mother's day, for reals

This little hallmark holiday is definitely taking on a new meaning this year for me. But let's not be sentimental... this is what it's really about at the moment:



Amazing card by Fugu Fugu Press on Etsy.

Happy mom's day to all the mothers and mothers to be. It's the best job I've ever had.

Via Oh So Beautiful Paper

more gocco thank yous

Every time I finish a gocco project I wonder if it will be my last. Actually, I know this one won't because I still have a few more bulbs left. But when are the supplies going to disappear altogether? And should I get a Yudu? Does anyone have one? I definitely like that it's non-toxic...

For now, I still have gocco to print things like Thank You cards for our shower:



Pretty simple, but it was all I could muster yesterday at the computer. Now this morning will be spent actually filling them out and addressing them and stamping them.

I love checking things off my list.

Seriously though, would love to hear what people think of Yudu. Please share.

baby announcements from alee

Somehow I missed that when Alee & Press launched her new site, she also launched an entire line of baby announcements. Er, birth announcements? Still new to this, obvs.

We are massive fans of Alee over on 100LC. Her typography is so lovely. And she always has such nice details.







I think I'll probably end up making our announcements but it's v. v. tempting just to order some of hers.

shower invites for Katya (by way of gocco)

Our friends Andy and Katya are getting married next month and because nearly all of Kayta's bridesmaids and family are coming in from out of town, we decided to have her shower just before the wedding. It seemed important to have the key members of her posse there, right?

Their wedding is on the beach in Del Mar, and even though it won't technically be summer anymore I decided to make her invites feel a little summery. Especially because it's the only season Katya likes. She's a professional triathlete with a major aversion to cold. If I had to ride my bike and swim and run for 8 hours a day I wouldn't like the cold either.



Back to the invites.

Here they are. After a nearly fatal gocco disaster (as always brought on by user error) I managed to squeeze the printed area into half of my stage to I could use my last 2 bulbs to burn the screen.

(Side note - I can't keep up with the gocco drama, people. First they quit making machines, but were still making supplies. Then they started making machines again. Then they decided to shut down the entire operation (turning thousands of plastic screen printers into paper weights), and now it appears that supplies are back on the market. Of course none of that matters when the only place to buy supplies is online and you need bulbs this minute. Plan ahead people. And always assume you'll mess the first screen up.)







I pondered using vintage stamps for these, but here's another tip. Counting them out and licking them and arranging them, even for just 40 envelopes takes, I don't know, at least 3 days. Soooo time consuming. And the king and queen stamps are just about the cutest things available right now. Aren't they?

Which reminds me, I should stock up before they sell out.

Baby news

Finally! This post has two parts. One that's very exciting right now and one that will be exciting in February. So if you know what's good for you, you'll read the whole thing.

First, Laura, my dearest most loveliest most thoughtful most midwife-in-training-knowledgeable-about-birth friend had her little one on Friday.

In the midst of wedding chaos, I didn't see the text until late that night and then missed her call on Saturday while we were taking photos. BUT STILL. He's beautiful, he's a boy!

Judah Alexander



Isn't that the cutest thing ever??

And luckily I had already determined that the bunting flag card was for her, so it's all ready to go. But now includes his name:



(cutting out words in cursive is harder than you think).

She's a little preoccupied with figuring out the breastfeeding/infant care thing, so I'm pretty sure she won't see the card here before it arrives in her mailbox. But if you're out there Mama Laura, here's your card!

Next on the baby news front. There doesn't ever seem to be the perfect time to post this particular piece of information, but now that we're on the subject of babies...

I'm with child.

Haaaa. I love that saying. But yep, I'm pregnant too. I'm just about 19 weeks (see, I told you I've been mysteriously holding out!) and we're so super excited. And nervous, a little. And we have to come up with a new #1 boy name because ours was too close to Judah. Friends can't have sons with nearly the same name. Of course we might have a girl. We'll find out in February.

So there you are. Now perhaps my aversion to cooking all summer long, my hiatus from shopping (with the exception of maxi dresses), my uncharacteristic pass on those AWESOME blue shoes, my flighty posting, and other unexplained things are more understandable.

This also calls for a new blog category! But what should it be? Temporary one in place and I shall ponder further.

last minute card making

Here's how my day has been starting for the last few mornings. 6:00 - que the low but incredibly annoying squawks coming from the eglu. Curse chickens and their suspiciously reptilian ancestors.

Get out of bed, in underwear stumble outside to make sure there's not a cat or a hawk perched on top of the coop. Cat or hawk is a good thing, because once you chase it away, they shut up and you can go back to sleep.

No cat or hawk. Instead just ornery birds. Sigh.

Stumble back inside and start coffee maker.

This morning I had a surprising squirt of inspiration (after first sip of coffee) and decided to make a card (even though I bought one yesterday) for Brock's brother's wedding on Saturday. HOW FUN.

I don't care what anyone says, security envelopes and bunting flags are still cute. And they will continue to be cute until the end of time. Along with vintage mason jars.







I haven't quite decided how to finish the card. Or if I'll actually give it to them. It doesn't look like their wedding at all, which is black tie and fancy and elegant and things. But fun morning project nonetheless.

andrew bannecker art

Look how cool his illustrations and prints are!









WHY DOES HE NOT MAKE POSTERS FOR ME TO BUY? or small prints to frame? He does actually, but not the ones I want. Okay, I would take one or two... debating.

Hrrrmpf.

via oh joy

Andrew Bannecker the website, and the shop.

