The Handwork Chronicles

Happy Memorial Day! (and a sale to celebrate...)

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Fri, 24 May 2013 21:45:00 +0000

Happy Memorial Day weekend to everyone, especially to veterans and active duty military. Thank you for your service and sacrifice!!

It seems the weekend wouldn't be complete without a SALE, and seeing how I completely missed out on having a sale for my 2-year anniversary of the shop (on May 22), I'm offering three different coupons good only until May 28.

Use code Memorial10 to save 10% off orders of $30 or more (before shipping). Use code Memorial15 to save 15% off orders of $50 or more, or use code Memorial25 to save 25% off orders of $100 or more. These coupons are good in the Etsy shop of Paper and Present, because that shop still has the best selection of items. If you do make a purchase this weekend, please write in the notes to seller if you or someone you know is a veteran or active duty military. :D

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Hello!

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:42:00 +0000

As you might have guessed by now, things have been busy. I just found out a bit of news and thought to myself, "Wow! I need to put this on the blog!" And then I looked at this here little blog and realized just how long it's been. Sorry about that!

I've been busy adding lots of new stuff to Paper and Present, and buying lots of other new stuff to add to the shop once I get the chance. And then there's that whole building-a-whole-new-website-by-myself thing. On top of the he's-a-wild-and-crazy-two-year-old thing. Plus a second house still under renovation, and an assistant who left to move back closer to her family. And general life.

But I have it in my mind to get back here more often. So I will be seeing you again soon.

Oh, and that bit of news? My safari animal paper was recently featured on Apartment Therapy, which was quite a thrill for me.

Hope you all are doing well, and I will be back here again soon with lots of updates and news and photos of all the fun new things going on around here.

XO,
Melissa

Paper and Present on Joss and Main today

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:16:00 +0000

Hi all. Just a quick note to let you know that Paper and Present is featured on Joss and Main today. Only our gift wrap, gift bags and packaging kits are offered in the sale, and they are in limited quantities. You can get a particularly great deal on the wrapping papers, but they are going fast, so act soon if you would like some for yourself! The sale started today and runs for 72 hours, while supplies last.

In other news, I am dreaming about packing boxes these days. I took 84 packages to the post office on Tuesday. Definitely a new record for me!

Construction progress

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 01:47:00 +0000

I haven't been out to the other house much lately, so Capable Guy just sent a few photos over. Looks like a lot of progress to me! Yay!

We're in Real Simple magazine!!

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 19:41:00 +0000

A couple of months ago I told you that I had a request from a magazine to feature one of my items in their magazine. We went back and forth on the colors, and in the end I created a packaging and gift wrap kit specifically for them. And then I held my breath, and hoped like heck that it made the final cut after the stylist and photographers had their way with it.

So I am THRILLED beyond belief to finally be able to tell you that my humble little shop and one of our gift wrap kits is featured in the December 2012 issue of Real Simple magazine!! I can still hardly believe it.

The great news for everyone out there is that it's included in their "Discounts and Deals" section, which means it is a discounted deal!!

The magazine will be on news stands November 19, or perhaps you already subscribe to it and will see the issue in person. Or, you could always check it out on their website and see it in all its glory. Well, almost. There are about 160 items in the kit, and only a tiny fraction of them are shown in the image online. It also made my day to see them describe it as "So fetching, it could be a gift in itself."

You can see the online version here.

And even though the magazine suggests that the discount code is good only for this product, here's a little secret: the code is good for your entire purchase on everything in the shop that you may also want to buy.

Framing

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 05:47:00 +0000

Our Capable Guy has been hard at work at the other house. The carport is almost completely framed in to convert it to a playroom/office/den/bonus room.

The two separate out buildings have also been opened up. The back part of this space will be the new laundry room with a huge amount of extra space to be used as a craft room, pantry, mud room, or all of the above. We get to keep the pitched ceilings, which makes me very happy.

