Back to the chicken coop

About 2 weeks ago I told you that my project for the weekend was to paint the trim around the chicken coop and finally fix the rock border around the day lilies. I will have you know that I did not forget about it! The project has been a bit delayed due to rain and high winds that made painting a challenge. And in the middle of picking out rocks for the border around the chicken coop day lilies I got completely side tracked with re-seeding our pasture and fixing the rock border around the area with the lavender and peach roses and day lilies. So although I made progress, it wasn't necessarily on the project I was supposed to be working on.

That happens to me a lot lately...

Here's how the chicken coop day lilies and the front of the chicken coop used to look:

And here's how they look now.

I actually took that photo of the day lilies about a week ago. They are now covered in buds about to open. They are THRILLED with the new rock border because it keeps the water in and they actually get a drink now! I don't think they even bloomed last year, they were so dry. Poor guys. The chicken coop is still not finished. My plan had been to paint the trim along the roof, the trim around the door, and the actual door itself a blue color that matches the blue trim on the workshop. But then I sat back and thought that the workshop only has blue trim along the roof, and the doors themselves are actually white. So to get the chicken coop to blend in with the surroundings (my goal) instead of making it stand out, I decided I'd keep the door white. But of course I don't have white paint handy. So the conclusion of this project is still about a week away, but at least I'm making progress...

Although I didn't get this project finished, I did finally get around to doing the row of moss rock in front of the fence where we have lavender and peach colored roses and day lilies. I still need to get a load of mulch for it, but it's a huge improvement over what we had before. Here's how it looked before:

And now:

So you can see that I haven't been sitting around eating bon bons all day. (I save that for the night time!) I hope to finish a great many of these little projects this summer. It's such a great feeling to be able to start checking some boxes again on that list of things to do outside. What about you? Do any of you have any landscaping projects planned for this summer?

The benefits of being your own boss (and the need for a personal assistant)

There are many perks to being your own boss. The biggest is probably the ability to stop by the river on the way home from the daily run to the post office. I really didn't have time for this yesterday, but Sadie insisted. I had been promising her a swim for at least a week, but I kept having to tell her "tomorrow" due to bad weather or work.

But yesterday the three of us enjoyed about 30 minutes of pure bliss at the river.

And I realized that at least two of us (the smallest ones) need to have days like that more often. I wouldn't mind, either.

So as I stood there in the sand I decided to hire a personal assistant for the summer. I had my baby sitter in mind. She's great with Lachlan, young and energentic, and highly motivated by money. She's not afraid of things like yard work, and last year she had already offered to mow my lawn or weed the garden.

I talked to her this morning and offered her a big fat raise in exchange for her commitment to work 10-20 hours a week for the summer. She jumped at the chance! Yay! She's headed out of town for a family vacation and won't get back until June 13th, but then she will get right to work.

And that's perfect timing, because June 13th is the day we are supposed to close on the condo we are buying as an investment. And it needs a lot of work. And I'm already looking at Lachlan and wondering how good he is with a paint brush...

Instagram: My life. Right now.

Here is a look into my life at this exact moment. The coffee is brewing in the background for another long night. Yes, that is a bottle of Karo's corn syrup on the floor. I don't know why it's there. You'll have to ask Lachlan.

And yes, I do have a hard time finding what I need in this mess...

Product photography

There's a lot of random stuff floating around in my head right now: projects I'm working on, projects I'm planning, projects I'm thinking of planning... Much of my days lately are spent outside, at least as much as possible, with Lachlan and Sadie. Lachlan loves it, Sadie loves it, and I love it (except for the part of me that is freaking out over everything I need and want to do every day that involves not being in the yard).

We are trying to spend as much time outside now as possible, because the gnats usually come the beginning of June and they stay all month. They are outside all day long, only to be replaced by the mosquitos in the evenings. The gnats (no-see-ums) are little specks of black with wings and two big teeth. And they're MAD and wickedly ferocious and their bites itch so bad that you want to get a carrot peeler and remove that portion of your skin. Our fun outside will be coming to an end soon, at least for a few weeks until those little SOBs die for the season. But I digress.

