A few weeks ago we decorated the house for Christmas. Every year we pick out a tree with our friends Sara and Ben. This year was no different!
After we got the tree home Marni and Lindsay came over to decorate and helped us by stringing popcorn for our doorways. It took me back to grade school and for few days the house smelled like popcorn and pine needles - it was great!
As promised, here are a few pictures of our table at the Bust Craftacular (my camera died within the first five minutes). I split the table with Amber Mahler of Mani Designs. Her work is absolutely gorgeous and her display was just perfect. She used an old letterpress type case to display her earrings, which fit quite well with my letterpress printed pieces. I wasn't in love with my display, but I did manage to fit everything into just two suitcases for the plane ride!
While we were in the city Jake and I stopped by Anthropologie and admired the paper chain garland and other great displays.
All around the city there were Obama window displays. This was one of the best, complete with stockings hung on the fire place for the whole Obama family. I regret that I didn't get any pictures of the multiple Obama food specials (like the "Obama Burger" or the "Obama lunch buffet").
In the spirit of the season Pistachio Press is offering a last-minute holiday special. This package includes:
Don't forget to check out hello handmade paperie's newest downloadable banner and ornaments. I haven't had too much time to decorate this season {more on this later}, so these will be perfect for any of you who are in the same boat!
And finally, make sure you check out new prints from FreshlyBlended Press! Nicole just completed a series of four beautiful letterpress and gocco land bird prints, available in her shop. They're even more wonderful in person!
Yesterday Pistachio Press hit a milestone - 800 sales in my Etsy shop! My very sincere thanks to everyone who has ordered a card or sent kind words in the last year and a half. Also, very many thanks and hugs to all of my friends and family who encouraged me and gave me advice when I most needed it. Your support has allowed me to live my dream of running a successful press, something I didn't think was possible just a few years ago.
If you're near Rochester and looking for something to do this weekend stop by my studio and say hi! It's time for the Anderson Alley Holiday Gala. I'm in studio #4-7.
A gorgeous collection. So pretty that I could see myself spending whatever it takes to make sure I have several new outfits for summer. I just love the color palette! Check out Morrison for more super beautiful pieces and a picture of the dog who started it all.
I couldn't have found these amazing pieces without the help of forty-sixth at grace. Nikole is the co-owner of the most lovely shop, herriott grace. Her father hand carves each wonderful spoon. These would make such an amazing gift and would surely make cooking even more pleasurable.
Thanksgiving itself was great. I hosted the meal for the first time ever. There were only five of us and since we are all vegetarian I got to eat everything! It was even more exciting because I finally got to cook a meal. I've been living off take-out for the past few months and didn't realize how much I missed cooking. Here was our delicious menu:
After many months and countless hours of work second storie was an amazing success this weekend. Our vendors were every bit as talented as I had expected and even more kind that I could have imagined. I was able to trade/buy many gifts, mostly for myself! On Sunday we hosted a delicious brunch with food carefully made by an incredible woman (it filled two six-foot tables). It seemed like all of our promotion paid off - we had a great crowd, many of them spent a few hours shopping and talking to vendors. My sister helped me at my table and by greeting people as they came in. And my husband was super-awesome! He greeted each person who came in, gave them an info booklet, told them about the free hot cider and provided the perfect cheerful introduction to the event. I only had time to take two photos, but check out Frenshlyblended's photos, they're great!
The Book Arts Fair this weekend was awesome. I bought a book from Sara Langworthy that I have wanted since the last conference, two years ago! It's beautiful and will fit in perfectly with my newly remodeled office. The image above is one of her books, but not the one I purchased. I am glad to be home, though. The fair was incredible, but looking at books for two days was a bit of a visual overload! I have a ton of ideas for new work, but no time to make it. I hope to have a bit more time over the winter to tuck in and make some new pieces.
And in honor of all of the wonderful books I saw this weekend, here's a tunnel book from the Pop-up class that I taught over the summer. The woman who made it meticulously painted and cut out each page and then hinged movable pieces to the pages.
Don't forget to sign up for the Holiday Ornament Swap, today is the last day! I received many beautiful ornaments last year and I'm looking forward to participating again.
I have been in love with Marcie Paper's work since I saw it in Abbey's apartment a few years ago. Thanks to Abbey's recent post I found out that Marcie has a piece for sale through 20x200! I can't wait to get my copy in the mail!
This weekend I will be going to the Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair just outside of Washington DC. I'm really excited to buy some new books (I bought several last time) and go into DC to see a fascinating book exhibition. I hope I get some time in the next few weeks to work on the new press and clean up the yard before it snows. The time is really flying by!
On Halloween a sparkling Vandercook SP-15 was delivered to my studio! It's an awesome feeling to have a press pull up in a pickup truck and be loaded onto a freight elevator within 10 minutes of arrival. I call this good press karma, buying the right press from the right person makes the move much easier!
