Archive of ‘Shopping and Events’ category
Pressing Matters: Modern Letterpress Art
Angel Bomb Letterpress Travel Coasters
A New Take on an Old Art
When I attended Art-a-Whirl last month, I visited the letterpress studio of Angel Bomb.
Letterpress has always fascinated me. It’s an old art dating back to the 1400s, but Angel Bomb makes it fresh and modern with their trend-forward designs.
Heidelberg Printing press
You’ve likely seen letter pressed stationary before-it’s usually on a thick paper with printing that’s indented for a lush, rich feel. It’s commonly used for fancy wedding invitations or poster prints. But you likely haven’t seen letter pressing being done. I hadn’t, before I saw Angel Bomb’s two genuine Heidelberg presses which they use for all their letter pressing. These gigantic old machines automate the printing and die-cutting process.
Letterpress History
Letter pressing itself was invented by Johannes Gutenberg, the father of printing, who created the first moveable type. In the 19th century technology progressed and printing presses began to be automated. In the 1930s, the German Heidelberg Company introduced a fully automated high-speed machine and became the leader in letterpress technology. That’s the kind of machine still used by many Letterpress artists today.
Modern Letterpress Designs
After visiting Angel Bomb they were nice enough to send me some letter pressed swag. Here’s a closer look at one of my favorites, their “Wish We Were Here” postcard.
If you love letterpress too, let me know in the comments!
Interview with Callie from Southern Crowd
Entrepreneur Callie Willeford took her 2013 University of Texas Business at Dallas Administration degree and combined her love of her alma mater and her passion for Greek life to create her own t-shirt company. Southern Crowd launched just three months ago, but it’s already gaining immense popularity (probably because her designs are irresistibly cute!). I interviewed Callie to find out more about her start-up.
Pink Paperdoll Blog: When did you start your company? What was the inspiration behind it?
Callie: I have been designing t-shirts and apparel for UT Dallas and my chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta for about two years now and I found that I absolutely loved designing t-shirts. There are a ton of companies out there catering to college and Greek life students, but not many that can cater to the average college student budget. My partner in crime, Rachel, is the manager of Off Campus Books in Dallas, a textbook store serving UT Dallas. We work together on everything from design ideas to marketing to inventory. Rachel and I make a great team because we can bounce ideas off each other and make avalanches happen out of snowflakes.We wanted to create a company that could have great quality t shirts, with awesome designs at a reasonable price. We started the company about three months ago, 
sitting around brainstorming the perfect name for what we wanted to portray through our clothing. Both born and raised in Texas, we have deep southern roots. That combined with our passion for knowing everyone belongs somewhere, Southern Crowd was born.
Pink Paperdoll Blog: Do you plan to have a brick-and-mortar location or continue as an online retailer?
Callie: Eventually I would love to have a brick-and-mortar location or have retailers sell our products, but for now we are trying to build up business and become a prominent online retailer.
Pink Paperdoll Blog: What’s the best part, so far, about running an apparel company?
Callie: I absolutely love hearing from people that they love my designs and are so excited to wear new shirts. It’s a fantastic sense of pride knowing that people want to own something you’ve created.
Pink Paperdoll Blog: What have you learned so far?
I’ve learned that marketing is a lot harder than I thought it would be. You have to be persistent, especially with social media sites. Repetition is key!
Pink Paperdoll Blog: What would you tell others who are interested in launching a company?
Do it and commit!! I was hesitant at first to jump into this huge project, but I am so glad I did. Take a leap of faith and trust yourself, you never know what could come of your plan so make it happen!!
Best of luck, Callie! I’m sure we’ll be seeing big things from Southern Crowd and I can’t wait to see your newest designs.
Nostalgic Candy
I’ve been cutting back on sugar drastically, but I had to go shopping for some American candy to send to some kids who live in China. The closest candy store happened to be Bloom and Buttercup in Northeast Minneapolis, a cute, welcoming shop on Central Avenue that sells fresh flowers, gifts and nostalgic candy. I had fun picking out some unusual flavors:
I’d heard my parents talk about the candy cigarettes from their childhood and I remember the ultra-obvious Razzles product placement in the Jennifer Garner movie 13 Going on 30, but other than that I’d never heard of most of these brands. They did have other candies I remembered, like candy hamburgers (which as I recall taste neither like candy nor hamburger but quite like rubber) and Pop Rocks.
And for really old-fashioned candy lovers, there is all the stick candy you can dream of, sold by the each.
It was fun to check out Bloom & Buttercup. Whether or not you eat sugar, browsing at a local retro candy retailer is a totally legit way to spend part of an afternoon. If you’re a big candy lover, supporting small local businesses is always nice too. (By the way, Bloom & Buttercup assured me that while their candy is “nostalgic” it is, in fact, freshly manufactured. In case you were concerned.)
If you remember a candy that’s rare to find now, share it in the comments!
Midsummer Looks
**The links in this post are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link.
Midsummer is fast approaching (it’s June 21!) which means the longest days of the year are upon us. More time for fun and fashion! ModCloth has created the clever hashtag #Modsummer for sharing summer adventures on social media. Whether you’re posting about your adventures at a music festival, backyard BBQ or tropical vacation, include the hashtag #ModSummer and you could be featured on one of their social networks.
Here are some summer looks I love from Modcloth:
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Make the Cut Scarf Design Contest
Note: This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
I found a fun, crafty contest opportunity that I wanted to share! ModCloth is launching a Make the Cut Contest fashion design contest, and in this edition, they’re giving contestants a template on which to create a print pattern for a scarf. The winner’s design will be produced by and sold on ModCloth, plus they’ll receive a $500 prize. Sounds amazing! But first, the top 10 submissions will be hosted on the Be the Buyer page, where the community will vote for their faves. Hurry and design your submission, because they will be accepted now until Friday, 5/30, and the voting begins on Monday, 6/9. Official contest rules can be found here. Good luck, readers!
