Fabulous Eco-Friendly Business Cards for Trees Creation & Happy Grow Lucky

A few months ago I created a couple of lovely sets of business cards for a wonderful client and good friend, Teresa Ennis. Teresa is a business owner two-times-over, and wanted brand new, totally awesome business cards for both of her businesses. Both of her businesses are somewhat nature-oriented in one way or another and we wanted to really express that in her branding and in the design and execution of her cards. Here is what we came up with:

The first of Teresa's businesses is called Happy Grow Lucky, a local landscaping business she runs here in Eugene. I loved her business name as well as her tag line: "Dig Deep, Reach High!". For the design of this card we used a gorgeous tree image that has tons of roots spreading out across the bottom of the card. The trunk and branches of the tree twist around moving up the card vertically and accent the shape of the logo I created for her. The tree was printed in a very pale green and all of the typography on this card was printed in a darker evergreen color. These cards were printed on a custom seeded cream paper from Porridge Papers that will actually grow wildflowers if the paper gets wet. How cool is that?!?

I'm pretty proud of this design: it's perfect for Teresa's business and the whole concept really just kicks ass.

Besides having tons of talent for landscape design and making things grow happily, Teresa is also a talented artist. She creates everything from hand-bound books and journals, to jewelry, to found object art pieces. Her shop, Trees Creation, is up and running over on etsy. Go check it out by clicking here. Teresa's Trees Creation cards were also printed on cream colored Porridge Paper with wildflower seeds, this time in three ink colors: chocolate brown, green and plum purple. We continued the tree theme for this card, but created a different tree image and used some different fonts. Check it out:

Aren't they pretty? I just love how we can take the tree theme and create two business cards that are totally different, with a lot of the same elements. Below are a few detail photos of the Trees Creation cards so you can see the letterpress impression, ink colors, fonts and the details of the lovely Porridge Paper a little bit better.

Make sure to go and check out Teresa's etsy shop, and if you're in need of any landscaping in Eugene, give her a call at Happy Grow Lucky. Thanks so much Teresa! You are awesome!

Business and Calling Cards Galore!

Happy almost Christmas Eve, to those who celebrate it! I realized the other day while writing this post, that it's been a little while since I posted about business or calling cards, so I figured it was about time. You may remember that we had a month-long special on business and calling cards back in October (Don't remember? That's okay - you can read about it here), which was really great. If you missed out on that particular special, fear not, we will be doing the same or a similar one again, and you will be able to find out about it right here on this blog as soon as we do! Not all of the cards I'm about to show you were a result of that special, but they are all a great little taste of what is possible in the business/calling card realm from Twin Ravens Press!

Below is a little round-up of nine different business or calling cards that I designed and/or printed within the last year.

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Calling Cards - Alexandra Horn

Alexandra (who goes by Ally) is a friend-of-a-friend that I printed these business cards for a while back. Ally is majoring in Spanish at the University of Oregon and will be finished with her degree and out on the job market this spring. She wanted a professional and classy calling card with her name and basic contact information to hand out to prospective employers that wasn't too industry-specific. This sweet and simple calling card design featuring two green aspen leaves sure fit the bill! I letterpress printed Ally's name and the leaves in an earthy, green ink and her phone number and e-mail address in chocolate brown on Crane Lettra 100% cotton paper in Ecru. I love how clean, simple and classy this calling card is without being too job or industry-specific, and the texture and colors are just awesome!

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Calling Cards - Dominic Tringali

Dentist by day, problem solver and international man of mystery (or something) by night, Dominic Tringali is another one of my Eugene acquaintances who desired a stylish and classy calling card to hand out to friends, lovers and potential business contacts. I love how this card is classy and masculine all at the same time! We chose a classic serif font in all caps for Dominic's name, a smaller lower-case italic font for the tag line, and another classic, roman font for the contact information. Both the typography and the silhouette motif were printed in black ink on Crane Lettra Bright White 100% cotton paper. Aren't these totally great?!? I love 'em!

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Business Cards - Kerplunc

I've actually posted about the design and print work that we've done for the web design, development and hosting company, Kerplunc, before on this blog. You can read more about them, and the work we've done for them, in this post from last January. Kerplunc is a two-man team based in Canada and the UK. We originally worked with and printed cards for one of Kerplunc's team members, Matt Hall, last January, and later this year we printed cards for Matt's business other-half, Nick Barrett. The design of Nick's cards is the same as the design of Matt's, for corporate consistency purposes, but the back side was updated with Nick's information.

I love how clean and modern these cards are! Nick was so excited when he received his cards that he put up a little post about them over on his blog, here. Go check it out and check out the link above for more info on Matt, Nick and Kerplunc. They are awesome folks with an awesome little company, so go check them out!

