inchmark journal

star wars valentine

2012-02-14T16:29:38Z

One last valentine for 2012. Though my daughter Bee, who is in kindergarten, can't wait to pass out her fan valentine's at school. My son "C", who is in second grade this year, decided that fans were too "girly" for him to pass out at school. While perusing the candy options at our local party store, we came up with this more manly Star Wars option.

Slits are cut into the card with an X-acto knife and pixi stix inserted to make light sabers (and secured with a little piece of tape on the back). C was very pleased with the results. Happy Valentine's Day!

last-minute valentines

2012-02-13T18:03:31Z

Are you all set for Valentines Day tomorrow? If you're still scrambling to make something for your kids or need something the kids can take to school, here are some of the valentines we've made the past few years. Good luck!

Matchbox valentines

Portrait Valentines (Jenny from Dinner a Love Story just posted her kids' here..)

Heart Notepads

Valentine Man

Valentine Alphabet for your sweetheart

Wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day, however you choose to celebrate it!

valentines 2012

2012-02-10T06:38:35Z

I was asked by the folks over at Martha Stewart's family blog to submit an idea for their valentine contest. If you feel so inclined, I'd love if you popped over and voted.

We're big fans of Valentine's Day at our house. This has not always been the case, as I spent most of my high school and college years dreading Valentine's Day and wanting to slap all those love-struck couples I saw making out on campus. But Valentine's Day with kids is a whole different story, and besides our annual Valentine's Day family dinner, the big debate is always what the kids will bring for their classmates this year.

My kids are also big fans of candy, and what's a valentine without a treat? So we were a little puzzled when my daughter Bee's teacher asked that we not include candy in our cards this year (due to an allergy in the class). A valentine without candy? WHAT?

We wanted to come up with an idea we could make at home, with materials we had on hand (if possible). I remembered these Fourth of July folding fans from Martha Stewart and we decided to make a Valentine-y version. (It's also been around 75 degrees here in Southern California lately, so fans make a lot of sense here!)

You can read the directions here, but these come together pretty quickly if you have a few helpers on hand. Bee was great at folding the paper up accordian style, and I was on glue and handle duty. You can make them any size you want, but we made most of ours using 12" x 5" pieces of paper, which will make a 5" fan.

I made little tags that say simply "I'm a fan!" and "Stay cool!" and we punched a hole in the top and bottom. Feed your fan handles through the holes and it will keep the handles together and hold your fan open. You can download a PDF of the tags here, it prints 12 to a page. Cardstock or a paper with some heft works best.

I'm hoping the kids in Bee's class with be "fans" as well. Happy Valentine's Day!

alt recap

2012-02-02T22:16:48Z

Gabby asked me a while back to speak at Alt Design Summit, which is a blog conference held in Salt Lake City each January. I'll admit I had mixed feelings. From what I had seen of Alt, it appeared to be kind of a three-day-camp for blog superstars and wannabe up-and-coming bloggers. Before going I had seen the posts by bloggers worried about what to wear each day, the "aren't-we-having-the-best-time!" photobooth photos, and the power list of speakers and presenters and really... I wasn't sure I could find my place in the whole thing.

But I like Gabby, and I have friends and family in Salt Lake, and plane tickets were cheap.. so off I went.

I don't quite know how to explain what Alt is.. now that I have come and gone and seen it with my own eyes. It was inspiring and thought provoking, and nice to visit with old friends I knew in NYC (like Merilee of mermag, Kelli Ronci from uber-craft, Melanie Falick from STC Craft, and Mara from A Blog About Love). And fun to talk face to face with people whose work I admire (like Stephanie from stephmodo, Grace Bonney from Design Sponge, the lovely Amy Butler, and Pilar Guzman from momfilter). And to make new friends, like those I spoke with on the Work/Life Balance Panel (Sarah from Sarah Jane Studios, Chrysula Winegar, and Kathryn from Snippet + Ink).

Though the parties are a big draw for many Alt attendees, I guess I'm just not a big party girl. Instead, I loved having dinner with Chrysula and Sarah the night before we spoke on our panel, ditching the Friday night parties to have dinner at home with good friends in Salt Lake, and sitting and talking with people one on one throughout the day.

If you're headed to Alt you've got to bring some pretty business cards.. and I was happy to hand out these little guys I had letterpressed by Bryce Knudson of Bjorn Press a while back. They are the perfect size, smaller and squatter than a standard card and printed on a nice thick Lettra stock in a warm gray and pale cream.

Some of my favorite moments of the conference were the keynote speakers, like this panel which included Maxwell from Apartment Therapy, Deborah Needleman (founder of Domino), and Pilar Guzman (formerly of cookie, now running Martha Stewart Living). There was a lot of discussion about new media vs. old (blogs vs. magazines) and though I see that traditional publishing is in trouble, I don't see magazines and books disappearing anytime soon.

