My husband is once again working on a collaborative art piece with a group of other artists: Swarm Intelligence.  This will be their third time working on a large wall piece, and their second time working at Lesley University.  It’s a really cool concept and I loved how the first piece turned out (pictured below), and I’m excited to see how this new piece will look.

To follow their progress (and for other artistic updates from him), you can follow him on Instagram @jeffreyellse.  I love the direction they’ve taken with this new piece and can’t wait to see what the finished work will look like (image below is from the new piece, this morning).

{top image borrowed from Lynda Schlosberg; bottom image from Jeff’s instagram}

The first thing I printed for the new studio were some new business cards.  I know, silly, right?  After only a few weeks earlier, I had just printed newly designed cards!  They’re double-sided, with a blind printed pattern (of a doodle that I drew) and on the other side is the logo printed in a bright emerald green and contact info in a warm charcoal grey.  I’m really pleased with these, and just need to get a new case to hold them in!

{for more of my letterpress work, check out my Flickr}

One of the booths that stood out in my mind at this year’s NSS was Alee & Press, specifically their wall of custom projects.  Many of the pieces included gorgeous calligraphy and I was bummed to not get a photo of the work, but so glad to discover that The Sweetest Occasion did!  Check out the amazing calligraphy…

{images shown belong to The Sweetest Occasion; work belongs to Alee & Press}

I’m so excited to once again be a part of the Union Made Craft Fair in Somerville, MA.  This year’s date will be on June 24th from noon to 6 pm, and I’ll be sharing a booth with the talented Laura Warecki of Paper Taxi.  Hope you can stop by and say hello!

{image shown belongs to Bazaar Bizarre of Boston}

I was hoping this week would be the start of regular blogging again, but I promise I have a good excuse: I was visiting the National Stationery Show in NYC!  Got up at 5 am, drove to the city with Sarah, visited the show, attended the Stationery Meet-up, then drove all the way back home – got in just after 2 am last night.  Although I’m a bit exhausted today, it was so worth it.  I got to meet so many people whose work I’ve admired for years or have talked to only on blogs, instagram, or facebook – it’s was so nice to be able to meet people face-to-face and say hello in person.  It was a long Tuesday, but a great one!  Thanks, Sarah for being my co-pilot and NSS buddy!

{image shown via my Instagram @letterandlark}

Hooray!  The website for Letter & Lark is live and on the web!

Thank you to Sandy Machado, without your help the site wouldn’t exist at all.  She is an extremely talented web designer and dear friend, and if you ever need web work done – she’s your right-hand lady.  I don’t know of anyone else that is so good with figuring out website structure, navigation, design, as well as coding.  Her portfolio site is here.

I’ll have some more things to show you in the next two weeks – stay tuned!

{image shown belongs to Letter & Lark}

Finally!  I can finally tell you all what I’ve had squirreled away and have been working so diligently on for the last two months.  I’ve decided after much thought and consideration, it was time to run my letterpress business under a studio name (instead of my name): Letter & Lark.  All the changes I have happening couldn’t happen perfectly all at once, but if you follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, you’ll already notice the name switch.  Stay tuned here for when the new portfolio site goes live!

Lots of new things in there to show you all – I’m so excited to finally let the cat out of the bag.

{image shown via my Instagram @letterandlark}

I completely forgot to blog about this, but on a recent LGNE trip to Providence we were lucky to view the Daniel Berkeley Updike History of Printing Ephemera Collection at the Providence Public Library.  Here’s a few snapshots from our visit:

{images shown via my instagram @colleenellse}

I was hoping to get to Brimfield for the first time this past week, but there’s just too much other stuff going on.  Probably later on this year, for sure.  Was happy to see SouleMama’s photos from her visit – looks like it’s quite an adventure!

{images shown belong to SouleMama}

I was so excited to receive this invitation in the mail that I had to share.  My dear friend Meagan owns The Brocade Blackbird, and for her own wedding invitations she decided to do something totally unique and one-of-a-kind.  The invite arrived in a simple kraft box; inside were the suite pieces all wrapped up in a colorful, green fabric and grey and white bakers twine.

The invite pieces have hand-drawn art from Meagan including an illustration of the house where the reception will be held and a glass canning jar with striped straws – sneak peeks of what’s in store on their wedding day.

Underneath this bundled invitation was a simple note saying “peek inside” – and when lifted, a hand-cut, hidden diorama of the bride & groom on their wedding day was found.  Amazing!

The invite definitely set the mood for the wedding – I was honored to receive such a gorgeous invite and I can’t wait for their big day in July!

{images shown taken by me; invitation by Meagan Gilner of The Brocade Blackbird}