Floral inspirations

I just love spring. For the first time in a long time, we're getting a lot of rain here in Canberra, which is a welcome relief during the drought. Everything is green and fresh, and smells spectacular. Our annual flower show, Floriade, has only just finished. 

I can't help but be inspired by the flowers in my own garden. These little beauties will be featuring in wedding invitations very soon! And what better way to spend the weekend than by illustrating them?

Poppy on Twitter

As a matter of principle, I generally avoid jumping on the bandwagon as it whizzes past, flaunting it's latest trend, so Twitter wasn't something that initially appealed to me, in either a personal or professional sense. However, after having a thorough look at it the other day, I've decided that it was time for Twitter to meet Poppy. So far, the only downside has been the character limit when choosing an account name, so we're known on Twitter as PoppyLetterpres. This irks me to no end, being the stickler for correct spelling that I am. Otherwise, I'm having fun catching up with friends of Poppy online, and meeting new ones. 

So are you on Twitter?

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.

Missing in action

Kynan is now 14 weeks old. Being the new mum that I am, I assumed that the older he got, the more settled he'd sleep during the day, and therefore I'd have heaps more time to work on all things Poppy. How blissfully naive I was! Ky now likes to feed every 1.5 to 2 hours, with over an hour of playtime in between, which leaves me little time to get any work done. It's frustrating because I miss my beloved Poppy, and the studio seems so empty and unloved at the moment. But who can resist a face like this?

As a business person, it's hard to let go of a fulltime job that I love so much. I'm really looking forward to the day when Ky is in daycare and I can spend all day in the studio. Until then, I've made the difficult decision to focus the majority of my attention on motherhood. Well, kind of. I've actually got a few printing jobs on the go (can't help myself really). Having just a few means that I can give each job the attention it deserves, so that the high quality of design, printing and attention to detail that we pride ourselves on here at Poppy isn't sacrificed. Eessu will be back on board when the studio is back in full swing, too, and we're both very excited about the many ideas we've got for the future of Poppy.

So while my mind is thinking up ideas to entertain Kynan (instead of thinking up new designs), and my tshirt is covered in vomit (instead of being covered in ink), stay tuned for updates and our new website. I'll also write up a little about the last couple of jobs that have been on the press once I get photos.

Thanks so much to all of your for your continued support and feedback. We won't be gone for long, I promise! If you have any questions about stationery for your 2010 wedding, please feel free to drop me a line still [louise at poppyletterpress dot com dot au], but just know that I won't be able to provide a quote at this time.

Naomi Murrell greeting cards

Finally I can announce what we've been up to! For the past couple of months we've been working with the lovely Naomi Murrell to produce these gorgeous greeting cards. Naomi is one very talented lady residing in Adelaide. Her work includes wooden and perspex jewellery, screen prints, and canvas bags and cushions. We're excited that these new letterpress cards are part of her debut collection, A Little Love, which is featuring at the Life Instyle trade show this and next week.

I didn't get the chance to photograph all of the final printed cards together before they were shipped away, but the stack was quite big compared to what we're used to! 1,250 cards in all, it was quite a process to print them on Collie - especially at 38 weeks pregnant, and then again with a newborn baby!

You can find Naomi on her website and blog, and if you're interested in purchasing one of her designs, have a squizz at her on etsy.

As much as I absolutely love designing and printing wedding stationery, printing a wholesale job was a refreshing change in the studio, and we're looking forward to many more.

Sneak peek

Here's just a little sneak peek of what we've been working on in the studio for quite some time now. I'm very excited that the project will be completed very soon, but until then my lovelies, I can't show you just yet!

It's our largest print run to date, and we've found it quite refreshing to print large quantities of such beautiful designs. Stay tuned for the unveiling!

A great day at the Wedding Fair

It was fantastic to be able to talk to so many brides yesterday at the Hyatt Wedding Fair. I was surprised by exactly how many people visited the fair, much more than I remembered from when I was a bride-to-be. 

Our stand was manned by myself, Eessu, Adrian and our friend Claire who came to help out on the day. We found that a few people had heard of letterpress before, but most people hadn't, so it was a great opportunity let more people know about it. Overall, it was a very successful day. I loved being able to get so much feedback on our printing and designs, and see which invitations were the most popular. 

And Kynan was there to help too, but slept though most of it :)