We were so excited to see our meditating dog (actually meditating Fou Fou, the dog who modeled for the illustration) letterpress stationery in the new issue of BARK Magazine! They published a wonderful article about letterpress printing and printshop dogs. I love these cards – they go with a whole line of meditating animals available in the tiny pine etsy shop. They are great for DOG lovers – which are plentiful here in Los Angeles, that’s for certain.

My fiancé and I just got a dog…. Dash… He comes to work with me every day and sleeps or spazzes out around the  studio and mixes things up with Izzy – the other little doggie who works here – or plays here – or lays here! We love him but sometimes he freaks out and loses his zen… probably because we have yet to teach him to meditate so I can illustrate him – or I could just make him a dancing dog shiva – he does like to dance!

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Wayne C. Henderson of Rugby, Virginia is one of the best kept secrets in the world of guitar making. He’s not even that much of a Secret. He’s played at Carnegie Hall and has made instruments for some fancy musicians including Doc Watson and Eric Clapton. So, Wayne’s been around….

He’s also a friend of my family. My mom went to high school with him and my dad used to be a “General Loafer” as Wayne refers to the fellers who hang around the shop…

In my opinion, there are two reasons those general loafers hang around. Number 1 is that there is a lot of beauty that comes out of that shop despite the clutter… and Number 2 is that if you don’t hang around, there is no way your guitar will ever get worked on.

My good friend Sarah (who lives in Minnesota) ordered her guitar two years ago. She schlepped her way to Southwestern Virginia back to Wayne’s shop and gave him the size and dimensions she was looking for. While she was there, they picked out the wood for the back Wayne clamped the sides to bend them into shape.

This past August, Sarah wanted to check on the progress. Calling Wayne was not really working. He’s always out of the shop and a phone call isn’t really urgent enough. So Sarah and I both went to Virginia to see what had happened.

We got to the shop and started our own “General Loafing”. I got obsessed with a wooden mind tricking puzzle sitting there, and Sarah inquired about the progress, and found the guitar in the same shape she left it… bent sides and a back.

Since we were there, and we just kept hanging around, Wayne just started working on her guitar. They picked out her top out of spruce, and then he sanded it down to the right thickness for good resonating glued it together, added some ribbon to the inside of the sides of the guitar, put the sides and the back together and added another piece (i can’t remember what that piece was called) and then we loafed our way on back home….

Patience IS a virtue. Good things come to those that wait. There are many more sayings that can make Sarah feel better about how many trips to Virginia it will take to get her Henderson Guitar.

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My mom is an avid quilter. So was my grandma. This huge pile of quilts that probably is about 5 feet tall is comprised of family tradition. Some of them were just the tops that my grandmother pieced, or the pieces before being sewn that my mother finished years later…

My mom’s thimble collection is so sweet.

and here are just some laterns that hang on the wall, also there is a section of just washboards and another section of tiny cast iron skillets.

My nephew’s rusty dump truck on the front porch.

AND one of my favorite all time activities, the Wythe raceway dirt track. When I was 5, I wanted to be a race car driver….. Instead I operate a giant piece of motorized cast iron, printing as fast as I can!

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My little brother is not only a musician (frontman of bluegrassy americana band Thomas A Minor and the Picket Line), leather worker (Foak is his company name), letterpresser, he is also quite the carpenter these days.

Last time I visited Oscar in Louisville, I spied a his girlfriend’s tea box…. I casually mentioned that I wanted one.

OK! maybe it wasn’t just casually mentioned. I laid it on pretty thick…

Ask and you shall receive! On the eve of my birthday, there was a sweet package for me on my doorstep. written in LARGE letters was Happy Birthday in very familiar scraggly handwriting…. so haphazard its a miracle I even received the package!

Inside was a carefully crafted wooden box (made of cherry, I think) which had been carved and then filled in with the wood filler stuff creating the matte and low contrast look. The cherry wood is curly and shiny. A glance at this piece of functional art really comforts me and sends me back to my home in Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia…

I was very very excited. Although I kind of knew it was coming when Oscar asked me how many different teas I liked…. I had NO idea how sweet it would be. It really shows off oscar’s illustrating skills… and his silly sense of humor. I LOVE IT! He told me that he was the rabbit, offering up tea to me.

Sooooo, It’s Tea Time, Tiny Pine. Come on over and take your pick. There are lots of choices including Licorice Mint, Bedtime, Peppermint, Everyday Detox, Chamomile, Immune Support, and Cucumber White.

Now don’t you wish you had such a great little brother??

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Tiny Pine was started 7 or 8 years ago when I sewed presents onto chopped up trader joes bags and then sewed those onto cardstock for last minute birthday cards. I sold those for a while and made a sort of card line. They were cute and quirky. I know where the sewing thing comes from… , my mom and several aunts and uncles worked at Mr. Casuals for 30 years – a sewing factory in southwest Virginia that produced Ralph Lauren and Osh Kosh and lots of sort of high end jeans and pants and such. My grandma made many many quilts (my mom too). It’s almost genetic.

But why do I love the brown paper bag?

Well, I got a delivery on my doorstep yesterday for my Birthday Present. Every package from my mom looks like this. She literally puts everything in a brown paper bag and wraps it with tape and addresses right on there. The shape doesn’t matter (I’ve gotten round packages) AND she also sticks crazy stamps and stickers on it. I almost don’t want to open it I love it so much.

PS Here is another good example of reusing. That paper bag got a good work out before it got to me.

Thanks Momma!

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I have to say that the movie was very predictable, even for my young friends, and more than anything I enjoyed the main prop, the letter to Juliet, that was aged and weathered as it had been trapped in a brick wall for 50 years, as the story goes.

