Grey Moggie Press

More on gratitude

We've just returned from a weekend trip in Chicago, marking my first time in the Windy City. Mr. Moggie and I visited some friends of his whom I'd only met once before. They were rumored to be the sweetest people in the world, and my first encounter with them did not dispel that opinion. I'm happy to say that after spending a whole weekend them, I believe the rumor was an understatement.

Upon our return to Virginia, I'm reminded that we have so much to be thankful for. In particular, friends who opened their home, who urged Mr. Moggie and I to tell the story of how we met over dinner, who showed us around the cool neighborhoods and indulged my desire to visit several paper stores, who let Mr. Moggie run around the Green City Market filling his shopping bag with elk, lamb, and micro-greens. We're grateful for friends who celebrated academic and career milestones with us in the form of a delicious meal at Frontera Grill, who pointed out Rick Bayless when he chatted it up with nearby diners, who let us enjoy the company of their sweet dog. Thankful for our lovely friend who drove from the other side of the city to share an evening of wine, grilling, and pie with us.

I was so inspired during our trip. I can't wait to get my new ideas down on paper! For now, I've finally added the finishing touches to some thank you cards I pressed in the studio last week. Enjoy!

The Real Grey Moggie and her newest hiding place

The Real Grey Moggie has developed a few strange habits this summer. I'm pretty sure the unusual behavior is related to our new habit of being out of town almost every weekend. She's gotten a lot more vocal in the past couple months. It's almost as if she is so excited to find us asleep in our bed on mornings when we're actually here that she just can't contain her little meows.

She's also found new places to perch around our tiny apartment. Her favorite is probably the mesh top of the drying rack. I imagine it's like napping in a hammock when she curls up in a ball up there among the drying delicates. The other new spot for napping is the top drawer of my dresser. I usually leave the drawer open while I unpack from our weekend trips because it's where I keep a lot of random travel items.

And apparently a sweet grey kitty.

Letterpress Thank You Cards

I made these thank you cards the last time I was in the letterpress studio. I'm getting much more comfortable with the table top press now and it's very exciting.

I made these for a friend who asked me to make a stack of thank you cards using using blue, white, and gold.  I saved the typeset at the studio so the next time I go, I can run another group using different colors. 

Baby Shower Invitations

A friend of mine is expecting in September and she is hosting a little baby party later this summer to celebrate the baby's upcoming arrival. she and her husband want to be surprised by the sex of the baby when he or she is born. when she asked me to work on invites for the event, I thought some sweet yellow and green would be perfect.

I letterpressed "it's a baby CELEBRATE" in green along the top of some yellow flat cards. It was the first time I used a platen press, which is the kind of press I'd have for a home studio. It was a lot of fun, and I felt like I was really part of the printing process because it was the force of my own arm impressing the letters on the paper.

Then I added the invitation details to these fun sage round labels from paper source, and filled in the empty space with some baby themed stamps.

Stationery for Mr. Moggie

Project #2 on the Vandercook:

holiday rainbow lights...

Before my first letterpress lesson, the instructor told me to come up with a quote or poem, basically some words, so that I could actually do some printing. On the way over to the lesson, Gospel by The National started playing from my iPod. It's such a sweet song and can bring incredibly vivid images to mind. Interestingly, the song conjures up completely different images for me than it does for Mr. Moggie. I see a lazy afternoon in the south, a back porch, lots of greens and strung lights that twinkle on as it turns into evening.

I really want to become comfortable using a table top platen press, but that first day I used a Vandercook. It was amazing! and relaxing. and i just love what i produced. I've decided that these are going to be incorporated into our holiday cards this year and can't wait to print more. stay tuned for a sneak peek of those.

 

The Real Grey Moggie...and dinosaurs

 

So it's been a while. Perhaps I haven't been writing because the Real Grey Moggie has been sitting on my computer all this time! No, that's not the case. We've just been real busy here, what with weddings and a new job and letterpress lessons. Yes, I did say letterpress lessons. More on that later!!

For now, I leave you with this story.

We're in the middle of a heat wave over here. So, on Saturday, when Mr. Moggie and I ventured out of house for some Mexican food, the only thing cool enough to wear was a pair of short jean shorts. On the walk home I noted to Eric that I wouldn't have been allowed to wear the shorts at my high school. The rule on length was that skirts and shorts had to go beyond your fingertips when your arms were at your sides.

Fast forward to Sunday, and another walk home. Out of the blue, Mr. Moggie says, "I was thinking, a dinosaur like the T. Rex could have gotten away with wearing very little at your high school."

Dinosaurs wearing mini-skirts; this is what he thinks about.