The Handwork Chronicles

Paper and Present 1-year anniversary giveaway winners

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 28 May 2012 16:41:00 +0000

Thanks so much to everyone who entered the giveaway! There were actually a total of 26 entries; I gave g+m credit for two entries because she mentioned her favorite item and mentioned the tweet in the same comment.

The first randomly generated number receives the grand prize of $50 in store credit to purchase anything in the shop. And that winner is lucky number 26, Kellie. Yay, Kellie! I'll be contacting you soon to get the list of goodies you'd like from the store.

Winner of the first $10 runner up prize is number 15, Julie. Congratulations, Julie.

And last but certainly not least, winner of the second $10 runner up prize is number 2, Josie. Yay, Josie!

All of the winners will be hearing from me soon, so start preparing your wish list. :)

Thanks again to everyone for participating in the giveaway and/or purchasing items from the shop. Your support means the world to me!

Paper and Present 1-year anniversary GIVEAWAY

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:12:00 +0000

Sorry I am a day late in posting the Paper and Present one-year anniversary giveaway. But better late than never, right? :)

To enter to win, just take a look around the shop and then post a comment here letting me know what your favorite item is. If there is something that you wish I had in the shop but it isn't available, let me know and I might just add it in the future.

If you want extra chances to win, mention the giveaway and provide a link to this post on twitter, facebook, your own blog, or any other means of social media, and then post a comment here letting me know you did it. Each time you mention the giveaway, you get another entry (mention on twitter, facebook, and your blog, and you can get three separate entries).

So what's in it for you?

There will be one GRAND PRIZE winner, and that person will get FIFTY BUCKS in store credit to spend any way they want in the shop. And that's $50 in stuff; I'll pay the shipping! Yeah, baby!

And here's where it gets fun. For every ten entries in the giveaway, I'll pick one additional person at random to receive $10 worth of items of their choosing. In other words, if there are 23 entries, I'll pick two winners to get $10 store credit. If there are 55 entries, I'll pick five winners to get $10 store credit in addition to the grand prize winner. So feel free to spread the word and increase your chances of winning.

This giveaway will be open through this Sunday night, May 27, at 11:59 pm EST. I'll announce the winner(s) on Monday morning.

Good luck!

Paper and Present 1-year anniversary celebration!

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 22 May 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Paper and Present turns one year old today! Can you believe it? I'm still a bit in shock over how quickly the past year has gone and how much the shop has grown and expanded in the last 12 months. Never, ever in my wildest dreams did I think it would take on a life of its own the way it has!

I'll be celebrating the anniversary all week long. To stay on top of the current coupon codes and fun things I have planned, be sure to check out the shop announcement at the very top of the main page of the shop. There you will find information on the day's coupon code and how to get an extra little goodie bag stuffed with awesome products with every order.

And because I love you guys so much and appreciate your patience with my frequent absence here lately (the shop really has been keeping me busy!), all of your orders this week will get an extra bonus in addition to the goodie bag for which you qualify. Just write the word "HANDWORK" in the notes to seller at checkout (don't enter it in the coupon box) and I'll include an extra bonus for you.

I'll also be hosting a giveaway right here on the blog, and you won't want to miss it. Stay tuned for details...

It's May 22 in Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:40:00 +0000

Today it is May 22 in Australia. But if you're reading this and you reside in the United States, you know that today is May 21.

That means that today, May 21 U.S. time, is the husband's birthday. Not yesterday, which was May 21 in Australia but only May 20 in the U.S. I point that out because the husband, who is currently in Australia, told me today that his birthday was yesterday. Had he been born in Australia, that might be true. But he was born in Wyoming. On May 21.

So happy birthday, husband. Hope it is a wonderful one.

The before: Chicken coop and day lilies

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Sat, 19 May 2012 03:22:00 +0000

This space on the side of the chicken coop has been bugging me for more than two years.

I planted day lilies on the side of the girls' house, and they do great in the spring because they get all the rain that runs off of the roof of the chicken coop. Then we hit the dry season and I have to water them, but the water runs everywhere but where it needs to be and I end up with more weeds than flowers.