As I go through my day I think of a lot of things I can blog about, but I rarely do because I feel like I need to devote a lot of attention to any particular item--with lots of great photos--to justify a blog post about it, and I simply don't have time for it. But that means I'm not here very much, and for those of you who expect me to be here, that must be irritating.

So I'm going to start sharing the really random, short bits of my life. Here's the first:

I finally, just today, started taking product photos for Saya's Nest. FINALLY. I know, right? Geesh. I've been blabbing my big fat mouth about this forever and going nowhere with it, or so it seems. In reality I have been building up my inventory, dreaming up products, and planning my photo shoots, and doing all that in the teeny tiny bit of free time I get each day.

Along the way I had to figure out how to work my camera better. I bought a book (The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos) and read it (most of it, anyway), but I think I have only improved my skills by less than 10% so far. At least I figured out where the white balance on the camera is... It is something I'm working on and I realize it is the kind of thing that just takes a lot of practice.

So I'm trying to make time to practice.

Here's a shot from this afternoon with no editing at all other than cropping and reducing the file size. I can already see a lot of ways to improve it, um, including making it level with the world, but it's a start. I am using my husband's old tripod. It has a loose hinge, so the camera always ends up tilting just a bit to the right. I've had enough with trying to prop it up just right, so I'm finally going to order a new tripod tonight. Unless I forget about it as soon as I finish here, which is highly likely...

In case you were wondering, no, my house does not have a white brick wall. What you see in the background is actually a really cool vinyl product photography backdrop I got from Swanky Prints. Would you have ever guessed that it's not a real brick wall? It's one of two backdrops that I bought (the other is weathered wood). I absolutely love it, though I think I had her make it too small so I will probably have to get a larger one for some of the items I'd like to photograph with it. But it will do for now. Let not the best be the enemy of the good, as my two favorite docs at my old job like to say.

And in case you were also wondering, yes, Saya's Nest is going to have some letterpress type. Vintage type. And not just vintage type. Vintage a lot of things. Along with a lot of other non-vintage things. Which is why it's taking me forever and a day to get it open. Well, that and all the other things I've got going on at the moment. But my goal is to open it for business by the end of this week, if not sooner, with at least a few things. Some cool things. At least I hope people think they are cool things.

Paper and Present 1-year anniversary giveaway winners

Thanks so much to everyone who entered the giveaway! There were actually a total of 26 entries; I gave g+m credit for two entries because she mentioned her favorite item and mentioned the tweet in the same comment.

The first randomly generated number receives the grand prize of $50 in store credit to purchase anything in the shop. And that winner is lucky number 26, Kellie. Yay, Kellie! I'll be contacting you soon to get the list of goodies you'd like from the store.

Winner of the first $10 runner up prize is number 15, Julie. Congratulations, Julie.

And last but certainly not least, winner of the second $10 runner up prize is number 2, Josie. Yay, Josie!

All of the winners will be hearing from me soon, so start preparing your wish list. :)

Thanks again to everyone for participating in the giveaway and/or purchasing items from the shop. Your support means the world to me!

Paper and Present 1-year anniversary GIVEAWAY

**The giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who participated!**

Sorry I am a day late in posting the Paper and Present one-year anniversary giveaway. But better late than never, right? :)

To enter to win, just take a look around the shop and then post a comment here letting me know what your favorite item is. If there is something that you wish I had in the shop but it isn't available, let me know and I might just add it in the future.

If you want extra chances to win, mention the giveaway and provide a link to this post on twitter, facebook, your own blog, or any other means of social media, and then post a comment here letting me know you did it. Each time you mention the giveaway, you get another entry (mention on twitter, facebook, and your blog, and you can get three separate entries).

So what's in it for you?

There will be one GRAND PRIZE winner, and that person will get FIFTY BUCKS in store credit to spend any way they want in the shop. And that's $50 in stuff; I'll pay the shipping! Yeah, baby!

And here's where it gets fun. For every ten entries in the giveaway, I'll pick one additional person at random to receive $10 worth of items of their choosing. In other words, if there are 23 entries, I'll pick two winners to get $10 store credit. If there are 55 entries, I'll pick five winners to get $10 store credit in addition to the grand prize winner. So feel free to spread the word and increase your chances of winning.

This giveaway will be open through this Sunday night, May 27, at 11:59 pm EST. I'll announce the winner(s) on Monday morning.

