I begged john to make me a display ladder like heathers for the shop. It looks so beautiful - I wish I had each and everyone of her tea towels. I also tried her banana bread recipe - yum!

our very popular alphabet design will soon be on notebooks and cards - this looks so beautiful as a blind impression - will be showing you this printed and some new card designs soon. Some beautiful Jenny Clark pottery in the middle ground.

Dorie's three dimensional needlepoint workshop part one Dorie's workshop was very inspiring - the workshop started with the history of lace and about her own practice. She taught herself how to do the lace making - what's interesting about what she was teaching us was to create three dimensional forms from this technique - in the image that red cross is going to be a little cube - I will show you part 2 after Sunday. We will be working on our own designs with Dorie's help. I am planning to do a pod shape with finer thread and a wee bit smaller. Dorie's work is also in the vitrine cases at Harbourfront - she made a needle point trompe l'oeil bow - the photo I took doesn't do it justice - if you have a chance check out the show - along with other great work at the York Quay Gallery.

here is a sneak peek at one of the repeat products - a lovely tea towel with roisin's jars and powerlines.

the images I showed you earlier - here is the pattern printed on washi paper - the paper is super fine like tissue paper, but so much stronger - the reflected surface is the quality of the paper. The other image is my stash of patterns for all my little pods. I started sewing them yesterday and they look great. Can't wait to show you.

I love love love renilde's embroideries. I convinced Roisin to bring repeat to the One of A Kind Show - products and new prints in the works - yeah ro!.

delicate and beautiful work from up in the air somewhere.

thanks margie for a lovely time - above are some images of her letterpress work. She had plates done and look at how beautiful they turned out. She is having a blog anniversary giveaway - check it out.

this fri. and sun. I will take some time off to attend Dorie Millerson's workshop on Three-Dimensional Needle Lace - what a great way to spend two days - Dorie is a wonderful person and artist - I'm so excited! (above is one of Dorie's pieces) some new gauze kokka fabric over at purl soho.

hope you had a nice weekend - cold and damp today. We had a great weekend of letterpress printers - three graphic designers, a film maker and a doctor that moonlights as an artist. thanks again to NOW for mentioning our shop. lliam makes a sneak appearance in the photo. John and I are thinking about doing the National Stationery Show. It might be too late this year to sign up - but after my conversation with Angela, I wanted to consider it. For our stationery line we are expanding to do not just letterpress, but also the screen printing. We have some new ideas that we will be launching at the spring One of a Kind Show.

these patterns will be printed on washi paper that will be sewn and incorporated into my attachment series sculptures - part of the Print Studio show. Will keep you up to date on it's progress.

some new letterpress cards and cahier - our stationery and other products will soon be available at Red Pegasus. We have been approached by two stationery reps for our line - still thinking about the pros and cons. Today was a lovely day - a visit from Margie. Margie was doing a make up class - will post some pictures of her lovely letterpress printed stone images later - also you can visit Roisin's post on her letterpress experience a few days ago. Thanks Margie for the sweet gift xo thanks Roisin for sending the link to a nice post on John's chair that is at the ROM. if you have a moment please place your vote for us over at Poppytalk - have a lovely weekend.

repeat sale - these colour ways and prints will no longer be available - there will be around 10 sets - so don't miss out. It will be uploaded sometime this afternoon in our etsy shop.

we have gotten to know all the delivery people - the day is always complete when there has been a delivery. It was exciting to see all this wood be delivered - it's hard to tell in the photo, but each piece measure between 10-12 feet. John got smart three years ago and had it milled - it saved him days to weeks in front of the table saw cutting and planing. The wood wasn't delivered till this week which gave him a bit of a break during the holidays from steaming, busy times ahead for you dear. the tag above is one of many things davis had a chance to print. It's so much fun to see how much people enjoy the immediacy of letterpress printing. I love the rounded corners - will be getting one in the next week or so. I also wanted an automated guillotine, but it wouldn't fit through the door. I have one at work that I can use, but it would be good to have one in house. I guess I could settle for a manual one.

