IN THE STUDIO // HEARTEN

Open publication - Free publishing - More minneapolis

I'm so thrilled to be able to introduce to you Hearten, the online magazine of the Independent Wedding Association! This has been a pet project of mine for some time now. We started talking about it last spring, did the photo shoots this summer and wrote, designed and edited it this fall and now it's here! Take a look, won't you?

Hearten {whose tag line is "Encouragement & Ideas for your Twin Cities Wedding"} was born out of a desire to provide Twin Cities couples with education, inspiration and comfort. We wanted a magazine that was more than just pretty pictures {though there are lots of them too}. We wanted real content for couples to go to when planning their wedding from vendors who are close to what they do and LOVE what they do. So while we do have two glorious photo shoots with great ideas AND gorgeous photos, we also have features like "Glossary" which, in this issue, defines the terms used in floral design. Do you know what a pomander is? You will after you read Hearten. There are other great features in this issue that you'll have to see for yourself and there will be even more in future issues.

I will be posting more photos of the stationery I designed for the two shoots in the coming days. I hope you enjoy Hearten as much as we enjoyed putting it together and bringing it to you.

IN THE STUDIO // RUPERT HOBBES

We had the privilege of printing business cards, letterhead and envelopes for a new company: Rupert Hobbes {they're so new, in fact, that they don't have a web site yet but here's their Facebook page. Like them, won't you?}. The design is from Jim Felgate. Did you know that if you have a design already we can print it for you? We can and we do.

"Rupert Hobbes creates heirloom quality product for the luxury handbag, attaché and small leather/personal goods market. Rupert Hobbes does not make products for everyone, but serves those who wish to own enduring design of the utmost quality."

Letterpress was a perfect choice for Rupert Hobbes and we were so happy to provide it for them. The business cards are printed in one color on Pearle Lettra 100% cotton paper in metallic gold ink. The letterhead is printed on natural white Mohawk Superfine paper with coordinating side load envelope again in metallic gold ink. What I love most about the ink is that it is a rich color and even though it is metallic it isn't garish or shiny. It just has a luster that warms everything up. Lovely.

IN THE STUDIO // AS SEEN IN... MINNESOTA BRIDE

There we are on page 34 of the Fall/Winter issue of Minnesota Bride! Our sunflower invitation, reply card and thank you. Oh goodness, I love seeing our designs on the glossy pages of a magazine. And check out the cover! I just love the design, the fashion, the great company we're in. Thanks so much to Minnesota Bride for continuously supporting the great wedding talent we have here.

Just in case you can't read what they had to say about us:

Flower Power

While this style and layout are predetermined, the wording, font and colors can be adapted for your celebration. At Armato Design & Press, even the printing method is customizable: choose from luxurious letterpress, mid-priced offset printing or a PDF file, allowing you to select your own printer. The sunflower design—one of designer Amy Armato’s favorites—mixes a modern mood with a nature motif, a perfect fit for a pastoral wedding setting.
Armato Design & Press, 612.387.4844, armatodesign.com

You can read more about the sunflower invitation here. And here's another feature in Minnesota Bride.

IN THE STUDIO // THE MINUTIAE OF LETTERPRESS

Letterpress // Makeready, Printing, Clean Up from Armato Design on Vimeo.

This time-lapse video shows our pressman, Tim, as he gets the press ready for printing, prints and cleans up. Approximately 70 minutes are collapsed into less than 3. {There is no audio.} The most interesting part of the video is noticing the small things he has to do to print these business cards. The little adjustments to the plate and the ink are all what makes the hand made result so beautiful and so "boutique".

IN THE STUDIO // SUNFLOWER INVITATION

Introducing my new favorite invitation: The Sunflower. I especially love how it is a very modern take on a pretty rustic flower. This is a closely cropped bright yellow and chocolate brown sunflower letterpress printed on 100% cotton bright white paper with a bright yellow envelope that has a full bleed {runs off the end of the flap} cropped sunflower. Of course it can be printed in any color combination you wish {I would love to see it in a deep orange and charcoal gray}. This one was printed for Sharon's big 40th birthday blowout, but wouldn't it make a lovely invitation for a fall wedding?

