Lisa: Adieu, adieu, to yuh and yuh and yuh

Another thing I'll miss about summer: the fleet of strollers outside the door of our church on Sunday mornings. Yes, that's three double-wide strollers you see in the picture. Crazy Mormons.

Sarah: Up to No Good

My energy seems to have been spent elsewhere as of late, so my blogging has been a bit more sparse. Perhaps it went towards something like:

Making my own Seven Sins Pillow

Applying for graduation

Trying out a new cardmaking technique (Yeesh, the green is slightly less radioactive in real life.)

Responding to Jeff's adorable card

Enjoying my gifts from Japan (Thanks, Val!)
Pink text: Fruit Train -- Welcome to the country of the fruit. What do you see in this fruit? It is a train that carries your dream.
Yellow text: Cheese Driving* This rat goes to buy food while taking the cheesecar on the weekend.

Anyway, I'm keeping busy, and I like you. More entries brewing!

Lisa: don't worry, he's not a democrat either

Before camera phones, we just had to tell our friends about the crazy cars we saw driving in front of us. Now, we can show a photo of said craziness to the entire world. Isn't this a magical time?

I'm not sure you can read the fine print there, but if you prove him wrong (presumably on ANY of the text written on his vehicle), he'll pay you $5. Not bad! Although you would have to talk to a crazy person. So...not great.

Sarah: Call Me, On the Line

I love the idea of a calling card. Like a business card, but for personal use, a calling card is unusual but traditional, cool and sophisticated, and much classier than writing your number on the inside of a matchbook. (Although that has some awesome kitsch value too.) I decided I wanted some calling cards of my own that (hopefully) reflected some of my interests. Here's what I ended up with:

Calling Card Tutorial

Materials:

- Cardstock. I used green cardstock, but I wish it were thicker. Bring a business card with you to the paper store so that you understand the relative weight of your paper when you're deciding.
- Linoleum Block. Think of it like a stamp that you cut yourself. Maybe you could use a halved potato as a stamp instead, like when you were a kid. Or actual stamps, if you have some that you love. You get the idea.
- Ink. I used white screenprinting ink because I had it on hand, but I'd recommend something less thick and gloppy, if you have your choice. Ink intended to be used on paper would be better. Even a stamp pad might be fine.

Tools:
- Paper cutter. To cut your paper into card-sized pieces, of course.
- Linoleum cutting tool. I love my Linoleum Cutter from Speedball, which I purchased at Utrecht Art Supply. It has 5 or so different blades that store in the handle, and they're super sharp. Excellent.
- If you use thick ink, you'll need a brayer and a piece of acrylic or glass (I used an 8x10 sheet of glass stolen from a picture frame). Unless you've come up with some other solution, like the stamp pad.
- Typewriter. It's just not the same if you print your name and number on the computer. Typewriters are much better.

Now that you've gathered some supplies together, let's get to work.

Instructions:

- Cut a design into your lino block. Remember, you'll be inking up the raised surface, so cut away any areas you don't want printed. And obviously your printed image will be flipped from what you're cutting, so any words or numbers should appear backwards on the lino block. Like I said above, it's like a stamp. The Linoleum Cutter is a sharp little bugger, so try not to cut off too many fingers.

My shapes were loosely inspired by this fabric I saw in a Pottery Barn catalog, inspired by Josef Frank.

Frank's fabrics were featured in Mamma Mia (I loved looking for them after reading design*sponge), and they're amazing. I do not mean to compare my crude shapes to Frank's awesome patterns, I was just delighted to be inspired. Moving on.

-Once the linoleum block is finished, you're ready to start printing. I wanted my pattern to be a little different on each card, so I didn't worry about where it would fall. First, roll the ink using the brayer out onto your piece of glass. This lets you get a thin, smooth layer of ink on the brayer. Roll the brayer across the lino block until the printable area is nicely inked up.

Then press the lino block onto the paper, re-inking as necessary.

- You're almost done. If you plan to print your contact information using a computer, now is the time to format your document accordingly. This is a perfectly acceptable method, but you will have slightly less street cred than those individuals using typewriters.

- If using a typewriter, I suggest cutting your paper into cards now. The standard business card size is 3 1/2 inches by 2 inches. Or postcards would be fun. Square would be unusual. Twice as wide or tall, then folded over? My heart is all a-flutter.

- Typing, my favorite part! I compromised for centering my information. Originally, I'd envisioned my name and number along the bottom of the card, leaving plenty of white space for a quickly scrawled message, if needed. Unfortunately, such careful registration on a typewriter is a little unrealistic. This works too.

- Then you're done. Slip a small stack of cards in your purse or back pocket and wait to be asked for your number. Or don't wait, but hand your card to the cutest guy in the room, you saucy minx.

Sarah: Pontificating on Punctuation

Today is National Punctuation Day and, in its honor, I planned to tell you which punctuation mark is my favorite. It was too hard to decide.

& I love the curvy, sexy ampersand.
, I abuse and overuse the comma. It is my partner in crime when I compose endless lists.
[] I prefer the straight lines of brackets to parentheses, but ours is a secret love. We rarely see each other outside of class notes.
' The apostrophe seems to be the most abused punctuation. For National Punctuation Day (actually, every day), I encourage the English speaking world to insert that little apostrophe between the U and R, giving it a little E love. For today, let's have no more declarations that "Your great."

Sarah: Moving on

Tomorrow will be my last day at my job. The company where I've worked for 3.75 years. My first desk job, my first professional writing, my first event planning.

I've been lucky to work with friends, and to have the best bosses imaginable.

This job allowed me to rent an apartment, patiently worked around my school schedule, taught me patience. I could not be moving on to my new employer without the skills I have gained over the past several years. My company took a chance on a 20 year old student with no office experience and no previous long term employment. I hope that I've helped them as much as they have helped me.

I'm excited to move on, but incredibly thankful for where I've been. Thank you.

Sarah: It could be worse, aka Radio Science

There's something charming and romantic about the fact that authors Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning called their son (whose full name was Robert Wiedeman Barrett Browning) "Pen."

At the very least, it's better than Pilot Inspektor.

Lisa: What, you don't have a decoupaged business card holder?

Before everything went insane, Jeremy, Marci, Mallory, and Sarah came over for a super Saturday craft day. We pooled our craft supplies and everybody brought treats, and it was awesome. Sarah came up with the idea to decorate office stuff, and I went a little crazy with Mod Podge and some scrapbook paper.

I promise, more real entries to come when it's not my last week at work.