Letterpress makes us happy.

Introducing Spark Impress - New for 2012!

2011-12-29T15:35:00.058-06:00

Spark Impress is more than our newest collection, it is the blueprint of what's next for the design studio at Spark. Whether you need custom stationery for a wedding or Mitzvah or simply want to write some beautiful notes to a friend; we will work with you to create stunning paper goods that fit your personal style. In addition to our design services, we handle letterpress printing, foil stamping, die cutting and intricate finishing methods in-house which means your order is lovingly cared for from start to finish. The 2012 Impress Collection Includes:

Gemma. Dark purple matte and gold and gray metallic papers along with gold and purple inks create this stunning color palette. A new trifold design opens to reveal the invitation and a petite belly band holding additional cards.

Mia. Cream cotton and Japanese cane papers paired with melon, sunshine and mocha inks. A die cut seashell tag and folded seashell weekend events card make this suite even more special.

Andrea. Navy and fuchsia are paired in matte and metallic papers for a vibrantly chic look. This suite features a laser cut belly band and weekend booklet cover. All pieces fit nicely into our new luxury mailer.

Carina. This simply designed suite has a timeless quality and can easily be modified. Midori ribbon, Arturo paper and our house cotton stock all come together beautifully in this new square mock trifold design housed in pointed flap inner and outer envelopes.

Chelsea. Museum board and pale peach metallic papers coordinate swimmingly with pearlized peach foil used throughout the suite for the magnolia art. Our new calligraphy font is paired with classically styled fonts for an understated yet charming look.

Daphne. Already a favorite of our staff, this cheerful collection tells the couple's story through the die cut initials and heart invite. A modern tin sealed with a mailing label holds the various pieces including a reply postcard and detailed map.

Hilary. This oversized invite panel pairs cooper foil with steel ink and thick Arturo paper in soft white. The copper foil on the invite and reception card complement the copper metallic paper. A square crystal adorns the invite, menu and accessory sleeve.

Alyssa. This suite has it all - a pale amethyst crystal adorning the invitation, lilac color edging, our new calligraphy font and a laser cut wrap like no other. Arturo papers and envelopes only enhance the gorgeous details of this suite, especially the tone-on-tone letterpress printing.

Whitney. The photos do not do this suite justice - what can be pared down to a lovely black and white suite, has been all dressed up with its details. Two new items for Spark include a luxury mailer with a curved flap and a coordinating accessory sleeve to hold additional cards.

Zoe. White foil and clear varnish letterpress create a tone-on-tone look to keep everything understated. Bright purple accents in the color edging, liners and backers that pop of color. This modern suite is perfect for the minimalist and type-loving couple.

Katherine. Based on one of our most popular custom designs, this design shows transparent gold and gold inks - one of our most popular pairings. The main panel uses our thickest paper, 4-ply museum board which pairs nicely with our soft white papers.

Tessa. Our increasingly requested airline ticket invitation design can be customized with almost any of our maps and your client's destination. Luggage tag die cuts complete this suite for a save the date or welcome basket, and can be finished with an eyelet, ribbon or string.

Visit an Impress Dealer to get started. Spark has enlisted an intimate group of our best dealers nationwide who can help you create the stationery of your dreams. Our Impress dealers are just receiving the designs above in the stunning box pictured below, so CONTACT US to find a dealer near you. If you do not have an Impress dealer in your area, we are able to work with you directly.

Retailer Profile: Aileen Invitations

2011-12-04T13:43:00.006-06:00

Aileen Invitations
2584 Miami Gardens Drive, No Miami Beach, FL 33180
305.935.5601
www.aileeninvitations.com
aileen@aileeninvitations.com
Year Established: 2008
Store Owner: Aileen

Brag a bit about yourself and your company. What would you like people to know about Aileen Invitations? What are you most proud of?
We have the best selection of up-to-date invitations, are very selective on what we have in our store and order what our clients ask for. We take extra time to help our clients. We have an interior design background so we love to customize invitations. Our employees work hard to become friends with our clients and make our store very comfortable. We invite customers to come in, hang out and take their time looking around to get what they want. Letterpress is the most popular and we love to show them all the fun options available.

What makes you different from other stationery shops? What makes you unique?

