top ten things i feel guilty about...and shouldn't

This is one of those blog posts that I hope is therapeutic. Lately, I've been feeling guilty about a lot of things and wondering if I shouldn't be.

1. Working too much.

2. Not working enough.

3. Working on the wrong projects.

4. Going on a vacation with my husband and leaving my kids at home.

5. Not cleaning my house enough.

6. Watching too much TV. While I work.

6. Not updating my blog enough.

7. Guilty that my son's scrapbook covers the first month of his life. He turns 18 months on Friday.

8. Not taking enough pictures.

9. Guilty about changes I'm making, even though in my head, I know they're the right ones.

10. Not spending enough time being a mom, friend, daughter, sister in law, niece or granddaughter.

I was right.

That was therapeutic.

top 10 [new] favorite recipes

My husband describes it as some sort of mid-life crisis. I say my new found love for cooking/baking is because after a year and a half, my husband is home seven nights a week rather than three. I actually have someone to cook for!

I've been making new recipes almost every night, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites, in no particular order:



(sorry for the photo quality, some are mobile photos)

1. Chili Lime Chicken Tostadas

2. Best Basic Brownie

(just a tip on these, don't put M&Ms in them if you want them to look pretty. trust me.)

3. Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta

4. Pasta with Tomato-Bleu Cheese Sauce

hey, I never said these were healthy recipes



5. Granny's Chocolate Cobbler



6. Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

7. Crockpot Lasagna

8. The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

9. Zesty Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

And for #10...

With all this recipe searching I knew it was a perfect excuse to find a spiffy new method for organizing them. My little box just wasn't cutting it. My new Cath Kidston Recipe Organizer arrived in the mail today! Here are a few peeks at the inside...

i'm in a book!

I was delighted when Charlotte Rivers from Roto Vision in the UK asked me to be included in the book, Reinventing Letterpress. It's a book that features numerous letterpress companies as well as general information about the letterpress printing process.

You can purchase the UK version here. Or, you can pre-order the US version, to be released by Chronicle books under the name Little Book of Letterpress. Here are a few pictures of the book:

birthday party planning

Hailey's 4th birthday is next week and we're having a mermaid party this Saturday to celebrate. I LOVE planning parties for the kids. I'll take plenty of photos to show you next week, but thought I'd show you a little bit of my inspiration so far...



Rainbow Cake: This cake has been on a ton of blogs, but after I saw it on Martha Stewart I knew Hailey would love it. I've been telling her for a few months that I'm making her a special surprise cake...so let's hope it turns out like the picture!

Lanterns and Streamers: we'll see how this turns out, I have streamers and a friend is making some poms rather than lanterns. (if this is your photo, please let me know, I couldn't find it again to source it!)

Aqua and Hot Pink: I'm wishing I found this photo a few weeks ago, these are the colors I'm going for and am using this banner as inspiration.

Sprinkler, water balloons and fishing over the curtain game: activities for the party, if it doesn't rain (fingers crossed)

Fish bowl centerpiece: these are cute...just not sure the kids will leave them alone :)

top ten tuesday: 10 things I want to accomplish by the end of summer

The Fourth of July has come and gone, school is almost visible on the calendar and Target is stocking their shelves with backpacks...summer is dwindling by the day! I had big plans for myself at the beginning of June and I gotta say, I'm not doing so hot. So, I decided to participate in Top Ten Tuesday to get myself together, let's get to it:



10 Things to Accomplish by the End of Summer:

1. Finish the Couch 2 5K program. I'm on Week 1 and if I stick to the plan, I'll be finished by mid-September.

2. In combination with #1: Convince someone to run/travel to the Wine & Dine 5K weekend in Disney World. I find it only fitting that my first 5K should be somewhere magical, don't you?

3. Finish cleaning out and organizing our basement. We started off strong with a garage sale in May, now time to organize the things we actually want to keep.

4. Plan my daughters 4th birthday party at the end of July. Invitations have been sent, now its time for the fun part!

5. Print Pictures! I have thousands that need to be sorted, printed and put into albums.

6. Paint my son's room (don't tell my husband). He did a lovely job painting the nursery orange..but that was before we knew he was a boy, and now, I really want a new color.

7. Cook! I've been on a roll this summer with learning to cook new dishes. I've been obsessed with the Pioneer Woman's recipes and have enjoyed trying them out on the fam.

8. Spend more time goofing off with the kids. I've limited my work load this summer so that I can spend more time with the kids...its going well so far, but I need to be more strict with my schedule.

9. Figure out what to do with my daughter's preschool art projects...they're everywhere and I have no clue what to do with them!

10. Finish the bathroom! It's painted and the shower curtain is set, I have a couple accessories, but need a few more to complete the look.

Just making that list has made me want to print recipes and plan birthday details!

What do you want to accomplish this summer?

Grab a funnel cake and get comfy!

As a designer of stationery I often have leftover envelopes, paper and other supplies from projects. Lucky Star Press has joined up with other stationery designers for a Paper Carnival! We've cleaned our surplus of supplies and stocked our Etsy Supply Shops with paper goodies!

