The Handwork Chronicles

Where in the world is Melissa?

2012-02-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry I'm back to being a bad blogger again. Things have been hectic for awhile. The husband has been in Australia again since mid-January, and between keeping up with orders for my shops and chasing Lachlan around (wow, he loves to be chased!), I haven't had a lot of time for much else.

My mom is here now and has been entertaining Lachlan while I try to catch up on things. She's also spending Lachlan's naptime helping me get ahead on packaging items. I recently got a shipment of more than 16,000 new bags, and she's packaged up nearly half of them already!

I was starting to really make progress on things, but then the guy we hired to build the new space in our workshop had to leave before he could paint it. So now I'm spending several days doing that. I started priming it last night and will finish that this morning and then hopefully paint it this afternoon. Tomorrow I will hopefully do the floors and repaint some of the new shelving I got from Habitat for Humanity. Hopefully next week I'll be moving in. YAY!!

Here are a few pics of it this morning. It's come a long way, but still a lot to do!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

In the works: Part 2

2012-02-03T20:54:00.002-07:00

With all the projects I have in the works right now, I have a lot of stuff. And by a lot of stuff, I mean every closet in every room is jam packed with stuff. And the guest room bed is piled about 2 feet high with stuff. And I have stuff in boxes stacked 6 feet high in my bedroom. And I have more stuff in plastic bins under my bed. And more stuff arrives almost every day.

And so the only logical thing to do was to convert the last remaining free space in our workshop--the space that was reserved to one day house the horse that still lives at my parents--into space to hold my stuff in a more organized and user-friendly manner.

The space, which is about 13 x 18 feet, is currently under construction. The walls and floor are in, and today he added a glass door between the new space and the adjacent space (that I took over last year) where I keep the presses. The new space doesn't have any windows, so the door was added not only to make it easier to use both spaces but also to let in a little bit of natural light.

The space can be accessed via the press room, through the main workshop, or from the outside.

I have spent a lot of time this week at Habitat for Humanity, buying up all their metal shelving units and as many base cabinets as I could find. I got some fantastic stuff. Now I just need to find the time to get it painted. Hopefully I can get that done by the time the space is finished and ready for me to move in.

And then there will be almost no limit to the amount of stuff that I can accumulate!

In the works

2012-02-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

For those of you who read this blog directly on the website, you may have noticed that there is (FINALLY!) a new look around here. Ages ago I removed the old template with plans to immediately replace it. I think that was more than a year ago... I finally got tired of looking at it on my list of things to do, so I had the very wonderful Kayla of Rockaboo install this lovely new template for me.

This change is just the first of many, many, many new things in the works right now. One change that you may have already noticed is that there is now an "about me" page, which you can access at the top of the blog. And you may notice at the top right of the page the social media links, including twitter. Yes! I am finally on twitter as of about midnight last night. :) If any of you out there in blogland are on twitter, too, let me know.

You may also notice that there are new pages for my two Etsy shops, Paper Ink Press and Paper and Present. But there's something else that's new up there... I had hoped to have it ready last fall, then early this year. Now I have so much going on that I'm hoping to have it ready by the end of April. Until then, here's a little sneak peak:

The story behind the type

2012-01-30T16:14:00.000-07:00

One of the things I've recently started doing is including a card in each set of personalized stationery that I print with my antique type. The card gives a brief description of the method of printing and the press that I use, and it also includes information on the font that the person selects.

Most of the fonts I have are easily identified, but I have one font that really had me baffled. Last night I finally took a picture of a few of the letters and then turned to the typeface gurus on the awesome letterpress resource, Briar Press.

Within no time I had one reply that it was the font Kabel. But after I posted a photo of a few more letters that were particularly unusual, a rather interesting discussion ensued.

To make a long story short, the font turns out to be something with the rather boring name of Sans Serif Extrabold Condensed. But it's the story behind the type that I think is interesting.

The font was designed by Sol Hess (1886-1953), who began at Lanston Monotype in 1902, rising to Typographic Manager in 1922. He was particularly adept at expanding type faces into whole families. He completed 85 faces for the Monotype foundry, making him America’s fourth most prolific type designer. This particular font, Sans Serif Extrabold Condensed, was designed in 1930 and is based on the German typeface designer Rudolph Koch’s font, Kabel. Released by the Klingspor foundry in 1927, Kabel was designed to honor the newly completed trans-Atlantic telephone cable.

Is it just me, or do any of you find it fascinating that an entire typeface would be designed to honor a telephone cable?!

Carrot pineapple muffins

2012-01-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

I spent the better part of this morning searching for some new muffin recipes for Lachlan, and I came across the website Weelicious and I already love it! I ran to the store and got the fixins for four different muffins. As soon as we got home I started making the carrot pineapple muffins and the first batch came out of the oven just in time for Lachlan to stuff his face with a little more than one of them before his nap (and that's after he was stuffed full from his snack!).

The recipe was really easy. I increased both the pineapple and carrots, and I think next time I make it I'll increase the pineapple even more. These were really good. I've already had two. :)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup agave nectar or honey (awesome use of the agave nectar I got for the husband for Christmas!)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup finely chopped pineapple or 1 8-oz can crushed pineapple, drained well
(I used about 3/4 cup pineapple and feel like I still could have added more for my taste)
1 cup shredded carrot (I ended up using about 1.5 cups)
1/2 cup walnuts, optional (I left these out)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In separate bowl combine butter and agave. Add eggs and whisk to combine.
4. Add the vanilla, pineapple, carrots and walnuts (if using).
5. Stir in the dry ingredients. Be sure not to over mix.
6. Bake about 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
YUM!

Isn't it nice to get a letter in the mail?

2012-01-25T21:46:00.000-07:00

There are few things in life these days that can instantly put me in a good mood the way a real letter in the mail can. Most days I don't even bother to get the mail unless I'm expecting a package, because I know it will be nothing but bills or credit card offers and other forms of junk mail.

So imagine my delight when about a week before Christmas I got an unexpected package in the mail. The return address label said it was from M&H Type, and I thought that was odd because I hadn't ordered any type from them in a few years.

This is what I saw when I opened the box. "Isn't it nice to get a letter in the mail?"

Clever! So very clever! And I think even non-letterpress-type-loving folks will think this is awesome, and definitely an incredibly cool marketing campaign.

Like I said, I haven't ordered type from them in years, but this little package of joy reminded me of this type foundry, so I might just have to see about checking out their latest type catalog... (I sure hope the husband doesn't read this!)

Danger!

2012-01-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

I spent this morning's blog-writing time at the grocery store instead of blogging. Lachlan had finally run out of enthusiasm for the sausage patties he's been liking so very much lately, so I bought him a fresh assortment of all sorts of goodies. We got home and he decided he'd rather stick with the sausage, thankyouverymuch.

In the next week or two I'll have his babysitter over a lot to help me out. She's in 8th grade and loves a snack or two when she comes over right after school. So I bought her a fresh assortment of all sorts of goodies.

Like this bag of animal cookies--the kind with the pink and white frosting and the little round sprinkles--which she immediately opened.

And after grabbing a handful of them, she left the bag sitting there. Open.

And I just went to fix myself a cup of tea. And I saw the bag. Open.

And so I grabbed one. Or two. Or five. I can't remember now. It's all a blur. And now I'm not sure that bag will still be there next time she comes over.

Holiday 2012 recap: Garden Tool Co.

2012-01-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

Today's Christmas gift recap is actually a gift I gave, not one that I received. Is it obnoxious to say that a gift I gave someone was totally awesome? Maybe. But in this day and age, when I come across a product available online that is of spectacular quality and is accompanied by OUTSTANDING customer service, I think I should toot its horn.

My mom spends countless hours outside every year tending to her garden (and to mine, when I'm lucky!) and she is always in need of high-quality gardening tools. This year I came across the Garden Tool Co. and had no problem picking out several of their tools for my mom for Christmas this year.

To start, I got her a DeWit 3-prong hand fork, a Sneeboer hand hoe and fork, and a Burgon and Ball shrub rake and I was absolutely blown away by their quality. The hand hoe and fork is particularly wicked looking, but will probably be invaluable as my mom works to break up the concrete-like dirt clods that she comes across on her property!

You can probably tell from the pictures that these are not your average garden tools that are designed to last one year (if even that long) and then get replaced the following year. These suckers are made to last.

And if that wasn't great enough, the customer service provided by this company was amazing. About an hour after I placed my order online, I received a personal email from Blake, the owner of the company, thanking me for my purchase and letting me know how much he appreciated my business. About 30 minutes later I received another email letting me know my items had been shipped.

The "About Us" section of their website says it all: "We have to earn your trust through the quality of the products we offer and the uncommon customer service you deserve.”

I can't wait for the next opportunity to buy more of their tools, and no doubt will be placing an order for myself in just another month or two as I get ready for this year's garden. If any of you are in need of some superior gardening tools for yourself or as a gift, please, please, please consider getting them from this company. You won't be disappointed!

Holiday 2012 recap: Blackbird Naturals

2012-01-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

It seems almost silly to me to just now be talking about some cool things I got for Christmas this year, but I have been slightly overwhelmed with orders from my Etsy packaging shop for weeks now. All I can say is that ridiculous things happen when two different women in Denmark with very popular blogs get some of your products and then blog about them! But I digress...

I got several really awesome things for Christmas. I'll just tell you about a few of them that are particularly relevant to the general themes that appear on this here blog, because I figure that you might be particularly interested in hearing about them.

First up is this AWESOME package of vegetable seeds that I got from my friend, Kelly. It is made by Blackbird Naturals and I was giddy when I first unwrapped it, and then I almost passed out when I opened the box! If you've poked around my Etsy packaging shop, Paper and Present at all, you've probably figured out that I looooove pretty packaging. And if you've poked around this blog at all, you've probably figured out that I loooooove gardening. So this present was a definite home run with me.

It came in this really neat wood, slide-top box, which had me at hello!

And if that wasn't awesome enough, this is what I saw when I opened the box:

Beautiful, right?! Those little metal slide-top tins make my heart go pitter-patter every time I look at them. I'll never look at a plain paper envelope of seeds the same way again. I just love a company that goes the extra step to present their goods this way!

Included in my collection are 8 varieties of heirloom, organic, open pollinated vegetable seeds: arugula, chantenay carrot, chioggia beet, cherry tomato, English breakfast radish, lemon cucumber, orach spinach, and Siberian kale.

If you are a gardener yourself, you might be very interested in the seeds available at Blackbird Naturals. And if you aren't a gardener but know someone who is, their seed collections make spectacular gifts. Trust me! :D

Colorful cards

2012-01-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

My babysitter sent me a text message last night and said she has the day off school for MLK day, so I am taking full advantage of that!

This morning I spent some time out in the studio working on some samples of two fonts, including some new cards. It recently dawned on me that there are very few options for personalized letterpress folded cards (most people do flat cards because it can be very problematic to score and fold the heavy cotton paper used for letterpress without it cracking along the fold, but I have mastered the technique!). And there are absolutely no options (that I can find) for personalized letterpress cards on colored paper.

So that got me to thinking... I have a ton of pretty colored cardstock that coordinates with my colored envelopes. I tried a few samples today and it works pretty well with a blind impression. So this morning I printed several samples in these two fonts, and this afternoon I'm hoping to print samples of two more fonts if I can get them cleaned well enough in the time I have.

Printing and scheduling

2012-01-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

After spending several months focusing on my other Etsy shops, I'm finally getting back around to showing some love to my original letterpress shop. I recently printed several sets of birth announcements, some calling cards, some new folded greeting cards, and some new flat cards.

I've also printed several sets of custom blind impression cards, the latest of which are these cards with the initials WGM.

After several months, I finally got the (correct) treadle for the newest (oldest) press that I use exclusively for hand-set type. YAY!! Man, what a fiasco that was! Now I'm able to print more easily because I don't have to turn the flywheel by hand while also trying to feed the paper into the press. So in the next few weeks I'm going to spend some time thoroughly cleaning the type that I have, and when my mom is here in February I'm finally going to get back to printing lots of samples, including some new card layouts, which means I'll finally get around to finishing the sample cards that several of you are so patiently waiting for. Woo hoo!

