06/14

Letter Press Amazingness from Tiny Pine Press

As some of you may know from my post about the art of saying thank you, I’m OB-sessed with stationery.

Not in the simplistic “Hey that’s a pretty card” way, but in an “every member of my family has their own stationery, including Brooks” kind of way.  Not the dogs … yet!!

When I was introduced to the lovely Jennifer Upham, who runs Tiny Pine Press alongside her husband Ben, I was immediately smitten with their creations. So much so, they have been making my cards for years.  Today, I’m proclaiming my love for Tiny Pine over at Racked.com and wanted to spread some of that good stuff over here. Jennifer was kind enough to answer some questions for us that I thought inquiring minds would like to know.  I also told her how much we here at MollySims.com LOVE a good tip.  (Hint: she gives a good one at the end.)

MS: I love, love, love all the work you’ve done for my little family!  Do you have a favorite you’ve created for us?

TPP: I am very partial to Brooks’ birth announcements and the holiday cards from 2013. The announcements were fresh and bright like a little baby and so happy! The same with the holiday cards; they are so colorful, which brings the holiday spirit without just using red and green.

MS: You seem to have a magical touch.  You know how to get exactly what the client wants out of their project. You blew us away with Brooks birth announcements.  The stinking cute animals in the envelope liner???  I died over those! How do you approach your projects/clients to make sure you get the message/vibe they want across?

TPP: What I enjoy about my job is translating what clients want onto paper – literally. That means putting my personal taste and ego aside and actually listening and observing… taking cues and inspiration from the person who is sitting across from me but then putting my spin on it. I know they have chosen me as a designer for a reason so I can trust my intuition match with the client’s inspiration will merge to a product everyone is happy with.

As for those cute animals, I knew that Brooks’ room had framed baby animal photographs on the walls and I think that riffing on reality can be really fun and personal.

MS: Do you have any favorite projects in general you want to share?  I want to know what YOUR Christmas card looks like??

TPP: You know the saying – “The cobbler’s children have no shoes.” Our Christmas card went out in January. It doubled as a birth announcement for our son Otis (born in October) and I have to say it was a major accomplishment to even get that little thing done after the holidays! My husband wanted to make a little Japanese inspired “book” with decorative papers. We started working on designing it after Otis was born and it took 4 months to make it a reality. (We were busy with other things too, like changing diapers and bouncing.)

In the end, I love these. They were a little flashy but still small and sweet. And very different from anything we have ever created … just like a little baby 😉

MS: What are card or stationery design tips you can give readers on MollySims.com?

TPP: I think stationery is a form of fashion – everyone has their own style, whether it is traditional or modern, playful or plain. Everyone also has different occasions to use them. So it’s great to think of what your message is before writing your note.

More importantly, I think hand writing thank you notes and actually MAILING them is a dying form of communication and we should keep it alive. The feeling you give someone when they open a note, even if your message is super simple, is way worth the 49 cent stamp.

MS: We know about birth announcements, invitations, and stationery but what are some other cool innovative ideas where you can use letterpress?  Anything DIY or crafty??

TPP: We made these little playmate cards awhile back, which are fun for making new parent friends or the Congratulations, here’s my number, if you want to give your number to a dude with a sense of humor…

Letterpress calling cards (instead of business cards) are nice to have to give out to new people you meet in everyday life

Quick Tip from Tiny Pine Press: For parties, if you don’t have time for custom napkins, you can get a rubber stamp and make it yourself!

Sounds like a future DIY post to me!