You can follow the carnival from location (blog/facebook) to location, every day for the next couple weeks. Watch for the hashtag #papercarnival on twitter to keep up to date and find out where the carnival is headed next! You can also follow the carnival on Facebook.

The Lucky Star Press Supply Shop is a great place for DIY invitations...we're stocked full of pretty little envelopes in a variety of colors. We also have these great Kraft boxes that hold 20 or so sets of A2 cards and envelopes. Great for gift giving or packing up orders.


After you visit our shop, make sure to follow the carnival to it's next pit stop, Parts and Parcels Supply Shop from the amazingly talented Carey at Lasso'd Moon Designs.

Aren't these the perfect format for a wedding program or menu? The ribbon isn't included, so you could customize to match your event.

Follow the carnial tomorrow on Carey's blog, Under the Moon. Happy shopping!

work trumps blog

One of the people I follow on twitter posted this morning, "work trumps blog again." I'm sure this is no surprise here, that is often the case with my blog as well. Although my posts may be few and far between...I do like keeping it up when the time presents itself. Right now for instance.

It's been a long few days with a sick little boy. My daughter and I almost never get fevers...so really, that's what I'm used to. Shouldn't everyone be like us? My little man was topping out at 104.2 this weekend. That's a little high for my taste. He's finally feeling better this morning and I am finally feeling like I can get back to normal. You know, sleeping past 4am, doing things around the house without a one year old attached to my hip...you know, things like that.

Summer has been underway for a couple weeks now. I was planning to take some Mom time during the week, and work a little less. So far, summer has been crazy, so hopefully we'll get into a new routine soon. Here's Hailey and I at her Lunch for Moms at the end of preschool.



Hailey had a great week last week at Dance Camp. She has been asking to "do dance" for a while. We decided to try out a week-long summer camp, with her friend Josie, to see if she liked it, before investing in all the shoes, leotards and froofy outfits. Here are a few photos from her end of the week performance, it was adorable! (side note: both Hailey and Josie are wearing their mother's ballet shoes)





In other news, Hailey finally got a bike! She has been riding a tiny tricycle for a while. We were going to get it for her birthday, but decided the end of summer would be kind of silly. Its going to take a bit of practice, but she's getting the hang of it.



Happy Monday all!

its that time again...

My baby girl turns 4 next month so it's time to start thinking about her party...her little mermaid party that is. Per her request she wants a Little Mermaid Party...which I am translating to a non-cheesy Mermaid Party. I just can't bring myself to plaster the Disney image everywhere. Don't get me wrong, I love Disney...but I think Hailey deserves to be her own mermaid, don't you?

Here's what I've found so far...

For my kid's parties I feel pressured to create fabulous invites. But I found these adorable invites that can be customized to look like your child...they might be too cute to pass up.

photos by olligraphic on etsy

And because we're still in the fantasy stage of the party planning...wouldn't these personalized plates be fabulous party favors? (over my husband's dead body)

little cupcakes company

And mermaid tails for the guests...these are a must...

Living Locruto's beautiful Mermaid Party!

unused designs

In addition to designing stationery, I also work as a designer for our church. I love the work and it allows me to be creative and design in different formats than stationery does. I'm working on a graphic for our next message series called "vs.". Often the art for a series has to explain a lot about what the pastor is teaching on Sundays...so I don't always get the final say. So, I thought I'd share one of the versions that didn't make the cut. I'll share the final next week.

sickness + injury month

It seems that every so often we get a month of sicknesses and injuries. They come in groups striking every member of the family at the same time and they cripple us from our normal life. Colds, broken toes (more of a pain than you'd think), stomach bugs (requiring more laundry than I ever care to do again), and the list goes on...

Our weekends have been packed full of birthday parties (Andrew turning 1, me turning 30), holidays (when did Easter get so big?), Broadway shows (Mary Poppins=fantastic!), trips to visit family and of course, hours under the covers trying to recover. So what's the up side? I have a ton of photos to show you!

Andrew had a great birthday. We celebrated here in Lexington with cake and friends and then headed to Cincinnati to have dinner with family. I'm feeling a little bit of mommy guilt because Hailey's first birthday included inflatables, every tinkerbell party item every made, a homemade cake at a big party. Andrew's on the other hand was at a pizza place...with a cake I purchased and we gave him clothes as gifts. Hopefully he won't hold it against me.

first was Easter...once Andrew found one egg, he was happy, that left about 50 for Hailey



first haircut....


and the birthday party...





I did get these adorable cookies made to hand out as favors...



I will hopefully be back sooner than later. The bathroom is FINALLY finished, photos soon!

andrew turns one

My baby boy turns 1 today. Happy 1st Birthday, Andrew!

too many windows open

I just saw Chris Brogan, a social media advisor and author, say on twitter that he has too many things to do and has too many windows open. It was one of those moments where someone else describes exactly how you feel and somehow clarifies it for you. I think I've said it before, I have trouble saying no. I have trouble saying it to myself and to other people.

I started my stationery business about five years ago while I was working at a design firm full-time. I worked on it in the evenings until I quit the firm four years ago to do the stationery, while keeping some of my clients from the firm for freelance work. In the past four years that I've been doing freelance work I've never had to look for work. Through word of mouth, I'm consistently getting new projects and clients. (And I can't say no, remember?) So, I take them all on. I tell myself I can stay up until 2am rather than the normal 12am. I don't want to let people down and normally, they're fun projects.

