Pressing Obsession

Winter Pine Invitation

Have you heard about the lifestyle crafts epic letterpress? I only recently saw one last month (although it's apparently been on the market for about a year now) and am now obsessed by the idea of having it.

Winter Pine Close-ups

You see, I used to have my own invitation business. Something I loved doing but the mister says "was ahead of it's time". It was before Etsy and similar sites for selling handmade existed. I got really good local press and was known by the major wedding venues near me but the market just wasn't big enough to support what I was doing full-time.

Message in a bottle Save the Date

I also had a really hard time finding printers who understood what I was doing. Most weren't interested in working on small specialty projects like couture invitations. And the one thing I kept saying to the mister year after year was... "if I could have my own press that would be perfect. But it would have to be smaller than a regular press since we don't have the room for a print shop".

Fall Plum Invitation

And now almost a decade later- that little printer I was dreaming of is here!

Wedding Program Fan

Lighthouse Save the Date

When I say obsessed by this press I mean it.

• I've entered three giveaways so far. (Including this one, that runs until Thursday).
• I've combed through the manufacturers website looking at all the accessories at least a dozen times.
• I also emailed the manufacturer for answers to some of my questions.

It's a big purchase as far as craft supplies go. And even with a little saving it would wipe out my "craft budget" for a good long while... but I still can't stop thinking about the gorgeous printed items that would roll off this little baby.

Fall Leaves Invitation

But I'm going to try. And in the meantime cross my fingers that by some very small chance I'm lucky enough to win one.

But it's also got me wondering what else I've been missing- are there any new crafting items you are drooling and obsessing over?

Pysanky Year 3

This Saturday was the pysanky workshop I've done for three years in a row. I look forward to it each year.

Having the plain white egg and untouched tools in front of me is always exciting.

But my egg and workspace didn't stay untouched for long.

This year my sister went with me- she worked on the same design I did the first year I went. Since you sit in groups based on what year/design you are working on she was all the way across the room from me and I didn't get too many pictures of her egg. I did manage to snap this one of her finishing though- didn't her egg come out fantastic!

The egg I did this year was by far the hardest design yet. It had lots of little fine lines. It was also completely different from the designs in years past.

One of my favorite things about pysanky is that the symbols and colors have meanings. Birds symbolize the coming of spring- roosters a rich married life, hens fertility.

Flowers- wisdom, beauty, humility. The scroll- immortality.

And the final color of dark red represents harvest.

My favorite part of the whole process is removing the wax and revealing all the layers of gorgeous dyed details.

This year I blew the egg out after it was finished. It was a heart pounding five minutes in which I hoped it wouldn't break... but I certainly didn't want a repeat of last years "incident" so that tenuous last step was necessary!