These hilarious letterpress cards popped up on my radar a few times but I wasn't able to fully enjoy them until today. Though the cards are made by Sapling Press, the lines are made by you! Jared Wunsch and Hans Johnson are the masterminds behind the Dear Blank, Please Blank project. They created a website where you can submit a hypothetical letter from one fictional or real character to another.
If you have some time today, you can check out the website to read all the great submissions. While some are just plain sad, others are quite snarky. If anything, they'll make you believe that there's some really witty people out there in this world.
As a pick-me-up, if you want to buy one of these to send to your friend, Sapling Press is selling some on Etsy. Here's a selection.
I was able to get in touch with Lisa Krowinski of Sapling Press to find out how she started selling these letters. Lisa was kind enough to provide the background story and even told us how they became an “underground” success.
“I originally contacted Jared Wunsch in April of 2010 when I came across his previous website, wegotogetherlike.com. After telling him a bit about myself and my intentions, Jared gave me the green light to recreate that website in stationery form,” she says. “The WGTL (we go together like) line debuted at the National Stationery Show in May of 2010 to awesome reviews and sales. I kept in contact with Jared throughout the year and a few months ago I came across his, and Hans Johnson's new site, dearblankpleaseblank.com. The first line of cards had been so successful so we decided to work together again on the new Dear Blank line. I print their website on the back of every card and will soon be advertising on their website. It's the perfect partnership.
“When I first saw the site I couldn't stop laughing. While reading through the submissions, I marked down those that instantly made me chuckle, those that I thought had mass appeal, and others that gave me any kind of reaction at all. I let a few close friends know about the new line I was working on and sent them my top 10. They let me know which ones they liked the best and in the end the line debuted March 10th on Etsy with a total of eleven cards.
“The success of the line has gone above and beyond my expectations. After I put the photos on Etsy, I let Jared know and then I tweeted it out to my followers. I sent the link to about 2 or 3 blogs that had previously shown my work, in hopes that they would post something and get the ball rolling. From there, it was out of my hands. I started seeing posts on all kinds of blogs and people were sending me tweets with links several times a day. I receive daily orders on Etsy and in May they'll make their official NSS debut. I can't stop smiling at all the kind words that have been said by bloggers, buyers and tweeters.”
