good press paper co.

NEW BLOG!

2011-03-07T07:36:00.000-08:00

Good Press has a new blog.

Check it out HERE.

(and follow that one, please, as posts will discontinue here. thanks!)

where's the blog love?

2010-12-22T08:10:00.000-08:00

...some of you may be asking.

back when good press opened its doors 6 weeks ago (wow, time flies), we streamlined some things to make life easier for you.

it's not that we stopped blogging, we just started blogging here.

so that's where you can catch up on all the latest good press happenings.

ho ho ho merry happy holidays!

love this

2010-11-11T08:08:00.000-08:00

Save the Date: Blair and Maggie from Squid and Beard on Vimeo.

found this save the date video on sarah cramer shields' blog.

love everything about it. job well done.

don't let me down

2010-11-10T07:35:00.001-08:00

i do believe these gift enclosures from hammerpress would do reba proud.

set of five with glassine envelopes.

the eagle has landed.

2010-11-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

here's a quick progression of the shop and how it went from a before to an after.

had an appointment in the space when there wasn't much there. my client was such a good sport.

trying to figure out the credit card terminal situation and other admin details.

my friend kathryn was enlisted to help me move a table to the new space. little did i know, she had other plans in mind. after picking up said table, we made a quick side trip to the greenwood country store (not the grocery). we came away with 4 chairs, two tables, a rug and a because sign.

me: "why do i need a because sign?"

kathryn: "because."

enough said.

three iced teas, two diet cokes and trip to blue mountain brewery for lunch later, we were ready to take our finds back to the shop albeit a little jittery and a lot over-caffeinated.

with the help of a master merchandising friend, good press went from a before to an after:

november 2nd.

2010-11-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

make it happen, people.

it's starting to feel like home

2010-11-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

today was my first full day working in the new space. i wasn't open for business, but wanted to be in the space to get a feel for what worked and what didn't in actuality compared to the "vision" i've had in my head. one lesson learned: the many windows that make me love the space also provide QUITE a bit of light in the morning. blinds will be installed shortly. here are some quick shots of the space in its infancy; the "before" shots if you will. i'm still waiting on some key pieces and finishing touches but for now it's a good start.

counter/checkout area

display board and greeting card corral

it's ok

2010-10-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

when you're feeling overwhelmed/overworked/over whatever, remember...

it's what i like to call "organized chaos"

2010-10-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

whew, the last few days have been a whirlwind of phone calls, research (who knew there were so many credit card terminals out there?) and order placing. even though the to-do list seems to get longer instead of shorter, i can see the progress being made.

while i did cave and make one of my first spreadsheets ever, my ordering style is still old-school (see below). on the left is said spreadsheet, and on the right are some of the orders coming our way. it's true, they're written on little pieces of paper; once written, they were cut out and then arranged and edited to create a fun mix of goodies. in case you're wondering, yes, i'm slightly type A.

and my trusty tape measure is never far these days in my constant quest for shop furnishings.

happy weekend everyone!

drumroll please...

2010-10-20T08:27:00.001-07:00

big news, people. good press has found a home! we will be shacking up with our dear friends at SUSTAIN, inc beginning tuesday, november 9th. so not only will there be a go-to place for your custom printing needs (the holidays are right around the corner) and note cards, wrapping paper and desk necessities, but while there you can also peruse all of the eco-awesomeness that SUSTAIN has to offer.

good press + SUSTAIN are located in the mainstreet market, next to feast, calvino coffee and orzo, to name a few, right on main street. and the best news of all: PARKING. LOTS OF IT.

oh the good news is endless and will be forthcoming in the coming days. in the meantime, i'm a busy bee writing orders, getting credit card machines and outfitting the space to be top notch and fun to be in. stay tuned and thanks for your love, patience and patronage this past year.

