Annual buyers trip

I am off again on my annual international buying trip. Going straight to the manufacturers to find the best textiles to be found anywhere. Our office will be closed until January 21st, 2010. I look forward to posting all about the trip! Have a wonderful New Year!

Beautiful new 'akkcessories' weve added

Oldie but goodie

I'm archiving all of our photo shoots, and ran across one I never posted. It's timeless as most letterpress is, and on 100% rag cotton, always leaves a good impression

(pun intended)

Oh pardon my french......

A couple in france asked us to design an invitation for a dinner party they are hosting... my french is a bit rusty, as I'm sure there will be some corrections. However, I am really excited about the design layout. This will be printed on the oh so luxurious 'skin' black paper stock, and foil letterpressed.

Pink, Pink, Pink!

I don't think the generation matters, brides like Pink! This collection was all about Pink, and I love working with one of my favorite paper stocks: Sommerset Velvet. It has such great texture and an amazing luxurious touch. Close attention was paid attention to the details on the various pieces. From the program that was hand woven with eyelets and ribbon, to the embellishments on the invitation.

Fun with layers

Simplicity is elegant, add in layers to a dual sided invite offset on

tree free paper.... success!

Holiday coupon

Pick up a copy of this month's rare magazine to get our coupon for

50% off thank you cards.

Interview with an up and coming Austinite!

Devil's in the Details!

In any project you do, you can always go just a step beyond to make your custom collection a true one-of-a-kind. For the rare holiday collection, we had custom postage made. A great place to have custom postage made is zazzle.com. Be sure to include custom postage while compiling your budget as in some cases the cost of the custom postage stamp is almost double the face value and doesn't include shipping.

For the back of the envelope as a finishing touch we used the rare logo and had custom stickers made for a great seal.

Holiday Foil Letterpress at its Finest!

Oh the anticipation of waiting for these to arrive today was exhilerating! This is my favorite holiday collection that I've ever done. I'm so glad I have the best letterpress printer in the country as this could be a registration nightmare. The card is 2 color letterpress foil and 1 deboss.

The envelope is also 2 color foil letterpress, with an offset liner printed on a silver stardream.

You can really see the detail of the foil and debossing.

Pantone Color Report for Spring 2010

New York fashion week was held September 10-17th. The highlight for me during fashion week is awaiting the Color Kings of the Universe: Pantone, to release their color palette for the upcoming season! Well its, here! I don't have front row at any shows, but awaiting pantone color reports is like candy in my Christmas stocking without the calories! One message I do like to note to my clients though, no matter what the popular colors may be for the upcoming season, roll with what works for you. You don't always have to follow trends, but you can be a trend setter as well!

Yummy thank you cards!

On our oh so favorite paper, Gmund Savanna's wood grain embossed, these thank you cards were the perfect finish to a great collection.

Complimentary Photos from 1+1 Photography

Brandon McKelvey from 1+1 Photography was at the Rare Magazine bridal show taking phenomenal photos of different booths and sent along these 2 shots he took of our booth. I love the glass shot that reflects the menu's on the table. Check out their beautiful work: www.1plus1moments.com 

Check out our new website!!

We are excited our new website is live! As a company and as a brand we felt we have grown so much in the last two years we needed our image to reflect that growth. From the announcement of our 3 new subsidiary brands to our growth into the international market. Bear with us as we tweak the site and finalize the galleries. To be able to design a CMS (content management site) in the design we were able to do, our web designer has put in unrelenting hours in pulling off coding that was beyond custom. We welcome any feedback you may have.

Thanks for a great weekend!

A big thanks to all our friends that came to our Birthday Bash! It was a hoot!

Spot lights on the Rare Magazine Show

Some highlights of the pieces we displayed at our booth at the Rare Magazine Bridal show last Sunday. It was a great turn out and a ton of fun! Super big thanks to Aimee from lizzebelle event planning for helping us with our event.

beautiful cake works from a classic!

Are you kidding me? Wow! Talk about bringing a classic to life...... well paloma makes this one happen for sure! Look at the insane detail on this one! And... I've tasted these amazing cakes myself.... beyond yum! Aside the love of the flavors of paloma's cakes, I'm a big fan of her artwork. Coco Paloma Desserts clearly has a designers background! I personally have used her for different occassions, so yes I am biased, but it's a check plus, plus from me! Not only that, I am a freak of nature: I don't like chocolate, so Paloma has always delivered amazing flavors for my palette!

Awww how romantic! Wine labels proposal

I can't wait for the photos of this impending proposal! Here's the plan (not worried about the impending bride-to-be searching bridal blogs as not a bride-to-be-yet) I took a photo of the area where the couple first met, made some adjustments to look like a wine label. Going to have several labels printed and applied to the ladies favorite red wine.

The gentleman has arranged dinner very near the spot of the photo/label to propose, have the waiter bring out a 'pre-picked' specialty wine for the lady, all night. Each time a glass is refilled, or another bottle ordered hinting towards the label. If she figures it out before dessert, a fresh glass of wine will be poured and the waiter will slip the ring in the bottom of the glass with a very short pour.

If she hasn't noticed the label by dessert, the waiter is going to bring a dessert tray with 5 ring boxes in a circle with an un-opened bottle of wine in the center and just set it on the table. Hopefully at that point, she has figured it out, and tradition will ensue.

A black tie affair

This piece was for a private black tie event. Offset printed on one of my favorite paper stocks: Sommerset Velvet.

A colorful collection

I love when a bride wants to do a 2-sided invite. Really allows for some color and design to pop right out of the envelope! For this collection we were working with several colors in their palette. Pinks, and a baby blue with brownish-burgandy.

Rare Christmas Cards

When rare magazine asked us to do their holiday cards, we were thrilled! I thought a modern take on a christmas tree with a vintage font was the perfect way to go! This is going to be a beautiful piece, printed on a Strathmore stock, we are doing letterpress and foiling. Were hammering out the details on the envelopes... should we do a classic return letterpress on the flap, or go all out and do a full on designed custom printed envelope. I'll post the pics when they come in.

Green rsvp cards

This wedding was very earthy, lots of green going on. This rsvp card was printed on a tree-free recycled card stock with soy inks.

check out our featured listing on wedding chicks!

Mary Amandas spectacular wedding event! One of my all time favs!http://www.weddingchicks.com/tag/kk-bloom-invitations/

Digital Crayons

Laura Hooper did this great map for us, and as we are updating many new things for the company, sooo thought I'd get my digital crayons out and play color in the lines for an updated map for the shoppe.

New business cards.... finally

How could we not use letterpress for our new cards, I'm addicted to letterpress. These cards are double sided on a brown chipboard, nice and thick, and letterpressed! Yummy!