little projects

Yesterday I printed some little thank you cards to include in all my orders. I really like these cuties, and it's just a simple and sweet way to say thank you. I chose one of my favorite color combinations – ochre and slate – and a few designs from the Satsuma Press Perpetual Calendar. I also printed up some sweet 'made with love' gift tags in cranberry and slate. I actually made these for myself, but liked them so much that I am offering in my online shops right now. I think they're perfect for any home made gift. I plan to use them for cookie boxes – the buckwheat butter cookies are made; the brown butter for the oatmeal cookies is made too! – but could see using them for lots of other things, too.

I am going to close the online shops (here and here) for a short break from December 22nd til January 3rd so please order soon if you'd like anything. There are only two 2010 calendars left, but lots of other goodies. Oh! I'm contemplating making a change with my online shops in the new year. It's always sort of bothered me that I can't change my etsy shop name – it's satsumalynn because I set it up before I started selling, and I'd really rather it was satsumapress, naturally ... And I've been having fun working on other non-letterpress goods – felt wreaths, knitting, packaging supplies, etc – and so I thought maybe I'd turn my etsy shop into a place for these and keep my big cartel shop as pure letterpress. If I do this, I'd expand my big cartel shop to include everything current. Your thoughts?

weekend

It was a good weekend. We did lots of projects together, though I've still not managed to make any cookies. It must be said: sometimes we all get a little grumpy. Especially snowmen whose top hats have been cut off. Liam did try to throw this away, but I rescued it because I think it's so damn funny.


P.S. The wreath did not take nearly as long as the tutorial I saw on design*sponge suggested. Maybe it's because I wasn't very exact about the circles, but it probably only took me about 2 or 3 hours all said and done. Mine is definitely different than that one, but I really like it – a little less ruffly, a little more free form. I bought some more felt in pale grey so I think I'll make another one this week.

holiday projects

I forgot to tell you that I did a little interview with the lovely Heather of Skinny laMinx the other day. Well, to be honest, she's been patiently waiting for my responses to her questions for a little while now. One question Heather asked me: what's something you're looking forward to in the near future? I wrote that what I wish for is a day with no work. Or maybe a few days, ones that I can spend doing other things. That said, I must be getting ready because yesterday I went to the public library and came home with a stack of cookbooks. Because I like to read cookbooks. For ideas, for fun. And then happily spend a day in the kitchen.



Over the past two weeks or so, I've also been accumulating a large pile of craft supplies. Holy smokes, it sort of looks like Martha Stewart herself has taken up residence here. My to-do list includes things like this:

bake cookies (all-time favorite buckwheat butter cookies with cocoa nibs, shortbread with pistachios, brown butter oatmeal – need to figure out recipe for this)


make felt ruffle wreath (inspiration from here. I began this last night, only I am decidedly less exact about the circle cutting. I think the variation is fine, actually lovely, and I'm placing the ruffles a little farther apart.)


make felt flowers and garlands, planning to mostly wing it on this, felt squares are from local craft supply store, about $1.89 each.


assemble glass ornaments (inspiration from here). You can find plain glass ornaments at most craft stores, and they're pretty inexpensive. I bought some dried yellow flowers for these.


make holiday cards from Liam's drawings (done, done! what says happy holidays more than darf vader and stegosaurus, really?!) It's fairly easy and inexpensive to do these. Our scanner, well, I haven't used it in a long long time so I took photos of Liam's drawings instead, and then cleaned them up in Photoshop and added text to the inside layout. I printed them on these cards that I picked up from the office supply store. The envelopes that come with this set are not very nice, so I am using some dark red ones that I have in the studio from Paper Source. The hardest part of this all was that we have an evil printer with a mind of its own. It's been this way for a long time, but it got the boot this week in favor of an on-sale one that is much friendlier.

holiday gift ideas, part two

Some more pretty things, for giving or for keeping. I like the idea of filling the storage container below with little cookies ... the ones that I haven't made yet.

Fishs Eddy // Red Daisy Food Storage Bowl

Inklore // Simplicity Tea Towel

Heart of Light // Marigold Rosebud Pins

The Wild Unknown // Year of Feathers Calendar

Abigail Percy // Sweet Horse Chestnut Necklace in Silver

Plain Made Design // Hiding Hood

holiday gift ideas, part one

There is something so simple and beautiful and calm about the color white. Here are some lovely things to give or keep. I hope you like my choices. Images are all from the makers' websites; links are provided, for the general website, followed by the specific item.

