Time to cast your vote

Congrats to Abbey! Her house was chosen as a runner-up in the Domino Decorating Contest. She could win $1000 to make more improvements and all you have to do is cast your vote. I can vouch that her house is unique and beautiful in person and truly reflects her family. Go ahead, vote right now! And tell your friends.

Playing Tag

I was tagged by Megan, so here are five random things you may not know about me.

1. I love popcorn from the movies. I love it so much that I bring my own seasoning to the theater and if I have leftovers I eat them for breakfast the next morning.

2. I have an obsession with 80's pop music and I play it while I'm teaching (which amuses most of my students).

3. This may not be a secret to some of you, but I can't stop myself from making piles. If there is a clean flat surface in my house or studio I cover it with paperwork, cards, prints, junk mail...you get the idea.

4. It takes me forever to compose email. I blame this on a job related to copy editing. I proofread even the most simple email several times and read it aloud to make sure it makes sense. I've been trying not to obsess about it so much!

5. I am one of those crazy-obsessed dog people who dress their dogs in clothes and send out holiday cards with pictures of the dogs. I never thought I'd be one of these people, but I guess I am. My hope is that acknowledgment of this fact will somehow make it ironic and not creepy.

I tag Abbey, Lindsay, Kris, Nicole, and Erin.

The rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Happier

If you're in the Rochester area you should check out Happier, and exhibition by Abbey and Phil Hendrickson. The show is at the Art & Music Library Gallery through December 28, so you have plenty of time to see their amazing drawings!

{photos by Abbey Hendrickson, top image is Phil's work, bottom image is Abbey's}

Cyber Monday

Ok, so I've been a pretty bad blogger these last few weeks. But, that just means that I've been working hard and trying to catch up with family during the holiday! Jake and I went home for a few days and made the rounds with everyone we haven't seen in a while. We did go to the mall on Black Friday, but I've taken the handmade pledge, so we mostly just watched the other shoppers and ate pizza! In honor of Cyber Monday and the handmade pledge (which you should join if you're reading this), here is one of my favorite necklaces, made by Kim Eichler-Messmer.

Finished!

Calendar printing is done! Lindsay and I made the final push last night and printed for 16 hours...holy crap! Saturday consisted of about 3000 pieces through the press, a few Mountain Dew breaks, some minor irritability from both of us, lots of dance music, and a chance to see the sun rise as we drove home (singing loudly, of course). I can't tell you how awesome the pages look and how happy I am that everything registered so well. It's been so amazing to work with Tara on this project and her designs look like they were made for letterpress. This week we'll be collating and packaging calendars to send out.

Michael Bosworth

I wish I was going to be in town tonight. There is an artist talk by Michael Bosworth at Rochester Contemporary at 7 pm. I missed his opening las week because I was printing and I'll miss the lecture tonight because I will be printing! Oh well, that just means I might have to take one of my classes to the gallery :)

I was taking a break from work and found these amazing chairs. I wish I could buy a set for my dining room, since I hate the chairs we currently have!

New threads

I love this shirt and it totally loves me!

Wouldn't it look perfect under this jacket? Too bad we don't have an Urban Outfitters anywhere near here! And too bad I'm feeling broke.

Pre-order

The calendar is coming along well! Here is a detail shot of the month of May. We will only have 200 limited edition calendars. The size is 4.25" wide by 11" tall. The calendar is printed on Crane's Lettra paper in fluorescent white, which is 100% cotton and makes a beautiful impression! Each piece is hand printed on a Vandercook printing press.

Pre-order a calendar (or two) right here.

My day in pictures

1200 pieces printed yesterday, 800 printed today, craft fair tomorrow. Massage tomorrow night?

Whew!

Well, today was a long, long day of calendar printing. I'm totally exhausted, but I'm still a bit wired. Tomorrow I'll have to remember not to drink so many Mountain Dew's. I'm also quite inspired. I got to see Abbey's new work this afternoon and it's awesome. She's been working on several huge drawings for an upcoming show and is almost finished with them. The image above is from her new work, but you have to see it in person to really take in all of the layering and meticulousness. Also, make sure you check out Abbey's recent interview in Book by it's Cover (hooray!!!).