I also enjoyed the roundtable discussion groups that were led by industry experts and covered categories ranging from tax issues to ad networks to legal concerns. You just pulled up a chair and started asking questions. I would have loved to have been able to sit at every table.

I think everyone at Alt now adores Ben Silberman, founder of Pinterest. He told the story of how he turned his idea into a product and it was absolutely fascinating. I love him for quoting a line from the movie The Pirates of Silicon Valley (one of my favorite made-for-TV movies EVER). "I think .. there's something going on out there in California." And I loved hearing about how his girlfriend (now his wife) after hearing his ideas for years finally said "So stop talking about it and just go and DO IT." And he did!

The third day of the conference is small hands-on workshops and I was lucky to get to attend two: a screenprinting class taught by Eva Jorgensen of Sycamore Street Press, and a calligraphy workshop taught by Melissa Esplin of ISLY. I create so much on the computer these days, it was really nice to remember how it feels to make something with my hands.

Since Alt, I've been thinking a lot about my blog and what I want it to be (and definitely what I DON'T want it to be). I've never thought of it as a commercial venture, so the discussions about ad networks and corporate sponsors and search engine optimization didn't really appeal to me. To be honest, because my blog is not meant to make money, I do tend to put it on the back burner from time to time, setting it aside for books and shoots and other projects I do get paid for. I hope you'll understand that though I may not post five times a day, when I do post you will know it is about something I believe in (and not something I am being paid to discuss).

Many of you have asked for a recap of our panel on Work/Life Balance. I am gathering my thoughts and will share them when I have a moment (but it might need to wait a week or two.. I've got a book design due and valentines to make with the kids!).

Bottom four photos from the Alt Flickr stream.

off to alt

2012-01-18T06:57:31Z

I'm off to Alt Design Summit in the morning! I hear it's freezing in Salt Lake, so I'm digging out all my cold weather clothes and saying goodbye to my family for a few days. If you're headed to Alt too, please stop and say hello... I'll be speaking on the Work/Life Balance panel on Thursday morning. Wish me luck!

new years eve kit

2012-01-01T00:06:37Z

I always have big plans for christmas deliveries.. something nice to take around as a family to all our friends and neighbors. So many of our friends have great traditions they make each year. My friend Gwen bakes delicious Challah braids. Our old friend Valerie has mastered homemade caramels. My mom and dad make wonderful candied pecans. We haven't quite figured out one thing we want to make each year.

JR sometimes reminds me of the year I decided to make gingerbread cookie families for about twenty of our nearest and dearest (a big gingerbread dad and mom and small gingerbread children to represent each member of the family we were delivering it to). I was about 8 months pregnant at the time and spent about three days working on my gingerbread dough, rolling out the cookies, cutting and baking and then painstakingly decorating each gingerbread person, and packing them into boxes. It was a little crazy and added much to the holiday stress at our house.

Since then I have tried to think of things we can give that are thoughtful, but maybe don't demand quite as much time and effort as those gingerbread cookies did. This year we made New Years Eve Kits. Most of our friends have small children and won't be out partying too hard. We know most of them will be home watching movies and playing games and trying to make the night feel festive (while still tucking their kids in by 10!).

We bought a few 4-packs of sparkling apple cider, then hit the local party store for noisemakers, balloons, blowers, poppers and some sparkly confetti. We packed everything up in a clear party bag and delivered it with a bottle of Martinelli's.

Happy New Year!

the family gift swap

2011-12-20T18:07:55Z

Both JR and I come from large families (there are six children in my family and five in his) so buying Christmas gifts for each and every sibling (and their spouses, and their children) has never quite worked for us.

The past few years in JR's family we have had a theme for our gifts, which has worked out really well. Two years ago we all gave each other board games (some of our family favorites are Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne and Settlers of Cattan). Last year we were inspired by the Favorite Things party I had just attended, where each person brings their "favorite" thing. Each family was to gather some of their favorite things and send it to their assigned family. You can see our gift from JR's older sister in the photo above. Each little package included some favorite thing from each person in their family (minty M&M's are a favorite of Dad's, mom loves scented candles, etc.) The kids had a great time unwrapping each one and learning about their cousin's and aunt's and uncle's favorites.

For our Favorite Thing, we shared our ritual of Tea Time, something JR and I were trying to do every few nights. We had gotten into a bad habit of putting the kids to bed and then retreating to our computers, to finish up emails and catch up on work. Some nights we would watch a show, but we both felt like we weren't really spending time together in the evenings (even if we were both in the same room). Tea Time was our solution.

