Puppy Patrol!

I have been on full puppy duty! Maren needs constant supervision, so it's been hard to get anything meaningful done. Hopefully soon I can get some photos done of some of my latest work and show you some of the fun things I've been letterpressing/designing. In the meantime I need to protect the house from being eaten by a puppy! Here are more pictures, taken with the built-in camera in my Macbook Pro.

Maren Rhymes with Karen

Meet our new family member! Her name is Maren and she's an almost 4-month old Mini-Dachshund. Chris surprised me with her on Christmas morning at his parents' house...we were all eating breakfast and in he walked with a family friend (who was dog-sitting for a few nights) carrying her wiggly body in his arms. She had a red bow tied around her neck and was just so precious. I loved her immediately! And she warmed right up to me quickly. What was fun was that his parents had taken care of her for the whole week before Christmas and I never knew! When we arrived 2 days before Christmas, the family friend took her in order to keep the surprise...and I never had any idea. When he came in with her, everyone had their cameras and camcorders going and I just never noticed that they were all focused on me. At first I thought "Look! There's a little dog he brought to show us!!" But then everyone was looking at me and Chris said "Merry Christmas Meg!!" That's when I realized that she was really mine. Fun!! This has been the most uplifting and special surprise and I just can't thank everyone who helped make it happen enough. She's a true joy! To Chris' parents: thank you for all you did to take care of her...a puppy! I know that is so much work!! I'm just sorry it was so sad to take her home with us after you bonded with her. She's lucky to have such great "grandparents" that she trusts and knows. And we will always bring her with us when we visit. Chris, thank you so much for this thoughtful and loving gift. You are so wonderful,caring and sweet...and you knew just what I needed yet I never asked. Yes, she will go for walks with me as I get more exercise and keep me company while I work. She will bring me cheer and smiles throughout the day and give me a little life to take care of while we prepare to hopefully have a baby one day soon. With all the hardships we've been through this year (and, yes, there were lots of high points too!) she is such a wonderful blessing of cheer. Thank you again; I am so lucky.
Now we have to keep working on her training! Maybe she can be my letterpress helper?

Happy Holidays!

I am off today to celebrate Christmas with my family and then with Chris' family. I hope everyone has a lovely holiday and I'll be back with lots of posts showing recent work when I return! All my best wishes to everyone; may you find every happiness you all deserve.

Wanna show...

I have done so many little letterpress stationery projects lately...I can't wait to show them to you! But most of them are holiday gifts for people and I don't want to spoil anyone's gift! But I will be sure to post them after the holiday for sure. I just got a new plate in for my next card design. This time I will be doing folded cards and the design is a little more "pattern-y" and traditional. But I plan on using a fun color to give it some edge. We'll see how it goes. I have been working on lots of different plans and designs for my products for the new year so I'm hoping they come to fruition and that y'all like them. In the meantime, I have to go wrap some gifts. Believe it or not I HATE wrapping gifts. Lots of crafty people love this sort of thing but not me. I'm so bad at it. And it bores me to tears. It's the sort of thing I appreciate when I see it...but I don't like to do it myself. You would think I would be finding lots of cool glorious paper or print my own pattern or something...but no. I feel proud that I even wrap the darn things instead of sticking them in a gift bag (which I'd probably rather do). I'm terrible. A terrible, terrible art person. I'll go flog myself with the tape dispenser now. (If only I could operate it correctly).

Polar Express

It has been snowing like crazy here and has finally ended today. It is thigh-deep...good times.
Yesterday we set up the Lionel train set Chris' parents gave us for Christmas last year...it's a replica of "The Polar Express" from the book (many also know of the movie). It even has the little characters you can attach to the train and a reindeer harness bell you can ring. hee! Since we won't be around here to celebrate Christmas this year (will be with Chris' family) we didn't see the point of setting up a whole tree. We have a little tiny one that my husband grew up with they once used as one of the table centerpieces during the holiday feast. Each year since he was born, his grandmother gave him a silver ornament for the tree. A red velvet ribbon ties each ornament to each branch. He now has many on there and it's so fun to look at each unique silver treasure... When we got married, Chris' mom handed over (a little sadly I think) the little tree for us to have and now we set it up each holiday. Chris' brother has the same kind of tree and ornaments of his own...a lovely tradition and such a great idea! Here's our little holiday set up with the train in motion! We look forward to having the train at the base of our big Christmas tree one day...when we have children and celebrate our own traditions. But for now we figured why wait until we have kids to enjoy the toy train? And you know what? It is more fun to watch than I thought it would be.

Anchors Aweigh!

As promised, here is the newest notecard in my shop...

Set of 5 plain white flat letterpressed note cards with a navy blue anchor motif on the top center. Set comes with 5 white matching 100% cotton envelopes.
Size of notecards: 4.25" high x 5.5" wide.
Paper is 100% cotton, Crane's Lettra letterpress paper. Ultra thick (110# cover weight), soft, and pillowy soft.

