Retailer Profile- Paper and Poste (Canada!)

Paper and Poste
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Owner: Heather Sauer
Length in Business: The Studio is opened this month! Our store has been running for about 30 years.

Why did you choose to carry the new Spark albums?: They are so unique and encompassing with playful and fresh designs. Impeccable details, with the designs like our style.
Favorite New Spark design: Claire "Top Secret"

Website: www.paperandposte.ca

Other thoughts on the albums?: We really love them! We only wanted a couple lines, and Spark's line helped inspire us to open the studio. Innovative.....we realized something amazing was here- worthy to create the studio.
Average client: We have a huge range of couples in our area, nothing average yet anyway!
Strengths as a retailer/studio: We brought in a few, unique range of lines to appeal to variety of couples. The studio really gives everyone the opportunity to create what you want.

We are so excited to be in Canada! Paper and Poste are a great addition to the Spark family with all their creative talent! This week is their studio opening! So if you are in the area, please go and give Heather and Beckee and huge hello and congratulations! And according to our owner, Heather is a "sweet lady". :)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

All of us at Spark wish you a Happy Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, food, and fun! We will be back in the office on Monday. Have a great few days off. Below is one of our absolute favorite Bittersweet cards....who doesn't think that after the huge meal?

Custom Save the Date : Meet Laura!

Meet our sparkling bride-to-be Laura DiLorenzo and join her on her journey as she creates completely custom stationery for her big day. We met Laura through our retailer, Judy Paulen Designs in New York City. Below, read how her vision unfolded into these charming, vintage inspired Save the Dates:

"It was important that Zack and I create a save the date that would set the tone for a fun, whimsical wedding and would also properly invite people to spend a mini-weekend away with us! When choosing our destination we felt Cooperstown, New York offered something for everyone, so we tried to embrace that by including a range of the different events that we would be hosting on our save the date.

We really wanted to embrace the history of Cooperstown and its various landmarks throughout the planning of our wedding- the village lent itself naturally to the rustic, vintage aesthetic that Zack and I both appreciate. Our ceremony is taking place at the "Farmer's Museum", which is a historical village made up of 18th and 19th century buildings that were curated from all over New York State. The church we will be married in looks like an 18th century meeting house; it's quaint, historic, and simple. Because of the connection to this museum, we've looked towards farmer's market themed ideas for our favors, welcome baskets, menu's, table decorations....and of course, our Save the Dates!

Throughout the entire planning process we've made an effort to gather any items that "catch our eye" (whether they be a cutout from a magazine, a menu from a coffee shop, or a cool vintage postage stamp), we'd then edit and organize the inspiration pieces into something tangible as it came time to make a decision. Most of our save the date inspiration came from a farmer's market poster that I found on Etsy.com. We found the antique Cooperstown map on Ebay (it was published in 1813!) and the lilac design on a vintage French postcard. Once we had these three items gathered, we sent them to Spark with our preferred text, layout, and color ideas- the rest really evolved from there.

When I received the first proof from Andrea, I realized just how creative and invested the company really was. Andrea didn't just show me a version with the fonts I had asked for, she went above and beyond to show me 3 or 4 ways to say the same thing- whether it be by showing different color and font options or tweaking a small part of the design. This was especially important for Zack as the options Andrea provided made it easy for both of us to see the potential possibilities - and we enjoyed making the final decisions together. The process was such a free flowing, all hands on deck exercise - and I really felt safe in their hands.

When the final Save the Dates ended up at our front door, we were ecstatic - they looked even better in person! I emailed the Spark team the next morning and joked that they must have heard me screaming with excitement all the way in South Dakota! We mailed them to our family and friends a few weeks ago and the response has been amazing! People are most excited about how it shows a lineup of the many events that we have planned. The map has also been a huge hit as it really plays up the history and traditions of the village. We overwhelmingly feel that the font and general design set our guests up for the whimsical, unique, and playful tone that we were hoping for!"

Here's a photo of the couple - aren't they adorable?! And the finished piece, complete with calligraphy and vintage stamps that Laura and Zack collected - talk about the total package, we think they look amazing!

Watch for more of our *INSPIRE* blogs to see the unique ways we help to perfectly blend our brides' wedding day inspirations to their custom stationery pieces. We truly enjoyed designing this charming piece with Laura and look forward to other custom stationery endeavors!

