Here’s a little insight into the day of a letterpress printer:

Every time I get to mix ink for a press run, I also get to clean the ink off my inking plate and inking rollers after I’m done. Making the mess is definitely the fun part. But cleaning up? Sheesh. I’m not a fan. Sometimes I put it off, which makes me dread it all the more. And sometimes I get lucky, and my wonderful husband is home when I need a quick clean up. But usually I just have to buckle down and get it done. So a little peek at the best part of my day!

1. Get your gear together. Apron, gloves, and a mask for all those pregnant sort of people who get a tad sensitive around the chemicals.

2. Wipe down the inking plate, rollers and press. (Sometimes ya gotta put a little muscle into it.)

3. Yay! Clean and ready to go for the next run.

Happy to announce that we finally busted out two of our Christmas presents!! And had a beautiful little Saturday brunch. Although breakfast foods have never ever been a first choice for me, I think pregnancy has helped me see the light and realize how incredibly delicious breakfast is. Waking up crazy hungry helps too, everything is scrumptious in the morning.  And with a new waffle maker and food processor, all the more reason to get a little fancy!

Just take a gander at how golden delicious those waffles turned out! (My last attempt at waffles was a failure. Sadly we had a waffle maker that cooked unevenly resulting in waffle mush.) And I couldn’t be more pleased with the pulse action on that food processor. Lovin’ the blackberry banana fruit spread!

Tasty from the first bite to the last. This breakfast = a success.

Ok, so I mentioned on a previous post, that I friend of mine has started this little crafting club which she was so so sweet to include me in. The last time we met up I made this sweet little thang:

We were working on pillows this time, and had some scraps from the pillow fabrics, so I thought now would be as good a time as any to attempt making a little wallet. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. Imperfections and all.

I made it to fit a little notepad (also handmade). And if you’re interested, I’d highly recommend making one of your own. While the wallet was a tad tedious, this notepad is a super simple project. I actually purchased a large pad of grid paper from the thrift store and thought it would be fun to remake as a smaller size. But you can use any paper you’d like, and a thin bit of cardboard for the back.

It’s been 3 weeks since posting an update, and…yep, I’m still pregnant.

CURRENT FAVS: Oranges and crushed red pepper flakes (Not together.)

A LITTLE PEEVE: Running low on pants that fit. Well let’s be honest, none of them fit. I’m relying on the hairband loopty-loop trick to keep these suckers up now-a-days.

MY PREGNANT MIND: I catch myself forgetting I’m pregnant. My second trimester has been so wonderfully smooth that I hardly notice this belly gettin’ bigger. But I’m particularly reminded when I put my pants on in the morning, bend over to pick things up, catch a glimpse of my reflection and do a double take, and of course when baby girl starts cheeto chopping at my ribs.

HAPPY FRIDAY! Enjoy the weekend!

If you read this blog, you know I wish I was an every day blogger. But I just can’t seem to do it! Someday. Someday, indeed. It’s really not much of a problem. It’s just that when I’m in blogging mode, I have a million different post ideas and things I want to share, and I want to share them immediately! So it’s like every two weeks you get 5 posts from me. I really should use the publishing tool that lets me schedule my posts for the future. That way things would be a little more consistent. I’ll give it a go. We’ll see.

So, just an update on me: (1) I’m reading The Alchemist for a book club–oh, book club, I know, it’s gonna be great.I’m learning a lot about following my heart and listening to the desert.

(2) Yesterday (this is a biggy, folks.) Jason told me he was proud of my couponing. That’s right, people, I haven’t given up. Although I’m no pro and I rarely have significant savings, I did saved $56 dollars our last grocery trip which included: vitamins, a small collection of Campbell soup, a stash of yogurt cups, my favorite Cheerios, a box of cereal bars, Hershey’s kisses, toilet bowl cleaner, face wash, hand soap, and a few other hygiene products. It was like a 57% savings on stuff we actually wanted. I think that’s incredible. So I’m pleased. And I was really flattered at Jason’s compliment when I wasn’t even fishing for it. Best day ever.

(3) After taking almost a 2 month break on Blush and Beau when I was down and out with morning sickness and the holiday madness, I am back on track, re-listing and finally getting some sales back up. If I had realized leaving the shop dormant for so long would slow my product exposure as much as it did and leave me with far fewer sales my first month back on track than I had my last month before calling a time out, I think I would have just toughed it out. Sure that’s easy to say now that I can’t recall how miserable and stressed I was. But I did do a lot of backtracking by closing the shop, and I know it. The great news is: 5 orders so far this week. It’s a step up.

