New wood blocks



M. brought home beautiful boards which I have now covered in ink. Through trial and error we are discovering what works best and how to increase the print of the grain. These (pictured) I like. And since the bright color sets are almost sold out (thank you!) I am working on new card sets that will be similar yet in a muted palette, and with some different wood patterns. I like for each print run to be small and unique.

> I got something delightful in the mail today. Have you visited Amber's shop lately?

Snack break

When I finish this little post I am going to make the above snack; frozen mixed berries, plain greek yogurt, homemade granola, and a drizzle of honey.

On Sunday we made Cinnamon-Carrot Muffins from the April 2011 issue of Whole Living. I substituted flax meal for the wheat germ and made sour milk (lemon juice + regular milk) rather than buttermilk. Very good. I will be making them again.

Now I'm looking for spinach recipes, our garden is bursting with the stuff. This cool, wet week has made the spinach very happy. Plus, I want to say thank you for all your kind responses to our new gardening project, tend!

And thank you to Jan for the post on Poppytalk today. What a nice surprise!

Announcements

Hello and good Monday evening to you,
I have a few announcements to share with you today. I just listed some of my brand new letterpress cards in my Etsy shop. These letterpress cards sets come in three different designs and were so fun to make. I'm really enjoying designing cards and prints using our antique types and ornaments. I wish I could print as quickly as I get ideas!

I'm happy to be part of the new Paper Pops market which opened today at Poppytalk Handmade. There are so many great artists involved. I always respect and appreciate the integrity of the markets that Jan curates. You can view my table here. 

And remember the fun little announcement I mentioned last week? Well, I'll be contributing to tend, a new online gardening collective. The project is conceived by Amy Johnson, who has quite a bit of agriculture experience and quite a beautiful garden. There will be something new each day of the week from Shari, Natalie, Julia, Amy, and myself. I'm looking forward to what these fine ladies will be sharing and showing us in their gardens. In my first post I talk about my favorite way to prepare collards. We hope you'll visit us.

spring lately on film

I've been photographing my new rose letterpress cards today and now the light has decided not to cooperate so I thought I'd take a break and share a few film shots with you. I fear I'm already guilty of not really noticing spring in all its glorious detail. With that in mind, I took a brisk walk earlier and found the tulip trees are long past, our plum tree (third photo) is full of leaves, the lawns in the park are thick and green, and suddenly the lilacs are in full bloom. How fast it all changes.

One afternoon my friend Amanda and I met for tea and I got to see some of her lovely work (pictured in the second photo above). Truly amazing.

A quote: God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December. ~James M. Barrie