Website temporarily down

Just in case you're looking for our website and have ended up here instead, we're just fixing a couple of little problems, so the site is down temporarily.

Edit: All up and running again thanks to my genius husband :)

And we're live!

Our brand new website is finally online. There's still a lot more work to do on it though, but once it's all up and running, it will have a few swanky new features.

The most exciting of these will be an instant quote feature. This will allow visitors to the site to have a look through our designs and services, decide what they'd like, and find the pricing for it immediately. However, it's the most code-heavy part of the site, so Adrian's going to be working his magic with it over the next couple of weeks, so you'll have to stay tuned for it's arrival.

Last night we uploaded the first 4 of 36 new designs as part of our new Poppy Collection. Until now, we have only offered custom design and printing, but have had many many requests for a template collection to choose from. The Poppy Collection is ideal for couples who:

- would rather not spend time working with a designer to develop a custom design

- would like to receive their final product sooner, and

- are working to a tighter budget, but would still love to have the luxury of letterpress.

So you will be able to choose your design, choose the items you require, choose colours to match your wedding, so that we can contact you to get started straight away. It couldn't be easier!

Every day or two we will be uploading a new design to the Poppy Collection. We'll be featuring each design on the blog, so you'll be able to hear all about them right here.

We also have sections on the website for custom design - which we'll still be offering as before - and information on how to supply your own design for printing. These will hopefully be live by the end of the weekend.

Also yet to come are a stack of photos. They'll be online in the next few days too.

Phew! Busy busy!

So even though there are still a lot more goodies to pop up on the site, we'd love to get your feedback on how it looks so far. And let us know if you think the text is too small. I, for one, like it, but we've had a bit of a debate here and I think I'm losing ;)

Emerging tomorrow

The pressure's really on now to have the website ready to go live tomorrow. It may be at 11.59pm tomorrow, but it will be tomorrow! I must say that I'm stupidly excited to have a new site. We've really needed it for quite some time now, and it's far more dynamic than the last one. You'll probably all look at it and ask, "What was all the fuss about?" :)

One thing that I'm looking forward to is updating it daily for the first few weeks. You'll see what I mean tomorrow...

Sprouting...

tease, tease

Isn't it always the way? You plan and plan, only to realise that your little dream of a new website is, in reality, a huge undertaking that requires far more time than you originally anticipated.

But fear not my friends, the new website is coming. In 3 days to be precise. So while Adrian and I are being busy little bees, here's a little teaser.

Countdown: One week to go!

Greetings from rainy Brisbane! We're up here for holidays for a week, but of course, we've brought work with us (can't help ourselves). Still busily working on the new website (squee! So excited!), and new designs. Just down to the fiddly end of things now really. We're hoping to have everything working on the website by the end of the week, but there may be a couple of little things that need tweaking, as with any new thing.

Until then, have a fantastic New Year and I'll see you in 2010 for the relaunch of Poppy Letterpress!

Countdown: Two weeks to go!

I'm quite excited about our little countdown to big changes. What changes, you ask? Well I suppose I can reveal a little more...

In two weeks' time we will be RELAUNCHING Poppy Letterpress!

Our workload slowed down considerably since our darling little boy Kynan arrived 6 months ago now. Feeding routines, appointments, playtime and lack of sleep really does take up all of a parent's time. However, Ky should be starting daycare in January, which means we can come back to Poppy with a lot more energy!

Firstly, it's no secret that we've been working on a new website for quite some time now. What I can tell you is that it will be much bigger, cleaner, and have far more content. Our new pricing structure is what makes it the most exciting though. Lucky for me, Adrian is quite the whizz with websites and all things digital. I love watching him bring my design to life.

Secondly, in two weeks' time you'll be seeing some fab new designs from us. But you'll have to wait to hear more about that.

The countdown continues!

Colours I'm in love with

Is there a colour that makes you go all gooey inside?

I'm finding myself more and more obsessed with neutrals mixed with a splash of earthy greens and reds. I've always been a huge fan of sage green - in fact it was my main colour in my own wedding palette. The Poppy office is sage green too, as I find it's a perfectly calming colour for a work environment. 

