Snow Spangled Holiday Photo Cards

November 11, 2010 // kristen // 0 replies

A Letterpress Christmas 2010 : Cartoules Letterpress

November 11, 2010 // kristen // 6 replies

Can you believe that this is the fifth year that I’m doing “A Letterpress Christmas”? Wow. Over the past several years, I’ve continued to be amazed by the new shops and talented creatives who have come into the letterpress niche, as well as by the level of design continually being produced by the more established letterpress shops, and I’m excited to continue the series this year.

This year’s first feature is on Cartoules Press’ wonderfully merry and bright holiday letterpress collection, which features letterpress cards and gift tags in both English and Greek. I love, love, love the vibrant cherry red and chartreuse color palette and the variety of designs available.

And I’m completely delighted by the fresh, modern holiday card designs that Cartoules is bringing to the Greek community. I don’t come across well-designed foreign language holiday cards too often (if you’ve spotted any others, please let me know!), so these are a breath of fresh air.

Typographic cards and tags read “Kala Xristougenna”, or “Merry Christmas”, and the ornament card reads “Kales Giortes”, or “Happy Holidays”.

images from Cartoules Letterpress

KM Designs Laser-cut Greeting Cards

November 11, 2010 // kristen // 1 replies

I’m digging these red and white laser-cut snowflake holiday cards by KM Design. The ornate snowflake cards will make wonderful packages for personal holiday greetings, and they can be framed and used as art pieces, so they’re a card and a gift, too!

Katie McElroy, the designer behind KM Design, also designs neato spiral graph laser-cut cards and impressive orgamic architecture pop-up cards. For custom pop-up inquiries, you can use Etsy Alchemy to set up a commission or contact Katie directly from her Etsy shop.

images from KM Design

2011 Calendar Designs, Part 5

November 10, 2010 // kristen // 2 replies

It’s time for another eye-candy filled roundup of 2011 calendars! It really is amazing just how many rockin’ calendar designs there are for the coming year. Every time I set out to find a few, I end up finding about ten. Designers, printers, stationers, illustrators – you gals and guys rock!

Last year, JooJoo’s calendar was one of the sweetest that I found, and their 2011 giclee calendar may be even sweeter. The calendar features beautiful watercolor bird illustrations for every month of the year. So darling.

Hello Handmade Paperie celebrates nature’s splendor in their beautiful 2011 calendar. Each of the four pages in the calendar showcases one season, featuring the words of Mary Oliver, printed illustrations by Shanna Murray, and hand penned calligraphy by Betsy Dunlap. Because the lettering is manually penned for each calendar, no two are exactly alike, which truly puts this calendar in a league of its own.

Up Up Creative’s 2011 desk calendar features 12 modern, hand-illustrated patterns in a bold, modern palette. Only 72 are available, so grab yours while you can!

Such adorable little birdies in Monkey Mind Design’s Artsy Birdies calendar. Each month features an original bird illustration, and the calendar’s size is perfect for hanging on walls, bulletin boards, or refrigerators.

More oh so sweet illustrations in this 2011 limited edition wall calendar from Creative Thursday, which features favorite illustrations from the past year, as well as images that won’t be available elsewhere.

Dizzy Wizzy Design’s cool, modern easel style desk calendar features a chic color palette and typography and includes areas for you to jot down notes and dates to remember.

Stephanie Fizer’s Illustrated Year of Cuteness 2011 Calendar (love that name!) features a series of super adorable illustrations that Stephanie started in October 2009 and recently finished. Only 25 of these limited edition cuties are available, so head on over and check it out while they’re still in stock.

Noa Bembibre’s 2011 wall calendar is clever, clever, clever – a definite must see for typophiles and graphic designers.

images from their respective owners

Holiday Cards from Small Talk Studio

November 10, 2010 // kristen // 0 replies

I’m so excited to share the new line of holiday greeting cards from Small Talk Studio with you. Alyssa Nassner, the talented illustrator behind Small Talk Studio, allows her love for pattern and Scandinavian design to shine through in this wonderful collection of Christmas cards, and I can’t get enough of the vibrant green and blue color palette. Such a fun, fresh take on holiday card design!

images from Small Talk Studio