I instantly remembered this envelope that a friend of mine sent to me recently. He reused an envelope that had been addressed to his mother by erasing the pencil and removing the stamp. The envelope is lined, thankfully, since the liner is the only thing holding it together, yellow and vibrant as ever.

The best part about this old re-used envelope is the texture. It’s ragged and almost soft yet crispy. It reminds me of cockle onion skin (my very very favorite of the old school writing papers).

Needless to say, when I got this envelope in the mail, it was obvious to me that THIS is the best form of recycling. No chemical processing, no electricity used to re-make this envelope.

Makes me think that I should start using pencil for my correspondence…. so in the future, someone can do the same thing with my envelopes….

The post letters through time appeared first on Tiny Pine Press.

Over the past few years, we have been involved in creating invitations for Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation. Now, we have partnered up with them to design and create these sweet thank you notes and now have  just launched the gratitude cards in the foundation’s Heartshop.

Tiny Pine Press Gratitude Cards
Be joyful. Be grateful. Pass it on.

These beautifully crafted cards make spreading the message of gratitude a little easier. Letterpress printed on 100% cotton using soy ink, these cards also show your respect for the environment. Each card features a delicate Swarovski crystal on the front and the Joyful Heart mission statement on the back. With each purchase, you will create a ripple of gratitude, extending all the way to Joyful Heart program participants, because the all the proceeds from each sale will benefit Joyful Heart programming and the survivors we serve. For this, Joyful Heart is very grateful.

It’s an amazing cause and your support would be completely appreciated!

We are selling them exclusively through the Tiny Pine Press ETSY shop
And feel free to browse around our little shop for other stationery items.

with gratitude,

xoxojennifer

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is my treasure! especially in this case.

Well, actually, I did pay a little bit for this press. (and then I paid almost as much to have it moved!)

Introducing my new big bad printing giant. He’s a Chandler & Price 10×15 old style from around 1912. He is OLD and sweet and so far his personality is easy-going. He still hasn’t told me his name. I do know that he is a loving gentle giant. His heart is open and exposed because look what I found. He has an ink fountain attached and the pins are shaped like little hearts. A whole row. I saw those and fell in LOVE!

I parked him in my garage with his girlfriend, the big cutter. I think she told mentioned that her name is Betsy. They are about the same age and they came from the same shop. I just couldn’t bear to separate them. Betsy doesn’t look her age, but she is set in her ways. Photos of her are coming shortly.

I have been spending extensive quality time with my new friends, just getting to know them…. Cleaning up the quiet Mr. printing press and trying to listen for his name – exploring all of the possible ole holes for his old joints. and getting ready to have the chiropractor come over soon to give him an adjustment so he will be ready to print print print.

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And people listen. His current bluegrass-ish band has backed Bonnie Prince Billy at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, been mentioned in the New Yorker, and now they have released their own EP.

They did a small run of covers. The banjo picker Bradley did the artwork (except for the moonshine jug that I drew and added at the last minute) and I typeset it, and ran them through my press x 250 or so. I think they are really nice… and appropriate for a semi-old timey bluegrass-ish rock band.

As a side note, the band members are in charge of gluing the covers onto sleeves. The ones I received were quite straight because Oscar did them. but I heard reports of crooked gluing. Adds to the charm?

Anyways, it is wonderful to hear my little brother sing. I can’t figure out what song is my favorite, but the first track “Ain’t No Doubt About It” is a familiar story about Daddy and JC racing towards the county line to get some booze before the store closed. We hear that story every christmas from JC. I am not surprised it worked it’s way into true permanence.

I also LOVE “Magnolia” and “Back In Town”. Ok. I love all of them. I will stop listing them… go to their myspace to hear a couple of songs! and check out their facebook page!

I am proud of you Oscar!

If you want to attain a copy, try harassing the band on myspace? I think they only have local distribution out of my brother’s truck right now.

BUT if you want your copy of their release, send $10 Cash and an address to:

Oscar Parsons
713 S. Barbee Way
Louisville, Kentucky 40217

(they prefer cash but checks are ok. make it out to Bradley Reinstedler to the same address)

He will pop one in the mail to you for sure….

for info email: thepicketline at gmail dot com

It really is ALBUM OF THE YEAR. except that it’s only an EP. WE NEED MORE!!

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Just to be clear, I don’t actually put possum or pole cat in the ice cream cakes. They are just SHAPES. Inspirations from nature.

However, I was just in New Orleans and I stumbled in a delightful little shop in the French Quarter called the Kitchen Witch. It was a book store specializing in vintage eclectic cookbooks. I LOVED walking around and scanning the silly local cookbooks from all over the world. Right in front of me was this Cherokee Cooklore book. It was published in 1951 and is full of photographs of a Cherokee Chief’s daughter making bean bread from scratch. They even show the field where the get the corn for the meal.

As I turned the pages, looking for familiar recipes (I am 1/12 Cherokee and my family was from North Carolina where this book was published) and I found my very favorite hillbilly treat, Leather Breeches, which is basically dried green beans that are re-warmed and turned yummy again, but sort of leathery, like the name.

Then I looked further and found this recipe for Yellow Jacket Soup. Ok. I am NOT going to be attempting this one. I walked into a nest of yellow jackets when I was 12 and got stung 30 times, barely making it to the hospital. I don’t think so.

But you guys can try!

Also, on the other page is the recipes for Coon, Groundhog, and Possum.

Let me know if you can’t read these. I would be happy to transcribe them for you adventurous chefs.

Really Adventurous.

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