Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year everyone! I hope all of you out there had a wonderful New Year's Eve last night and are looking forward to the year to come!

Twin Ravens Press has quite a few new and exciting things in store for you this coming year and I can't wait to tell you all about them! However, as good things come to those who wait, I'm not going to tell you about all of them in full detail this morning, but I will give you a smidgeon of a sneak-peek into what I have in store for you for 2010! Here it goes:

• First off, there are going to be some brand new greeting card designs for Valentine's Day coming out in the next few weeks. They will be available in our Etsy Shop. I already have a few very sweet V-Day designs listed up there already, so if you're planning ahead for Valentine's, go check them out!

• Over the last few months I've been working with an awesome web programmer in Tucson, Arizona. Said programmer is creating an awesome and much more bona fide website for us, and I'm really excited about it! Version 1.0 of this site should be up and running this month. Don't worry - you'll still be able to access this blog and our etsy shop from the new site, this will just be a great way of getting everything all in one place.

• For my lovely retailers out there, Twin Ravens Press will be releasing our first ever (!) printed greeting card and stationery catalog this spring. Normally I've sent out catalogs in .pdf form only in the past, but this spring we will actually have our first ever printed one. It's pretty exciting! If you are already a Twin Ravens retailer, you will be sent one of our catalogs automatically once they are out. If you have been following this blog and are a retailer who is considering carrying my products, send me an e-mail if you'd like to receive a wholesale catalog!

• Speaking of the catalog, it's going to be showing off a couple of expansions to two of our lines that have been pretty tiny until now. For 2010, our baby & child stationery and greeting card line, as well as our small gift tag/gift card line will be growing! Both lines will be featuring both some brand new products and brand new designs! The new stuff will be in the catalog and will also be up on this blog when they come out. If you are giving a gift in the near future or are having, or know someone who has a new baby on the way, check back to see the new, cute, letterpress printed goodness that is coming!

• All of this expansion and newness has recently got me thinking about trade shows. TRP hasn't attending a large wholesale show yet, but I'm thinking that 2010 might be the year for it. Research is currently under way into all that this would entail. I will keep you posted on which show(s) we decide to attend, if we attend them this year!

• Last, but certainly not least, I'm very excited to announce that we will be offering a new technique to custom clients very soon to add a little extra-special touch to your letterpress printed pieces. I won't reveal what this new technique is yet, but I can tell you that I am doing it for a current business card client and the results are looking awesome!

So, there you have it! All of this and more is what I have in store for you for 2010. If you have any questions about any of the above, or about working with us, please don't hesitate to contact me! Have a wonderful weekend and a very Happy New Year!

Happy New Years Eve!

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Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! The above image was a behind-the-scenes photograph of New Year's Eve in Times Square in 1907. I love old photographs just as much as old printing presses, so I figured it a fitting image for this blog post.

Anyway, what to say about 2009. It's really a difficult thing to try and sum up in a short blog post, especially when it's been a year filled with both awesome and tough things all at once - but I suppose all years are like that really.

Probably one of the most major events of 2009 was the inauguration of the United States' first ever African-American President, Barack Obama. As my friend, Joe, wrote in his blog post today,

"Yes, there's lots of problems with the health care legislation, and no, Obama didn't magically fix everything with his ultra-charismatic Jesus-like wizardry, but it's still fantastic that the U.S. elected a black dude. And, despite Proposition Eight passing in California [in 2008], gay people are getting married in the U.S., and we will have it sooner or later. There's gay marriage in Iowa! That's pretty amazing..." - Source

Along with this we've made amazing advances in technology over the last decade. Think about it: when my mother was in college a computer was an enormous and highly-specialized machine that ran off of paper punch cards. Today the computer is something most of us have at least one of at home, possible along with our other handheld devices which we use to do business, connect with the world, educate ourselves, record our thoughts, and create and share a plethora of amazing things from videos, to websites, to printable art, all at the touch of a few buttons. It was kind of fascinating when I was traveling through airports earlier this week, on my way back from my holiday break, that nearly everyone at the airport had either a laptop, iPod, iPhone or other device. We are all connected, and computers aren't the only thing; other technologies have advanced substantially over the last decade as well. Lasers for instance - once a subject of science fiction films, we can now do everything with laser technology from performing heart and eye surgery, to scanning barcodes, to cutting out intricate designs, patterns and shapes in wood, plastic, metal and paper. It's really all pretty cool. Go us.

Along with the good of the year and decade though there always has to be some not-so-good. The main complaint I hear most people talking about these days has to do with the recession, and I agree, it's not something to be taken lightly. We may be in the worst recession we've seen since the 1930s, but as awful as it is for a lot of Americans, at least we don't have people standing in bread lines or trying to sell pencils in the street. We've been through a long, crushing recession, and in spite of it all, we've managed to avoid total destitution, which, in and of itself, is really pretty great. Despite financial hardship, many of Americans are still doing amazing things, starting businesses, and volunteering for the causes that matter to them most.

For Twin Ravens Press, 2009 has been a great year. I feel so very fortunate that I'm able to get up in the morning and do something I love for work everyday. When we're living in an era where the majority of employed people don't actually like their job and where there's another hefty percentage of people who aren't employed at all, I feel amazingly fortunate to do what I do. I was able to help over 75 couples announce, invite and celebrate their weddings with lovely letterpress printed stationery this year, along with also creating paper goods to celebrate births, businesses, holidays and other celebrations. That's pretty cool. I'm already working with several new couples who are getting married in 2010, and I can't wait to tell you all about them and everything else I have in store for you this coming year. 2010 is going to be fantastic!

As Carl Sagan put it, "We live in an extraordinary age." He wrote this back in the eighties and it's just as relevant now, if not even more so, than it was then, and it's getting even better all the time. So to everyone out there, have a very Happy New Years Eve, and here's to 2010!

Happy New Year!

I hope that all of you out in blog land had a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year! We have some very exciting new things in store for you for this upcoming year, so stay tuned to this blog, if you want to be the first to know about the new stuff.  

Just to give you a little sneak preview of what we have in store for you: 

• There are going to be at least half a dozen brand new Valentines Day card designs available in our etsy shop starting the week after next.  Be sure to check those out!  
• We are working with an awesome web designer and good friend on making twinravenspress.com into a fully functional, awesome, bona fide website.  I'm hoping that it will be up by March or April.  Don't worry, you will still be able to get to this blog and the etsy shop from the new site.  The new site will just make it easier to view all sorts of stuff that we're doing and stuff that we've done in the past all in one place.
• Remember those cool wedding coasters we did this past fall?  Well, we enjoyed doing them so much that we're going to be adding a whole new product line of decorative and functional letterpress coasters to our wholesale/retail line.  These coasters will be more general-purpose or holiday related than the wedding coasters, and they will all be customizable.  The first ones will be available in the Etsy store starting in early spring.
• And, speaking of new stuff: Twin Ravens Press will be offering another brand new line of stationary products that I know you'll be excited about.  I'm going to be mean though and not reveal them yet, but trust me, I know you're going to love 'em.  

If you haven't been over to Etsy lately, go and check out the showcase this morning.  One of our card designs is being featured there (today and today only).  

It's been a busy week and I have several awesome new things to post about over the next few days, so come back and visit soon!  Have a very Happy 2009!!