summer fever

2010-05-27T09:26:00.000-07:00

(this was the best i could find. from the hook)

sorry to be so delinquent on the blogging, i've had a serious case of summer fever the last couple weeks. seem's like the hook was feeling the same way. imagine my delight when i picked up this week's issue, and it turned out to be a guy'd of cville in the summer, aka, what to do in charlottesville over the summer from the male perspective. oh, how i love a good pun. but my favorite part was seeing people i know involved, from friends on the cover and inside to a friend behind the photography of the story, which to me is the fun part of living in a small town.

collections

2010-05-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

i happened upon an old vanity fair the other day and read an article about the late, great john hughes. within the article was this picture of a selection of his notebook collection, of which it's thought that he has at least 300, all either full or partially full of notes, sketches and general thoughts on life. i can relate; i have a similar collection. in addition to the notebooks, i looked around and realized that i also collect calendars. at the moment, my tiny little living space boasts four different wall calendars! FOUR! and this doesn't include my trusty planner, which i can't live without. despite my love and affection for the iphone, i just can't commit to the ical. seems too impersonal to me and not nearly as trustworthy as my planner. like hughes' notebooks which we can now look back on as a chronicle of his life, i feel the same way about calendars and planners: they act as storyteller for a certain period of your life. which is something you can't do as easily with the ole ical.

sunny on the inside

2010-05-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

it's pretty dreary here in virginia so i've got she & him's volume two on repeat while i work. it's a cheery album that makes me think of sunny california on a day like today.

(image by sam jones via she & him's website)

If so Inklined Calligraphy

2010-04-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

i've been working with jen maton of ifsoinklined calligraphy on a recent project, and here's a sample of her handiwork. instead of traditional table numbers, the bride and groom chose song titles for each table representing different stages of their relationship.

congrats jessi and jon! (and god bless america?)

2010-04-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

over the weekend, my good friends jessi and jon (or, as we know them, higgy and wags) tied the knot. higgy and wags met and fell in love through a kickball league we all play in. i've been to a few weddingse, and this one was just a ton. of. fun. all of our kickball friends were there, and the event felt like a huge party rather than a huge production. not to mention the weather and the backdrop of the old trail pavilion couldn't have been any more breathtaking. from the time jessi said "yes" to jon's proposal, they really worked to make the day a reflection of them as a couple and incorporated the help of friends and family. they reached out to me to do the invites which was such an honor. and another friend, tom daly, was the photographer for the day. tom really captured the good times of the evening as well as how fun higgy and jessi truly are. here are some shots from both the wedding and the photo booth, which we all had way too much fun in. i also highly checking out tom's website and his work. he just left his full time job to give this a go. that's definitely something i can respect.

ps, that's the groom's mom taking full advantage of the photo booth.

a ceremony shot taken by a friend

the groom, me and kickball commissioner chad day with his wife, tara

the invitation printed by pica press in the couple's colors

keeping your guests in the know

2010-04-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

I just finished working with a client whose wedding is in a couple weeks, and we rounded things out with a custom welcome packet. A welcome packet is a good idea if the majority of your guest list doesn't live where you are marrying as it can provide friends and family with a schedule of events for the weekend, directions to those events, as well as miscellaneous local attractions. This packet is amazing, and I would have loved to have been the recipient of something like this. We incorporated the couple's color palette of navy and charcoal with a navy pocketfold and coordinating outer envelope and printing in charcoal. We used the same font here as on the save the dates and invitations creating a sense of consistency, and rounded everything out with a custom wax seal. The pocketfold was then put in a coordinating navy envelope addressed in white ink with a grey return address.

the insides of the welcome packet

(welcome letter, RSVP postcard, schedule of events and directions)

the assembly line

the finished product: stunning.

vacay in LA

2010-03-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

there's only one thing that we love more than paper here at good press and that's pop culture and all that goes along with it. we admit it, we're addicted to people and all the other trash magazines, have to watch e! news more than we'd care to admit and wonder what lady gaga actually looks like in person. so, at the urging of a friend offering up a free place to stay, we're packing our bags and heading west for a long weekend before the frenzy that is wedding season officially kicks off. we'll be out of commission until tuesday as celebrity watching is a full-time job. but don't worry, we'll tell the kardashians you say hello.