But to be honest. I'm exhausted. So, as I think through this as I type...I think it's time to make some choices. A person can only go so long with little sleep and working all the time...or so I imagine, I'd rather not find out. I decided to post this in hopes of being held accountable. I've got more thinking to do...but if you don't see a post with some changes in the near future, yell at me, ok?

sneak peek

which do you like?

mom-cation

I had a wonderful mommy break this past weekend. I went to visit one of my favorite people, my college friend Megan who lives in the DC area. The weekend was filled with great food, pedicures, shopping, monument gawking, a movie and of course good company! One of the highlights was making s'mores...with nutella. It was soooo good! I was having such a great time, I didn't take too many photos. So, just picture a mom enjoying a weekend without a schedule and eating great food that didn't involve cutting bananas into tiny little pieces. It was wonderful, but back to reality.

store spotlight: anjénu / chicago, il

I'm happy to post our very first store feature! The lovely Kristie of Anjénu in Chicago, Illinois has been carrying Lucky Star Press cards in her store since 2008. She graciously agreed to answer a few questions about her store and the products she carries.




1. Tell me a little bit about your store and what types of products you sell.
Anjénu is Wicker Park, Illinois' exclusive paper boutique, with bamboo-green walls and a charming personality. We offer handmade greetings, stationery, vibrant papers, and specialize in custom and couture wedding invitations.

2. What types of products do you sell the most of at your store?
Our number one seller is the Birthday Card along with Anniversary and Baby Cards. Boxed notes and fun little goodies never fall short!

3. What are some of your favorite products?
Usually the "new card"! :) When I get a new designer in or a new card from one of my favorite designers... I end up giving it to everyone I know. I get hooked easy! :)

4. Do you have window displays? If so, what inspires your displays? Yes... we change our window about once a month. Sometimes the weather or a new product or a color is the inspiration. Right now we're working on a wedding display with so many engagements happening out there!

5. Is there a product you carry that just doesn't get the love it deserves?
Yes. I am in love with blind letterpress and textured cotton papers. Maybe it is the packaging or perhaps others just aren't in love with it like me.

6. What is your best selling Lucky Star Press greeting card?
The Birthday Card, both the simple green candle and the pink cupcake. I also sell a ton of the Wedding Ring during peak wedding time!

7. How do you like to order and view products from your wholesalers?
I like to work directly with the artist, either through email or printed catalogs.

8. Anything else you'd like to share about running a retail location?
It's fun! It is definitely more than full time job... but so worth it! Meeting new designers and speaking to customers everyday is my dream job! :)





Thanks so much Kristie for being our first store spotlight!

there is no place like disney world...

It's no secret that Walt Disney World is one of my favorite places to be. I have so many great memories from my trips there as a kid. But, I have to say, sharing the experience with my kids is simply the best. My schedule has been so chaotic lately. With my husband traveling four days a week for work, me working full-time and being a mom...I was really looking forward to 100% family time. No other responsibilities, just playtime with the kids...that's what Disney is all about, right?

We stayed at the new Contemporary Resort Bay Lake Tower. It's fairly new and the modern decor of the hotel was amazing. It's hard thinking about staying anywhere else. The location, accommodations, design and food/shopping are hard to beat.

Totally random tip, but the bathroom in the second bedroom had it's own sliding door and was big enough to fit the pack 'n play for the Andrew. Yes, he slept in the bathroom, but it was perfect for him to have his own quiet space to sleep!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hz536n/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/themeparkmom/3689417068/sizes/m/

The view at night was fab! We could watch Wishes (fireworks at Magic Kingdom) every night from our room.

The little man was a champ. Disney truly is a great vacation at any age. He loved Pooh's Playful Spot at Magic Kingdom. We hung out there a few times to let him get down and crawl around. Although the water bottle seemed to be a big hit for him on this trip.

A family tradition, you have to purchase your first pair of "ears" on your first trip. Andrew wasn't a big fan of keeping them on, but we got a few cute shots. These days, it's rare that I just sit and watch him sleep, but it was so nice to have the time to just stare at him. (Can you tell I'm having some wow-they-grow-up-fast kind of moments?!)

We of course saw tons of characters. Goofy even helped out by feeding Andrew his yogurt at Chef Mickey's! Hailey was determined to find EVERY princess, Little Mermaid being her favorite. We found them all except Jasmine and Tiana. Our last day at Magic Kingdom got rained on a bit, so we distracted her with a Dole Whip (pineapple soft serve...delicious!). Andrew enjoyed it as well.

Now I've saved the best for last. My sweet baby, sniff, took his first steps while we were there! Taking the first steps seems like the last baby moment, so it made me a little sad, but could I have asked for a better backdrop?!



I was so sad to leave, we were in sunny Florida one minute and just a few hours later back in the cold snow. It was a great trip and time with my family was...magical. (just had to throw that in there) I always say the best solution to the home-from-vacation-blues is to plan your next trip...