I think we’re young and fresh and up-to-date on trends. We’re all very fashionable and do a lot of research to stay ahead of the rest. We’re not only an invitation store, we also have other fun paper products as well. We try to read the client on what they want so we can set the tone for their event.

What is your favorite Spark design and why?

Margaret – I did it for a client in Napa. It is so beautiful and I love the detail of the design.

What are some current trends you’re noticing in the stationery world?

Weight of the card is becoming more important to the customers. If it were more affordable, they would like more of a heavier cardstock. This year there were a lot of elegant and formal designs.

2012 is approaching quickly. What do you predict will be the biggest wedding or stationery trend for 2012?

I think people are definitely still going with letterpress. Mixing letterpress and foil is becoming big and being requested more. So I think foil will be bigger in 2012. People are slowly moving away from the elegant and formal designs and going more towards modern, fun and casual.

Retailer Profile: Landis Gifts & Stationery

2011-10-25T16:38:00.010-05:00

Landis Gifts and Stationery
Established in 1990
Edie Frere, Owner
138 N. Larchmont Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90004
323.465.7003
http://www.landisstationery.com/
info@landisgiftsandstationery.com

Brag a bit about yourself and your company. What would you like people to know about Landis Gifts & Stationery? What are you most proud of?

(Allison) Not only are our employees knowledgeable and helpful, but everyone who works here has great taste, which is invaluable when it comes to designing your own stationery/invitations.
(Erin) And in addition to stationery we carry a variety of gifts, from deliciously-scented candles and monogrammed silk pouches and bags to beautifully packaged soaps and so many fun little odds and ends.
(Joanne) We are a store who takes time to know our customer. Some of the people who come to the store just come to chat and ask what is new in the store.

What makes you different from other stationery shops? What makes you unique?

Twenty years of experience, to start. Also, we offer invitations and stationery by a wide variety of companies, as well as our own designs, so there is something for every desire and budget.

(Joanne) Some of our staff live in the area and know many of the people that live in our area, which makes our store more neighborhood friendly.

What is your favorite Spark design and why?

(Edie) The fun die cut shapes for business cards and holiday cards are my favorite. No one else has fun shapes like these so they are fun to see.
(Leela) Lucinda – I love the bark’s texture.
(Allison) I love the chipboard paper so much I bought Spark business cards using it!
(Erin) I’m torn between the Ava and Joy styles. The peach and pink are just lovely, especially for springtime or summer weddings or soirees.
(Joanne) I like the transparent silver ink. To me it looks blind embossed which is a look I always liked.

2012 is approaching quickly. What do you predict will be the biggest wedding or stationery trend for 2012?

We still see lots of plum and green combinations, and also a trend toward black and white. Simple elegance seems to be the biggest trend. There is a definite trend toward relating the Save the Date cards with the wedding location, and sometimes with the wedding invitation.

(Joanne) Something that catches the eye and allows the engaged couple to put a personal or unique style to the invitation. Affordable but not cheap looking.

What are some current trends you’re noticing in the stationery world? Colors, designs, papers, etc.

(Allison) Modern shades of purple are popping up more and more. Also, business card-sized enclosures with the couple’s website info in wedding.
(Edie) Personal calling cards, with just a name and perhaps an email address.
(Joanne) Letterpress invitations, as they are becoming more affordable, more popular. Bold pattern borders or a bold motif seem to be chosen more often.

The staff at Landis Gifts & Stationery offers so much creativity and stationery expertise. Stop by and talk to them about your next stationery project! Please tell them Spark sent you!

The Dandelion Patch and Spark Impress

2011-10-21T15:05:00.017-05:00

The Dandelion Patch, Vienna, Virginia Location

Thanks to The Dandelion Patch for the above photo.

Left to right: Heidi Kallett (Owner),
Valerie Carlson, (Spark Art Director),

Chen Li (Winner of Free Invitation Suite!)
and Andrea Snaza (Spark Senior Designer).

Thank you so much to all of the staff at The Dandelion Patch for having us at their stores last week. Valerie and Andrea enjoyed meeting the staff, taking part in a special paper party event and offering individual stationery consultations at three of the four store locations in the DC area. The Dandelion Patch staff are truly experts when it comes to creating custom stationery, which is why all of us at Spark enjoy working with them.

