paperstories

My name is Kelly and I run a little letterpress studio called Paper Stories. I make all sorts of printed cards, journals, and custom invitations & announcements. I also have an Etsy shop where I sell my goodies.

I also have a super husband and a 14 mo. old son who is perfection. My brood also includes a little Boston Terrier and 3 cats. We live in the suburbs of Chicago.

letterpress and other printmaking methods (such as gocco), photography, sewing.

I have an Masters in Fine Art Photography so it is my first love. Letterpress printing is my more recent passion and profession. Actually I was a high school art teacher for many years in a past life. But now I work from home and hang out with my son all day.

I really love all types of crafts and can make just about anything that I put my mind to. I am formally trained in fine art but have a very crafty mom who helped me develop my crafty skills, like sewing.

Anything vegetarian, blueberries, veggie sushie, pumpkin ice cream, tofu (it is yummy, really). I love all types of foods too though Indian is one of my faves. As long as it is vegetarian of course! I love cooking and baking as well.

I have odd and diverse tastes from old Matlock episodes to Wheel of Fortune to the Daily Show. Sad but true. Lately I have been watching all the old episodes of '24' and "Lost".

Mostly though, I watch shows like Project Runway, Top Chef, & Top Design.

Vampire Effect, The Professional, anything with Audrey Hepburn, Joe Dirt (I have wide movie tastes too) ;)

I love a lot of foreign films including 'Raise the Red Lantern', 'Santa Sangre' and I have been watching a lot of Chinese films lately too. (Vampire Effect is a must see for campy, horror, action).

I initially signed up in hopes of finding other letterpress people to swap with. I am mostly interested in art and design with some craftiness tossed in.

Things I would love to swap for include: *Letterpress cards & prints (hopefully you made them) *Gocco prints & cards *Fabric for sewing (prefer designs by Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Michael Miller, Alexander Henry and similar styles) *Amy Butler sewing patterns (for her bags and purses) *Anything I can use in my printmaking business *Letterpress blocks or old printers' wood type would really earn you much love. *DIY kits for making fun things (sewing projects especially) *Anything I can use for my son. *Vintage ephemera or clip art *Vintage game boards (anything from the 70's and earlier... scrabble, monopoly, clue, chutes and ladders etc - in good shape please)

Things I have to swap include: *Lots of scraps of all types of papers, many have been letterpress printed on. (nothing too small of course) *Surplus envelopes *Some fabric scraps (see fabric types above) *Random vintage ephemera *Letterpress cards / prints (in exchange for other letterpress work) *Vintage game pieces (cards, die, money etc from games like Clue, Scrabble, Monopoly, etc)

If you need clarification on something, let me know.

If you know any of these blogs, this will give you a good idea of my aesthetic and what I am interested in.

designsponge *decor8 *poppytalk *apartment therapy *ohdeedoh *the scoop *design for mankind *sfgirlbybay *oh joy *lena corwin *cafe cartolina *anthropologie