For years I have planned to build a small rock border around it to hold in the water; it's a great use for some odds and ends rocks left over from the rock wall I built at the front of the house several years ago. Two years ago I was too busy with the backyard to work on it, and last year I was too busy with Lachlan to work on it. And so this pile of rocks has been sitting there for years, which is really quite embarrassing when I think about it.

But this year Lachlan LOVES to be outside, so I am finally getting to all the unfinished projects outside. And this weekend, this is my project. I am going to finish the little border around the flowers, and if it doesn't rain (the skies sure look grey!) I'm finally (!) going to paint the trim around the chickens' door. If I don't have great "after" photos by early next week, please feel free to leave a comment chewing me out. :)

The press and I

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:14:00 +0000

My big press and I have been spending some more time together these days, printing lots of birth announcements and finally getting around to printing some new things. I love using instagram to photograph the things I print, but for some reason I end up picking a different format for the photos each time! The light in the press room is usually perfect, and it's so easy to take the photo with my phone while I'm printing. I send it straight to my Flickr account, and then can grab it from there to post here. The technology today is mind boggling...

I recently printed these announcements in a dark purple color for little Eliza Rose. I think the baby kangaroo in its momma's pouch is absolutely adorable. Eliza got coordinating note cards printed in the same shade of purple but with a platypus. Too cute!

Here are some announcements I did for Briggs. It was a very simple card with his initials and details printed in a dark blue.

I am also finally working on some new (and more fun!) designs for birth announcements and invitations for kid's birthday parties. The first is this train design; I printed the birth announcement sample in this fun medium dark blue and also in a pale blue. I think I like the darker blue better. Next I plan to print the coordinating invitation in a bright grass green color. Now if only I could find the time to take some proper photographs so I can list it in the shop! ;)

And last but not least, here are some save the dates that I don't think I ever shared with you. I am working with the daughter of some of the husband's friends to design the invitations for her wedding in Moab, Utah in September. She wanted a vintage western vibe, so we picked this beautiful font that has an old-time Western feel but with a touch of glamour. It's actually a revival of a font designed in France sometime around 1820. We combined it with some other more serious western fonts as well as some pretty borders and decorative elements. I printed the save the dates a while back, and now we're working on finalizing the design for the invitation and other pieces. Everything is printed in a rich dark brown on ivory cotton paper, and the invitation will feature a few bits of teal as an accent color. I can't wait to show you the rest of the pieces!

Happy mother's day (a little late)

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:28:00 +0000

A belated happy mother's day to all the wonderful moms out there, including my own awesome mom! Things are unusually crazy here at the moment. The shops continue to be busy (!) and the little man Lachlan continues to be busy (busy, busy, busy!), which means I am really busy. (Yes, I just wrote "busy" six times in that last sentence...) And now there is an added layer of craziness that I'll tell you about in another two weeks or so, once a few things are finalized.

But I did get to take a few days off when one of my very best friends in the whole wide world, Becky, came from Baltimore to visit me for a few days. We drank wine and margaritas and ate chips and chile con queso like it was going out of style. And it was awesome!

Becky still works at Jhpiego (that's where we first met), and right before she left, she showed me this video that she co-produced. And although it is a day late, I thought you might still like to see it. I hope all of the moms out there had a wonderful day yesterday. And for the women out there who help women to become moms, I hope you had a particularly wonderful day.

Bloom

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:29:00 +0000

Lachlan and I took a walk through the backyard this morning. Even Lachlan's snail came along. Bloom is the word of the day.

All photos taken with Instagram. Love that thing!!

Baxter

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Thu, 03 May 2012 05:16:00 +0000

Baxter is one lucky pup. For the second year in a row, his mom is throwing him a birthday party. And not just any birthday party. A birthday party at a dog park with 2-color letterpress invitations! (She said his first birthday party was at a dog bar. A dog bar!! Who knew?) I wish I was on the official guest list...

I printed these cards yesterday in bright and happy shades of blue and green. First the blue:

Then the green:

I had a lot of fun working with Baxter's mom to design the cards and come up with something that was suitable for the lucky boy. I mailed them today, and I sure hope they like them!