Spark sponsored a giveaway at the paper party, a FREE 1-color letterpress invitation suite. The lucky winner will be working with the staff at The Dandelion Patch to create her custom Spark look. Congrats to Chen Li and her fiance!!

During our visit, we were proud to introduce our new luxury line of custom stationery - Spark Impress. Check out these quick shots below of the new designs taken at the paper party last week. The Impress designs are fully customizable, featuring new papers and envelopes, custom luxury envelopes, laser wraps, foil stamping, jewels, color edging and more. There will be a total of ten Impress designs, and we can't wait to show you more!

Impress will be available in select retail stores soon. If you would like more information, please don't hesitate to contact us.

The photos below feature Whitney (black & white), Mia (beach theme), Daphne (die cut letters mailed in silver tin), Gemma (purple and gold trifold), Chelsea (coral foil magnolias) and Katherine (elegant scroll). Don't worry, more photos and details coming soon!

AIGA Minnesota Design Camp!

2011-10-10T14:20:00.011-05:00

Normally we leave the shop about once or twice a year, which I realize is not nearly enough by my calculations nor the standards of a normal person. So if we are going to venture out we want it to be worth our while.

Design Camp was all that and more for us. The event was well-organized, full of awesome printed lovelies, and there were happy designers conversing and finding inspiration in every direction.

Spark was thrilled to host three letterpress workshops. We had two projects: a calendar and a set of coasters.

For the calendar, we made a 15-month wall calendar printed on various stocks. It had the words I am knocked out of a vintage Minnesota map. We did a split fountain from silver to copper and went for a very deep impression. We were very pleased with the results and were excited to get it into the hands of our workshop attendees. We brought along photopolymer stamps that completed the “I am” statement. Things like married to my iMac, creative, honest, caffeinated at all times, a Minnesotan, etc. Everyone had fun adding these words and phrases to their calendar. We had a few attendees who did not want to disturb the beauty of the calendar and that was cool too.

The coasters project was a simple one, but oh-so-fun. Before camp we printed up coasters in two colors – a minty green (with an opaque white base) to match some of the print materials and then black. The coasters featured some of über-awesome icons created by the Target In-House team. Then at camp we letterpress printed the AIGA Minnesota Design Camp 2011 logo in the upper left corner of each one. It was great fun to see the workshop attendees carefully pressing their coasters. This year we were the only hands-on workshop so I know it was an exciting break for all who came.

We’ll do a separate post to tell the story of our C&P Pilot because that has its own storied past.

Images in this post are courtesy of Lisa Valley.

Here are a few more pictures from the event courtesy of @iBran (Brian Douglas Hayes):
http://flic.kr/p/asDq7y and http://flic.kr/p/asALBD

And even a few more pictures that we took:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sparkstationery/sets/72157627850007874/

Thanks again to everyone at Design Camp for making this our amazing outing for the year. We hope to see you again next year!

- Valerie & Jim

Spark Visits Virginia and Washington, DC!

2011-10-05T13:43:00.004-05:00

If you live in the Washington, DC area, don't miss your chance to meet Spark's designers in person for a paper party sponsored by our retailer, The Dandelion Patch! We are giving away a FREE Invitation Suite on Thursday, October 13th and you must be present to attend. In addition to our special giveaway, we will also have some other special offers and letterpress lovelies.

Here are the details:

The Dandelion Patch Paper Party with Spark

When: Thursday, October 13th
Time: 6-8 pm in our (newly renovated)
Location: Vienna Location, 111 Church Street, NW, Ste 101

Details: The Dandelion Patch will be hosting Spark Letterpress and offering an educational and entertaining invitation workshop. All attendees will have the chance to enter into a FREE invitation suite give-away*! This is a $1000+ value!! (A 100 quantity, 4-piece set in 1 color letterpress.) Winner must be present to win and you must register for this exciting evening at vienna@thedandelionpatch.com. The creative designers from Spark will also be on hand for personal consultations (please register!), and everyone will leave with a SWAG bag full of goodies! If that isn't enough, Spark is also featuring their new couture line - Impress - that shows what affordable luxury is all about.

