Show & Tell . . . Hobbies

I've been a fan forever of beautiful stationery, wrapping paper, ribbons and penmanship. I've been doing calligraphy since I was 11 and have been making cards for as long as I can remember.

(Here's a self-photo shot I took this weekend in the studio. . .)

So, a few years ago, I took lessons to learn how to do letterpress printing. (That's the type of press used for many high end wedding invitations. Below is a photo of a letterpress I've used for several projects.) Since then, it's become a big hobby of mine. Occasionally, for my very nearest & dearest, I offer to do the calligraphy for their invitations -- or even to make their invitations -- as their wedding presents. Also, for the past several months, I've been working with a private tutor/graphic designer to learn Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop.

So, that brings us to this weekend! I spent about 8 hours at the studio printing the invitations of my very good friends Adam and Erica (that's Erica with a "c," not "Erika" with a "K" -- two different people!).

(Here's a shot of my filthy gloves, screwdriver, palate knife, California wash, scissors and loop!)

(The yellow thing on the press is the
border design for their invitation)

So, since I'm doing a bit of tell. . thought I should show you a few projects that I've done on the press!

Here are the bachelorette party invitations that I did for my friend Sharon (I posted photos from her wedding in Greve, Italy some time ago). The cartoon looks pretty much like her, albeit in cartoon version! She has a total pirate fetish, hence the "Yargh!" and skull & crossbones skirt!

Here are the wedding invitations I did for my best friend last year. She was born in Taiwan, and we wanted the invitations to reflect that -- so we used the traditional Chinese good luck colors, red and gold, and the characters for Double Happiness, which are often used for Chinese weddings. (BTW, was a really fun wedding & she looked amazing!)

And, here are the invitations that I printed this weekend. I love LOVE LOVE the paper that I found to use as the belly band (a phrase that now makes me think of my lap band!). My friends really wanted something summery, casual and fun for their summer beach wedding and I feel like this fits the bill!

So, that's my show & tell for this evening. If anyone has an interesting hobby, would love to hear about it!