Let There Be Light

We all need a little sunshine. I'm off to Boston to be with my girls Bird and Patty. Yes, that's Bird or the Bird. It's been a crazy couple of days post DailyCandy, so I'm looking forward to hanging out and relaxing a bit. Til later....

GET Candy

Anyone get the Seinfeld reference in the title here? My sister Katie is probably the only one.

ANYWAY - I made my first appearance on DailyCandy today. Hooray! It's very exciting to be getting orders from all these new people who don't know me, don't know anything about me, and probably don't care to. But that's just fine. Because they like what I do and that means a lot.

A closeup on the action:Celebrating with some margaritas tonight!

Phone numbers. Grocery Lists. Love letters.

So I started making notepads a couple months ago, thinking it would be a cool way to get my note card designs to people who can't handle the pressure of a card & envelope. (I know who you are.) And actually I get it. A quick list here, a phone number there, a big tear of the sheet and you're all set. No need to think too hard about what's being put on the page. No need to think at all. There are 100 more right behind that one if it doesn't work out.

Don't get me wrong, I love note cards and I love the note cards I've designed. I will continue to be a note card person and continue to enjoy designing them for people like myself. But I have one of my notepads on my desk that gets written on at least 10 times a day. It's handy. There's no commitment. I can start over if I want. I love them. So I thought I'd share a few of the ones I'm selling, and am now obsessed with:

A Maine Wedding

I recently did wedding invitations for a couple getting married in Maine. I, too, got married in Maine and have a special place for the state in my heart - but these invitations have been my favorite to date. I actually told the bride I was jealous of the invitations and wished I had done something more like it myself! She was the one who mentioned the lighthouse near Boothbay Harbor. So I looked it up, drew a sketch, made the sketch into a stamp - and a few comps later, we had an invitation!

Their colors are chocolate brown and pink, but they still went with the blue & red suggestion I made for the invitations - and then for the programs, we used a subtle pink background:

This lighthouse stamp makes me want to find my way to Maine again very very soon!

Happy Wedding to Kristin & Ken!

Martha

I knew it was coming out, I just didn't know exactly when. Our amazingly talented wedding photographer, Stacey Kane, submitted photos to Martha Stewart Weddings a few months after our wedding - and now - here we are:

Little Lucky

How cute is this little girl, Lucky? She's Kinglsey's new best friend - and my friends Emily & Kirsten's new baby. They got along really well thanks to Lucky's ability to squeeze into places Kinglsey can only fit her paw into. It was a great weekend with these two.

More studio setup and cleaning today - floor-to-ceiling track shelves are going up tonight (when John's around to help... these suckers are heavy!) and I'm finishing painting the room. I can't wait to have everything out of these boxes - they're driving me crazy. I hope to have an updated picture tomorrow.

Personalize Your Note Cards

I have been hand stamping invitations for a while now and recently decided to hand stamp my letterpressed note cards. I was nervous that it would dilute the quality of the letterpress - but I have found the opposite to be true. It adds another layer - in a really good way I think. And when it is physically layered on top of the letterpressed image, as in the Summer Dress card below for Eloise, I find the chocolate ink to be like a beautiful linen screen.

While I have been personalizing stationery on a You Ask, I'll Do It Basis, you'll soon be able to personalize your note cards online through our website. Here are some samples I have done in the past:


And here's one I just did for my niece's birthday:


And this one of our Oversized Flats (8.5" x 5.5") - all elements are large & in charge on this one! Perfect for big handwriting like mine:


Having the names rubber stamped gives me the flexibility to place the name wherever I want, in any color, and on different designs. AND, the person gets to keep their stamp. I love the way it looks and can't wait to do more of them.

Email me directly at liz@lindaandharriett.com if you want your very own.

And let me know what you think of the rubber stamp/letterpress combo. I'd love to hear what you think.

Maine on My Mind

John & I were up in Maine for our Bates reunion this weekend - and I'm longing to get back already. The weather was beautiful - clear blue sky and cool nights. I could have stayed up there all week! And longer.

So now I'm back in Brooklyn and am in need of surrounding myself with all things that remind me of Maine. Here's my favorite summer in Maine card:

Oh Sunny Day

It's the most beautiful day here in Brooklyn! It feels like a warm fall day - even better than a summer day in my book. Bright blue sky, no humidity (finally!) and sunny sunny everywhere. I'm loving it. And to help capture the moment, I'm drying John's shirts outside:

and also noticing Kinglsey's more milk chocloately face these days. Here she is giving me lip:

After complaining to a fellow dog-friend this morning at Gorilla Coffee about Kinglsey's all-of-a-sudden-obsession with my nice shoes, she said that bad dogs have to be cute or else we just couldn't put up with them. I laughed - then realized the joke was on me when I was uncomfortable with her saying "bad dog," like it was a "bad word."

Going to Long Island tonight to pick up the letterpress! More on that tomorrow.

Let's hear it for eBay!

I won! I won! Thanks to John and his sneaky ebay bidding with 7 seconds left - I am now the owner of a C&P Pilot letterpress. It's a tabletop press - a bit smaller and about 1800lbs. lighter than the other one I was looking at. It's currently in Long Island, but we're hoping to bring her home tomorrow night. I am so excited and can't wait to get started. I have used these before, but never my very own. As a new homeowner who has dealt with the harsh realities of ownership (backed up pipes exploding in the basement), I know that the glamour of owning something can come with a price. But I also love our backyard and the freedom it allows me to let our dog Kinglsey run in and out - something I couldn't do as a renter. So, as the owner of this little piece of magic, I'm cautiously but enthusiastically looking forward to diving in! I'm sure there will be many more posts to come on this.

Do you back up your work? Umm, no.

Well, yesterday I found out that that "no" can cost $600. Yup. My beloved powerbook would not turn on. After several hours of frustration, John & I took our sick little machine to Tekserve in the city. After getting a number and waiting with all the other people holding their sick machines, I was finally told by the technician that it had experienced a "hard drive failure." I said, But it's only 3 years old! He shrugged and told me not to feel too badly, that I was the 17th person that day who had this problem. On top of that - he told me that I should "expect" these machines to fail! Can you believe that? EXPECT them to fail? No, I expect them to work - and keep up - and keep chugging along like one marathon after another. No water, no sleep, no breaks. Work, work, work. Isn't that the point of machines in the first place?! $600 later meant no.

So this "backing up" thing that apparently everyone is supposed to do, but no one ever does, I'm finding is like insurance. Insurance for your stuff, your wallet and your mind. I'm without all my work for 7 days and don't even know if I'll get it all back - ever. Oh, the pain.

Long story short, I'll now be back up queen. Any questions on it, ask me, I'll be an expert in 7 days.

New Digs

A few photos of my new studio space:

It needs some repainting and a little pine sol, but it's bigger than my booth at the NSS and that's pretty much what I've had up until now, so this is pretty fantastic. I'll be moving & organizing all weekend. More photos to come.