Interns at Lunalux spend a lot of time working on rather unglamorous projects – packaging products, organizing samples, data entry, etc. These are important tasks, and good ways for a newcomer to learn about our business. But it’s important to me to teach them cool stuff too, to make all their hard work worth while. I had a great time giving intern Kitty her first letterpress printing lesson recently. The result: a limited-edition birthday card, available only at the Lunalux store!

Working on the Vandercook, we printed a two-tone design on bright white vellum-finish card stock. The blue star-bust pattern is printed from a photopolymer plate that we originally used a couple of years ago on a custom holiday card. The chocolate text: Clarendon lead type, which we purchased years ago from a downtown Minneapolis printer when it was going out of business. I liked the design so much, I had printer John create the Merry Christmas version on the Heidelberg, this time in red and gold. The birthday cards are available now in our shop, $3.50 each (with blue envelopes). Watch for the Christmas cards to appear in the shop in October, packaged individually and in boxes of 8 for $16.

Couples planning an intimate wedding celebration may wish to send announcements after the big day, alerting far-flung friends and relatives that the knot has been tied. This was the case for Jessica and Justin, who just this past weekend had a small ceremony with their immediate families. Their announcements feature the popular wildflower graphic (we’ve used this on a few other custom wedding invitations & announcements) and simple sans serif text, letterpress-printed in two colors on 100% cotton paper. The muted colors and mustard envelope are great for this time of year! (Click on the image at the left for a larger view)

Moving announcements are such a practical thing – when you relocate, it’s important to notify friends and family of your new contact information, so everyone can stay in touch. Getting custom-designed letterpress-printed moving announcements can be a fun way to show off your personal style, on a piece of mail that’s going to be sent to all the most important people in your life. We’ve worked on two great moving announcements lately, for very different circumstances.

I met Kristi shortly after she and her family moved from California to Minneapolis this summer. She was excited to find our store, as she’s a fellow paper addict and had seen our products in shops on the west coast. So we had a lot of fun designing custom moving announcements, wrestling with weighty details such as The Perfect Envelope and the right shade of white paper. Wanting the announcements to include a clever nod to their new home state, Kristi settled on a loon theme. The custom illustration and modern typesetting is printed on Lettra paper and paired with a feisty orange envelope, appropriate for an autumnal mailing.

This moving announcement, on the other hand, was created for a real estate agent to give to her clients as they settled in the new home she’d helped them purchase. We’ve used this pink floral motif in the past, both on business cards and on scratch pads we sell in our store. We used Strathmore Pastelle for this project, a paper that Lunalux has relied on for years for a wide assortment of wholesale and custom projects. The natural white cover stock has a felt finish, which many customers find very appealing. It’s thinner than many of the other papers we use, but it’s also relatively inexpensive, for how fancy it looks.

Moleskine 2008 datebooks are now available at the Lunalux store. We’re offering the daily diary and weekly planner, both in the pocket size (3.5 by 5.5 inches) and large format (5 by 8.25 inches).

Their sturdy construction, compact size & highly utilitarian design make Moleskine diaries one of the best datebooks available. Like other Moleskine products, the diaries features an elastic strap to hold the book closed, a built-in ribbon book mark, and a secret pocket inside the back cover (perfect for storing ephemera like bus transfers, ticket stubs, business cards, and ATM receipts). Plus, each diary comes with a slim soft-cover address book tucked inside – bonus!

Moleskine planners are great for home, work or school. I like to use the small weekly for scheduling both personal and business appointments (it fits in my purse, but can also be kept open, flat on my desk), while the large daily serves as my personal diary at home, for recording all of my crushes and dreams.

After a bustling summer, inventory at the Lunalux studio store has fallen a little low! So I’ve been shopping shopping shopping this month, ordering cards, notebooks, and other fun stuff from our favorite suppliers. Over the next few weeks, we’re expecting lots of new product – some from companies that we’ve been working with for many years, some from new designers. The first new arrivals, Bella Muse and Nu-Vue Studio, have just been unpacked.

Nu-Vue is a St. Paul company offering reproductions of vintage graphics, printed in rich colors on natural white card stock. The old-fashioned tourist postcards from Minnesota have done well in our store before, so now they’re back! The designs picture above (click on the image for a larger view, please) are available as single notecards ($3.25 each, plus tax); we also have boxed assortment of Minneapolis cards and St. Paul cards ($15 per box of 8 cards, plus tax).

While we’ve been carrying Nu-Vue for some time, Bella Muse is a newer addition to our shop. Since we brought these cards into Lunalux in January, shoppers have really taken to the combination of old-fashioned graphics and bawdy greetings. Their catalog is full of great cards, so it was hard to select just a handful.