Great for a small gift...
Grab it here...

Walk on

Putting one foot in front of the other is a great metaphor for life's journey. No matter what, we are moving forward whether we like it or not. So you'd better stay upright or you'll have some serious road-rash on your ass. Ever since I started working for myself and am at my home office and studio I find that I move MUCH LESS than I used to. When I worked at my corporate design job I scurried around that huge building like a rat on fire. I've always been slim and had a speedy metabolism. I would say my eating habits are pretty good...lots of balanced meals that are small. But over the past year and 8 months of working for myself I've put on about 14 pounds steadily. It has crept up on me and now most of my pants won't button. *sigh* With everything going on with my pregnancy losses I think the depression has held me in its frozen cloud. I kept thinking "Well, maybe I'm just bloated today." or "I'll start exercising tomorrow" and time has marched on. Lately, my idea of movement and exercise has been to take a shower and make my way to my desk chair or the couch. Phew! I always remember to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. Having always been not particularly athletic but active, I now realize how little I move during the day. So I'm starting small. I started walking on the treadmill. This morning, before getting ready for the day, I walked 1.85 miles and burned 120 calories. I went at a brisk pace but didn't try to go crazy with it. And you know what? I felt so much better about myself when I was done. I did it for a half-hour (and didn't care how far I went or anything) and watched the Today show while doing it. That Matt Lauer is such a cut-up. Anyway, I thought to myself "hey, I MOVED today...I DID something good for myself." And it's better than not moving at all. I feel like I have some energy right now and I feel a little bit more motivated than normal. So, I think I will try to do this each morning as a trigger to start my day. No more loafing along through the day in my sweats. I will get up, walk and burn off the stress and sadness, and then shower and *gasp* get properly dressed for the day (working for oneself makes it so easy to stay in sweatsuits all the time but this does not help one's state of mind I promise you). This will help me establish a habit and put me in my OWN workplace routine. Just because I'm in my home doesn't mean I have to act like it during business hours. Now, they just need to invent a fake boss--a life-sized figurine that I can position just outside the office door peeking in at me making sure I'm staying on track and not playing around on the internet during office hours. On the other hand, maybe not.
PS, I'm wearing my new shirt! It's this one.

Unsticky

Ugh. Things just aren't going so great in our journey to conceive a child. I'm having another miscarriage right now. My second miscarriage and third pregnancy loss...all in a row. The nurse who is working with me has suggested I see a fertility specialist (a reproductive endocrinologist) to figure out what might be wrong. But, they typically wait until you have 3 or more unexplained miscarriages and I've only had 2. So, we will try (in the future) one more time. Hopefully I won't need to see a specialist and it will work out that time. But, I will expect the worst and hope for the best. I need to remember how lucky I am...that I can catch the egg. Now, I just need it to stay with me more than a few days. We knew this one was coming because I was having blood tests every other day to make sure things looked alright. We learned right away that we were doomed, so at least it wasn't a surprise. They tested my thyroid for problems this time around and nothing was out of the ordinary. I know it will happen for us one day; it's just a hard journey where each loss feels so traumatic yet is old news to those around you.
I'll keep you posted, of course, if any developments happen in that area of my life. This blog, "Megan creates..." is about creating. It's about creating art, design, and creating each day. It's even about my attempts to create life. A task I have very little control of and one that is harder than I ever imagined. The word create can mean so many things and doesn't always mean in the way of creativity. It's about waking up each morning and knowing you are working with a blank canvas and each decision you make that day shapes and molds your experience. Whether you're creating a fabulous meal, a mess, a cozy nest to live in, a marriage, or a snazzy career...
Onto a different side of my life: work. I've completed lots of personalized letterpress orders this week and it's been so much fun to work on them. I'm really getting the hang of my press and the little things I need to do to keep it working. My press is in my basement studio space where it is cold. So, in summer I have to adjust the tape on the rails to be one way while it's warm while in winter I adjust them differently. I've got it down so I don't need to experiment anymore...it always seems to be a set formula for the tape. Finally, I get even prints every time. Progress! This makes it easier since I have a few more projects to print this week and I really need everything to cooperate! Stay tuned tomorrow as I'll show my latest shop item.

Hoot!

I love this eco-friendly wooden postcard by Night Owl Paper Goods! They have a wide array to choose from and make such a nice little trinket to get in the mail. I can't part with mine so it now lives on my inspiration board in my studio. Am spending much of the week printing in the studio. I worked on custom notecards yesterday, as I will today, tomorrow, and the next day. I'm also working on custom wedding materials with only a few days to turn them around (it won't be letterpressed, though, in that timeline). It's a fun theme and a fun project that I'll hope to share here when finished. Next week will find me working on a birth announcement and holiday card project on the press...and then I'll really have to buckle down and get my own holiday stuff done! Happy day everyone!