let me tell you

about L Letterpress. 6 stinking months after I ordered it. Can you sense my frustration? Hopefully. Before I tell you about the product, let me fill you in on the frustration. I ordered the Letterpress tool kit along with some inks and printing plates back in the first of January. I received one notification that they were overwhelmed with orders and I wouldn't be getting the order until March. So it came, in March. But not the three printing plates I ordered. Okay...those would be coming in 2-3 weeks, then June, then June was about over and I cancelled the order beause well... Hobby Lobby sells all their products and about every other weeks, they have 40% off coupons.

When you get the starter kit with the press, it comes with some printing plates, so I was excited to get started. About 10 impressions into using the press, "clink". The impression I rolled through was really deep and the printing plate cracked. Perfect. Below are the cracked plates and the little piece that broke off inside the machine. I called Lifestyle Crafts and they told me send back in my tool and they'd replace the plates. They ended up replacing my tool.
After I cancelled the plate order, I went to Hobby Lobby, and got a printing plate kit to make some invitations for my Grandma's 80th birthday. I was hoping/praying I wasn't going to have to send this thing back for good.

After reading some other blogs, they recommended using a different brayer (roller) for the ink than the one that comes in the kit. Luckily, Kayla gave me some print-making supplies for Christmas and this Speedball brayer is so much better than the little junky one they give you. This made a big difference in the starting out.

Above is the inked plate with the invite on the other side. The kit comes with some black, rubbery sticky stoppers to hold your paper in place. I didn't use them - they leave a nasty residue and I didn't have any trouble lining the paper on the grid before the printing plate went on top.

And here's the results:

This printing went much better than the time before. I don't think I'll be sending this back, so there should be some more projects going through the press. I do have to say, this doesn't

compare remotely to true letterpress (joy!), but for in home, relatively good price, and way less space than a platen press, it's a good little toy to have around

seattle part two

The Lundy girls had a lovely, jam-packed weekend up in Seattle in May. Lauren and I planned to visit Tay up at SPU and have some adventures about Seattle. We fit a whole lot of seattle-ness into the two short days we were there. Up above we're at GasWorks Park, just a block from where Kalin and I called home for our first married year. It was nice to be back and to share it with these lovely ladies.

As with any trip to Seattle, it wouldn't be complete with mini-doughnuts from the Pike Place Market. So incredibly delicious. We also managed to fit in a quick ferry over to Bainbridge before it was time for Lauren and I to fly home. Quick, fast, lots of fun, lucky to have such wonderful sisters!

also...

how great are the new blogger backgrounds/templates? it's about time!

still here.

Although you all may think I've abandoned blogging, I haven't. I have blogs in my head all the time. We're in the home stretch of finishing up classes before an 8 week break from school (hallelujah!) and Hawaii! Taking classes in the summer is just a little difficult because who wants to be doing school work when the weather is so lovely?

Less than one week until sweet freedom from projects and papers - I can't wait.

In other news, Mochi got sick again. Poor puppy. Seriously, nothing more heartbreaking than a little sad, ill puppy. I believe he's on the up-and-up and has made his way into the hearts of all of the techs and vets at TenderTouch Animal Hospital. For all he's been through this past year, they can't believe he still loves coming to see them - it's one of his favorite places?!? My other dog, Shyloh, wouldn't step foot into a vets office or groomer without much coaxing or picking him up and taking him in.

Over memorial day, Kalin and I went up with my parents to Grand Lake for a nice long weekend to celebrate Kalin's birthday and just get away for a little bit. I brought my sewing machine and went to work on a quilt for baby Brett, who was just born two days ago! I've made this quilt twice before, but for girls. I'm in love with the cute animal print.