We Took 5

I used to think that going on a vacation so close to home was a really lame idea. I was wrong.

Traveling to far-flung places is still something I would love to do. But with most of our time, energy, and money being funneled into our company & baby (not that we're complaining!), a weekend trip to a nearby town was the perfect vacation for us right now. Park City is only a 30 minute drive from our house. (And it's actually the first place I lived after moving to Utah with my family when I was 15.) But even though it's so close, we rarely get over there to explore. Now that I've been reminded of what a nice place it is, though, I want to start taking little day trips over there as often as possible!

Some of the things we did:

+ Ate ham & cheese croissants for breakfast at the Bakery at Windy Ridge. (So delicious, we decided to go back the next day!) 

+ Stayed up way too late hanging out with our friends Kristin & Craig, who were also in town staying at their aunt's condo. (Kristin designs our Lark line.)

+ Walked down a lovely path alongside the most picturesque barn.

+ Went to El Chubasco for sopes and the salsa bar.

+ Stopped by some shops on Main Street, including Olive & Tweed, Prospect & Prospect Youth, Cake Boutique, the Crosby Collection, Davies-Reid, and Dolly's Bookstore.

+ Went out to a movie for the first time in months.

+ Fed the ducks and ate lovely salads on the back deck of the Deer Valley Grocery-Café.

+ Figured out that we could put Ingrid down to sleep in the same room as another kid (as long as they couldn't see each other).

+ Relaxed in the shade on the Windy Ridge Café patio, while eating a yummy dinner of tuna and local vegetables.

We had such a great time! And it was so nice to spend an entire Saturday just relaxing and having fun rather than working, running errands, or cleaning the house as is our usual routine. Especially since we've had an especially crazy schedule at work lately with new collections, a new website in the works, and the holidays just around the corner... We felt so much more refreshed coming back to work on Monday.

New French Pastry Collection & 2012 Calendar

Des Pâtisseries -- our newest collection -- is now available! Click here to see it in our shop, or email Kirk (kirk at sycamorestreetpress dot com) to place wholesale orders.  

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

My mom lived in Paris for 9 years with her parents and siblings, so they were all very opinionated about which pastries I should draw for this project. My mom loves macarons, my granny's favorite is the religieuse, my aunt (and I) chose the pain au chocolat, etc... But top honors go to the tarte aux framboises, which made it onto everyone's list. 

FYI: The most unusual treats I included -- des calissons -- aren't really pastries. They're an almond & melon based sweet my mom and I fell in love with one day while exploring the town of Aix-en-Provence in the South of France. That was over 10 years ago, but I can still remember them so distinctly! 

I hope I get to go back to France one day... and not just for dessert. :)

Photos by Nicole Hill Gerulat for Sycamore Street Press. Pastries courtesy of Les Madeleines.

Our Letterpress No. 2

4 years ago, Kirk and I moved our first letterpress into our dining room on Sycamore Street in Columbus, Ohio. I already had the name "Sycamore Street Press" picked out, and went right to work on designing, sourcing materials, etc... Although I knew I was starting a letterpress paper goods company, I didn't think it would ever be larger than just me and my press. That all changed, of course. It just sucked me in more and more... and I let it. But that's a good thing.

Here's why:

1) I love it.
2) It's a wonderful & practical way to use my degrees in studio art and printmaking.
3) Kirk ended up loving it, too, and now we are able to work together every day.

So for the past 4 years, our business has grown and our goods are now carried in hundreds of shops all over the world. (Crazy!) We've continued printing every single thing on our trusty Vandercook: our first and only press up until this point. It doesn't have a motor of any sort, and it's probably the slowest way possible of letterpress printing (which is already much slower than more contemporary methods). But it's solid and lovely to work with. And most importantly -- it produces beautifully textured results.

For the past couple of years, though, we've felt the need to get another press. Kirk has stayed up late night after night cranking the press back and forth, and still we've had to turn down more and more requests for custom work. We've simply maxed out the amount of work that can be done on one flatbed letterpress.

But getting a press is a little more complicated than a trip to the mall. They haven't been manufactured since the 1960's or 70's, so there's a finite amount left in the world. Even finding one for sale can be a chore. Especially if you are looking for a very specific kind, want it to be in good working condition, nearby, and reasonably priced. It took us 2 years to find our second press, and I consider that lucky!

We weren't looking for just any letterpress -- we wanted a Heidelberg Windmill. These presses are the true workhorses of the letterpress industry. They're still much slower, hands-on, and deliberate than digital or offset presses, but compared to our Vandercook, the Windmill is a dream of efficiency. And the resulting color and impression are equal to, if not better, than what we can do with the Vandercook. We still love the Vandie and will still use it to print large scale projects such as our 11x14" art prints. But we're hoping the Windmill will take over greeting card duty.

Now, I may be getting ahead of myself with all this talk. We still have to finish cleaning and setting up the press. And learning to print well on it will be a challenge...

In any case,  it's here, and we're excited.

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A few things I've been enjoying lately:

Dreamy sounds & visuals on this new album. 

I'd love a distressed mirrored wall in my home. Would you? 

This might be just the thing to finish off my living room. (via d*s)

I could move right in to this charming place.

Simple. Easy. Delicious. My favorite kind of recipe. 

Currently reading this and this. Both are amazing.

Ingrid is about to start walking, but still wears size 3-6 month shoes. I'm having a hard time finding some that will work for her (and for my aesthetics), but these might do the trick.

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Have a lovely week!

Eva

 

A Peek At Our Pastries... & A Sea Change

Just a little peek at our upcoming Pâtisseries collection!

This is a detail from the calendar, but there's more... It'll be up in the shop by next week. Our loyal newsletter subscribers will be the first to know! (You can sign up in the blog sidebar, if you're feeling so inclined.)

Another thing.

Maybe you noticed that my posts have been sparse lately? That's partly because I've had so much extra work on my plate: two new collections, a huge photoshoot, and a completely new website to launch this fall. They're all exciting, but all very time-consuming. I've been really busy in the past, though, and still usually managed to keep up. But I'm not really feeling the need for daily posting anymore,  and I don't think I'm the only one.


It feels like a sea change has begun in the world of blogging. 

You see, between Twitter, Facebook, Svpply, Insta.gram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Flickr, Etsy, Google Plus, Digg, Kirtsy, etc... is there really the need to blog daily? I don't participate in all of these. I definitely think you have to pick and choose. But I still find myself involved in a lot.

Here's the list of my daily social media fixes:

+ Taking photos of my everyday on my Insta.gram.

+ Posting questions, comments, and photos to our Facebook page.

+ Pinning design finds to my Pinterest boards.

+ Carrying on a dialogue over at my Twitter feed.

To me, these are fun, interactive, and not very time-consuming activities. But my involvement in them has begun to make me want to treat this blog a bit differently.

I feel a need to pare down, simplify --
to make each post thoughtful & beautiful.

I'm not completely sure how to go about that. But I do know that this blog is special to me. I love creating posts, and I love interacting with you. I don't want to stop. Hopefully you can be a little patient with me while I get things sorted out.

What do you think about all of this? I know from conversations I've had on Twitter and elsewhere that I'm not the only one feeling this pull. For those of you who blog, how do you use social media and how has it affected your blogging? 

p.s. Here's an interesting post I read, if you'd like to read more on the subject.