Sponsor Spotlight: Valerie of Custom Printables

Hello, friends of The Creative Place! My name is Valerie Glassman, and I am the owner/designer behind Custom Printables and Bull City Studio! I am so thrilled to be able to start this partnership with Ashley, especially since we live so close to one another (I live in Durham, NC - about 40 minutes from Ashley)!

I started Custom Printables a few years ago after taking an online class in Adobe Illustrator and InDesign through our local community college. As my then-boyfriend (now husband!) and I had started discussing marriage, I began to scour the Internet for wedding blogs and do-it-yourself designers. I soon found myself with an Etsy shop, designing wedding stationery and other pieces for couples and families around the world. Custom Printables quickly blossomed on Zazzle, and I am excited to begin a new adventure shortly with my Bull City Studio site, a subscription website from which folks can download, personalize, and print their own stationery at one year for a single payment of less than $25!

Here are some of my favorite projects from over the years:

My wedding invitation! What a delightful partnership between myself and Sara at Salutations of Chapel Hill. When I coveted letterpress but learned we couldn’t afford the set I wanted, Sara worked with us to find a delightful color palette and I could design all of the pieces myself. (Paper by Envelopments, photo by David Rosen of Photo Innovations, flowers by The Watered Garden)

I also designed, printed, and assembled the table numbers, escort cards, and other signage for the wedding! This just goes to show that even on a home printer you can make amazing, professional-quality event stationery.

One of the first pieces I designed for Zazzle was this New Orleans-inspired Save the Date that I posted almost immediately after the Saints won the Super Bowl in 2010. The very first day it went on sale it was voted a “Today’s Best Award” and is still my best selling product. It’s also served as the inspiration for a full line of fleur-de-lis pieces.