week sixteen - 2025

I don't know about you all, but time is flying by for me. I was reviewing my planner yesterday and adding shows and events I have scheduled and considering what I may want to apply to and I was completely floored summer is a mere 8 weeks away. January felt like the slowest month ever, I somehow blinked and April is almost over. What have I been doing!?! I don't even know. I do know I've been looking at holiday card ideas. Have I told you about all my idea notebooks? I have a few, some may even say many. Basically I have notebooks scattered in places so that I can quickly jot down ideas. It can be a quick note, sketch or even a color scheme. These notebooks are everywhere. I like to have easy access for when the muse visits me. There's one by my printing presses, one in my purse, two in my office, one upstairs at home, one downstairs, one I take to shows and I'm certain if I look hard enough, one in my car. This makes it easier for me when I finally have time to sit and design. The thought is, I may not be feeling very creative when I finally have time to design, however, I can grab a notebook, flip though the notes and sketches and see what happens. Most often, a spark of creativity starts and I sketch or hop on the computer to design. So, yeah. It's already time for me to start working on new holiday cards. Since wholesale is our bread and butter, my goal is to have holiday done for the summer trade shows. While I'm personally not showing at any shows this year, I will be taking part in the online Faire Summer Market in July and want all my newbies to be on display for that. July and August are notoriously slow for businesses but the Faire Summer Market really helps alleviate that.Did you see last week we were part of a great article and video by Patty Wetli for WTTW? I'm sure I mentioned she visited us back in March. We had a wonderful conversation and somehow spent two hours chatting all things stationery. The article is live and I'm honored to have been included. Our stationery pals Paper & Pencil are also featured in the article. Check it out! 

Last week I spent time scoring all the cards I had cut down. It was a nice change of pace and I always enjoy listening to a book or podcast while doing so, stories help break up the monotony. After scoring I spent the rest of the day filing them away, and finding storage for the back stock. In doing all this I realized we are really low on some Mother's Day cards and almost all our Graduation cards. I have a spring show coming up and will be focusing on restocking those cards before. I put all our Mother's Day and Father's Day cards out in the shop and you all were ready! We sold lots this weekend. 

In the shop I restocked our LePens, our best selling colors - Oriental Blue, Black, Navy and Amethyst were looking a little sad. I also made a small order of Japanese stationery. I wanted to test the waters with tariffs. Like I said, it's a small order and when it arrives, I'll be setting it aside for a month to make sure I price it accordingly after tariffs and brokerage fees. Another shop favorite - Love Letters to the World is back in stock. Come and get 'em! Our website is exclusively our manufactured goods but if you see anything you like on social media or here and aren't local, reach out. I'm happy to send you some stationery love through the mail. We have several customers out of state who shop through our Instagram pics and features. 

Save the date! Our monthly Letter Writing Meet Up is Thursday, May 1st. Stop in for a minute or the entire two hours. Sit and write letters with like minded stationery lovers, sample our pens, use our washi, bring a bevie. We love sharing the magic of snail mail with you!

Sauced Spring Night Market is happening May 9 + 10 at Half Acre Beer Co. & we'll be there. There's no other market like Sauced. It's very high vibe filled with amazing local makers, artists and creatives alongside some amazing music and food. Oh! And drinks... lots of drinks. It's a blast. The DJ helps the event feel like a party not just a market and I love it. You'll love it too! It's free but you gotta RSVP, so get on it. Another bonus, Sauced finds the coolest spaces to host their market. Have you been to Half Acre Beer Co.? It's pretty great but you should see for yourself and while your at it, shop some local makers! Check out the lineup on Instagram.

Sauced
April 19 + 20
5pm - 10pm
RSVP required
Half Acre Beer Co. • 2050 West Balmoral Ave • Chicago

I had a lot of fun with friends last week! I had a delicious dinner at François Frankie with my closest pals, Jaime and Kim. These two are my ride or dies and I love when the three of us get together. The bar is a carousel that actually rotates, it was beautiful but thankfully we were on solid ground in the dining room. After, we went to Moulin Rouge the Musical at the Cadillac Palace Theater. It was gorgeous. The music, the costumes, the story, it was all perfection! I got to hang out with Jaime again on Saturday night. The Mr. is German and kinda stereotypical, he really loves beer. Dovetail, a great neighborhood German Brewery, hosted Kölsch Night, based off Cologne’s Beer Culture. It was a fun time, we met our friends Jaime, Adam and Tony there. Those 7oz. glasses never get cold and go down a little too easy. Afterward, we all headed to Begyle to play Skeeball. One thing about my friends, we love competition and skeeball! We played a lot of games all boys vs. girls. I'm not gonna say Jaime and I dominated BUT, we won the majority. Boys won the final match so I'm sure at least one of them will remember them winning. 

Random, randomness...
• I listened to 9 Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty. It's a thriller. I really enjoyed the story but the narrator wasn't my favorite. I got over it though and I'm glad I stuck with it. Like I said, the story was great. There's a Hulu show based off the book I'll be checking out soon. 
• Speaking of Hulu I binged Dying for Sex. Wow. Just Wow. I had a lot of big emotions watching it. I laughed a lot, I cried just as much. My friend Sam and Jaime both texted me about it seperately, they highly recommended it, I do too. If you haven't checked it out, please do. But take care, it is about breast cancer, which is triggering, I know. 
• When I was a kid my family always celebrated Easter with church, an egg hunt and delicious meal. Tom and I kept the meal and family tradition with mom (who keeps the church tradition). Tom made ribs and coleslaw, I made bloody mary's, these amazing Potatoes au Gratin by Cookie + Kate and Tom's mom's Raspberry Jello Salad (this one's similar). Mom made deviled eggs and coconut cream pie, my absolute favorite cream pie! It was a day of relaxation and feasting, my kinda day off.

That's week 16. Wow. SIXTEEN. There's still time to celebrate National Letter Writing month, write that letter, send that card! You could make someone's day.