pepperina press

Timberrrrrrrr!

2009-12-14T14:25:00.006-06:00

We finally got the Christmas tree up.

Exactly two minutes later – in an unsupervised split-second – Man-show pulled it over on top of himself and earned some angry branch-scratches on his belly.

We calmed his howling, packed all glass and ceramic ornaments into our do-not-use box, and decorated the tree like this:

Please note the non-festive bottom half of the tree. It offends my aesthetic side but prevents trips to the ER, so I guess we're even.

The rest is pretty (see Hello Kitty sharing space with the Sydney Harbour ornament we picked up back home in April.):

And the 2006 Berry-picture-ornament is here, next to a really amazing soft doll ornament Nathan's mom sent:

My tree-decorating drink came in a bottle so pretty I wished I had a miniature to put on the tree – although it looks bizarrely like perfume:

I drank it instead, and all was well.

For those who've asked (and who have his leering image seared into their memories): NO, Feral-Rabbit-Angel did not get on the tree this year. The kids are just not scare-proof and besides, I don't like his attitude.

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Oh, bother.

2009-12-09T14:17:00.002-06:00

I get off the phone to discover my 18-month-old stark naked and covered in pink Hello Kitty stamps. This is my life right now. And you wonder why I don't post more often...

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The elderly

2009-11-30T20:59:00.002-06:00

"I'm painting a really, really old man," Berry says. "He's twenty-four. He's really old."

Oh honey.

A Thanksgiving Thought

2009-11-20T09:40:00.002-06:00

Berry came to me quite seriously and said, "Mommy, I changed my mind. I like turkeys. Just meat-turkeys, not animal-turkeys!"

Cured

2009-11-11T22:24:00.001-06:00

I have a headache, so Berry brought me Curious George to hold.

There. All better.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2009-11-04T21:53:00.006-06:00

Yes! It's time for Christmas cards!

The Merry Sheep holiday greeting sets and the Let It Snow greeting sets are on sale now in the Pepperina Press shop at Etsy.

Start making that list and checking it twice...

Pause

2009-10-29T16:15:00.000-05:00

My little boy and a big apple, and a happy spot in the afternoon...

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On the Dinosaur Train

2009-10-28T13:43:00.001-05:00

"He's the craziest pteranodon in the Mesozoic Era," Berry says, and she's FOUR, so I wonder if she has any idea what she's on about?

Getaway

2009-10-25T07:50:00.000-05:00

After finally reaching the finish line with my letterpress art prints, I gave the press last weekend off and we went to Pensacola.

You can't see the evidence here but trust me – Man-show tried to eat most of the beach. On purpose. By the handful.

Berry was busy making friends with Natalie...

...and with the Forgione boys... and she absolutely insisted on "swimming", despite the cold front which had just swept in. Hmmm, icy.

Good to have the sand beneath our feet again.

(and in our car, and in our clothes, and in our suitcases.....)

Art prints

2009-10-23T19:12:00.005-05:00

How could I forget to post these pictures here? This week has been that crazy.

These, my friends, are the first limited-edition letterpress art prints from Sweet Olive Press, released on Monday.

You can read about them here, or buy your signed and numbered print from the Sweet Olive Press online store.

You can win these!

2009-10-14T10:24:00.003-05:00

Hooray! At last, I've got the email newsletter system worked out for Sweet Olive Press! Now you can sign up for monthly(ish – depending how ambitious I get) email updates on new letterpress stationery and special offers.

Best of all, if you sign up before by October 16, you'll be in the draw to win two sets of these fabulous Pink Peony Letterpress Notes (above).

The winner will be randomly selected from all new email news sign-ups, and will be announced on the Sweet Olive Press blog on October 19.

{ In case the sign-up links above don't work for you, you can simply type this url into your browser: http://bit.ly/sweetsignup }

Taking care of business

2009-10-13T14:50:00.004-05:00

Today, Berry helpfully crossed off all the items on my to-do list, before I'd done them.

If only it were that simple...

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-13T14:28:00.008-05:00

Berry's preschool class took an excursion to the pumpkin patch across the road from East Beach, and Man-show came along for the ride.

What happened here?

I have no idea.

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Hatch Show Print

2009-10-11T06:42:00.000-05:00

On Friday I drove over to New Orleans to see American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print at Tulane's Newcomb Gallery.