Spark Stationery Consultation Sessions at Reston

When: Friday, October 14th
Time: 5-7 pm
Location: Reston, 11923 Market Street

Details: Spark will take personal consultations at their Reston store (ask for a time slot when you register), and every bride that orders will receive an additional FREE 1-color letterpress insert for their custom suite (not including reply). To register, email reston@thedandelionpatch.com

Spark Stationery Consultation Sessions at Georgetown

When: Saturday, October 15th
Time: 1-3 pm
Location: Georgetown, 3222 M Street NW, Ste W-055

Details: Spark will take personal consultations at their Georgetown location (ask for a timeslot when you register), and every bride that orders will receive an additional FREE 1-color letterpress insert for their custom suite (not including reply). To register, email georgetown@thedandelionpatch.com

For more information about The Dandelion Patch, please visit their website. We hope to see you there!

Letterpress Elegance - How to Customize

2011-10-04T14:59:00.006-05:00

We talk a lot about customizing your invitations, but what does it really mean? Does it have to be a complicated process? Absolutely not! Take the above invitations as an example. The first image shows our Margaret design, taken right out of our custom wedding album - the only thing that has changed are the inks and papers. The client also mimicked the invite design on the reception card.

The second image is a customized invitation, not featured in our custom wedding albums. The design is inspired by our Margaret suite, with the following changes:

- Chandelier artwork added to top (pattern removed)
- Pattern at bottom changed to our lovely "Brocade" pattern found in our design book*
- Burgues (swoosh) font toned down a bit
- Paper changed to grout gray, ink is warm gray

*All of our retailers have a Design Book they can share with you during your consultation, providing additional choices for papers, inks, fonts, patterns and other artwork. If you are working with us directly, we can send you a PDF with your customization options.

Whether you are working with Spark directly or through one of our retailers, let us guide you through the customization process. Don't hesitate to ask questions, we want to hear your ideas and inspire you to create something one-of-a-kind!

Holiday Special - 15% Off!

2011-09-23T11:25:00.014-05:00

We love holidays, so take advantage of our special holiday offer good through October 31st - 15% off all holiday card orders. We have a variety of holiday card designs to choose from or create your own custom holiday card using our collection of patterns, holiday art and more. For an additional $75, print your holiday card design on one of our die cut shapes shown above. Not finding what you are looking for? Ask us how you can create a custom shape.

Spark provides additional holiday finishing services such as photo printing and adhering (custom sizes available), ribbon tying, paper mounting, envelope liners, sewing and more.

This offer is good through any Spark retailer or by working with Spark directly if you do not have a retailer near you. Visit our website for more details about this promo. Cheers!

Save the Dates - Keeping it Simple

2011-08-30T10:05:00.006-05:00

We've been seeing more save the date inquiries and orders now that we are at the end of Summer and couples are planning for 2012 weddings. The save the date, like the rest of your wedding stationery, should reflect your personality. For some couples, keeping the design and message simple on the save the date is a perfect fit.

All of the designs featured in our letterpress love albums feature save the dates. Many of our couples mix and match our design patterns and artwork to create a save the date that is personal to them. Below are just a few save the dates that we find endearing in their use of color and design. Need more inspiration? Visit our website or preview our photos on our flickr page.

Happy Wedding Weekend, Joy!

2011-08-19T16:10:00.008-05:00

All of us at Spark would like to wish Joy and Adam well as they are married this weekend! What better way to acknowledge their grand affair than by showing off Joy's wedding stationery.

Featured above is their save the date, printed on bright white cotton stock in royal and fuchsia inks. The photos were supplied by their photographer, Despres Photography, and Spark did our magic to make the photos letterpress ready. We love how the finished save the date looks - showing off the happy couple!

Their invitation stationery was inspired by our Margaret design and printed on Lapis Lazuli metallic paper (pocketfold and envelope liner), soft white cotton stock, and fuchsia paper - all in royal ink. The pocketfold is printed with the Margaret pattern on the front flap in a tone on tone look and tied off with our string and button closure (button in silver metallic and string is fuchsia). We especially love the icons used on the wedding day weekend card!

Best wishes to Joy and Adam from all of us at Spark!

Photo credits: Sara D Harper

Spark Promotions - Free Insert Card and 15% Off!

2011-07-26T09:40:00.005-05:00

The Special Promotions listed below are redeemable through a Spark retailer near you. If you do not have a retailer in your area, please contact Spark to work with us directly. Both offers are effective today and valid through October 31, 2011. Our promotions are not retro-active for orders already placed whether in the design phase or production phase. Only one Spark promotion may be used per order received.