And then there were two

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:50:00 +0000

I have some sad news to report about the girls. Our neighbor came over a few hours ago, quite upset to tell us that his dog had killed one of our chickens. He was of course profusely apologetic over the situation. I let the girls roam around to get the bugs, and they love their freedom. They have no fear of dogs, having only really been around Sadie, so I am sure they are a bit like sitting ducks, er chickens. The next door neighbor's dog (a small cocker spaniel) usually stays on his side of the creek and has never shown any interest in the girls, but the chickens often go roaming and I think it was a classic case of her being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Rest in peace, Hazel. The girls and Lachlan and I will miss you.

Five years

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:46:00 +0000

Poor Sadie Bug. She spent the night of her 5th birthday on Friday at the emergency vet clinic. She and the husband were playing frisbee in the back yard. She jumped to get the frisbee and came down on top of the metal strip of landscape edging material and cut about a nickel-sized piece of skin off of the back of her leg right above her paw. Of course she needed a few stitches. And of course she did this exactly 15 minutes after our normal vet closed for the day.

As we drove home from the vet Friday night, more than $500 lighter (crazy, I know!!), I began to regret the decision I made as a junior in college not to go to vet school...

I hope you all had a relaxing weekend that didn't involve constantly telling the dog not to eat her bandage! :)

Mother's day card

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:43:00 +0000

Mom, if you're reading this, stop reading it right now.

A big thank you to Kristen over at Paper Crave for featuring my letterpress mother's day card!

I picked this quote by Abraham Lincoln for this year's card specifically for my mom. She's awesome, and I hope I've turned out to be even half the awesome lady she is! I also love this quote for a card because it can be used for so many different occasions--weddings, graduations, etc.--when you want to thank your mom for the role she played in making you who you are.

If you need one for your awesome mom, you can get one right here.

Art

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:13:00 +0000

I finally joined that group of people who have their children's art work plastered all over their fridge.

This is Lachlan's first masterpiece: a 4-color abstract depiction of Sadie. I think.

Or maybe it's just a bunch of scribbles. Either way, I dated it and will display it for awhile until safely tucking it away. It might just sell for millions one day when he is rich and famous...

Introducing the new Paper and Present

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:35:00 +0000

The world continues to pass me by at breakneck speed as I try to keep up with posting here about all of my adventures.

One item that I can almost cross off my list of things to do is the new logo for my packaging shop, Paper and Present. I am still working on trying to update everything with the new logo and print new cards, etc. It feels like a never-ending project. But it's at least up at the shop right now, so that's a start. I still need to work on the files for the image. I can't seem to get them to look clear and crisp online no matter what file type or resolution I try. Is anybody out there a whiz at that kind of thing?

I'm also having a little sale in the shop to celebrate the fact that we're getting a tiny little refund from the tax man. Now through Friday April 20, get 25% off everything in the shop with the coupon code TaxRefund.

I will be ducking out of here early this week to get caught up on things (including getting ready to add lots of new products to Paper and Present, like washi tape. Yeah!!) and to start getting myself really organized for Saya's Nest. I officially opened the Etsy shop this week; now I need to finish all my product photos so I can actually add some items to the shop. Weeeee!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Dreaming

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:14:00 +0000

Over the weekend the husband and I went to look at a house for sale near us. It has been fully remodeled and has a 26-acre peach orchard. Never in my life have I been in a house this clean.

The kitchen and dining room was huge and open and gorgeous. Talk about a dream kitchen.

The living room had high vaulted ceilings and a floor to ceiling rock fireplace.

There was a nice size master bedroom with a huge bathroom with steam shower.

Clawfoot tub in guest bathroom.

Both sides of the hallway leading to the master had floor to (very high) ceiling bookcases.

The finished basement had an awesome "man cave" and tons of storage.

And the best part: Part of the land is along the Colorado river.

Sigh.

Twigs

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:32:00 +0000

This week they planted the new trees in the orchard behind us. They'll be peach trees eventually. Right now they are tiny twigs that you probably can't even see in this photo.

It's amazing to see how fruit is grown commercially, and it's mind-boggling that anyone can even afford to buy peaches. They are so labor intensive to grow, it's ridiculous. From pruning the trees each spring to hand picking blossoms to remove all but a few on each branch, they keep the workers pretty busy.

