Penelope and the Baby Shower

Weddings and babies. That's just the way it is right now so why not make sure these people have some decent invites and a nice looking place to party.

This invite is for the baby shower of an expecting mother who was keeping the gender of the baby a surprise. Well...baby came early, really early, and now we know that baby is a little girl named Penelope. She is healthy and doing great! Welcome to the world, Penelope. Congratulations Amanda and Jeremy. (Some info has been altered for privacy.)

My artist pal, Christina Prestidge, and I threw the shower. Let's just say this isn't our first rodeo. A few ideas to share for those who are searching:

★   We arranged fresh flowers in a vintage baby bouncer. Search for vintage blocks and toys on Craigslist, in antique malls, or in thrift stores. In the past I've used magnetic letters on the party favors.

★   We used baby photos of the mom and dad to-be + vintage illustration as garland. Asking the grandmas-to-be for photos includes them in the process, especially if they are long distance. Check out this flickr photo pool for all the vintage illustration your heart desires.

★    Tissue paper flowers. Don't knock 'em. They are pretty and help fill the room quickly. Here's a tutorial from Nesting in the Bluegrass.

★   Set up a "Mama"mosas station substituting sparkling juices for champagne. Add some sliced fresh fruit to garnish. (We had real champagne too - some of just need a little help in a room full of chattering women)

★    Tip: If you feel overwhelmed - allocate the food. People are more than happy to bring a sweet treat to share. Christina made that pretty little cake.

Penelope was born at 4lbs, 14oz, but she since gained a whole pound when this photo was taken. Go Penny!

Etiquette

If you would asked me how to spell "etiquette" a few months ago, I would have pondered the placement of all those "t"s. I am now well aquatinted with Etiquette and it's creator, Amanda Williams, an esthetician who has set up shop in the Crossroads of downtown Kansas City. Amanda wanted a fresh and professional feel for her business cards and menus so we ruled out illustration this time and I tried my hand at some layout. Nate is a good coach :) Give Amanda a call, eyelashes are her specialty!

Advent 2012

Yikes. It's been months since we've posted anything on the blog, but not because we've been slacking off. This summer we put most of our time into renovating parts of our house that needed work. The biggest project was remodeling a bathroom that we took down to the studs, and then slowly, with the help of a friend, put back together weekend by weekend in our spare time. Here's a quick before and after and then I'll get to the art.

So before we knew it, the summer went by (such a fun summer!) and now the advent season is approaching! I feel so privileged to be working on the Jacob's Well advent artwork for I think the 5th year now. We started participating in Advent Conspiracy as a church in 2007. This year we are working towards building a highschool for the Pokot people in Kenya. See more about Jacob's Wells relationship with Pokot here.

This advent we are focusing on God's reign of peace.

Letterpress invites: Amanda and Jeremy

Little 4"x 5.5" wedding invites for dear friends. Printed by Skylab Letterpress. This is gonna be a fun wedding!

Band of Brothers

What started out as a little summer fun turned into a full-fledged band of friends called The Himalayan Adventure League. Unfortunately, Aaron Hale, the band's leader and main song writer, received a job offer he couldn't refuse and is moving his family to Texas at the end of December. The poster at the top I designed for our last (but hopefully not our final) show. The photo for the poster was taken during one of my many bike rides this summer. The photo below that was taken by Carlos Lima of Scout Photo for our Kickstarter Page which helped us raise enough money to start recording an album called Cobwebs & Moontalk. Well guys, it's definitely been a fun adventure!

Advent 2011

 

The time is upon us once more. Advent is always a special time for the Jacob's Well community, and has been a great opportunity for Nate and I to collaborate on fun design to get the information out about all the fun events planned for the season. 

Past Advent posts: 2008, 2008 benefit concert, 2009, 2010 CD

Certified Lettering

Lettering for Jacob's Well's dedication certificates.

Extra! Extra!

Two pieces of news to share with this post:

First is a flyer we designed for a show at The Newsroom, a bar in midtown Kansas City that is littered with old typewriters and tales of Kansas City Star news reporters who used to hang out there back in the day. The image was lent to us a photographer named syscosteve who has a great photo collection on Flickr. Thanks for collaborating with us Steve!