(4) One of my best friends decided to start up a little craft night. Do I even need to say how thrilled I am about that?

Happy Thursday!

Michelle and Mike had their little man last month, and they had me snap of few shots of the handsome devil. This is Landon at a little under 2-weeks, I think. Oh that little face. He’s so cute. It’s border-line ridiculous. I just don’t understand how these little humans can be so adorable.

A couple weeks ago, I went a little pillow crazy, and pulling from my pillow pinspiriation, I created some pillow covers I thought would be fun to share.

I really love these designs by alexandraferguson on Etsy (the 3 pillows above), but they are out of my budget, and I figured I’d at least attempt a version of my own (“hello, baby.” featured at the top).

MATERIALS: Fabric for pillow cover (I used Flannel), Fabric for Words (I used a faux leather), stuffing or premade pillow, scissors, a printer, Microsoft Word or other document program, thread, needle, sewing machine, glue gun, pins

IDEAS FOR WORDING: “love”, “xoxo”, one pillow: “Mrs.” and the other “Mr.”, a special date (ex. 10-10-08), “&”, your initial, your favorite saying or lyrics, I’m sure you can create a whole list of good ones

INSTRUCTIONS:

(You can use a pillow cover you already have, or create your own, below are instructions for sewing your own pillow cover)

And Now, for the Pillow Cover…

PS, there are a few different ways to make a cover, or create a stuff a pillow of your own, you can use any of those to add wording to.

All right, so we have big news…and it’s only getting bigger.

Baby Sparks is on the way and due May 15^th.

We figure, between our mothers most everyone we know (and then some) probably knows by now. They’ve had a tiny bit of trouble keeping the secret a secret. So we’re delighted to let everyone in on it! And considering I couldn’t button my jeans this morning, in not too long, it will probably be pretty obvious, which makes now as good a time as any to share the news.

And with that, for any of you who are interested in additional details, I’m adding a new section to the blog: The Pregnant Diaries this is where you can check out some pics, read a couple funny stories, and get updates on the baby madness. I promise nothing disturbing. I’m not going to talk about my lady parts and what not, that’s just not something I’m comfortable with, so no need to proceed with caution.

BEFORE: If you saw the first post on my mess of a studio (linked here) then you know that many of my letterpress and bookmaking supplies were strewn all over the room. My goal was to keep all my printing supplies, materials, tools and equipment confined to the space allotted in the closet. But it was a really dull space, that felt cramped with little organization.

AFTER: Now, I’m in love! I painted the closet walls to give it more of it’s own separate “printing room” within a room feel. Organized and added shelves and arranged what furniture I did have to be more efficient and spaced in a way that gives the appearance of room. Now I have an inking station (far left), organized type setting shelves, and of course the letterpress printing table (right). Two of my favorite additions have to be (1) the clothes pin bars, just below the shelves on the left, perfect for pinning little reminders and to-do’s and (2) the stenciled logo over my press. I’ll share the clothes pin bar and stenciled logo tutorials in the near future.

Very profesh, am I wrong? Yes, there’s still a lot going on in that little space, but I’m thrilled to be so organized!

Look forward to more updates to the rest of the room in the next couple weeks. My next project is the paper cutting station/table beneath the window. It’s going to be epic!

Yes, they’re gloves. And, I made them.

Here’s how I did it!

1. Find pair of gloves or mittens, worn, well-loved, whatever. The ones I used were a pair of my most favorites, love the fit, love the style, just love them, but they’re wearing out. The buttons fell apart, and the fingers are wearing through. So I thought, if only I could recreate them!

2. Using a seam ripper, remove all thread from seams to separate the glove into peices

3. Use the old glove pieces as your pattern. Pin them over your new fabric and cut out their shape. I chose a knit fabric for the back side to give plenty of stretch, and a suit fabric for the contrasts, it didn’t matter if these parts were stretchy. Be sure you double side (reverse sides together) your fabric before pinning and cutting, since you’ll need two of every piece (gloves come in pairs, afterall).

4. Align and pin the pieces to their correct sides and sew them back together. I often referred to the old pair of gloves while doing this, so it’s a good idea to keep one glove assembled, and the other in pieces as your pattern.

Good luck! I’m not going to exaggerate and say these were easy, because they’re not. It’s detailed sewing, and I managed my first glove in a little over 3 hours. But it was a fun project! And, you can totally choose a pair of gloves with less pieces, or even mittens to reduce your time on the project. Here’s my finished product:

Happy Friday!

PS. Studio update to come! I’ve been doing some awesome work around here and things are starting to feel very organized