These trees had been about 2 feet taller with multiple branches on them when they were first planted. Then an army of men armed with pruners descended upon them yesterday, cutting off the main center stalk about two feet off the ground. They'll leave just two or three main branches that don't get more than 5 or 6 feet off the ground, which makes it easier to prune the tree and pick the fruit without having to drag a ladder around.

And on a positive note, I met the guy who is managing the orchard who piled the rocks behind our house (which they moved last Saturday). I saw him working over there earlier this week so I took Lachlan and we walked over there. I figured he wouldn't dare hit a woman holding a baby. Ha! He turned out to be quite nice and he apologized several times for being "belligerent" (his exact word). We agreed that it was all a result of him misunderstanding me and being overly sensitive based on past problems he's had with neighbors. I insisted that he take some money for the time it took for his guys to move the rocks (it took four guys four hours to do it), which I think he really appreciated. So, it's all good, and hopefully I can count on getting a bushel of peaches from him once the trees mature. :)

Meet Phoebe

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:39:00 +0000

I'd like to introduce you to a special little lady.

This is Phoebe. Well, she's a phoebe. She's Say's Phoebe, to be exact, named after Thomas Say, who first described her during his exploration to the Rocky Mountains in 1819-1820.

image from www.Towhee.net

She's classified as a small songbird and a medium-sized flycatcher. Her upperparts are pale brownish gray and her belly and undertail are cinnamon. She wags her tail.

Her habitat includes open country, sagebrush, badlands, dry barren foothills, canyons, borders of deserts, and ranches. She lays 3-6 eggs and usually incubates them for 12-14 days. Her nest is often placed on a ledge with cover, such as in a cave or on a building or bridge. In fact, I think it is this exact bird that has maintained a nest on top of a light fixture in my parents' garage for years (decades?).

And she's my kind of gal: she builds her nest using a variety of natural materials, such as rocks, weed stems, grass, plant fibers, spider webs and other items, and then lines it with soft items such as hair, fibers, paper, or feathers.
While her friends call her Say's Phoebe, the academics like to call her Sayornis Saya.

And if that name sounds familiar to you, you have a good memory. Coming soon. Very soon.

Consideration

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:21:00 +0000

My level of irritation is at an all-time high right now.

If you've followed this blog for any period of time you know how much effort I have put into my backyard and making it nice. I have a looong way to go, but I think it's a good start. One of the reasons why I'm putting so much effort into making a nice backyard is because the views from the back of the house are spectacular and I want to have a nice place to sip my morning coffee or enjoy my afternoon cocktail.

The guy who leases the land behind us is putting in a new orchard. Long story short, they dug up lots of very large rocks while preparing the land. With numerous suitable places available to put the rocks, he chose the one that is basically right in my backyard. Here's the pile when they first started. I am about 5'2" and the pile is now taller than I am and about twice this wide. When I am standing in my house looking out the window, it is right at eye level and is the only thing I see.

Is it just me, or does this seem particularly inconsiderate of him, considering how many other places on the property he could have put the rocks where they'd be out of the way and out of sight of everyone?

I talked to him yesterday about moving them. He pretty much told me that it was his property and he could put them wherever he wanted. I politely pointed out that according to county regulations, they can't be within 10 feet of the property line and right now they are about 2 feet. I had heard that this guy was a real jerk, and I knew that he would probably be a spiteful jerk and would just move the pile back 10 feet, so I had planned to offer to pay him to move them to another part of our property that we don't use and can't see (a win-win for everyone). But before I could even get to that, he went ballistic (totally defensive and agitated; communication 101 classic signs of a guy who knows he's wrong but is too big of a jerk to admit it). He accused me of threatening him and then went on a tirade about how I'm basically a parasitic homeowner and he's THE FARMER. The conversation did not go well, probably because this guy was the poster child for bullies in high school. I had heard that the guy was a Class A Jerk, and he certainly lived up to his reputation.

