Work it.

‘m a bit tardy for the free calendar party: I meant to post pics a while ago of this ridiculously fabulous letterpressed calendar that Cranky Pressman sent me (for free, might I add. Fabulous Twitter offers, I love thee). The calendar was designed by Northcoast Zeitgeist and printed by Cranky Pressman, a union that makes me feel quite warm and fuzzy all over because they’re both Ohio-based. And, well, so am I. Or, at least, I was until about 9 years ago. One love, Ohio and your wonderful designers and letterpressers.

So, here it is, in all its letterpressed, retro-illustrated glory. And how appropriate that it’s emblazoned with the imperative, “WORK!”. Because that’s precisely what I need to do. Stupid dissertation.

Cranky Pressman is Keith & Jamie Berger. And they are lovely, albeit cranky. Oh, and they included a promotional letterpressed postcard and some other businesscard samples of their services with the calendar. Hopefully you can’t see the drool that seeped from my awe-struck mouth in the pictures below.

Awesome, right?

So, you should really check out both Cranky Pressman and Northcoast Zeitgeist. I’m really tempted by the possibility of having CP letterpress some of my hand-lettered/drawn stuff. And to release about 5 more gallons of drool.

I know, I’m not very lady-like.

Follow Cranky Pressman on Twitter HERE and visit their site HERE. Even their social media links look letterpressed. Jesus.

Follow Northcoast Zeitgeist on Twitter HERE and visit their site HERE.

Bonjour Mon Coussin’s awesome pillows

or this installment of French Friday Monday, it is my distinct pleasure to present you with some of my most prized pillows from the fabulous online store, Bonjour Mon Coussin. They involve tantalizing type, delicious design, and  clever colors. But enough alliteration. On to the images. Oh wait, did I mention that some of the pillows are scented? True story. The scented ones are marked with “PARFUM” like the burlap one below, which smells like coffee!

V is for Vintage. And for Valentines.

or the past few days, I’ve been having fun taking pictures of some vintage papery items and ephemera that I’ve collected over the past several months, preparing some new listings for my Etsy shop. I’ve already sold a couple of these, which is amazing (first sales of 2010!), but I must admit that I’m a little sad to see some of these vintage cards go. Separation anxiety increases exponentially with vintage items, doesn’t it? One-of-a-kind, never to return again… I don’t even want to think of what I’ll be like when I have children that will eventually leave home. Hopefully they’ll return at some point, though. ANYWAY. Back to my new items. Here are some images for you, to show you why it’s so d@mn hard for me to let go.

{ Vintage Postcard Sets }

1. Five vintage large-letter linen city/state postcards from the 1940s and 50s { Etsy Listing HERE } :

2. Three Vintage Valentines from the 1920s-1940s { SOLD OUT } :

{ Valentine’s Day / Love-Themed Stuff }

1. Four Valentine’s To Do List Cards { Etsy Listing HERE } :
These aren’t vintage, but they are V for Valentines. 🙂 I’ve hand-stamped each card in red block letters;
just check them off once you’ve completed each task!
Red envelopes and some super top-secret prizes included.

2. Paper Pack ‘O Love { Etsy Listing HERE } :
As you will see on both my Etsy page and my Facebook page, I am admittedly not a big fan of Valentine’s Day.
That being said, I am a GINORMOUS fan of ephemera and vintage & modern papers and random doo-dads.
(Yes, even if they have hearts or references to Cupid and February 14th. 🙂
So, with that in mind, I couldn’t help but contribute some of the red/heart/love-themed items to a pack of their own.
I’m guessing there are about 40 pieces or so. And they’re awesome.

{ More Coming Soon… }

More vintage postcard sets { New Year’s and other holidays; humour cards; advertisements; nature; mixed },

Vintage international stamp packs { color-themed; location-themed; mixed },

Antique button sets { color-themed; mixed },

Small mixed ephemera packs.

Thank you for looking, and stay tuned!

Vintage Japanese New Years postcards

t kills me that I live in Boston and haven’t been to the Museum of Fine Arts in, let’s see… three years, I think? Ridiculous. We have a new Institute of Contemporary Art as well, but I haven’t been there either. WTF? You’d think I have a dissertation and teaching and tutoring and Etsy and design blog stalking to do or something!

