Now through March 15, select merchandise in the Lunalux store is marked down 25-75% off original prices. You’ll find screen-printed and letterpress-printed greeting cards; boxed notecards; notebooks; Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Halloween stuff; 2008 datebooks (including Moleskines!), and more. For reals, these are good deals.

Last week, to promote our sale, we printed a great new postcard (pictured above – click for a larger view). I’ve been a bit frazzled lately, so this card serves as a reminder to me to take things as they come, and make the most of each day. We send out such postcards every few months, to our store mailing list. This one is printed in turquoise and black ink on bright white felt-finish card stock. We always print a few extra (without the sales pitch on the back) to sell in the shop – they’re available exclusively at the Lunalux store for $2.00 each.

We’ve been staying in touch with customers with these deluxe postcards since 2000, and have mailed out a few dozen over the years. Without a doubt, they’re my favorite thing to make, these quote cards. Some have even been turned into greeting cards and incorporated into our wholesale line. We even have customers who like these mailings so much, they commissioned us to design similar cards for their business! I view these postcards as both a creative exercise, and an invaluable way to promote Lunalux to our existing fans. My hope is that people receive the postcard in the mail, are touched by the design or the sentiment, post it somewhere to be admired frequently – on the fridge? in the cube at work? – and think of Lunalux as a source for creative, inspirational stuff. If you’re a Minnesota resident interested in receiving postcards from us in the future, please e-mail us with your name and address so we can add you to our mailing list.

Lunalux owner/designer Jenni Undis was featured yesterday in the Star Triune. Jenni (or rather, her Minnesota RollerGirls alter-ego Rizzo) was pictured on the front and back pages of the Source section, and quoted extensively in a story about the day jobs of rollergirls. You can read the whole story at the Star Tribune website. You can read more about Rizzo at the Minnesota RollerGirls website. Or better yet, go see the MNRG bout this Sunday at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in downtown St. Paul! Info about parking, tickets, etc. can also be found on the MNRG website.

We originally worked with Michelle and Joe last fall, on invitations for their destination wedding in Mexico. Once those were in the mail, they returned to Lunalux for invitations to their wedding reception in Minneapolis. Michelle wanted the reception invites to be totally different from the ceremony invitations (except for the metallic papers – we kept that element), and was considering a few different directions: double happiness? a lovely floral motif? something really traditional and classic? After exploring her ideas, we settled on the double happiness theme, which tied into both her cultural heritage and the decor for the reception.

As with all of our wedding stationery, we tailored this invitation package to Michelle and Joe’s specific needs and style. We created two separate invitations: one for the bulk of the guests who were invited to the reception, and another for the closest family & friends, who were also invited to an intimate dinner before hand. We also created an RSVP postcard and a hotel information card to accompany the invitations. Each piece was letterpress-printed on warm white metallic cover stock. The invitations were mounted on a 5.5-inch square metallic gold card, and the whole shebang was enclosed in a square red metallic envelope.

Lunalux has been recognized for excellent design work in Mohawk Paper’s quarterly Strathmore Letterhead Contest. Late last year, we submitted samples of the Post- stationery suite, and we’ve been deemed the gold prize winner for the 4th quarter of 2007. And the awards keep coming! We also were awarded the year-end grand prize, which is selected from the four quarterly gold prize winners. We get a little cash, a nice commemorative plaque, and a bit of promotion on the Mohawk website. And if you find the Mohawk press release that announces our award, you can read the nice things that Mohawk’s Senior Vice President of Communications says about us, such as “This unique identity system was chosen for its rich design aesthetic and compelling use of fine letterpress printing … the result is rich, tactile and crisp.”

The Post- identity system (which I wrote about last February) was a great project to work on, and I’m incredibly pleased and proud to have our work recognized. Katie & Lois from Post- came to Lunalux when they were in the early stages of business, still working on prototypes of their tony totes for fashionable moms on the go. It was important to them to develop a stationery suite that conveyed a strong sense of style and a commitment to quality – and I do believe we delivered! They had very clear and strong opinions about what they wanted, and they pushed me to do my best work.

I never expected to win, in fact it was an honor just to be nominated! I’d like to thank The Academy, and all the people who made this possible, including my Momma and Poppa, Jesus, my go-to guy Nick, and of course my dear Mark, without whose technical and emotional support I wouldn’t be blogging today. And most of all, John for his excellence in printing. Word up!

Did you see it? Twin Cities TV station WCCO broadcast a story about Lunalux last night during their ten-o’clock-news show. Lunalux was featured in the Finding Minnesota segment of the show, which spotlights unique Minnesota businesses. If you go the the WCCO website, you can watch a video of the story – See Jenni run the presses! Hear Jenni talk about her business! Be mesmerized by the pretty pictures, and give in to your urge to visit our charming little printing studio!