Fab Wedding Gifts!

Well, if you are like me, then you have a couple of weddings to attend this Summer/Fall. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining - but sometimes I DO get overwhelmed with all that goes with the wedding: what to wear (the shoes! the hair!) and what to buy as a gift (boring snoring registry gifts - I mean, I don't want to buy you 2 towels!) 

Well, JPress Designs to the rescue! 

I have quite a few little gems in my arsenal that make great wedding gifts!

Personalized Stationery

You know the bride and groom will have a ton of thank you notes to write, so why not help them out with some super cool, personalized stationery! And, as it so happens, I am running a special now: 24 pieces of personalized stationery for $36. You get to choose the design, color, etc. Contact me (Susan) for more details!

Floral Ampersand Print

Commemorate the date the happy couple's union with this personalized Floral Ampersand print! You get to select up to four colors! 11x14 print only $30! Click here for more information!

House (or Apartment) Portraits

What better way to honor the new couple's abode that with an original illustration!

Perfect for the couple who has everything (or maybe just a lot of blank wall space!)

Starting at $100 and can be customized with their precious pup (or kitty!) Click here for more details! 

Let JPress Designs help you select the perfect wedding gift for that perfect couple in your life!

Featured: Country Living

 

Country Living's website has a segment on affordable wedding invitations from Etsy and guess who made the cut?!? That's right, folks! Emily Farris, a freelance writer, contacted me last week and asked if I had any photos of my work for her piece on the website. Um, YES PLEASE!  I immediately sent over the photos and the segment went up today! Be sure to check out the full article here. 

Happy Friday!

Stuff I like: Mary Sims

The other day I had a meeting with a potential client in her home. She was a born and bred Memphian as well, and during our meeting I noticed that she had some fantastic artwork. After our business was conducted, I inquired about some of her paintings - specifically a wacky, yet meticulously detailed still life. She proceed to tell me about Mary Sims, a Memphis painter. She had a couple of her pieces and I just fell in love. Her sense of color and composition is absolutely amazing. 

David Lusk Gallery has some of her pieces and I now have a new entry on my Bucket List: own a Mary Sims painting.  I lifted her bio from her page on the DLG website:

Mary Sims taught herself how to paint. She was the first woman accepted into the printmaking department at the University of Iowa, working under the master, Mauricio Lasanksy. She did further studies in Rome and at Tulane University. Sims got a teaching job at Rhodes College in the early 1970s. Then, pregnant with her daughter, she realized she could only afford the baby or her own printmaking operation. Not long after that decision she started teaching herself to paint.

"I started saying I was going to be an artist when I was three years old -- as early as I could talk. Sims spent her whole life honing her craft and loving every day of art making. I really think I am a happy person. Not because my life is all roses and sunshine. But because I have exactly what I want out of the whole world and I get to work at it."

Her preferred subject matter was anything with eyes – be it a cat, dog, horse, pig, goose, toddler, adolescent or dowager. For Sims the eyes were the soul, and if she was able to recreate them well the rest of the portrait was a piece of cake. Portraits, however, were a small part of her career. She’s most noted for intricate, flat, stylized still life paintings chock full of flowers, fabrics, tsatske and spunk.

Working from meticulously built settings, Sims photographed every inch of the composition, glued the photos into a large study that she then gridded, and transferred that imagery onto a gridded canvas. Her final product was an elegantly simplified arrangement of colorful forms and textures. The paintings are very flat with nary a brush mark evident.

Sims exhibited coast to coast, she sold work to a big group of celebrities and also to museums and fortune 500 companies. She touched everyone she met with her wit, frankness, clever Southern patois and skill with a paintbrush.

Real Weddings: Katie & Rob

Last year I had a client contact me through my Etsy Shop and order some State Pride Save the Dates. Katie was a super friendly gal and the order went smoothly. 

State Pride Save the Date

Love her color palette of sage and clementine!

A couple of months later she contacted me regarding her wedding invitations. She said she had something specific in mind that she could not find and she asked me if I would be interested in designing a custom invitation. I LOVE custom work (le duh) so I jumped right on board. 

The happy couple went to UVA, so they wanted to incorporate the swords of the school logo with their shared initial of "S" (instead of the "V") while also using their palette of sage and clementine.

We added a color envelope for a little extra flair.

 Katie and Rob were married on September 22, 2013 at Castle Hill Cider in Keswick, Virginia: the gorgeous historic home of General Thomas Walker (guardian and mentor of Thomas Jefferson). With long, rolling hills a two acre lake and apple orchards on the property it is an absolutely gorgeous site for a wedding!

Congratulations, Katie and Rob! Your wedding looks absolutely amazing and I am so glad I had the chance to work with you! 

Venue: Castle Hill Cider
Catering: C&O Restaurant
Florist: Hedge Fine Blooms
Photography: Holland Photo Arts
Ceremony musician: Virginia Schweninger
Band: The John Winntett
Make-up: Tonia Borchardt
Hair: Dusanka Rusic-Bajs
Gown: J. Crew
Lighting: M&S Events

Building Relationships: Jessica Strickland

A couple of years ago I had a client contact me about designing a custom Twins Baby Shower Invitation. She was Jessica Strickland, a wedding photographer who operates out of central Indiana. Being a creative type, she had some very specific ideas  about the design and prefaced her order by saying she was extremely picky and for me not to get offended if she had too many revisions or criticisms. I tool a deep breath, said "okey dokey" and set to work. 

Thankfully, I knocked it out of the park and she was extremely pleased with her design options! Whew! We finalized the design and the rest of the order went smoothly. 

A couple of months later, she contacted me about designing a gift certificate for her photography business and some new business cards. She wanted to use her existing logo and current color selections (black and yellow), but change up the design some. I was super thrilled that she came back for more (love repeat clients!!!), so I happily obliged her request. 

A couple months after that, she contacted me about a house portrait for one of her friends! 

By this time we are pretty friendly with each other and she recommends that her sister contact me about some more design projects - but more on that later!

And finally, earlier this year, she contacts me in regards to her logo. She is ready for a totally new logo design! She sends me her ideas and, once again, I set to work. I won't bore you with all of the drafts and revisions we went through - I'll just cut to the good stuff: her new logo!

We hired Grey Snail Press for the calligraphy (J is super awesome and easy to work with!)

Business cards. I love how the logo pops against the white background and - BAM! - you turn it over for even more wow!

We also printed some promotional pieces to showcase her new logo as well as her photography work. They are printed on a 130# glossy paper and will fit in a n0. 10 envelope! BTW, have I mentioned how incredibly talented Jessica is? Her work is absolutely amazing and you should definitely go check out her website. 

Anyway, I am super proud of this overall design and I am so thankful that Jessica and I have such a great working relationship! It's always so wonderful when you can work with a creative person and be equally inspired by them. The finished product is always amazing!

Thanks, Jess! I look forward to our next project!