A few housekeeping notes: Thanks very much for all the nice comments about Lachlan and his first birthday. He sure is a happy kid and it's a lot of fun to see him at this stage. He's so mobile and more curious than a cat, so he keeps me on my toes on a regular basis! :)

I had mentioned that I would be back to regular blogging this week, but that hasn't worked out very well. The husband had the day off yesterday and we had Lachlan's well baby appointment in the morning and then ran errands for most of the rest of the day, so I'm sorry for the lack of a post since Monday. This year I plan to spend a lot of time getting Lachlan out and about to the library's story time, museums, etc., and I'm hoping to come up with some sort of schedule to keep me sane. Next week I hope to start with my new schedule which includes blogging on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. So, have a great weekend and I'll see you back here on Monday.

One

2012-01-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that Lachlan turned one year old yesterday. It really does seem like he just joined the family yesterday, although I'm sure that Sadie would say that it feels like he's been here for an eternity...

Here are a few photos I took of him while enjoying some sunshine yesterday. He definitely shares his dad's love of the great outdoors!

2012

2012-01-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

Happy 2012! I hope everyone had a great New Year's! Ours was good. Very low key. The husband spent a lot of time playing with Lachlan and I spent a lot of time trying to get caught up on things with not a lot of success. I have so much planned for the coming year and can't wait to start organizing my thoughts and goals and plans.

But at the moment I am still stuck trying to finish up a big editing project I took on over the summer. It has been dragging on forever and eating up all of my free time. I used to blog in the morning during Lachlan's naps, but lately I've been editing every moment I can.

The manual absolutely has to be in the woman's hands when she boards the plane for Ghana this Saturday, so things will be quiet here until then. Next week I hope to be back in full force. I can't wait to show you some of the awesome goodies I got (and gave!) for Christmas, and to share with you some of my plans for this coming year.

Until then, I'll leave you with this picture of Lachlan gazing longingly at Sadie and a giant pile of snow in my parents' back courtyard over Christmas. :)

A white Christmas

2011-12-23T13:06:00.000-07:00

We are at my parents' house in New Mexico for Christmas. They live in the mountains. They get snow. Yesterday they got a lot of snow. Good thing we got here the day before yesterday.

It looks like Lachlan's first Christmas will definitely be a white one!

I hope all of you have a wonderful Holiday season and Happy New Year. I will see you all back here early next year!

Three birdhouses for Charlie

2011-12-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

I live just outside the small town of Palisade, and every year in December they have an Olde Fashioned Christmas festival. They have gingerbread house competitions and other fun stuff, and they always have an outdoor market in the streets downtown. They set up wood burning stoves in the middle of the street and vendors offer free cups of hot chocolate and apple cider, and people are encouraged to dress in period costume from the late 1800s.

I have often considered hawking my wares there. Afterall, what better fit for a celebration of an 1800s Christmas than cards printed on an 1800s printing press, right? But the last three years that we've been here for it, it is has been cold. And miserable. And snowing. So I decided to pass on it this year.

But then Saturday rolled around and the sun was out and it was a glorious day. Figures...

So while the husband was busy entertaining Lachlan, I went down to the market to see if there were any last-minute gifts I couldn't live without. I stopped at the booth run by the local alpaca farmers and bought a few things. And I couldn't resist the raspberry blueberry bread sold by a nearby bakery.

And as I was on my way to buy a wreath from the Boy Scouts, I stopped in my tracks when I saw the most awesome collection of wood birdhouses.

A sign posted on the display said that all the money was going to support a local kid named Charlie who has been selected to travel to Greece and Italy this coming summer as part of the People to People Ambassador program. I overhead the vendor explaining to another woman that he was Charlie's dad, and that he is a "collector" of "stuff" and that he has always built these birdhouses as a hobby. And when people started showing an interest in them, he decided to build some to help raise money for his son's upcoming trip.

I remember my days in 4-H and showing horses as a youth when we were always trying to raise money to go on a trip somewhere. So I'm a real sucker for that kind of thing. Plus these houses were so cool and EXACTLY the kind of rustic and unique birdhouses I've been searching for to add some character to our property.

As I was making my selection, the man came over and told me that it was getting late in the day so everything was 20% off. So I picked out three of the houses and then gave him $20 more than the original price of them. I thought he was going to start crying. I told him I remember being in his kid's position and how hard my parents worked to help me raise money for various things I was involved in. And these days there are so many kids NOT doing good things, that when I come across one who is, well, I want to make sure that I help support them any way I can.

So now Charlie is that much closer to a summer abroad, and I have three of the coolest birdhouses this side of the Mississippi. I'm not sure who got the better deal.

Malt bunny's cousins

2011-12-14T11:18:00.000-07:00

Awhile back I showed you the malt bunny that I got for Lachlan. Well, Lachlan loved Malty Bunny so much that he decided that his cousins needed to have Bunny's cousins for Christmas (is it odd that one of Malt Bunny's cousins is a Malt Doggy?). And so that there is no mistaking which animal belongs to which cousin, they each have their own custom knit sweater with the girls' initials and made in their favorite color. They are being shipped up north today.

Now Lachlan's Malt Bunny is feeling naked, so he's going to get his own custom sweater early next year. :)

If you need your own sweatered animal, you can visit Emily at Yarn Miracle.

Blueberry zucchini muffins

2011-12-08T14:07:00.001-07:00

Lachlan and I struggle on a daily basis to find something he likes to eat. One day he loves lasagna. The next day he tries to throw it in my face. One thing he consistently likes is a muffin. But one flavor of muffin will only last a day or two before he's ready to move on to the next flavor experience. I search high and low for muffin recipes that look good but also look really healthy and nutritious. If the only thing he's going to eat is a muffin, it had better be good for him.

His latest favorite (which he's happily eaten several days now) is blueberry zucchini.

I found this recipe for a blueberry zucchini bread and then adapted it. This is the second time I've made it, tweaking it a bit each time, and I think this is the winning adaptation for us:

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup vegetable oil

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups white sugar

4 cups shredded zucchini

3 cups whole-wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 pint fresh blueberries or one bag (about 14 ounces?) of frozen blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease muffin pan or line with cupcake liners.

2. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini.

3. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.

4. Gently fold in the blueberries.

5. Transfer to the prepared muffin pan.

6. Bake about 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. Stuff your face (or watch your kid stuff his!)

Canyoneering

2011-12-06T12:48:00.001-07:00

I forgot that the husband took these photos while we were exploring a canyon during our trip to Boulder, Utah last month. These pictures are particularly notable because there are few pictures of me in general and almost none of me with Lachlan. I'm the one who is usually taking the pictures, which means there are a ton of Lachlan and plenty of the husband with Lachlan, but I'm mostly MIA.

And yeah, the scenery really is THIS AWESOME. Really truly.

Packages

2011-12-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy few weeks for the packaging department of my Etsy shops. My new packaging supply shop has been particularly busy recently between the Heartsy deal and everyone gearing up to wrap Christmas/holiday presents. I've had almost 140 orders -- most of them for multiple items -- since the beginning of November! Let's just say that because of my twice-daily visits to the post office to drop off packages, Lachlan and I are on a first-name basis with all of the people who work there.

Speaking of packages, I just picked up this one at the post office this morning. It's from an Etsy seller in Lithuania. I can't show you what's inside because most of them are Christmas presents (I'll show them to you once they get to their new homes!), but I thought the package was so neat. It's great to get mail any day, especially a package of goodies, but it's extra special when you know it's traveled so far to get to you. And I love seeing how postal services in other countries label and stamp their mail.

This week has been really hectic and I'm feeling exhausted and Lachlan and Sadie are feeling neglected, so I'll be taking the afternoon off to sip hot chocolate (they say it's going to start snowing any minute) and finally put my own wrapping supplies to good use as I get busy with all the Christmas presents that are stacked up in my closet!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

November giveaway winner: G&M

2011-12-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who entered the November giveaway! The winner was comment 2 left by G&M. Yay! I'll contact you in just a bit to get your address. The African critters are packed and ready to move to their new home!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered the giveaway! You all qualify for 50% off everything in the shop today through December 4. Use the code handwork50 (be sure to enter it in the area for "coupon code" NOT in the notes to seller) to get anything you want, including your own set of critters! I still need to list a lot of the discontinued critters in the shop, so if you are interested in a particular animal, send me an email and I'll let you know if I have any. :D

The critter cards are back! November giveaway

2011-11-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

I'm sliding in just under the wire with November's giveaway! The new and improved critter cards are finally back! I have four sets -- woodland, farmyard, African, and Australian/New Zealand -- with four different animals/colors in each set of 12.

The winner of this giveaway will get their choice of one 12-pack set of any critter collection. To enter, check out the shop to see all four collections and then post a comment here letting me know what critter set you'd like to win! Open to international entries. Deadline for entries is midnight EST November 30.

And while you're in the shop, feel free to take advantage of the 25% discount good now through November 28. Use code THNKS25.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I'll see you back here next week!

Paper and Present + Heartsy

2011-11-22T00:21:00.002-07:00

Update: I got my days mixed up, and the Heartsy deal is currently available to VIPs today, even though it doesn't "officially" start until tomorrow. ;)

The Heartsy deal for Paper and Present starts on Wednesday the 23rd, but it's for VIPs only. Only 50 vouchers will be available, so get yours in a hurry if you're interested (and are a VIP). Or you can use your own special discount, which is good through November 26. :)

A few days away...

2011-11-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday the husband and I packed up the kid and the dog and drove about 5 hours west to the most awesome teeny tiny town ever. Boulder, Utah. You may have heard about it before if you read this post from two years ago. Otherwise I'm willing to bet you've never heard of it before. But put it on your map, because it has one of THE BEST restaurants this side of the Mississippi.

The thought of that long of a drive with a 10-month-old didn't totally appeal to me, but I had a (rather significant) birthday this past Saturday and the restaurant is soooo good, and I figured that I've been working hard enough lately that I deserved a break, so I figured we could manage. :)

We stayed at the Boulder Mountain Lodge again, and we ate every single meal at Hell's Backbone Grill. I ate the pork tenderloin chop twice. I screwed up on the third night and had their chicken. I'm still dreaming about that pork chop... There's a reason it's been written up in the New York Times, is loved by Sunset magazine, has appeared numerous times in Bon Appetit and is Zagat rated. It. Is. Amazing.

We did a tiny bit of hiking, but mostly we just hung out with Lachlan and enjoyed a few sunsets.

And today? Well, today it's back to business as usual!

Paper and Present

2011-11-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been talking about it for long enough, so here it is: my other, other Etsy shop, Paper and Present.

For as long as I can remember I have loooved packaging supplies -- stickers, little bags, fancy doo-dads to dress up packages, pretty ribbons and strings, pretty tissue paper, etc. And I'm in love with the new trend of kraft paper and baker's twine!

After Lachlan was born I found it difficult to keep up with my letterpress printing. The presses are out in the workshop in an environment that isn't exactly practical for an infant, let alone a toddler. So I put a lot of my big plans for my letterpress shop (like wedding invitations) on hold for now and decided to limit my offerings to things that I could easily print in just an hour or two while the baby sitter or the husband is available.

But I'm the kind of person who is just itching to be doing something all the time, and my letterpress shop gave me the Etsy bug.

I wanted to do something at least a little creative but I needed to be able to do it while standing at my kitchen counter where I can keep an eye on Lachlan (and that I can easily put down to go play with him). I did a lot of soul searching and came up with the idea to try selling packaging and gift wrap supplies. I started small, just selling colored envelopes and stickers that I already stocked for my letterpress shop. I slowly added things a little at a time as more people discovered my shop. And as I mentioned in a previous post, this new shop is even busier than my letterpress shop!