Good luck!

Paper and Present 1-year anniversary celebration!

Paper and Present turns one year old today! Can you believe it? I'm still a bit in shock over how quickly the past year has gone and how much the shop has grown and expanded in the last 12 months. Never, ever in my wildest dreams did I think it would take on a life of its own the way it has!

I'll be celebrating the anniversary all week long. To stay on top of the current coupon codes and fun things I have planned, be sure to check out the shop announcement at the very top of the main page of the shop. There you will find information on the day's coupon code and how to get an extra little goodie bag stuffed with awesome products with every order.

And because I love you guys so much and appreciate your patience with my frequent absence here lately (the shop really has been keeping me busy!), all of your orders this week will get an extra bonus in addition to the goodie bag for which you qualify. Just write the word "HANDWORK" in the notes to seller at checkout (don't enter it in the coupon box) and I'll include an extra bonus for you.

I'll also be hosting a giveaway right here on the blog, and you won't want to miss it. Stay tuned for details...

It's May 22 in Australia

Today it is May 22 in Australia. But if you're reading this and you reside in the United States, you know that today is May 21.

That means that today, May 21 U.S. time, is the husband's birthday. Not yesterday, which was May 21 in Australia but only May 20 in the U.S. I point that out because the husband, who is currently in Australia, told me today that his birthday was yesterday. Had he been born in Australia, that might be true. But he was born in Wyoming. On May 21.

So happy birthday, husband. Hope it is a wonderful one.

The before: Chicken coop and day lilies

This space on the side of the chicken coop has been bugging me for more than two years.



I planted day lilies on the side of the girls' house, and they do great in the spring because they get all the rain that runs off of the roof of the chicken coop. Then we hit the dry season and I have to water them, but the water runs everywhere but where it needs to be and I end up with more weeds than flowers.



For years I have planned to build a small rock border around it to hold in the water; it's a great use for some odds and ends rocks left over from the rock wall I built at the front of the house several years ago. Two years ago I was too busy with the backyard to work on it, and last year I was too busy with Lachlan to work on it. And so this pile of rocks has been sitting there for years, which is really quite embarrassing when I think about it.



But this year Lachlan LOVES to be outside, so I am finally getting to all the unfinished projects outside. And this weekend, this is my project. I am going to finish the little border around the flowers, and if it doesn't rain (the skies sure look grey!) I'm finally (!) going to paint the trim around the chickens' door. If I don't have great "after" photos by early next week, please feel free to leave a comment chewing me out. :)

The press and I

My big press and I have been spending some more time together these days, printing lots of birth announcements and finally getting around to printing some new things. I love using instagram to photograph the things I print, but for some reason I end up picking a different format for the photos each time! The light in the press room is usually perfect, and it's so easy to take the photo with my phone while I'm printing. I send it straight to my Flickr account, and then can grab it from there to post here. The technology today is mind boggling...

I recently printed these announcements in a dark purple color for little Eliza Rose. I think the baby kangaroo in its momma's pouch is absolutely adorable. Eliza got coordinating note cards printed in the same shade of purple but with a platypus. Too cute!

Here are some announcements I did for Briggs. It was a very simple card with his initials and details printed in a dark blue.

I am also finally working on some new (and more fun!) designs for birth announcements and invitations for kid's birthday parties. The first is this train design; I printed the birth announcement sample in this fun medium dark blue and also in a pale blue. I think I like the darker blue better. Next I plan to print the coordinating invitation in a bright grass green color. Now if only I could find the time to take some proper photographs so I can list it in the shop! ;)

And last but not least, here are some save the dates that I don't think I ever shared with you. I am working with the daughter of some of the husband's friends to design the invitations for her wedding in Moab, Utah in September. She wanted a vintage western vibe, so we picked this beautiful font that has an old-time Western feel but with a touch of glamour. It's actually a revival of a font designed in France sometime around 1820. We combined it with some other more serious western fonts as well as some pretty borders and decorative elements. I printed the save the dates a while back, and now we're working on finalizing the design for the invitation and other pieces. Everything is printed in a rich dark brown on ivory cotton paper, and the invitation will feature a few bits of teal as an accent color. I can't wait to show you the rest of the pieces!