Peaceful Snooze (Midwest)

What is it with my kids and their odd nocturnal behaviors these days? Since I posted this picture of Sam a week or so ago, I just had to follow up with this one of Sophie from 2 nights ago. Here she is sound asleep with her "hair" left on. She was wearing a shirt as hair all afternoon and either forgot to take it off or left it. I'm thinking this is actually a pretty clever way to sleep. We turn the heat way down at night, and a sleeping cap would be handy. Maybe tonight I should wear my new Anthropologie sweater a la Sophie style.

Ornaments Or Not? (Midwest)

I'm so undecided about these. They are supposed to be my ornament for the Cake & Pie/Freshly Blended ornament swap. I'm not sure if they are good enough. Last year I stitched for hours making little bird ornaments. Somehow, a piece of paper as an ornament doesn't seem nice enough. Or, 3-D enough, maybe.

Is anyone sick of me yet with my pool blue and red color combinations on everything I print these days? I do own lots of other ink colors. It's just I can't help myself. I love these colors together.

Craft Fair Affair (Midwest)

I'm finally getting around to posting about last Saturday's craft fair experience. I had a booth at the DIY Trunk Show in Chicago. It was a busy day. Lot's of traffic, many sales, interesting people to look at and chat with. And, and, and! the show got me a few wholesale orders. I was pretty overwhelmed most of the day. I have lots of retail experience to draw on, but this was more personal. And, presenting graphic designwork to clients is different because you already know what your client wants. I gleaned quite a bit of advice from my seasoned booth neighbors which was helpful. I even got to make one trip to the bathroom. From what I learned every venue is unique and I'm sure this weekend's event here in Madison will be a totally different experience.

Before I sign off here's a rundown of what I used to create my booth. My table display was put together on the fly at the show. The kraft paper table covering was from the Dollar Store and sat over the top of a Goodwill white sheet. I used wooden rulers with clothes pins as sign holders, and wood boxes from our basement to house my cards. Finally, I used a laundry drying rack (free from the curb courtesy of my hubby) as print rack. I think I spent around $10 on my booth.

Ta ta till next posting.

Tagged (West Coast)

Wow! Cool. I have never been tagged either! This is fun, and I get to see a few things about Amy that I didn't know... The crosswalk thing. We have crossed many a street together hunting down lunches, and I never noticed that we were doing it so very early, so maybe I have the same little idiosyncrasy, or I am just a very good follower! Looking back we were always heading to the correct side of the street from the start! The crutches... that is a funny one. We share a strange thing for injuries. When I was a child I really wanted to break a bone, so I wore my dad's half cast for an entire weekend, then the following week, I broke both arms while playing on the bars (5th grade).

I won't post the rules again, since Amy posted them in the previous posts.

My five things about me...

1. I like to take a different route to get around every time I get into my car. Sort of mixes up my day. I might be heading to the same place, but I will take a different street to get there. I like the change in scenery this gives my life.

2. I like to walk in the sun with my dog. I find this recharges me, and gives me a smile.

3. I am obsessed with research. I spend more time researching things than the work that I actually do with the things I that I research.

4. I love to cook dinners. It relaxes me to spend this time of day in the kitchen, and I find the results at the end are so much fun to enjoy. Plus my husband loves to eat, and he is always full of nice compliments after a good meal.

5. I love a good, cold, rainy day. That means I get to stay home without excuses and enjoy a fire. These days they are a rarity out here, so I really have to appreciate them when they come.

I am sorry, but I never know who to tag in things like this, so here it goes... I will tag a few of my swap partners from the holiday ornament swap — Melissa and Laura.

Tagged (Midwest)

Julie over at perfectbound tagged me. Thanks Julie, and no, I've never been tagged before. This is so exciting. Here it goes...

First, I'm supposed to post the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names, and links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


____________________________________________________________________________________

My five things about me. I'm not sure if they are even interesting but here it goes right off the top of my head.

1. My real name is Elizabeth. When I was two or so we lived in an apartment which was previously the home of a little girl named Amy. I never met her. This Amy had name tags identifying her places in the home. Y'know, under towel hooks, pegs, coat hangers, etc. I always wanted my stuff in the Amy spots. Then, I started insisting I be called Amy, introducing myself that way. I guess it stuck.

