From Poe to Parker.

In my course, we’re transitioning. From one fractured poet to another, we’re transitioning.

From Poe to Parker.

So, I thought I’d present you with an imagistic representation of this literary trajectory.

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On my summer reading list:

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Peter Ackroyd is somewhat of a kindred spirit, frequently publishing wonderful material on tortured poets, even novels (Ackroyd’s Chatterton, for example, which I strongly recommend to anyone even remotely interested in the British Romantics).

Over the holidays…

hile I was in Ohio for the holidays, I finally had the time to create and mail my holiday cards. I am fortunate to have an extremely awesome step-father who is an artist and stamp collector, and he provided me with tons of old stamps to use for my envelopes (he also told Santa to stash stacks of canceled vintage stamps and postcards in my stocking).

{ My holiday cards. Kind of hard to tell, but they’re cardstock cut into stocking shapes, and then I stamped them and adhered scalloped-edged paper cut-outs and baker’s twine and… a bit much, but fun. 🙂 }

{ Envelopes for my holiday cards, including stamped and handwritten tags plus old postage stamps. }

{ Backside. }

Also, a friend/colleague of mine asked me to hand-letter her wedding program, menu, and place cards for her winter snowflake-themed nuptials. So I had fun creating those as well, although I worried that they ended up a bit too “busy” with all the text. But Catherine said she liked them, so I was happy.

{ Front cover of the wedding program. }

{ Front cover (left) and back cover (right) of wedding program. }

{ Inside of program. }

{ Wedding menu. }

{ Wedding menu. }

{ Place cards, twined up according to table #. }

{ The whole collection. }

I am realizing that these photos aren’t the best quality. Casualty of being away from home.

Hope you all had a very happy holiday and that the new year is off to a stellar start!

Is your dance card full?

Beautiful vintage dance cards:

{Images above from DRTLibrary}

{Three images above from MixedPickles}

{Four images above from LSU)

 

Vintage labels and tickets from Papier Valise

I would like a gazillion of each, please. Thank you.

All images graciously borrowed from Papier Valise’s online boutique.

The Artwork of Louise Best

Louise Best is an artist, a diarist, a designer of books and all things awesome, and the creator of one of my favorite new-to-me blogs, called Loulou Loves Books. There, Louise/Loulou offers us snippets of life “from behind the hedge and beyond,” whether in postcard, journal, or typewritten form. No matter what the medium, the effect is charming and lovely. Thank you to @Typoretum for introducing me to Ms. Loulou!

I love the Griffin & Sabine quality of the postcards and the journals. I just love handmade collage-y mail in general. So lovely.

All images above have been graciously borrowed from Loulou’s BLOG and SHOP; however, I strongly strongly encourage you to visit her in the following realms:

WEBSITE
FLICKR
ETSY SHOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (can’t sufficiently exclaim my excitement here…)
TWITTER

Words & Eggs is now on Etsy!

I launched my Words & Eggs Etsy shop a few days ago — a bit humbly and bashfully, I might add, because I feel as though I don’t quite have the technological capabilities that many successful shops have. Nor do I have very great (nor numerous) examples/images of my work. But, I have to start somewhere, right? Right.

And guess what? I’ve officially made my first Etsy sale! Granted, it’s a friend of mine who placed the order, but still. It counts. It’s an official order. I got paid for one of my creations, and it feels fabulous. 🙂

Right now, my shop contains only a few samples of my custom family trees, my lettering, and my Paper Clips journals (vintage and new papers compiled in a custom little book). In the coming weeks, I plan to add more samples of my lettering, particularly some calligraphy projects that I’m working on right now. I also plan to add some paper packs that will contain 20 paper items, from gift tags to vintage maps to pages out of French literature to swoon-inducing decorative papers from the Paper Source.

I’m especially proud of my custom family trees, for which I go old-school and use a pair of scissors to cut out each individual leaf from your preferred selection of colored/patterned papers, and then paste them on a tree base that I also draw and cut by hand. And then I letter all the names and package it for you with lovely Japanese washi tape (courtesy of happytape.com!) and a gift tag. Family trees make excellent birthday and holiday gifts! And there are plenty of options we can brainstorm… from Christmas “advent calendar” types of trees (25 marked days!), to friendship trees (all your closest friends!), to baby announcement trees (your new baby stats!), to anniversary trees (a branch or leaf for each year!)…. TONS of options. My custom family trees are reasonably priced, starting at $60 for an 11″x14″ tree; pricing goes up depending on your preferred size.

Feel free to contact me if you have any interest and would like to discuss!

But for now, here’s a little sampling of my work, which is all completely constructed by hand. You can see more images in my Etsy shop and over at my “Handmade By Me” Flick set. More and better-quality images to come soon, hopefully!

Paper Clips Journal

Early version of the family tree I made for my Grandma last Christmas -- each flower represented a child.

Wedding invitation addresses

Tree and leaf cuts

Paper Clips Journal

Family tree lettering (Note: I can do many other styles if you'd prefer script, etc.)

Wedding invitation addresses + paper leaf embellishment

Early stage of Zoldesy family tree (pre-names). Sometimes I like the trees on their own! Maybe I should offer those, too? Sans names?

Packaging - Japanese washi tape + gift tag with stamped owl 🙂

Paper Clips Journal

Wedding invitation address

Framed Zoldesy family tree (14"x18")

Visit my Etsy shop HERE!

French Friday: Le Divan Fumoir Bohémien

In case you’ve never been over to visit Le Divan Fumoir Bohémien, please allow me to offer you several reasons why you better hightail it over there immediately…

(That’s a letter written by Voltaire, fyi.)

La rentrée scolaire!/Back to School!

Another semester begins for me tomorrow. Unbelievable. Almost as unbelievable as the fact that, every September, the “Back to School” theme to Grease 2 is a permanent fixture in my head.

“Gotta go back (back) back, back to school again…”

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And, my personal favorite:

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Don’t spit on the floor or lodge your pen in your ear while in my class, please.