A New Twist on Old Maid

A while back, I joined a social network for industrious printer gals called Ladies of Letterpress. It's a diverse group of all sorts of girl printers who trade news, advice, and support. One of the other members, the talented Kathryn Hunter of Blackbird Letterpress in Baton Rouge, organized a letterpress swap over the summer. Participants each designed and printed a pair of cards for a deck of Old Maid. We came up with any character we wanted to, designed and printed 35 pairs, and sent them all to Kathryn to be collated and returned to us as a full deck. One of the requirements Kathryn set forth was that the pair of cards be slightly different from one another – they could be different illustrations, different colors, etc. – just different somehow.

Here is the first card of my pair:



And its mate:



Here they are together for comparison:



Friends will see the autobiographical nature of my character, I'm sure. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the full deck...

The Petite Press Shop is moving.

Virtually, that is. The shop will be closed on Wednesday, September 16th and Thursday, September 17th as I work out the kinks to move everything over to a new system. I'll reopen the shop on Friday, September 18th with a fresh, new look, and a few new items. Please come back then to see the new digs!

Nathalie's Notecards

I've been working on a number of new custom pieces lately (part of the reason I've been so quiet!), and hope to share some of them with you over the coming weeks. I'll start by introducing you to Nathalie Márquez Courtney, a photographer in Dublin, Ireland, who asked me to make her some bookmarks, business cards and notecard sets using her logo and a luscious embossed swirl in the background. Above are the notecards, which were printed on Crane Lettra 100% cotton paper, and the accompanying peach and robin's egg blue envelopes, which added punch to the package. Check out Nathalie's gorgeous photography here.

Project Nerd Power!

Alright, I'll admit it. I'm a total nerd. Braces, glasses, and upper-level math classes meant I was one of those not-so-popular smart girls in high school. In college, I tried to shed some of my nerdiness as an art student, but to little avail. It has stuck with me all these years. Lucky for me, I met Anne, a fellow creative geek who embraces the smartness in herself and those around her. We've come up with a collaboration between her groovy vinyl gear and my letterpress work that celebrates the nerd in each of us.



This is an updated version of the classic pocket protector, complete with personalized index cards and a Fisher space pen (the kind astronauts use to write in zero gravity!). You can choose from 21 different color combinations for the pocket protector, and customize the index cards to your liking. A perfect gift for Father's Day, which is just around the corner. Available here.

And, coming up soon... another blog giveaway. Stay tuned!

Frosting + Sprinkles

Hot off the press this week! My new personalized letterpress recipe cards featuring a whimsical running cupcake (complete with lavender frosting, colored sprinkles and a wooden spoon) are now ready for prime time. They are available here.

Also, I wanted to say a big "thank you" to Jane at Simple + Pretty who mentioned my Map Booklets in one of her posts this week. What a beautiful blog. It's easy to get lost there for hours on end!

Seed Journal Winner!

Thank you all for the thoughtful and entertaining comments that you've left over the past week. Without further ado, the random number generator has chosen #15. So, 11studio, you are the winner. Congratulations! Please send an email to christy[at]thepetitepress[dot]com with your full name and mailing address, and I will send it out to you. Thanks, everyone, and be sure to check back in a month or so for another giveaway!

Gardening + Giveaway

Remember how I said that my items are often created for a particular person? I hardly ever do this, but this one is made for... well, me. Each year when I plant seeds in our garden, I keep the seed packets to refer to as the season progresses, but they usually become a jumbled mess in a dilapidated box. So this year, I made a seed journal to keep things neat and organized. I made room for a seed packet to be attached to each page, along with room for notes about where and when I planted the seeds:



Along about January, when the winter doldrums are at their worst, I like to start planning where things will go. Here is our plan for this year:



We planted our cold weather crops like peas, spinach, lettuce and arugula in March and early April according to plan, but the weather hasn't been cooperating much so far. They're finally popping up, though, and hopefully the rain and cool temperatures will ease up just a tad this week to give them a chance to catch up. I just discovered the first volunteer tomato seedling for this year, so our plan will likely go awry, but that seems to be my style of gardening:



Something new this year: I have given my seven year-old daughter her own plot. She can plant whatever she likes and she is responsible for tending it. I found this interactive kitchen garden planner on the Gardener's Supply website and she enjoyed moving the pieces about and deciding which vegetables she wants to grow. She's so excited and is checking every day to see how her veggies are coming along.

This is from a few years ago, but is one of my favorite past photos of our garden. I was especially lucky to catch that little nymph on camera:



Now, time for the best part of today's post. I promised another blog giveaway — so, how about a seed journal of your very own? To enter, please leave a comment below before Friday, May 8, 2009 at 9:00 am CST. I will use a random number generator to choose a winner and post the result at that time. Don't forget to check back then, and best of luck to you!