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The Making of The Small Times Newspaper
If you've received one of our World's Smallest Packages in the last few months, you've got a genuine copy of The Small Times newspaper in your hands. As part of our recent collaboration with Chronicle Books to produce the World's Smallest Post Service stationery set, we created this itty bitty fictional newspaper. And it's not just the newspaper that's small, but every article and image is tiny themed too! Thanks to Jason Sacher, my wonderful editor at Chronicle Books, for daring to approve the inclusion of this totally unnecessary, but ultimately incredible, addition to the stationery set.
Read all about it!
Here's what The Small Times looks like all crumpled up in one of our World's Smallest Packages:
"You're as cute as a..."
Call for Submissions
We began with an open call for submissions among our wonderful circle of friends - for articles, advertisements, classifieds, whatever their whimsy might dictate. Thanks to all the lovely folks who submitted! I wrote about half of the content and the rest was written by the following awesome guest contributors. Thanks so much y'all!
Grace Carolinda Patterson, Bob Cronin, Renata Miller, Kendra Holliday, Clare C., Francisco R., Chris Kerr, Ina Braun, Colleen Schneider, Beth Redmond-Jones, Jessiena Luhman, Danny M.
Here's the early mockup we used for scale and layout purposes.
Hand Drawn Graphics
Once the tiny-themed articles were in, we needed some stunning imagery to spice up the look. This is where our dear friend Sam Bower came to the rescue with his series of tiny drawings. Here's an oversized taste of the magic he worked with a skinny little ink pen:
Words & Clues
And it wouldn't be a genuine newspaper without a crossword puzzle, right? I had no idea how I was going to pull that one off until I discovered the amazing CrosswordPuzzleGames.com, which will automatically generate crosswords for you from a list of words and clues. Wow! The best part? Every crossword clue and answer is tiny themed! Here's my working sketch:
Getting It All Just Right
So at this point we've got text, illustrations, and a miniature crossword puzzle. It all came together in the following draft layout, which I submitted to Chronicle Books for review:
And here's what the super amazing Chronicle Books graphic designer Kirsten Hewitt did with my draft. This is a scan of the final version, printed on real newsprint for maximum effect:
And a few close-ups...
In case you want to get ahold of some of these tiny newspapers, you'll find four copies of it rolled up in each World's Smallest Post Service stationery set. Or you can order a teeny tiny package for your very own hand-crumpled copy of The Small Times.
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! (With a magnifying glass!)
Tagged Chronicle Books, collaboration, lea-fav, newspaper, tiny, wsps
Tiny Airmail Wedding Invitations
We recently worked with Brittany and Nathan - a lovely couple from Portland, Oregon - to design and create a big batch of custom wedding invitations for their special event. While we've made plenty of custom tiny-themed wedding invitations, we came up with some wonderfully unique extras this time, including a miniature map with directions to their ceremony and a nifty RSVP scheme with red and blue buttons.
The Invite
The invitation component of this snail mailing includes:
- A tiny card with a hand-illustrated typewriter on front and the relevant ceremony details inside
- A tiny map printed in full color
- An airmail themed tiny envelope with red and blue stripes, recipient name and address, return address, and a tiny canceled heart stamp
The tiny invitation: map, card, and airmail envelope.
Freshly cut envelopes! Note the "OR" for Oregon in the spot for the tiny canceled ink stamp.
I did a sweet little pen and ink drawing of a typewriter for the front of the tiny invitation. With extremely small type, we added "So many stories yet to write..." on the tiny paper in the illustration. We chose American Typewriter for the font in keeping with the vintage typewriter theme.
Production in progress here - note the tiny folded maps!
The RSVP
Brittany and Nathan also wanted to do an RSVP with a similar airmail theme, so we bounced around a few ideas and settled on a really unique button concept. Each invited guest received two buttons alongside their wedding invitation - a red one and a blue one. If they could attend, they sent the red button back to the bride and groom-to-be. If, sadly, they had to decline, they sent the blue button back instead.
Red for yes we'll be there, blue for regrets.
As a final crafty flourish, I hand-typed the RSVP return envelopes on my grandmother's Royal Typewriter from the 1950s.
It not only looks vintage, but sounds that way too!
The RSVP all packaged up with a red wax seal stamped with a heart.
How It All Turned Out
When it was all said and done, here's what Brittany and Nathan had to say about their airmail wedding invitations:
"I think at this point everyone has responded to our invites and they are a total smash! So many people told us the same thing 'these are the most awesome things ever,' we got a lot of 'so creative,' and the like. They're blown away at what you do and how creative it is! We're so happy to have had your help in doing something so totally different and unexpected. No blue buttons yet, either! : )
Thank you from the bottom of our normal sized hearts,
- Brittany & Nathan"
Thanks Brittany & Nathan - it was super-fun working with you!
Design Your Own Custom Invite
Are you or someone you know engaged? Looking for a one-of-a-kind wedding invitation that fits your personality and will surprise and delight your guests? We love to make creative and unique invitations! We can do all sorts of design variations and are more than happy to brainstorm wild ideas with you. You can see many examples of our custom work here: http://www.leafcutterdesigns.com/shop/wsps/bulk.html or feel free to drop Lea an email to discuss your idea: lea@leafcutterdesigns.com.
Tagged airmail, invites, RSVP, wedding invitations, wsps
Vintage Post Office Dept Buttons
Pretty sweet, huh? These are circa 1940 or so, before the governmental Post Office Department became the United States Postal Service in 1971, a fiscally independent agency.
