I recently did an interview for the Minted blog's 'Meet a Mintie' series. I love learning more about other Minted designers and was honored to be interviewed. If you haven't, you can read the entire interview here.
Posts filed under Personal
Thankful
I never did a Thanksgiving post, but I am surely thankful for so many things. It's been quite a year, and I am especially thankful for my sweet supportive family. Couldn't do much without them.
As far as the Thanksgiving weekend went, we spent the weekend with Carter's family and since there are no kiddos in the picture yet, we watched a lot of football (I read and designed while all that was going on), grilled and relaxed, relaxed, relaxed. We decorated our Christmas tree and I have listened to the Michael Buble CD about a million times - I'm in full holiday mode.
Sunday evening, we spent time at my sisters and I made brownies with Annie. She doesn't like anything brown, so she scrunches up her nose and says "I don't like chocolate". About 2 minutes into licking the batter, she discovered that she did indeed like chocolate and started saying 'I like chocolate' over and over. We ended up forgoing the clothes (hers, not mine) to really enjoy it. As of last night, she no longer was interested in brownies, but let's be honest the batter is really the best part!
The Weekend
I think I might start doing little iPhone photo posts, because it gives me a reason to get them off my phone and they just make smile. Saturday was my birthday and I spent the weekend truly relaxing. I got breakfast in bed, roses for my studio, and I even scored a nap, which I haven't had in years. Don't I have some cute napping buddies? We went to my sister's and my little niece sang happy birthday to me several times. We are getting really good at that song. After being home for a couple hours, I took my sweater off to find stickers all over the front of my shirt, which I had completely forgotten about. I love being an aunt!
Just a reminder, the holiday giveaway with Chips and Salsa Design Studio closes at midnight, so if you want to get some free holiday cards, hurry and get your name in before the deadline.
Happy Monday!
Lately
I was flipping through my iPhone photos and thought it was a great summary of my life right now. Our family was blessed with an adorable little man in September and I just can't get enough of him and his big sister. I love them so much! My niece turned two and my nephew was baptized this weekend, so it was a family-filled few days and I just love how our lives revolve around those two. I really don't know what we did before them, but I guarantee you it was not nearly as much fun. And never fear, the weekend was not without some paper and a little Marley cuteness. Carter was there, but somehow didn't make it into my iPhone. Next time!
My life has been unbelievably busy lately, and while I can get a little overwhelmed sometimes (or a lot of times), I'm just so grateful for little breaks with family and lots of baby snuggles.
Next week, posts will be picking up and I'm going to kick November off with a little giveaway! Stay tuned! Hint: It's a little holiday collaboration with calligrapher, Abigail Luby, of Chips and Salsa Design Studio.
Learning to Letterpress
When I was in Chicago, I met up with Kimberly FitzSimons of Daily Sip Studios, a fellow Minted designer and letterpress printer. We've been email friends for a couple of years, but this was our first time to meet in person. When I knew I would be in the city, we made plans to get together, and she suggested that we go to her studio and print some stationery and business cards for Palm Papers. I've been wanting to learn more about letterpress printing and this was better than any small class that I could have taken. On Saturday morning, Kimberly picked me up at my hotel and we drove to her studio where she keeps her press. She has a Vandercook SP-15, which was built in the early 1960s. It was a big machine, but wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be once we got started.
Before I got there, Kimberly made some plates for my business cards and stationery. They have adhesive backers so when you lay them on the press, they won't move. We lined them up so that we would fit a note card and a business card on each side of the paper.
Next, she got started mixing the ink. I brought a swatch with me and we picked out the closest color from a Pantone swatch book and started mixing based on the formula. I think the inking process was the most interesting part. A little ink goes a LONG way and it appeared so much lighter on the rollers than it printed. It looked pastel pink on the rollers, but ended up printing a perfect coral hue.
Getting the right color is a trial and error process, so we started out lighter and added a little color directly to the rollers as we went. After a few test prints, we were pleased with the color and were ready to start printing!
First, I inked the plates by taking the handle and rotating the rollers over them. Then, I lined up the paper on the left and attached it to the grips. Rotating the handle pulls the paper over the inked plates to make the impression. After you've rolled it all the way through, you remove it on the other end and move the rollers back to the left, re-inking the plates for your next run.
Each sheet went through the press twice, printing a business card and note card each time. If we had used two colors, we would have had to clean the rollers, mix new ink and run everything through the press a second time. I can easily see why letterpress costs what it does. It is a lot of work - but so very worth it!
This experience really made me fall more in love with this type of printing. It is so beautiful and really is an art form. I can't wait to offer more letterpress in the future.
Thanks Kimberly for giving me such a fun experience and being so sweet and generous with your time! I loved it!
