A tip from someone who is married to a man with a major sweet tooth: give this card with ACTUAL chocolate truffles. If you give it alone, the mere sight of inedible truffles will likely enrage your Valentine and send them into a chocolate-seeking state of hysteria.
The card can be purchased here.
I’ve always put a lot of stock in the Mayan prediction that the world will end in 2012. I mean, I know it won’t and we’ll be fine, but in the back of my mind I am preparing for the apocalypse. It’ll be a busy year, trying to squeeze in everything I want to accomplish and experience before the world ends – all the while trying to convince Alex that he doesn’t actually need a crossbow or blow dart gun to defend us. But, I suppose this is how we should live each year – as if it is our last. So, I’ll start the year thankful and reflective of the year that just passed, while looking forward to the year to come.
UPDATE of last year’s post:
Eleven things that I look forward to in 2011:
1. Quitting my day job (???… ok, maybe 2012)
– last day at the law firm: 10/20/2011.
2. Finding a perfect paper cutter.
– found a 1889 Challenge guillotine paper cutter on ebay, that had survived a town fire in 1920. It worked for the local newspaper. It’s exactly what I had been looking for, and, like my press, comes with it’s own history and stories. Alex and I often look at our dog and wonder about the life she had before she knew us – all of her stories that led her to the Buncombe County pound. She, like my press and paper cutter, have a history that they can never share with us. I imagine all of the words documenting events on all of the newspapers around the turn of the century – all of the history that skimmed across its surface. Alex and I made a 14 hour round trip to pick it up, along with its sibling, an industrial paper drill.
3. Seeing the work of Erik Minkin on TV.
My crazy talented big brother worked on the backgrounds of this past season of Comedy Central’s Ugly Americans.
He’s been busy working on music videos, shorts and other projects as well, and is finishing up his Masters of Animation at SCAD Atlanta. He’s pretty much every animation studio’s dream employee, and I think they’ll be knocking his door down to come work for them come graduation. I’m so proud of him and inspired to watch him make his dream a reality.
4. Seeing Alex Minkin’s Thesis Photography show.
My crazy talented little brother finished his Senior thesis at Guilford this May. He was inspired by a barn built in 1945 by Germans POWs in Greensboro, and took the most amazing pictures in it. Some of the pictures are printed on waterslide decals and mounted on glass, which allows for shadows and interesting cracks to show through – essentially turning the photograph into a sculpture.
We have this bad boy hanging in our living room.
I’m jealous and excited that he’ll be going to Cuba and India this year, and can’t wait to see the photography that emerges out of his travels.
www.alexminkinphotography.com
5. Lizzie and Ben’s wedding (posts with their save the dates and invitations to follow in the coming months!)
Are they not the most gorgeous bride and groom you’ve ever seen??
Their invitations and save the dates.
6. Celebrating Melanie and Scott’s engagement all year.
– Our BFF Andrea and I threw a little engagement party for this wonderful couple. I can’t wait for this spring when all of the festivities begin!
7. Working on the wedding invitations and other projects I have been entrusted with designing and printing.
8. Martha Stewart knowing my name (I’m ok with this one carrying over a year or two).
– carrying over a year or two. Though I will find out in a week or two if Mink Letterpress will be featured in Country Living Magazine for the Pitch Your Product special. I wouldn’t be surprised if Martha reads Country Living…
9. Learning more about printing.
– ongoing.
10. Drawing more.
-sorta kinda.
11. 11/11/11
– anticlimatic. I’ve been looking forward to this date since I was little, only to miss both 11:11 am and 11:11 pm on 11/11/11. Plus I wasn’t even invited to any awesome 11/11/11 theme parties. Bummer.
And number 12. Something that I didn’t know I was looking forward to at the beginning of 2011, but by the time it happened I realized I had been looking forward to it my whole life. Alex and I found out in early October that we are having a baby, due in late May, 2012. I’m just starting to feel the baby’s little kicks, and am fascinated and amazed everyday that there is a human life growing inside of me. I’m so glad that my studio will be fully set up at home, and that I’ll be able to work and be at home with the baby. This baby definitely tops the list of things I look forward to in 2012.
2. having a busy spring filled with letterpress and design. Weddings, weddings, more weddings!
3. Melanie and Scott’s wedding. Will be posting their save the dates and invitations!
4. a year full of firsts – first baby experiencing everything for the first time, watching my parents become grandparents for the first time, first full year being self-employed…
5. Moving into my new studio – photos and updates to come!
6. Finding a second press?? I’ve been lusting over some Golding Jobbers that I’ve seen listed lately….
7. Finding out if we’re having a boy or girl – we’ll know in a week and a half!
8. Babymooning, and vacations with family and the new baby.
9. Spending another year with my wonderful husband. I can’t wait to see him step into his new role as a father – I know he’ll rock it.
10. Launching my new website, which is in the process of being designed by Brendan English.
11. Surviving the apocalypse.
12. Thriving in post-apocalyptic Asheville.
The finished product. Photos by Alex Minkin.
They’re available for purchase here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/86715736/2012-vintage-handkerchief-letterpress
Thanks for looking!
Here are some little thank you notes for East Fork Pottery. They feature the kind of slip trailing that Alex draws on his pots.
Alex and Connie have been wonderful to Mink Letterpress – we’ve worked together on thank you notes, kiln announcements, posters, advertisements and business card designs. I’m really happy to be able to do work for such a great and growing art business.
