ABCD Design Sketch Book | milestones in life set the tone » ABCD Designs Bespoke Stationery

Happy New Year {ABCD Designs} Letterpress Stationery

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:41:49 +0000

Happy 2012! I trust you had a wonderful holiday season? I managed to leave the house in Connecticut without grabbing the charging plug to my computer and my camera – so vacation in Michigan turned into a forced blogging respite for me! We returned to The Country House just in time for New Years and entertained guests from Tennessee for a few days. I took the Mr to the train this morning and I am staying behind in the country to break down and pack up the Christmas decorations. These are the letterpress holiday cards I designed to send out to friends and loved ones this year. I used French’s Dur-O-Tone cover weight paper in steel grey with matching envelopes and had them letter-pressed in gold ink.

{Holiday Hostess Gift} Eco-Friendly, USA made, handmade ABCD Designs Letterpress Matchboxes realized by Shandells

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:21:48 +0000

You all seemed to like the letterpress ‘Joy’ snowflake design that I showed you, so I decided to collaborate on a hostess gift project with my artisan friend, Susan. Are you new to ABCD Design? Read about her work here, here, here and here! We’ve created a limited edition series of ABCD Designs Bespoke Letterpress matchboxes, realized by Shandells, available on ABCDstyle.com.Do you know a hostess with the mostess? As Susan would say, this gift lasts longer than any bottle of wine or tin of cookies. Once the matches are gone, you may simply replace them with standard kitchen matches. I love that the matches are eco-friendly (made from renewable sources) and every element of this gift is made here in the USA. Each box is wood topped with letterpress printed on #110lb Crane’s paper – ultra luxurious matchbox, no? The corners are fitted by hand with copper tape in Upstate New York by Susan herself.Shop for these pretties that will dress up your hearth, cocktail table, bathroom, bedside table, or anywhere you need a match at ABCDStyle.com!

It’s November 1st: thinking about the Holidays

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:47:47 +0000

I can’t believe it is November 1st, can you? This morning I started thinking about all there is to do before our guests arrive for Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve got to ask: Have you made Thanksgiving before, or are you new at this? I have made it before, but as I mentioned to you a few weeks ago – I am rusty at it – and nervous!We also have a St. Lucia’s-Winter Solstice party scheduled for December 17th at The Country House, so there will be plenty of decorating and holiday bakery to do between Thanksgiving and the 17th! I already designed our holiday card. It’s our tradition to send out a happy New Year card each year. I put the finishing touches on the design this morning. Stop me. I am absolutely getting ahead of myself!I have been dying to do grey and gold letterpress ever since I suggested it to my Napa California bride last Spring. Unfortunately, they didn’t end up going through with the wedding and I am sitting on some of the most exquisite wedding stationery designs in grey and gold. Needless to say, I think glimmering gold translates into holiday – so it will become our color scheme this year. It is a nice departure from the light and bright orange and aqua color story that I selected for us last year.As it pertains to holiday decorations: I’ve been loving having ceramic Halloween jack o’lantern luminaries lining our steps during the month of October -especially with the power outage- which sent me on a hunt At West End .I thought I remembered that they had lanterns with a Winter or Holiday theme. Low and behold, they have both! First I found these Christmas Tree luminaries in Green, White, and Red…And then I found something that is better yet! At West End has Star Luminaries in Red, White, and Blue. The three together look very 4th of July to me. So, I am thinking that if I plan it right I will be able to make these lanterns work double duty, both as Americana in the Summertime and as Holiday in the Wintertime. Question is: do I do all white, or do I mix white and blue or red and white?Fact is, the holidays are going to be here before we know it. I suppose if these decorations are going up and the cards are going out, this is the time to be thinking about it! Have you started thinking about the festivities to come over the next few months?

Napa Wedding Save the Dates {hot off the letterpress}

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Mon, 23 May 2011 13:45:47 +0000

The weather has been so gloomy and grey that it’s been hard to get good photographs of this pretty Napa, California save the date! I love the apple green on the crisp, thick, and luxurious white Cranes 110 lb paper. We would have gone thicker, but it doesn’t fold nicely and tends to crack at the fold. We’ll absolutely go for a flat panel 220 lb invitation and RSVP card!

sunrise, silhouettes, stationery! {color inspiration}

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:22:29 +0000

I spent Monday and Tuesday hunkered in at home in the country. I am working on a beautiful letterpress wedding stationery wardrobe for Lindsay and Tom. I also had more dishes to wash and settling in to do. As luck would have it, I caught the sunrise on Tuesday morning. Beautiful, right? On Wednesday, I went to the flower market in NYC to pick up our vendela roses for the Flawless Foundation event. The Juliet Roses at Dutch were the exact shade of my sunrise the day before. They were so spectacular, yet somehow I missed bringing them home with me!