Things are getting busy now as people gear up for holiday gift-giving. I have my shop almost completely stocked with items (even some letterpress goods!). I have just a few more things to add in the next few days. I have a Heartsy deal ($10 for $20 store credit) for the shop coming up very soon (I'll let you know when), but this deal will be limited to 50 vouchers and will be for VIPs only.

But all you lovely blog readers are VIPs to me! So I'd like to offer you the same deal, only better! Between now and November 26, you can purchase whatever you want from the shop for 50% off! And there is no $20 limit to hold you back, so feel free to go hog wild. Just use coupon code "Handwork" when you check out. I have plenty of almost everything (a few letterpress items are limited), so if something is sold out and you can't live without it, let me know and I'll get more into the shop for you.

Happy shopping! :D

Lovely package exchange

2011-11-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

I've been following the blog Oh, hello friend: you are loved off and on for quite some time now. Danni is just such a sweet person. She's hosting a lovely package exchange for the first 125 people who sign up at her blog. You can go here to read more about it. But if you're interested you need to hurry. There are only about 30 spots left as I write this!

Three sneak peeks

2011-11-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

I mentioned yesterday that I have four different shops in the works. I have my letterpress stationery shop (Paper Ink Press) and my letterpress surplus shop (i.e., the stuff my mean husband says we don't have room for, aka I Heart Letterpress).

Then I mentioned that I have another Etsy shop that I opened this past May. I have something in the works for that shop right now, so I'll hold off on telling you about it until probably this Thursday or Friday.

And then I have this other shop. Well, it's not yet a shop. At the moment it's still mostly just a bunch of ideas rolling around in my head when I wake up at 3 AM and can't fall back asleep. But I'm slowly pulling the pieces of it together and sorting through my ideas. I had originally hoped to have the shop up and running by November 1, which then quickly became November 15. I had hoped to be ready for the holiday shopping frenzy, but then I had an honest talk with myself and decided there wasn't any way I could accomplish that while still maintaining my other projects and remaining even remotely sane.

I'm really excited about this new shop. It encompasses a lot of things I'm really interested in and passionate about. In the past I felt like I needed to just focus on one thing, but in reality I have so many different interests and I was always a bit sad that I didn't allow myself to follow up on some of them. That's how my latest Etsy shop first came up. It was the first small step forward in my attempt to branch out and do some things I really like while allowing me the flexibility to work at the kitchen counter while Lachlan hangs onto my pant leg.

As I mentioned yesterday, my latest Etsy shop has held its own so far, especially considering that I haven't done a single thing to promote it. And that gave me the confidence that maybe my ideas for this other shop will work, too. So now I'm following up on those ideas. I have big things in mind for this new shop, and I want to do things right. I hired a graphic designer to design the logo and all the business collateral, which is in the final stages of development at the moment. I also plan to really advertise and promote this shop, and because I want to do that in a thoughtful way, I probably will hold off on that--and the official opening--until next year.

In the meantime, I am hoping to have sort of a pre-grand opening hopefully by December 1 with a very limited offering of goods. I know how my mind works and I'll want several weeks to find my way with this new shop before I go whole hog with it. I'll also have some small items that will make great stocking stuffers, so I'm thinking of something along the lines of a small, limited time "pop-up shop" to make them available in time for the holidays. I'll certainly keep you posted on that, and on the general development of the shop in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, here are three small sneak peeks at a very small selection of things for the new shop. Confused? :)

HI (What's Up?)

2011-11-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

What a perfectly appropriate title for today's blog post. I feel like it's been forever since I've been able to put any effort into this blog, and I apologize for that.

But up until this past Friday, the husband has been working in Australia. Except for about a week in September when he had a quick trip home, he's been gone for three months. I've been running myself into the ground trying to raise an infant, exercise and love a needy dog, design and print a whole bunch of new letterpress goods, start up and/or run four (yes, FOUR) different shops, and then do some freelance editing on top of it all (because I was SO stupid when I said yes to that project). Most days have extended to midnight or 1 AM, and at the end of that I just haven't had the brain power to blog.

But the husband is back now, and although I still haven't caught up on my sleep (somehow he always beats me to the couch for a nap) at least he has been around for a few days to occupy the two gremlins so I can start tying up some loose ends.

Here's one loose end that is getting tied up today: A new line of letterpress greeting cards.

It'll be part of a bigger post on another day, but for now let's just say that this past May I quietly opened up a new shop on Etsy (no, not i heart letterpress. A different shop). It's a little something I figured I'd try because I could easily do it at my kitchen counter while keeping an eye on Lachlan. And it has actually turned out to be somewhat successful. Quite successful, actually. In fact, except for my orders for birth announcements and sales generated through Heartsy, it is outperforming my letterpress shop.

And that got me thinking. It got me thinking that even though I have a whole room FULL of letterpress cards, I often find myself going to the store and (cringe) buying a card for someone for a particular occasion because 98% of my cards are generic flat cards for generic notes to someone. And these days, not a lot of people have the time to write generic notes. I know I don't.

So I've come up with a new line of greeting cards. They are two-color folded cards and they are for particular occasions, even if that occasion is just to let your friend know that you're still alive and thinking about them and wondering what they are up to these days.

I'm calling it my parenthetical collection. I've printed the first three cards, and this morning I ordered the plate for another 5 cards. They aren't anything over-the-top crazy in the design department. They get straight to the point. And these days, I'm all about straight to the point.

Here's the first one. So, yeah. Hi. What's up?

Moms are awesome

2011-11-02T15:42:00.001-06:00

I guess I sounded pretty frazzled when I was talking to my mom last week. Between having a kid who doesn't like to sleep and all the projects I'm working on, I haven't been getting very much sleep lately. And I guess it was starting to show!

So she sent me this beautiful flower arrangement on Monday. She also sent a giraffe and some balloons and a little baggie of candy for Lachlan. (I, of course, inhaled the candy. Almond Joy, my favorite!)

This was just the little ray of sunshine I needed to pep me up and keep me going. I love all the flowers in the arrangement, especially these purple ones. But I can't for the life of me think of what they're called. Does anyone know?

Thanks, mom. You're the BEST! :D

Carrot apple muffins

2011-11-01T12:35:00.002-06:00

I recently tried Christine's recipe for carrot apple muffins. They were fantastic! They are one of the few solid food items that Lachlan seems to like, and they are so healthy that I don't feel too guilty about stuffing 3 or 4 in my face!

If you have any carrots and apples sitting around, I recommend you try this recipe! I'll be making batch number 4 this week.

Speaking of feeling guilty, I know I still owe several of you your personalized cards. I haven't forgotten about you! I just haven't had a chance to print more samples because of some other things I have going on at the moment. I'm also still waiting on the treadle to come for the press. It's being made by a foundry in Idaho and will make life much easier. As it is now I have to turn the flywheel by hand 5 or 6 times just to print one card. It is slow going and I ended up with a blister on my hand from the last batch of cards I did. Hopefully I'll get the rest of the samples printed in the next 2 weeks. :)

Extracurricular activities

2011-10-27T16:01:00.001-06:00

I mentioned the other day that I'm working on another Etsy shop. Here's a tiny sneak peek at one of the things in the "new product development" department...

i heart letterpress

2011-10-25T12:15:00.001-06:00

There is so much going on these days that I rarely even know what day of the week it is.

Here's one of the reasons I've been so busy, and thus a bad blogger.

It's one of my new Etsy shops: iheartletterpress. It's where I'm selling a lot of my antique letterpress type that I can't use and that the husband is tired of looking at. I have buckets and buckets and cases and buckets and boxes and cases and buckets of type to go through. I'm starting with the biggest size type because it takes up the most room. Right now I'm pulling out particular letters and selling them first. So far "ME & YOU" has been really popular. But I finally tracked down two Xs (which are always in short supply) so I think this XOXO will probably be a big hit, too. I also have a lot of antique wood type cases to sell, but I haven't had the time yet to figure out how to safely ship them at a reasonable price, so they'll be for sale hopefully one day soon.

And yes, you read that right. I said this is one of my new Etsy shops. That's another reason I'm so busy. More on that later. Well, hopefully sooner than later.

Made my day

2011-10-21T15:08:00.002-06:00

Well, if this isn't JUST the thing I needed to come along to totally make my day. Or my week. Or the month, for that matter.

I've been so busy lately that I haven't visited any of my usual blogs in a long, long time. So it's a good thing that Sarah emailed me this morning.You may remember these invitations I did for Sarah and Aaron last year.

They lived in New York but were having a destination wedding in Arizona, and Sarah had a very specific idea in mind for her invitations when she first approached me to print them for her.Well, these invitations, along with the rest of Sarah and Aaron's lovely and intimate wedding, are featured on the destination wedding section of Style Me Pretty today! You can go here to see the whole story.

Now if you'll excuse me I need to finish picking myself up off the floor. :)

Mental health day #2

2011-10-20T16:07:00.000-06:00

I took another mental health day recently. Actually, it was more of a "restoring Sadie's sanity" day than anything. Poor thing, she's been neglected by me and terrorized by Lachlan lately. Even though there is snow in the mountains (I know! Isn't it crazy?), it's still pretty warm down here in our valley.

So the other day Lachlan and I took Sadie to an awesome little area of the river about a mile from our house. She will swim and chase sticks all day long if I let her. She came home and slept quite soundly for the rest of the afternoon in my room, safely behind the door so that Lachlan couldn't crawl into bed with her.

Mental health day #1

2011-10-19T13:24:00.000-06:00

It's been pretty hectic around here, processing orders from the Heartsy sale and also working on several other big projects. So last Friday, Sadie, Lachlan and I headed up into the mountains on the Grand Mesa near our house for a little mental health break. Poor Sadie, it was as much a break for her as it was for me. She's been pretty neglected lately!

The leaves on the aspens were a beautiful golden color, and there was just enough snow on the ground to make it clear that winter is just around the corner.

Malt bunny

2011-10-12T17:27:00.001-06:00

I've been meaning to show you this adorable guy for awhile now. A few weeks ago, Emily from Yarn Miracle contacted me about getting some of my bear critter cards. She wanted to give them as thank you presents to people who were testing a bear knitting pattern for her.

Over the course of several emails back and forth, I got a real sense of what a fun woman Emily is. So out of curiousity I checked out her shop and blog and just fell in love with her animals. One thing led to another, and she got a few more cards from me and I sent one of her "Itty Bitty Buddies" to a friend who just had a baby.

Then one thing led to another again, and she got more of my cards and I got this AWESOME chocolate malt bunny.

I can't tell you how much I love him. Really. I just love him! I got him for Lachlan (because I love reading The Velveteen Rabbit to him), but I'm starting to think I'm going to keep him for myself!

If you need your own adorable companion animal or know someone who does, I can't recommend Emily enough. Act fast, though, because I noticed she has a note on her shop that her list fills up quickly for Christmas. Speaking of that, I'm heading back there now to look for some Christmas gifts!

And even if you don't plan to purchase a companion animal for someone, check out her listings anyway. They are so much fun to read! :)

Heartsy - October 11

2011-10-06T15:54:00.002-06:00

I wanted to let you all know that my Heartsy deal will run on Tuesday, October 11 for regular Heartsy members, with early access for VIPs on Monday. Vouchers will sell for $21 for $42 in store credit ($52 for VIPs).

In addition to my regular cards, grab bags, and letterpress subscriptions, I'll have some new letterpress monogram and personalized cards, some new decorative note card sets, and a little "pop-up shop" with some fun packaging and gift wrap goodies. :)

I'll be doing this sale at a new shop I set up through a different site. Last time I did a Heartsy deal, Etsy's fees and commissions really took a toll on the bottom line, so I'm going to try a new shop this time and see how it goes.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the fun new goodies that will be available.

If you feel like snooping, you can see more of what will be available here. I'm still trying to add items and post more photos, but my internet has been in and out (mostly out) all week, so it's taking forever!

