Louie Awards

There are fist bumps and high-fives all around Elum. Why? Because we are finalists in seven different categories for this year’s Louie Awards put on by the Greeting Card Association . Congratulations to our talented team of idea makers, designers and artisan letterpress print makers for your dedication to ensuring Elum creations are NOTHING short of small works of art. You touch lives everyday through the work that you do and the cards that shared all over the world because of the passion you put into your creations. Sniff, sniff. . . Now, let’s meet the finalists!

Louie Award Finalist No. 1    BIG DILL  – in the Congratulations category
Yes, Melissa’s family is pickle obsessed. With one child nicknamed “pickle” (and her own original pickle theme song to match) and her younger sister citing pickles as her favorite meal, it’s no surprise that a pickle greeting card would be created at some point. Every single person that walks by this card smiles. And now a possible Louie Award? This is a really big dill people, a REALLY BIG DILL.

Louie Award Finalist No. 2    WINGTIPS  – in the LGBTQ category
We were asked to design a small collection of Same Sex greeting cards for Barnes & Noble. We wanted to do a play on words with the term “soulmates”. The idea for the rainbow wingtips as the pair of shoes came after and when it did, we knew we had something special. When this beautiful card came off the letterpress, we all felt it was one of the best LGBTQ cards we had ever seen; t’s simple, sophisticated, endearing and truly iconic.

Louie Award Finalist No. 3    GALACTIC  –in the Friendship category
Sometimes a really great message is all you need, and we worked as a team to draft this totally awesome one. This card has connected with so many people and it’s so ridiculously awesome read over and over and over again.  And just to prove that inspiration truly come from anywhere and everywhere, April’s inspiration for the design came to her via a pair of galactic style leggings for sale at Urban Outfitters. Go figure.

Louie Award Finalist No. 4    LAWFULLY ANNOY  – in the Wedding category
We needed to add some letterpress wedding cards to our greeting card collection, but we decided we needed some with some personality. The “happily ever after” messaging had all been done. So, we dug deep into the minds of couples married for no less than 15  years. The result is a classic statement that will stand the test of time. But the real kicker is when you open it. . . See inside message on our site here.

Louie Award Finalist No. 5   PURPLE POTATO CRISPS  –in the Friendship Humor category
While visiting the Bay Area, Amy was reading a local magazine on the topic of Dry Harvesting. As she read, she found herself pondering the ever growing movement toward safe & healthy agriculture and the terminology that we adopt as these descriptions appear on food labels. And, so the over-the-top idea for this totally hilarious and truly unique letterpress friendship card was born. Try not to laugh. It’s ridiculous, you gotta love that.

Louie Award Finalist No. 6    MUSHY GUSHY  –in the Wedding category
How do you say it all without saying a single word? I think we have that covered here. We wanted this letterpress Valentine card to be everything one would expect from a quintessential old school Valentine; frilly and red with a scripted message. The idea was that you would really have to read it to realize that it was basically a spoof on itself. The irony is just flat out fun.

Louie Award Finalist No. 5    3D POP-OUT GINGERBREAD HOUSE  –in the Christmas Holiday category
Honestly, it’s true, we were all so bored with the same-old same-old photo cards for the holidays that we decided we needed to create a clever (and of course letterpress) alternative to re-invent the idea of the holiday card all together. So, we thought, what would bring a smiles to both adults and children alike? Well, the answer was simple; this ridiculously adorable interactive 3D Pop-Out Gingerbread House card, of course! It’s kind of like the cutest thing ever.