I was so, so lucky not to miss it, because although it's been at the Newcomb since August I only found out about it on Wednesday. On Twitter, no less! I felt like I'd narrowly escaped massive disappointment – the chances are slim for getting over to Nashville any time soon to see Hatch Show Print "in the wild". This is the closest I'll get for quite some time.

I didn't want to be the obnoxious girl using a flash in the gallery, so yeah – these images are a bit on the blurry side. (Just call it atmosphere, will you?)

It was incredible, inspiring, fascinating. I looked at every print at least twice, while Berry ran around identifying the letter A and the number 4 and any heart shapes she could see. Those were her favourites for the day, go figure...

It was brilliant in every way. I came away completely zapped with happiness and admiration and wishing, for a crazy minute, that I had been born into a printing family that stretched back more than a century.

I absolutely loved it.

For more on the exhibition and Hatch Show Print, visit the Smithsonian site.

Biscuits and being busy

2009-10-10T12:17:00.006-05:00

You might think, since I've been a bit quiet on the work-related-posts front recently, that I've been slacking. Au contraire!

I've been printing like crazy – often at midnight, 1am, 2am – and being so productive I have to pinch myself. But all the results are things I can't show you yet.

The most Top Secret thing is my first letterpress art print for Sweet Olive Press. It has been complicated in every way, and time-consuming, and incredibly exciting. Seriously, I'm finding it hard to refrain from posting progress pictures here, I'm that excited. But I'm keeping it all in check because I know the piece needs to be seen with all four colours printed, the whole image complete.

When it's finished, you'll hear all about it. I can't wait.

In the meantime, a little creative accomplishment that does have a picture to go with it... my lovely friend Kate in Paris sent me an amazing recipe for chocolate chip gingernut biscuits (cookies, Americans!). They were so great I had to send most of them home with my guests so they wouldn't later call me, in a fetching manner, from the kitchen...

Uh-oh, baby.

2009-10-04T23:45:00.002-05:00

Admit it. You wish you'd dreamed up these nifty inventions.

Really, who doesn't want to suspend their baby precariously above a street full of busy traffic, or over an acre of rock-hard ice?

At least the infant in this second picture has the common sense to look perturbed. Unlike his parents.

{Both pictures from LIFE Magazine... Top: Baby cage, 1937, distributed to members of the Chelsea Baby Club in London who had no gardens; and Bottom: Baby Holder, 1937 – evidently a big year for dodgy ideas.}

Magic Kingdom

2009-10-02T23:26:00.004-05:00

Berry is still talking about Disneyland, as you can imagine... although she has kept a careful and reproachful list of "scariest parts" that we accidentally exposed her to. Who knew that rides billed for toddlers would have such dark and startling bits? Oh boy...

"Why did you take me on that Pinocchio ride!" she asked, clutching a tragic tissue and clinging to Nathan's neck. "Why did you think to yourself, 'I know! I know! Berry would like to be so scared and to be in the dark! That's a good idea!'"

We could think of nothing to say for ourselves.

A postcard she dictated to her Grandma and Granddad in Australia:

"Dear Grandma and Granddad. I love you. I like to play with you. I saw Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger and Eeyore and I love to see them but it's weird Daisy Duck is not here. I went on rides. My scariest part was the Pinocchio train and my favourite part was Minnie Mouse. I like to be at your house. My other scariest part was the Princesses Castle. A scary pig came out. My other scariest part was the Nemo submarine. I got a new CD and my other scariest part was the Winnie-the-Pooh train. xo"

Terrifying Berry was not the birthday gift we'd had in mind. Fortunately the tally of scariest parts reached (only?) five in three days, and there were many, many thrilling encounters with fairies and Minnie Mouse and Winnie-the-Pooh to make up for that.

We waited in line way too long to see Tinkerbell, but the look on Berry's face told us it was completely worth it. She's still talking about seeing Tinkerbell flying up to light the castle during the fireworks on the final night.

And oh, Berry just about keeled over when two Disney princesses brought her a birthday cake – she was wide-eyed and mute, gripping her Minnie Mouse toy. Afterwards she said, "When I seed Cinderella, I almost shaked my ears! And I almost shaked my eyes!"