Free Insert Card

Spark is offering a free insert card when you order any 4-piece invitation suite (invite panel, printed invite envelope, reply card and printed reply envelope). The free insert card is a flat A2 size (5.5x4.25) card or smaller, printed in one color letterpress on any of our standard 1-ply papers. This insert card must be printed in the same press run as the rest of the invitation suite, and is valid for the same quantity as the rest of the order. Upgrades are available with this offer. Please reference "Spark Free Insert" on your order form to redeem.

15% off the purchase of 2 event day-of items

Spark is offering 15% off when you order two or more printed event day-of pieces. Day-of items can include programs, menus, placecards, gift tags, coasters, table cards and thank you note sets. This special does not apply to rush orders or design only orders. Please reference "Spark 15% Off" on your order form to redeem.

Contact Spark if you have any questions!

INSPIRE :: Alyssa & Seth's wedding stationery

2011-06-15T12:20:00.014-05:00

In October 2010 we started working with Sky Blue Events in Baltimore and their bride Alyssa, for her wedding save the date based from our Padma design. Not long after we were delighted to start their wedding invitation suite. Sky Blue Events specializes in wedding and event design and helped plan all the details for this wedding for over a year. Both the retailer and the bride were an absolute joy to work with!

Alyssa and Seth's wedding is featured on the blog All Things Lovely. It is always rewarding to see how our brides use their wedding stationery to direct the look of their entire event. From the groom's tie, to the flowers, to the table cards - this wedding was stunning. We would like to send a warm thank you to Sky Blue Events as well as Alyssa and Seth for giving us the privilege to work with you both!

To see the wedding album please see the All Things Lovely blog and enjoy!
Wedding and Event Design :: Sky Blue Events
Photography Credits :: Jubelee Photography

Spark Custom Design featured in Style Me Pretty :: Laura & Zack

2011-06-13T11:46:00.008-05:00

Throughout this past year, we have had the pleasure of working with the lovely bride Laura and her now official groom, Zack. Aside from having an amazing eye for typography and stationery (in our opinion!) this charming couple took great measures to make sure their wedding paper suite was custom and something completely special, just for them. It all started a year ago when Laura came to us with ideas for her save the date, through our retailer, Judy Paulen Designs at the Bloomingdales location in NYC. Her dreams of a vintage, farmer's market inspired look were brought to life in what we consider the only medium worthy enough for style like this - letterpress! Her custom stationery suite was designed and printed by us this spring with The Village Invites in NYC and we couldn't be happier with how each piece turned out.

Her entire wedding is featured today on Style Me Pretty - you just have to check out this gorgeous event with amazing photography shot by Orchard Cove Photography. We extend sincere thanks to Laura and Zack for giving us the opportunity to work with them during this special time in their lives - and the warmest congrats as you begin your happily ever after.

If you too are dreaming of custom stationery for your wedding or next big event, visit one of our retail locations or contact us at spark@letterpresslove.com with details and to discuss how we can get some pretty paper started just for you!

Best wishes ~ The team at Spark.

Check us out on Style Me Pretty!

2011-05-11T09:33:00.000-05:00

Today we are happy to show you one of the weddings we worked on last year through one of our New York retailers, The Wedding Library.

The fantastic blog, Style Me Pretty, is featuring the stationery we created for the Pocantico Hills wedding. We are thrilled that the program we printed is showcased on the blog. Their program is printed on our 220# soft white cotton paper (tree-free) in olive ink with a chocolate double-faced satin ribbon tie at the top. The inspiration tree featured on the program was also used on their wedding invitation suite, shown below.

This suite is one of our favorites at Spark, because it is beautifully natural and sophisticated. Our natural chipboard paper -100% recycled and oh so down to earth - takes center stage in their invitation suite. Truly perfect for this outdoor wedding. Our butter paper, along with olive and garnet inks, add a splash of color for natural elegance. It is fun to see all of their wedding day elements come together. Congrats to the happy couple!

Spark giveaway on Southern Weddings blog

2011-05-02T16:58:00.004-05:00

Spark is offering 100 free Save the Dates and envelopes through Southern Weddings blog.

What you have to do: Pick your favorite suite (I know - we have some great ones!) and then comment about it on their blog!