meg runion studios

2010-03-10T07:43:00.000-08:00

i had breakfast this morning with a my friend meg runion. meg's a part of the wedding biz, too, photographing beautiful brides. meg's got a great energy and is so. much. fun. you can get in touch with meg and check out her talent here. in the meantime, check out this beautiful photo she took of my friend chloe who was married on new year's eve. happy wednesday, everyone!

simply beautiful

2010-02-17T14:13:00.000-08:00

some really fabulous calligraphy for your viewing pleasure.

it's fun to work with such talented people.

making life a little easier

2010-02-08T20:40:00.000-08:00

it really is a treat to work with the people we do. we work with wedding planners a lot, and we love it. especially after you get to work with one over and over again and that rapport is established. dickie morris is one of those people. dickie and i go way back, even before our days of wedding industry domination. dickie was the first person i met at college orientation at uva, and i'm lucky to say that we kept in touch over the years, and then got to work together, her planning events for easton events and me helping out with invitations for her clients. dickie's good people, and you just hope you can be like her one day. in addition to planning fabulous events, she keeps a blog on the side. after especially hectic days, i like to check out her blog to get a reality check. should you, too, need a momentary breather, i highly recommend stopping by justalittleditty.

good press has hit the big time

2010-02-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

once you have an ad in the local paper, you're legit. well, in our opinion anyway. the way we see it, any joe schmo can blog. i mean, hey, look at us! but when you see your name in print, well, that's when you know you've made it. and that was the case when c-ville weekly's twice-a-year insert "unions" came out. unions focuses on, you guessed it, weddings. and there, front and center on page 23, keeping company with our friends the C & O Restaurant (probably good press' favorite restaurant in all of town) was good press' very own ad. we were pleased as punch and picked up a gazillion copies to send to friends and family. which might derail the whole point of advertising, but oh well. we just can't help it. if you don't live in town, or if we run out of unions to send out, here's the ad itself so you can see what all the fuss is about.

this ain't your momma's baby shower

2010-01-24T06:31:00.001-08:00

(one of shannon's favorite colors is orange...such a cool mom-to-be)

this past weekend we celebrated the upcoming arrival of our friend shannon's new baby girl jane, and shannon was every bit the glowing mom-to-be. she's not really a "games" kind of girl, so we forewent the traditional baby shower games for something a little more up shan's alley since she has such a wickedly sharp sense of humor. our oh so talented friend kathryn found some vintage (and random) baby images on the interweb, printed them out on postcards and asked guests to write captions as well as words of advice for the new mom. rather than taking the cards with her, we're going to mail the cards to shannon over the coming weeks so that she'll remember the fun that we had at the baby shower.

("hey mom, can you come get me?")

mercury in retrograde?

2010-01-22T08:22:00.000-08:00

sometimes i wish we weren't so dependent upon technology. or rather, me. sheesh. this morning the internet was out so i had to trek through the rain to the warmth of a nearby coffeehouse to get my work going. thankfully the internet is back up and running at home, but now the scanner won't scan. which is especially helpful when there are orders to be placed. is mercury in retrograde and no one told me?! oh well, at least it's friday. right?

you must check this out

2010-01-17T17:43:00.000-08:00

we at good press feel very lucky to live where we do. charlottesville is brimming with lots of the good stuff...food, music, scenery, thomas jefferson. and art. of all kinds. while grabbing brunch at blue moon diner last week, i came across a poster for the american festivals project which is showing at the bridge pai over in belmont. long story short, two photographers (ross and andrew) trekked across the U.S. of A for over a year (specifics are fuzzy at the moment) photographing the smaller, lesser known festivals that Americans partake in. Water tasting championships or prison rodeo, anyone? The show is really something, and if you're in charlottesville i highly recommend checking it out.

