Woodland Animal Mask Giveaway

I'm thrilled to announce a Woodland Animal Mask giveaway! These incredibly sweet masks were designed by Abbey Hendrickson and letterpress printed by Pistachio Press. There are three different masks - a bunny, a pheasant, and a fox.  We think these are just perfect for birthday party favors, a special summer project, or even just to frame and hang!

Each kit includes:
1 mask ready to color
4 crayons
ribbon

Abbey is hosting a mask giveaway on her lovely blog. To enter, just head over to Aesthetic Outburst and leave a comment on the post. Three winners will be chosen on Tuesday, June 1.

I hope you enjoy this holiday weekend!

NSS re-cap

Wow, I can't believe it's been two weeks since I was last here! So much has happened, so I'll try to walk you through everything Stationery Show related. I should warn you now, this is going to be a long post :) After signing up for the show only two months before it began, I didn't have much time to finish everything I had wanted to – mainly my 2011 calendar got pushed to the back burner. But, aside from that I was able to finish printing many new cards and wedding suites, which I'll show you in the next few days.
Jake took the last two weeks off from his job search to help me prepare for the show and it was such immense help! After we packed up the car we started the drive to my mom's house to drop off the dogs. On the road the passenger window came off the track to we had to duct tape it in place until Jake could take the door apart and secure it for the rest of the trip. After that we had to put a finishing coat of paint on the shelves before heading to bed.

Early the next morning we drove the rest of the way to NYC, had a perfect drive with no traffic and were able to unload the car in record time in front of the Javits. I had been worried about dropping everything off and finding parking, but none of that turned out to be a problem at all. After checking in I finally got to meet Amber and Kseniya and we started to set up the booth and build the furniture. Jake assembled most of the furniture while we made decisions about placement. Over the next three days the rest of our booth mates showed up and we all put up lights, hung shelves and cards, installed the floor, and collated 350 giveaway calendars. When the doors finally opened I think the booth looked amazing!

The next few days were a blur of meeting new and old friends, talking to retailers and the press, going to networking parties and eating great meals. I made such amazing friendships with all of the booth-mates, which I hadn't been expecting. I can't tell you how awesome everyone was and how much fun I had on this trip. I also can't believe how supportive all of the other exhibitors were. I felt like I got to meet so many stationers whose work I just adore and they were as sweet as I had been hoping. It was especially fun to meet bloggers and Twitter friends in real life. The fabulous ladies in my booth were: Kseniya of Thomas Printers, Amber of Flywheel Press, Nancy and Beverly from Hazel & Violet Ink, TJ from Ink & Iron, Kelly from May Day Studio, Katrina from Papermill Designs, and Maia from Dandy Lion Press. What a wonderful bunch of printers, who, as Amber said during the trip, are now colleagues!

Aside from having a wonderful experience and eating in many delicious restaurants, I learned so much from the process. I totally feel like I can build my own booth next time and I'm actually thinking about exhibiting at the NY Gift Show in August. I just need to formally commit and send in my application! Thanks so much to all of you for your support and kind words while I was preparing for the show and thanks for sticking through this long post :) I can't wait to show you new work from the line as soon as I finish photographing it and catch up on my email (Not having internet access during the trip was slightly crippling and showed me how much I really do need an iPhone or Droid).


Print giveaway!

Alright, we made it to NYC. I'm going to try to do a bigger post a little later (once I can sort through email and get dinner), but I wanted to pop on here and let you know about a Pistachio Press print giveaway on A Cup of Jo. The Daylight Dreamers print designed by Jackie Bos and the Portraits print designed by mummysam are available. The giveaway ends tomorrow, so head on over and leave a comment!

It takes a village!

Man, this trade show thing is a ton of work.  This weekend my wonderful friends and studio mates helped me prep for the stationery show. We had a packaging party and accomplished so much!  I'm so happy that I finished printing over the weekend and that all of my wedding orders shipped out yesterday. It's a huge weight off my shoulders to know nothing is too pressing when I get back and I don't have to print that weekend. I'm lucky that Jake is going to take next week off from is job search to help me at the show. I don't think I'd be able to make it through this if he wasn't coming with me.

ps - My new wedding album is beautiful and I'm so excited about it.  I'll show some pictures when I return since it's all packed up right now!