Sadie's baby shower invite

My mom brought this up to Mammoth over the weekend to show me what a super cute invite my old old friend Wren made for her sister's baby shower a few weeks ago. Isn't it so cute?? I love the paper cut-out look. It's so totally perfect in it's imperfection. And as a designer, where everything seems like it has to be perfectly measured and even and blah blah blah, it's so nice to see a more free, organic take on stationary.



I looks like she made the invites using paper collage and her own handwriting and then scanned and printed the actual invites. Or maybe she just color copied them? I think that's what makes it so neat. That you expect to feel the paper pieces layered on top of each other, but it's a print.





And the shower itself was a huge craft extravaganza with different stations around the house that let the ladies in attendance create a square for a quilt, a page in the baby book, a wooden baby block... all sorts of really thoughtful details that will surely surround Sadie's little boy with huge community love.

Taking notes here for when I throw my first baby shower.

wren handmade

... is always so inspiring.

Her wedding was so pretty and so perfectly put together with patterns and simple garden flowers and bikes. and flags. and stuff.



And her blog is full of sorts of good stuff, like this pile of paper in the process of being turned into cards. So cute.

And then her shop, to which she recently added mini-crocheted bracelets.



(which I found while lurking around the purl bee. which makes me want to move to new york and spend the better part of my days browsing their aisles for fabric and projects).

I AM going to sew, I swear. I mean I took that class because I was genuinely interested in sewing. But I haven't gotten to it yet. And by the time I do I'm going to have to take another class to remember how to thread the bobbin. again.

Melanie's invites are up...

on 100 Layer Cake. Forgot to share.



I would die for an entire sheet of those Alabama stamps.

JHill makes the cutest prints

And keeping with the new theme of "things for babies I don't have," I had to post these. Wouldn't they be so perfect all framed individually on a nursery wall?

Or even lined up to spell out your little one's name?



I will buy 3 of each letter so I'm sure to have the right combination when we actually have reason to buy such things.

JHill Design

melanie's invites in the works

Almost done with a cute invite set for my STB sister-in-law, Melanie. And I'm kind of freaking out thinking this could be one of my last Gocco projects? How could they stop making supplies??? So disappointing. I'm counting on an industrious indie crafter to come up with easy alternatives. and soon.

Some little peaks of the project. Hopefully they'll go out in the mail tomorrow. And I think we'll post the finished pieces on 100 Layer Cake next week.

old paper is real pretty

From Papier Valise. We posted on her shop and flickr stream on 100 Layer Cake this morning, but I couldn't resist posting a few more things.





I want to surround myself in a cloud of vintage paper ephemera and drift off to a land of crafting this afternoon. How cute are those old alka seltzer bottles? They would make an amazing spice rack, me thinks. And Chinese lanterns. Oh I do love those.

Word of warning: be prepared to spend a LONG time looking through her sites. They will suck you in... like cement.

Originally from Uppercase

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday. Yay!

I was going to find a pretty picture of balloons or cakes to post for her... but she's not, like, wildly interested in balloons or cakes.

She likes birds.

Mom, here are some neat vintage hungarian matchbook birdies for you.



neat, right?


from flickr

Confections I would eat if they were not paper

The Paper Nut has really freaked me out this afternoon. These cakes especially. Ask Amanda. I went into an utterly manic state when I saw this suite today and repeated "cake" (over IM, of course) more times than could ever be considered necessary or even sane.



I want to make little cakes and surround myself with perfectly styled whimsy at all times. I love how the lines aren't perfect and the circles are a little wobbly and organic. I might need to buy these samples just so I can pet them when I'm feeling sad.

via Black Eiffel's guest blogger, Jeanie Nelson. She may or may not fall into the same unmentionable category as those girls from yesterday.

andre balazs prints for the standard

In doing a teensy bit of snooping around The Standard's site before we left, I found these:






So awesome. I love his whimsical patterns and shapes and groovy colors. Kind of wanting... but I know I do not need. Prints are like tea towels in my life... I just like to have them so I can visit them in their drawer every once in a while when I need to look at something pretty. I am comforted by their presence alone. Which admittedly is a little weird.

Also, in case anyone else is heading to Miami, definitely recommend The Standard. Esp if you can get a good rate. We liked that it's small and stylish and simple and off the main drag. Tall hotels scare me.

jenna hein on daily candy

Dude.

Jenna's on Daily Candy New York this morning. You better book her like, TODAY if you want to use her this year. Daily Candy means the greater world outside our happy little blog bubble will know about her.

Article here and jenna's site (for the 20th time) here.

cannot get enough celebratory swag

rad poster from CDRyan... for free.



Download it from his shoppe. (he spells it that way. i am not being fake british).

Via a most awesome blog i just found on a particularly fruitful foray into the interwebs, Grain Edit. LOOVVVEE.

oui monsieur

Thank you for asking. I would love a trip to the Cote d'Azur of yore. And maybe some diamonds for when we go out on the town?

Research for a little save-the-date project in the works... seriously, who doesn't love vintage French tourism posters?



STB sister-in-law Melanie's wedding has a working theme of 50's Monte Carlo. (we get to wear GOWNS as bridesmaids... yessss) So we're doing a French Riveria inspired postcard for their save the date. C'est tres amusant pour moi! (I have french CDs in my car! can you tell?)

I love making cute projects that do not involve the internet. Unless I am blogging about them.

(i think most of these are from enjoyart.com).

new pretties from hello handmade

I'm sure this will be all over the blogs this morning, but couldn't help posting myself. How beautiful, right?





I'm almost more taken with the envelope than I am with the actual card.

You send a personalized message to Hello Handmade, and they send your Valentine the most beautiful little package. I love it. But I cannot plan far enough ahead to make the February 6th deadline. So sad.