(image borrowed from afp website)

resolutions

2010-01-15T08:16:00.000-08:00

continuing with our new year theme, we admit that we weren't very good at blogging in 2009. so in 2010, we resolve to blog. every. single. day. check back to see how we're doing.

in the meantime, happy weekend! and especially to all you 9-5ers who are going to be enjoying 3 days of weekend goodness.

out with the old, in with the new!

2010-01-14T14:39:00.001-08:00

whew, what a year 2009 was. despite our debut this past year, we at good press were ready to say bon voyage to 2009 and usher in 2010 just like everybody else. what better way to symbolize a new beginning and new adventure than with a wedding? good press' dear friends chloe and a.j. decided to tie the knot on new year's eve, and i can't recall having a better time, at either a wedding or on new year's eve. chloe and a.j. are those people who you really do feel lucky to know and that you want to be around because they're just such good people.

after saying their vows at the U.Va. Chapel surrounded by friends, family and more candles than you could count we headed out to to V eritas. the mood was festive, the champagne was flowing and the new year's hats were aplenty. after a night of cutting a rug to an amazing motown band, the bride and groom ran off into the night amongst a glow of sparklers, and we all started 2010 with the hope, happiness and good feelings we were missing in 2009.

here are some shots from the night:

the bride and groom share a dance.

so kathryn and i might have just broken a champagne glass in our excitement to congratulate the bride. of course everyone saw and it was captured on film. shooooot.

chloe and a.j.'s winter theme consisted of lots of pheasant feathers and winter greenery. gorgeous.

merry happy holidays!

2009-12-22T11:39:00.001-08:00

merry happy holidays from all of us at good press!

we hope your stockings and hearts are full this holiday season.

we'll be off caroling, feasting and present-opening december 23-28th but will be back up and running on the 29th.

charlottesville wedding classic

2009-12-08T09:55:00.000-08:00

the charlottesville wedding classic was this past weekend and good press made its wedding debut showing our wares to the soon-to-be-wed gals of charlottesville and beyond. despite the snowy day before, sunday was bright and sunny. we had such a great time seeing old friends and meeting new in the wedding biz. here are some snapshots of our booth.

getting hitched?

2009-12-06T05:41:00.000-08:00

come check out good press and all our wedding wares today at the charlottesville wedding classic. we'll be at the omni 1-5. $10 entry, $5 if you bring a canned good.

bundle up and see you there!

gift guide 2009: field notes memo books

2009-12-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

i cannot sing the praises of field notes enough. they are great little notebooks for jotting down this, that and the other. a great gift for guys and girls alike. a 3pack will run you $10...such a recession friendly gift or stocking stuffer. available in lined, graphed or blank pages.

interested? shoot us an email (goodpresspaperco@gmail.com), and we'll hook you up.

only 22 shopping days left...

mistletoe market round up

2009-11-17T07:36:00.000-08:00

whew, sorry for going MIA on you. good press is knee deep in the holiday season...which we love! between all of our custom holiday card orders (have you gotten yours in yet?) and tying up loose ends from the mistletoe market, we haven't been able to blog! so sorry. the mistletoe market was a lot of fun and we met some fun, cool vendors. in addition to paper goods from good press, i hope your christmas gift list includes jewelry from erin mcdermott and fabulous photo frames from charlottesvillian meg runion.

if you missed good press at the mistletoe market, here are some snapshots from the day. thanks so much to sustain, inc for generously loaning some of their wares to the cause. because of them, good press looked top notch!

mistletoe market sneak peek

2009-11-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

the fun part about working with local folks is that you might just find goodies in your mailbox. these fabulous pouches (pencil and otherwise) showed up in mine this am. they are crafted by the sweetest gal on earth, anne mulligan, a cville local. they will be making their good press debut at the mistletoe market this sunday.

you'll be there won't you? heck, it's only five bucks!

(the background is a fabulous houndstooth blanket i bought made of RECYCLED PLASTIC BOTTLES from the gals at sustain here in town. if you haven't been yet, you really must pop in!)

paper is here to stay.

