One Lovely Blog Award - Thank You!

Thanks to Boston Handmade for giving this little blog the One Lovely Blog Award (I feel even more honored since I've been a very bad blogger lately).

And without further ado, I'd like to pass the award on to my following favorite blogs. I love these blogs for such a variety of different reasons, and they are all great reading in their own way. Visit each one and see:

1. The Minecreations Blog
2. doe-c-doe
3. Abby Try Again
4. The Art of Seeing Things
5. Cicada Daydream
6. Things Are Better with a Parrott
7. Piccolo
8. The Sea Within
9. Bread and Honey
10. Inside a Black Apple

Friday Finds: Night Owl Clock

I've featured clocks by Decoylab before (see here), but this owl one reminded me of all good things, like 1950s childrens books (you know how they have a limited color palette) and vintage wallpaper.

On a unrelated note, I just finished this book, Julia Child's memoir of her early married life in France. As a Francophile and total recipe hoarder, this book had so many things I loved: a sense of humor, a transport back to my own days as a nanny in Provence, and of course, food. I read this book after finishing Julie and Julia last year, which I also loved, and you can read more about here. I am so excited for the movie to come out. Julia Child plus Meryl Streep plus Amy Adams? What could be better?

On another unrelated note, I have lots of news to share in the coming weeks. It is oh-so-exciting, but I have to wait just a bit longer . . . check back soon!

What is the What

I'm not sure how to be articulate in this post, so I'm just going to start by being up front: Everything I say about this book will sound like a cliche. It's powerful, heartbreaking, etc, etc. And now that we have that out of the way . . . Just read it.

I originally picked up What Is the What , by Dave Eggers, because it seemed like a good literary supplement to one of my favorite documentaries, Lost Boys of Sudan. It's a film I used to show when I taught high school, and it conveys both the tragedy of Sudan's children and America's (somewhat failed) efforts to help these boys as they grow into young men while refugees in a foreign land.

The film and book are certainly similar in terms of their subject matter, and though I had my doubts about Eggers in the first few pages, he slips effortlessly into the voice of the narrator, Valentino Achak Deng. What was not clear to me at first was the back story behind the book, which is just as interesting. It is in fact an autobiography, novelized by Eggers. Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee from southern Sudan who resettled in the United States as a young man, met Eggers, asked for his assistance in writing his story, and the two worked on the book together for over three years. Additionally, Eggers agreed that all proceeds from the book would go to Deng, who established the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, a nonprofit that is currently building the one of the few secondary schools in southern Sudan.

The school is making concerted efforts to educate Sudanese children with a focus on reaching out to young girls, who often do not attend school and/or are pushed into early marriage. I could go on and on about this project, but you can read more about the book and project here and help fund the school here. The small donation I was able to make today will buy a bag of cement.

I know this post is a departure from my usual subject matter, and a journey into heavier subject matter at that, but I really hope that more people read this story. I don't think I can fully articulate the importance and human-ness of it on my own.

(In other news, I was--- hopefully temporarily--- laid off today. I'm hoping that reading books like the one above and trying to stay engaged in what's important to me will help me remain philosophical about it.)

Printing By Hand by Lena Corwin

I've been debating a lot about learning how to silkscreen, as well as getting back into personal projects for myself and for our home rather than focusing so much on the shop. My dad bought me Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens by Lena Corwin for Christmas, and it includes lovely projects in a variety of printing methods.

So many craft books have either excellent instructions or inspiring, beautifully styled photos and projects. Printing By Hand has both, which is a large part of the reason I like it. While I have yet to try a project, I found Corwin's directions to be clear and full of helpful tips, and the photos of actual steps are just as beautifully photographed as the finished products. She also encloses copies of the artwork she used for each project, but also includes tips for your own experimentation.

Here is a picture of one project I want to try, the contact paper-stenciled dresser. What a fabulous way to pretty up some thrifted furniture. It would look so sweet in a nursery:

There are also some amazing screenprinted sheets, and a stenciled wall, and well, I could go on and on. The good thing is that Corwin also balances the book out with a lot of smaller, doable-in-a-weekend projects. If I try any soon, I will let you know how they go!

Essential Book Meme

I lifted this meme from Charmaine's blog, because I'm really interested in seeing other people's lists.