Back to the future

2011-10-03T11:16:00.000-06:00

Realizing that there is more to this world than what he can see while crawling on the floor, Lachlan has figured out how to push this little music table so that he can walk around the house. Every time I watch this video, I can't help but laugh out loud. He looks like a little old man pushing his walker around! And I just love that little bounce he does at the beginning.

In other news, posting will be light again this week. I'm busy printing like a crazy lady, trying to get ready for my next Heartsy deal that will be running soon, maybe even by the end of this week! I'll let you know once the date is set.

Birth announcements for Mary

2011-09-30T09:18:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I printed these sweet birth announcements for little Mary Caroline. The lucky girl is also getting her own set of personalized stationery. It's the least her mom could do for her, considering she has to grow up in a house with two big brothers!

Today or sometime over the weekend I'm hoping to print some more samples of the personalized cards. My goal is to have them all printed and photographed so I can send everyone their sample cards by mid-October. :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Calm...

2011-09-27T07:51:00.000-06:00

I interrupt this moment of extreme computer frustration to show you these calming photos of some of my roses.

After waiting 3 weeks for them to even look at my computer, they decided it was a bad motherboard and sent it back to HP to fix.HP decided it was the hard drive and replaced it. Good thing I had backed up my files! I got it back and discovered that HP put on a different operating system than I had on it before (32 bit instead of 64 bit), and after hours and hours of trying to reinstall the correct operating system, I just gave up.Now I'm trying to reload all of my software and get all of my files transferred back to the computer, not to mention trying to redo all the customization I did before. Argh, argh, argh! Time to go smell the roses again.

Workshop before and after

2011-09-22T08:25:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago I shared with you a few pictures of the sad state of our workshop...

It was a total disaster. While we remodeled our house, most of our belongings were packed up and stored some place in here. And then we just kept adding to the piles over the course of about three years.

That, in combination with a husband who likes to keep boxes that are only partially (or very minimally) full rather than consolidating items into a single box, resulted in complete and total chaos. It became one of those spaces that just makes you anxious and uneasy. Plus it was frustrating that we could never find anything, let alone actually work in there!

The husband had to go to Australia for a few weeks, so I took full advantage of that time to completely organize and clean the whole space. He wasn't supposed to be back until September 30, but he ended up coming home early about two weeks ago so I didn't get to finish everything I wanted to do. But I made three trips to Goodwill, filled up the large trash bin at least twice, and recycled a bazillion boxes. And all of the things we've been missing while they were packed have finally found new homes in the house.

The end result is a clean and organized space. I even mopped the floor!!!

I still have some things to get rid. In the photo above there is a rolling cart full of letterpress cases and type and stuff that I need to get rid of. But all of the boxes on the shelves above have been sorted and labeled so we can find what we're looking for. Like items are grouped together (garden stuff on one set of shelves, coolers on another, camping gear on another) and positioned according to how often they're used and who is most likely to use them (items I need regular access to are on lower shelves).

The area is still pretty crowded because the husband's old camaro is parked inside, but at least there are plenty of clean work surfaces, and all of the husband's tools are on rolling carts that can be easily moved around the shop.

Yay for organization!

I'll be signing off from here for a few days. My computer is finally (FINALLY!) back from being fixed. It had to go back to HP where they decided it was a hard drive problem. So now I have a new hard drive with nothing on it (thank goodness I backed it up!), so I'll be spending the next week or so hunting down all my software to reinstall and then rebuilding all of my files. And I think I'll take this opportunity to do some large-scale cleaning and organizing of my files, too! Hope you all have a happy weekend, and hopefully I'll be back to blogging on my main computer soon!

August and September giveaway winners

2011-09-19T10:12:00.000-06:00

Before I announce the winners of the August and September giveaways, can I just say how awesome my weekend was? The weather here was PERFECT. It was the ultimate early fall kind of day. Sunny, clear skies, perfect temperature, just the hint of a breeze. You get the idea. The husband hung out with Lachlan in the shade of the plum trees much of the weekend (you should see my little maniac go after the plums. He's like a leach!), which allowed me the free time to work in the studio to continue to set up the new press to print using all of my antique type.

It was very productive and very satisfying to see equipment more than 100 years old still working so perfectly. :) I printed several samples of fonts in a blind deboss (no ink) and a chocolate brown on Saturday, and yesterday I printed more samples in red. I even got started on some ideas I have for the holidays, which I'll show you later this week. But here's a sneak peak of one of the things I have plans for (using a cut I got with my newest press, which I think was made sometime probably in the 30s or 40s, if not earlier).

Now, on to the winners. The random generator picked number 2 and number 12: Holly Rene' and Gail McCormick (Hey, cool! I used to be a McCormick before I got married!). Congratulations! I'll be contacting you to see what animals you'd like in your set.

So are you one of the ones who entered but didn't win? NO PROBLEM. I love the kind of giveaway where everyone wins something, don't you? Have you ever heard that people love to see their name in lights? Well, I think people also love to see their name in type!

As I mentioned above, I spent the weekend printing samples. One of the things I'll be offering in my shop (soon, very soon!) is personalized cards using all of my antique type. To post a listing for sale, I have to have some samples, and to have some samples, I need some names. That's where you come in!!

Everyone who entered will get a small set (probably 3 cards) of personalized cards in one or possibly two different styles and colors. I already printed some names, but I'm still working on others and I'll be printing two more colors and several more styles of cards hopefully this week.

If you'd like to receive some cards, please send me an email (melissa [at] paperinkpress [dot] com) and let me know how to spell your first name and what your initials are. Also let me know your address so that I can send the cards to you when they're done. I can't guarantee anyone that they'll receive a certain style, because some fonts are missing particular letters. Everyone who responds will get at least one set of cards, and if I can I'll do two different sets for everyone. I need to keep the samples for awhile so I can photograph them, but my goal is to be ready to ship them to you by mid-October.

Hope you all have a great week! :D

Next round of Heartsy

2011-09-16T10:38:00.001-06:00

Would you like a screaming good deal on some of my letterpress goodies? With the holidays sneaking up on us (or at least me!), now would be a good time to start your shopping!

I submitted another deal to Heartsy.

If you're not familiar with Heartsy, it's a website that sells vouchers for store credit. Artisans submit their "deal" along with four photos of their products. The photos are shown anonymously to members of the Heartsy community, who vote whether they would definitely buy a voucher, probably, maybe, etc. I can't tell you what my "deal" is because it's not determined until the shop has been accepted, but all "deals" are for vouchers that are at least half off, and most are for even more.

Once a deal is accepted, it may be a week or two before the vouchers are available for purchase. If you buy a voucher, you have three months to use it, so the timing will work just perfect for Christmas shopping and for a good deal on the new personalized stationery I'll start offering next month.

If you'd like to vote for me, that would be great. My deal will only be offered if I get enough votes from the Heartsy community. I think the voting for me continues through tomorrow, the 17th. If you're already a member of Heartsy, just sign in. If you're not a member, go to Heartsy and register by giving them an email address. Once in, go to "Pick deals." From there, select "Paper Goods" from the drop down menu and vote "yes, definitely" when you see my cards pop up. It's anonymous, so you'll just have to look for the photos of my cards, which will include these two new ones:

If my deal is selected, I'll let you know when the vouchers are available. :D

Hot off the press

2011-09-15T16:51:00.000-06:00

Geez, I was starting to think this day would never come! I finally put the rollers and ink on my newest press today, and I spent the better part of an hour this afternoon adjusting the roller height so she'd print like she did back in 1888.

Next up, I'm going to work my way through all of the antique type I have, in all the various fonts and sizes, so that I can print samples of everything. My ultimate goal is to have everything available for printing personalized cards and stationery. It will take a while to get samples of all the fonts and sizes, but I'm setting a goal to have at least three different layouts for cards and one for stationery with at least 8 different fonts by mid-October, so that I have them in time for people to order for Christmas. It's a rather ambitious goal considering all the other irons I have in the fire right now, but I work best when under a deadline!

Here's a peak at the very first official samples: two cards I did (one vertical and one horizontal) with my initials in lowercase 48pt Onyx. Yahooey!

Speaking of letterpress, did you enter the giveaway yet? Note that because I'm catching up for August's giveaway, I'll pick two winners, so each person can enter up to two times. And if the chance to win some cute animal cards isn't enough reason to enter, let me just say I have a few other things up my sleeve that will make it worth your while to enter. :D

Forty sucks

2011-09-13T10:12:00.000-06:00

Someone I know (name withheld to protect the innocent) turned 40 at the end of August. She has a pretty good sense of humor, so I decided to have some fun. I originally planned to send flowers to her at work, but flowers soon die, and when you turn 40 that's not really something you want to be reminded of!

So I sent her a little package with this instead. Ha.

August and September letterpress giveaways

2011-09-09T09:12:00.000-06:00

Whoops. The other day I woke up and realized it had somehow gotten to be September already. Then just a day or two after that, I realized I didn't do a giveaway in August. So much for my promise to do monthly giveaways!

So in an effort to get caught up around here, I'm going to pick two winners for this giveaway -- one for August and one for September. That means you all have two chances to win. YAY!

Up for grabs are some of my animal note cards that have sadly gone onto the chopping block. These little cards are great, but I just can't keep up with the production of so many animals and colors anymore now that the little man is on the verge of walking! Each winner will receive four sets (3 cards per set) of their choice of animals (subject to availability). If you want four packages of bears, you'll get 'em. If you want one package of bunnies, two packages of elephants, and a package of scottie dogs, you'll get 'em. They make great notecards for yourself or a good present "just because," and they make great stucking stuffers!

As I mentioned, each person can enter up to two times. Entries will be accepted through 10pm EST Sunday September 18. I'll announce the winners on Monday the 19th.

Here are a few examples of the animals available. You can go here to see the complete selection of cards to choose from.

Good luck!

Up Up Yours

2011-09-07T12:46:00.003-06:00

I've been following the blog Up Up Creative for a good long while now. Julie, the woman behind it, is pretty amazing and I love reading her posts. She's doing something a little, um, crazy during the month of September.

She's letting people NAME THEIR PRICE for wedding invitations.

Yes, that's right. Name your price. She's calling it Up Up Yours. (ha ha ha.) It's a bit of an experiment, and when I first read of her plans to do this a few weeks ago, I thought it was a heck of a gamble. But Julie is hoping to turn the wedding industry on its head and start a conversation of value, particularly the value people place on handmade, quality, small business, and the ability to work one-on-one with a real, live human being.

If you're in the market for wedding invitations, this is probably the deal of a lifetime. And if you're not in the market for wedding invitations, perhaps you'll still support Julie by purchasing any of her other really fun products.

She has a fun little video that introduces her and her concept.

And when you're done with the video, perhaps you can swing by and see Julie at her blog or her store.

Labor day

2011-09-05T15:55:00.003-06:00

I hope you all are having a good Labor day. Mine has been pretty productive so far.

I took a car load of cardboard boxes to be recycled. And I do mean a car load. The back of my vehicle was completely full, as was the front seat and the part of the back seat not occupied by Lachlan.

It's great to be rid of all those boxes, but it's super fantastic to be rid of all the STUFF that used to be in those boxes out in the workshop. Yes, sir. Progress in that department has been good. (Thanks to my awesome baby sitter!)

Then my little helper and I headed out into the garden to survey the situation. Lachlan wondered when we are going to make more tomato sauce. He sure liked them 'maters the other day!

While he was entertaining himself with dirt and leaves, I was stuffing my face with raspberries. Mmmm, raspberries.

Now I'm headed back out to the workshop for the next round of organization. I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff and now I am entering the important phase of organizing what's left!

In response to your comments

2011-09-02T10:52:00.001-06:00

I'm in the mood to tidy up some things around the house today. Sometimes the piles and unfinished projects really get to me. And I realized that there are a few comments from some of you that I haven't been able to respond to yet, so I thought I'd tackle those things today, too.