Promote your business with letterpress

Adorably modern business stationery for Leximedia, thanks to our retailer Kate's Paperie Soho of New York, NY.

Special event invitation for the Association of Certified Professional Wedding Consultants,
thanks to our retailer Luxe Expressions of Atlanta, Georgia.

Letterpress photo bookmark announcing the grand re-opening of the Augustana Library, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Calling cards that capture the essence of the business.

Special event invitation, thanks to our retailer Paper Cafe of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Shown in the picture is the front and back of the invitation.

Ever thought of printing your business stationery letterpress? We've had a number of small business owners contact us over the years, because they wanted to provide their clients with something special - something out of the ordinary 4-color process we see everywhere.

Letterpress is already a trend in wedding stationery, so why not for business stationery as well? The initial conversations about printing something letterpress or not are much the same. "I don't know how much it will cost, but I really want something different." And, "I want this event to be timeless and set the tone." Or how about, "we really want to make a statement." Make a statement with whom? Guests, donors, clients, the in-laws...well whomever it is, let's make an impression.

Any business owner will tell you, you have a spend a buck to earn a buck. Right? Well, we can tell you to select where you spend your bucks wisely. Like many other letterpress printers, for example, we print business cards. Why? They stand out from the rest of the cards out there AND they are a great conversation starter. You're essentially saying, "business with you is important to me."

If you're planning a special event, think about who you hope to attend. If you're hoping for a stellar crowd, then maybe it's appropriate to throw a little letterpress love their way. The special event pieces shown above make everyone look and feel good. We like that.

Are you excited? We hope you are, so don't deflate when we have to talk price. For starters, our business cards are affordable yet luxurious. Our standard paper is 100% cotton, which for most people, is really nice. Order a higher quantity to get a better price per piece. Try to keep the information on one side of the card - there is no rule that you have to print on the backside!

If your budget is tight for an upcoming special event, consider sticking to one color letterpress. Dress up the invite with a letterpress envelope liner or maybe a stunning envelope design. Don't forget about our letterpress coasters, gift tags, bookmarks and programs as these pieces provide your clients with a special keepsake to remember your company.

Retailer Profile- Paperista

Paperista
Minneapolis, MN

Owner: Antoinette Ramos
Length in Business: 2 years

Why did you choose to carry the new Spark albums?: Because they are AWESOME! Really, the pricing, design customization, and service is really great.
Favorite New Spark Design: Arianna, Erin, and Diedre

Social Media:
website: www.paperista.com
blog: paperista.com/blog/
facebook: paperista
twitter: paperista

Other thoughts on the albums: We love the whole Sparkler concept you have, the albums are very popular with clients- they are drawn to the fresh and fun designs.
Average client: 20-something bride without the stuffy-ness.
Strengths as a retailer/store: Offer a couture stationery experience- we want to be a fun part of the wedding experience!

When Antoinette approached us to carry the Spark letterpress love albums, we happily realized two things. First, she's got style. Second, she knows how to use her style to create beautiful, custom stationery. Her stationery studio is an amazing space, perfect for inspiring her clients to relax and enjoy the process.

Our owner, Bebe, had a chance to visit her personally the last time she was in Minneapolis. Antoinette is a lovely person, with a keen design sensibility. We’re lucky to have her, so please give her a call to discuss your next project! They are located on the 2nd flood of the historic Semple Mansion near downtown Minneapolis

Their address: 100 West Franklin Aveune, Suite 204 Minneapolis, MN 55404

Store Hours: Tuesday-Friday: 10 AM - 5PM, Saturday: 11AM - 3PM

Meet (well you know her) Diedre- The Organized Sister

Well, I am a Minnesota girl. I grew up north of Minneapolis and enjoyed a childhood filled with lots of outdoor play, fishing, swimming, biking, even a little archery...and I'll admit, a Barbie or two. I went to Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. It was at Gustavus that I met my husband, Joel. We were married after college and moved out to Boston so he could attend graduate school in political science. During our seven years there, I worked at Harvard, taught Spanish to middle and high school kids, worked for an online startup company and became a full-time mom. We very much liked living in Boston. Our favorite pastime was taking walks along the Harbor and we tried to visit as much of New England as we could during that time.

After Boston, Joel got a job at a private college in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We bought our first home (after years of apartment living), moved across the country and had our second son. I stayed home with our boys for a year and then went to work for an insurance company before joining the family business.

