Learn, Think, Write

Organizing myself online

Creative Ways to Rest

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Ok, that title is misleading. Not everyone can do what I did to rest. My husband had ankle replacement surgery recently, and I helped in his recovery (shampooing hair, preparing meals, walking the dog, cutting the grass, etc etc). It doesn’t sound restful, but it was.

What I did while he recuperated:

  • read
  • cooked
  • thought about printing (this was actually helpful)
  • planned card text
  • took some online classes
  • wrote to people, real snail mail
  • napped

All of this put me in a calm, relaxed frame of mind.  I can tell because this week things are picking up again, and I’m finding less time to get things– you know those important “things” done. I am going to be closing the Etsy shop for a while, planning, making new cards and getting ready for fall.

And then…we’ll jump back into holiday craziness and all that comes with owning a retail space during the shopping season. I think I’ll miss napping the most. But I do have that blue sofa in the shop……

 

 

Pushing On

I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of ‘Wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough.

Marissa Mayer

I am not sure I always did this. But at some point in my life, I wanted to figure things out. Printer broken? Take it apart. Need a room networked? Run the cables.
So I am trying to do this with my printing as well. But, wow, does it take time. There are so many variables that can go wrong- ink, lock up, type, pressure, humidity in the air. Each time I get ready to print, I check the packing, the placement of the base or the type, and even the different paper styles I use.

People wonder why I even bother to do this. “You can print whatever you want digitally now,” they say. “This looks like too much work.”

Yes, but it’s fun work. It’s the figuring it out that I love. And when I get a print that is nearly perfect (because nothing in letterpress is perfect), I smile with satisfaction.

Wholesale

IMG_2716I typically print 5 or 6 cards at a time. The joy for me is in the process of creating, not printing hundreds of copies.

But I LOVE Harriet’s General store. And when I saw them post a quote I wanted to print, I asked about using it. To my surprise, they asked if they could order some. So, two days before my husband’s surgery that will keep me out of the shop for a while, I had something to occupy my time. A wholesale order of 48 cards for Harriet’s General.

I ended up having to print way too many extras as I was having a “shifting problem” that I never did identify. But, hey, the beauty of letterpress printing is the variation in type, right? I was happy with the ones I put in the mail yesterday–two colors, hand-inked, one at a time.

Ever onward….

 

A Delightful Time Had By All

We dragged our tables, books, cards, some pottery, our chairs, and a huge tent to the river yesterday. You would think three women could handle that, but after 9 hours in the sun and some heavy lifting, we were spent. Still, we enjoyed seeing so many friends. It was a great day to show people what we do and who we are!

 

Spring to Summer

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Spring has been a long time coming. But suddenly I am making summer plans. It’s funny owning a business. I now understand how spring clothes appear in winter, and advertisements for Christmas cards appear in October. To prepare, we have to think months ahead- like printing graduation cards in March.

But it really throws off my own internal clock. I keep thinking we are at the end of a school year, the beginning of summer. And we’re not yet.

One bit of news we received yesterday has changed our plans, though. My husband is going to get ankle replacement surgery in mid-June. We knew it was coming but thought we might do it September. No way, the doc said. Now, before any more collateral damage is done.

Ok, then.  Onward, right?