In response to Roz's question about the buried irrigation system in the garden, you can see some pictures of the system we used here. We got the supplies from a local ranch and farm supply store, but I think they would be readily available at any Home Depot or Lowes. The husband is unavailable at the moment so I can't get details on the dimensions of all the tubing we used, so I'll plan to do a more detailed post later. Dang. That's one thing still left unanswered!

In response to Holly's comment about canning and preserving tomatoes, I actually LOVE to do that sort of thing. Typically I spend all fall making jam; that's sort of my "thing". But canning tomatoes for some reason hasn't appealed to me in the past, maybe because I get too burned out after all the jam I make. I'd love to make salsa and preserve that, but the husband and I disagree on the finer points of making salsa, and because he likes eating it more than I do, I just let him make his own. I'm not making any jam this year because it's too difficult with a little one running around. Once that stuff starts boiling you can't leave it until it's in the water bath, and I figured it would be asking for trouble to try to make it while trying to chase Lachlan around the house. Next year...

In response to Linda's comment about the sad state of our workshop, all I can say is that it's actually worse than it appears in the photos! And to make matters worse, I'm the biggest offender. I have piles and piles and piles of letterpress stuff that I'm still trying to go through. I made a lot of progress when the babysitter was here on Tuesday afternoon, and she's coming again today and over the weekend. My goal is that by September 30 the shop will be as clean as the barn that Linda recently featured. (By the way, good luck to Linda's daughter in her upcoming three day eventing show!)

In response to Linda's other comment about the tomatoes, I do actually like to eat a cherry tomato or two right off the vine. Sadie likes that, too. She'll stuff her face with them! And I do love a good BLT (especially if it also includes avocado and has a particular emphasis on the "B" part!), but I have been known to pull the tomato out after just a few bites... I don't like them on any other kind of sandwich and I really don't like them on hamburgers! I'm weird, I know.

But it appears that at least one person in this family does like them!

Hope you all have a happy weekend!

Tomatoes: A confession

2011-08-31T17:24:00.000-06:00

These are the tomatoes I just picked. They are not to be confused with the mound of 'maters I picked less than a week ago.

They came from just five tomato plants. I didn't even bother to pick the cherry tomatoes today because I still have a giant bowl full of them from last week. Isn't that ridiculous?

What's more ridiculous is that I don't really like tomatoes. Can you believe it? Oh, sure. I'll eat them green and battered and fried and smothered in ranch dressing. I'll eat them ripe and sliced and smothered in ranch dressing. I'll even stuff a few slices in my mouth if they're covered in mozzarella cheese and drizzled with a nice balsamic vinegar. But overall, they really don't do much for me.

But I still grow them every year.

Why?

Because they do so well here that it's almost like growing a weed, and therefore they satisfy that part of my personality that craves instant gratification and something for nothing.

Well, something for nothing except the time it takes to turn them into spaghetti sauce...

Pack rats

2011-08-29T08:45:00.001-06:00

I've really enjoyed hearing from some of you about your own problems with a pack rat spouse hanging on to old textbooks. It's so comforting to know that I'm not alone!

Several of you have asked how I got the husband to agree to get rid of his old textbooks. Although it may vary from husband to husband, here's the process that worked for me. First, determine how long you can stand to look at the books, and then start at least a year before then. You have to wear them down and break their spirit, and that takes some time.

Second (this is the most important step), you need to overwhelm them with stuff. If there is so much stuff and chaos in their life, and they're forced to work in that environment on a daily basis, they'll soon realize that they need to give up or they will go insane. How you go about overwhelming them will be up to you, but I found that saying "YES!" every time someone calls to ask if you want more letterpress stuff is an excellent way to create a chaotic and claustrophobic environment in the shortest amount of time. See what I mean?

Last, but certainly not least, wait until the husband has to go out of town. Then arrange to do video skype, and during your conversation surprise him by presenting each book one at a time and giving him the option to use one of three "saves" to keep it. It helps if the video quality is poor and the books are very dusty. It's a lot easier for them to say no when they're not in the same room as the books. Of course, the downside to this is that they may use their "save" for some other items on the chopping block...

Letterpress animal note cards on sale

2011-08-26T11:10:00.001-06:00

For the past few months I've been working on streamlining some of my existing letterpress cards so that I can make room for some new things.

Probably the most popular thing I offer is the animal note cards in sets that include farm, woodland, African, and Australian animals. I also have a huge selection of dog breeds, and I was printing these cards in six different colors. It was difficult to keep so many different cards in so many colors in stock all the time, and the degree of difficulty increased exponentially once Lachlan was born. On top of that, the company that supplies my envelopes--which are the basis for my ink colors--discontinued one of my favorite colors and introduced a fun new color.

So I made the painful decision to discontinue all of the dog breeds and all but the four most popular animals for the other sets of cards. Because I have a lot of these cards already printed and in stock, they're currently on sale in the shop in sets of 3 for $6 (down from $7.50). If you ever wanted to get some animal note cards, here's a great opportunity. Once they're gone, they're gone forever except for custom orders of large quantities. In a few cases, the animal will be kept in the new sets but will be printed in a different color.

Here are just a few of the animals on sale now. You can see all of them in the shop here.

In other news, my Etsy shop now has a Facebook page! Feel free to drop by to say hello and find out about some great discounts and offers!

Bountiful harvest

2011-08-25T15:47:00.000-06:00

Although it has been practically abandoned this year, my garden is cranking out the produce like crazy. The buried soaker hoses that the husband installed this year made ALL the difference. I just turn the water on once a week and let it run overnight. The plants have nice deep roots, and there are basically zero weeds.

Isn't the white eggplant awesome? I think it's called ghostbuster. It's really good battered and fried (what isn't?). And this is the third crop of green beans from the same plants. I had no idea that green beans could be this prolific. They just keep on keepin' on.

Despite losing several tomato plants to unknown causes, I still have an overload of 'maters. Looks like I'll be eating spaghetti with marinara sauce this weekend!

Elementary differential equations

2011-08-24T09:19:00.000-06:00

I'm doing a little late summer cleaning and organizing around here, and last night I had a pretty major breakthrough. I was finally able to pry the husband's fingers off his old school books! I'm not sure why he felt the need to keep them all these years, although I guess that a book on Elementary Differential Equations could come in handy when you find yourself having trouble sleeping.

It took a tiny bit of convincing, but he finally agreed that we really don't need to keep these for Lachlan (!). Our life is now about 25 pounds lighter.

(Yes, that's right. He had two copies of the same calculus book...)

Claire Austin

2011-08-23T10:48:00.000-06:00

My mother's day roses are finally growing and blooming, and wow are they gorgeous. They're even worth the colossal headache we went through to get them.

Let's just say that David Austin Roses doesn't have the best customer service in the world. Three of the roses ended up dying; I guess they didn't like sitting in the 90+ degree weather for several extra days because when the company finally shipped them (after numerous phone calls), they shipped them right before Memorial Day weekend so the boxes sat in the heat for the whole long weekend. Argh.

On top of that, I ended up with three tree roses. The husband had originally ordered three tree roses in a deep burgundy color to go with the 8 light pink shrub roses, but I was worried about the tree roses surviving a Colorado winter. So I asked the husband to call the company, and if the roses hadn't shipped yet (ha), to ask if we could swap the three tree roses out for another kind of rose. I looked through their print and online catalog and found the Claire Austin roses.

I love, love, love white roses, and these looked beautiful. They were listed only as shrub and climbing roses. I looked at the selection of tree roses and didn't see the Claire Austin rose. So I asked for three Claire Austin roses instead of the three tree roses. And what did I get? Three Claire Austin TREE roses! What?! Argh!

It took them awhile to grow and start blooming, but now they appear to be rather prolific bloomers. The flowers are incredibly beautiful, and the fragrance--described as "based on myrrh with dashes of meadowsweet, vanilla, and heliotrope"--is absolutely amazing.

I'm not quite sure what to do to ensure that they survive our winter; the blooming portion of the rose is about 3 feet off the ground, so it's not easy to just mound mulch over it. Do any of you have experience with winterizing tree roses? I'd love to hear your advice and suggestions! I will be so, so sad if these don't survive our winter!

Squash bugs: 8,234; Melissa: 0

2011-08-22T16:13:00.001-06:00

I give up. My days of trying to grow squash are officially over. I've been too busy to try to keep the population of squash bugs under control, and it seems like they have been, well... they've been "busy," too!

And the chickens, which were bought last year for the specific purpose of eating squash bugs, have decided that there are better things to eat than squash bugs. They've been warned that they'd better start laying some golden eggs instead, or there might just be a stew pot with their name on it!

In other news, my computer is on the verge of eating itself. Until I get it fixed, I'm limping along using my old computer, which was replaced a year ago because it was on the verge of eating itself... So if I disappear for a few days, you can assume that a) I've been carried away by squash bugs or b) my computer finally ate itself and I'm out shopping for a new one.

Mobility

2011-08-16T21:45:00.002-06:00

Things are busy around here. Not because I decided that I needed to move Lachlan's room to the guest room and the guest room to Lachlan's room. And not because I'm in the process of completely overhauling a lot of the letterpress offerings in my shop. And not because I've been working to finally get the newest press up and running. And not because my efforts to market my custom stationery and birth announcements are finally paying off. And not because my awesome mom just abandoned me after getting me soooo used to having her around to help me.

Things are busy around here because this little turkey has suddenly become very mobile and very quick. He can go from living room carpet to Sadie's water bowl in about 6 seconds.

All I can say is, "Thank goodness for neighbor's daughter who loves to babysit." Lachlan has found a good friend in Greta. And I have found my sanity.

Back to work

2011-08-15T09:12:00.000-06:00

My newest press is finally back to work after many, many years of unemployment!

Last week I finished cleaning the rust off the ink disk and cleaned and re-installed the wood feed boards, and yesterday I used her to print samples of some of my new (old) type.

I still need to order a treadle for her. For now, I have to turn the flywheel by hand to print, but it's fairly easy to do and is a good workout for my left arm!

This week I'm hoping to finish printing samples of most of my type. For now, I'm doing a blind impression (no ink) because it's a lot faster than trying to find the time to print a large number of samples with ink on the press. Once I've identified all of the fonts, I'll put the new rollers on her and start printing with ink.

My plan is to have this press dedicated solely to printing with hand-set type and my other press will be for printing with photopolymer plates, which will save me a lot of time setting up for different jobs. In the coming weeks, I'll start adding some new options for personalized cards to my shop. Using hand-set type, I can offer smaller sets of personalized stationery at a much lower cost than when I have to use a plate. Yay!

Husband's handwork: The pergola

2011-08-11T11:44:00.000-06:00

Last year we started working on our backyard, a project that includes lots of drought-resistant flowers, a small lawn and a large patio.

I did as much work as I could before Lachlan arrived, and then everything pretty much fell by the wayside until this summer. While I've been busy with Lachlan, the husband has been hard at work outside, wrapping up many of our undone projects.

The most significant project he recently finished is the pergola.

The patio area gets very intense sun from about 10 am until 1 pm every day, so I wanted a small shaded area for those rare days when I might want to sit out there with a cup of coffee or to eat lunch while Lachlan plays on the lawn. I had in my mind that I wanted a structure made out of metal that would rust to match the rusty metal roof and pipe fence, and I wanted grapes to grow up the four posts and over the top to provide shade.

With those instructions in mind, the husband set out to create a one-of-a-kind pergola. Each of the four posts is a different length, which helped to create the odd angles of the top of the structure, which adds a lot of visual interest. One thing about the husband is that he doesn't like for things to be symmetrical!

I think the odd angles also work well with the odd angles of the roof of the house, a result of several different additions by previous owners.

We planted the grapes at the end of last year, and they are growing like crazy now that they have something to grow on. The area around the patio is covered in the same rust-colored trail mix used in the other parts of the back yard, and the base of the grapes is surrounded by river rock, which will tie in well to the river rock that we plan to use in the side yard of the house (to the right of the patio in the photo above), which is destined to become a play area for Lachlan once he gets a little older.

