Happy Holidays! A year in review

It’s been an amazing year!  I will be closing the office (except for currently in-process projects) until January 5th. I shipped my last holiday order yesterday (the 21st) and I need to lie down for about a week and wean myself back off caffeine.

I wanted to do one of those maps where you color in every state/province/country you (or in this case, my albums) have been too, but they’re just too big. I definitely would like to eventually have work in every U.S. state, Canadian province, and every continent but Antarctica (4 down, 2 to go!)

Here is a smattering of the albums I got to work on this year:

large traditional matted album in black Gramercy leather and gold gilding; medium traditional matted album in black leatherette with line cover detail and black gilding.

Destination:  Pennsylvania

9×6 chunky basic flush in “Fexy Blue” leather.

This album contained pictures from all their vacations and special outings from their first year of dating. How sweet is that? It lives in California

9×9 Seldex Gallery matted album in blue buckram with blind embossing

This is a Seldex Gallery parent album (not my usual contemporary, but also a favorite) that also now lives in Pennsylvania

Large traditional matted album in black leather with silver edge gilding.

This traditional matted album was a 25th wedding anniversary present — and also the first album made with their pictures. So don’t beat yourself up for not getting your album finished in the first year after your wedding, okay? This one is in my hometown of Seattle.

12×8 deluxe flush album in Swiss Chocolate with a Sultan Spice stripe, cover inset, and gold imprinting

I love the design of this cover, with the harmonies between all the brown, gold and tan. This one got shipped to Maryland.

12×8 chunky basic album in Sultan Spice brocade

Sometimes simple covers are nice, too! I love the way the light plays with the brocades. This was the first album I’ve sent to South Carolina.

12×12 skinny basic flush album in Texas Tea vegan leather with a cover inset and silver imprinting

In the space of two weeks, I sent albums to Quebec and Nova Scotia, which was a great start to my pursuit of Canada.

12×12 deluxe flush album with aluminum cover and Helvetica engraving; spine and back are in Suspicion leather

I adore this metal cover, it’s utterly sleek and modern. Which fits its hometown of Chicago.

12×8 deluxe flush album in deSade gray silk with a cover inset, with a matching 9×6 skinny basic flush parent album

This gray silk is new this year, and has been incredibly popular right away, and is so elegant, especially in person.  These are in Southern California.

10×8 brown leatherette standard flush album with gold imprinting

Design detail from brown standard flush album

This album project came to me by referral from the awesome wedding photographers Leah + Mark of Atlanta and beyond, and rode in a suitcase from Atlanta to Pakistan.

(Okay, this was technically from the very end of 2012, but it’s my pin-in-the-map for Asia, so how could I leave it out?)

10×8 deluxe flush album in Biker Chic with copper imprinting, and 3 matching 4×5 skinny basic gift albums in Mimosa silk, Fox Downs vegan leather, and Mink silk

10×8 deluxe flush album in Biker Chic with copper imprinting

I really love the weathered black leather on this album, and the accompanying parent albums are just so cute! And also purse-sized. 🙂  These album live on the Eastside and in Tacoma.

10×10 skinny basic flush in Red Hot vegan leather with a cover inset

This was the happy result of my “oh, of course!” realisation that you can use a matted album’s design in any square flush album to make gift copies; they opted for the popular holiday strategy of getting their gift albums (Christmas presents) made first, and waiting to purchase the larger album for themselves in the coming spring, which can provide a little leeway in the budget, especially since we all know holiday gifting can get rather expensive.

10×10 skinny basic flush album in Tourmaline vegan leather with a cover inset. Photo by Smitten Chickens photography.

Design detail with included text. Wedding photographs by Kelly Prizel, album photograph by Smitten Chickens photography.

I love getting to work with other wedding vendors from the sane end of the Wedding Industrial Complex. Sarah and Chris, now known as Smitten Chickens wedding photography of New York City, had their wedding photographed by the fabulous Kelly Prizel of Connecticut and beyond. And Sarah sent me pictures of the album, providing variety from all the other pictures of albums on my drafting table and in my yard. 🙂

12×12 skinny basic flush album in Tourmaline with gold imprinting

Another hometown album! I am becoming ridiculously fond of the Tourmaline vegan leather.

48 side traditional matted album in ivory silk brocade with gold edge gilding.

Pretty much as classic as it gets. I don’t have the photographer’s permission to show you the inside with pictures, but it was a super sweet old-fashioned church wedding that the album pretty much fit perfectly. This one is in Philadephia — I apparently have a fan club in Philly, which is alright with me!