My hobbies are reading, baking, walking, and just being a Mom- as everyone knows that is a full-time job! I love all things paper and letterpress- of course!

What do you like about Spark?:
I enjoy working at Spark because I finally have a job I am passionate about. I also get to work with my family, which I can honestly say is fun. My sister and I work well together. We can anticipate each others thoughts, which may be eerie for those around us.

Favorite task to do with your job:
When you work for a small company, everyone pitches in around the shop. I enjoy helping our clients because all of us here want you to know that we truly care about each project. I sometimes work in the finishing area sewing our passports or putting on flush mount backers - my sister will be surprised to know that I actually like these tasks! And, although I don't get to do it much anymore, I love to wrap up an order. I imagine what it will be like for our client to open up their Spark package.

What do you miss most now that you are living in Germany, away from Spark?
I very much miss my friends and family at Spark - seeing you all in person. Skype is great, but a hug or a laugh is much better. I also miss seeing the orders as they go out the door. Some orders are with us for a few months from design to finishing, so when it finally leaves, it is really cool to see and appreciate the finished product.

A Sparkling Engagement!

Guess who's engaged - That's right, its our very own Joy's turn to make all her wedding day dreams come true! On a daily basis we hear from many brides on their details and dreams for their stationery - so of course she has lots of ideas and is eager to start the planning process for her own big day. You can look forward to hearing from her right here on our blog as she starts designing her letterpress invitations and making wedding plans.

We hope you'll join us in congratulating Joy! We are all thrilled to have an extra special project for one of our own this year at Spark!

Spark in New York!

Needless to say, the past few weeks have been quite eventful here at Spark! Lots of exciting things happening, presses running non-stop, but most importantly we've been to New York and back! Our trunk shows at the Kate's Paperie stores and Judy Paulen Designs location in Bloomingdales were very successful and gave us a chance to meet up with many of their great employees we "work" with on a daily basis. We truly enjoyed having time to talk with the excited brides-to-be that stopped by. Many of them used our presence as an opportunity to really get a feel for all that Spark can do on the custom side of things. Here we are at the Kate's Paperie 57th Street Store - with Viva, a Kate's custom printing specialist and a couple that did a save the date with us - they were back to take advantage of our great specials and design their custom wedding suite!

Taking a peek at the great Kate's window displays with some Spark samples and new holiday card designs!

We brought along LOTS of samples and custom design examples that were on display at all of the stores....

If you had a chance to visit one of our shows, you got your hands on a great little gift bag full of Spark letterpress goodies. The bags included some cards, a poster designed especially for the show, recycled scrap paper notepads and a few of our awesome new promos! Don't worry though, if you aren't in NY, we've got you covered! We'll be sending out some of these things to our retailers in the coming new year, so be sure to stop in to the store nearest you and check us out.

It was great meeting some of our retailers, clients and even fans in NYC - we look forward to our next trip!

Insight: Custom Holiday cards!

It's beginning to look a lot like . . . Christmas?! Okay, maybe not just yet. But up here in our neck of the woods – it won't be long! No doubt, stores everywhere have boarded the festive holiday train and that has us very excited for the upcoming months. Spark has lots of holiday artwork to pick from and making your family's very own custom holiday card couldn't be any simpler. Just choose your ink colors, paper color, flat or folded card, artwork elements from the design book and give us a little design direction!

There's lots of winter-themed, holiday artwork in our design book:

And check out our latest winter cabin themed custom artwork that a family just used for their holiday greeting! Canoe + snowshoes = one unique, stylin' Christmas tree, don't you think?!

Here's a few color combinations to get you started - some more modern and some more traditional. Be creative and make your holiday card stand out this year!

Just add a personal message or your favorite holiday greeting - maybe a line from your favorite jingle - and there you have it, a lovely custom, letterpressed holiday card. Easy! To get your cards by early December- order this week!

Even the grinch could handle this ; ) contact a Spark Retailer or spark@letterpresslove.com for all this lovely holidazzle information!

Meet (well you know her) Valerie - Creative Sister/Art Director/Production Task Master

Valerie is the creative sister at Spark, also known to us as our art director and visionary behind the Letterpress Love designs. To say that she is a hard worker is an understatement. As future owner of our family-owned business, it is her daily role to oversee everything Spark, from our day-to-day business to our present and future endeavors. We embrace her creativity, welcome her challenges and await her next trend.