We've already enjoyed several dinners on our patio this year, and I think we'll start spending even more time out here now that the area is so pretty!

Cards for Allison

2011-08-10T11:50:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, Allison contacted me about doing some personalized letterpress cards for her new baby girl, Caroline Elizabeth, that she could use as thank you cards. One thing led to another, and pretty soon we were also doing cards for her son, Trey, and some for herself!

The cards for Caroline were printed in lilac using her first and middle names. The cards for Allison were printed in strawberry and the cards for Trey were printed in blueberry. I hope her husband doesn't feel left out! :)

Lachlan's Bumblebee

2011-08-09T08:24:00.000-06:00

Have any of you seen the Transformers movies? In them, the main character has a yellow Camaro Transformer named Bumblebee that watches over and protects him. The car started out life in the first movie as a beat up hunk of junk at a used car lot.

I was lucky (?) enough to see the third Transformer movie with the husband last weekend. In honor of the event, which the husband has been looking forward to for months, we drove the husband's old car.

He's had the car since high school, and it hasn't had a lot of love in recent years. It's been mostly sitting around. Its only job in life has been to attract passer-bys who immediately identify it as a 1967 Camaro. During the summer, when there is a lot of traffic on the road in front of our house, I get visits nearly every day from people looking to buy it, hoping like crazy that I don't know the value of the car.

But I do know the value, and I told the husband a few years ago that as soon as we finished remodeling the house, he could work on restoring the car. He's been busy with work, so he hasn't been able to do much with the car other than consult with our neighbor (who has restored two old cars) on just how crazy he can get with the restoration.

Just last week he finally renewed its registration, so we drove it to see the movie. Parked at the far end of the parking lot was a brand new silver Camaro, so we both got a good laugh by parking right next to it.

The husband's work schedule is pretty hectic for the next few months, but I'm anxious for him to get the restoration underway. I love joking with him that he needs to get the car restored so that we can give it to Lachlan when he turns 16. You should see how quickly the color drains out of his face when I mention that!

Too bad the car is already registered. I think we should have gotten a license plate for it that says LCHLNS. Ha!

Outstanding in the Field: The Menu

2011-08-04T11:26:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last week. I went to NM and then to Baltimore to surprise my friend at her baby shower! We just got back home last night. Now I'm really behind in showing you what I've been up to!

But first I need to finish telling you about the Outstanding in the Field dinner we went to. Here's a photo of the menu.

Every single item in each course was amazing!

The chef was from the restaurant six89 in Carbondale, CO. One of my favorite items of the night was the burrata cheese that he made. That cheese combined with the blistered cherry tomatoes and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar was to die for. (Note to self: Find out how to make burrata cheese!)

I mentioned in my last post that the green beans were the most fantastic things I've eaten in a long time. When that farmer was introduced, he practically got a standing ovation! His farm is Osage Gardens in New Castle, CO. They apparently have one of the finest herb gardens in the country and supply many Whole Foods stores. Next time my mom and I are looking for a field trip, we might have to check this place out in person.

When we first sat down at our table and saw the menu, I admit that my heart skipped a beat when I saw GOAT on the menu. I'm not a vegetarian (not even a little bit), but I've always been weird about the types of meat I'll eat. To me, it's normal to eat chicken, pork, and beef. Anything beyond that is just weird, and no matter how good it tastes, I can't get past the weirdness of eating it.

But for this event I didn't want to miss out on anything, so I tried it. And you know what? It was delicious!! I'm sure it had a lot to do with how it was cooked and the sauce that it was in, but wow. I actually went back for seconds.

What do you think? Have any of you ever eaten goat or any other kind of meat that might not be considered "normal"?

Outstanding in the Field: The Dinner

2011-07-27T11:37:00.000-06:00

I got sidetracked with some printing projects the last few days, but I wanted to make sure that I told you about the Outstanding in the Field dinner we went to the other week.

The infamous Outstanding in the Field bus.

The weather was stormy and we had a few sprinkles, so rather than the tables being set up in the field, they were set up inside the "shed" where the farm stores their balers and tractors. Let me say that those are the luckiest tractors in the world. The shed was GORGEOUS! Beautifully constructed with attention to every detail, large windows, and not a spider web or speck of dust in the joint!

The tables were set up in two rows, and each table sat 8 people. Dinners are served family style, so each table of 8 was served one dish with eight portions, and we helped ourselves. Each course was paired with a wine from a local biodynamic vineyard. The servers did an amazing job of describing each wine and each course, including the source of the local produce and meat.

I'm at my parents' house in NM now and I forgot to bring the menu with me. But I can tell you that everything was amazing. Out-of-this-world kind of amazing! After each course they also introduced the farmer or rancher who was responsible for the items of that course. The guy from the farm that supplied the green beans practically got a standing ovation. It wasn't just the husband and I; we overheard a lot of other people there who were in AWE over how good the green beans were. I had no idea that a vegetable could be that good. They were cooked to perfection (if even cooked at all?) and tossed in creme fraiche and something else (none of us could quite put our finger on it, but we guessed lemon and dill might be in there) and then topped with fried shallots. Definitely not your grandma's green bean casserole!

The highlight of the night was that both the farmer, Clara, and Jim, the founder of Outstanding in the Field, sat at our table. That's them on the left of the photo. I was like a star-struck royal watcher sitting at the table with Will and Kate!

What I would have given to pick Clara's brain all night. I did happen to get some info from her about her carrots, which I'll share with you in another post.

Before the dessert course, there was a break in the clouds so we moved the tables out into the field.

We had just enough time to eat dessert and enjoy a last glass of wine as we watched the clouds of the next storm rolling down the hillside in the distance, heading straight for us.

After dessert we got to meet the chef and his team who put together such an amazing dinner. More on them--and their amazing creations--in a later post.

We wrapped things up and were back in the car on the way home just as the rain hit. A perfect end to a perfect night!

When I'm back at home with the menu handy I'll tell you a bit more about each course and what I loved about it, as well as my thoughts on seeing GOAT on the menu!

Outstanding in the Field: The Farm, Part II

2011-07-21T07:35:00.000-06:00

I almost cried when I saw the farm that hosted the Outstanding in the Field event we went to. Divide Creek Farm is outside of the small town of Silt, up in the mountains. When we turned off the road onto the farm property, I never would have guessed that there was a farm on the other side of all of those trees. We drove through the woods and over a small, red covered bridge, past a tee pee set up in the woods, and around the corner to one of the most immaculately kept properties I've ever seen.

Clara, the farmer, has three (maybe four?) greenhouses that are on rails. There are 3 sections of land for each greenhouse, and she rolls them back and forth over crops throughout the year, depending on what needs protection.

She had lots of squash inside and outside of the greenhouses. I am kicking myself for not asking her how she controls squash bugs. I am losing the battle with mine this year.

She grows lots of onions, including walla walla onions. I haven't tried that variety before, so they are on the list for next year. Cucumbers grow on trellises in the greenhouse behind the onions.

She grows artichokes! I have wanted to try growing them but didn't think they'd do very well here because our growing season is a little on the short side. I guess I was wrong! (Or I guess maybe I need a mobile greenhouse!)

The tomatoes grow on a single string that is tightly strung between the ground and the ceiling of the greenhouse, and I imagine that Clara must spend the better part of her day pruning these things to keep them looking this good. I tried growing my tomatoes on a trellis like that one year and just couldn't keep up with the pruning necessary to make it work. This year I haven't pruned my tomatoes at all and they are out of control.

When one crop is done she rips it out and prepares the soil for the next crop. I think she said that she'll be starting carrots in this area in August and will be harvesting them throughout the winter.

This really made me jealous. She uses an airstream trailer that has been turned into a mobile cooler to take her produce to the farmers' market. Talk about green with envy!! A bunch of beautiful strawberries grow in rows behind the trailer.

You can find out more about Clara on the farm's website, and she also has a blog.

And yes, I spent yesterday morning weeding my garden and trying to make my tiny patch of dirt look half as good as Clara's! :)

Outstanding in the Field: The Farm, Part I

2011-07-20T08:54:00.000-06:00

Last night the husband and I went to an Outstanding in the Field event in Silt, CO, about 1.5 hours from where we live. If you ever get a chance to go to one of these, do it. Don't let the (cough) price scare you off. The experience is TOTALLY worth it if you can afford it.

The dinner was held at Divide Creek Farm. Have you ever been to a place that is so perfect and so amazing that when you get home you want to bulldoze everything you have and start over from scratch? This farm is that kind of place.

The farmer is Clara Coleman. I heard last night that her father had a farm in Maine, but it wasn't until I looked on her farm's website this morning that I realized that her father is the Eliot Coleman. I have his book!!

Every square inch of the farm is beautiful--from the rolling greenhouses, to the trellised tomatoes and cucumbers, to the numerous barns and sheds. Everything is beautifully constructed, with amazing attention to the tiniest detail. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves.

The absolutely stunning office, with an indoor, 2-story rock climbing wall for Clara's sons.

Clara's chicken house puts mine to shame!

(Yes, that's an outdoor sauna, shower and hot tub!)

Outstanding in the Field

2011-07-19T07:52:00.000-06:00

I am beyond ecstatic that I'm going to one of these tonight!!!

Heartsy

2011-07-14T08:15:00.000-06:00

If you've ever wanted to get your hands on some letterpress goodies, here's your chance to do it and get a screaming good deal in the process. I'm running a deal on Heartsy. I was going to tell you about it yesterday but was quickly overwhelmed with orders! If you want a voucher, please hurry. They're almost all gone.

These grab bags are turning out to be really popular with the Heartsy crowd. Lachlan hangs out on the bed and helps me package them up.

Three years

2011-07-12T15:31:00.000-06:00

Wow. Today makes three years of being married to this fella. I guess we'll need to get a little side-car for our cataraft now that we have a 6-month-old!

Happy Anniversary, Justin! Love you.
:)

Six months

2011-07-11T17:48:00.000-06:00

Wow. It's hard to believe that this little turkey was six months old last Friday! He's realllly working on trying to crawl these days. I think it won't be long now!

Quilled jewelry (you meet the nicest people in blogland)

2011-07-07T14:40:00.000-06:00

I mentioned yesterday how I've discovered that there are some really wonderful people out there in blogland. Here's another example.

Look at this piece of gorgeousness!

It was a wonderful gift from Ann, who does the most AMAZING things with little strips of paper.

I think I may have heard something about quilling before I "met" Ann, but I didn't really have any idea of the fun you can have with it. I've really enjoyed getting to know Ann through her blog, All Things Paper, where she features the work of paper artists as well as some of her own creations. She's also very generous with her talents and offers numerous tutorials. I continue to promise her that one day soon I'll sit down with her tutorials and try my hand at quilling. It's going to happen, it's just a matter of finding some free time again (hopefully before Lachlan goes away to college)!

Ann creates the most beautiful and fun cards and jewelry, and she's made some quilled marriage certificates that will knock your socks off! (I want to get re-married so I can have her make one of these for me!)

For now this beautiful work of art is stored safely away with the rest of my necklaces, because I don't even want to think about how quickly Lachlan would destroy it (his hands are tiny, but they can shred stuff pretty quickly!). I'm really looking forward to the day where I can wear it again!

Thanks, Ann, for such a beautiful gift and for all the inspiration you provide on a daily basis! :)

A small schefflera (you meet the nicest people in blogland)

2011-07-06T14:40:00.000-06:00

Ever since I was little I would imagine what it would be like to be an ant or other small critter in a forest of moss and small plants. Maybe that explains my fascination with terrariums, bonsai, and tiny gardens. I've had a few terrariums over the years, but I've never had a bonsai. Until now. And the story of how I came to possess my first bonsai is proof that we live in a small, small world full of very nice people.

I first "met" Roz through my blog about a year ago. I did a post about the honey bear acorn squash I grew from seed from Territorial Seed Company, and the company posted my post on their blog or facebook page. Roz, who lives in Hawaii, saw that post and then came to my blog. It turned out that we had a lot of interests (chickens, horses, gardening) in common, so she became a frequent visitor.

