museum show prep

sorry for the lack of posting...i will try to get a couple things up, but if not, i'll be back next week. between preparing for the show (lots of goodies to show you!) and thanksgiving, it's been overwhelmingly crazy.

for the show...it's crafts weekend at the museum from friday to sunday at the anchorage museum of history and art! go here to read more about the show. hope to see you there!

so much to do...

last weekend before the museum show and have a ton to do!

i printed the first round of recipe cards & will print the backs of the cards tomorrow (since they have to dry in between runs) - they look SO great!

also made a couple of photo album box sets that turned out quite beautifully!

i have many more boxes & books to make before the big show next weekend...wish me luck!

hyperbole and a half dogs

i was reading hyperbole and a half today and practically fell out of my chair from laughing so hard. so i thought i would share, since i'm sure you need a good laugh too.

this is what it's like when we drive mia & vito around too (source)

tiny showcase of awesome

thanks to designlovefest, i was introduced to tiny showcase - the creators wanted a venue for artists to make some money with smaller works of art & for customers to purchase affordable pieces. each week, they pick a new tiny piece of art & have a limited edition of prints made.


cool things about tiny showcase:
1) there's a letterpress section!!
2) a percentage of each sale goes towards the artist's favorite charity

check out some of the gorgeous work:

"Tiny Boat on a Tiny Bottle" by sol linero

"August Migration" by tyler stout


"Inside Trip" by the little friends of printmaking

and my favorite piece (seen on designlovefest too):
"Homage to the Stamp" by Gavin Potenza

be sure to click on each image to see the additional shots of the prints - the pics really capture the beauty & depth of letterpress printing.

and since i received my 60+ pounds of french paper & my letterpress plates yesterday, i'll be cranking out some prints myself tonight! pictures to come...

the oatmeal

a college friend of mine posted something from the oatmeal and i checked it out...and am now hooked. it is HILARIOUS. somewhat dark humor and some *$@! language. the creator of the oatmeal, matthew inman, draws, writes & codes the entire site. extremely talented guy...

but check these out:

things bears love (source)

part of 8 ways to prepare your pets for war (source)

from 7 reasons to keep your tyrannosaur OFF crack cocaine (source)

pups

sooo over the weekend, we got another puppy!!

just kidding :) we're not quite that crazy.....yet.

for no apparent reason, the puppies turned up the cuteness this weekend. the majority of the weekend consisted of them looking like this:


hubby was cutting mia's nails (the thought of cutting their nails freaks me out) and accidentally cut one too short - and since her nails are black, it's really hard to see where the quick is - so it started bleeding & we didn't have any of that powder that's supposed to stop it quickly. i have to say, mia was a champ - she didn't cry & was really patient while we fixed her up. for as crazy as she can be sometimes, she is very tolerant when it comes to letting us check her out. we sat with her & bandaged it up, then put a little bootie on her foot so she wouldn't bite the dressing.



have you ever seen a dog walk with a bootie on? it's HILARIOUS! she adjusted quickly and was playing in no time. here's her looking pathetic:

puppy test

during the last week or so, hubby & i have been experimenting with leaving the pups out of their kennels while we aren't home.

we've learned a bit from our previous experiences: "the death of the baby gate", "the death of the blinds", and of course, "the death of the carbon monoxide detector".

instead of leaving them down where there is NOTHING (toys didn't count apparently) to do...we've left them with lots of toys, their beds, and the window so they can head up neighborhood security.

let's hope they passed this test with flying colors! i would much rather see their little floppy eared heads pop up at the window when i got home...unless they are holding a piece of dismembered couch in their mouths at the same time.

postcards

so my friend annie of annie's arts & follies mentioned this cool postcard site called postcrossing. if you decide to participate, you send out some cards & receive cards from all over the world. basically, its way better than getting a ton of bills in your mailbox.

since i read about this project, annie inspired me to work on my first postcard design:

i haven't decided what color paper to print on or what color ink to use yet...i am LOVING designing for letterpress!

baking recipe cards

i finished up the files for the next recipe cards! i would love to get one more thing done before i send the files off to the polymer plate makers. here's the french paper colors i ordered:

the recipe cards will come in packs of 8, with 2 cards in each color.

here's the front:

and here's the back:

and once again, the blue border is not part of the design, just to make the card stand out :) what do you think?

learning curve...

i've been working on a few new projects...an additional recipe card design, a postcard design, and a custom gift card for an alaskan store. all three will hopefully be finished in the next couple of days so i can order some letterpress plates.

the custom gift card request was from a lovely lady who was at the bad girls of the north show. she really liked the kitchen cards & wanted me to create some cards for her shop to be used as gift certificates for the upcoming holidays. i drew a design for her shop with pots, pans, tea pots & some tea accessories. i'm just waiting on her shop logo to get it finished up. she also wanted the cards printed on bright paper (my favorite!) so i place an order for some cheerful colors.