At the end of the conversation he did say that he'd push them over the edge down into the area where the creek is on the left. There is a large area right above the creek where they can go without interfering with the movement of water through there. He said he would move them yesterday, but at the end of the day not only was the pile still there, but he had added to it. Under normal circumstances I would have called him to ask whether he had changed his mind and to find out if I should make my own plans to move them, but I figured he'd probably just accuse me of harassing him. At one point during our conversation he said I could feel free to move them myself, so that's exactly what I started doing last night. I used a little wagon we have to start moving the small rocks to the other side of our property that is out of sight and not usable anyway. I moved about 10 wagon loads. Once he has finished planting the trees and repairing our irrigation line (which he dug up but never bothered to mention to us), I'll use our small tractor to start moving them in larger quantities. Most will get moved to the other side of our property, but I am hoping to roll the larger ones down into the creek that is to the left of the pile. I really don't have any spare time to do this, so it will probably take me all summer.

In the meantime, if anyone needs some rocks, let me know. I'll give you a really good deal. :)

Update: They moved the rocks on Saturday. It took four guys and a backhoe four hours to do it, so I'm really happy they moved them and I didn't have to. Yippee! :D

Last call for cards

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 22:20:00 +0000

I had a small booth at the Spring Fest street festival in my small town on Saturday. I took a bunch of my cards and slashed the prices on them. I have reached my limit for chaos and disorder, and I can't stand to look at the boxes of these cards anymore. Most of them are cards that I won't be printing again. Others are cards that have my old logo on them; a new logo for Paper Ink Press is about 98% complete right now, and I don't want to keep around cards printed or packaged with the old logo. I had decided that whatever didn't sell on Saturday would be recycled. I was going to reuse the envelopes for other cards and chop the cards up to use the paper for business cards.

But I just can't stand the thought of cutting up a perfectly good card.

Right now at this very moment there are many, many cards in the shop that are half off. Supplies of some of the cards are limited. The $10 grab bags, which have a selection of cards with an original retail value of $15, are now $5. I also have a BUNCH of dog cards, but I just don't want to spend the time to photograph them all and create new listings. Tonight I will count them all and on Tuesday or Wednesday I'll publish a list here of the dog breeds I have left.

Update 4/2 9:29 PM: I just posted the dogs in the shop, but I only listed one set for each breed. Each listing specifies how many sets I actually have, so contact me if you want more than one. I have chihuahuas, collies, border collies, old english sheepdogs, dachshunds, bull terriers, pomeranians, borzois, poodles, scottish terriers, and dobermans left. All other dogs have gone to their new homes. :)

I know it's only April, but if you or someone you know loves cards, this is a great opportunity to stock up now for birthdays, mothers day, and the holidays (it's never too soon to start shopping for the holidays!). You can visit the shop here.

The best part of this whole deal is that if you enter the word Handwork in the notes to seller (NOT in the coupon code box), I will send you TWO of everything you order, assuming that I have enough left of that card. Order one set of fox gift tags, and you'll get two. Order four grab bags and I'll send you eight. You get the idea. :) If I don't have a second set of cards like what you ordered I'll send you a grab bag. Just be sure to mention this in the notes to seller when you checkout so that I know you heard about it from this here little blog. :D

Taxes

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:48:00 +0000

I am going to drop our stuff off at the accountant today. Finally. I feel like I have been through a tornado or hurricane or some other equally traumatic event.

I am not good at "keeping books" or anything even remotely related to it. I got a C in my required college accounting class, and only because of a very generous grading curve. I think balancing a checkbook is silly. The idea of organizing receipts--heck, even keeping them in general--is almost as silly. So when you combine that kind of attitude with 4 months of receipts that were stored on the computer and lost when the computer died the second time and then add awful things like "inventory" and "cost of goods sold," well, it's a recipe for disaster.

I have spent many, many, many late nights trying to sort it all out. Nights and nap time are the only time for computer work, so it has taken me a good long while to do and so once again I have been mostly absent here. Sorry!

I'm starting to look into what program will be best for me to use to organize and track everything now that I'm dealing with inventory. Does anybody have any suggestions? Quick Books is an obvious option, but does anyone else have any recommendations for any other reallllly user-friendly programs for accounting-challenged people like me?

On a somewhat related note, I love the pictures I took of the honey bees on our apricot blossoms. The whole area around the tree smelled amazing for days and you didn't have to get very close at all to hear the buzzing of the bees as they started their important work of pollinating all of the trees in the valley. And somehow it seemed so fitting for my life lately. Busy as a bee...

