board. And, finally, I attached 2 sticky back floor protector pads to the bottom left and right corners to accomodate for the wire hanger up top so the board isn’t lopsided when hanging. And finally, just place your nail hangers on the wall at the desired height, hang and you’re done!
Note, this board works for using long needle-like pins sold at fabric stores and isn’t thick/dense enough for push-pins.