The more I think about the 4 Bar size (4.25×5.5) the more I fall in love with it and want to design all my stationery in that size. When I was asked by Amy & Seth to design their wedding invitations, I couldn’t resist asking them if I could take advantage of their petite height (she’s 4’10″, he’s 5’7″) and use the charming size.  They were for it! After many lunch dates with Amy she narrowed down her colors and couldn’t resist doing 100% gold foil. She also wondered what we could do with just text and no extra illustrations. It was a fun challenge.

How ridiculously cute is their wedding engagement photo?

It’s so hard to capture how great the gold foil looks in person! Above is the Instagram version.

I’ve also been very curios about foil printing and this was the perfect opportunity. I found a great local company who let me inside their production room and taught me all about it. It was easy to understand because the basics were similar to operating a Heidelberg Windmill, but it was still an overwhelming piece of machinery. They were also nice enough to let me film it, which is posted on my Facebook Page. If you happen to be getting hitched soon and love this design, you can order a sample here.

Last year around this time I told myself to try to get ready to go to the National Stationery Show in New York City in 2013. When it came to sign up for this year’s show I hesitated for many reasons. I didn’t have Berger yet so everything would be manufactured on my tabletop, Priscella. Not a huge deal breaker. Since I work well under pressure I thought about how I could crank out all the designs I have sketched, written down, locked in the memory bank over the next few months. What it really came down to though, was cost. It’s expensive and I’m not ready for that type of commitment. Overwhelmed is an understatement when I thought about just the expense of shipping product and booth display (plus plane ticket, plus food, plus lodging). Also it’s much harder for me to be realistic about it all when I have never attended it before and don’t know what to expect. All I do know is I want to be a part of it and I will have to wait until 2014.

Here is where I enter dreamland. Sycamore Street Press has graciously offered me a week-long apprenticeship to assist them this May at NSS! I will learn everything I need to know in order to make my goal to attend in 2014 an actuality. This put me in a “glass case of emotion.” From feeling incredibly happy to overly appreciative where I was almost in tears. I don’t know how I can thank Kirk and Eva enough for this amazing opportunity.

This exciting news had led me to re-think my strategy as a young business woman. It has been officially one year of working for myself and man, I have learned a lot. The biggest lesson I am going to focus on is planning ahead. I am giving myself 14 months to get to where I want to be and what I want to do. To budget my entire plan I have picked up a job so I can really focus and invest in myself and materials. This past week I have been training at Eva’s Bakery, a new french cafe downtown. I love it! I wanted to work at a place that was creative in a different way and a space that was inspiring. I am surrounded by passionate people making an influence to our city and the growing local food scene. It is thrilling to be a part of it while I work towards my new goal.

(photo credit: Sycamore Street Press, instagram: @sycamorestreetpress)

Over a year ago I was taking a shower when some how for some reason, my eyes locked onto a bump on the back of my right hand as I reached for shampoo. I was confused as I touched the hard area and immediately thought I was going to hurl. I’ve never been good with bones or anything that involves the interior of the human body. Don’t get me started on babies. I immediately went to a hand specialist to politely ask for the removal of what I assumed was a cyst. After some X-rays and a surprised doctor, he laughed and said, “You know, we get people coming in here all the time claiming they have bone spurs when they really have cysts. And look at you! You actually have a bone spur!” After pointing out that the spur is growing where my pointer and middle finger meet, I was again tempted to release bile right there in his office. There is no remedy as he strongly suggested against surgery. An operation could be more risky with nerve damages whereas the only serious issue with leaving it alone is that it’s just really disgusting. There is no explanation as to why a bone decided to grow but I think it’s safe to assume it’s from woodcarving. A lot of lumber jacks get bone spurs in their hands and I recently showed it off to Jim Sherridan from Hatch Show Print who said I was much too young for it, implying woodcarvers get them with age. I wonder if it will grow more. I’m hoping it will turn into an extra hand. Hah! If anything I have a new conversation piece. Even if I have to cringe when people want to touch it.

There is no moral to this story. Except, I guess, to love the gross stuff about yourself.

Photo taken with instagram (@nicamiller)

On the walls you can see prints by local artist, Brian Taylor of Copper Palate Press. They are relief blocks turned into large patterns and screen printed with great detail. They are only $20, an incredible price! SaltGrass always has a print demo and a featured artist on display for SHAW, which is the first Friday of every month. If you like the card, ALOT, you can find it here.

The Indian chief is an amazing engraving that I’ve had for nearly three years and have been trying to find an excuse to print it. I handset the text, purposely, without contact information. I can imagine her being really suave and handing her card off after writing on the back her contact preference. Her name is set with 18pt Acme Style Script and her title is set with 8pt Centenary on 220lb Pearl Lettra with black soy-based ink and Gold Chrome edge painting. Photo is also styled with one of her necklace designs that I’ve had for 3 years. I get so many compliments on it whenever I wear it. Emily is graciously offering this necklace at wholesale price when you contact her at House 112 and tell her you saw this blog post.

