The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Once again, real life has managed to get in the way of blogging. Sorry! Just wanted to take a quick minute to say hi and seasons greetings to you all:) I will try very hard to get back to our regularly scheduled blogging program once the new year starts.

{photo courtesy of my buddy Steve}

This is Maura and I hanging out this past weekend at our annual holiday open house (the main reason why I haven't posted in a while...its a lot harder to plan a party for 50 people with a 3 month old!). My how a year can change things! This exact time last year I had just had an embryo transfer and we were in the 2 week wait to find out if our first cycle of in vitro fertilization and ICSI had worked. It did, and this year we have so much to be thankful for:)

Whatever you are celebrating, I hope its happy..and filled with joy...and family...and love. Merry Christmas!

A Woodland Tree

The tall, skinny fake tree in our family room (named Alphie after a song from the John Denver and the Muppets Christmas album - one of my favorites) got some new decor this year - birds' nests and eggs. (The real, live tree is in our living room and is still in progress.)

My Advice for New Moms

Hey there! I'm honored to be guest blogging over at Odi et Amo today for Averill's "Advice for New Mom" series. Every Tuesday Averill (who is expecting a baby boy in March) features a different guest mom blogger who shares her bits of wisdom, product recommendations, nursery pics, etc. Yay! Check it out here:)



Ps. If you don't usually read Odi et Amo, you should start...this girl has style and a great way with words!

Maura's Birth Announcements

I knew I wanted Maura to have a birth announcement, and I also knew that there was no way I'd have time to design and print and assemble them myself. Instead, I had my good friend-in-real- life Holly (we used to be product designers together), who writes the blog For the Love of Letterpress, make them for me:)

Holly has recently decided to start her own custom invitation and stationery company (go girl!)...except she has something I don't - a 1200lb Kluge 12 x 18 press!!!! People, this is huge! It means I now have someone to print in letterpress for me (we're working on my holiday cards now!) and my clients (so I could still do all the designing, but she could do the printing for me). Are you as excited as I am?

Ok, back to my baby. Here's the finished, lovely product:



Holly came up with several really good initial concepts for the announcement, but the one I loved the most featured this completely unique way of writing Maura's name. It's hand-drawn, not a font!!! So cool!



Something else Holly has that I don't is a Klik-n-Kut machine. She used this to cut out the light pink heart and frame around the photo (both out of Paper Source Blossom card stock) and then adhered them to the card. The paper is 110lb Fluorescent White Crane's Lettra and we had the photos printed at SmugMug.



Holly mixed ink that would match Paper Source's Strawberry color, so that I could send them in coordinating envelopes.



I asked Holly for some behind-the-scenes pics to share with you guys (I find the entire process fascinating!).

{Her initial sketch...I had her take out the larger hearts. Getting exactly what you want is one of the benefits of custom stationery!}

{the plate with the text that will be printed}

{the press in action...gorgeous ink color!}

{before assembly...frames that have already been cut on the left and blank printed cards on the right}

Thanks so much, Holly! We love them and you were super great to work with! A beautiful intro for Maura. And they are extra special because you made them! For more info, read Holly's post on these here.