holiday cards

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Usually I don't have time to draw the Satsuma Press holiday cards til the last minute, which is not ever what I plan. Still, it's what happens year after year. This week has been chock full of to do list stuff; next will be the same.

Somehow, despite everything that has been going on, I found time to draw two holiday cards. They are simple – a sprig of foliage, a wreath – and I don't think I'll be drawing more than these. I'll print them in three holiday-like colors – cranberry, silver sage, leaf.

I'll be away from home and studio August 21st to the 26th. Liam and Ben will be staying almost a week longer than me at Ben's mom's place so I plan to get a good, strong start on printing both the holiday cards and the 2011 calendar. I can't wait!!

2011 calendar // sneak peek

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I have been working on the 2011 calendar lately. I wasn't sure what I'd do this year since my first thoughts of blind impressions with watercolor fell from favor. For me, that is. To be honest, I was feeling a little overwhelmed by this yearly project. But I'm really liking the direction of this – lots of circles and lines. It's simple with only a few months having more then one colorway, slate gray text and a blind stamp at the bottom of each page. I also decided to go with a slightly smaller format – 5.5 x 8.5 – still on 100% cotton paper.

I plan to have these ready for you by the middle-to-end of September. My idea is to do a fairly small run of 200 or 250 – and I'll start up a pre-order list at the beginning of September. Sign up for the Satsuma Press Newsletter right here if you want to know when that happens.

P.S. The wreath for December will also be printed as an all-purpose holiday card in a few colors – silver sage, leaf, cranberry and metallic silver.

august

August, already. July went by in a blur. My father-in-law passed away on July 19th – just one year and a day after the death of a very close friend. Mid-July seems cursed, but I know it's not really that way. In the same month, Liam went to week long camp for the very first time. And loved it. We picked him up from Welches on Saturday, July 17th and drove home on the back roads.

Because of our unexpected week away to be with family, I am incredibly behind in the studio. Mailbox Monthly for July has not been finished – and I'm sorry. I discovered yesterday that the cd sleeves I ordered for MM are not so letterpress friendly. They have a shiny finish on them and the ink smudge too much, so on to Plan B. I'll be printing something else for the (now late) July edition and trying out some kraft paper cd sleeves next.

ready made party invitations

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Here's a new idea I've been working on: ready-made invitations and matching thank you cards – letterpress printed, but affordable, no fuss, good for girls and boys alike.



The pig with candles was something I drew for Liam's third birthday party at his request. I think it's really cute for boys and girls ages 2-4. After 4, Liam drew his own birthday invitations that I scanned and then printed off the computer, but I think the flag banner would be really sweet for kids up to 8 or 9 years old.



And then there's the who-what-where-when-why invites. Fill in the blanks, use them for any sort of get-together you like. Maybe, though, people wouldn't want to fill out all that information. Maybe it should be more specific (i.e. date, time, place – not as catchy this way, though.)

I'd like to sell these ready-made in my online shop in sets of 10 invites + thank you cards (for the little kid series) and sets of 10 for the who-what-where-when-why invites ... A6 flats with corresponding colored envelopes. For these, I'd just pick color combinations I like, but for orders of 25 and up people could choose their own colors. That would be the only customization though – just the colors, no change to the text.

I guess I should mention that part of my hesitation to offer the little kids' invitations – at least as they are now – is that while I think they are CUTE, I'm not sure they stand out as anything special. I have been really careful thus far to only offer designs that I think really reflect my aesthetic; this is not the same as not branching out, just keeping a certain design sensibility. I feel more confident in the ready-made who-what-where-when-why invitations which use my existing work. Do you think the little kid ones make the cut? I'm not sure yet.

What do you think? All this comes about as I continue to try to make my work affordable for others yet sustainable for myself. Speaking of which – oh, the wedding line. I get so many requests but not quite enough follow through. Should I lower my prices? I don't think they are at all out of line with other similar printers, but maybe I should try to get more steady work ... I barely have enough hours in the day as is, though so I'm not sure exactly how I'd take on more. I still need to find time to work on the 2011 calendar!

i'm back

I'm sorry for the radio silence. My father-in-law passed away unexpectedly on July 19th and we have been gone since then to be with family.

We just got home yesterday after 8 days away, so I have a lot of catching up to do around here, both in the house and studio. If you've emailed me or placed an order – or are waiting for Mailbox Monthly – please know that I'm doing the best I can do get everything back on track. I don't know how – and didn't have time – to figure out how to make my email generate an auto response so I have more than 100 emails to reply to now. I tried to reply to some with my iPhone, but they don't always go through. So thanks for your patience ...

Some days the Heidelberg just sings. It works like a charm. (Other days it's a total beast and I spend many hours pleading for cooperation.) Today, though, was sweet. I don't actually use this press all the time; I often choose to use my Vandercook, particularly when the run is anything smaller than 100 or if I'm not up for the temperament and speed of the beast. Yet today the Heidelberg was humming right along – well, not humming, more like an insanely fast fiddle – and I got so much done. Today, though I woke up at 4:30 am. I know – that's insane – but I couldn't get back to sleep and my alarm was set for 5:00 anyway. I went to my crazy exercise class at 5:45, got home by 7:00 and was in the studio – belly full, totally caffeinated – by 8:30. I got to cross so many things off the to-do list, some of which have been on there for a VERY LONG time – yes!!

We're heading up to Portland tomorrow for an evening out and then we'll pick up the kid on Saturday morning. He's been at MDA camp all week long. And loving it. More about all that over at we love liam. I'm thinking about where to eat tomorrow night. Last weekend when we took Liam to camp – just 90 minutes or so outside of PDX – we managed to eat, with him, at Olympic Provisions for lunch and Toro Bravo for dinner. And Ben and I ate at Pok Pok the next day for lunch. Pure gluttony, but oh-so-tasty and good.

love this

I love this scarf from Madewell. It's well established that I love the combination of gray and yellow so to me this is perfection.

I know I mentioned this song, Mexican Home – written by John Prine, performed by Josh Ritter on the album Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows before, but I've been listening to it almost every day, more than once. (It's a true fact that I could and do listen to songs I love obsessively.) It's cooled down here in the past couple days but it was so hot before and these lyrics really stuck with me:

It got so hot last night, I swear
You couldn't hardly breathe
Heat lightning burnt the sky like alcohol
I sat on the porch without my shoes
And I watched the cars roll by
As the headlights raced
To the corner of the kitchen wall.

You can listen to and buy the album here.