I'm also very excited today because I was able to vote for a candidate I believe in, for a person who will inspire America, and for a person I truly respect. Go vote!
This has been a long week - full of printing, burning screens, and cherry coke. The first snow flurries of the season arrived while I was teaching on Wednesday. I really do love this time of the year and it's been much cozier since I started wearing all of my favorite turtlenecks and fleeces.
Has it really been a week since I last posted?! I can't imaging the days passing any faster this time of the year. Last weekend was our "weekend at home" where Jake and I try to do fun things together or around the house for one weekend a month. We took a long walk with the girls through Letchworth Park. It was beautiful - the leaves were changing color and the air was crisp. We also indulged in three very different movies - a huge luxury of time! We saw Burn After Reading, American Teen, and Pineapple Express. I've never seen three movies in one weekend, but this was a much-needed break.
Calendar printing has been going quite well, until today! And today wasn't actually that bad, just a few snags. The first major snag was that one of the plates was wrong. I thought I would have to re-order it, but I was able to cut it apart and piece it into the correct position. It took a while, but not as long as it would have taken to reorder. The second snag was actually a terrified panic that I didn't have enough paper to finish the last page of the calendar. I finally found half a ream of paper hidden in my studio, just enough - hooray!
The rest of my day...a veggie coyote at Dog Town with Shanna, Parliment, sore right shoulder, new paper order, hot shower, print club board meeting, email, send proofs to client, amazing Obama pictures.
image}MJM, calligraphy} betsy dunlap
I attended an amazing event last week with my mom, sister, friends, and 300 fellow community members. We peacefully gathered to take a group picture, sing, and say together, Sarah Palin doesn't speak for me. I truly felt united among so many wonderful women, from such varied backgrounds.
A very lonely little canoe in Portofino. I just love that it's pink!
One of the most gorgeous views we saw on our hike through Cinque Terre.
We came across this netting, woven through the trees, on one of the trails between towns. It was such a great reward to find this after a particularly tough part of the hike.
Finally, my dream house. Teal shutters and curved walls make my heart melt! This gem was in the heart of the old city in Trier, Germany. One of my favorite things about my own house is a curved wall in out living room.
This is one of the most beautiful bracelets I've ever wanted, and I don't even wear bracelets! I'm in love with pearls and the raw nature of this piece. Visit Gretchen Walker's shop to see more great finds.
Rachel Austin's work always cheers me up! The texture and colors just make me happy. I'm hopeful that I'll someday be able to hang one of these in my house.
Lately I've been good at doing things that are unrelated to work (like making carrots at the market, above). I joined a gym this week with my sister. I hate the gym, but as more time passes in my life I have begun to realize that I never make time for my health (you all know about my Mountain Dew obsession). So, I got up today and headed over to take one of the 95 classes they offer each week, only to realize that I was looking at the wrong schedule and was 15 minutes late. This meant that I had to actually "work out" on real equipment with no peppy instructor - but I did it. But next time I will make sure I am on time for the class. Then I spent a few hours with a friend who just had a baby (and Marni took some beautiful pictures of her). We had a bit of girl time and her mom made us the most amazing eggplant paninis. I'm quite grateful to have such a flexible schedule, one where I can visit with friends on a Friday afternoon.
This evening we went to Marni and Nate's opening of their collaboration titled Witness. The piece above is from their series and is one of my favorite groupings. You should check it out if you're in the Rochester area. Then Korean for dinner and dancing at Taylors. I have to say, Taylors exceeded my expectations of both skeeziness and fun. We watched a true dance battle between two mirror-hogging men in their late 50's - it was incredible - and got to dance to some of my favorite songs.
We're back from vacation and trying to get back into the swing of things! The trip was great. We went to France, Italy, and Germany. The photo above was the view out of our bedroom window in Italy. Santa Margherita was an ideal beach location, small town, perfect location, and beautiful beaches. I had a fruit tart for breakfast every day and tried to have at least one gelato each day, if not two!
The World Rally Championships in Germany were one of the highlights of the whole trip - really, even I liked it. Jake was ecstatic the whole time we were at the races, running around like a six-year-old taking pictures of all of the cars. Our hotel and the final race were in Trier, about a block from an old castle. And I didn't even panic too much when Jake drove on the Autobahn.
The last day of traveling was grueling - up at 7:30am, bus to the airport, long trans-atlantic flight where we watched about three movies and played Mystery Rummy for eight hours. Once we got to NYC we had an eight-hour layover in JFK (not our choice, but Delta changed the itinerary and never told us). So we checked our bags and headed into the city for vegetarian heaven at Red Bamboo. Finally got home and to be around 1:30am! Of course my internal clock was off (and continues to be) so I got up by 7 and we ran errands for much of the morning. I was actually in the studio printing by 2pm, feeling like a crazy woman. When you run your own business you really can't leave for three weeks and not expect things to be chaotic when you return.
