I was honored to be a crafty part of my good friends Brittney and Adam’s wedding: from carving their save-the-date design, then block printing their thank-you cards at B’s bachelorette weekend, to designing and installing their Camp Notes message board at the big event. A few pictures from the process, which started way back in February!
My classic Tahoe designs are restocked at Riverside Studios in Truckee, and I’ve printed my “greetings” stamp in a new pattern on Kraft-colored postcards. Get ’em & snail mail! Currently I’ve got the premium register-side display so you can find them easily.
I’ve added another retailer for my postcards – the Yoga Room in Tahoe City. I hope in this comforting space, yoga-goers will think of a loved one, see my postcards and be inspired to snail-mail some thoughts… or at the least, it’s some local art on the walls!
I also reconfigured my old snowflake print, adding some pen-ink lines. I have it in postcard version at the Yoga Room, and in mini cards with envelopes at Riverside Studios in Truckee.
My block-printed postcards have a new retail location: Alpenglow Sports in Tahoe City. For now I’m just selling my new Freel Peak design. Look for them currently in the storefront display, next to the Raindrops on Roses cards!
One of my besties, Ruth, has opened Lawton Trading Post in Outer Sunset, on 43rd and Lawton next door to Andytown Coffee. I’ve spent a few hours cleaning, merchandising, cash registering and stamping bags to help her out & her shop is now a retail location for my hand-carved and printed postcards. Stop by, say hi to Ruth, buy an amazing sandwich (tri-tip on Tuesdays!) and a postcard. General goods, with beer, wine, booze in a custom-built liquor library with a sliding ladder… plus prepared food touched by the culinary goddess hand of Ruth!
Hello world, my little postcard printing business has doubled, ha! I’m now selling my hand-carved and printed designs at Dudleya Studio in Atascadero on California’s Central Coast near Paso Robles. Two of my new designs (blooming cactus and thank you mountain goat, pictured above) are for sale there. Dudleya is the cutest little shop with art space for classes like felting, which Max recently surprised me with a private lesson in! We made miniature felted llamas of course (ironically, with alpaca wool). Here’s a picture of my postcards on the rack at Dudleya:
And of Max and I in action felting:
In the spirit of love this Valentine’s Day, I sent some of my friends a selection of llama print postcards. I call this series “llama courtship,” ha! I carved the stamp at Bona Fide Books’ monthly Print Club. I am going to work on more of these prints with llama groupings as I love how these turned out.
My latest block print design is the outline of Lake Tahoe filled with a Christmas sweater pattern. I drew it all by hand, and carved it on a linoleum block. I printed the green trees separately from a free carve quick-cut on Speedball EasyCut rubber. Due to the detail in the design, this takes much longer to print successfully, but I love the result! Pick this design up in postcard form at Riverside Studios in downtown Truckee.
If you missed my big debut at my first postcard-selling booth, here are a few pics from the afternoon. I was at Truckee Thursday in late June, as one of Riverside Studios featured artists. You can buy my postcards at Riverside Studios year-round.
It’s been exciting to see the energy and press around Mary Robinette Kowal’s A Month of Letters initiative. As a devoted postcard writer myself (evidenced by my postcard blog) I hold USPS-fueled communication near and dear. A Month of Letters is a challenge for the month of February, to write and send a piece of postal mail every day USPS is open (24 days). And, of course, I’m doing it.
Here are the rules if you want to join me:
*Mail at least one item through the post every day it runs. Write a postcard, a letter, send a picture, or a cutting from a newspaper, or a fabric swatch.
*Write back to everyone who writes to you. This can count as one of your mailed items.
If you use Twitter, tag your posts with #LetterMo. You can follow my daily mailings at my postcard blog, 28cents.
_____smith 