Friday, May 15, 2009

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!

Friday, May 8, 2009

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!

Monday, May 4, 2009

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!