Archives for March 2011

Many of our clients ask me, What does digital press printing, letterpess, and thermography raised ink printing look like? All three printing processes are different and offer unique textures.

1. LETTERPRESS printing is impressed printing that has a lovely texture and rich appearance. At My Personal Artist we use a Heidelberg Windmill letterpress printing press. We use 100% cotton cardstock for our letterpress invitations. The press pushes the cardstock against the letterpress printing plate with raised artwork and or lettering creating a beautiful impression. Almost any color of ink can be used. When I hand our letterpess printing to our clients in our public studio they always remark at how luxurious and truly unique the printing looks and feels.

2. RAISED INK printing also called thermography printing is raised and glossy to the touch. A plate is made and the cardstock runs through a printing press which prints the card with ink. A fine powdered polymer powder is applied and then heated up to 900 to 1300 degrees Fahrenheit with dryers. A gentle vacuum removes all powder that was not absorbed by wet ink. This creates the raised lettering (as shown above).

3. DIGITAL PRESS printing is flat and matte finish. The least expensive form of printing. This printing process allows the most vibrant watercolor artwork to be reproduced in vivid prints. Unlike laser printing, the finish is matte not shiny. We never use laser printing at My Personal Artist. Laser printing can flake and looks, well, cheap. We prefer the matte finish of high end digital press printing for our clients.

These are the top 3 printing processes we offer at My Personal Artist. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us. [email protected]

I receive many emails asking what is the difference between TABLE cards and SEATING place cards.

TABLE CARDS are often used to identify a table to your guests. Let’s say you have 150 guests and have several round tables that seat a limited amount of guests. You will want to designate a number or “table name” to each table. This will help your guests find their assigned seating easily. When I walk into a party or reception I do prefer assigned seating. I am always amazed at how lost some guests look when there is no assigned seating. Most guests want to be guided in the right direction upon entering the reception venue. Many of our clients skip using traditional numbers and enjoy naming tables after cities they have visited, tropical islands, etc.

SEATING PLACE CARDS (escort cards) are placed at the entrance of the venue to guide your guests to their assigned table. This card will have the guest’s name hand written or printed on them along with the table number or table name. The seating card size we use at My Personal Artist 4.25″w x 2.75″h works perfectly for our clients. Depending on how you will display your seating cards will determine if you need a folder tent card or a flat one layer non-folding card. A folder seating card stands alone. The flat non-folding card will be placed in a place card holder. Shown below, a letterpress folder tent style seating card on thick pearl white 100% cotton cardstock.

Shown below, a clever and creative destination wedding seating card idea we just created for our clients Jess + Tim. Each glass bottle will be nestled in a dish of sand.

Ultimately, using table and seating place cards at your reception celebration keeps you and your guests organized and gives everyone more time to celebrate.

Remember to have fun and … Keep it Simple. Enjoy!

I was so delighted when Sydney and her mother asked me to create a rustic elegance custom invitation featuring a barn design, the venue, in hand painted watercolor.

Sydney was inspired by my ice blue, coral, and light yellow inspiration board. She asked that I create an invite with this in mind.

I had the great pleasure of creating, in hand painted watercolor paint, the rustic barn venue where Sydney and Christopher will marry. I added the warmest globe lighting inside the barn doors with the loving couple embracing in the doorway.  I have to say, it felt magical. Inside the card, hand drawn light yellow globe lighting strung with the ice blue gives the guests a glimpse of the celebration to come.

Creating this rustic elegance barn wedding invitations design was truly a delight.

It’s our Invitation Spring Sale! Expires 4/3/2011. Read details at My Personal Artist.

Happy Tuesday! Wow. James and I have been busy as bees in the studio. We have so many fun projects we have been working on and we can not wait to share with them.

One project we are working on is super creative and fun for a destination wedding. Jess and Tim are marrying in Bermuda. We created their destination wedding invitations for them. Today, per their request we created these…

{Above photo credit and article in full can be seen at Martha Stewart Weddings}

The small glass cylinders were perfect! Jess shipped one to me to be sure the paper fit perfectly into the bottle with cork attached. See our version custom made for Jess and Tim …

These destination wedding seating cards in a bottle are printed in navy ink on sand color parchment paper match their invitations perfectly!