Anyway, so I was just checking out the MFA online, doing a virtual visit (since I’m pretty sure the physical building is closed at 10:59pm), and I came across their fabulous collection of New Year’s Japanese Postcards, some of which I absolutely must share with you:

New Year’s Card: Dog on a Blackboard Offers Congratulations
年賀状：黒板の犬
Japanese, Late Meiji era, 1910
Artist Unidentified, Japanese

New Year’s Card
年賀状；のむらや
Japanese, Showa era, 1930
Artist Unknown, Japanese
Publisher: Nomuraya

New Year’s Card: Goat in a Heart
年賀状：山羊
Japanese, Late Meiji era, 1907
Maruyama Banka, Japanese, 1867–1942

New Year’s Card: Penguins
年賀状：ペンギン
Japanese, Taishô era, 1921
Sugiura Hisui, Japanese, 1876–1965

New Year’s Card: Bull and a Woman
年賀状：牛
Japanese, Taisho era, 1925
Artist Unknown, Japanese

New Year’s Card: Going to Shimonoseki
Original Title: Shimonoseki yuki
年賀状：下関へ
Japanese, Taishô-early Shôwa era
S. Riyo, Japanese, dates unknown
Publisher: Tanaka & Co.

New Year’s Card: Goat
年賀状：羊－１９３１
Japanese, Early Shôwa era, 1931
Takahashi Haruka, Japanese, dates unknown
Publisher: Seikyokudô

New Year’s Card with Airplane
年賀状：空中旋回
Japanese, Taisho- early Showa era
Takahashi Haruka, Japanese, dates unknown
Publisher: Seikyokudô

New Year’s Card: The Monkey Celebrating with Ozoni (from an unidentified series) of New Year’s cards
Original Title: Ozoni iwau osaru
「おぞうに祝ふ猿」
Japanese, Showa era, 1932
Artist Unidentified, Japanese
Publisher: Tanaka & Co.

New Year’s Card: Dragon
年賀状：龍
Japanese, Early Shôwa era, 1928
Takahashi Haruka, Japanese, dates unknown
Publisher: Yamaguchi Seikyokudô

New Year’s Card: Mouse at the Piano
年賀状：ねずみのピアノ
Japanese, Taisho era, 1912
Artist Unknown, Japanese
Publisher: Naniwaya
Printed by: Tokyo Design Printing Company (Tokyo zuan insatsu sha)

New Year’s Card: Seahorses
年賀状：龍の落とし子
Japanese, Early Shôwa era, 1928
Takahashi Haruka, Japanese, dates unknown
Publisher: Yamaguchi Seikyokudô

{ All images above borrowed from the MFA’s online New Year’s Japanese Postcard collection,
which you should visit HERE. }

Aren’t they great? Yeah, I thought so, too. Japan’s pretty awesome.

I really need to get back to that museum.

(Initial “I” found HERE)

French Friday: Bonne Année!

Happy New Year to all, courtesy of artist Adolie Day:

Happy Thanksgiving, vintage humour style!

Some of my favorite vintage postcard images from riptheskull’s Thanksgiving Flickr set:

And these aren’t funny, but I love the designs and hope you will, too:

Just begging to be journal-fied…

Vintage and decorative holiday papers, ready to be compiled into a holiday journal. Maybe even YOURS. 🙂

More images here: WordsAndEggs on Etsy.

Holiday Items!

or some reason, I have only just now discovered how to make photo collages (via Picasa). I feel extremely slow. This whole time, I’ve felt like I’ve been uninvited to some exclusive photography party. Anyway, I’m excited. So, I just made a few collages of pages from my newly listed Holiday Paper Clips Journal on Etsy. I had way too much fun making this, and I’d love to have a ton of fun making more, so please order!

Lots of pages to keep track of gifts you’re giving, gifts you want to receive, gifts that totally elude you…whatever! And I make sure to include lots of usable gift tags, decorative pages, stickers, envelopes, and some vintage items too (including an addressed/stamped Christmas postcard from the 1910s! I have a handful of them, and they’re so fun to look at!).

Each holiday journal will also include one of my hand-sewn, hand-stamped “fa la la” button gift tags.

Check out my entire collection of holiday items and their descriptions in my Etsy shop HERE. And stay tuned for more! I’m planning on creating a couple kid-centric holiday listings soon…