RiverDog Prints Card Blog

Monday Instagram :: Send More Letters

Cyn — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:22:05 +0000

Laser engraved pins from Crow & Canary

OM :: The Making of Things

Cyn — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:56:15 +0000

I’ve been meaning to purchase a set of wrist warmers for a couple winters now. I browse on Etsy and see sets I like and then never pull the trigger. This week I was browsing around again (when my hands were cold, of course) and realized I could make my own. I know enough about crocheting that I could muddle through a simple pattern. Like Annie Oakley, I shot over to the Etsy search and found a pattern for the warmers.

This is a big step for me. Not because it will be difficult or challenging, but because I never make anything that’s not related to RiverDog Prints. Since I started doing my business full-time, I have stopped being creative in almost all other pursuits. I haven’t shown my house any real decorating love in about four years. I cook all the time, but the creativity lives only in not measuring anything. I’m hoping that these little wrist warmers are a pathway into being creative throughout my life as a whole.

:::

OM is *one moment* and is a meetup designed to notice & relish a moment in everyday life. The meetup idea was created by Linda at her blog, a la mode stuff.

If you’d like to participate in OM, just click the button and you’ll be taken to Linda’s post explaining it all.

Monday Instagram :: Mr. Personality

Cyn — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:00:04 +0000

]]>

OM :: The Best Handwriting

Cyn — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:52:20 +0000

Something that will never change, in my opinion, is the thrill of getting a letter or card in the mail.

I used to send mail often to friends and family. I have a box of letters from when I was younger that have notes from pen pals and very special letters from my dad when he was stationed at an Air Force base in Turkey for 18 months in 1976 (I was nine.)

I was excited when I read about Linda’s Project Letter Writing on her blog, a la mode stuff. I signed up immediately and was happy to receive my card this week to use for my recipient. I hadn’t decided whom I was going to write to until I saw the card from the Wide Sarcasm Sea line by Three By Sea. The inside reads, “But without the spandex and Aqua Net. Or the coke.”

I have the perfect person to send this to and will add a hand-written note. I know she will get a little thrill to see mail from me in her mailbox. A card or letter received is thee best handwriting, no matter what it looks like.

Monday Instagram :: Food & Wine Pairing Boston Wine Expo

Cyn — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:30:31 +0000

]]>

OM :: The Trumpet vs. the Light Saber

Cyn — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:44:17 +0000

Today, you get a little snapshot from my week, my moment… Star Wars has been a theme around here for awhile, especially for my youngest. My husband broke out his rarely used trumpet and a battle is born. Enjoy!

OM :: The Ripple Effect

Cyn — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:58:50 +0000

While working at home for the past few months, there is the almost constant sound of chainsaws, mixed in with other various tree maintenance equipment. The moaning and churning and grinding seems never-ending in the daylight hours.

All this activity stems from the freak winter storm last October.

We lost some of our trees. One is pictured above. This was The Kong Tree. Our dog’s favorite toy is the Kong brand that has a bouncy toy on the end of a one foot long rope. We throw the Kong around the yard for her to get exercise. She chases it and plays keep away, getting a good workout in return. These toys used to get stuck in that tree all the time and the branches were so high, no one without a very tall ladder could retrieve them. We used to curse that tree.

Evidence of the storm is visible everywhere. Hiking trails have been moved, there are still limbs hanging from trees all over the area and the collection site of the limbs from neighborhoods is an incredible site. There are piles and piles, 20 feet high of chipped wood that are steaming into compost, no matter the temperature. More tree parts arrive every day.

Today, as the professional-sized chipper ran for four hours straight next door, I marveled at the ripple effect this storm has had. It’s still represented in our daily lives and the irony is that we haven’t had any falling snow since then. I realize that all of this are small inconveniences that are bearable. Our losses personally and in our community can be withstood fairly easily.

But I miss The Kong Tree.

Brand New :: Little Notebooks

Cyn — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:23:38 +0000

2012 will be filled with new designs and products at the RiverDog Prints shop. To kick off this year-long “woo-hoo thing” are some sweet little take-a-long notebooks in both kraft and linen papers.

There are many more designs, all printed in our eco-friendly way, and ready to go with you wherever you travel. My husband took the Herringbone design with him this morning. Check out all of them here in our Etsy shop.

Monday Instagram :: Puppy Love

Cyn — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:03:02 +0000

]]>

OM Life With Boys Edition :: The WTW?

Cyn — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:33:38 +0000

We are one of those families that I thought we weren’t going to be… we run from here to there, doing lots of different activities and ending up with a very full week of stuff to do.

I drive a mom taxi and even typing that makes me cringe. But our bustling days are only examining the Big Picture of the weekdays. If I look at every piece that makes up our week, I see that each choice we’ve made benefits at least one of us in our family. And I can live with that, but I think the mom taxi label bubbles just below the surface.

The moment I had happened just today when we were all getting ready to go to temple for a sabbath service geared toward kids and Grades One and Two of Hebrew School were to sing songs throughout. I had taken my 9-year-old to the doctor for a routine check-up and had about ten minutes to get ready to go. My 6-year-old asked me where we were going and I told him for the fourth time that we were going to temple to hear him sing with his classmates.

“Oh. Well, I don’t know any songs. We don’t sing in class.”
“But the service is especially for you to sing the songs you’ve learned.”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“But your teachers, Mrs. J. and Mrs. S. sent me a special note about it.”
“I don’t know who they are. There’s a Mr. J., but he’s at my regular school.”
“You don’t know Mrs. J. and Mrs. S.?”
“Uh-uh. Can I have a snack?”

What the what? Is he just messing with me? And why am I busting my backside to get to this blessed service if he has no idea what he’s doing? All the running around and scheduling and making sure I don’t forget one little thing was all swirling in my head. He pushed me beyond disbelief. So, you know what I said to him?
“Go put on your shoes.”

And we all went.
And he knew every song.