Then for Christmas she ordered a set of my letterpress mountain cards to give to her sister who--GET THIS--lives just about 30 minutes from my house! Then this past April she came to Colorado to visit her sister.

We originally planned to meet in person, and she was going to come to my house and meet Sadie and Lachlan and the presses and my three lovely chickens. But then a family member had a medical emergency and our visit didn't work out quite as planned. But Roz still came by the house for a brief visit, where she presented me with several awesome goodies she hand-carried from Hawaii, including this completely awesome bonsai schefflera. And when I say it's awesome, I mean it. It's growing out of a chunk of lava rock! How cool is that?!?

I keep it on the windowsill in my bedroom so I can see it every morning. It fulfills my fascination with small plants and is a constant reminder that there are some really, truly nice people out there in blogland. So thanks, Roz, for a wonderful gift and for your blogland friendship! :)

Katherine and Wes

2011-07-05T08:21:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a good 4th of July! The husband had three days off so he got to spend lots of quality time with Lachlan while I spent lots of quality time with my press!

First up was a set of 200 personalized ornament cards for Katherine and Wes. Kat picked a pretty ornament and the navy blue ink color I call blueberry. I'll be packing them up and sending them to their new home later today.

F Game

2011-06-30T07:20:00.000-06:00

Well, shoot. This was the week where I was going to bring my A Game to blog world. I've been really busy behind the scenes and I'm way behind on posting things, and this was the week I was going to start catching things up around here.

But then this happened on Sunday.

It's true. One tiny spark from a piece of equipment can cause a fire. A little fire that gets into dried grass and then dried brush and then turns into a bigger fire. And then before you know it, it's heading toward the neighbor's house. Thank goodness for long hoses, nice neighbors, and friendly strangers armed with shovels.

Fortunately we had the fire pretty much out before the fire department showed up. And the only casualty was our cable and internet line. Thank goodness. Yes, we are counting our lucky stars.

We finally had the internet back up and running late Tuesday and I spent most of yesterday trying to catch up on emails and whatnot.

And then this happened. Not once, but twice. He moved about 10 feet from where I last put him down, and he did it in about a minute!

He's not crawling yet. He just rolls back and forth and pivots around and somehow manages to cover a lot of ground quickly. Is this what they call "creeping"? I call it "I'm not ready for life as I know it to end yet." Sadie agrees.

Strawberry rhubarb crumble

2011-06-24T10:47:00.000-06:00

I've lived on this planet for a good number of years and never (as far as I know) had rhubarb. I planted some rhubarb a few years ago but never got around to harvesting any. The other day I had 2 pounds of strawberries in the fridge I needed to do something with, so I went outside and grabbed a few stalks of rhubarb.

I was too lazy to make a pie crust. Heck, I was even too lazy to drive to the store to buy a premade pie crust! So I went in search of an easy recipe and came across this one on the epicurious app for my phone. The husband proclaimed this his new favorite crumble/crisp, and last night at our farmers' market he made me buy more rhubarb so I can make another one!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar plus 1/2 cup sugar
large pinch of salt
6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts (I used pecans)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved (about 4 cups) (I used 2 pounds because I had them)
12 ounces rhubarb, ends trimmed, stalks cut crosswise into 1/2-inch thick pieces (I used 5 stalks that were each about 12 inches)
1 1/2 teaspoons corn starch (optional)
vanilla ice cream

Isn't this mix of strawberries and rhubarb so pretty?

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine flour, 2/3 cup sugar, and salt in medium bowl. Add butter. Mix in nuts and oats.
In separate bowl, add 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla and mix.
Add strawberries and rhubarb and toss to coat with sugar.
Scrape fruit into buttered 11x7x2-inch baking dish.
Bake until filling bubbles and topping is crisp, about 45 minutes.
Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Based on the recipe's reviews, I added 1 tbs cornstarch because a lot of people said the fruit mix was too soupy. I think 1 tbs may have been too much; 1 1/2 teaspoons might be all you need. I also doubled the fruit they recommended, and in that size of a baking it was still a very thin layer of fruit. So adjust the quantity of fruit and size of your dish based on whether you want a thin layer of fruit with topping or a more substantial amount of fruit.

You may also want to consider baking two of these at once, because when you eat some for breakfast, lunch, and dessert it doesn't last long!

June giveaway: Birth announcements!

2011-06-21T08:30:00.000-06:00

This month's giveaway is a doozy! I've teamed up with Kristen from Paper Crave and I'm offering a set of 50 birth announcements and coordinating stationery with return address envelope printing to one lucky Paper Crave reader. WOOHOO!

If you win, you can keep it for yourself or give it to a friend (think what a nice baby shower gift this would be!), and the offer is good for up to a year. The giveaway runs through midnight eastern on June 28, 2011, so be sure to visit Paper Crave and enter to win before then. Note that you'll need to comment over at the Paper Crave site--not here--to be considered for the giveaway.

Good luck!

Many peas in many pods

2011-06-19T09:57:00.001-06:00

I plan to make all of Lachlan's food. I do it in big batches where I steam the vegetable (so far we've done carrots and butternut squash), puree it, and then freeze it in ice cube trays. Each cube is about 1 tablespoon of puree. Once frozen, I put the cubes for each vegetable into their own bag. It's quite handy that way; I just pull one cube out of the freezer, pop it in the microwave real quick, and then we're ready to go. Once he gets older I'll start making him combinations of different vegetables and fruits. I guess I'll need to work to keep things interesting for him if it turns out that he really is a "supertaster."

It's finally farmers' market season around here, and I'm trying to buy as much local produce as I can this year. So far there are plenty of shelling peas, snow peas, snap peas, and tomatoes available at the markets. On Thursday we went to the market in downtown Grand Junction and we visited our favorite farmers, who happen to live next to Lachlan's great uncle. And for some crazy reason I decided that I have the time to shell five pounds of peas...

It actually worked out fairly well. Yesterday I sat on the floor with Lachlan and he engaged in some tummy time while I shelled peas and watched one of the Chevy Chase movies--the one where the Griswolds go to Vegas. I managed to get about half of them done, and hopefully I'll finish the others this afternoon (especially because we'll stop at the market in Palisade today, and there's no telling what I'll come home with)!

Lachlan's birth announcement

2011-06-15T15:24:00.000-06:00

While we're on the topic of birth announcements this week, I wanted to show you the announcement I did for my own wee one.

Because we didn't know Lachlan's sex beforehand, I decided to keep the baby's room very neutral. I decorated it with art of African animals I got in Ethiopia in 2008, which happened to include a lot of giraffes. Nothing about the room really screamed "baby!" and I wanted that same sort of vibe with the birth announcements. I wanted to avoid pastel colors and overly cartoon-y giraffes.

My original plan for a spectacular 3-color announcement got thrown out the window late in pregnancy. This was going to be my first baby and I wasn't sure how soon I'd feel like standing at the press all day, so in the end I went for a much simpler 1-color option. My awesome friend Young designed it for me and I was super happy with how it turned out.

To save paper, I made the announcement A2 size and included a separate photo of Lachlan rather than printing a larger announcement and attaching the photo to it. When Lachlan was 6 weeks old we had a friend of the husband come over for a little photo shoot, and I am in love with the photo we included with the announcement. He just looks so peaceful.

I custom mixed the ink to be sort of a slate blue. Again, I didn't want anything too pastel and babyish.

I especially love how the spots of the giraffes look with the impression created by letterpress!

Sweet and simple custom letterpress birth announcements

2011-06-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

I know I've been neglecting this little space for awhile, and I'm sorry about that! Lachlan is keeping me busy and I've been spending every spare moment working on several letterpress projects.

I finally (FINALLY!) finished printing the samples of the birth announcements that I've been working on for months now. I actually finished printing them quite awhile ago, but I finally managed to photograph everything last week and add them to my Etsy shop over the weekend.

The idea behind these sweet and simple announcements is just that: they're simple, and therefore they are really quite affordable (at least as far as letterpress goes).

I made them A2 size, which is 1/4 of a sheet of regular 8.5x11 paper. This allows me to get four cards per sheet of paper instead of just two 5x7 cards (with waste left over), and the way the cost of the cotton paper I use is increasing, this is a very good thing. People will have a choice from a nice selection of animals or other objects for the top of the card and their choice of several fonts. The ink colors are limited to pinks, purples, blues, and greens. By somewhat limiting the selection of ink colors, I increase the chance that I might be able to print more than one order while the press has a particular color on it, therefore saving my time (and money!).

I'm also offering the option of purchasing personalized note cards at the same time as the announcements. They make great thank you cards for all the gifts the baby will get, and by printing a larger number of cards at one time, the price per individual piece can be lowered quite a bit.

Now that this project is finished I'm turning my attention to wrapping up the new line of wedding invitations (I think I have nine designs now), as well as some other more elaborate baby shower invitations/birth announcement designs (including the one that was created for my very own munchkin).

I also have another fun venture up my sleeve. I can't wait to share it with you, but it will have to wait just a bit longer. I need a little more time to organize and photograph everything, and a teething baby who doesn't want to nap much these days is starting to really cut into my time to do that. :)

The sum of things

2011-06-10T16:06:00.000-06:00

This picture pretty much sums up the status of my life at the moment...

We saw the pediatrician yesterday and received the official blessing to try some solid foods other than rice cereal because Lachlan has recently refused to even consider it. The pediatrician said he could be a "supertaster," which I guess is an actual condition in which the sense of taste is much greater than normal (and is different from being a "picky eater"). Who knew?

She suggested we try pears, which I tried last night. They went over like a lead balloon. So this afternoon we tried some carrots. I didn't think to get a bib on him before we started, and because he was actually trying it I didn't want to interrupt things by getting one. I think I'll let Sadie clean him up from now on.

He's still not sure about the taste of the carrots, but I think he at least loves the mess he can make with them!

Have a great weekend!

Five months

2011-06-09T07:19:00.000-06:00

I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that Lachlan was five months old yesterday. He's always been an active baby, but now he's really interested in exploring the world around him. Especially my iPhone. He's in love with it, I think because I talk to his grammy and daddy on speaker phone so he hears their voices coming from it.

He keeps me so busy during the day (naps? what naps??) that I've really fallen behind in posting here. I'll try to be better about that. I really do have a lot that I want to show you; if only I could find the time to photograph it all! I fear how my life (and Sadie's!) will change once he can crawl...

Oh, and although it's hard to tell, he is finally getting some hair to cover up that bald little head! :)

Big river (don't keep on growin')

2011-06-07T07:09:00.001-06:00

Every morning I pack Sadie and Lachlan into the car and we drive a mile to a park that is situated along the Colorado river. From there we walk about 2 miles or so on a path that follows the river, but yesterday our walk was cut short.

It seems that major snow in the mountains all winter plus really warm temperatures the past few weeks has led to a mighty high Colorado river. In anticipation of the flooding, they've been moving a lot of dirt and boulders at the park for the last two weeks, trying to build up some low-lying areas along the river. But I guess they didn't move quite enough...

Fortunately, Sadie seems to understand that the river is pretty dangerous right now, and she's been avoiding all the spots where she normally jumps in for a drink and to cool off.

Besides, there are plenty of places for her to swim on the other side of the path, in what used to be dry land!

As crazy as it is to see our river like this, I can't imagine what it must be like to live in the areas so hard hit by flooding this year!

Good molly, Miss Dolly

2011-06-03T04:00:00.000-06:00

I talked to my mom yesterday and found out that our mule Dolly has moved on to greener pastures. She was 31.

She was an awesome mule. It's been said that a good mule is better than a great horse, and Dolly was a great mule. Back in her prime I actually showed her, and one year at the state fair she was the high point mule! She was beautiful--black with a brown nose and a really pretty head, which is quite unusual for a mule. And unlike the reputation that mules have, she was the sweetest thing and not stubborn in the least.