Land-Rich // Tallowberry Bulb

Velocity // Porcelain Feathers

Heath Ceramics // Modern Cup

Bailey Doesn't Bark // Dotted Plate

Paige Russell // Spout Collective

Anthropologie // Porcelain Pinecone

Pigeon Toe Ceramics // Mini Creamer

More gift ideas, with colors, coming soon ... Maybe later today, maybe tomorrow?

giving thanks giveaway winners!

First off, thank you so much to everyone who left a comment for the giveaway. The number of comments was really surprising and oh-so-nice! It took me a little longer to sort through the comments because some were duplicates and some were deleted by the authors. Then I had to tally up the final number and enter it into the random number generator. I'm so glad that you were all so excited about this giveaway and I am sorry it has to go to only two lucky people. But, so it goes ... and here are the two winners, chosen at random:

UNIFORM STUDIO who wrote: what a wonderful giveaway. thank you!

You will receive an olive green bud vase from Heath Ceramics, two tea towels from Skinny laMinx, a set of 10 square cards printed by Satsuma Press, designed by Heather of Skinny laMinx for Heath Ceramics, and a set of 12 small round bird gift tags.

LUISA who wrote: Wow, what an amazing giveaway! Happy Thanksgiving, indeed!

You will receive a small matte brown tea pot from Heath Ceramics, an apron from Skinny laMinx, a set of 10 square cards printed by Satsuma Press, designed by Heather of Skinny laMinx for Heath Ceramics, and a set of 12 small round bird gift tags.

So, lucky folks, please email me at lynn@satsumapress.com with your shipping address so I can send your goodies off to you. Please, please, contact me by next Monday with your information; otherwise, I'll do the random number generator thing again.

This won't be the last giveaway, just the first big one ... There are many times to be thankful and I'll be sure to have more to come.

Plus, I've decided just now – if you did leave a comment here, please know that if you place an order through one of my online shops (here or here) between now and Dec 18th, I'll include a free Heath Ceramics card and 4 round bird gift tags as a mini-thank-you. Just leave a message in the note to seller section with the words 'giving thanks giveaway' ... I'll do this as long as supplies last for both the tags and the Heath cards.

Take note – as of this morning, there are only six 2010 calendars left!

cold morning, simple beauty

Our windows this cold morning. So simple, so beautiful, so calm.

perpetual calendars

The perpetual calendars are done! It was a mad rush to get enough packaged and ready for the Sunday Best Holiday Sale over the weekend. I'm sorry I never actually managed to post that I'd be there, but I couldn't – to be honest – really figure out how to do so with my oh-so-fancy iPhone. I swear, that phone is smarter than me. I did actually TRY to post from my phone to the blog, but it didn't work and I gave up. In any case, I did end up going, after all, and I am really glad I did. There was a great turnout and it's always nice to meet customers in person.

I came home with some lovely things from Pigeon Toe Ceramics, some handmade soaps, a pair of earrings like these, only with a different stone, and a new winter coat (one that I've been eyeing for some time now that happened to be in a store right across the street from The Ace, where the show was, and on sale to boot!) And is if that were not enough, I also go to go eat at Toro Bravo with some lovely friends.

Anyway, about those perpetual calendars ... I really like these, a lot. These are perfect to give or keep – because there are no days of the week attached to the dates, they're meant for recording birthdays, anniversaries and other important yearly events. I think they'd also be lovely for jotting down snippets of your day. They ended up being a bit more work than I had anticipated, particularly the washi ones – each small swatch of paper has to be glued, by hand, one at a time – so I've had to reprice them. Instead of $28, they are $33 each, but I am still offering a special deal if you order one of each – $60 for the pair, plus they can fit in one kraft mailer together so you'll also save on shipping. Each calendar is beautifully packaged in glassine and sealed with patterned Japanese masking tape.

Click on the images above for a bigger and prettier view ... They're available here and here and soon here, if you live in Portland. You can always email me with your order at lynn@satsumapress.com

Last thing – don't forget to enter the fantastic giveaways – Heath Ceramics, Skinny laMinx and Satsuma Press! You have until December 7th and all you have to do is leave a comment right here.

P.S. If you want a 2010 Satsuma Press Calendar, don't delay. There are only 33 left of the 232 printed this year.