List the following:

(a) Fiction book
(b) Autobiography
(c) Non-fiction book
(d) A fourth book of your choice from any genre

Explain why the books are essential reads in no more than 30 words per book.

a) Fiction: Persuasion by Jane Austen
Like most fans I have an affection for Pride and Prejudice , but in Persuasion, Austen's description of the hope of young love growing into a more mature, measured relationship rings so true.

b) Autobiography: The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeanette Walls
Jeanette Walls recounts an amazingly painful childhood with bohemian parents in a clear, compassionate way that does not seem dramatic or self-indulgent.

c) Nonfiction: Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
I love a good travelogue, and one that also captures man's affection for his dog is even better. Steinbeck is so good at capturing the spirit of the American road.

d) A fourth book of your choice from any genre: The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway I am a huge fan of short stories and anyone might as well start with the master. For a list of other short story books I love, click here.

So what about you? I'd love it if people would post recommendations or links to their own lists. Now that I am not currently teaching I am reading a lot more again, and I'd love to know what other people are picking up these days.

Good Dog. Stay.

After my wonderfully strange dream about George the other night, I picked up the book Good Dog. Stay. by Anna Quindlen. She recounts her elderly dog Beau's decline and her choice to put him down. And well, I snuggled with Chesney and Bear on the couch and read it in one sitting, sniffling the way through.

If you've ever lost a dog, I highly recommend this book.

A quick excerpt:

Human beings wind up having the relationship with dogs that they fool themselves they will have with other people. When we are very young, it is the perfect communion we honestly believe we will have with a lover; when we are older, it is the symbiosis we manage to fool ourselves we will always have with our children. Love unconditional, attention unwavering, companionship without question or criticism.

What Now?

Over the past few months we've been through a lot of transition--- a move away from our comfort zone and friends to a new state, new jobs, the hope of a new pregnancy and the loss of that pregnancy, and my attempt to go half-time with Paper Menagerie just as the nation's economy tanked.

This is not a post with the intention to whine. In fact, I'm quite proud of the way Billy and I have dealt with these adjustments, and I'm also proud of the fact that usually I'm a worrier, a person who operates and makes choices based on practicality and fear. I like a plan, and I like to feel that that plan is failproof. But I have not let myself give into all that this time . . . yet. And I'm trying not to.

All these things have been kicking around in my head a lot lately, and despite the fact that I'm proud and hopeful, I also give into frustration and depression sometimes. Wandering around at the library, I was drawn to the book What Now? by Ann Patchett. This was originally a commencement speech that Patchett delivered as Sarah Lawrence, and I admit, I'm sort of a sucker for those sorts of things.

But what really resonated with me what the post-college journey that Patchett described: the transition from being so darn sure about everything, to floundering in waitressing jobs, to going back to graduate school for lack of a better answer, to the acceptance of being less sure but happy in your travels. It's a journey I can relate to and am trying to be better about accepting.

A quick excerpt, and not even the best part:

Every choice lays down a trail of bread crumbs, so that when you look behind you there appears to be a very clear path that points straight to the place where you stand. But when you look ahead there isn't a bread crumb in sight--- there are just a few shrubs, a bunch of trees, a handful of skittish woodland creatures. You glance from left to right and find no indication of where you're supposed to go. And so you stand there, sniffing the wind, looking for directional clues in the growth patterns of moss, and you think What now?

Shop Update: The Library Cards Are Back

. . . with a little redesign. I found a new illustration from a vintage textbook for budding librarians, so I just had to reissue them. Gocco printed in the same tones as those old books in the library: rich burgundy, forest green, and (poop) brown.

Now on sale in the shop.

The Future Miss Rumphius (I Hope)

Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney, was one of my favorite books as a child. It's a story about an "eccentric" woman who travels the world, becomes a librarian, retires, and ends up making it a more beautiful place by planting lupines.
I think I want to become Miss Rumphius someday. Perhaps I'm working on it right now. But until then, I can only photograph the lupines near my family's Vermont home (and I see some Gocco'd lupines in the future.). Almost as wonderful.

June Grass

From the novel I read on the porch tonight:

Through my window I could see low weedy meadows beyond the CNR tracks, purply with June grass. I could see a bit of the Wawanash River, still fairly high, and the silvery willow trees. I dreamed a nineteenth-century sort of life, walks and studying, rectitude, courtesy, maidenhood, peacefulness.

-Alice Munro, Lives of Girls and Women

Summer Reading

{Photo courtesy of flint knits on Flickr}

I'm hoping that I can carve out a bit of time for some summer reading in the next few weeks. During the school year it feels like, well, homework. Which makes me sad.

I'm very much into short stories these days, which is a genre I used to loathe. After taking a short story class a few years ago, though, I came to respect just how challenging the form is for writers.