We ordered the new windows and exterior doors for the entire house (the husband cried as I wrote that check...), and one huge decision was made with the selection of the front door. Because we are basically redoing the entire house, the style of it could have gone ranch or it could go craftsman, and the front door is 100% craftsman. At least that's one less decision left to make!

Capable Guy will work this week to enclose the new framing so that we can get Mr. Stucco out there to give the exterior of the house a new lease on life. So excited, but so scared to have to pick the stucco color soon!

Crafting at warp speed

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 05:31:00 +0000

Wow. This week has been filled with an overwhelming list of things to do to get ready for the holidays. Nobody will buy my awesome wrapping papers if they can't see what they look like. And it's one thing to see a single box wrapped up pretty, but it's another thing to see all sorts of fun (and I hope original and unique) ways to use it to decorate packages. That means I have to create all those examples of fun (and I hope original and unique) ways to use it to decorate packages. And when you have to do that for five different wrapping papers, it tends to require some really late nights.

Then I had to decorate for the photos, stage the photos, rush to take the photos during Lachlan's naps, and then edit the photos. I'm also rushing to set up a new website, and that of course has its own specifications for the photos. And I'm rushing to complete a set of photos for something special that is coming up the middle of this month. I'll tell you all about that next week, because it's a deal that you will. not. want. to. miss. Weee! But I digress...

I'm still working on editing all of the photos, but here's a little peek at one of the collections, red birds and berries. I had this gift bag in the shop last season and it was really popular, so I added the wrapping paper this year and it is already the top seller.

This was the first paper I used for my crafting, and I had a ball thinking of different ways to use it. Every year when I'm wrapping presents, I try to save every tiny scrap because one day I might have a tiny present to wrap. In the end, all those scraps go into the recycle bin and I feel so wasteful. So the idea behind what I'm doing this year is that you can wrap a present or two with the paper, but then use the scraps of paper to decorate a whole host of different, very simple items. Of course, everything I'm using is available for sale in the shop (and the new website, details coming soon!), but people can also use these ideas with simple things they may already have in their own home. It's a nice way to come up with a beautifully coordinated set of gifts that each have something special about them.

Here's the complete set I came up with, in two photos.

Over the next few days I'll show you some closeups of each item, along with the details of how to get the other products in the photos so you can "get the look" for yourself. In the meantime, here are some pictures of my two favorites from this set.

I'd love to hear any other suggestions you have for fun ways to use leftover bits of wrapping paper to decorate packages.

Christmas decorations

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 18:34:00 +0000

I'm the person who walks into a store in October and becomes almost overwhelmed by my irritation with the number of Christmas decorations already in the stores. And yet, here I am today, decorating my house for a photo shoot I'm planning for my Christmas items. Crazy! And what's worse is that I'm waaaay behind on doing this. Ack.

The past few days have been spent in a major crafting frenzy as I decorate packages in (what I hope is) unique and creative ways using the wrapping papers and other items in the shop.

I hope to show people how to stretch their dollars this year by using regular old tissue and wrapping paper in fun and unexpected ways. I'm pretty delighted with some of the things we've come up with, and I can't wait to show them to you!

In the meantime, here's how things are starting to look.
Stage 1. Pinecone garland:
Stage 2. Berry garland addition:
Now it's back to work on the setup!

Big tree, small boy

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 04:20:00 +0000

We spent the most perfect fall afternoon at the park. I've been there a bazillion times but never noticed this cool tree until today.

It's big. And he's small. :)

Cat face spider

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 02:39:00 +0000

It's almost Halloween, and I guess that means it's time for the creepy crawly things to come out of hiding.

We found this tonight on the carpet in the living room, among Lachlan's legos. While he was playing with them...

She's a cat face spider, so named because of the shape and coloring of her abdomen, which is supposed to resemble a cat's face (looks more like the face of a rat or weasel to me).

