week thirty-seven 2025

Last week was non stop. The highlight of the week was hosting Cozy Stationery Friends Club meet up.

CSF Club gathers together and journals while sharing goods. It’s a community of stationery lovers who are gracious and thoughtful beings. It was a pleasure to host them. My goal was to introduce them to letterpress printing and create a keepsake they would use in their journals. While brainstorming I remembered I had Neenah's line of uncoated paper labels on hand. I also have lots of random printer's cuts from the 1900’s that would make great stickers.

The meet up date was quickly approaching and I realized I had no time to typeset. Thankfully Liz, a fellow letterpress artist, was available. I explained my idea and she got to work. She created a 15 different sticker options. After some trial and error, she narrowed it down to 12. After all the type was set, the next hurdle was pre-perfing all the sheets. Thankfully, Liz is a pro and measured and adding and subtracted fractions like a mathematician. It was time consuming but worth it, the stickers were perfection. And the CSF Club members loved them.

The entire meet up was joyful! We host quite a few events throughout the year and the CSF Club members are OUR people. They respected our space, cleaned up after themselves and listened when it mattered and all were very appreciative. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Stationery People are the best people! Special thanks to Liz for the assist. You made my idea a reality and created a great experience for all.

The majority of the week was spent letterpress printing, die cutting and prepping for Saturday’s meet up. We're prepping for the holidays over here, which means printing and restocking cards we sold through. We're also prepping for show season, which means making sure every card we stock is actually in stock. The presses have been non-stop.  I also took one afternoon to restock the shelves and dust and making the shop shine for our guests. It was nice change of pace to wander the shop and touch every little thing.

We received a bunch of washi tape, sticky notes and markers from Japan. This was the last of the Japan orders I had anticipated would arrive before the the U.S. De Minimis exemption overturn on August 29th. Sadly, the company was overwhelmed with orders and couldn't ship ours until September 1st. Before I can price and put out the order, I'm waiting on Trump's illegal tariff bill to arrive. Until then, I'll be keeping everything in storage (sigh). Zoom in on all that amazing washi tape! I'm excited and can't wait to put it out. Stay tuned, I'm hoping it's on the floor by mid-October.

Random randomness...
•Tuesday night I met my bestie, Jaime at Uvae in Andersonville. It was delicious! The bread and spreads was the highlight of the meal. They have a delicious Willamette Valley Pinot Noir that I love. Fun fact, for Jaime's 40th birthday, a group of us visited Willamette Valley for wine tasting. Stollar Family Estate was one of the first stops we made, it's a treat to get it in Chicago. 

•Wednesday Tom and I went to see Wet Leg with our friends Manny and Myriam. Last year, I shared a Wet Leg song with Myriam when she was needing some motivation. She was an instant fan. Myriam kept mentioning when they tour, please let's go. I jumped at the presale at Salt Shed when they announced their tour. Last time I saw Wet Leg they opened for Jack White. This was the first time we'd see them headline. They did NOT disappoint. They were fantastic. The entire set (while short) was energetic and rocked. The crowd was really into it too, which made it even better. And just when I thought it couldn't be more perfect, a giant, beautiful moon rose. If they aren't on your radar, give them a listen.

•Saturday after the CSFC meet up, Tom and I picked up Jaime and headed to Moody's Pub for celebratory burgers and beer. Moody's is always on our summer checklist with it's huge patio. We hadn't been this year, I'm glad we eeked it in. I create my own burger, I call it the martini burger with blue cheese and green olives. It's delicious. Afterward, we hit Brownstone Antiques, a shop I have to visit if I'm anywhere near Edgewater. If you're in the market for vintage homegoods, this is the place. It was amazing day!

What a great week 37! Thanks for following along.