Spring has truly arrived here in the Bay Area. Flowers are blooming everywhere.
Today’s post is a “Spring Inspired” menu for Marion Cunningham’s 80th birthday,
a delicious Sunday supper at Chez Panisse Restaurant.
I printed a botanical line drawing of a crocus onto vintage paper and hand-lettered a birthday message on the ribbon.
I hand-painted each menu with soft water based inks.
Here is the inside of the menu, I hand-lettered each course using a mixture of my favorite lettering styles.
I love that there were EIGHTY different sweets for dessert!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I wanted to post about this simple Valentine that I created and sent out into the world. I’ve been trying to make a habit of sending a little “promotional piece” Valentine every year. What better way to court the people I want to work with and remind my current clients how much I appreciate them?!

Anything involving an old typewriter always makes me happy.
I found this charming little image on Etsy… I heart Etsy!!!
I packaged my Valentines in little pink envelopes and sealed them with vintage Valentine seals (again, found on Etsy!).

Won’t you be mine, Valentine?…. er Client?

Today I want to share a project with an inspiring story.
Anni contacted me to create some hand-lettering of “a little faith” for the artwork of her tattoo. Having created a few tattoo designs for myself, I was honored to be involved with such a special project.Anni wanted the phrase to be linked together, as if written in a continuous strand of thread. We explored many different combinations of upper and lower case characters, each one had their own personality. Anni ended up choosing version #1, shown at the top of this page.
And here it is, in the flesh!
I love the strong placement on her forearm.
So exciting to see one’s design so permanently displayed!
Once Anni had chosen her design she kindly wrote to me and explained her personal, and powerful, story behind her tattoo……
… here is a photograph of “A Little Faith”, a beautiful and wild 3 year old Mustang.
In Anni’s words “I adopted her based off of nothing more than a look in her eyes in her picture on the BLM’s website and named her “A Little Faith” or Lily for short. She is the absolute sweetest and most amazing horse, and having her name forever on my arm will be a wonderful way to remind myself that taking chances often pays off! ”
I get chills every time I read this. Anni, thank you for sharing such a beautiful story.
You truly inspire me to make decisions from the heart and to have faith in the outcome!

I wanted to share this birth announcement that I created for a friend/colleague. It is inspired by a wedding invitation design that I did, featured in Brides Magazine, last year. The theme was “vintage schoolhouse” printed on old school paper, mounted to old file folders, and packaged in manila envelopes. The look had such an old fashioned sweetness about it… also perfect for a birth announcement!
On the front of the envelopes I silkscreen printed my stork illustration and found the perfect use for my vintage “Special Delivery” labels.

On the back of the envelopes I played with the same “schoolyard song” as I had for the wedding invitations, only taking it a bit further… first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes…. Jameson!
I had so much fun creating schoolbook-like illustrations and hand-lettering. Using a clock for the time of his birth, a scale for his weight, and a ruler for his length measurement. I like how the parent’s names cradle each side of my baby Jameson illustration.

The holidays were quite hectic, hence my lack of posting! However, there was still much joy to be found in the simple things; a warm fire, a good meal, and a stencil machine! My boyfriend recently borrowed this beautiful machine and we’ve been stenciling ever since!

I love the look and feel of this machine… the smooth and heavy movement of the wheel to select your letter/character and the powerful sound it makes as you lower the handle and punch through the paper. It thrills the Luddite in me!

May 2011 be a peaceful and prosperous year for all of us, filled with joy and inspiration…. and much more frequent blogging!

I just finished creating this project for Cafe Rouge Meat Market (and Restaurant). It couldn’t have been a more perfect project for this time of year… a Meat Roast-Timer! Marsha McBride the chef/owner of Cafe Rouge had found an old promotional piece (circa 1950′s) from Little City Meats, a traditional butcher shop in San Francisco, and wanted me to create something similar. I had so much fun creating the vintage inspired illustrations, lettering, and color palette… and the shocking/hilarious quote at the bottom of the Roast-Timer “Two Pounds of Meat a Day Will Help Prevent Disease and Insure Perfect Health from Infancy to Old Age” was truly printed on the Little City Meats promotional piece! So unbelievable that we had to include it, just for fun! Below is the front side of the Roast-Timer. It’s a great size to hang on your kitchen wall… hence the butcher twine. I learned a lot about eyelets and applying just enough pressure when setting them so that the wheel can still turn freely. Having all of the information line up correctly was a challenge as well, but so rewarding to have it all work out in the end.

