New Product

I've been getting ready for a few shows - this coming weekend is the Holiday Market in Ojai, California - and so I've been madly making things. In addition to my lavender sachets, I made some filled with balsam pine for the holidays. The pomegranate image is from my 2016 calendar and the bird is from last year's calendar. The sachets are available in my Etsy shop.

I also finished some new holiday cards which will go to my shows.

New Collages

I got motivated and completed two new collages. The first one is done on an old Bingo card. I letterpressed some pattern carved on linoleum block in the back ground. One pattern is printed with a clear varnish. On darker paper, the clear varnish shows up a little darker and is transparent. The other pattern is a light gray which didn't show up as well as I had hoped but does add a little texture. I then used some of my vintage wood type and printed the X and o's. For the rest of the collage, I used rubber stamps and vintage papers. (I purchased the large letter X at lschneeman on Etsy. The shop has a nice selection of letterpress wood type and other print blocks!)

My second collage is done on the back of marching band music. I was originally going to print on the music but I turned over the card and really liked the hand writing across the back. I printed my pattern in gray going 2 directions. I then letterpress printed the X, ampersand and exclamation point from my wood type collection. Rubber stamps and a few vintage postage stamps still on their envelopes complete the collage. At the top is a 1955 postmark from Vatican City.

Collage1 with the letter X

Collage 2 with wood type

Street Fair Find

I went to the street fair yesterday in my town. One vendor who really caught my eye was The Pemberley Woods. Artist Kayla Harris creates remarkable castles and other items from the pages of vintage books. I snapped a shot of one in her booth.

Hand made paper castle by The Pemberley Woods

She also makes paper bouquets, rosettes and garlands. You can purchase one of Kayla's creations on Etsy at her shop here

New Print

I carved some random linoleum blocks (the ginko leaves are from the 2016 calendar), played on the computer, and came up with this print. The final print was done on my letterpress in 4 colors - dark brown, yellow ochre, grey, and an over tint varnish. It was inspired by the birds flying south for the winter ( I say winter even though it's over 90 degrees right now and it's the middle of October). I did a limited edition of 16 and it's for sale in my Etsy shop.

"Flying South"

2016 Calendar

I printed my calendar a little early this year and it's now available in my shop. It's letterpress printed in a limited edition of 35.

LA Printer's Fair

Next Saturday, October 3, is the LA Printer's Fair at the International Museum of Printing in Carson, CA. It's a great show where you can try your hand on a letterpress or type setting machine, purchase your very own press and supplies, or just buy finished product from a variety of talented sellers.

I'll have a booth and I've been madly printing in order to get ready for the show. I really wanted to have my 2016 calendar done, which it finally is. I draw all of my designs on tracing paper and then transfer the drawing to the lino block. The image on the block is in reverse and it will print like it looks on the paper.

Lino block in progress

And here is the finished month of July

The calendar will be in my shop next Sunday, as soon as I get a chance to photograph it. And I'll see you at the Fair on Saturday!

Bird Rescue

Last weekend, our neighbors were walking their dogs and found a bird sitting on the sidewalk in front of our house. Not just any bird. A Hawk. It was just sitting there. We knew that it was either sick or injured since we were able to get quite close to it. Things always happen on a Sunday or holiday and this was the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. We tried calling bird and raptor rescues in the area but no one was answering the phone. I finally called our local animal shelter to see if they had any advice. "We'll send someone right over" they said. We stayed with the bird until help arrived. "Right over" happened to be an hour and a half but an animal control officer did come, put the bird in a carrier and took it to the vet.

Cooper's Hawk on our sidewalk

We originally thought the bird was a falcon but I believe that it it a Cooper's Hawk. The bird was transferred from the vet to a rescue and is now getting care. Aside from helping an injured animal, we got to meet some neighbors we didn't know.

Collecting Buttons

I have a small collection of buttons. My favorites are the carved mother of pearl but I have a lot of glass ones too. They fill up several boxes and jars. I also buy buttons to use on craft items that I sell at shows and I like to buy the more colorful ones for that purpose. Sometimes though, they just don't work so I've ended up with lots of odds and ends. Last weekend I got out my bingo cards (I admit, not an original idea) and started to lay out buttons. I had made one of these a while ago and tried to get one button in every square but that soon went by the wayside. Sewing the buttons on the cards was not as easy as I thought it would be - some of the buttons didn't come out in the correct position and some flop a bit due to their weight. But overall a fun, easy project. I had a vintage tobacco tin and the bingo cards fit perfectly. A vintage metal flower frog works great as a display stand.

Tiny mother of pearl buttons in every square

Blue themed

Shades of red

Pinks and purples

More mother of pearl buttons - belt buckles too!

