My mom got married and we made her a cute announcement

My mom is super cute and such a fun grandma to my kids! She lives in Kansas, where I’m from, so we are lucky to see her every few months. She is awesome about visiting LA throughout the year, and then I take the boys there in the summer. Back in December, she got married to the greatest guy. Since they didn’t have a wedding, I wanted to make an announcement for her to send out to family and friends. She and Gary live on a sweet farm and have horses, among lots of other animals. She loved the idea of the card saying that they’d gotten “hitched” and wanted to enclose a picture of them sitting in their horse carriage. The best part was that my mom was here when I printed them so she got to see the letterpress process and me “in action”. It was a special experience for me to share that with her and I loved receiving my announcement in the mail a few weeks later. Love you, mom! So happy for you guys!

The (Struggle) Juggle of it all

Last weekend two of my very best friends came to LA to visit. We had so much fun catching up, mostly sharing stories about our day-to-day lives and what it’s like raising kids in different parts of the country. All three of us have small children, ranging in age from 2 – 8. We are self-proclaimed “Stay at home moms” and all three of us are starting to dip our toes into working “outside of the home” again. And let me tell you, there is no mistaking – this is a serious juggle. At some point in the weekend, we each talked about how hard it is to maintain all of the needs of our kids and our homes, while creating something meaningful in our chosen professional and creative endeavors. It just so happens that we are all pretty much Type A (though I maintain that since I’ve had kids I’m more Type B+). We all worked hard in college and dreamed about big careers. And now, as an extension of that – we love to throw our kids spectacular birthday parties, we love to volunteer at their schools, go on fieldtrips, shop for birthday presents, write thank you notes, plan play dates and summer camp, and talk to our own moms more than once a week, all while making sure there’s healthy food in the fridge and clean close in the drawers. And ALL of that can be hard when you have deadlines.

It struck me that we’ve all been pretty lucky to choose new paths that allow us the flexibility to take care of our families. That is huge and not a lot of moms have that. For me, I can print from home now. Just last week I printed a job in my pajamas! No joke – it had to be done and I started at 9:00 pm after my older son went to bed. This was never my vision when I thought about myself working from home. My girlfriends and I get our work done during preschool and naptimes and sometimes we have to put an extra episode of Daniel Tiger on to finish up that last email. Sometimes we have to order pizza, again, because we didn’t have time to go the market or prep dinner. As Tim Gunn says, we’re “making it work.” For me, it means a lot less down time. I don’t watch as much TV at night or get to the gym as often as I should and I definitely don’t talk to my friends as much as I would like to. My first priority is and will always be the kids and their little lives. But after that, I am so lucky and excited to be learning how to juggle all of my family’s needs with my passion for letterpress. I may be more tired at the end of the day, but I am incredibly fulfilled…and incredibly happy.

How it all started…every blog needs a little back-story!

April 1st was no April Fool’s Day around here! It marked the birthday of Paper Doll Press having its own home. It will forever be ingrained in my mind the moment I pulled my first proof off of my Vandercook 4 press in my own garage, in my own home. It has been a dream in the making for some time now.

I started letterpress printing in 2004 after I took a workshop at Art Center College of Design. Newly married, no kiddos yet and living in a small apartment in Pasadena, I reached out to area printers to see if I could rent studio space locally. I had no idea what I was really doing, but I knew I loved it and I wanted to do it all the time. Here’s the thing about letterpress printers – they are super cool and generous (that’s how I plan to be!). So I quickly got the green light from local printer, Annika Buxman, owner of DeMilo Design, so I started working in her studio in Old Town on a trade basis. I would work for her and trade her in hours. It was a great set up for us because I could work during the weekends when she wasn’t there and since we were trading I didn’t have to put a lot of money up in rental fees. That first year I set up my “official” business after finding the perfect name, thanks to my writer husband and I also created Cards On Hand, which has become one of my signature products. And I had a blast. From there I continued to work and eventually did my first few wedding invitations. I’m afraid to say, when I look back on doing those, I cringe a little. There is just such a huge learning curve when working at that level. I made (and still make) a lot of mistakes. And I asked my mentors at every turn for help. I was still having fun and didn’t mess anyone’s wedding up too badly.

Annika’s letterpress

Cards on Hand Set

Wedding Invitation

AND THEN WE DECIDED TO HAVE A BABY.

I was advised from my mentor at Art Center, Gloria Kondrup, that it might not be the best idea to keep printing while pregnant. There are inks and cleaning solvents to think about, not to mention the grueling aspect of being on your feet for hours. So I decided to stop. We had Charlie and I was completely devoted to him for the first year. But I was getting antsy to create again and we found a little daycare where he could go a couple days a week so I could print. I started printing at Gloria’s studio and that’s when things really blew up. A lot of my friends were having babies and getting married, so suddenly I had a lot of work! It was awesome and busy and I kept making mistakes and learning. We also bought a house and I fantasized about turning my garage into a studio, but my husband had already called dibs on it for his home office. He writes professionally and pays the bills so I really couldn’t complain about that! So I kept going to Gloria’s and working hard and loving it. And then we decided to try for a sibling for Charlie. I stopped printing again. It took a bit longer the second time and between pregnancy and staying home with Sam for a whole two years, my break from letterpress was almost four years, with the exception of an occasional weekend workshop to keep up my skills. Six weeks before we had Sam we moved into our dream home in Pasadena. Part of why we loved the house so much was the amazing studio garage. The previous owners had used it as an artist studio so we knew we could make it work for us as a shared space. It gave me such a sense of peace to know there was a space waiting for me when the time was right. And then, just weeks after I delivered Sam, my friend and fellow printer Leslie let me know she was selling her Vandercook press. She knew I wanted it and knew I had a place to put it. But I was so tired and overwhelmed from having a second baby and wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with it right then. But my husband encouraged me to get the press and not give up on my dreams of having my own studio one day. That’s one of the many, many reasons I love that man.

Moving the Press In

Press All Wrapped Up

Last summer, Sam started preschool and I started working again for Annika and on my own projects. I have loved being in her studio because she is such an established and professional printer. She has taught me so much and helped me once again with my learning curve. I was hired to do a wedding, amongst other fun projects and my Cards on Hand sets sold like hot cakes. So finally, just this spring, I mustered up the courage and reached out to the best press mechanic in the land, Bob. He visited a couple of times and after A LOT of elbow grease and adjustments, my baby is up and running. I can’t quite explain the amount of joy and terror I have from having my own studio. I know I will continue to learn and make (a lot of) mistakes, but mostly I am proud and excited to be making a dream nearly 10 years come true. At the end of everything is my immense love for letterpress printing and for creating one of a kind invitations and stationery. And I am so excited for this next chapter!

Bob Adjusting the Press

Press is up and Running!