On another note, a few pictures from our launch were featured in the May 2012 issue of TW Magazine – one of Nigeria’s leading lifestyle magazine geared towards todays “Woman”.

Grab a copy…..

INTRODUCTION TO LETTERPRESS PRINTING 

Letterpress printing is a printing technique which has been in use in the West since the 15th Century, when it was used by Johannes Gutenberg to manufacture the Gutenberg Bible. Letterpress printing remained the primary way to print and distribute information until the twentieth century, when offset printing was developed. Letterpress printing involves locking movable type into the bed of a press, inking it, and rolling or pressing paper against it to form an impression. While it is not in common use, letterpress printing is valued by some artisans. High quality papers and inks are used to create an especially lush impression. Letterpress printing is more time consuming than offset printing, resulting in higher cost (so guys, when i tell you it takes 10 working days for your letterpress jobs, now you now why

A really really cool modern trend with letterpress invitations applied these days is called “edge painting”. Edge painting has actually been around for centuries – back in the old days,  master bookbinders gilded the edges of books with gold, to show a preciousness. The ‘outside edge’ on all four corners of the letterpress invite is basically hand-painted in any color of your choice (matte or foil).

***Keep in mind that we cannot incorporate die-cut letterpress cards with edge painting***

We recently completed a print job which was letterpress & edge painted in matte antique gold. The pictures surely don’t do it justice. I’ll stop all the chit-chat so you can see for yourselves……. (some text is blurred out on purpose so forgive the smudgy look on some parts of the invite).

INVITATION SPECS

6×9 inch double thick ecru cardstock – main invite

3×6 inch double thick ecru cardstock – information card

Edge painting – antique gold

Print – 2 color pantone (antique gold + black)

Envelopes – 6×9 inch textured metallic ivory square flap envelopes with metallic antique gold envelope liners

Photography Credits – Ighosime Oyofo

***contact info for Hans&Rene + Sweet Pea Bake Shop if you’d like to order some yummy treats***

Hans & Rene - http://www.facebook.com/hansandrene (0808.777.3333)

Sweet Pea Bake Shop – http://www.wix.com/swtpea/bakeshop (0806.071.1106)

There are so many inexpensive host webbies where you can obtain domain names these days.  Once you obtain that name, it can be yours to keep forever, provided you do what you have to do to register each year to keep it current. Side note: Now, obtaining a domain name is one thing and maintaining a functional working website is another. We’ll save that story for another day…..

No matter what part of the world you live in, everyone is living extremely packed and busy lives. Having a well presented website with detailed information lends your business to the convenience of clientele. They do not have to go out of their way to reach out to you. Your well thought out business represents a brand and having a functioning (KEYWORD) website is indicative and representative of the company’s image. My dear friend Mola always says – “you gotta spend money to make money”. Lol!

Web presence expands your market far and beyond your locale.  I hold these words near and dear to my heart and mind – “know who your competitors are, locally & globally.” Personally speaking, we get a lot of calls from clients in the United Kingdom, United States, Ghana, etc. I always ask my clients how they heard about us, and 80% would say referrals and the remainder 20% mention searching the web engines using terms like luxury invitations, custom invitations, etc. Quite interesting huh!

I’m going to end with a few comments I found and read from this blog – http://more-tips.blogspot.com/2007/12/importance-of-having-website.html . Quite an old post but the comments still stand true: “whether you are a small business owner, entrepreneur, inventor, author, artist, musician/band, you need a website. Nowadays more and more people are searching the Internet to find products, information about products and other similar issues. If you aren’t active online your competitors will surely have more success due to the fact that you will remain anonymous although you might have a better offer than your competitors but they make a statement on-line which is determinant; in fewer words, Internet = promotion & advertising = success.”

Hope this post stirs up some thought for my fellow small business owners……

Goodnight y’all

xxx

Hello lovelies. Hope you had fab weekends? I had a whirlwind crazy weekend but it was all worth it. We showcased at the Sugar Wedding Fair (second time around so we are no longer newbies) on Sunday, March 18, 2012 at Harbour Point – Wilmont Road, Victoria Island, Lagos.

