Letterpress for the home crafter? Could it be?

Since planning my wedding, I've become a HUGE fan of letterpress stationery. Lettpress note cards, greeting cards, and business cards--I love them all! I reallly want to purchase an antique letterpress machine, but Mr. Eggplant axes the idea because my craft room is already packed to the brim with stamps, die cut machines, and paper. Plus, letterpress machines and replacement parts are often hard to find and expensive, and the learning curve can be steep.

But, this week I just got a newsletter in my inbox that this fall, Lifestyle Crafts (a division of QuicKutz Inc.) will be releasing the L Letterpress, a letterpress machine for the home crafter. And the starter kit is only $149! What?! I know nothing can replace true letterpress, but this might be a fun alternative for those of us who don't have the space or money for a real machine (kind of like an easy bake oven versus a Viking convection, yo). I'm crossing my fingers that the L Letterpress machine will allow crafters to create and use printing plates with their own designs too.

Here is a picture tutorial from the Lifestyle Crafts website:

 
1. Open the L Letterpress and place an adhesive-backed printing plate on the clear lid.

 
2. Ink the printing plate evenly with the brayer tool.

 
3. Place paper in desired location on base of letterpress tool. Use registration grid and Paper Placement Guides for greater accuracy and alignment.

 
4. Close lid and roll L Letterpress through Epic tool. For a deeper impression, add additional packing sheets. 

So, what do you think? Great invention? Or complete miss?

Last month, Mr. Eggplant was the best man for our friends' wedding in San Diego. Coincidentally, one of my bridesmaids was the maid of honor! The wedding was gorgeous. Our friends hosted a lunch reception at the Marine Room, a restaurant with an AMAZING ocean front view. The beach was literally right outside the window. Unbelievable. And the food… Oh. Mah. Gah. It wedding food I’ve ever tasted.

Hubs gave a hilarious Best Man speech where he made fun of the Cal/Stanford rivalry between the couple (Mark, the groom, graduated from Cal and Catherine, the bride, from Stanford). Hubs got some good chuckles from the crowd–he’s such a ham. He also prepared a slideshow for the couple, which was better than the slideshow he prepared for us! Why? Well, Hubs did something super sweet for the bride and groom: he emailed all of their close friends who couldn’t attend the wedding and asked them to record a short video sending well wishes to the newlyweds. Then Hubs added the footage at the end of the slideshow as a surprise! The couple was definitely surprised. How stinkin’ sweet is that? I’m so proud of Hubs. He thought the idea up all by himself.

I had an opportunity to work on the couple's wedding invitations with the talented Emily of Emma and Bear. I'm totally addicted to Emily's blog where she shares her lovely crafts and posts the most adorable photos of her puppy! Emily did a fantastic job designing the ocean themed cards while I came up with the color scheme, monogram, and invitation suite presentation. Catherine picked out cranberry colored BM dresses for the ladies and wanted to keep an ocean feel to her wedding, so I suggested a color scheme of cranberry and sky blue .

Once the design was finalized, I goccoed and assembled the entire project by hand. Yes, 150 invitations with four cards and one envelope per set. I'm going to pat myself on the back here, because--I won't lie--it was a LOT of work. The project took two full weekends, plus several weeknight evenings. In the end, it was all worth it. I think they turned out rather well! Most importantly, the bride and groom were happy with the finished product.

 
Catherine wanted a cover that would act as a pocket fold, but wouldn't cost as much. I came up with the idea of folding a sheet of thick card stock in half and using a ribbon to secure the cards inside. The metallic paper was only $0.30 per sheet from www.paperandmore.com and I was able to cut two folders per sheet. This option was much cheaper than a pocket fold. The entire invitation suite was less than $2.50 per set, including all the paper, envelopes, Gocco screens, ink, and embellishments. Not bad!

On the cover, I used two different sized square punches to cut out the monogram. The unsightly ribbon ends were hidden beneath the square.

Here's the lovely reception card in all of it's Goccoed glory. Emily carried the whimsical wave motif and starfish on all the cards.

 
And above is the RSVP card.

  
Once the project was finished, I packaged the lovely paper goods in ribbon and sent them off to be shipped!

Next up, I'll share some of the dazzling, gorgeous images from Catherine & Mark's beach themed wedding.