Neutral browns and greys make me giddy, I just can't get enough of them! My loungeroom is now a rich latte with white highlights. I find neutrals are timeless - warm, inviting, scrumptious. 

So this is a hint of the colour palette for the new Poppy website. I'm so excited about launching it, but we're taking the time to make sure that it's just right, rather than hastily uploading it. When we've settled on the launch date, I'll be impatiently counting down the days, both here on the blog and on Twitter.

Busy busy

Thanks to the genius of my husband, the website now works in every available browser. But of course, let me know if you pick any problems.

We've had a great response from the launch of the website, with many people contacting us with comments or quote requests.

This week I'm busy printing business cards and hopefully a couple of illustrations. A designer in Melbourne has created the most gorgeous bird illustration, and I can't wait to show you the printed piece... but I'll have to hurry up and get the plates made first, won't I?

Also, I've been having a recurring inking issue with the photopolymer plates, which may be solved by using roller bearers. So this week I hope to unlock my chase (sigh, it's so perfectly set up now that I don't want to move it again) and lock in some bearers... If I can find some. Roller bearers help the rollers to touch the plates at exactly type high, which inks them up evenly. I have a suspicion that the rails on my press have worn and are no longer perfectly flat, so bearers would help a lot.

Teething problems

Like any new thing, the website is experience a couple of settling in problems. If you're viewing it in IE6, it will appear like a scrambled puzzle. In any other browser, it looks great, but loads a little slow. Never fear, we're aware of the issue and we're onto it :)

Website launch!

After months of planning, and a few last days of tweaking, the Poppy Letterpress website is now live.

.>.>.> www.poppyletterpress.com.au <.<.<.

There's a .com version as well, but give that an extra day or two.

I'd love to hear your feedback on the design of the site and its content, so drop me a comment or email through the Contact page on the site.

Yay!

Update

No, I haven't forgotten about my blog, promise!

The website is coming along nicely. My husband's putting the final touches on it at the moment, so we should be live very very soon. I'm quite excited, as the site will serve as my new 'shopfront' and be packed with information and photos. I'll be updating the portfolio section often, so it will be one to check regularly. There's also information on international wedding invitation and stationery orders (yes, I'm just as keen to work with overseas clients as the local ones) which will hopefully answer a lot of questions that I regularly get asked. I'll also be asking for opinions on the site when it's up, so stay tuned.

The other exciting news are Poppy Letterpress's very first two wedding clients, Laura in Canberra, and Susie in Brisbane. Both of these girls get me so excited about their designs, and I just love hearing about their wedding plans so far. It's a great privilege to be involved in their weddings. I can't wait to print their sets! More to come...

Website design

Here's a sneak preview of the new Poppy Letterpress website. It still needs a bit of tweaking, but it's almost there now.

I'm also hoping to develop a Poppy Newsletter which you can subscribe to, to get monthly updates on the happenings of Poppy Letterpress. It will feature new designs, new products, special offers, and showcase new weddings and beautiful brides that pass our way.

Launch progress

I'm very excited about what I'm working on at the moment. I've developed about 15 designs for wedding invitations and created a shortlist of 6 that I'll be printing for my client portfolio. They range from one to three colours (or more), and will be available in any colour scheme.

The new Poppy Wedding Collection will be launched with my new website, which is the other thing I'm finalising now. I hope to incorporate this blog into the site so it all falls under the one umbrella, but I'll leave that up to the TechniGod (my husband). It's quite difficult trying to design a website for myself because, as all graphic designers know, you're your own worst client. I've got half a dozen websites designed now, as each day I prefer a different colour, or different layout. But I'm hoping it will go live in the next fortnight or so, so stay tuned.

Each design will be a set, and standard items will be available for each: save the date, rsvp card, envelopes, reception card, placenames, menu, Order of Service booklets, etc. Couples have the option to go with one of these existing designs, or I can work with them to modify a design, or create something completely new.

If you're thinking about getting letterpress wedding invitations or Save the Date cards, you don't have to wait until the website is launched. Whether Australian or international, contact me to discuss printing for your special day.