They are supposed to be harmless to humans and an extremely beneficial enemy of many garden insects. So she'll be left to live another day. But in another location on this property.

A few new things off the press

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 03:43:00 +0000

I've been doing a bit of printing here and there. Here are a few of the latest items. I love this quote by Abraham Lincoln, and I printed this card in turquoise ink before Mother's day. I sold out of it, so I reprinted it in turquoise but also added it in dark purple after I received lots of requests for more colors to choose from.

I also finally got around to printing this new birth announcement design. I've had the plate for months (and months...). Now it will probably take me a few more months before I find the time to photograph it and add it to the shop. The story of my life lately!

And when I came across this cute little dinosaur I couldn't resist making it into some cards with this cool new striped font I recently got. I've been meaning to print more samples showing a variety of motifs and fonts for personalized cards, and it's nice when they can do double duty as cards for the little one. :)

In other news, our CG (Capable Guy) is making good progress over at the other house. He has started framing in the carport to convert it into a bonus/family room with a powder room. It was the best option we had after we had to scrap the plans for a master suite when we found out we couldn't add a fourth bedroom to the house. I'll be stopping by the house tomorrow and will hopefully get a few pictures to show you the progress.

Have a happy weekend, everyone!

Happy Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:57:00 +0000

Happy Monday, everyone. I realized over the weekend that it's been a long time since I've been here. Gigi just finished her third week working here, and although she is doing a lot of stuff I used to do, I find that it just gives me more time to do all the other things I haven't been able to do, and not necessarily more "free" time for blogging and whatnot. Although I did manage to spend several nights catching up on old Fringe episodes and even watching a rented movie with the husband, as well as TWO different outings this weekend with the family, which is nearly unheard of lately.

One of the things I have gotten back to is some more printing. I'm working on some things for Christmas, but also a new line of boxes and packaging for party/wedding/shower favors. I'll have both generic stocked items as well as the ability to customize them for the event. I'll have several colors available, including white ink on kraft. I printed that combo yesterday and am in love with how it turned out. I'll post some photos of all those things soon.

In other printing news, here are some cute two-color invitations I did for a farm-themed birthday party for a 4-year-old. I love the little pink pig.

And totally not related to printing, here's one of my favorite new photos of Lachlan and his best friend during one of our afternoon trips to the park.

I can't remember what he was pointing at, but you can probably tell from the photo that he was in a hurry to get to it! I hope you all have a great week!

When life gives you failed perc tests, stain berry baskets

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 22:39:00 +0000

So the dirt at the new house failed the perc test. Failed it miserably. So unless we want to shell out nearly $25k to put in a new septic system with special pumps and whatnot, we can't add the fourth bedroom. And we don't want to shell out the $25k. So it's back to the drawing board on the house plans...

In the meantime, I'm making some berry baskets for Christmas. I'm going with two general color themes in both shops this year: cardinal red, white, and silver, and moss green, gold, and ivory. Yesterday and today I was staining lots of clothespins, wood tags, jute twine, and berry baskets in the moss green and cardinal red colors. I can almost smell the pine cones and hear the jingle bells...

Hiccups and perc tests

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 14:17:00 +0000

So we had our first hiccup over at the new house.

We want to convert it from a 3 bedroom/1 bath house to a 4 bedroom/3 bath house. The house has an old septic system, and to add another bedroom means we have to increase the size of the septic tank. To do that, we have to move everything to the back yard where there is more room for the tank and leach field. To do that, the dirt has to be good. And by good, I mean dry.

Yesterday I met the backhoe guy and someone from the engineer's office (planning septic systems now requires an engineering firm!) to dig some holes for the perc test. The perc test measures the percolation rate, or how quickly water drains through the soil. When you dig for the perc test, the deepest hole is about 9 feet. And you really want to see dry dirt there.

Our dirt was wet. Like, really wet. About 30 minutes after we dug the hole there was several inches of water at the bottom. That's bad. Really bad. So we dug another hole in another area of the property that should be drier. And it was really wet at 6 feet.