I have been so busy lately - and that's the way I like it. In retail January tends to be quiet, but we are very lucky being busier now than at Christmas time. Our letterpress stationery has been such a great hit here in the shop and online (thanks to everyone who bought work) - I had Davis in all day today helping me print an order that is going to the Paper Place. I am really excited for an upcoming show that I will be doing at the Print Studio in Hamilton at the end of February (it will also coincide with the James Street Art Crawl) - they have a two gallery space and the adjacent space will be occupied by Emma Nishimura - I am a big fan of her work (above images) check out her website and enjoy. The work that I will have is a paper installation as well as some collage pieces that will incorporate printmaking. Will show you some w.i.p later. I also started at Sheridan this week and will have to remember to bring my camera to photograph drool worthy studio spaces.

check out angela's blog for a lovely giveaway. I love mine - thanks Angela xo

how sweet is this little tag - a nice edition to any handmade gift.

it's been a busy weekend with workshops on both saturday and sunday. roisin is here visiting and we are hashing some ideas for repeat. She had a wonderful afternoon letterpress printing - I think she's hooked. Above image is furniture "remnants" - looks like a pile of an unused chair - soon john will make it into a lovely new chair. In toronto - it's design week - lots to do and see.

thanks for your comments about the journal covers - will definitely revisit them. I am finished my outside of studio work and now back to the studio - I am so excited we got a really nice wholesale order from Pistachio a lovely shop in Toronto and will need to focus so that I can get it out at a timely manner as well as a few other wholesale orders that I will mention later. I will also need to devote some time to building up inventory for the spring one of a kind show and an upcoming two person show in Hamilton that I will tell you more about when it has been confirmed. I am signing off early - have a restful and productive weekend. (image above by Robbie Heidinger via Dear Ada) not sure where I found this image - what is there not to love about cross stitch.

these are removable book covers that I did a few years ago and thinking about revisiting them - I found the book covers work because sometimes people have a hard time using nice notebooks - I know I do. I am going to redesign it so it isn't so much work and see if I will bring them back. I've been doing work outside of the studio since monday and feeling drain when I get home - I have one more day tomorrow and back to work in the studio - which is where I enjoy being.

john will be participating in a show curated by Motherbrand - the show is called CUT/COPY/PASTE - starting on january 20th-31st at the Royal Ontario Museum in the Institute for Contemporary Culture, 4th floor - how exciting that he will have a couple of pieces in this show - will post pictures of the exhibit at a later date.

a piece I made with layers upon layers of salt - the greenish tone is from the copper wire armature. I got a lot of emails for March dates for both letterpress and silk screening - will post them later today. I am also thinking about doing a 4 week course on both techniques - please send me an email if this interests you. Also we are thinking of getting another press - more details later on what kind of printing press and other special classes later.

a nice way to display over sized type - over at Designsponge. The table reminds me of our coffee table - an old piece of slate and lliam loves drawing and writing on it - sometimes I get a special note from john.

what a wonderful weekend it was - there was sunshine, letterpress workshops and lots of cake. Piper had a wonderful time celebrating her first birthday and there was some wonderful pieces being printed by some very nice folks.

I can't believe it's been a year. Our sweet little p turns one today. Much love to you piper.

DIY BRIDE workshop

A brand new workshop for the DIY BRIDE : Are you interested in letterpress printing your own wedding invitations and saving money? If so, this workshop is definitely for you.

Price:

$400

What does it include?

-2 three hours sessions on our C&P Pilot Platen press for you and a guest

- inks

-2 design consultations with me (that includes getting your image plate ready)

-2 polymer plates for your invitation and thank you card designs (additional cost for additional plates)

For bookings and more info please email me at arounna@bookhou.com or give us a call – a 50% deposit required to hold your spot - space is limited so book early.

a farewell to allyson's kitty chester - he lived a nice long life and was loved by all who knew him.

some paper sculptures that I did before the kids were born - made with washi paper. I love using paper in different ways - these are individually sewn. Will be showing you more of my work in the weeks to come - I will try to find time to upload them on the website. Yes - I decided to do the TOAE show - have some ideas for new work.