Product of the Week - Pirate Cards

This week's Rosebud Design Studio featured products are the Pirate Cards. I really like historical maps (I had been calling them "vintage" maps, but the nice librarian at the UCLA maps library informed me that they are "historical"). I started researching these maps for an invitation I designed for a destination wedding in Hawaii. There are lots of great sites on the web where you can get inspiration (check out my previous post on the topic for some more info).

Also, I really like pirates. And pirate-speak. Did you know that there is a National Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19th)? I had a lot of fun writing the copy for these cards, researching all the pirate-y words I wanted to use and putting them together....

These particular cards are printed on recycled paper (we are making an earth-friendly effort here at Rosebud HQ), and are for sending birthday greetings, congratulations, and thank yous.

Lost without Lost - Rosebud Mini Contest

A few anonymous commenters have been requesting my YouTube link since I posted by brother's under Post Show Wrap Up. I do not have a YouTube Link (fortunately). I do have the above picture, which is the most embarrassing photo of me (left) I could find that I would still post on this blog.

This photo was taken at the Lost season finale. We all dressed up as different characters from the show. So, I'm going to sponsor a little contest. I will give a Rosebud Design Studio product prize to the person that can correctly guess all four characters shown above. Here are the rules:
1. To win, you must be the FIRST (and only the first) to comment with all four correct answers from left to right.
2. If you are an "anonymous" poster, I won't know who you are, so please leave your name in the post.
3. No friends or family of mine can play.
4. Gift will be determined by me, but it will be a selection of Rosebud product worth about $20.00 - $30.00
5. NO LAUGHING (seriously, people....like you've never dressed up as a Lost character before? Come on....)

Cool Artist: CJ Metzger

Today I had the good fortune to meet C.J. Metzger and go to her studio in Glendale, CA. Her work is amazing, and you can check it out on her website (she says she's going to have a new website lauching this summer with a web store). Her studio is also fantastic, and much of her artwork is hanging up on the walls. I snapped these photos while I was there today. Some of the work is done with her sister, who is also an artist.

C.J. and I are hoping to work together on some cards for Rosebud Design Studio, so I'll keep everyone posted on that.

Vintage Fruit Label Cards

I thought it might be interesting to post a product of the week and give you some insight into the design process/inspiration behind them. So, I'm starting with some of the new products, the Vintage Fruit Label Cards.

Here at Rosebud Design Studio, we (by which I mean "I") have a bit of a problem (read: obsession) with vintage graphics, packaging, etc. You might even have noticed – I wouldn't blame you if you did.

These cards are based on turn of the century fruit and vegetable labels. I found a bunch of excellent reference on the Internet, which you can see below. However, I always like to create something different for Rosebud. In this case, I wanted to add some occasional cards to the line, so I selected fruits I thought I could write "happy birthday", "congrats", "I'm sorry", and anniversary copy for.

Where was this when I was in High School?

Once when I went to the West Hollywood Halloween Parade, I saw a group of people in Marie Antoinette style outfits made entirely of bubble wrap. But this duct tape prom looks cool too.
Do you think they'd let me submit if I promised to give the scholarship money to a high school student? The above photo is one of my favorites from the Stuck on Prom website. But there are many, many more...

Production Time

Since the Stationery Show is over, now I'm deep into production for all the new Rosebud Design Studio items that people ordered. I'll be at it for a while, but orders should start shipping out end of June. Expect an updated list of stores on the Rosebud site soon.

Sign up for our newsletter (located on the Rosebud home page) if you would like to stay informed.

Above is a photo of the Circus Baby Announcements drying on make-shift clothes lines in my apartment. Usually, I send everything out to be printed, but these were hand silkscreened by myself and my lovely assistant Kaz. It was backbreaking labor. The clothes lines started to sag because of the weight of the paper, and you literally had to crawl underneath them all to attach more for drying purposes. What we do for paper products and design.

Polite Cards

While at the Stationery Show, I visited Polite Cards' booth. These cards by David Shrigley are my favorites. For now, I'm going with "don't know."

Happy June

Summer's coming...