In Print

My first major press piece! My mailing labels [and the 16 Sparrows telegrams] made it into the newest issue of ReadyMade!

Chicago Style Crafters Trunk Show

I will be vending my sundry wares as part of an open studio on Saturday May 17 and Sunday May 18. The host is Circa Ceramics in their lovely studio located at 3759 N. Ravenswood in Chicago. Showtime is from 12PM to 5PM each day. I will be leaving early on Saturday at 3PM. My presence is required at a wedding.

In addition to selling my goods, I will also be giving envelope making demonstrations at 2PM both days. If you bring in a special paper or item, I will make you an envelope out of it and provide you with the knowledge of making your own sturdy and unique envelopes. There will also be yummy treats from Bake and Destroy and a bunch of the Chicago Style Crafters team.

Do come and say hello! I'll have free goodies for people who say they read this journal!

Eight or Nine Words About Stationery

I happened across a wonderful essay by Charles Dodgson [AKA Lewis Carroll] entitled Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter Writing. In it, he is very humorous but also very practical. For example, he says you should always put anything you are going to enclose in the letter right away because you will invariably forget to do it and seal and send it before you realize your error. I just made this mistake last weekend; so I understand where he's coming from. He also gives instructions for making a registry of all the letters and parcels you send and receive so that you can keep track of what your were talking about with whom. This was obviously more important in the days when letters took weeks or months to arrive, but it's still useful today.

In the process of trying to create a register for myself, I ended up with a new stationery. I printed it on this amazing Dietzgen drafting paper which is onion skin weight; so it's light and translucent. I put them together with some vellum envelopes so that when you write on the paper and then fold it over and then put it in the envelope, there will be multiple layers of text which I think will look lovely.

Poppies.... poppies

A while back I got a custom job through 16 Sparrows for a personalized stationery. The client wanted a small graphic of a poppy and their initials. I started with black and white ink sketches of various poppies and asked the client to pick one for me to color. The client wanted both a stationery and a flat card; so they picked two different poppies. The end result I printed on recycled paper and paired with papaya colored envelopes.