more letterpress love...

if you've been reading this blog for a while, you know i am a little (or a lot) in love with letterpress.  i think it started when i scoured the internet for wedding invitations.  sadly, the letterpress designs were the most beautiful and the most expensive!

at one point i decided i wanted to make my own letterpress printer.  fellow blogger juli and my husband sweetly jumped on board with my hairbrained idea, although we haven't had time to get started.  check out these instructions for a homemade letterpress printer.  seems doable!  have any of you ever done this?  am i crazy?

i keep coming across julia farrill's red bird ink, a wonderful letterpress shop based in atlanta. red bird ink was a runner-up in garden & gun's 2010 made in the south awards.

check out julia on her press!


courtesy of redbirdink.com

some of my favorite designs from her shop...

eyewear flat cards 
(sometimes i wish i had an excuse to buy great frames like these, but i have perfect eyesight!)

red berries coasters

red birds stationery

photo geek love

1. instant photo frame pins via photojojo, $18-$30.
2. haoshi's camera head necklace via a+r store, $65.
3. fuji finepix x100 via photocraft,  $1,199.
4. lomography analogue dream women's shirt via lomography, $29.
5. 8x10 polaroid land camera print by candidate via etsy, $23.

 

just a little photo...

spring snail, by juli

a visit to the mile high city

dearest friends, i am in denver right now for a biz trip.  what a beautiful city with lots to explore!  i am staying and working downtown near the 16th street mall but hope to explore some more eclectic parts of town over the weekend.  red rocks, anyone?  i have been here about 24 hours and already had 3 great meals.  please send recommendations for eating, shopping, exploring, etc.!

maybe i should learn this...

denver neighborhood print by january jones prints




girls with glasses.

love this video, which is the theme song for the girls with glasses show.



 with brooke white, singer/songwriter, and summer bellessa, model and editor of eliza magazine.

the quilts of gee's bend

i love the beauty of a quilt. we have quilts in my family that have been passed down through generations. when i was small, i remember my mother pointing to certain patches and telling me the story behind each of the fabrics on a quilt made by her mother. the history of a family of 15 was woven into that quilt with patches made from an old yellow dress my mother wore as a girl, or a shirt worn by a brother.  some old quilts i saw at the flea market yesterday started a thought about the significant historical and familial relevance of the art of quilting.

jennie pettway and another girl with the quilter jorena pettway, 1937.  photo by arthur rothstein/ courtesy of library of congress prints and photographs division

missouri pettway, 1902-1981. "path through the woods" (quiltmaker's name), 1971, polyester knit, 73 x 69 inches. courtesy of tinwood media.

the fine art of crafting a quilt has been passed down through six generations in the small rural town of gee's bend, alabama.  the women of this area developed a characteristic quilting style based on traditional american and african american quilts with a geometric simplicity suggestive of modern art and amish quilts.  the women continue to quilt through the gee's bend quilters collective.  the quilts now have international and national acclaim and have been in many exhibitions over the years.

annie mae young, work-clothes quilt with center medallion of strips, 1976; denim, corduroy, synthetic blend; 108 by 76.5 inches.  courtesy of steve pitkin/pitkin studio / tinwood books.

jessie t. pettway, bars and string-pieced columns, 1950s; cotton; 95 by 76 inches.

courtesy of steve pitkin/pitkin studio / tinwood books.

deborah pettway young, 1916-1997. one side of two-sided quilt: "roman stripes" variation, ca 1960, cotton twill, print, jersey knit, denim, polyester, 83 x 64 inches. courtesy of tinwood media.

pico + googy

pico + googy, by juli

when i became a mama i suddenly had the desire to make a lot of things.  i started sewing and building and making food from scratch.  i suppose this is a very instinctual response as i know many others who seem to have started making things when they became mamas.  it is a pretty awesome side-effect if you ask me.  my creative life before tula was very focused and now it seems so much more open.
pico and googy are one of my early projects of plushies that i made when tula was a baby.  she named them when she was so small and she still adores them.  we are currently planning on making plushies based on her drawings.  i think this is a great way to preserve your child's art work and bring their imaginary life into the real.  i found another mama, lizette greco, who seems to be doing the same and she has some wonderful plushies made from her children's drawings.  she will even do custom-work pieces based on a child's drawing!