Friday, August 20, 2010

Snail Mail!

So the first prints we have been working on are note cards and other stationery. You are probably wondering, why stationery? It all began with my obsession with snail mail. I mean who doesn't love getting mail? E-mail is great, but receiving a handwritten letter from someone across the world is pretty cool. I first read about it on one of my favorite blogs indiefixx! She started this thing called the pen pal project. Snail mail sounded pretty cool after that, then I just found a bunch of other sites that were awesome. (and some that were junk.) Now I am addicted to checking the mail box!


The Letter Writers Alliance is really neat. Their blog is way interesting too. You do have to pay a membership fee, but its totally worth it if you want a good pen pal. Plus they always have cool downloads!
Letter Writers Alliance


Postcrossing is another awesome site. It is only postcards and not letters. Its way neat to receive postcards from all over the world. The way they have it set up is if you send a postcard you get a postcard. They also have a page with all your statistics, so you can see who you have sent to and what countries. I have gotten some way awesome postcards! Its really neato!

Postcards Exchange


The last site that I have had great success with is sendsomething.net. Here you can find people who want pen pals, postcards and other fun mail items! It does take a little bit of searching to find a good one! (but its totally worth it!)

(click me!)


Sunday, August 15, 2010

Our first prints!

So since we got our new studio, we ordered all new supplies to start out fresh and new! The down fall is that it kinda messes up our process. Having a new enviroment and supplies, set us back a little. We are still in the trial and error stage, but this week we have finally got some good prints! We are starting out with notecards and stationery first. Paper is way easier to print on then textiles.(But do not fear, we are already working on some awesome t-shrit designs!) Plus, I am madly in love with stationery and snail mail! We figured why not start out small and work our way up to more difficult things. Better to start off slow and do it right! I think so far they are turning out SUPER CUTE!

Zoei is the only person i know who can eyeball the screen and get it perfect everytime!  

Love sending sweet notes to your darling? We created these lovley note cards to help you express your hellos!
Who said rainy days had to be sad?
I am 80% sure when it rains, the clouds are just barfing on you.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Look on the bright side of life

Hey hey! Zoei here writing my first Brightside Design blog! I can't begin to tell you how excited I am!! I finally have something to blog about that other people have interest in! Anyways, I honestly didn't know what to write about so Remi suggested I write about something that people have asked me about... so I have decided to write about where our name came from... Soo... My all time favorite band is Rebelution (look em up if you have a min!) anyways me and Remi were driving home listening to our ipod when one of their songs called "Bright Side of Life" came on.. And we both looked at each other and said Bright Side. (Don’t worry my eyes weren't off of the road for that long, but now thinking about it.. never mind) So we obviously had to finish singing with the song, before actually agreeing to it.. We pondered it over with Anney (who wasn’t super crazy about it.. but then also wanted the name "dipping sauce", so her vote was out) We loved the name, the song, the band and the whole deal, it was originally Bright Side Clothing and Junk, but we decided to do a lot more that clothing, so we changed it to design.. We checked with the business license people and Brightside Design wasn’t taken, so we took it!! And that’s pretty much how we got the name Brightside design! Well since we are so influenced by music and musicians, we (or maybe just me) will be featuring an artist of the week, or month or season.. which ever I find time for.. Our music liking changes so often but like I said its a huge influence on us.. so ill keep everyone updated, so I suppose this is where the "and stuff" comes from in our blog name.. anyways, ill post some lyrics taken from the song which our name comes from, as well as a video of the same song, hope you enjoy it just as much as us, having a name really brought our whole company together, and we really felt like we had something, before the name we were just a couple of college students silk screening in our parent's garage when we weren’t studying or working, but now we are BrightSide Design.


Monday, August 9, 2010

New Studio!

So, we took over Anney's garage and transformed it into our new studio. I must say it wasn't easy. The garage wasn't in the best shape, but with a little paint and Zoeis mad skills with power tools, it looks pretty nice.


I am pretty sure that the people who lived here before totally kept there children in the garage. There was crayon every where on the walls!

Its amazing what some new paint can do for a space!
I forgot how much work  painting was! Zoei is the tallest so we made her do the top.  

YAY! Finally all finished! It looks pretty darn good too! Now we are ready to make some AWESOME prints!

Well, hello there.

So, for those of you who haven't heard yet, Me (Remi), Zoei and Anney have officially started our own business. (Well kinda, we haven't gotten the license but its should be in the mail soon.) We tried last summer and then realized that its harder then you think. We then pulled Anney in as our official business lady and things have gone a lot smoother. Anney moved into a new house and we have taken over her garage and turned it into a studio. Now that we have our own business lady and new studio, we have high hopes that it will be a success. Now we have a blog so you can experience the beginning of our business with us! YAY!