I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

I’ve been working on branding and separating what I am trying to do with my business since the name Friends Make Prints came about more as a collective rather than just me. So to start, I made me some new business cards to identify me and my art prints and I am just over the moon on how they turned out. I definitely wanted an image of one of my woodcuts that I am the most proud of and I kept the text simple with my signature and all the information needed to get a hold of me or find my website. I letterpress printed these on my Heidelberg Windmill 10×15 on 220lb Florescent White Lettra and edge painted the side with neon yellow. I chose the vibrant color to not only help them stand out but to represent my home, the beehive state.

Stay tuned for more changes around here!

When local digital agency Welikesmall asked if I would be interested in printing their holiday cards, you could say I was more than willing. I would say I was stunned. The 3-color run on 220lb. fluorescent white lettra was designed by Trista Yard and lettering by Dan Christofferson. I love me some blind printing [of snowflakes].

Check out the Christmas package they sent to their clients, here.

(Photo credit: Welikesmall)

I am thoroughly impressed by being able to watch a room come to life. I’ve never created and planned a room before and I am now kind of obsessed with interior design, layouts as well as decor. Our basement kitchen is finally complete thanks to the guy, his dad and mine. Tracy and I bought this house just over a year ago and it’s so exciting that we are finally able to rent out downstairs. It wasn’t easy though. The bathroom came first, as you may remember. All that was left was a concrete room and too many possibilities of how to make it a great kitchen.

When we built the bathroom, I had an idea to take an entire wall out from living room to kitchen (access to kitchen originally was through the bathroom. Yuck.) and build a bar. Then we decided to move the water heater to the other side of furnace to gain an extra two feet. Every square foot counts in a basement apartment. We enlarged the living room window and took the previous size to the kitchen to let more light in. This involved large cement saws and brick setters. We made the ceilings as tall as possible, going up and around vents. Splurged on an entire back splash of subway tile and only installed base cabinets to give it a more open and larger feel. This seems like the best solution since the basement was originally dug out, we are stuck with the concrete supports that make shelving around the entire outer edge of the apartment. I scored on getting the floor tile for trade, the dishwasher was about to be tossed when Tracy’s dad asked for it, all the knobs are vintage and the wine cabinet (in the bar), butcher block counter top and a couple base cabinets were found in the Ikea as-is section. Or as we like to call it, the bargain cave. The only downside to this great new kitchen is we don’t get to use it. Here are some before pictures:

This is how the kitchen looked when we moved in. You can see how much bigger the furnace room is when the water heater was more towards the kitchen rather than in the corner where it is now. Also, I never did take a photo of when there was a wall where the bar is.

You can see in these photos where we put that second window in. Totally worth it. What do you guys think?

You can either say I am late in the game or you could say I am ahead of schedule. Basically I tried really hard to get this card printed in time to sell for the holiday season. Going to San Francisco the weekend before Christmas for Renegade Craft Fair threw off my printing plans and I couldn’t get around to it until Christmas Eve. I was also behind on our family cards so I decided that the only way to get my new design out in the world is by sending them blank to friends and family for them to use and keep our family photo and text separate. I am still learning to plan ahead with stationery so I’m happy to have these done for next year, hah. Printed on Whip Cream by French Paper Co., with neon red and copper metallic soy based inks.

It’s so fun to see how much can change in a year. Especially when compared to our 2011 post. This year involved a lot of hard work in more ways than one. Tracy got another promotion and is now a Study Director in the Biocompatibility Lab at Nelson Laboratories. In his free time, he worked in the basement to get the bathroom and kitchen completed so we can rent it out (post coming soon on the renovations). I am proud of how much he has learned construction and wiring and how hard he worked to get it done before the new year. Sheila is a great hiker and swimmer and will do anything to get outdoors. A few days ago she had surgery to get a tumor removed from her back leg and we’re hopeful that it is benign. Mate has officially been with our family for a year and loves to tell us when it is 6pm and time to go on a walk. He also knows when we fall asleep and it’s clear to sneak up on to the bed for his slumber as well.

In March I quit all my jobs to focus on my commissions, projects and developing new work. I traveled to Chicago and San Francisco to sell my art and am thrilled and inspired at how well those trips went. I won an Artys Award for my solo exhibition, Horny, bought a Heidelberg Windmill 10×15, featured in Revolv Magazine, and friends got married and they let me design and print their invitations. I am focusing on branding myself (with new business cards!) and my letterpress studio for 2013. Everything is exciting.

Other personal New Years resolutions include traveling more, making this house a home, cooking new dishes and way more yoga as I can tell my body is getting older. Hope you all had a great 2012 and here’s to 2013!

(last photo taken with instagram: @nicamiller)

When I was asked to do a guest blog post for Craft Lake City on gift wrapping, I was excited and overwhelmed at all the fun ideas that you can do to add a personal touch to a present. I didn’t have time to do all of them, but I wrote as much as I could and you can find it here.

Not sure if it’s just me but I had a stint of not being excited for Christmas during the majority of my 20′s. I think it came with being a poor college student and a poor adult that caused the stress among other things. But I think having a home and starting my own little family has changed my attitude. The lights will be hung this year and it will be merry and bright.