Printing paper for journal covers.  I’m way excited about how my all over pattern repeat turned out.

…tearing journal pages…

…setting the nature girl jewelry on a shelf …

…sewing pocket journals together.

The grand reopening of the seedpod shop will be this Friday, November 14th!  I’ll start getting things posted after I feed my kids lunch, so there will be postcards from the still life project, those little necklaces up there, and a whole slew of pocket journals with hand printed covers sometime Friday afternoon.

Come join my party!!

Once upon a time I started an etsy shop. Anyone remember? I never even got around to stocking it for the holidays, though I did make some handprinted paper for covers.

Well, I finally turned all that handprinted paper into books.

I think I’ve got my second wind here. It seems that I start to feel good the last month of each pregnancy. I have energy, don’t need a nap every day, feel full of ideas… And let me tell you, I am SO thankful for that! I’ve had horrible hip and sciatic nerve pain since I started showing. A month ago I was seriously afraid that I was not going to survive until March, or at least have to get a walker or a wheelchair. That was the worst of it, and it has been uphill since the second week of January or so. Now I’ve even had the energy to swim laps a couple of times a week. Oh– the freedom of swimming while pregnant! There isn’t anything as liberating, that I can think of, except laying on your stomach right after the baby is born.

So, now I need to order newborn diapers, buy some onsies and a few clothes, and find a blankie (or mi-mi, as my kids call them). Each of my kids sleeps with a receiving blanket from Gymboree. They are sooo soft and snuggly. I think this time I will be shopping from right here instead of braving the mall. I think I’ll take a look right now…

Oh yeah, I’m a printmaker! I spent my last 2 years of college in the printmaking lab. Sometimes nearly 24 hours a day. I love printing things. I love making one thing to make something else a whole bunch of times. I like to have an extra to give to my mom. I like to plan and retrace and perfect my drawings before they become something. I like to print things. I am a printmaker!

Welcome to my birthday party. We went to the art store this morning. I got some screens, bulbs, and ink, came home, drew and planned, and once Logan was down for a nap I got to work! It was so cool how fast the screen was made. Flash–just like that. I went the low tech route to make my master by just drawing with the Riso pen (that came with the press) and filled in an area with Sharpie. Over all I was pleased as punch, though the part I had planned on being a flat color didn’t burn completely and had some texture. I actually like that in the finished print though. Want to see it? Well, here it is:

I drew the tulip tree pod hanging on my mobile.

It is the same screen printed twice with two different colors of ink. The paper is Rives BFK becuase I have tons of scraps. It has some texture, but not too much. The ink sits beautifully on it. I learned that when I mix an ink color I need to make more than I think I need so that I get adequate coverage. I didn’t make quite enough of the bluish color and the line drawing pod is splotchy in the middle. I used Simple Green (thanks to all the awesome info over at the Gocco flickr group) to clean my screen in between colors and it worked like a charm without any toxic chemicals. On the brown run I used the ink blocking foam to guard the solid seedpod from getting printed and that worked just perfectly. So, all in all I call my first printing a success

Here it is on Rives Lightweight in a creamy color. Oh, and without the blue ink…

Now, how could a birthday get any better? I have the BEST husband this world has ever seen.

(Well, I did get a light blue fleece jacket from my inlaws, which I really needed. It’s cute and feminine and warm. THANKS!!)

There are some new pocket journals and quilt books up for sale.

All Quilt Journals have free shipping!

I think sewing paper is very cool.

I’ve still got this one. I realy like the shiny shell button.

This was the first one I finished. I still have it.

This was my favorite. I made the flower with angora/ lambswool blend felt that April and I made together. It sold, so I’ll have to make another one.

Even though I didn’t put a button closure on it the felt lies open when you want it too, but the book stays shut too.

More little angora/ lambswool felt flowers.

This one will be a birthday gift for April (tomorrow!).
(She has dial-up, so I know she won’t be reading this.)

Now, here are some cutie-cute-cuties. My friend April has been busy devloping the pattern for these rabbits and their clothes. She spun yarn, dyed it and knit away. I’m so excited that she found something so fun to do that she is so good at!

Here’s a detail of my favorite. I wish I could remember her name. She’s knit out of handspun angora/lambswool and feels heavenly soft and snuggly. She’s got a hooded sweater and her ears fit through the hood, I just love it!

If anyone wants the book she made of the pattern just e-mail me (jessica at seedpodbooksandart dot com). It’s well worth the $8!

Remember the felt I made with my kids? Here it is in book form.

This book makes me smile. Why, you ask? Because the cutest ladies in the entire universe bought it. I guess the Smuckers sisters are a bit of a legend in mid-Ohio. They are little Mennonite ladies that are older than dirt (late 80s, early 90s) and cuter than anything else I can imagine. They wandered around the show with their cute bonnets and rain coats, their skinny little ankles showing under their hand made dresses. Their backs were a little hunched, their eyes twinkled. They stopped at my booth and oohed and ahhed over my books. “We make books, you know,” one of them said to me. They loved the button on this one, inspected the paper, told me how they write poems, and keep journals and how you just can’t get by in life without a sister. I’ll never forget them, but I wish I had taken a picture of them!

Today was the Mid-Ohio Fiber Gathering in DeGraff, Ohio. April and I were packed up and on the road around 7:30. It started out cold and rainy, then became cold and snowy… and we stayed cold the whole day long. Ohio cold is different than Idaho or Utah or New Mexico cold. This cold soaks into your skin and settles in your bones and stays there. It is damp and clammy and bitter.

But enough with the cold (even though I am bitter with this trick Mother Nature has subjected us to after a couple of weeks of short wearing- playing outside weather). We had fun. I had my usual “Learn to Spin” drop spindle kits and Niddy-Noddy-Nostepinnes. Even more exciting for me were my felt books.

Barry just updated my WordPress and now I can’t figure out how to post images. I’m pretty bummed out about that because I want someone out there to see my cute new books and April’s awesome knit bunnies. But, alas, Barry is bowling with the Elder’s Quorom tonight. Maybe Monday. Bummer.

Today the kids helped me make my biggest piece of felt ever. Then I cut it up and we broke out the Kool-Aid. I’m pleased with the colors we got. These are going to make some cute little journals, don’t ya think?

OK, here is the blog. Let the games begin!