Man-show, on the other hand, was largely unmoved by the whole Disney spectacle.

He was most content hanging out in his stroller, sitting with Grandpa and Tine. His biggest excitement was going to the pool each afternoon.

He was also enthusiastic about chasing birds and trying to offer them bits of foliage from the Toon Town gardens.

The birds were most ungrateful.

We all agreed: the Mad Hatter's teacups were awesome.

A couple of days ago, I wondered if Berry's terror tally might have softened a bit with the passing of time – so I asked her, What do you think about the Pinocchio ride?

She shot her palm out in warning.

"No no no!" she said. "I don't want to talk about that. That's too scary."

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Today.

2009-09-28T14:25:00.005-05:00

Sad thing: the babysitter didn't come this morning and didn't call, so the exciting, long-awaited start to my new letterpress art prints couldn't happen.

Happy things:
...the kids playing in the driveway, wearing their mouse ears
...a surprisingly speedy tortoise showing up in the front courtyard, pausing for a portrait then tortoise-sprinting off into the garden
...my little man – 16 months now! – appearing at my office door, sandy and sweaty, saying "More? More? Wa-wa! Wa-wa!" and when I get the cup of water, racing back to the wet sandbox shouting "Yaaaay! Yaaaaaay! Wa-waaaaaa!"

On balance, I'd say I win.

Interrupting the silence

2009-09-25T20:53:00.000-05:00

We've been busy visiting family in California, and going to Disneyland. I'd like you to think that's why I haven't written in forever, but the real-honest-truth is that I've been partly overwhelmed and partly procrastinating.

I'll fill in some gaps soon; in the meantime here's a picture of the kidlets capering about in the California sunshine. No humidity! So novel!!!

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Bubble

2009-09-10T21:08:00.001-05:00

You shield your child from all the things you think might frighten her – Spider Man (that mask) and Batman (scary villains) and Incredible Hulk (anger problem) and Bambi (the mother dies) and Blinky Bill (the father dies) and Scooby Doo (monsters galore).

You're attentive, you're vigilant, and you're ready to pat yourself on the back for carefully creating this lovely, fear-free little world.

And then she refuses to go into her toy room in broad daylight, "because there's an orange fox in Peter Rabbit, and he's looking at me."

Just. Can't. Win.

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Finalist

2009-09-08T12:48:00.002-05:00

Berry just bounced in and said, "Mommy, you're so cute!" and instantly earned herself my Kid Of The Day Award.

Very prestigious. Very temporary.

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Signs of Poor Parenting #48

2009-08-27T22:08:00.006-05:00

You go to switch channels and your three-year-old gasps, "No, wait! I love L.A. Ink!"

. . .

Chaos

2009-08-24T14:40:00.007-05:00

Why haven't I been posting very much?

Well.

We were driving back from a great weekend away in New Orleans with Jason and the lovely Simran, when I had a brilliant idea about how we could rearrange the rooms in our house to solve every organisational and logistical and lifestyle problem we've ever faced (well, sort of).

The plan was ambitious, and meant we spent Nathan's whole vacation week moving every single piece of furniture in our house, except the dining table and the couch.

It's a two-story house and we deeply regretted the decision about halfway through – probably about the time I was standing on the stairs, balancing much of the weight of Nathan's grandfather's antique desk on my shoulders. Or maybe it was when we decided the Rearrange was the perfect time for an accompanying spring-clean, and emptied every cupboard and shelf in the house, and suddenly found ourselves wading through all this stuff... how do people who drop large bags off at Goodwill almost every week accumulate so much hidden stuff?

So it's been a hectic and stressful week for two people who are quite rigidly organised and plunge into anxiety when faced with disarray. Fortunately the Rearrange has brought a vast improvement, and although we're not yet back to our regular level of un-cluttered-ness, the end is in sight...

Sweet Olive Press - monogram stationery

2009-08-23T08:06:00.003-05:00

New custom monogram letterpress notes, printed this month!

(For more information about custom letterpress design and printing, visit the Sweet Olive Press web site...)

Ain't easy being three

2009-08-19T08:37:00.003-05:00

No doubt New Orleans saw many folks more deserving of a time-out than Berry last weekend – but their mothers weren't there for the enforcing.

So, word to the wise: Don't take your mama with you to the Big Easy.