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Calling Cards - Marilee Enright Gordon

Marilee Enright Gordon is a friend of my mom's and an L.C.S.W., or Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She splits her time between Wilson, Wyoming and Montecito, California and these calling cards were a surprise gift for her from my mother, as she had once mentioned to my mom that she needed new calling cards badly. They feature her name, both towns where she resides and her e-mail address. Her previous calling cards had a small half-moon and star motif that we chose to continue in the new design. These were printed on Crane Lettra Pearl White 100% cotton paper in navy blue ink. Once again, I love the way a clean and simple, yet elegant design can really convey a person's personal contact information, oh so nicely.

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Calling Cards - Edie Walker

Speaking of my mom, here are a couple of different calling card designs I created for her this past June as a surprise birthday gift. My mom is a very smart woman of many talents, who has had many different careers throughout her life, so it was really difficult, in a way, to come up with a single design for her - so I created two. Both designs feature her name, telephone number and e-mail address as the primary information, but the design of both cards are really really different.

One card featured a Japanese-woodcut-inspired wave pattern in light blue ink with her contact information in black. Like Ally Horn's business card above, I love how clean and simple and non-specific this card is, while being fun, pretty and elegant all at the same time. This set of cards was printed on Crane Lettra 100% cotton pearl white paper.

The other design featured a lovely blind-embossed pattern and a floral design printed in chocolate brown and burnt sienna (orange) inks on Crane Lettra 100% cotton ecru paper.

In my opinion, this design is a little more feminine and elegant than the first design, but both are really really beautiful. I love how the blind-embossed circle pattern at the top of the card really adds an extra bit of visual interest and texture to the overall card design. My mom loved both cards, but which was her favorite, you ask? She preferred the second one with the flowers. Great choice, Mom!

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Calling Cards - Elisabeth Mason

Elisabeth originally sought me out when she was in search of business cards for her law practice. We ended up deciding that trading our services would be mutually beneficial, however, when we got to my end of the trade, Elisabeth decided that she would rather have a pretty, personal calling card created that she could hand out to non-business-related contacts, rather than one specifically for her work. She mentioned that she really liked hummingbirds, which I thought was great, so we used that little tid-bit of inspiration to create the personal calling card you see above. Elisabeth's cards were printed in metallic copper ink on 100 lb. speckletone starch rain cover stock from French Paper Company. I love how the little hummingbird and flight path motif is somewhat whimsical and really compliments the free-flowing, whimsical font we used so well!

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Calling Cards - Nami Bigos

Nami is a Portland, Oregon-based graphic designer who designed her own awesomely modern calling card and hired Twin Ravens Press to print them! I love how simple, professional and modern Nami's design is. It's clean, straight-forward, and totally down-to-business. These cards were printed in bright, rhodamine red ink (which, in all honesty, is really a bright magenta color), on crisp, 100% cotton, bright white Crane Lettra. Very nice!

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Calling Cards - Evan Lally

Last, but certainly not least, are these fabulous calling cards, created for a good friend of mine, and self-proclaimed metro-sexual, Evan Lally. Evan's a pretty classy guy. He dresses super-snappy, lives in a very chic, downtown studio apartment in Eugene, and is just pretty much awesome. Evan's cards feature both modern and 19th century styling and typefaces, combined with a super-classy cherry blossom motif. These cards are vertically oriented and were printed in two metallic ink colors: silver and copper on 100 lb. Speckletone Wine cover stock, also from French Paper Company.

The cards feature the cherry blossom motif and Evan's name in a wood-type inspired typeface towards the top of the card, and his contact information in another classic typeface towards the bottom.

The center of the card features an oversized, bracketed tag line that is separated from the name and contact information by two stylish flourishes. We printed these cards with three different tag lines, which you can see in the top photo: "Totally Metro", "Not British, no really, I swear" and "Certified Show-Stopper".

I know that these tag lines may not mean anything to you, but trust me, if you knew Evan personally, you would understand. : )

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If you enjoyed this little business and calling card round-up, check back again soon as I have many more 2009 calling cards to write about in the very near future!

If you would like more information about ordering calling or business cards of your very own, please feel free to contact me at any time!

I may not be blogging for the next few days, so to those of you who celebrate it, have a very Merry Christmas! Ta-ta for now!

October Special: Business and Calling Cards

Happy October Everyone! I've been pondering the idea of doing semi-monthly specials for a while now on certain retail products that we print or on custom printing, and I've decided that we're going to give it a shot! I know I write a lot on this blog about all of the awesome wedding-related stationery that we design and print, but you should know that we also print some wonderful business-related cards and stationery as well!

So, for the month of October, our special will be (drum roll, please): 10-20% Off on all Business or Calling Card orders!

You heard me right! If you are a current business or calling card customer of Twin Ravens Press, place an order with a deposit for reprints of your current business card design between October 1 and October 31, 2009 and receive 20% off of your printing!

If you are a new business or calling card customer, don't worry, you can get in on this deal too! If you haven't ordered business or calling cards from us before, but would like to, place your order with a signed contract and deposit between October 1 and October 31 and receive 10% off of the printing of your cards. This discount does not apply to design work or platemaking.