The second piece of news is that Tarkus Attacks! recently changed their name to Across the Earth. This flyer marks the last poster that the two-piece played under the Tarkus guise. Find out why they decided on the name change here and don't forget to "like" their page!

Jennifer Gennari NYC

I was so excited when my friend, Jen Gennari, asked me to do these invites for her gallery show this Fall. She has recently graduated from the Florence Academy of Art where she worked very hard at perfecting classic, figurative painting. She was my roomate at Ringling in Sarasota, my neighbor in Kansas City, and now she's my friend with the gallery show in NYC! Congrats on your accomplishments, friend.

A dark, and romantic hand lettered invite fits Jen and her style well. I'm not sure I can make the show, but here's to hoping...

Windsor Beer Labels

One of my favorite Christmas presents last year was a home beer brewing kit that I received from my Dad. He started making his own wine about five years ago, and I have been interested in home brewing ever since.

I knew the beer needed a name and decided on Windsor Beer, paying homage to the street we live on. Like any good beer, the beer needed a label. And since I've always been inspired by the sturdiness of classic beer labels, I wanted a timeless design of my own, complete with handlettering. The label calls out "Brewed in Kansas City's Historic Northeast", another nod to the pride I have for our neighborhood.

Little did I know how much of a passion this would turn out to be. This spring I constructed a pergola in our backyard which will support my own hop plants and give us more shade. I've planted three different varieties: Cascade, Mt. Hood and Willamette, all which have their own taste characteristics to be used in a variety of beer styles. Here's picture of the finished pergola. Hope we can enjoy some Windsor Beer together some day!

Save the Dates

Here are the save the dates from the wedding invitation below. I drew everything in graphite, but we decided to print them in black thermography. You can see how thermography ink is raised and shiny in the detail shot. Thermography prints with solid shapes but I thought it would fun to see the process. For both the save the dates and the invites, I hand drew the elements and composed them together digitally.

Beth and Tim's wedding invites

Classy invites for classy people. These were hand lettered and printed with thermography. I will update the post with some photos soon. Also, I know it's a little backwards, but I have the Save the Dates to post as well. Congrats Tim and Beth!

*This post has been updated with photos.

The CDs are in!

Song's from Jacob's Well Volume III: Songs for the Advent Conspiracy is here! The sec­ond offer­ing of music flow­ing from the musi­cal wor­ship­ing com­mu­nity of Jacob’s Well Church in Kansas City. 100% of the pro­ceeds from this album will go to our Advent Con­spir­acy Fund, which is help­ing to bring fresh water, med­ical and edu­ca­tional aid to West­ern Kenya and a peo­ple called the Pokot. You can listen to the tracks and purchase the CD here. Follow along with Mike Crawford and the Secret Siblings at their blog.

Screen Print Part 2

Nate and I screen printed this 3 color poster to sell at Tarkus Attacks! upcoming show this Saturday, Sept. 11th at the Kansas City Crossroads Music Fest. They're playing an early show in the Mercy Seat Alley at 7:30pm, taking the place of The Old Black on the schedule.You don't have to pay the full price of the fest to see Tarkus, just $6 at the door. There will be screen printed Tarkus CD's for $10,  posters for $8, or get both for $15. The posters are very limited!

Aimee to please

An invite for Nate's cousin Aimee and fiancee Don, getting married in a wine vineyard in Michigan this summer. Congrats! It unfolds from the middle, the willow branches wrap around to the back.

Tarkus the Great

Tarkus Attacks! is popping up all over town! Keep your eye out for up and coming shows like these two at A.J.S. Memorial Hall and The Riot Room. Limited silk screened EP's will be for sale at the shows for $8. I've been taking advantage of all these shows to take a crack a few poster designs. I'm definitely up for constructive criticism.

In the Valley of Elah

Tarkus Attacks! has finally finished recording, mastering and printing our first EP, "In the Valley of Elah." Chris Bohatyritz and I silk screened the packages at INKubator Press during their "Print Stuff" open studio on Monday nights. We're really excited about how they turned out! Each package is a one of kind thanks to the experimental nature of print making and Chris' color mixing skills. Now for sale in both physical and digital form on Bandcamp. Get the whole thing or just one track!

Now, check out the video below for some behind-the-scenes magic!