A Step Ahead of the President

Our daughter Inslee is a talented artist. Since she was five years old, she has been sketching and drawing pictures that have amazed her mother and me. Every year for the last sixteen years she has designed our Christmas cards. Many friends have saved every one. It was no surprise when many of her college classmates asked her to create sketches for special events, invitations, etc. This sparked the idea of designing note cards for a web-based business. The note cards she designed were in color. Finding a printer that could print high quality cards in high quality color in a relatively low volume at a price we could afford proved challenging - until we discovered Colorcraft in Sterling, Virginia. Their staff was as intrigued with Inslee’s work as we were. They were able to take her drawings, convert them into digital images, and print them on a digital press.

On March 26th the President visited Colorcraft and saw a postcard printed especially for him on their digital press - the same one that produces Inslee’s cards. The next day I jokingly asked our account executive, Bryan Koons who lives in Purcellville, if he shook the President’s hand. The answer was, “yes.” The President shook the hand of every Colorcraft employee, answered questions and told personal stories like why his father, Bush I, decided to make a parachute jump after he left The White House.

The President’s visit was front page news in the local papers. He told Jim Mayes, the president of Colorcraft, that the economic stimulus bill he had just signed would help companies like Colorcraft that are capital intensive. Accelerating depreciation on expensive presses and software the company needs to grow and maintain their competitive position will help the local economy and create more jobs. The President was pleased to hear that Colorcraft is sensitive to the environment using soy based ink, recycled paper and other green processes when ever possible.

My family had already discovered Colorcraft and had experienced first hand the fine work they do. (Pardon the commercial – you can too, by going to Inslee’s website) If you go to Colorcraft’s website, you will see examples of the work they do. Look carefully and you will also see several of Inslee’s images on their website.