If you have any questions, or would like to place your order, please contact us at twinravenspress@gmail.com!

Custom Business Cards: Sarah Quest

I have an awesome friend named Sarah who finished massage school last year and is starting her own massage therapy business here in Eugene!  Lucky for me, Sarah (along with being awesome and my friend) is also a fan of letterpress printing.  Not too long ago she and I got together and designed and printed her first set of business cards, which you can see above and below:

Sarah's cards are printed on Crane Lettra 100% cotton paper in Ecru in Chocolate Brown and Metallic Copper inks.  It may be a little difficult to see from the photos, but the majority of the printing on the card is brown with her name and the little flourish above the majority of the information printed in copper.  I think the little touches of copper were a very nice and slightly subtle accent to the card, which otherwise would have probably been only one color.  

As a massage therapist, Sarah offers Swedish, Thai, and Ashiatsu Massage, as well as Hot Stone Massage and Aromatherapy treatments.  She is currently working on building up her client base, so she is offering a new client special, referral specials and student discounts.  

I couldn't possibly say enough on this blog about how awesome Sarah is as a massage therapist (and friend).  I go to her personally for all of the bodywork I've had and she is fabulous!  If you live in the Eugene/Springfield area and would like to get a massage, you should contact her by phone or e-mail (listed above on her business card - see photo) or online through her website.  Clicking on the link will take you directly to her site where you can view more information about Sarah, her pricing, and services, as well as book an appointment online.  How cool is that?!?  

Thanks so much Sarah, you are awesome! 

Letterpress Calling Cards: Anton Fraga

I recently printed this set of calling cards for a friend-of-a-friend who is going to be finishing his graduate program at the University of Oregon very soon and wants to start looking for jobs in the area.  Anton studied Spanish and wants to find work where he can use his dual-language skills in a professional business setting.  

For the card designs, Anton really liked the design that I did last October for Chuck Herro's calling cards.  You can find photos of those here.  Anton wanted a clean, simple, but also professional looking design that wasn't too occupation-specific, since he's not quite sure what exactly he'll be doing yet.  We thought that this design with two clean, crisp, classic fonts would be just perfect!  The cards are printed on Crane Lettra 100% cotton paper in Bright White in black ink!  

Very professional, if you ask me! 

Custom Business Cards: Lisa daCosta

I'm going to be pretty busy this afternoon finishing up a new custom wedding invitation job for a lovely couple in Flagstaff, Arizona, but I thought in the meantime that I would share with you one of my latest custom business card designs.  Right after I posted about a custom set of letterpress printed business cards here for a company called Kerplunc, I got quite a few inquiries from other individuals and companies about creating custom business cards for them.  This is the first card design that resulted from one of those inquiries.  

Lisa contacted me about creating a new business card design for her to use that was both general and beautiful and not-too-specific work-wise.  This is because she is a "girl-at-large" who is involved in many thing from business and political consulting to non-profit fundraising, and she needed a card that was beautiful and unique, while still being able to cover all the bases.  

At the top of this post is a photo of one of her finished cards.  It is letterpress printed in two colors: chocolate brown and emerald green on Crane Lettra 100% cotton paper in Ecru.  This is the same paper stock I use for my Twin Ravens Press business cards and I just love the way it looks: classy and unique without being too over-the-top.  Lisa chose a nice floral design for the card and chose a cursive, somewhat pretty and feminine looking typeface that is still very ledgible.  She kept the information on the card simple by only using her name, e-mail address and phone number.  I think this sets of cards turned out absolutely lovely and will work very well for all of Lisa's business pursuits!  

If you are interested in having custom letterpress printed business cards designed for you or your company, feel free to contact us at twinravenspress@gmail.com!

Thanks again, Lisa! 

Fit for a Gentleman

Here is the most recent custom job from the press!  I think these stylish calling cards for Sebastian St. John: Gentleman of Leisure are downright awesome.  I mean what gentleman doesn't aspire to a title like that?  These cards were designed by the client as a gift for her fiancee's best man for their wedding.  They were printed on Crane's Pearl White calling card stock with silver edging in silver ink.  It's hard to see from the photos, but the ink nearly matches the edging on the cards and is really nice and sparkly.  

I also had the pleasure of printing the wedding invitations for this same client right before I got this blog up and rolling.  Nataliya, the bride, is a photographer and part-time graphic designer in New York, who designed her invitations herself and then hired me to print them.  You can check out some of her photography work here.  The suite included a square two-color invitation, two-color RSVP card, white invitation envelopes with turquoise ink for the return address and turquoise response card envelopes with black ink for the address.  Check out the photos of the suite below:  

Here is the whole suite all together.  It included a 5 inch square invite, a reply card and two sets of envelopes.  

Here is the RSVP Card by itself.  

And the Invitation by itself.

And, here is a detail of the invitation so you can get a closer look at the design.  Beautiful, don't you think?  Stay tuned because there will be more photos of new custom work later this week.