Nonpareil Magazine, Issue #02

March 25, 2010 // kristen // 4 replies

The second issue of Nonpareil Magazine is live — yay! I love that the theme of this issue is color, namely palettes inspired by the inspirational color cards that Maddy posts regularly over at The Inspired Bride. Color, printables, diy projects — there’s so much of all of these to be found in the issue, and I hope that it’ll inspire. Here’s a peek at some of the beautiful images from the issue to whet your appetite:

images from their respective owners

Flora and Fauna Letterpress

March 18, 2010 // kristen // 1 replies

I’m thoroughly enjoying all of the letterpress pretties from Los Angeles area letterpress shop, Flora and Fauna Press, who specialize in oh so pretty letterpress wedding invitations and greeting cards for all occasions. I’m loving the hummingbird card and the cute mustache Father’s Day card (both included below). You can check out their whole line at Flora and Fauna. Thanks, Christine!

images from Flora and Fauna Press

Subtle Glances Letterpress

March 10, 2010 // kristen // 2 replies

Today, I’m all aswoon over the portfolio of Subtle Glances, whose fantastic calling card design for photographer Jerry Yoon initially drew me to their work. Their letterpress wedding invitation work is quite stunning, and their love for what they do truly shows in the details. I’m also digging the monkey and banana birth announcements that they created — too cute! Here’s a little eye candy from the Subtle Glances portfolio:

images from Subtle Glances

Tugboat Printshop

March 09, 2010 // kristen // 5 replies

Absolutely amazing work coming from Paul Roden and Valerie Lueth, the artists behind Pittsburgh, PA based Tugboat Printshop. Tugboat specializes in incredibly intricate woodcut prints, like the gorgeous 4 color woodcut printed wedding invitations shown above. A bit more from the Tugboat Printshop portfolio:

You can purchase select prints in the shop on the Tugboat site, and you can see more about their printing process both on their site and in their Flickr stream. I love looking at the in process and finished woodcuts, which are works of art in and of themselves. Swoon…

images from Tugboat Printshop

Dimensional Paper Flower Tutorial

February 24, 2010 // kristen // 1 replies

One of my features in the first issue of Nonpareil was all about diy favor boxes, and one of the boxes in the feature was adorned with a neato vintage brooch that I pulled from the stash of brooches, earrings, and other costume jewelry that my grandmother and other relatives have been kind enough to pass down to me over the years for incorporation into my various crafty projects.

I know that not everyone has a stash of vintage jewelry hanging around, so I created bonus project, a paper replica of the brooch that I used in the favor box feature. You can check out the tutorial and download free template files over at the Nonpareil blog. The flower would also be a fun embellishment for scrapbooking projects, other types of boxes, or handmade cards, and you can make it in any color of the rainbow or use patterned paper for even more possibilities.

image from Nonpareil/Kristen Magee