Mixed bag

Buttons displayed in a vintage tin. The pin cushion was purchased from Etsy shop Namolio

Vintage Cook Books

I have a few vintage cooks books that I purchased for the illustrations.  They date from the 1940's to the 1960's and are really pamphlets, not real books, that were published by companies to promote their products. The companies include Wesson Oil, Ocean Spray, and The Wine Institute of California.

Published by Wesson Oil

Recipes include Chicken Scrapple, Wesson Chicken Divine and Fruited Chicken

Published by Safeway Stores, Inc

Recipes include Cheese Dreams, Corn Meal Muffins Baconized and Frizzled Beef in Cream.

Published by Ocean Spray Cranberry Kitchen

Recipes include Cranberry Cherry Mist, Cranburgers and Cranberry Cheese Pie.

Published by Wine Advisory Board

Recipes include Chicken Curry in a Hurry, Sherried Rocky Road Pudding and Broccoli Luncheonette.

Are you getting hungry?

Vintage Illustration

I found this vintage 1959 Polish book on Ebay. The title is "Children's Poems" and it has wonderful illustrations. The illustrator is Helena Winogradow-Matuszewska. I can't find anything about her in English.

New Collage

I purchased some vintage Japanese pharmacy labels (from Etsy seller ApricotCircus) in a lovely shade of lavender and was inspired to do this collage. I also used some pages from an antique Japanese book, a sample of one of my old note cards, handmade papers and vintage stamps. The postage stamps aren't Japanese, but the colors went really well.

Japanese Ephemera Collage

Cecil

In honor of Cecil the Lion, I'm posting this tea towel by mid-century designer Tammis Keefe.

RIP Cecil

Retro Find

I found these cool retro sake bottles at an antique mall in the middle of Ohio. I have a few vintage Japanese kokeshi dolls so I thought they would fit right in. The bottles are made of glass with metal lids topped with hand painted wood heads. They date from the 1960s and originally held flavored Japanese sake. One of the bottles no longer has its tags but the other bottle held melon flavored sake. Made by House of Koshu, they originally came in a set of 7 different flavors and were given to first class passengers on Japan Airlines flights. That would have been a really cool souvenir!

House of Koshu sake bottles and vintage kokeshi dolls

I've got the bottles for sale in my Etsy shop here

Record Album Art

Sometimes when I'm bored at lunchtime, I stop by the local Goodwill to see what's for sale. This week I found 2 fun vintage record albums.

The first one is The Adventures of Peter Cottontail and dates from 1951. The graphics are nice and would look great framed in a child's room.

The second album is "Big" Tiny Little's Honky Tonk Hootenanny. Even the name is fun! Big Tiny Little was a piano player and a regular on the Lawrence Welk show in the 1950's. His bowler hat was one of his signatures. I'm not sure the date of this album but I believe it is from the 1960's.

Lavender Love

I love lavender - anything lavender scented is a favorite. So, I've printed some designs on fabric and sewn up some lavender sachets. They're filled with California-grown organic lavender buds and are for sale in my Etsy shop. I think they came out pretty well.

Lavender Sachets

Poodles

Another find at the flea market was this vintage paint-by-numbers picture of two adorable poodles. I'm not usually a fan of this style but they caught my eye and had to come home with me. I'll be putting them up for sale in my Etsy shop as soon as I find a shipping box.

Paint-By-Numbers Poodle Painting

Flea Market Find

Last Sunday I went to the flea market and found this fabulous mid century box. I had to have it. I didn't even care about the contents - a little brush and scoop for dusting up table crumbs. The pattern reminds me of something done by Swedish designer Stig Lindberg but since neither the box or the contents are marked in any way I'll just have to wish. The cat was an ebay purchase and is done by Swedish designer Lisa Larson while the white pitcher in back was long ago flea market find.

Excuses, Excuses

Wow, it's been well over a month since my last post. Let me list my excuses.
1. Busy designing and making my sister's wedding invitations (I will share those as soon as I photograph them!)
2. Sick. I actually got an ear infection which I haven't had since elementary school. I thought my ear was going to explode. And a cough which wouldn't go away.
3. Went on vacation (and coughed my way across 4 countries in Europe.) More on that later with pictures.
4. Sick again. Lingering ear ache and sore throat for WEEKS!!! Enough already. At least the cough is gone.

So now that I am relatively healthy and not too busy, I will share a project I did last year.

As seen on papyrusonline.com

I was contacted last year by a lovely person from Papyrus who wanted to know if I would license some artwork to them. "Of course!" I said. Papyrus is the really nice stationery store that you can find in many fine malls across America. And they have a website here. Anyway, that's my design in the top left corner. They are note cards in a coordinating gift box, printed on kraft paper. When I returned from vacation, a box of samples was waiting for me. Here is another peek. Feel free to pop on over to papyrusonline and pick up a few sets for yourself!

Eco Folk Florals Boxed Notes

New Collage

I had a craft show this past weekend and as I was putting together Collage Inspiration packs to sell, I got inspired myself. Sometimes a handful of elements just fall into place.