My favorite short story collections include:

• Interpreter of Maladiesby Jhumpa Lahiri
• Runawayby Alice Munro
• Where I'm Calling From: Selected Storiesby Raymond Carver
• The Things They Carriedby Tim O'Brien
• The Complete Short Stories Of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigia Edition

I'd love to have some recommendations, too, particularly short stories or nonfiction. What are you reading lately?

Imagining

Previously I posted about a book I adore, The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business (you can read the original post here). Cicada Studio also purchased the book and posted one of the questions from the initial chapters on her blog, along with her answer. I was initially shy about sharing mine, but it was so fun to read the responses over at Cicada Studio that I thought I'd post another question from the book here:


What colors, tastes, and smells come to mind when you think of your business?

Colors: This was easy, since I use many of them in my work. I'm inspired by the seasons, but I'd describe my overall palette as "bright vintage" (more on that and it's relationship to another previous post later). I'm consistently drawn to pale turquoise, red, pink, yellow, brown, and ivory.

Tastes and smells: Since I work mostly with paper, this is much more abstract, and so much fun to think about. The scent of mock orange, vanilla, and lavender come to mind. In terms of taste, definitely a lot of my grandmother's recipes: ginger molasses cookies, Earl Grey tea, rasberry squares, and rhubarb custard pie. I never realized my stationery was an endless series of desserts before!

These were my initial responses I wrote while reading the book on a flight from Michigan to Boston. Looking back, these are colors, smells, and tastes from the earliest stage of my crafting life--- I learned to sew alongside my grandmother, when she would have me make doll clothes while she worked on other projects around the house. So many of the fabrics she gave me to work with were vintage scraps in the colors above, and so many of the tastes are foods she fed (and still feeds) me! I look foward to posting more questions and responses to show how influential she has been.

What about you? What colors, tastes, or smells do you see in your work?

Illustrator: Gyo Fujikawa

{Photo provided by tanjarina}

A few months ago I was visiting my mother when she pulled out a favorite childhood book of mine, Come Follow Me. Published in 1982 and gorgeously illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa, I couldn't help but look at the book with new eyes--- the woodsy setting, stylized flowers, little owls and children, and color schemes all seem so "now."

I'm actually scoping the internet for two used copies of the book (currently out-of-print). I'd love one in my library to keep on hand for inspiration (and I have specific plans to be revealed later), but I'd love another copy to mat and frame some of the favorite illustrations.

Once I get my hands on one, I'll scan a few images. I think the one above is actually from a different book, and the illustrations I remember are a bit softer and more ethereal. They're worth coming back for, I promise!

Craft note: This Japanese website has at least one embroidery design based on Fujikawa's illustrations. At least that's what I think. I can't read Japanese.

Book Review: The Boss of You

My apologies for the lack of posts this weekend. My husband and I had to fly to Michigan on short notice for a family gathering of sorts, so everything at home was left up in the air.

One huge benefit to this last minute trip, though, was that we had a lot of time to talk and reflect since we were out of our daily routine. My husband and I spent a lot of time this weekend talking with family about our upcoming move, and how it's a great time to reassess our lives in general--- what we want, where we're going, how we're getting there.

For several years now I've had the desire to open a a small brick and mortar store focusing on handmade--- not just my items, but the amazing objects created by artists I've had the pleasure of meeting over the last few years. While everyone around me is always encouraging, I'm always scared. The task is too daunting, too risky. I'll tell myself "After we can afford a house" or "After we have a baby." This weekend, though, hammered home that "after" doesn't always happen.

After all these weighty conversations, I picked up the book The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business for the plane ride home. The book is, in a work, amazing. While I've read a lot of craft and business books over the past year or so, including Craft, Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business, I think The Boss of You is my favorite yet.

The authors are women entrepreneurs who wanted their web design business to stay small, and write with those same type of women in mind. They're straightfoward and help you envision your business identity (with exercises you'll actually want to complete), are there is a helpful (if not scary) chapters on determining your startup costs and networking with potential customers and fellow business owners. While actually opening a shop still seems daunting, it also seems hopeful---

I'd love to hear from others who read the book or have opened brick and mortars. What was your experience? Any advice that you have for fledgling entrepreneurs?

Cookbook Project (Insert Snazzier Name Here)

Have I mentioned I have an insanely long commute in city traffic? Well, I do. One way I've learned to cope with said insanity is to listen to an audio book while on the drive. Currently I'm listening to Julie and Julia--- about a woman about to turn 30 who has no idea what she wants to do with her life (ahem). She has always been fascinated with her mother's copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (double ahem, grandma). Needing a challenge, she embarks upon a project (chronicled in her blog) to cook all the of recipes in the cookbook in one year.