Valerie is originally from the Minneapolis area of Minnesota. Her history prior to Spark included "creative" jobs at big accounting firms such as Ernst & Young, LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. Yep. She did more than her share of RFPs (request for proposals), pulling all-nighters, making the account executives look good at their jobs. Yet she was stymied and always seemed to be looking for something more creatively.

Valerie moved on to self-employment, opening her own design firm and working independently for local businesses, also dabbling in wedding invitation design. More wedding design projects came her way, enough for Valerie to focus solely on her new found love - design the way she intended.

The Spark family can attest to the fact that Valerie was truly happy and inspired when creating wedding stationery. She was always thinking outside the box, pushing her design skills and expecting more out of herself to grow her business. Creative one that she is, Valerie was happy, but she was still stuck with digital printing.

Well, the timing couldn't have been better! Valerie met Jim, and these two designers hit it off. They got married, bought their first letterpress, Jim taught himself how to use it (and use it well) and they worked happily out of their home office and garage. Valerie created her first couture wedding designs for local clients. It was at this time, we saw her first spin booklet and sewn fabric pocket invitation that is to die for. Spark was created not long after - Valerie's creation to spread a some letterpress love to the people. Ahhh.....

Now let's hear from Valerie...

I am the proud mother of two sassy little girls, Lily who is five, and Lucia who is two and a half. I am first and foremost a Mom, and anytime I'm not being a Mom, I work. Sounds boring, but it's a life I love. I have no time for hobbies, but my theory is that since I enjoy my job so much, it meets my need for a fun pastime. I do hope that once our business is more developed, I can spend more time with my family and travel more. But everyone here knows that I will still call to check in and answer emails at 1am. There are some things that about myself that I just don't foresee changing I guess.

What do I like most about my job? Shiny happy people holding hands (she is also sarcastic). Seriously, everyone at Spark truly cares about the work we do for our clients. I also don't mind telling people what to do and it's not bad having the final say on things. My most favorite thing to do, however, is designing pretty things for deserving clients and the retailers who brought them to us. Thank goodness this is a daily task - I'm a lucky girl!

Blog Only Holiday Design- Cheer!

Here is the other fun Holiday design released blog only! Cheer is shown in these 2 color options- either in navy and sunshine (shown above) or eggplant and glacier (shown below). The top image was created as a A2 folded note, perfect for writing a personal note to family and friends during the holidays. The last three images were done in an A7 (5x7 size) with Alyssa's adorable wedding photo representing once again that the design can be done with the mounted photo. Remember- the price includes blank envelopes up to 250 quantity! Please contact your local retailer or spark@letterpresslove.com for more information on any of our Holiday Love designs! To see all of the Holiday Love 2010 album designs, check out our Facebook page- Become our fan! Spark Letterpress is our name!

Retailer Profile: Inviting Affairs

Inviting Affairs
Austin, TX

Owner: Michelle Esaias
Length in business: 7-8 years

Why did you choose to carry the new Spark albums?: We love Spark's originality. There is nothing like it!
Favorite new Spark design: Lovebirds- Lucinda

Social Media
Website: www.invitingaffairs.com
Facebook: Inviting Affairs

Other thoughts about the albums: We think the albums are super cute - love them!
Average client: Our average client has a more modern style.
Strengths as a retailer/store: We provide great customer service and offer a variety of custom lines for our clients to choose from.

All of us at Spark truly enjoy working with Michelle and her staff at Inviting Affairs. They are a talented group, eager to help you create beautiful custom stationery. Visit their website's what people are saying page to hear just how happy they make their clients. They are doing it right down there in Austin, so stop in and say Hello!

Blog only Holiday Design- Winter Forest

We have heard some great comments on our Holiday Love album, so we wanted to provide our readers a few more designs to choose from (other design coming later this week)! Get inspired, remember you can mix and match our designs to create the perfect look for this years Holiday card.

Take a look at Winter Forest: This design uses our popular wood grain pattern. The above image was created in an A2 folded card size, gumdrop ink. The below image was done in an A7 (5X7) size with chocolate ink.


The third shows Alyssa's wedding picture mounted on a 5x7 card, while the fourth image is the same artwork in the vertical layout, only with our simple tree. Photos can also be letterpressed for your holiday card. There is a flat rate (Holiday special only) of $40 per image. Please make sure to submit a high resolution image.