She had big, soulful brown eyes.

And she'd chase you down in the pasture to get a good ear rub.

She was buried on my parents' property, not far from my old horse, Mac. Hopefully the two will spend their days eating at the all-you-can eat carrot buffet and kicking up their heels in pastures that are always green.

Adios, Dolly.

Tim Herbst contemporary metal art

2011-06-01T18:10:00.000-06:00

I mentioned a while back that on mother's day we went to the Art and Jazz festival in downtown Grand Junction. They had some amazing artists there, and this guy's work really caught my eye. His name is Tim Herbst and he does the most beautiful things with pieces of metal.

Here are just a few samples of his work. You can see alot more in the gallery on his website. If you're looking for a contemporary piece of art in some gorgeous colors, his stuff might be perfect for you!

This blue sunflower is probably my favorite. I'm trying to figure out where I can fit one in our house...

Embrace

Leap

Here comes the sun: winners (yes, winners!)

2011-05-30T19:13:00.000-06:00

Well. My mother just called and informed me that I was a slacker for not posting the winner of the giveaway today, like I said I would.

It's the husband's fault. He's off today, which threw off my ability to know what day it is. (That happens when you work from home and have a baby!) Without further delay, the winner is comment number 5! Congratulations to Billie! Please send your mailing address to me (melissa at paperinkpress dot com) and I'll get the set of cards in the mail to you.

And because I feel bad for keeping ya'll hanging, I'll also send one of these cards to everyone else who entered! Yay! Don't you love giveaways where everyone's a winner? I definitely do. If you entered the giveaway, please send me your mailing address and I'll send a card to you. Please send me your address even if I've sent you something before. I don't keep the addresses, and even if I did I probably couldn't find them on my computer anytime soon! :)

Have a happy (and sunny!) week!

Hi ho, kermit the toad here

2011-05-26T12:28:00.000-06:00

I finally broke down and bought some veggies from my local nursery. I started a bunch of seeds in February, but then, um, kept forgetting to water them. I guess that's what happens when you have a baby.

They had a fabulous selection of tomatoes, winter squash, and melons, so I loaded up on lots of them, plus some peppers for the husband. Everything is sitting on the front porch for now until I get all of the raised beds secured with chicken wire to, um, keep the chickens out. I guess that's what happens when you have three chickens.

Hopefully these plants won't still be sitting here a month from now.

But I guess at least one critter probably wouldn't mind seeing them stick around in their current location.

Here comes the sun: A giveaway

2011-05-24T09:20:00.000-06:00

It's raining. Again. It's been raining a lot lately. I had intended to do this post last Friday, but it was raining so much our internet was down for most of the day.

I'm ready for some sun! And in case you are, too, here's this month's giveaway: a set of five cards letterpress printed with this cheery hot pink sun with matching pink envelopes. He makes me think of warm days spent lounging by a pool with a fruity drink (with an umbrella in it!). Sigh.

To enter, just comment on this post by 6pm EST this Friday, May 27. I'll announce the winner next Monday. Good luck!

Happy birthday, Bug Bug

2011-05-19T06:53:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to Sadie Bug! Well, her birthday was actually last month, but please don't tell her. She's already ignored so much now that Lachlan is here, I don't think her fragile emotional state could handle knowing I'm a little late with her present this year.

To celebrate Bug's fourth year, I bought her a new collar and some new ID tags.

The collar is from 3pooches on Etsy and I LOVE it. It's even more gorgeous in person, and even prettier than the last collar I got from them. You can get your own fancy collar like this, in a pattern called Violet, right here.

Sadie also got two new ID tags. Because she spends some time in NM when I go to visit her grammy and Grandpa Jack, I got her one tag with their phone number and one with mine. I got these tags from the Etsy seller the Copper Poppy. They are hand-stamped aluminum and so pretty in person! These two tags are the Bella and the Perla (a listing for the Perla wasn't available at the time of this post).

Now I'd better get going on that doggie birthday cake...

Sadie and Sophie

2011-05-17T15:44:00.000-06:00

Houston, we have a problem.

Today Mr. UPS brought Sophie. She's a giraffe and a crazy popular baby toy. She's also nose bleed expensive. And on a whim I bought her for Lachlan.

He likes her, especially the part of her that squeaks.

Know who also likes things that squeak? Yep, you guessed it. Sadie Bug.

This might turn out to be the most expensive dog toy I've ever bought...

Diggin' in the dirt

2011-05-16T09:26:00.000-06:00

The husband spent the better part of yesterday working on installing an irrigation system for my raised beds.

It will be so nice to have that this year; now I can spend the little free time I do have attacking the weeds. Progress in that department is slow but steady...

At least my raspberries have some breathing room now. You couldn't even see them before!

Snow in summer

2011-05-13T10:54:00.000-06:00

Yesterday evening it was about as perfect as it could be outside, so Lachlan and I took a quick tour of the backyard to see how much weeding I still need to do. I was amazed by how much the lamb's ear has grown in the last two weeks, but I was absolutely floored by the snow in summer! It is all blooming now and has grown from tiny four-inch plants last year to a mass of silver and white that in some cases is almost three feet across!

My blue flax, Jupiter's beard, catmint, and columbines are all in full bloom now. Ah, all that hard work last summer is starting to pay off! Now if only I could find the time to finish the rest of the side yard...

Have a happy weekend!

Where does the time go?

2011-05-12T10:22:00.000-06:00

Time is flying by these days. My mom was here for about 10 days and watched Lachlan for me so that I could try to make a dent in my list of things to do (thanks, mom!!). My list was 1.5 pages long, and I finished one item and am about 75% done with another two... Ugh. But the two I'm almost finished with were the biggest items on the list--weeding my yard and printing the rest of my wedding invitation samples--so I feel like I still accomplished quite a bit.

I have lots to show you, but it's been so overcast and rainy lately that it's hard to get any good pictures. So in the meantime I'll leave you with this photo of the little man, who was four months old on Sunday! I still can't believe how fast he's growing, and he's at the point now where I can see noticable improvements in his motor skills almost daily. He's also in love with his jumperoo, which is awesome because it gives me another 30 minutes or so with two hands free to get some things done around here. :)

Mother's day

2011-05-09T08:41:00.000-06:00

I hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful day yesterday. I had a great day with my mom, the husband and Lachlan. We went to the art and jazz festival in downtown Grand Junction in the morning and I got some cool things I'll show you in the next few days.

My gift for mother's day was a hole in the ground.

Well, not just a hole in the ground, but 13 holes in the ground!

And I didn't even have to dig them!

The best part is that these holes in the ground will soon be home to 13 new David Austin roses that will probably arrive this week. I'm getting 10 Queen of Sweden roses and 3 Claire Austin roses. Yahooo!

April showers

2011-05-05T08:18:00.000-06:00

We had a lot of showers in April. Oh, sure, they brought some May flowers. In fact, my lamb's ear is going nuts!

I just planted a few small plants last year and it's already time to divide it.

But all those showers also brought weeds galore! Here's what I'm facing in my garden area.

My mom is here visiting so she's watching Lachlan while I attack the field of weeds. Progress is slow. It took me several hours the other day just to uncover my raspberries. But the chickens are in heaven. They lurk close by when I pull out the weeds, ready to jump on any good bugs that I uncover!

Lazy afternoons with an iPhone

2011-05-02T09:57:00.000-06:00

Lachlan sleeps well at night, and as a result he really doesn't nap for very long during the day. When he does nap, it's usually right after eating, so I've recently taken advantage of a few lazy afternoons with him. I almost always have my iPhone with me while he's eating so that I can catch up on emails and the news, and I decided to use it to take some photos of him while he sleeps.

Even Sadie gets in on the action (or lack thereof...)!

Save the peaches!

2011-04-30T07:03:00.000-06:00

It's almost May. It's also 27 degrees outside and there is a light covering of snow on the ground. That whump-whump-whump I hear is the windmills in the orchard across the street trying with all their might to circulate the air and hopefully save this year's crop of peaches.

I sure hope it works. Lachlan is really looking forward to tasting the first of many world-famous Palisade peaches this summer.

I also hope that my ten new Corsican violets are as hardy as they're supposed to be...

Iris

2011-04-28T15:33:00.000-06:00

Last year (or was it the year before?), I planted a bunch of iris and day lilies that my mom gave me from her yard. I put them down near our creek and then sort of forgot about them.

This morning I was looking out the window with Lachlan and noticed some little pops of purple, so I went to investigate.

Of course you can barely see them among the sea of weeds growing out there...

Thank goodness Lachlan's grammy is coming soon. I have another loooooong list of things to accomplish while she's here!

The Civilized World

2011-04-25T09:30:00.000-06:00

Other than books on pregnancy and how to maintain your sanity with an infant in your household, I haven't read a book in ages. But when I heard from a friend that her first book--a novel in stories--was published I rushed to get a copy. I read it in a day and a half, reading a little bit each time I fed Lachlan.

The book is fantastic, and I'm not just saying that because I know the author! I know Susi from the years I worked with her at Jhpiego, and she has tremendous experience with the people and places in Africa, which makes the stories that much better. You can get a copy of the book at Amazon, among other places, and to learn more about Susi and the book, and find out if she'll be doing a reading in your area, you can check out her website.

But don't take my word for it. Just ask the newest member of her sales team:

Letterpress for the little ones

2011-04-20T06:00:00.000-06:00

I'm probably not telling you anything new when I say that babies can be pretty expensive. For the majority of the population without their own printing press, I imagine it is probably a hard decision for parents who want to announce the birth of their bundle of joy with an elegant letterpress birth announcement. Do they splurge on the announcements or buy another box or two of baby wipes at Costco?

So with this in mind, I've been working on developing a line of letterpress birth announcements. They're sweet and simple, and because of that they'll also be pretty darn affordable. Over the last few weeks I've been printing some samples as I get free time (i.e., when Lachlan sleeps for more than 15 minutes at a time!). I can't wait to finish them (only two more to go...). Until then, here's a sneak peak at three of them.

One afternoon

2011-04-19T08:59:00.000-06:00

A lot can happen in one short afternoon.

Would you believe me if I told you the dog ate them?

Blossoms

2011-04-15T10:12:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday, everyone. It's starting to really feel like spring around here. The apricots and sweet cherries are almost done blooming, but from above the valley probably looks like a patchwork quilt of white and pink from the pear and peach blossoms! Earlier in the week we checked on the cherry blossoms over at the husband's uncle's orchard. Along the way he snapped a few photos of the orchards.

And now for the winner of the giveaway. The random number generator picked number 2, Holly Rene! Holly, please send your mailing address to me at melissa (at) paperinkpress (dot) com and I'll get your cards and stamps on their way to you!

Thanks to everyone else who entered. I forgot how much fun giveaways are, so I plan to do at least one a month for the rest of the year. Long live snail mail! :D

Have a great weekend, everyone!

That's pinteresting

2011-04-14T10:36:00.000-06:00

Do you pin? I first heard of Pinterest many months ago, but I only recently became sucked into this time-wasting world. It's the kind of thing you can become addicted to in about 3 seconds. The way it works is this: If you see a photo online that you like, you "pin" it to a virtual board. You can have a variety of different categories, and the neat thing is that you can describe the pin and add tags for it, and it saves the link where you found the picture. No more orphan images on your computer!

You can look at the pins of the larger Pinterest community, and you can "repin" these pins to your board. You can also follow other people's boards, and their pins will show up on your Pinterest page for you to repin if you so choose. You can also comment on pins and "like" them. Like I said, it's a time waster, but it's also a rather nice way of saving photos you come across and want to keep for future inspiration.

If you want to see what I find pinteresting, you can check out my boards here (you'll probably have to scroll down the page to see my boards).

For example, here's one of the photos I came across that went onto my "Stinking cute" board.

In other news, I'm doing some spring cleaning around here. Please pardon my dust as I try to figure out some new templates and colors for this gig...