2. I don't care for seafood. Since I dislike an entire food category I'm often (mistakenly) taken for being a picky eater.

3. When walking somewhere I have an obsession with crossing the street at the earliest convenience. If my destination is 5 blocks away and on the opposite side of the street it will drive me nuts if I can't walk the 5 blocks on the correct side of the street, the one the destination is on.

4. I'm finding it very easy to write about myself.

5. I've always had a weakness for men with crutches. By crutches I mean the kind the doctor gives out when someone breaks a leg. I know, it's weird.

Let's see, I need to tag some folks now. I'm going to tag my bested buddy, business partner and blogmate, Laurie. Also, I'm tagging Stephanie at Tepimade. Her etchings are so beautiful. And, talented Jenn at AzureGrackle. Lastly, I'm going to tag Poppy Letterpress. I'm sorry I don't know her name, but she's a graphic designer who is enjoying getting immersed in the letterpress world and is blogging about it. We are living somewhat parallel lives.

eBay Rules (Midwest)

Yesterday's mail was good. So good. I got my new business cards for handing out at the craft fair this weekend. I ordered them from overnightprints.com. They use a nice heavy cover weight stock. It's 15 pt. I think. They aren't the highest in quality printing. But, for the price they are a great value, so I'm definitely satisfied.

Also, I got the first of 3 letterpress purchases I made off eBay. Here is a printer's block of 3 tow trucks. It's about 3 inches long. I'm going to have to hide it from Sam. He is a boy who is all about planes, trains and automobiles.

Oh yeah, here is a my new card.

It's Hard to be Two (Midwest)

I just had to post this photo. It makes me giggle.

Hannah and I went for an after dinner walk tonight, while Joey got Sam and Sophie ready for bed. This is what we found when we came home. Sam didn't nap today which explains how and why he ended up where he did. He needed about 12 more feet to get to his big boy bed. Should we leave him there and see if he makes it all night?

Deja Vu (Midwest)

Laurie, the photo above is for you. Remember those days? Coffee, sketch pads, mechanical pencils, reference books? This was my desktop this morning. I miss seeing you at the other end of the conference table. Big sigh.

I bought the latest Print Design Annual the other night. I stayed up way too late skimming through all the design inspirations. Picking up a new magazine like that is like the night before Christmas for me. The anticipation and expectations. I'm comforted to know I picked a career that "does it" for me.



I'm going to post some pictures of things inspirational found within Print's pages. This week I'm posting this candle packaging because I'm in the process of writing an estimate for a similar type project. This packaging is from Duffy & Partners in Minneapolis for Thymes. Simply beautiful.

Validation (Midwest)

As I slowly tally up sales on Etsy, I often question my Etsy commitments and wonder about my fiscal goals regarding my extra curricular printing. Sometimes, I feel like I should have a more obvious asthetic purpose with my art. Or, at least be making a statement about something, thus qualifying myself as a "true artist". Not to mention, shouldn't I be spending this time taking on legit design projects? Ones that earn money for the family, and keep my portfolio overflowing? The more I think about my printing the more I see it as a necessary stress free creative outlet. A hobby for my mind. So much of my creativity in the design world, although fulfilling, adds a lot of stress to my plate. This does not. My goal, if I haven't mentioned before, isn't to become rich or famous (ha.) but to pay off my letterpress, and to enjoy the zen of the process of doing so.

That being stated I returned today after a family weekend at a waterpark in "The Dells". I was without an internet connection for almost 48 hours. It was horrible! Actually, I managed, but was very preoccupied with wanting to check my email. Maybe I am an internet junky like Joey says. Anyway, I returned today, tired but pleased about the daylight saving time change, and eager to see if anything happened in my Etsy shop in my absence. I discovered that I had made another sale and that it came from a posting on Poppytalk! Poppytalk is one of my regular blog reads and has a large following. I'm so proud. I'm feeling validated for creating the gobs of inventory which I store in rows on my shelves (pictured above) .