And here is the backside… I loved creating the juggling cow, various meat cuts, and a fun 50′s style logo for myself… so playful.

These little babies just hit the shelves at Cafe Rouge Meat Market and are being sold, along with a meat thermometer if desired. Truly the perfect little gift for yourself, your kitchen, or a creative stocking stuffer for all the Meat Lovers in your life!

Okay, please forgive my enthusiastic sales pitch!
Wishing you a delicious and joyful Thanksgiving holiday! Happy Roasting!

I’m craving a little sunshine and warmth today so I thought I’d post about a wedding in Tuscany, Italy. Katie, the bride, had seen the “Amore” graphic on my website and asked if I could create a “Save the Date” using this typographic design…. of course, I was delighted. Both she and her fiance, Ben, really liked the rough textured background on my original design which I created by applying silkscreen ink to the paper with a rubber brayer. We decided to use this technique for the background of their cards. I mixed several different ink colors inspired by the sun-bleached walls that are so prevalent in Tuscany. By applying different layers of earth tone inks, each card had it’s own unique coloring and seemed to radiate sunshine!

Here is a photograph of Villa Catureglio where Katie and Ben are getting married next year. So beautiful!

Katie chose a soft warm gray envelope which complimented the “Tuscan Palette” beautifully.

I have always wanted to tell the story behind my dear friend, Maria’s, wedding invitation design. The above image is the incredible reference/inspiration material that Maria first brought to me. She had found this invitation, from Mexico circa 1939, amongst her Grandmother’s things. The moment I saw it I knew I had died and gone to heaven! The design is so spectacular and unusual. The hand-lettering, as well, is so interesting… I had never really seen anything like it. I loved studying every detail and recreating the design for Maria and Darius.

Here is the invitation that I created. I hand-lettered the new text which remained written in Spanish. The translation of the wording is so beautiful, with both the parents of the groom (on the right) and the bride (on the left) inviting you to “witness the interlacing of their children”. Just the word “interlacing” conjures up such romantic emotion! The vine dangles symbolically, separating the bride’s and groom’s families until the mention of their wedding day, at which point, the vine ends and the text comes together to create a singular point. The initials at the top also create a “crossing over” with the groom’s initial on the bride’s side and vice-versa … such symbolism! I replaced the initials with an “M” and a “D”… for Maria and Darius.

Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán

I redrew the header illustration and decorative elements. Their wedding took place in Oaxaca, Mexico so we decided to have the header illustration feature a church that is very prominent there; Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán.

Here is the RSVP card. I love all the unique decorative symbols mixed into the wording.

I love how the return address design fit the flap of the envelope perfectly.

Here is the menu for their wedding day feast! I was so fortunate to attend this wedding, truly one of the most amazing weddings ever! Thank you Maria, love to you both.

I’m excited to announce my first printed feature in the September issue of
BRIDES magazine! I had so much fun creating this youthful wedding invitation.

I hand-lettered all of the text inspired by fonts I found in an old grammar book. The illustrations too, are from or inspired by my collection of school books from the 40′s and 50′s. I silkscreen printed the invitation and envelope in red and brown ink, using vintage school paper, old file folders (blue card stock), and manila envelopes. I love how the file folder is the perfect complimentary blue to the ruled lines in the paper. I mounted the paper onto the card stock using grommets and adorned with red and white twine.

Here is the front of the manila envelope. I am always a fan of hand-addressing envelopes but I thought using an old typewriter to address these was more appropriate and fun.
I loved using old labels and address stickers from my collection. This was also a great opportunity to hunt for unused vintage stamps. I found a whole variety of amazing stamps at the United States Stamp Company on Bush Street in San Francisco…
a highly recommended field trip if you get a chance.

And here is the back of the envelope, which is a piece of art in itself. Inspired by the sweetness of “young love” I thought it would be fun to play with that old school song that we all know so well “… then comes marriage”! I think this “School Theme” invitation is so special and adds a nostalgic playfulness to a wedding celebration.

I have always loved old botanical prints. I created this menu cover for a intimate wedding feast. I used a black and white image of tulips from an old book and hand-lettered the bride and groom’s names in the ribbon banner. There were a small number of guests attending this dinner so I was able to hand-paint the tulips on each menu.
The results were beautiful. Each guest receiving their own little painting.