Spring 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:27:00 +0000

I just realized that yesterday was the first day of spring, which explains a lot of what's happening around here.

The first signs of life in the garden come courtesy of the rhubarb.

Not to be outdone, our apricot tree is almost completely covered in blossoms.

Followed closely by the plum and cherry trees.

We had a long spell of unusually warm weather and now all of the fruit trees are ahead of schedule. They will be very unhappy when the frost of April and early May come.

The girls still enjoy hanging around in the garden area. Here's Hazel, and that's Greta on the left.

In the front yard, the miniature wild iris are blooming. Each plant is only about 2 inches tall.

Lachlan, Sadie and I have spent a lot of time working on the backyard lately. More pictures later, but I've been cutting out all the dead growth from last year. Late last week I uncovered the catmint, and it has nearly tripled in size with new growth since then.

I also have baby lamb's ear springing up everywhere!

On an unrelated note, thanks to everyone for the nice words about the magazine feature for my cards. I'm still smiling about it. Now to get discovered by an even bigger magazine! :)

Got cheese?

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:11:00 +0000

My copy of the Spring 2012 issue of Culture: The Word on Cheese magazine arrived last week, and I haven't been that excited to get a magazine in a really long time.

Aside from being a really awesome magazine, this issue just happened to feature my Farmyard Animals letterpress cards.

Yes! My first magazine feature! Woohoo! I've been waiting for the issue to come out since they first contacted me a few months ago.

They put together a fun collection of cheese-themed notecards, and I'm so happy they included my cards. I wish they had featured the cow instead of the sheep. The cow is my favorite. :)

Aside from having great taste in letterpress stationery, the magazine really is pretty awesome. If you know anyone who loves anything to do with making or eating cheese, I think a subscription to the magazine would make a pretty great gift.

More printing

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:25:00 +0000

A few more things I printed lately. I love the little whale; he makes me smile. :)

I hope all of you are enjoying the nice weather that seems to be covering most of the country right now. We are spending almost all of our time outside, cleaning up all the gardens. Lachlan loves playing in the dirt. If only I could get him to leave his shoes on...

Leo and Eloise

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 22:36:00 +0000

I've been printing a lot of birth announcements over the last few weeks, including some for Sophie in Switzerland and Hans in Australia! I need to round up all of them and take some pictures to post here, but lately it seems that the only time I have to take any photographs is practically in the middle of the night. Here are two photos that I took with my phone using instagram (what an awesome invention!) while I was printing.

Leo's cards were printed in a mint green color, and Eloise's cards were printed in a custom mixed persimmon color.

I have two more sets of birth announcements to print this weekend, then another set of birth announcements and some save the date cards next weekend. It's nice to be back printing so much again. I'm also finally getting back to cleaning the type and printing more samples of the personalized stationery (I feel like a broken record because I keep saying that!). Hopefully I can finish moving everything out of the house and into the new space this weekend, and in that process I'm hoping to discover all of the other samples I printed but can't seem to find right now. :)

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Shop swap: Faye and Co.

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:44:00 +0000

I recently participated in a Shop Swap that was organized by Danni over at Oh, Hello Friend. I was paired with Diane from Faye and Co. The idea was to send each other goodies from our own shops. Diane's favorite colors are black and white with a bit of red, so I sent her an assortment of my packaging goodies in those colors.

In exchange, I received this lovely package from Diane. That little Faye and Co. pencil is the cutest little thing! I loved everything in my package--2 notebooks, 3 cards, an assortment of stickers, a little rubber stamp (that fits right on the tip of your pencil, clever!), paper lips and a moustache on sticks, and a lovely zipper bag lined in the prettiest fabric. What an awesome collection of goodies!

I of course loved how everything was packaged in layers with kraft paper and twine. A woman after my own heart! :)

Isn't that tiny pencil adorable? And the letterpress printed tag rocks, of course. :)

Although everything is lovely, this is probably my favorite thing of the package: A small green notebook with my name hand drawn by Diane. I love it!!

I love the phrase on Diane's card: Goods as Unique as You Are. If you need some unique goods (these would make awesome gifts!), please visit Diane at her online shop.