IN THE STUDIO // UPTOWN MODERN

It was a pleasure to work with so many creative wedding professionals (many from the IWA) on this inspiration shoot for which I did the stationery. Though not the central focus, vendors were encouraged to be as eco-friendly as possible. With this in mind I created a stationery suite that minimizes paper use and maximizes smart design. This is most evident in the invitation which is printed on both sides and is divided in the middle by a perforation. The top of the invitation has all of the pertinent information for the wedding, the bottom has a reply post card. For the back of the stationery, the top of the invitation (the piece that the guest keeps) has directions to the event, the bottom (on the back of the reply) has a return address with postage affixed. This piece does minimize paper which makes the design of the piece that much more important. Great attention was paid to the design of the invitation as a whole keeping in mind what the pieces will look like when separated.
Other paper minimizing features include signs that replace individual place cards and a sweets menu sign. Another minimalistic consideration would be a menu sign. For this shoot, however, individual menus worked better for highlighting place settings.

Thanks to Katrina Hannemann of Studio Laguna for not only organizing the shoot but for taking the gorgeous photos.
It was also wonderful working with the following talented wedding vendors:
Grace Bridal Boutique (now available at Posh Bridal)
Five Event Center
BeEvents
Sassafras Floral Design
JWP Jewelry Design
Heimie’s Haberdashery
Fabulous Catering
Jessica’s Cakes

IN THE STUDIO // MADDIEBIRD BAKERY

It was so great working with Michele McAtee to come up with a logo for her new business. One that describes the nature of her work and one that will grow with her as her business expands. Michele describes her work this way: "Maddiebird Bakery... [bakes] cakes from scratch and custom-decorates each cake to be an original work of art...delicious, delicious art." Michele wanted something that was both folksy and young looking. I think she got it and I can't wait to see what she does with it. More to come...

IN THE STUDIO // BABY GIRL BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT

We just finished printing this birth announcement for the newest member of the Pearson family. It is letterpress printed on 100% cotton paper in pale pink ink and comes with 4 old fashioned looking {but adhesive backed} photo corners per card so a full size picture can be mounted on the back of the piece. This way the photo can be removed for framing and there is no writing or additional design on it, just the sweet, little new face. Go to our Etsy shop for more information.

The photo above is the piece on press. Notice the inked photopolymer printing plate in the background as well as the rollers and ink plate. The photo below was taken right after the plate was set up with the right impression. It's printed with no ink, just pressure. Nice.

IN THE STUDIO // STYLE SHOT NUMBER 4

Here is the final styled shot Erica Loeks and I designed for an upcoming marketing project I'm doing. Read more about this invitation here.

A great big THANK YOU to Erica for her photographic talent. This was a long shoot but it was so fun because Erica is a great person to spend time with. If you're in need of a thoughtful, creative and upbeat photographer for your wedding or any event give her a call.

IN THE STUDIO // STYLE SHOT NUMBER 3

Here's the third of four style shots Erica Loeks and I did for an upcoming marketing project I'm putting together for Armato Design & Press. Read more about the invitation here.

IN THE STUDIO // STYLE SHOT NUMBER 1

Here's the first of four style shots Erica Loeks and I did for an upcoming marketing project I'm putting together for Armato Design & Press. This is one of my favorite invitations. See more of it here. And go here to see the work we did to get this shot.

More photos to come...

MINI SESSION REPOST // TELLING YOUR STORY

This post was originally inspired by a post I saw iDiY and I thought it was a perfect subject for my week of mini session reposts. Granted, I made up the story but it just serves to remind you of the little things in your life that may give you inspiration for your stationery. Loving pattern as much as I do, the entire post made me swoon. That's right, a security envelope made me swoon. MANY security envelopes made me swoon. Oh, the things we take for granted.

When starting the custom design process, I encourage my bridal clients to think about what inspires them, what is meaningful to them in their relationship as a couple and as individuals, what do they just plainly like to look at? I like to look at patterns like these {found here}:



So, to illustrate my point, I thought I would create a sketch of an invitation for a bride who was really taken with security envelope patterns. Maybe she's an artist and he's an accountant and they wrote love letters to each other, and all of his letters came in security envelopes written at and sent from work. Feeling too shy about writing love letters at work and sending them from work, he wrote quick and slipped each note into an envelope with patterns such as these on the inside. And now, because of him, she associates these patterns with the pattern of their love story {which is way better than thinking of bills when seeing these patterns, in her opinion}. She wants them on their wedding invitations but, with an artistic twist, she wants to see them in sunflower yellow an steel grey. And can you imagine the fun she will have with envelope liners?

