A Letterpress Birthday

Jake Blog Post Birthday, Letterpress, Party 1404 Views

On Saturday Jamie and I woke up early to go to the third anual Los Angeles Printers Fair in Carson, CA. We brought home a whole bag-full worth of goodies, which we’ll be sure to share with you soon. The rest of the day was spent preparing for my 23rd birthday party, and it was truly a success!
Jamie arranged a beautiful letterpress display on our table. About twenty minutes before the party started, I realized the food could use some name cards, so I quickly whipped up some letterpress-style designs and printed them out.
I’ve never tasted a better chocolate birthday cake; Jamie is an amazing baker! Earlier in the day Jamie and I designed and set up a print that our guests were able to customize with their name. It took a while to set up, but it worked so well at the party and everyone really enjoyed getting to set their own type.

The invitation was also set by hand, and we even got to use two of the wood blocks Jamie got for her birthday! They turned out so cool. Afterwards we all played a game of balderdash. It was a birthday party to remember.

And the Winner is…

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post Giveaway 1134 Views

Happy Monday everyone! Thanks to everyone for signing up for our letterpress print giveaway and helping us celebrate our new shop. It was a lot of fun. Hopefully we can do more giveaways in the future, because who doesn’t like to win things? I know I do.

The winners for this giveaway are…

Breeanna @ a brilliant melody
Elizabeth Turner
Debbie R.
Congratulations everyone! If you are a winner please email us with your shipping information at hello (at) apairofpears (dot) com.

The Face of Type “D”

Jake Blog Post Design, For the Taking, Graphic Design, The Face of Type, Typography, Wallpaper 1386 Views

Well, the birthday season for the Bartletts has officially come to an end. But that doesn’t mean celebrations are going to stop! This month is Halloween, and along with that comes an excuse to dress up in costumes together. Here is a brand new desktop wallpaper to get you in the mood for fall decorations. For the letter D we chose Didot. When we were researching the typeface, we couldn’t believe it was designed in 1783! It has truly stood the test of time.
Font Fun Facts: Vogue magazine uses a condensed version of Didot for their masthead. While many type designers have made the typeface available, the original design only survives in printed form.

Below are links to download images based on your screen’s resolution. If your resolution isn’t available just leave a comment with your desired resolution and we would be happy to add another size to our list.

Please read the Conditions of Use before downloading files from A Pair of Pears.

Finders Keepers: Coffee Joulies

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post Coffee, Finders Keepers 1613 Views

Source: Joulies
I have this problem; every morning while we are reading our daily blogs, we enjoy a cup of fresh coffee. However, it takes me a good 20-30 minutes to drink my cup. I hardly ever end up finishing it, because by the time there are a few sips left, the remainder of my coffee is cold. I can’t stand cold coffee…yuck.
This week’s find would solve all my problems, or at least that one. Joulies, when placed in your coffee, absorbe the hot energy to cool your coffee to a drinkable temperature. As your coffee cools, they release that energy back into your coffee, keeping it warm. How brilliant is that? They are still in the production stage, but if you want to know more they have a video on there site. You can check it out here
Just a reminder…If you missed our letterpress print giveaway post, you still have time to sign up! The contest lasts until Sunday, October 2nd at 1:00pm pacific time. You can check it out here. Good luck and have a happy weekend!

Birthday Boy

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post Birthday, Graphic Design 1144 Views

Today is a very special day. Today is Jake’s birthday! I can not tell you how much he means to me. I love him so much.

We are having his party on Saturday, but today I’m giving him all his presents. I’m spacing them out throughout the day to make the celebrations last longer. I gave him one last night at midnight (yes, I couldn’t wait until morning) and then another when he woke up. I love spoiling him on his birthday.

Jake will have to tell you all about his party on Saturday. It should be a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday my sweet husband.

Our Future Home

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post Decor, DIY, Home 2184 Views

Jake and I have already decided that eventually we will move away from LA. We had extremely similar childhoods filled with big backyards, puppy dogs, and all the wonderful things that come with the changing of seasons (particularly snow). We are sentimental about those things and we want our children to be able to enjoy and experience the same things we did. We don’t know when or even where we will move, but I can tell you that when the time comes for us to buy our very own house there will be a lot of DIYing for the first few years.

I keep coming across amazing projects people have done in their homes. There is only so much you can do in an apartment and still expect to get your deposit back. We are already pushing that envelope. Every time I see something particualy awesome, I save it for when we have our own home where we can do what ever we like.

Here are some of my favorite projects. These ones lean on the more major construction side. If you happen to do any of them or have done anything similar, I would love to see it.

Source: 1. Open Shelves; 2. Pipe Shelving; 3. Barn Door; 4. Recycled Pallet Floor; 5. Kitchen Cabinets;

Letterpress Giveaway & New Products

Jake Blog Post Art, Etsy, Giveaway, Letterpress, Linocut, Printmaking 1893 Views

We are extremely excited to be able to announce that we have brand new products listed in our etsy shop! We have re-listed our linocut stationery sets, and are introducing letterpress art prints and recipe cards. Each print is designed by us and printed by hand on our vintage Chandler & Price letterpress. Click here to visit our shop.
In celebration of our reopening and as a thanks to our readers, we have decided to give away three copies of our 5×7 “Impression” letterpress print (frame not included)! All you have to do to enter yourself in the giveaway is follow our blog by clicking “Join this site” in the sidebar under the “Followers” section. Then just leave a comment on this post, and you’ll be entered! You can enter any time between now and Sunday, October 2nd at 1:00pm pacific time. The winners will be announced Monday October 3rd.

Finders Keepers: Fabulous Fringe Paper Dolls

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post Crafts, Finders Keepers, TV 1381 Views

I don’t know about you, but we’re pretty big J.J. Abrams fans around here. We were loyal Lost fans even until the end (but we won’t get into that discussion). When Fringe first came out, we started watching it solely based on the fact that is was created by J.J. Abrams. From the first episode we were hooked. It basically started out as a now-a-days version of The X-Files, which Jake and I are also huge fans of (we even dressed up as Scully and Mulder for Halloween last year). In the most recent season it has started to move away from the X-files-esque structure, but it’s still pretty interesting. Season 4 premieres tonight, so I thought it only appropriate to post accordingly.

Source: Fringe Mythology (click on the images to be directed to where you can download them)
Aren’t they just hilarious? They are a perfect representation of each character. It would be fun to make them before the premiere tonight. 

Photo of the Week: Beatles Street Art

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post Art, Graffiti, Photo of the Week 1124 Views

It’s been forever since we’ve posted a photo of the week, sorry! I noticed some new graffiti over by Target the other day so I snapped this one of The Beatles. I’m always amazed by how people can get these up without getting caught. Hopefully we can get back into the hang of posting our photo of the week more consistently again.

Tin Collection

Jamie Bartlett Blog Post Collection, Etsy, Vintage 1700 Views

Recently, I’ve started collecting vintage tins. I got them all for a few dollars from different thrift shops and garage sales. 3 out of the 4 tins I have are designed by Daher and made in England. The tins are perfect for storing small items and adding to the decor of our apartment.

Etsy has some really cute tins for sale. Below are some of my favorites. I would love to go on a Fall picnic with the green tin basket

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