2009-11-04T07:48:00.001-08:00

i went home last night for a housewarming shindig at my younger sister's first apt as an adult. had a great time, but left my scarf behind before heading home to crash at the parentals' house. when i stopped by to get it this am on my way out of town, i thought how great it would have been to have left a handwritten something (post-it, scrap of paper, whatever) for her to come home to instead of the impersonal text i actually did send. for this very reason, paper is here to stay, people.

'tis the season

2009-11-02T20:21:00.001-08:00

if you missed good press' trunk show, fear not! there's one more opportunity to hit up our goods for this holiday season.

good press will be participating in the 6th annual Mistletoe Market sponsored by the Junior League of Charlottesville.

the event is this sunday, november 8th from 10am-7pm at the omni in downtown charlottesville. we'll be selling goods from our friends enormous champion, field notes, la familia green, linda & harriett and many more! come stop by, say hey and check out the wares.

thumbs up for you!

2009-10-26T06:49:00.001-07:00

thanks to everyone for coming out to the trunk show friday!

what a fun time we all had and a rousing success it was!

(image of stephen colbert courtesy nerdyapril)

you. need. this.

2009-10-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

tomorrow's the big trunk show! here's a sneak peek at some of the goodness that is to be had:

make your own banners from L2 design collective

a wooden fox from enormous champion came today!

so did his friend the hippo!

and a selection of holiday and everyday cards from old friend la familia green!

hope to see you tomorrow evening!

care to join?

shoot us an email at goodpresspaperco@gmail.com

and we'll tell you where to go.

the final countdown

2009-10-20T22:19:00.000-07:00

hello there! sincerest apologies for going MIA on our faithful readers (all 7 of you!). good press is all abuzz and aflutter (and every other a-verb) getting ready for our trunk show THIS friday...as in three days from now. will you be there? have you let us know you are coming? there is lots of fun and stationery goodness to be had. veritas vineyards will be hooking us up with some fantastic vino and there are enough goodies to knock teachers, hostess gifts and sunday school teachers off your gift-giving list. stay tuned for sneak peeks leading up to the big day! until then...goodnight!

save the date!

2009-10-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

good press is having its official coming out/debutante/debut trunk show next friday, october 23. we'll be pairing up with jewelry extraordinaire Debra Fabian Jewlry Design. the wares are plentiful and are sure to get you in the holiday spirit. must haves from good press include enormous champion, la familia green, L2 design collective and Linda & Harriett (to name a few). for the whole scoop, shoot us an email at goodpresspaperco@gmail.com, and we'll fill you in!

happy fall!

2009-10-14T08:41:00.001-07:00

(sorry, my picture-taking-while-driving skills aren't the best...)

fall is here. and i love it. i went home yesterday evening for my mom's birthday, and drove back this morning. the fall foliage along 29 between lynchburg and charlottesville is pretty great. it's a beautiful drive that i recommend checking out; while cruising, you should veer off to get pumpkins, apples and the such from saunders brothers farm market.

what i can't get enough of

2009-10-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

today there are two things i can't get enough of...

these fabulous narwhal cards from good press' new friends at enormouschampion

and

the avett brothers' new album "i and love and you"

(image courtesy knoxroad)

good for one steak dinner

2009-10-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

a long-running joke between me and my graphic designer kathryn is that i always promise her steak dinners for all the favors she does for me. what foodie wouldn't want a steak dinner as an IOU??? well, in the past month the steak dinners have started to pile up, and there's no end in sight...

(does not represent actual number of steak dinners owed)

today, despite having a pile of work bigger than you can imagine, kathryn bumped me to the front of the line to work on good press' logo. here are the fruits of her labor (with my thoughts jotted in here and there).

i'm so excited to see what good press will become, both in terms of a logo and as a business. getting good press up and running has been a group effort. and throughout the past month or so, i've found myself saying over and over how lucky i am. lucky for the people who love and support me and have offered to help in any way possible whether it's being my first customers, hosting a trunk show for good press, giving me part-time work while i suss out the details, or vendors who will send me wares lickety-split because i have an early meeting the next day. the list goes on and on, and i am continuously humbled. thank you.