The note read: After the children are tucked in bed and fast asleep, we take turns boiling the water on the stove and getting out the tea bags. We fill our mugs with hot water and let the tea steep, then stir in a little sugar. Tea takes some time to cool, so we sit and talk at the table while we sip our tea and discuss the business of our family. Sometimes we take the time to play a game. After a busy day, it's just nice to sit down together and talk for a minute. We hope you'll think so too.

We included two nice shaped mugs from Pottery Barn (perfect for sipping tea) and a pack of our favorite tea (our new favorite is Tazo's Wild Sweet Orange Tea.. it is delicious!) and our favorite card game (Coloretto).

How do you handle gift swaps in your family? Do siblings buy for each other? What about cousins? Because we now have about 18 children between us, we have the cousins do a swap too. We've tried different things, like the year we had everyone make cards for each other (not as big a thrill for the kids as we had hoped!). But the past few years we have done a book swap, each child picking out a book they think their assigned cousin would enjoy. So far, so good.

inchmark holiday cards

2011-11-28T17:56:02Z

I know I'm late to the party, and you're probably one of those people who has already written, addressed, stamped, and mailed your cards off. (I aspire to be you one of these days, but alas, it hasn't happened yet!) But if you are a procrastinator like I am, I wanted to share the holiday cards I designed for Tiny Prints this year... there's still plenty of time to mail out some cards to your loved ones.

I feel pretty strongly about sending out cards. I know that they cost money, and it's just one more thing to do when you're already so busy. And in this digital age, I know you can just say "Happy Holidays" on your Facebook page and consider yourself good (though I consider that cheating). I don't write family letters (like the funny ones my dad used to write), and we don't always include a picture (sometimes that's the hardest part of getting a card together) but we send out SOMETHING each year. Some are more elaborate than others. And some years they get there a little after Christmas (whoops!). But I think my friends and family understand.

Those few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorite of the whole year. I love getting cards in the mail each day, I love seeing how my friends have changed and how their kids look so much like them. I love reading the sometimes cheesy letters that detail each big event of the past year. I love cards in every form: letterpressed, foil stamped, homemade, or bedazzled. I just love that someone took the time to send me a card in the mail.

Do you agree? Or do you think cards are an aniquated tradition? Are emails and digital PDFs the new way to go? What will you be sending out to your friends and family this year? I'd love to hear.

Links to my cards on Tiny Prints:

Silent night, Holy night card

Joy (4 child option)

Christmas Tree family

Joy (3 child option)

a fall wedding

2011-11-25T20:03:19Z

The leaves are finally changing here, just in time to make it feel a little bit like Fall right before Thanksgiving. Their pretty colors and shapes reminded me of my brother-in-law Justin and his darling wife Sarah's wedding, which happened two years ago this very week.

They asked me to design a simple wedding announcement, and we thought the fall leaves were a nice starting point. Three different colors of leaves with the text in a nice brown. I also printed some matching stationery for them to use as thank you cards.

Sarah was a strikingly beautiful bride. I loved her short pixie cut (she looked just like a young Mia Farrow).

It was also super windy and really COLD, and it had been snowing off and on all week. But what bride wants to wear a coat? Sarah is a dancer and naturally wore knit leg warmers.

My favorite part was instead of having traditional wedding cake, they had a tower of creme brulee. The day before the wedding the bride and groom made batch after batch. I loved how they stacked them up so it still felt like a wedding cake (though much more delicious in my opinion!).

Happy Anniversary Justin and Sarah!

dad turns seventy

2011-11-09T05:22:06Z

My dad recently turned seventy (!) and my mom and I wanted to do something special for him. Dad didn't want a big party, and he and my mom were going to be out of town on his actual birthday, so we decided to give him a gift that would continue all month long.

I printed 70 postcards on thick cardstock (110 lb.), each with a different number between 1 and 70. My mom helped gather addresses for seventy of the important people in my dad's life: family members, old classmates, dear friends and all his grandchildren. Included in the envelope was a card explaining that it was dad's birthday, and that they needed to send the postcard back sharing their funniest memory of Skip. To make things easy, I pre-addressed and pre-stamped the postcards so all they had to do was write a quick note on the back and toss the card in the mail.

When my dad got home a few days after his birthday, there were a handful of cards in his mailbox. He was surprised and delighted. And then the next day there were a few more cards, and the day after that, a few more. This continued on for the rest of the month until he had quite a stack. I hadn't asked people to stagger when they mailed their cards, that just happened naturally. Some of the notes were heartfelt and quite moving, others were funny, bringing up memories my dad hadn't thought about in years. I especially loved reading what his grandchildren wrote. All in all, a pretty inexpensive gift (postage was our main expense) and one I think my dad will remember for quite some time.