Screen Printing and Paper Cutting with Retro Flair

While perusing the internet for Christmas gifts, I stumbled upon Etsy's Vitamini, which happens to be one of the most perfect plays on a word ever. You see, it's a shop filled with a cohesive array of hand screen printed paper and fabric products that all relate to the adorable Mini Cooper car. Because someone on my gift list is a proud Mini owner, I had a good feeling that whatever I chose would be akin to the Holy Grail. Score!

Vitamini's owner, Casey Starks of California, is a landscape architect with a passion for crafting and decorating in her spare time. She admits she's been enamored by Mini Coopers ever since she was a little girl and could stand up in her uncle's tiny car, pretending it was an apartment. When Casey purchased her own Mini, she was inspired to create screen printed designs that would appeal to other Mini Cooper owners.

If you're like me... rather hazy on how to actually do screen printing, I asked Casey to tell us how she got started and what's involved.

"I grew up doing tons of arts and crafts and have always been interested in learning new techniques. My mom did some screen printing in college and when she described it to me, it seemed like it would be right up my crafting alley. In January, 2008 I bought a simple Speedball screen printing kit on ebay and just jumped in!"

"I had no idea what I was doing, but through a bit of trial and error, I quickly got the hang of it. Once I got started I wanted to print on everything in sight. I was hooked! The process that goes into preparing a screen, from stretching the fabric, to coating the screen and exposing the design, makes the finished print that much more special. Maybe because so many things can go wrong along the way! Sometimes things work out perfectly and other times they don't, but I enjoy the challenge."

Casey has another shop too... this one is vitaMODERN, where all of the hand screen printed items reflect her admiration for mid-century design. Think retro and Mad Men.

VitaMODERN is where I discovered Casey is also a talented paper cutter. This screen printed tea towel, for instance, features one of her original cuttings.

I spent an enjoyable portion of New Year's Day reading Casey's Vitamini Handmade blog all the way back to the beginning - it's not often I do something like that! Well worth the time, as I came across her excellent how-to on paper cutting for beginners. She's planning a similar one for screen printing.

Vitamini is also on Facebook and Twitter. A giveaway for two packages of Box-Envelopes, perfect for mailing dimensional cards, is on 'til this Sunday, January 8. If you've been having difficulty leaving a comment, try using the Anonymous option and include your name and contact info within your comment.