See? This is how an invitation can take shape if you dig deep and think inside the envelope {if you'll allow the very appropriate pun}. Here's a closer look:

IN THE STUDIO // PHOTO STYLING

I was lucky enough to spend last Thursday and Friday with the talented Erica Loeks of Erica Loeks Photography styling some photographs of my wedding invitations. I think both Erica and I learned enough to fill a book. Styling, while fun, is so very time consuming. I have some experience with photo styling in my previous life as a creative director for a small company, but there I was working with a pro. When it's your work and you're not a pro it just takes so much more time and the stakes are so much higher. Of course it helps to be working with a creative photographer (something that all brides should consider when hiring one for their wedding).

Here are a few things we learned:
1. It's a really good idea to do your research beforehand. This means finding out what style you are interested in for the shots, thinking about how you are going to use them, considering layout of the pieces, and
2. Be willing to go off script. You can plan and plan and plan but sometimes the best ideas just come to you on the fly.
3. Restraint. In this situation where we didn't have the use of a full studio and didn't know all the tricks of the trade, it really was best to practice the old adage "less is more".
4. Work together and plan your time. While Erica set up the lighting, I played with layout and props. Then we would come together and critique and rearrange. It was a good set up. Still each shot took and average of 2-3 hours to complete. That's right 12 or so hours for 4 final shots. I think this is to be expected for such styled shots but still it's more time than either of us thought it would be.

I suspect these are good things to keep in mind when you are thinking about your wedding shots as well {with the possible exception of number 4). I will receive the final photos in a couple of weeks and will post then. In the meantime here are more shots of the shoot {Disclaimer: I took these with my phone so the quality is what it is}.

Above: a layout that came on the fly. I love it!

A flowery layout where we had to figure out how to get large and small blooms to stand up and show themselves off.

Getting the lighting right any way we can.

Getting those small kermit mums to stand at attention with sticky gum and small pieces of card stock. Hey, it worked.

IN THE STUDIO // WEDDING BOOTCAMP

I am participating in the Independent Wedding Association's Something New wedding fair this Saturday. This is an organization I am so proud to be a part of and it's fair is top-notch. Always at the best locations, always the most creative wedding vendors the cities have to offer and always the best information a to-be-wed could want and need. This fair is offering a Wedding Boot Camp where vendors will speak on various topics like "Libations 101" and "Eco Chic Weddings".

I will be talking about branding your wedding. I will go over some of the questions I ask my clients to think about and answer when I'm trying to come up with a custom design for them. Things that couples wouldn't necessarily think about but questions that would help create an invitation that speaks to who they are as a couple. This also could be seen as a "how to communicate to your designer to get what you want" mini-session. And if a couple isn't interested in custom work thinking about these questions would help them find a pre-designed invitation easier.

IN THE STUDIO // ADP CARDS @ MITREBOX FRAMING STUDIO

I'm so pleased to announce that Armato Design & Press cards are now going to be featured in the b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l Mitrebox Framing Studio. Look at this shop. Simply gorgeous, or should I say g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s! If you're in the neighborhood and need to retreat from the oppressively cold weather, this store seems like the perfect escape. Here are a few of the ADP cards they will have as a part of their collection:

IN THE STUDIO // RECENT WORK

I was given a wonderful opportunity to design the programs for the first ever "Not So Real" Wedding at this fall's Independent Wedding Association Something New Wedding Fair. I have to say, this is the most design fun I've had in a while and I usually have lots o' design fun. The theme of the wedding was circus chic so I decided to go all out with letterpress printing, garish circus-y colors and a mix of modern and vintage fonts. I love this piece. LOVE IT. Go here to see a recap of the fair and stay tuned both here and at the IWA website for more information on the fair this February 5th, 2011. The photos above were taken by Sarah McGee and Studio Laguna check out the photos below of the piece as we printed it.

The first color. Printed on 100% cotton paper.


Detail of the two colors together. Check out that overprint. GORGEOUS!

The view from the rollers coming back down off of the ink plate. This is just after the paper was printed with the second color.

IN THE STUDIO // RECENT WORK

I had great fun designing the invitation for a recent press event for the Independent Wedding Association Fall Wedding Fair. The theme was "Circus Chic", the design was just plain fun; fun to research, fun to design and FUN to print. The finished product is above and below are images of the piece on press. The IWA is having another wedding show on February 5th, 2011. More information to follow. I can say however, that this one will be a treat not only for the eyes but will be very educational as well.

A close up of the strong man. I love this illustration sooooooo much.

The first color goes on the 100% cotton paper.

Finished invitation. Note the blue printing plate in the background. Each color gets it's own plate.

Another view of the finished invitation in the foreground and one just about to be printed with the blue printing plate.

That's right, envelope printing with a full bleed {where the image runs off the edge of the paper}. Because we're that good.