Bubblegum pink

Since I had Pink on the press for the baby announcements, I decided to make a few simple prints as well. This flower always makes a good blank card for any occasion. I like the way the bubblegum color looks on the Kraft paper.
I also tried out one of my new silhouette plates.
Can you tell it's me?

Baby, Baby

It's been a productive and relaxing weekend so far. The weekend has been full of baby talk. Friday, Coury found this video on YouTube and we can't stop watching it. It's called Baby trashes bar in Las Palmas. I'm super entertained that this little cherub looks a bit tipsy... as toddlers often do. I am also anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new nephew. My sister was due Saturday and still no baby. She is more than ready for the little guy to join us as am I! I started setting up the baby announcements last weekend and needed to get them done before I can print the school themed wedding invitations that need to go on the press.

I took a lazy route in paper cutting this weekend that I will not repeat again. Instead of hauling the paper to work to be cut down at my regular Kinkos, I opted instead to drive to the Staples in our neighborhood on Saturday. It still cost $2 a cut and I didn't realize until I got home how crappy of a job they did. I'll discuss the wedding invitations in a later post. The paper for the baby announcements were all crazy. The girl told me their blade was dull, but she added extra paper to insure a good cut. When I stacked the bunch together, I noticed how ridiculously skewed they are. They all had at least one 90 degree edge so I used that edge to print and will have to go back and trim each print later on. I'm kicking myself right now for trying a new place, but it is fixable.

The announcements took a long time to get lined up and printing correctly. Once I got rolling, I didn't want to stop. I decided to wash the blue from the press, break for a dinner out with Coury and return to print the second batch in pink. I plan on packaging them in sets of 10.
The frame holds a 2" x 3" photo.


Now I hope one of my friends will say yes to using pictures of their little dudes and dudettes to use as an example :)

Lots of New!

My favorite mailroom fella delivered my new Boxcar plate today. 2 huge things to print! The school house themed wedding invitations and the new silhouette cards. Time to get busy.





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Happy Valentine's Day

All the flowers out and about for Valentine's Day inspired me to
make this floral treasury of fabulous letterpress items.



The prettiest roses we found at Trader Joe's yesterday.

Just Google it!

I've been listening a lot lately to podcasts about business and marketing. One of my favorites is Tips from the Top with the Savvy Seller. It's jam packed with talented guests and tons of information. Most of the time it's super overwhelming and I rush home to apply what I've heard to my own site before I forget.


There seems to be a difference of opinion about whether Search Engine Optimization is worth that much of your time or not. I feel like there is a lot of low brow ways to get your stuff to the top of searches, but will people want what you are selling when they get there?

It's crazy how fast the Internet has grown and how much you need to know to sell online. In such a short time, I (like most people) rely on Google for most everything. If I have a question, need a phone number, directions, have a cold or headache.... I just google it and whoala... I have several answers to choose from.

I just started using Google places and I'm a little obsessed with the new Google art Project. It's amazing having so much knowledge at the tip of your fingers.

Keeping up with it all is a challenge, but also really interesting. It was said the other day on a podcast that the Internet is like the Wild Wild West right now. Anyone can jump in and build on the frontier. Very exciting stuff!


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New Photos for Etsy Site

Spent the evening updating the photos on my Etsy site.

I'm trying out new packaging too. I like the Kraft paper with the light cards. We took the car to Michaels Craft Store and Trader Joe's tonight. I love that they are in the same parking lot! Letter size Kraft card stock was $3.99 for a pack of 50 sheets.

Lines and Designs

Figuring out how to print the school lined paper for new wedding invitations has been more challenging than I thought. I think I have it though. I'm so excited to see how these school themed invitations turn out.

To the Post Office I go

Valentine Post Cards are in the mail! They might be on time this year :)

I heart Lace earrings

The earrings I've been eye-ing for a long time arrived today! Love the White Owl style of lace jewelry.

Valentine's Day is approaching fast!

Don't forget to order Valentine's for the loved ones in your world! Free Shipping at my Etsy store.

Happiness is wanting what you get

I had huge plans for Saturday. Coury and I walked to the gym in the morning and to my delight a new Pilates teacher invited me to her class. It left me feeling pretty energized and motivated. The rest of the day, Coury was scheduled to work and I planned to hunker down and work. On the schedule was; rebuilding the art deco border with a baby carriage for baby announcements, fix a few quarky things I'd noticed on my hycCreative website, order gift card boxes, Khaki paper for card sets, and finish the blog posts I'd been storing only in my head. None of these things actually happened. I did spend hours on my website making changes, but never really touched the projects I'd hoped.

Awaiting me on my computer were a few things that made me blue and upset so I phoned my parents for advice. In their cute fashion they both answered the phone and listened for a while... which was all I really needed. My dad gave me a quote to ponder "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get." -- Dale Carnegie After only pondering this for a little while, my sister called with my nephew. He was feeling pretty chatty. (gibberish mostly, but we enjoy it) He blew me lots of kisses which cheered me immensely. When Coury got home he brought ice cream and wine and we had a lovely evening.

Now that a few days have passed, I can separate myself from the situation and really ponder the quote. On Saturday, I felt like I wasn't moving forward. My frustration got the better of me and ate up any productivity I had started out with that day. I realize my impatience and know that to truly be creative and successful in happiness, you don't always need what you thought you wanted.


Joel is about the age now, Andrea and I were here.

hyc Creative in Uppercase Magazine

Thank you Uppercase Magazine for using my cards in Issue #8

A Gocco enters my World!

Tonight I brought home my new Riso print gocco. It's basically a small at home silk screen device. My friend Ruby had an extra and we've been chatting gocco and paper for over a month. I anxiously rode home, poured myself a glass of wine, and dove into the directions. It's pretty awesome and brand new... nicely preserved from the 80's. I was thinking how much fun I would have had with this as a kid. I mean, look at how much fun the people on the box are having. Now, what to print?

A year ago, I tried to move away from only printing on paper and bought a whole lot of flour towels to print. Without a lot of experimenting, I managed to get a few good prints on the towels and passed them along as Christmas presents. Even though I set the ink with an iron, they all washed out. I have a few fabric inks to choose from, but I was going to check out my local art store before I pay for any shipping. I'm also hoping to burn screens for background patterns on cards. It's hard to get an even impression on my press for large areas. I have a visual for a pattern to potentially frame a photo. I just need to sit down and draw it and get some cleaner before I make a royal mess.

Ruby of Nemesis jewelry makes really great cards and moleskin journals on her gocco. I heart her Valentine below.