Linda & Harriet 2012 Letterpress Calendar

As you know our 2012 calendars have been rolling in and just last week we received our shipment of Linda & Harriet letterpress calendars. We've carried this calendar every year and it is always my personal favorite. This year is no different!

Liz Libré, the artist behind Linda & Harriet, creates a pattern of hand-drawn illustrations that fill the bottom of each month's page. The drawings are always related to the specific month so that you have snowmen to look at in December and whales to admire in July.

The best part about the calendar is that on the back of each month's page there is a layout of a postcard so that when the month is over (or if you're like us it will be when the year is over since we display all 12 months at once for a huge, life-size wall calendar) you can cut off the bottom of the page where the pattern of illustrations are located and send a dear friend or secret crush an adorable postcard. How clever is that?

Can you guess which month is Sam's favorite? She's pretty stoked that not only does the 2012 calendar feature horse shoes, they just happen to be March's featured illustration, which is Sam's birthday month (March 7 in case you want to send cupcakes).

I love the pattern for October. Halloween is just a few short weeks away:)

photos courtesy of Linda & Harriet

Hand-sewn booklet invitations

We created this invitation booklet last year for a June wedding and can't believe we haven't shared it with you before now. The save the dates (read about them here) were a blast to design and print and we knew we wanted to continue the theme of the blind printing and sewn details into the invitation suite.

During our initial meeting with Lauren and Matt we realized we were going to need a unique delivery method because of all of the additional information they wanted to include. Samantha and I are not huge fans of an envelope full of 6 or 7 different loose pieces and always try to dream up a more creative way of including the necessary information without overwhelming the guests. For this suite we decided to create a booklet with a perforated reply postcard and we held it closed with a lavender cotton ribbon.

My favorite detail in this suite are the not-so-blind printed ranunculus which were created by using transparent white ink after running the dark purple ink - I wash up the press, but not entirely so there are some remnants of purple on there - and when the transparent white inks up it has just a slight shade of light purple in it. Take a peek!

{the booklet was tied shut with cotton ribbon (moved down here to show the banner)}

{after removing the ribbon, the banner and blind printed ranunculus are revealed}

{a look at the many pages}

{the invitation featured hand-drawn ranunculus and borders}

{another look at the invitation}

{my favorite part of the suite: a perforated reply postcard with dark purple ink overprinting the soft purple flowers}

{the mailable side of the postcard shown on the left and an invitation to a welcome party the night before the wedding}

{the parents of the bride insisted we provide directions and lodging information}

{the last page in the book: a note from the bride and groom-to-be!}

{thank you notes - an absolute must and not something to skimp on}

{the entire suite including the save the date and calligraphy by Write 4 You}

All photos by Brea McDonald Photography | Styling by Maine Seasons Events