So today is the official perc test and then the engineers and person from the county health department will decide what kind of system we can have. At this point, it's not looking good for a system that will work well for the future of the place as a horse property, or the cost will be so high that it just doesn't make sense. So I might be back to the drawing board with the house plans and we might be stuck with just 3 bedrooms. What a bummer.

What makes me happy

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 04:24:00 +0000

My new employee, Gigi, makes me happy.

For the past few days she has been organizing my space out in the workshop. Last night before she headed home, she left me a little surprise that I discovered this morning.

It actually stopped me in my tracks and I laughed out loud because she gets it. She just took some of the milk glass vases, a few wooden boxes, and just odds and ends sitting around in all areas of the shop and created this adorable little display. Goodness do I wish I had a brick-and-mortar shop so she could design the window displays!!

Once she helps me catch up on all my pre-packaging in anticipation of the holiday rush, I'm going to have her take all the different items in my shop and decorate packages and make little displays to photograph for the shop. It's been on my list of things to do for a loooong time, but there's never enough hours in the day. I am ecstatic just thinking about all the fun things she'll come up with.

In other news, those of you out there who were crossing your fingers that I made the final cut in the magazine I was working with, thank you! I just now filled out the final form from the fact checker. The issue will be on newstands November 19. I'll tell you more about it once the time gets closer, so you can get a copy if you don't already subscribe to it. :D!!

Employees and printing

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 02:40:00 +0000

My new employee started today. Things around here are already feeling more awesome. I still can't wrap my brain around the fact that something I started as a little hobby to fill the time while Lachlan napped has turned into something that requires the assistance of an employee. In addition to regaining my sanity (hopefully!), I am also really hoping this gives me a tiny bit more time to get back to printing, which is how I got into this whole mess in the first place!

With dad home now to entertain Lachlan for the day, I spent the weekend in the shop, just me, my presses, my giant paper cutter, a tub of silver ink, and a stack of white cotton paper, chipboard, kraft and white pillow boxes, and red cardstock. And as the new holiday items rolled off the press, my life was filled with joy.

Literally.

Open concept

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:52:00 +0000

Yesterday we officially achieved the open concept I'm going for in the new house by removing the wall separating the living room and kitchen. I'm a bit bummed that we'll have to put a post right at the end of the countertop to support the two headers. It was just too long of a span for a single header. I also finished the design of the kitchen cabinets yesterday (Oh my gosh, it's going to be awesome!!), so will be placing an order for them soon.

The bathrooms are mostly framed in, so things are moving right along now. Yesterday I also spent some time picking the tile for the two main bathrooms and I think I finally found some things I like. Weeee!

More demo

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Capable Guy and his Capable Helper continue with the demo of the new house while Lachlan and I continue making the rounds down at the county to get all the permitting taken care of.

This is the view down the hallway from the living room to the back bedrooms, with the kitchen on the left.

Here they've removed the wall separating the kitchen from the bathroom and also removed the walls where the furnace and water heater used to be. They're being moved to the outbuildings so that the one original bathroom can be split into two full bathrooms. We also removed the exterior door (now covered with plywood on the far left of the photo below) in the main part of the kitchen. It seemed silly to have it because there is a set of French doors just about 10 feet away from it, and removing it gives us valuable wall space for cabinets. Weee! Progress!

Time warp (and a bit of printing)

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 04:01:00 +0000

I have been stuck in a time warp the last week or so. Where in the world did September go? Argh!

As you can probably guess, the shops are busy, the new house is busy (I have officially met every single person working in the county that does anything even remotely related to permitting renovations and additions!), and Lachlan is busy, all while the husband was away in Australia for 6 weeks. He is home now and I'm catching up on things, including printing a few birth announcements (all for boys and all with airplanes!).

I'm also working on a very special two-color birth announcement for a very special set of twins who are almost two weeks old now! I'll print the second color this week; I can't wait to show them to you!

