A crazy busy month with Marriage Certificates!

Of course I love letterpress (who wouldn't), but I have to say that doing marriage certificates is my favorite thing to do!  They can range from simple black ink with no illustrations to multi colored lettering and watercolors (my personal fave).  This is a part of the wedding that doesn't have to match everything else (although it certainly can) and you can leap out of the box and have some fun! 

See below for some of the most recent certificates I have penned (and brushed...) 

This one I have done a similar one in the past, but in all black. This time the bride's chose a deep chocolate and peacock teal.  The little birds are so fun!

 This certificate features watercolor blooms in various shades of blue, with the names in a matching blue (also done with watercolor ink).

 This certificate featured penned flowers in coral to replicate old fashioned engravings.

 This certificate took a long.... time, but it was worth the effort.  The bride requested I make the certificate have the same motif as her invites.  The design is outlined in chocolate brown ink, and then filled in with pastel hues of watercolor in pistachio and pink

 Here is another bride directed certificate. She sent me some clipart of an image she wanted on the certificate.  I chose to do it in watercolor so it would have an ethnic earthy feel

 Cherry Blossom certificate to match invites

 Soft mauve and grey calligraphy gift suite: certificate, Mother in Law poem, and Pooh poem for Mom

 Simple certificate in dark olive, gray and black. I like how the blocky monogram came out :)

 Nautical vows in silver and white

 Yellow and orange watercolor flowers

 This one I was soooo..... nervous doing.  It was for the famed writer/illustrator of the Berenstain Bears books!!! It features bold black, deep red, and shimmery gold inks.

First Job in the New Studio!

So, I have to tell you I am in love with my new studio!!  Working in it, is such a dream come true.  So has working with my most recent bride.  She came to me and wanted letterpress invites with navy ink in all hand calligraphy script, but was concerned and wanted to make sure it was very readable.  We did a very streamlines calligraphy for the majority of the lettering and then went crazy on the names and titles (on the enclosures). The result was beautiful.  Crisp navy calligraphy impressed into the soft cotton paper - elegant and oh so chic!

Vintage Style Quaker Marriage Certificate

Press is OUT of the garage!!!

My letterpress is happily in the INside studio and out of the garage.  Letterpress is a finicky art and the ink likes it to be between 65-75 degrees. Too cold and the ink hardens up, too warm and it melts!  So, both the ink and I are very happy now in our climate controlled studio :)

For a few minutes, I did think it would be fun to just keep the letterpress on the front lawn. It was a gorgeous morning in Houston, sunny and in the low 70's.

Hello hello!

Well, hello hello, my virtual friends. :)  It has been a while - hasn't it always?  It has been busy busy here over at Dancing Pen & Press.  In the past few weeks, I have been lettering and printing up a storm!  It has been a lot of fun; loving every minute of it!  There is also a new addition - a new puppy!  Her name is Daphne (I let my three y.o. name her and he is in a Scooby Doo phase...). She is so sweet, but SUCH a handful!  I will post some pics of her, as well as, some of my most recent work for you to see!



Here are some pics of a lovely wedding suite I just did.  It is a subtle teal color with gold hand calligraphy names and monogram.  We also did a RSVP post card and Rehearsal Dinner invite. 

Here is a cute Save the Date printed with navy blue ink and navy lined envelopes:

Here is sweet Daphne. Don't you just love her asymmetrical muzzle? 

Here are some photos of a Winter themed marriage certificate with water color snowflakes.

Pretty Blue Floral Marriage Certificate

Lace Edged Letterpress Invite Suite

I know I know.... I haven't my blog in a while - a long while. I am sorry about that.  I have been busy busy printing on my Chandler & Price printing press!  I literally sold thousands of Christmas cards this season, and it was so fun! I also printed up lots of personalized note cards and tried my hand at envelope liners - picures of all of that to come. 

Today my blog post is about a very sweet wedding invitation suite I just shipped out my door.  It is printed on Crane Lettra in Pearl White.  The invite has a blind emboss (this means I let the printing press, press into the paper the design but use no ink) of a beautiful lace along the bottom.  We combined my hand calligraphy and a serif block print for the text in classic black.  The envelope also has the lace blind emboss on it to tie everything together.