Looking for Great Letterpress?

So, to make a long story longer...I attended the Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Sale in Chicago last December and LOVED it. If you have a chance to get to a Renegade Craft Fair in a city where it's held, GO! It's soooo worth it. While there, I stopped at many a booth, picking up business cards and meeting wonderfully talented people. Sought out letterpress and found lots of it. Made a few purchases and enjoyed all the inspiration. One of those talented people was Michelle...let me introduce you to Elevated Press.

Here's a brief profile summary from Michelle's site: Elevated Press is a division of our design and production company, Elevated Works, founded in Chicago just below the El train.

Elevated press is a full-service letterpress stationery studio, printing original designs on cards for all occasions, wedding invitation suites, birth announcements, business stationery, and any other type of stationery that is desired in order to make a special impression. Custom orders are always welcome!

All of our stationery products are handmade on a Kelsey Excelsior or a Vandercook #3 letterpress. Letterpress gives a tactile quality to the print which makes it so appealing to look at as well as to touch. Due to the nature of letterpress printing, slight variations may occur in the prints... that's how you know it's handmade!

A few weeks after the show, I received an email from Michelle of Elevated Press announcing I was the winner of a set of their letterpress cards - my choice! I was elated!!! Ironically, hers was one of the business cards I had picked up...and I won from signing up on her mailing list. Awesome! I chose the Pair of Doves cards...they are so beautiful - the detail and color is exquisite. This is how gorgeous they are - I sent one out as a Thank You to someone and actually received a Thank You card back from that person for sending such a beautiful note (she ended up framing it)!

I love the heart hands card and have one of these, ready to be open framed for our family wall. It also seems like it's baby season around here (girls are outweighing the boys again), so I may have to pick up some more of their adorable pink 'Welcome Little One' cards pictured below. If you're looking for great letterpress, check out Elevated Press...you won't be disappointed. Their product is fabulous and Michelle gives top-notch service! So happy we crossed paths - great letterpress always makes me smile.

(Images and profile summary content courtesy of Elevated Press)

Great Group Gift Exchange Ideas

So, if you are exchanging gifts with a group of friends or coworkers this year, you may just want to consider this 5 pack of Envirosax reusable bags. They're stylish enough to carry them proudly at the store, to the gym or the library and take up little to no space in your desk drawer or glove compartment. Individually they end up costing less than $8 per bag! Throw some little goodies in there and voila, an instant gift with its own reusable wrapping.

And the little goodies could easily be:

From E.L.F. cosmetics, these delicious little lip gloss tins come in tasty, lip-smacking flavors and are sooo incredibly affordable at only $2.00 per tin. Stock up for yourself and everyone's stockings! I'm sure you'll find some other goodies on their site as well - everything is reasonably priced, ALL the time!

Little matchbook notepads, found on etsy.com here and here. At these prices, you can't go wrong and you'll never be without a piece of paper on which to jot a note.

These midnight blue scalloped lace beauties are just calling to me! At this price point, you can have every color under the rainbow and not go broke. She's running a buy three (3), get one (1) free sale right now too!

Beautiful flower adorned hairpins - buy a few different sets and hand them out individually to your friends, one for their favorite color. Attach them to a little letterpress note card that you can find here (the bird is my ABSOLUTE favorite) or here or here.

SHOP THE POST HERE:

Delight.com Envirosax 5-pack
Eyes Lips Face Candy Shop Lip Tins
AR Creation's Etsy Shop Matchbook Notepads 10-pack
April Adriance's Etsy Shop Matchbook Notepads 25-pack
Vera Vinn's Etsy Shop Scalloped Lace Earrings
Parlene's Closet Etsy Shop Flower Hairpins Mixed Pack of 3
Missive's Etsy Shop Letterpress Gift Tags and Cards
Parrott Design Studios's Etsy Shop Letterpress Postcards

(Images courtesy of Delight.com, E.L.F. cosmetics, Parlene's Closet and Missive)