Visit the Lunalux studio store on Saturday July 12 for personalized stationery letterpress-printed while you wait. 10 cards, with an assortment of colorful envelopes, cost just $29 (additional cards are available for $2 for each). We’ll be printing during regular store hours., 11a.m. to 6p.m.. Full details are available on the Stationery Saturdays page. Click on the photo (above left) for a larger view of this week’s design.

Stationery Saturday is an occasional event at the studio. Customers old and new are invited to take a closer look at how letterpress printing works. This week, we’re printing names with weathered wood type and dark brown ink, on folded cards. Your first and last name? First and middle, like your mom calls you when you’re in trouble? A newly hyphenated last name? You decide!

We’ll host the next Stationery Saturday on July 19, when we’ll be printing a different design. Stop by each week to collect them all.

Lunalux will be part of a Shopping Salon at the Commodore Hotel next Monday, June 2. This will be the second time we’ve participated in this event. Last time was a lot of fun, and this will be the last one for a few months – so don’t miss it! The lineup of vendors varies from month to month, but last time we were pleasantly surprised by the interesting variety. We saw antiquey collectibles; jewelry and crafts collected by wold travelers; hand-crafted clothing, jewelry and accessories; and high-end arty jewelry as well. Other stuff too.

The Commodore is an interesting old hotel in St. Paul that features a beautiful art deco bar (it’s worth a visit just to see this historic bit of architecture). The shopping vendors take up two large rooms on either side of the bar. With Willie Murphy playing on the grand piano, old-fashioned cocktails being concocted by the dapper bartenders, and some complimentary cheese and crackers, it ends up being more of a social event than a shopping expedition.

The gritty details: First Monday at the Commode happens Monday, June 2, 2008, 4:00-8:00 p.m. The Commodore is lated at 79 Western Avenue in St. Paul. You will find photos, some history, and directions at the Commodore website. Free off-street parking is available in the hotel’s lot. We hope to see you there!

Flying somewhere on Northwest Airlines this month? Be sure to look in the May 2008 issue of World Traveler, the NWA in-flight magazine, for a brief story on Lunalux. A three-page round-up of must-see shops and restaurants in the Twin Cities (pp. 33-35) includes a picture of Lunalux owner Jenni (that’s me!) and a write-up about our store. An excerpt: “Lunalux gives visitors the chance to see traditional presses in action while they peruse a wide variety of unique greeting cards, notebooks and wrapping paper. If you’re a die-hard letter devotee, this place is for you.” I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Click on the thumbnail image to the right to see the full story. And this is just the tip of the ice berg for us, media attention wise. You can read about more about the press we’ve been getting in our blog archive.

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.

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!