Check out the contest here.

Contest ends Tuesday May 10th at Midnight!

Our Twitter contest winner - Molly

2011-04-11T13:57:00.001-05:00

Our Twitter contest winner came to us with a definite design in mind for her business cards. Molly loved the envelope from our Claire suite and wanted a fun color palette to fit the look of her blog- Pushing Papers (great read by the way). We were lucky to have a winner so interested in paper and letterpress! It was great working with you Molly! Check out what Molly had to say about her experience with us. You will find these cards with Molly at the National Stationery Show this year! Go take a look!

Please let us know if you have a vision for your stationery, we would be happy to help that vision go to press! Photo credits go to Molly herself! Thanks for the fantastic pictures!

Best of Atlanta, 2011 - Luxe Expressions

2011-04-04T16:33:00.008-05:00

Luxe Expressions, based out of Atlanta, Georgia, was given the award of Best Invitations of 2011 in Jezebel Magazine a local publication. We are proud to be able to take credit for the custom design and printing of this beautiful invite. It is no surprise to us that Debra, owner of Luxe Expressions, received this high honor. As a retailer she truly knows how to customize each of our suites to fit her clients perfectly. She brings ideas to life on paper. Congrats!

Greetings from East Germany!

2011-03-30T09:51:00.001-05:00

When I last wrote, it seemed like the sun would never shine. Since that time, it has been simply lovely here. Spring flowers are blooming, birds chirping and we got the travel bug. As part of my husband's Fulbright scholarship, we as well as close to 600 Fulbrighters in Europe were invited to Berlin last week. It was a fun-filled time for all. We took in the sights, walked as far as our feet would take us and ate ourselves silly - thank goodness for all of the walking!

The German Fulbright Commission hosted their event at the Park Inn Hotel in Alexanderplatz, formerly in what was East Berlin. During our stay, the boys and I went with the other families and spouses to the Berlin zoo and to the Natural History Museum.

Memorial to Knut, Berlin's beloved polar bear

We also took a walk Unter den Linden (beneath the lime trees) toward the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag.

Just around the corner was the Holocaust Memorial, recently reopened in 2006. It is covered with 2711 dark grey pillars of varying heights.

Our travels took us past Checkpoint Charlie and the old American sector of Berlin. We also stopped at the fabulous Mauermuseum that provided us with a sense of how citizens tried to escape from East Berlin after the wall went up. We were able to see a section of the Berlin wall that remains standing.

There is an ever present reminder of the Berlin wall throughout the city, whether in markings in the pavement or pieces of the wall standing throughout the city.

Another highlight on our trip was visiting a few of the grand museums on Museum Island and taking in the beautiful views of the Dom.

Wrapping up our trip to East Germany, we took a train south to Dresden, located near the Czech Republic border. It was a wonderful place to visit, so different from Berlin and actually from the rest of Germany that we've seen so far. The first picture below is of a propaganda mosaic located on the wall of the Kulturpalast (a cultural center).

View along the river Elbe (above) and the Zwinger gartens (below).

As we made our way home with weary feet (utterly exhausted) it was wonderful to hear the chatter from our boys. They have seen and experienced so much. While at one of the Zwinger Museums, they had the chance to see an artist-in-training copying Johannes Vermeer's "Girl reading a letter at an open window." I've never seen them so fascinated. We've taken them to museum after museum, and suddenly art was coming to life before their eyes. How cool. Goodbye until next time. -Diedre

Mother and Father's day gifts

2011-03-23T14:40:00.001-05:00

I don't know about you all, but I always have a really hard coming up with a truly unique mother's day and father's day gift. I think my mom has all the garden tools she could ever need, and my dad has definitely had his share of ties and golf accessories! Have you ever considered gifting custom stationery? Add the ultimate personal touch by designing a card with their name, initials or favorite motif. We have a great selection of ink colors - choose their favorite and you have yourself a very thoughtful gift. By visiting one of our many retailers around the country, you can view the Spark Design Book, which contains our selection of fun fonts, patterns, and other ideas to help you create the perfect stationery for your parent or grandparent.

Create a custom folded or flat card, letterhead, or calling cards. Order ahead of time! Orders take 15 business days to ship, so:
For delivery in time for Mother's Day - order should approve by April 13th.
For delivery in time for Father's Day - order should approve by May 25th.

