LETTERPRESS

I La La LOVE this Letterpress tool by LifeStyle Crafts. We have been working on it for ages and it's finally here. Seriously, I have always loved the classy, high quality, unique look of letterpressed cards, but to do it yourself costs literally thousands of dollars and it's a huge mess. I love how simple the L Letterpress is and you can buy everything you need to get started including an Epic die cutting tool for $150. Pretty amazing, huh! Here's how it works:

Step 1: Place printing plate on clear lid of L Letterpress tool. There are currently 15 printing plate sets with fantastic designs that can be mixed and matched to create an unlimited number of projects!

Step 2: Use the ink brayer to ink the printing plate. There are currently 20 ink colors available which can also be mixed to create additional custom colors!

Step 3: Place paper on the base of the tool. The L Letterpress paper is specifically designed for the L Letterpress tool to achieve that fantastic impression and soft texture.

Step 4: Close the lid of the L Letterpress tool and roll through the Epic Six tool to simultaneously print and deboss your image.

I made all these fun projects with a prototype. (Have I ever mentioned how much I love my job?) This is definitley my new favorite thing. Now all the cards I give are letterpressed. I find myself making cookies to give to people, just so I can put a cute letterpressed tag on top... you might even say, the Letterpress makes me want to be a better person. :) I can't wait to host something where I can make letterpressed invitations and place settings and thank you treats. Here are some samples. Enjoy.

The Coffee Table Book

Have I mentioned my new love for photo books? I have been avoiding digital scrapbooking because I think it looks cheesy. Ribbons and brads are meant to add texture. Using a scan of a ribbon just defeats the whole purpose. In fact, I have always been trying to make my scrapbook pages look more like magazine layouts. I finally found the solution. Photo books. I have made photo books before, but I've felt limited by the selection of pre-made templates. It recently occured to me that I could just design my pages in photoshop and save them as their own jpgs. Thus giving me complete creative control to make my albums just my style. I tested my theory by creating an 8 1/2 x 11 album of my Italy trip. It's not perfect yet, but I loved the process of designing my simple layouts on a photoshop canvas and then saving it as a jpg. Then I just used the Shutterfly program to drop the photos into the book. It's perfect. Don't worry; This isn't the end of my scrapbooking days, though. I have enough holes to fill in from previous albums to keep me busy for quite some time.