Alex and Connie will be hosting a soiree with food (incredible, amazing food as Connie is behind it), drinks and beautiful pottery. They say this is their most successful firing yet, and while I can’t imagine better pots than the last round, I’m gearing myself up for my mind to be blown. Below is the information for the event. You won’t be disappointed!
Steve and Jeanie Adams are family friends, the sweetest people ever, and the owners of Misty Oaks Farm. This is a beautiful property in Mills River, NC with horse pastures, rolling hills and an amazing lodge. In addition to being a beautiful farm, complete with horses and camping spots, they are a wedding venue and vacation destination. Check them out!
Before beginning the design process, I met Steve out at the farm to take it all in. I even got to meet some of the horses! We talked about what they wanted to include in their logo, and thought bringing the horses, mountains, rivers and fish into a simple landscape would fit the bill. After finalizing the design, we decided on a thick paper and started the printing process. Here’s what we came up with:
In November of 2010 I started thinking about my 2011 calendars, only to realize that I was months behind the curve. Other printers and designers already finished and were selling theirs, so I flipped forward to September 2011 in my planner and wrote “Print 2012 Calendars.” I’m still feeling a bit behind as this is a big project, but have finished printing 1/3 of the 6 print calendar, and am working on designing the other 4 prints.
I’m not printing many of these, so please email me (nicole@minkletterpress.com) if you’d like to pre-order one for $42. They’ll be finished and packaged in time for you to give as a gift this holiday season. Have I mentioned that they’re gorgeous and your wife/girlfriend/friend/daughter/sister/mother really wants one? Because she does. It’ll make her happy all 2012 long, and when 2013 rolls around, she can cut off the bottom and frame her handkerchief prints.
A few years ago, bears started to become a pervasive part of Asheville culture. My dad, Bruce, always entertained out of town guests with “bear stories” that he collected from his friends, patients, and coworkers. The formula for these stories usually went something like this: Mama bear + baby bear(s) + food + your car, porch or front door = dangerous, shocking or adorable. Photo documentation always warrants extra credit points.
Now, everyone in Asheville has bear stories of their own, as these big boys love to come down into the valley for Asheville’s gastronomic delights. Alex and I spotted these two bears in my parents yard. This picture was printed in the Asheville Citizen Times (double extra credit points).
So, this card goes out to my fellow Ashevillians. This bear, Bruce, is often seen around town, snapping photos and collecting human stories. Extra credit points (in my book) if you buy a card! Free shipping this week with the coupon code BEARFREESHIPPING.
When I last visited Blue Barnhouse before their departure from Asheville, NC to Wilmington, NC, I was informed about an organization called Ladies of Letterpress. My initial response was naturally “hey! I’m a lady! I love letterpress!” I visualized a small local group of printers, similar to knitting circles and neighborhood quilters. When I went online to investigate further, I learned that it is a national organization with representative printers from nearly every state. I felt very lucky that the upcoming conference was to be held in none other than Asheville, North Carolina. “Hey! I live there!”
When I walked in for the first panel, I started spotting some craft, letterpress and blog celebrities. I mostly kept to myself but it was super cool being in the presence of other printers just starting out, veteran printers with established businesses, and top tier printers whose work I know and admire. Panels focused on topics like starting a letterpress business, using social media to share and promote your work, and what the future holds for letterpress.
In addition to the panels, there were also various demos and events held at Bookworks, including paper making, tabletop press printing, and die cutting. I’ve heard that die cutting can tear up your press, so I’ve been debating looking for another press that’s not in great shape so that I could dedicate it to die cutting. But I learned how capable my press is of this kind of work – and it really opens my world up in terms of what I can create on my press. After seeing the demo on a press very similar to mine, I’m confident that my press can die cut without harming itself.
On Saturday night, a classy reception was held at the Venue, where the keynote speaker, Judith Berliner of Full Circle Press, gave her speech. It was moving, entertaining and inspiring. She printed broadsides for all of the attendees, with the following words by Beatrice Warde. I will hang it in my new studio that my handy husband is in the process of planning.
“This is a Printing Office. Crossroads of civilization. Refuge of all the arts against the ravages of time. Armory of fearless truth against whispering rumor. Incessant trumpet of trade. From this place words may fly abroad, not to perish on waves of sound, not to vary with the writer’s hand but fixed in time, having been verified by proof. Friend, you stand on sacred ground, This is a Printing Office.”
Brides like Danielle make my job so much fun and so very easy. From the beginning, she was open to new ideas and based on working with her on her invitations – I think she and her fiance, Steven are going to throw a beautiful wedding this Fall. Can’t wait to see the pictures!
We’ll be working on their ceremony programs over the next couple of months – stay tuned!
If you have read this blog before, I’ve probably made it perfectly clear how much I love my dear friend Lizzie and her fiance Ben. Hopefully this wonderful couple could feel the love I put into their invitations. Their wedding is in less than THREE WEEKS (!!) and I will certainly post pictures of their ceremony programs, thank you notes, etc. after their wedding. For now though, CONGRATS to this beautiful couple… I’m so honored to be a part of the wedding.
I always try to squeeze a little note to the couple on a response card, but I love the idea Lizzie brought to me of actually designating a spot for it. She has told me that they have gotten wonderful words of excitement and encouragement in their message section on their response cards.
All of the invitation elements were tucked inside a vellum envelope and sealed with a gold wax “C” for the last name the couple will soon share.
We decided to use the map that served as the background for their Save the Dates as the invitation envelope liner. It again features the Grove Park Inn as the focal point of the liner, and includes the surrounding roads, trees, and mountains of Asheville, NC.