Envelope Liners

2011-03-17T10:31:00.002-05:00

Envelope Liners are such a nice way to tie your ensemble together. From the moment your guests open your invites, personal stationery, or holiday card they will be amazed at how the whole look comes together. Incorporate a pattern from your cards, a vintage map of your location, or use one of our new "Sparkle" papers for an ultra luxurious look. For that extra personal touch, add your names, the wedding or mitzvah date, or a favorite quote. Be creative and really make these your own. Enjoy! Always feel free to ask us for more ideas.

Happy customer!

2011-03-14T15:40:00.006-05:00

We just shipped out these business cards for My Turtleneck. This was Catherine's first use of letterpress as a designer. Take a look at her reaction. We typically do not get many requests for gold ink on our Steel paper and we are happy to see this look come together. We are so glad she loves her new business cards!

Even though we are in the heart of wedding season, we love that we still are getting many social stationery requests which we feel we have a specialty in. Please ask us how we can turn your idea for your business stationery into a reality.

Sparkle Paper

2011-03-04T09:22:00.004-06:00

New to Spark in 2011 - Sparkle paper! These shimmery metallic papers can make your invitation stand out against other white papers, create a formal pocketfold or bellyband, or add a shimmery backer to your invite. Our Sparkle paper options can also be used for a shimmery envelope liner as well.

**Don't forget: we announced in December our Prairie Paper (seed paper). Enjoy letting your guest receive something they can plant and watch grow!

Retailer Profile: Gateaux, Inc

2011-02-23T13:09:00.001-06:00

Gateaux Inc
Plymouth, MN

Owner: Robin Martin
Length in Business: 16 years, 11 in stationery

Why did you choose to carry the new Spark albums? The only letterpress company this open to customization!
Favorite Spark Design: I love to pull artwork together to be customized, but if I had to pick a suite, I would say Margaret.

Social Media
Website: http://www.gateaux-inc.com/
Blog: http://gateaux-inc.blogspot.com/

Other thoughts about the albums: I love that the designs range from incredibly traditional to modern within one album. It has multiple personalities, like me! These designs allow me to control the destiny of the couple's look for their wedding. It's the A to Z design for their stationery and cakes at the same time!
Average client: They really range in age 20-40s where the younger bride wants more traditional and the 40 year olds want something modern.
Strengths as a retailer/store: I'm not afraid to take the extra time to do custom work. I push brides to create a design that is uniquely theirs, your stationery should look like you. I also have Adult ADD which is a plus, because I don't want to do anything the same way twice!

Robin's first love is making wonderful wedding cakes! We have featured some of her stationery to cakes on this blog. Her ability to help each couple from the beginning of their stationery design to the end of cutting the cake is always inspiring. Watch Robin and her team on Amazing Wedding Cakes this season on WE tv which premiers late March.

**Recognize Arianna and Lucinda design elements in the above cake images? Ask us how you can get your stationery design for your cake as well!

Updated Business cards!

2011-02-17T09:46:00.001-06:00

It has been a while since we have shown some business card ideas so I thought today would be a great time for them. We believe that letterpress-printed cards really create a great impression of you for the people receiving your card.

Feel free to use one of our designs or artwork as a basis of your card. If you are printing cards for your business, you may submit your company logo/artwork for us to use. Using a colored paper, chipboard, or Prairie paper can help your card to stand out among the others. We have a large variety of ink colors, paper colors, and fonts to create your one of a kind card.

Please feel free to ask us any question you may have about your next business card or visit one of our retailers.

SPARK ICONS: Reply Cards, Maps & More!

2011-02-10T09:37:00.001-06:00

Looking for a way to add a little character to your reply card or other printed wedding day pieces? Spark has a constantly growing library of icons for use as menu options on reply cards, accents to maps and symbols for event or information cards. A variety of our offerings are shown below.

The small icons really add visual interest for your guests, not to mention, call-out the small details you just don't want them to miss!! Outside of the more common reply cards, they are a lovely accent to timelines and can easily mark important landmarks or events on maps. It's always good to check with us ahead of placing an order as we have a large variety of artwork available. If there is something specific you are looking for, we would be more than happy to design a custom icon or find something that would be just right for you!