Demo

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 04:24:00 +0000

Over at the new house, the kitchen is pretty much gone. Open concept, here we come!

Oh, and the bathroom, furnace and water heater are on their way to being gone, too. :)

All in a day's work

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 03:59:00 +0000

We're starting to see progress over at the new house. After spending all of last week clearing the monster weeds out of the backyard and trying to get estimates for new siding/stucco and a new roof (and being stood up by FIVE different contractors!), Capable Guy started gutting the kitchen today.

This morning:

This afternoon:

Progress is good. I'm also making progress, at least a tiny bit, in regaining control of my life. I am working out the final details needed to hire someone to help me with the shop. Like really hire someone to really help me (not just sucking up to Lachlan's babysitter to help out every now and then). We're still working out the details, but I think she'll start in 1-2 weeks. I'm SO excited about the thought of having my area be more organized and more productive, spending more time with Lachlan without watching the orders pile up, and maybe even getting back to printing regularly again. Yeehaw!

Projects in the works

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 04:02:00 +0000

I've been working on several new things lately that I hope to add to the shop soon.

One new item is a little gift basket set of a stained berry basket, a piece of jute twine, and a stained gift tag (in the same or coordinating color). They are the perfect size for homemade treats and small gifts, and I plan to offer them as a single basket so people don't have to buy a large set. I'm working on building up my inventory of several different colors, and hope to have them in the shop soon.

And I spent my time this weekend (and tonight!) working on several new stain colors and these new handmade tags to go in a special edition holiday packaging kit. And the reason this kit is a special edition is because it was created specifically in response to a request by a big (BIG!!) magazine for possible inclusion in their December feature on giftwrap and packaging.

I've made it through the first round of editors and then had to tweak a few of the colors and contents at the request of the photography department so that it would work better with the colors of the other items they're considering. I don't want to say too much right now in case I don't make the final cut, but let's just say that if I do make the final cut, this feature will be huge, huge, HUGE! Please keep your fingers crossed for me! :D

Monopoly

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 19:32:00 +0000

When I was a kid, Monopoly was my favorite board game. That, combined with growing up in a house that my parents built themselves, is probably why I love the idea of real estate and renvoating properties now that I'm an adult.

When I lived in Baltimore I bought a 1920 brick rowhouse and over the next 6 years proceeded to gut and rebuild it, doing the vast majority of work by myself. When I got married and moved to Colorado, we bought a 1950 house that started life as a gas station, and over the course of several years we substantially remodeled it.

Since then I've been itching to get another property to work on. And today, I finally have it. I just finished signing the papers to make it official. It was a bank owned property, and getting it wasn't easy. That's a big part of why I haven't been here much lately. I feel like I was the third real estate agent working on this purchase, I had to be involved so much.

Between my shops and Lachlan I unfortunately won't be able to do much, if any, of the work myself. But we have a capable guy to do the work and I get to make all the decisions, which seems like a good compromise. :D So here she is in all her completely original 1960s glory. Take a good look at her now, because she won't look like this much longer. In fact, work starts tomorrow...

I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Enjoy the last few days of summer!

Berry baskets in blue

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 22:12:00 +0000

My hand-stained wood berry baskets are turning out to be pretty popular. I sure wish I had been able to get them into the shop sooner! Here are some navy blue baskets in the final stages of drying before being sent off for a wedding in California.

Tonight I'll be staining some dark purple for another event. I just love these little baskets and wish I had enough time to plan a party for something so I could use them myself!

Twine, twine, and more twine

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 17:08:00 +0000

I got a new order of the solid twine in the other day. I now have 35 colors! Cute little bundles of twine are now sprouting up all over my kitchen...

And when I'm not making cute little bundles of twine, I am ordering the last of the items for Christmas. I am SOOOOOO excited about the papers and tissue and fun things for the holidays this year. I can't wait to show them to you!