Have I also mentioned that I am sort of a recipe junkie? Well, I am. The photo above is just one shelf of the cookbooks, cooking magazines, and clipped recipes that I hoard. I even save recipes for meat dishes just because, maybe someday, I might fall off the wagon and they look really good. I've sort of gotten out of the habit of cooking lately, being busy with my "real" job and custom orders, but I really do love to cook. We're also moving in July, and the cookbook stash could stand some thinning out.

So henceforth I'm embarking on a project to cook the recipes in all of my cookbooks. It'll take longer than a year, and I better start embarking on regular exercise again as well . . . but it'll be fun. I'm starting with Quick Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanette Lemlin, because I've already checked off quite a few in that one and they're easy during the week.

I'll let you know how it all goes!

(And yes, that is a recipe book for dog food on the shelf there.)

The New Gocco Guide

I'm a DIY type of gal. Unfortunately, this also means I'm a screw-the-directions and a jump-right-in and a I-can-figure-it-out-dammit type of gal. This has not always worked so well when attempting projects on my Gocco. Or sewing. Or cooking.

As part of my crafty resolutions, I recently picked up The New Gocco Guide by Claire Russell. I haven't read the whole thing yet. In fact, I've only read the "Troubleshooting" chapter because some pesky silhouette images on a custom order have been giving me some trouble. But boy do I wish I had picked this book up earlier.

Best tip from the book so far? Block and ink the screen with the master still attached to it (how did I not think of this earlier? so much easier), and spread ink evenly over the entire surface so that the design prints more evenly. She also has recommendations for different carbon pens, so hopefully I can start experimenting with some of my drawings! When I start keeping that sketchbook, that is . . .

Jane Austen and Moleskine = Luxury List Keeping

I am fastidious keeper of lists, sketches, and ideas for stories I never write. Unfortunately, I keep this lists on scraps of paper that get lost and I'm forever trying to recall what it was I jotted down. If only I could remember, it would be fabulous! Right?

I've made the resolution, time and again, to keep my lists in one place. Perhaps a pretty notebook will help. I picked up a bunch of my favorite Moleskine Cahier notebooks. Do you know Moleskine? They're a French company with an amazing history--- Hemingway used one, Van Gogh used one, Picasso used one. They're super durable, fit in your pocket, and they have a handy flap in the back for those slips of paper I'm bound to still keep writing on.

I printed these with a silvery silhouette of Jane Austen from the first edition of Mansfield Park (and, just because I like symmetry, I photographed the book on an antique edition of Mansfield Park from my own collection). There are 64 blank pages inside. I plan on using a few of them myself, but I'm also listing a few in my Etsy shop soon.

The Coolest Save-the-Dates Ever

I have something amazing and bookish in the works. No picture of the product yet, but I promise you, they will be cool. It involves library cards (and no, not the ones that reference poop). And romance. And they will be awesome.

Now all I need are some literate, sexy-librarian-brides-to-be!

A Personal Update . . . and Found Magazine

First off, I really need to apologize for the lack of crafty posts. I really do love sharing my own work, but I just haven't found the time for printing the most recent designs (more of the Jane Austen series and some bunnies coming up shortly, I really do promise). I'm short on time and supplies lately. On the upside, a custom order for wedding invitations has been keeping me in a fresh creative frame of mind (I'll share those end results, too).

In the meantime, if you liked seeing the first bits of my photobooth collection, perhaps you'll enjoy the random awesomeness that is Found Magazine. They publish "found" materials submitted by readers--- like the note above.

Have I mentioned I teach high school? Between walking our dogs in the city and what ends up on the floor of my classroom, I have a potential goldmine of submissions. Sometimes I think about all the tragic tidbits I could mail in, if I wouldn't feel so darn guilty about it. But right now, my classroom is like my own little microcosm of revealing found objects, I guess.

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp

Sometimes I get caught up in the day-to-day of "real life" (although right now the fridge is empty and the laundry basket it full), and sometimes I get caught up in the "operations" side of crafting--- ordering supplies, scheduling shows, promoting, trying to make a workable space.

One book I love and reread from time to time is The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. Though she is a modern dancer and choreographer, her recommendations for re energizing your creative well are inspiring no matter what media you work in. Chapter by chapter, Tharp explains the habits she has used to keep ideas flowing throughout her long career, and how she gets herself "unstuck" during those not-so-creative times.

The book is definitely worth a look.