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.

I'm learning how to use a Heidelberg Windmill, and yesterday I loaded paper and printed some proofs. It was very exciting! There's a lot more to understand about the way the press works than with the Vandercook, especially how to load paper correctly. I'm feeling a lot more confident and hope to run an actual job on it soon.

Have a great Halloween! I have some news in the works for Monday.

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.



In September our weekend at home was actually spent in Buffalo. We saw the B-52's at the Albright Knox, went to dinner at one of our old favorites places, and went shopping at Ikea for new office furniture. I'm looking forward to our next weekend at home actually being at home!

one of those days

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.

Calendar pre-order ends next week. Pre-orders received a complimentary note card and free shipping.

the leaves are changing

This weekend was filled with adventure. Jake and I drove to Syracuse on Saturday to stay with friends and visit an apple festival in the hills of central New York. The leaves are changing colors on all of the trees in the state and it was a beautiful setting to drink hot cider. On Sunday we all drove together to Rhode Island for another friend's wedding. Again, we were lucky enough to drive through the beautiful Berkshires and end up at a gorgeous wedding, which was impeccably planned and included a troupe of waiters who danced in formation holding trays of flambe!

Unfortunately, the past few weeks of non-stop work have caught up to me and I've developed the cold that all of my students have had during the past month! My fingers are crossed that it won't impede my printing ability this week, as our deadline for the calendar launch is coming up quickly! I actually have to head to the studio to print shortly and will try to post a few sneak peeks later today.

Thanks Indie Fixx!

A big thank you to Jen at Indie Fixx for inviting me to participate in her Indie Artist Fixx interview series! I was truly honored to be asked. You can read the interview here.

Celebrity Death Match

Boy, things have gotten pretty heated politically in the last few days! I was thinking about MTV's Celebrity Death Match...what would happen if they paird up Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Keith Olbermann. Might not be a completely fair fight, but it would probably be fun to watch.

Thinking about 2009

It's that time of the year again...calendar printing time! Tara and I are working on our second calendar. She sent me the designs a little while ago and the plates and paper have arrived. This means I'll be a printing fool for the next few weeks since we're trying to launch these by the week of October 20th {remember last year?} We're currently taking pre-orders, which will include free shipping and a complimentary note card.

Happy Birthday

My very sweet Cassie turned three today (at least this is the day we picked to celebrate as her birthday since she was a rescue). In honor of this we cuddled for quite some time this morning before I had to leave for school. I should have brought her with me, my students would have been in love!

call for entries

image}MJM, calligraphy} betsy dunlap

call for entries} featuring the best indie arts and crafts in the north east and beyond. second storie is looking for talented vendors to be a part of this truly unique holiday festival. Application deadline is October 27. This is our third event and I'm sure it's going to be amazing. I can't wait to see who applies!

energized

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.

remembering

I said weeks ago that I would post some more pictures from Italy. Well, that time has finally come! Here are a few of my favorites, more on my flickr.

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.

September cheer

So many things are weighing on my mind, so in an effort to push them aside I thought I'd post some beautiful things that would be sure to cheer me up (and maybe you as well).

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.

“No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots."
—Barbara Ehrenreich



They certainly hit the nail on the head with this one. Let's put this sexist thing to rest and start talking about issues and asking real questions. I, for one, am disturbed that we don't even have a dialog anymore about the economy, homelessness, the war, health insurance, etc. I'm tired of hearing about lipstick and I don't care how many kids she has.




I had really debated with myself about posting about politics on my blog, but this is a major part of my life, as it should be. Part of my training as an artist has been to engage others in critical thought and dialog. As a member of the indie-blogging community I haven't seen much of this discussion happening, and I'm tired of side-stepping the elephant in the room (who may or may not be wearing lipstick). Sarah Palin does not speak for me.

taking some time

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.

Hoping to post some home improvements in the next few weeks. Jake and I decided to try to spend one weekend each month at home, working on things we never have time for, and enjoying a few lazy days. It's something I think might add some balance to our over-committed lives. I'm also hoping I can spend a few hours alone this weekend, to have some time to think about new projects and maybe make some headway on my website updates or neglected artwork.

Carrot Campaign '08

I'll be spending most of this evening (from 4-8 pm) making carrots at the South Wedge Farmers Market as part of a fund raiser second storie is helping to organize. Carrots will be constructed out of salvaged cloth and yarn and available for sale with the profits going directly to the South Wedge Farmer's Market. We'll be making a ton, so we'll need help! Stop by our tent and we'll get you to work - we'll have a bushel of carrots to be stuffed, yarn to tie and buttons to be attached.

Hooray!

Pistachio Press is featured in this month's issue of Lucky Magazine!!! I've known about this for a little while, but didn't want to chance jinxing it. The I Love You card is listed in the Bonus New York section of the magazine. Apparently the bonus section is regional, so I had to go to several different stores to find the New York issue (Boston and Philly were in the first few stores I tried). I am super excited - thanks Lucky!

I'm overwhelmed by the conventions and all I can think of is this clip from French Kiss. I think it sums up everything pretty well. Also, I love Kevin Kline movies - the distraction would be good :)

we have returned

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.

So far this week I've printed a 2-color invitation for one couple and a 3-color accordion invitation with two 2-color inserts for another couple. Crazy as it may be, it feels great to be back home!

More photos of the trip to follow!

Collaboration

Shanna and I have been working on a letterpress card collaboration this summer and I am pleased to let you know that it's up in our shops! These cards were a collaboration in the truest sense. We sat side-by-side on out laptops during the design process and printed them together on the trusty Vandercook. It was nice for both of us to try something different in terms of design. Enjoy!

It finally happened...

We had a bit of sun today! Every time I try to take new photos of recent Pistachio Press projects the clouds come out. Lucky for me, the sun finally peeked out for a few minutes and I got some decent shots.

I've printed this design several times, and I love that the formality can change so much just by changing the color palette!

I'm really happy with how this set turned out. The invitations are three-color and I think the thank you notes are super sweet. I am enamored with cotton paper, such great blind embossing results!

This is one of my favorite designs. The bride sent me photos of the lace on her veil and I drew the pattern in Illustrator. I love how it turned out, especially how the paper is raised in the white parts of the flowers.

After taking these shots I realized that I have several new designs that aren't on my website yet! I never seem to have enough time in the day, but a semi-major website revision is in the works. Marni is going to let me use her fancy light-box set up, so I'm hoping to get some amazing shots of the collection.

Also in the works is the official launch of the card collaboration with Shanna, scheduled to be unveiled on Monday, August 4. We've had a few loose ends to tie up, and I can wait for these to hit our Etsy shops!