This is the note that I am sending along with some chocolate chip cookies (and a bottle of wine) to Kurt. It is a very sincere note, but I couldn’t help but make a little joke with this thank you card. I mean, how often does someone save your fiancé’s life at work! He works in social media… it’s not really a high risk environment.

Hilarious right? and thank goodness these tiny spiraea florets came in today to further my “beyond hipster tongue in cheek” but still very very serious note.

Here are the cookies… they are really good too… My secret recipe and Ben’s FAVORITE!

The post Thanks for giving my Fiancé the Heimlich Maneuver appeared first on Tiny Pine Press.

I was unsure about what my printed prayer would look like until I went to a vintage stamp shop in New York on my vacation. There I dug through a pile of vintage Japanese postage stamps and found my inspiration. Mine would be a sort of letter, using Japanese stamps for the recipients and United States stamps for the senders (I suppose I was speaking for everyone in the good ole USA… is that weird?)

I found out from some special Japanese fluent helpers that one of the stamps portrayed Fukushima, which isn’t where the tsunami hit, but was badly injured as a result. 

I particularly loved the coloration of the two palm tree stamps. I think they really showed the similarities between that area of Japan (not sure!) and California. This was an instant match.

Then in my not very practiced handwriting, I wrote what I wanted for Japan. I chose green ink for growth, and printed away.

I sent off 17 prints today to Japan with hopes that my message will reach far more than 17 people and that the beauty of communication will be translated.

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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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In the middle of the room sat this beautiful table that filled with Tine Pine Press thank you notes. The idea was that the guests would hand write actual physical notes (not an email, or text or facebook wall post) of gratitude to someone who had helped their life in a positive way.

I contributed the Joyful Heart Foundation “gratitude” stationery“(that we created specifically for JHF and you can get your own here with proceeds going to the foundation)  along with a bunch of different other thank you notes so there could be a variety. All the stationery was printed letterpress, by hand, for the event specifically because I love them.

The most amazing part is that the Buzz Girls provided pre-stamped envelopes so all anyone had to do was write an address and pop them in the mail. Talk about spreading positivity around easy!!! If you happened to have the recipients address in your mind, you could just drop it in the beautiful mailbox right then…  extra convenient.

Oh, and here is actress Julia Ling, hugging the mailbox.

(I do that all the time too, but there’s not a photographer capturing it!)

and a photo myself with Mary, Andrea and Abby – some of the Joyful Heart Foundation’s LA crew!

Photos by Michael Kovac  (thank you!)

The post Sending letters of Gratitude – at a party? appeared first on Tiny Pine Press.

These are so thoughtful… especially given my penchant for postage…

The post International Mail! My Favorite! appeared first on Tiny Pine Press.

So, it’s Valentines Day tomorrow, and all the little romantic bits of me are getting drummed up… That paragraph above is a perfect example! And all I can think about is writing love letters. It’s almost worth it to be far away from the person you love so you could send and receive love by post…. What’s so nice is that the words are very permanent and tangible. And then you can put them in a little box and one day someone will find them and isn’t that just romantic?

When I was working at soolip as a designer, we created a product with the perfect, I mean PERFECT love letter materials. I helped design it. It really has everything you need except a pen and nice thoughts. It has onionskin paper – which is not being made anymore – a handmade and printed shimmery and soft Dirty Byrd envelope (one of my bestest friends) AND one of my favorite things of all times…. Vintage Stamps. 

I swear, if someone gave me one of these, I would shower them with kisses. And I designed this thing. So. that should give a clue about how much I love the love letter kit…

You can order them from soolip.com, but really, you don’t need this kit to tell someone how much you care… so in lieu of time, get out a sticky note, a legal pad or the back of a bill and let them know!

If you haven’t posted your letter by the time you are reading this, you may be late and there may be an slightly sad or annoyed valentine on the other end…. so you better give that person some chocolates too… along with your love letter!

xoxo,

jennifer

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