We were there bright and early (8.45am to be exact) and luckily for us, our strategically located booth was all set-up and ready to go. It took a good 45 minutes for me to have it look the way I wanted. We incorporated our signature company color (purple) along with monochromatic shades of pink and hints of black. We also had friendly booth neighbors – Buttercups by Tayo to my left and Roberts Cafe to my right.

SPAH was one exhibitor that caught my fancy. She had a cute little set-up of a massage bed, lush white robes, dim lighting and soothing music. Their service offering I thought was pretty innovative in these parts – mobile spas that cater to bridal parties, girlie nights (you catch my drift). I will definitely be recommending her to all my ladies and brides. Oh! another off the wall thought….THANK GOD she didn’t have @google, @gmail, @yahoo at the end of her B.U.S.I.N.E.S.S email. Business people, word of advice, please register and obtain a domain so you can have proper business emails. Interested, reach out to them – www.myspah.com | info@myspah.com | 0708.246.8156

***DISCLAIMER – that last side thought is not directed at anyone in particular***

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to take any pictures but there were loads of photogs snapping away. Will be sure to share some (eye-pleasing of course) when I can get my hands on them.

Now lovelies, off to start my Monday. Cheers to a great week ahead.

The Bridal Circle is the brainchild of Sade Awe who’s a diva in her own right and just has an eye for all things luxurious and glam. They are the “go to” resource guide for couture wedding finds, featuring top notch elite vendors that provide luxury products and exceptional service.

They have a whole lot of stuff coming up in the next few months that will absolutely blow your mind. Inkhearts Studios is definitely mucho excited and will fill you once we go through the vetting process to hopefully become part of this amazing opportunity.

Interested vendors can go directly to their website – www.thebridalcircle.com to obtain more information and sign up. Don’t sleep on this folks……..

Well, well, on another note, since Love is in the Air and it’s been a hot little minute since we featured a “Real Wedding” post, I present to you the adorable Mr. & Mrs. Shote who got hitched a few weeks ago in Lagos, Nigeria. From what I gathered, their wedding turned out to be as lovely as I had imagined it would be. From our first meeting, I could tell Gino was a very pragmatic but “no fuss” kinda bride (if that makes any sense….) I didn’t get a chance to meet her hubby in person but we chatted once on the phone and he was just as pleasant as she was.

Simply Gorgeous! Enjoy…

For their invitation suite, we created a metallic ivory gate card design adorned with an army green organza ribbon + an accompanying champagne envelope. I loved the fact that they wanted separate reception cards tucked into an inner pocket on the right hand side of the gate card flap.

What do you do when you are forcibly (is that a word #confusedlookonface#? ) stuck at home for probably the rest of the week? Get crafty of course. I finally got my act together and made the lollipop invitations I have been meaning to create and post on here. Really, they turned out adorable.

I started out using the following materials – circle cutter, craft sticks, double sided tape (you can use some tacky glue instead), colored cardstock and colorful ribbons.

This is how it finally turned out – A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E!!! 

Who say’s only little girls get to have all the fun? I was on a roll so I went ahead and made another invite more appropriate for a little boy in terms of color….

These invites would make the little invited guests go “gaga”. Imagine topping this off with a candy/dessert display table at the party. Ooooooh, the mommies & daddies will surely be upset with you for making their kids sugar crazy. Be understanding and compensate by tossing cute little toothbrushes + kiddie toothpaste into their party/favor packs with a custom thank you note… Problem solved huh! Lol…

One more thing I did today was create large hanging tissue pom-poms. These will serve as pretty little things in terms of decor at a birthday party or bridal shower. Balloons out, colorful custom pom-poms in, we say. Don’t you agree?

Give us a ring – 08074783309 or email us at info@inkhearts.com if you’re interested in ordering these items for your next event.

Be safe y’all!!!