Frosty Blue Stationery

This is my final blue post in honor of the Colts making it to the Super Bowl baby! Okay, I'm done. I promise.

This is our Winter Series note card set. The designs are set against a frosty blue background—yet convey heart-warming wishes for the wintertime. I tried to remember what was special to me about the winter season. So mittens, snowflakes and what little ice skating I did were what influenced me. It sounds a little like the "Sound of Music" song "These are a few of my favorite things". Funny, I hadn't thought about it that way until now.

Our cards aren't just blue, they're also green. We print on 100% post-consumer waste, recycled paper. They even come in an eco-friendly felt folio made from recycled plastic water bottles. Check out more of our cards at www.jillyjackdesignsllc.com.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Jill

I love my Fan Book

If you'd ask me to pick one tool, other than my computer for designing, I would choose my Pantone solid to process fan book. It has never steered me wrong and is a must for choosing colors for corporate identities. The point being that not all spot pms colors translate well into 4-color process. So I always use this book when choosing colors to make sure they work in both spot and cmyk applications. And never trust the color on your screen. Everyone's screen is different, so if you are designing for print you need to specify your color from a Pantone Matching System (PMS) Book. If you're really a big deal and have a lot of money, Pantone will make you your own spot color, like Tiffinay & Company and their famous Tiffany Blue.

As you can see by my photo, my book is really well used, and I probably need to get a new one. The colors fade with age and that isn't good for color matching. And it is still blue week, Go Colts!

Have a great day!

Jill

Crane Paper in Blue

I had a visit from Karla, my favorite paper rep on Monday and she brought me a ton of swatch books. It was like Christmas. I picked some of my favorite blue shades from Crane's Palette swatch book to share with you. I think the book isn't the most current, but she brought it because it has larger sheets so that I could get a feel for the paper's weight and texture. I checked Crane's site and these colors are all currently stocked. That is one thing to look out for, make sure your swatch books are current and the paper is still stocked. There is nothing like getting burnt when you've designed a piece around a certain paper stock, only to find out it isn't made any more. It's not so bad if it's for yourself, but if it's something you've shown to a client. Ouch!

I'm really excited to use some of this paper with my new letterpress printer. Oh the possibilities! They have an a mazing raspberry too, but hey this is blue week. Go Colts!

To find out more on Crane Paper go to there site, cranepaper.com

Colors shown left to right: Cambridge Blue, Azure Blue, Navy and Aqua

If you have a favorite blue paper, I'd love for you to share it. There are some amazing papers out there. And of course, I'll be sharing some of the other amazing paper swatch books she brought.

Take care,
Jill

Jilly Jack Design Sparkle Card

In honor of blue week, I though I'd share one of our cards from our Light Series. These note cards all feature some sort of light source and convey a message of encouragement, like sparkle. You can view our cards at our site www.jillyjackdesignsllc.com and you can purchase sets at our retail site here. The set includes 10 cards (2 each of 5 designs) with 10 envelopes which are printed on 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper that is FSC certified. The set is contained in a folio made from recycled billboard wraps.

Michele Maule

In honor of the Colts winning and moving on to the Super Bowl, this week's posts will all relate to blue in some way.

Today I would like to introduce you to artist Michele Maule, whom I found on etsy. Lucky for me, just about every piece has at least a touch of blue. How serendipitous! I love Michele's work. Shown is a self portrait, "The wedding". You should check out her typewriter and camera illustrations as well. Please visit Michele Maule's etsy shop.

Image is owned by the artist.

Back to class

I'm so excited, I'm taking an e-class to enhance my blogging skills. This is the first week and I feel like I've already learned a lot about what I want to accomplish and where I want this blog to head. The class is taught by Holly Becker of decor8 with Leslie Shewring from A Creative Mint. Holly's blog covers interior design, new products and independent artists. Leslie's blog covers her wonderful photography and photo styling. Both have amazing blogs, so go check them out.

If you'd like to learn more about the class click the blogging your way badge to the left. We'll see where this new journey takes me.

New Typface

I just found a great new typeface on myfonts called Museo Slab. It was designed by Jos Buivenga in 2009 and is published by exljbris. I just like it's simple and friendly feel. I am adding it to my list of must purchase fonts. Museo would work great in some new designs I have in my head.

Image from myfonts.com

Jim Mullan

Jim Mullan creates these amazing birds that I just discovered in a photo on Fiona Richard's blog Cafe Cartolina (which is amazing). So I set off to find the artist. I happened upon him by accident while shopping for a gift on the site Uncommon Goods.

So here's what I found out from their site:

Artist Jim Mullan's line of bird sculptures was inspired by his fascination with birds and antique objects. Jim uses original bird decoys from the 30s, 40s and small birds that were carved in the 50s. The original decoys were passed on to Jim in 1991 and he turned each into an eclectic, one-of-a-kind piece of art.

Jim begins each piece by hand painting the bird and then adding a variety of vintage pieces, such as croquet balls, binoculars and old toys - giving each bird a lively personality and a dash of humor and whimsy.

Jim uses objects that were cast aside as useless to demonstrate the fragile balance between nature and industry.

Letterpress Video

Letterpress Coasters from Quarter Productions on Vimeo.

Okay, I'm a sucker for anything to do with letterpress printing and thought I'd share this video with you. It shows the process of making letterpress printed coasters. Not only is the subject matter cool, but so is the way the video is shot as well as the music.

I'll let you all in on a little secret as well. I just bought my first letterpress printer. It's huge and I'm still perfecting it, but I love it!

Enjoy!

A letter from me

Dear Readers,

First of all, thank you so much for all your support over the
last year.

I just wanted to share a little more about myself and where I'm coming from and why this blog is important to me.

Ever since I was little, I’ve always loved to draw and doodle.
I was always excited in elementary school when one of my “masterpieces” ;–) was selected for art object of the week and was hung in the hallway outside of the principal’s office. I continued in my art focus through college and my career as a graphic designer to ultimately owning my own eco-friendly stationery design and manufacturing business, Jilly Jack Designs.

My stationery reflects my sense of color and design aesthetic. I love bright happy, clean colors and simple shapes. I chose to go into the stationery business because of my love for graphic design and paper plus I’ve always loved writing letters and receiving them. You know that feeling you had as a child when you got something in the mail? That is the feeling I want to keep alive for the next generation. My son Jack loves to get mail. He’s always sad when we get cards in the mail and he doesn't.

In this blog I plan to share more about my stationery business and how it is growing and evolving, as well as my creative process, maybe that will spark your creativity as well. I’ll also be showcasing people, places and things that I find inspiring or just really
like or want.

I welcome all of your comments. Please feel free to share what inspires you. I'd love to hear it!

Here’s to 2010, let’s make it a year full of wonderment and creativity!

–Jill