Two sassy "You Said It, Sister" holiday cards

I tend to be sentimental when it comes to designing holiday greeting cards. But while restocking the card above from the "You Said It, Sister" line for a shop, it occurred to me that it could be converted into holiday card for Christmas and Hannukah. So here they are, fresh off the printer … they're available in the studio, at The Framery in Hyde Park, and sometime today, at Indigenous in O'Bryonville.

Holiday madness!

Just posted this Studio Schedule on the Open Studios page, but thought I'd post here, too …

Additional holiday hours at Paper With a Past studio

12:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday Dec. 11

12:30- 9 p.m. Friday Dec . 12  *see below

10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday Dec. 13

12:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday Dec. 18

10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday Dec. 20

* "Stuff I Can't Bear to Cut Up" Special Event

12:30-9 p.m. Friday Dec. 12
(before, and during Open Studios)

Antique and vintage paper from the archives

that is artful enough on its own to be framed and hung on a wall,
from maps, fashion plates and children's book illustrations
to magazine covers, advertisements and anatomical engravings.

Some are matted, some are not.

All have insanely low prices.

Stop by to browse the print bins for that perfect present.

Larger than life

As I've been going through the stacks and stacks and stacks of Life magazines given to me by illustrator C.F. Payne, I keep coming across striking advertisements.

No surprise there. Advertising companies have always been at the forefront of graphic design. But there are few that seem as fresh today as then. Among them, ads for Curtiss candy company, makers of all kinds of goodies, including the yummy Butterfinger and Baby Ruth bars. (Love the tagline for Butterfinger: "rich in dextrose." The food police would have a field day with that today.)

The ads are big, bold and modern. The only bad thing about them? They were placed on opposite pages, not the magazines' centerfolds. Even so, they'd be terrific framed. Joining them would be tricky. I tried to remove the pages carefully, but it is old paper (circa 1940s).

Here are the ads found so far, you can get an idea of their size in the images shot on my cutting mat and with the ruler … imagine the impact of turning the page and seeing one of these.

Surprises at tonight's Open Studio ...

New petite collages.

Since I missed the first two Open Studios of the year, I am pulling out all the stops for tonight's (6-9 p.m., Studio 1C, Brazee Street Studios in Oakley). First, I will be open at 5 p.m. Second, I also will be open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday).

Meanwhile, as I was creating a slew of new Fit To Be Tied collage tags/bookmarks, some grew a bit more complex and a tiny bit larger. Voila! Sweet Petites were born. Yeah, the name's a bit precious, but til I come up with something better, well, that's it. 

The first five in the series feature antique engravings of women from Godey's Lady's Book and Peterson's Magazine; Victorian flower scraps (thanks Shirley Tenhover); vintage paper flowers and dried flowers (thanks Tim Leslie). They are matted in acid-free, conservation grade mats and ready to pop into  a standard 5" x 7" frame.

New Fit To Be Tied ® collage tags in the works. 

When I said a slew of tags, I meant it. That's them, above, on the work table, awaiting laminating - new this time around - hole punching and their vintage seam binding ribbons. Finished them last night, just in a nick of time.

Last, but certainly not least on this Father's Day weekend, finally got my act together and had a pile of vintage 1932-33 car ads from Fortune magazine matted. The over-sized ads - 11" X 14" - are in mint condition, the mats are wide and conservation grade, and, of course, they're matted to fit a standard-size frame. As much as I love the car ones, well, the Firestone tire ads are the real eye-poppers.