i've found that i've become much more comfortable with offering custom work to customers at shows. i used to be worried..."what if i can't do it? what if they don't like it? what if...." but i've learned a couple of things:

1) get as many details & specifics about the project as possible. a lot of people have told me "do whatever you want"....but i hesitate because i know our tastes aren't the same. so if i can at least get a direction, a color scheme, even dislikes, that helps
2) i've always gotten a project done. even when i'm stressed to the max. and am feeling unsure of my abilities. and am trying something new. i've been able to find a way, find resources, & create some pretty cool things.

once i have the designs for the cards done, i'll show you :)

Bad Girls of the North show!

what a crazy busy weekend! the bad girls of the north show was a major success :) it was a lot of fun. i had the chance to see many familiar faces, artists & customers. friday night was packed - it looked like everyone really enjoyed themselves. one of the coolest things about this particular show is that on friday night, drinks & appetizers are offered to customers.

and here's what you've been waiting for - pics of the show!

my table

linoleum block printed cards

new pamphlet books - featuring vito :)

letterpress printed kitchen cards

letterpress kitchen & snowman cards

address books & japanese stab binding books

i always learn so much from every show and this one was no exception. i have a lot of new ideas for projects in addition to some things i'm planning to debut at the museum show in a few weeks. i took sunday off to relax and catch up on some much needed sleep, but i'll be hitting the ground running to have everything ready for the next show.

show day!!!

ok so i miscalculated the amount of time i would have to get things done...and didn't have a chance to take pictures of the boxes. sorry :( but i'll take lots of pictures of the show - i'm going to go set up for bad girls of the north in a couple of hours!!!!!

wish me luck!

show countdown!

source

i've been up late the past few nights, pushing to get everything done in time for the show. there is never enough time in the day! most of the books are packaged...i couldn't keep my eyes open to finish up the last few. i worked my buns off and made three new jewelry boxes, which i'm pretty happy with! i will take some pictures later & hopefully will post them tonight or tomorrow.

here's my list of what i have left to do:
- cut & package kitchen cards
- package snowman card singles
- finish 4 photo albums
- bind a couple more blanket stitch books
- package rest of the books
- gather supplies for the show
- get rid of this annoyingly persistent headache i have

and if i'm really ambitious....i'll make a photo album box set. but we'll see. perhaps i'll save that for the next show. wish me luck - it's crunch time!

mia's first birthday!

our sweet puppy turned one on halloween! so of course, we got her presents and special cookies :) here's some pictures:

presents!

did someone say "treats"?!

yup

fleecy ball!

and here's a video:

snow!

we had our first big snowfall last night & this morning...the first snow that stuck. winter is here! i wish i could say that it's bright & white & pretty outside, but this is what it looks like:

kinda of blah and gray...at 11am.

mia was funny this morning - i don't think she really remembered what snow is. when i took her out to go potty, she was unsure of the white stuff and was very cautious about stepping anywhere. so cute!

kitchen cards!

there was a bit of a setback last week - i ordered paper to print this new set of cards & ups accidentally sent my order to canada. once the error was figured out, it had to clear customs to get back into the US. i contacted french paper and received an immediate response - they sent out a new box to me next day air. i am SO impressed with their customer service. and because they responded so quickly, i was able to print my cards for the show this weekend!

here's some pics of the printing:

there are five different designs on five different colors of paper

i used a mixture of silver & black ink - so there is a bit of sheen in the prints. the darkness of the ink really shows off the detail of the drawings.

my shop puppy :)

saved the best color for last

helper puppies - they were quality assurance for the day

this was a marathon printing day - 550 cards in over 5 hours. my arm is still a little sore...but its a huge relief to have them printed. i'm thrilled with the results and will post more once they are cut down and ready to sell!

halloween 2010

husband and i attended a halloween party saturday night...so saturday morning, we headed off to the store to search for costumes. and here's what we found:

hubby as hannibal lector

me as alice in wonderland

i have decided that blond hair really isn't great on me....but i did get to wear my blue wedding shoes again, so that was awesome. actually that was a huge deciding factor in choosing my costume...haha!

our friends throwing the party - poison ivy & hong kong phooey

lots of people showed up - in costume! there was a flower, doctor, & fire (sitting on top of his grandma, who was a cinder)

little red riding hood & wolf

cindy lou who & the grinch (who took his mask off because 3 year old fire was a little scared of it)

skier & a skunk

there was a pumpkin carving contest - partners were randomly draw from a hat:

me & my partner's pumpkin

hubby & his partner's pumpkin

other pumpkins

and the winner of the contest!

we also had bobbing for apples:

the party was tons of fun and by the end of the night, we were exhausted :) hope everyone had a happy halloween!