Let's pretend!

I'm so happy that I finally get to announce a new collaboration with my dear friend Abbey Hendrickson of Aesthetic Outburst. Abbey and I have been friends for eleven years, since we met the first week of college in a drawing course. This collection of Woodland Animal Masks is our first collaboration and I couldn't be more pleased!

There are three different woodland animals to choose from and each kit includes one letterpress mask, four crayons and ribbon. I think they're so amazing and perfect for many afternoons of pretending and I hope you do, too!

A photo and a link: Clay Hufford

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of printing postcards for my friend Clay's MFA thesis show. Clay works in glass and when I said I'd stop by to see his show I had no idea how blown away I would be! The space was a bit raw and absolutely perfect for his work. The top piece, for instance, is glass cast from an old radiator and the bottm piece is equally gorgeous - the tiles made me feel like I was under water.

take out and 3am

So by now you know that I don't have much time to cook at home, although I really love to. This has been a particularly take-out-filled week. What you don't see is the case of Mountain Dew that was recently stocked in the fridge at the studio, which keeps me awake for late nights of printing.

If you are in the Rochester area this weekend, I'm having an open studio event with my studio-mates - we're in studio #4-7. This means that you'll be able to see my studio, which I'll be cleaning tomorrow, and pick up some last-minute mother's day gifts.

Spring Fling at Anderson Alley
250 N. Goodman St, Rochester, NY 14607
Friday, May 7th, 2010 from 5–9pm
Saturday, May 8th from 11am–4pm

Life without the web

For many of us, myself included, the internet can be incredibly useful and incredibly time-consuming. Comic artist James Sturm has taken a hiatus from the internet and made these comics in response to his experience. I often think that if I didn't run my own business I wouldn't use the internet nearly as much as I do, and I wouldn't use it so compulsively. When we went to Italy a few years ago and I was cut off from phone and email, it took me a solid week to decompress and stop being so on edge. But after that it was awesome and so freeing. I'd love to try a non-internet weekend, or even a week, every now and then!

one week to go

In the past three days there has been lots of color mixing, paper trimming, catalog proofing, line sheet writing, printing, printing, scoring, folding, printing. I've also been working on some really amazing new wedding collections. I'm not ready to show them here quite yet, but the reply card above is a little sneak peek.

One of the best things about exhibiting at the stationery show this year is that it has forced me to really step up my game. I had put off some important things (like a custom wedding album) over the pat year due to time limitations, but a deadline really does light a fire sometimes. Although I'm not getting everything done that I had wanted to, I feel like I've accommplished so much in the past few months. Totally feeling energized today!

paper crown

Ok, so this might not be press related, but it is studio related. My studio-mate Jen made this crown and the puppies got to wear it while hanging out in the studio.

Music Monday


It's almost game time

I'm feeling simultaneously productive and overwhelmed. I'm excited to be getting so close to the Stationery Show and starting to feel nervous. My promo cards went out last week, as did the wedding shown above. I'm still working on my wedding album and almost all of the new designs have been printed for it. The main thing I'm disappointed about is that I won't be able to finish the designs for the 2011 calendar in time for the show. I started them and it just wasn't working out. Instead of rushing and making bad decisions, I decided to leave it alone until after the show. It was such a relief to make this decision, and one that was easier to make since a friend who has done the show before told me that I won't be able to get everything done that I had planned - that's just the way it goes!

ps-I'm going to try to post studio pics all week as I get ready for the show, next week for set up and hopefully a few shots during the show!

summer vaction, almost there

School is officially over, although I have quite a bit of grading to do this weekend. I'm looking forward to the market, a friend's birthday barbeque, printing some new designs, working on my display for the stationery show, and enjoying the beautful weather! Hope you have a great weekend, too :)