While Lisa was in Atlanta (scouting for her new home-base) she and I were able to pay a visit to the oh-so talented Henry and Company for a press check on our lovely luxc business cards. Oh the pillowy letterpress goodness! It just made our day! So… here’s the low down… We knew we wanted the card to be simple… yet stunning.We are having a custom duplex made, which basically means that two sheets are glued together to make one lusciously thick stock (200lb Cover). We used French’s Poptone Whip Cream (100lb cover) and Construction Paver Red (100lb cover). We are using a variety of processes here. On the front the green is your traditional offset and the burgundy is letterpressed. The back is being stamped with a subtly darker shade of burgundy foil… put it all together… and… check it out! Well… at least a little sneak peek. We’ll show the final product sometime next week.

Quality German engineering… still going strong…

The letterpress die…

Ah… tone on tone burgundy foil on rich burgundy stock.

The Kluge… chugging out the foil work.

The foil / embossing die…

Letterpress is a true art form. We are in complete awe. Thanks to Jason Henry from Henry and Company who gave Lisa and I the grand tour. And a super special thanks also to Kip at Spartan Methods for making our stationery dreams come true!

We love, love all things paper, printing and stationery. When the three of us schemed up Luxecetera – we all agreed that having (and using) gorgeous stationery was a priority. We had such a lovely time designing for ourselves and it turned out to be easier than we thought. Designing our site was WAY more challenging than the pretty printed pieces.

Not that we didn’t run into challenges … for one … we knew we wanted our envelope to be green, but found that there was nothing out there that matched our previously selected Pantone colors … we also knew that we wanted to use an envelope liner with our signature pattern. This is where having a really great printer comes in ’cause he was the one that suggested a custom converted envelope. Printing our signature green on the outside with the subtle creamy inside free for our pattern … making our job of stuffing envelopes much simpler. Simple Work flow = Happy Business Owners. Pricey, but totally worth it!

We also knew that we wanted to use one envelope and since we aren’t formal kinda business owners – we knew we didn’t want the traditional business letterhead and envelope. We are note card kinda gals. But we did need a way to print receipts, invoices and quotes … and we opted to print a 7×10 sheet the would fit in that signature A7 envelope. FYI – we had Ashley’s techy husband set up an Excel file that matches up perfectly with our lovely little form.

We paired the 7×10 invoice sheet with a 5×7 folded note card.  After all … we are note card kinda gals.

So… between our printed pieces and our site… do you see our brand coming together?

Here’s the rundown of papers and processes …

Envelope: 2/2 Ink | Custom Conversion | Sized A7 (5×7) | Printed Offset | French Paper’s Poptone Whip Cream 80lb text weight

Notecard: 2/1 Ink | Score line | Sized 7×10 folds to 5×7 | Printed Offset | French Paper’s Poptone Whip Cream 100lb cover weight

Invoice: 2/2 Ink | Sized 7×10 | Printed Offset | French Paper’s Poptone Whip Cream 80lb text weight

We did a press check on our business cards today … so look for another post later today or early tomorrow and the final product sometime next week.