Well hello there!

It’s like rearranging your room, but better!

It’s like rearranging your room, but better!


You will notice that the name of my blog is not Bonpress. This is the name of the template / theme on WP. I can’t remember where to upload a new image to cover up theirs.  Maybe if I sit here long enough someone will come over and fix it for me. That would be awesome.

I’ve been avoiding posting for some time now because my old WordPress theme was annoying. It seemed cool at first but then became clunky. Really though, I’ve avoided writing because I didn’t know what I wanted this to be. Trying to focus only on things related to my business was limiting. What if I wanted to write about what vegetables my kids ate last night? What if I felt compelled to write about the best TV-show-with-a-mind-numbingly-predictable-plot in the world called ‘Touch’

So, from here, going forward, this is my blog. Each post will be lovingly handcrafted by me and contain information tailored specifically to any subject I find interesting.  And it’s late and my eyes are fuzzy and I’m not sure that last sentence made grammatical sense.

Here are two pictures of my then 7 year old Georgia on our trip to Texas two summers ago.

May 15, 2012 Read More
Stick it.

Stick it.

Brand new to my little etsy store, lots and LOTS of stickers made from the books you used to hate in school.  You want them, I know you do.

Here are some of the many ways these stickers can be used:

but wait, there’s more!

To be sure, I really should not be spending my time making these. I know that the time I have spent figuring out the best way to make them totally out wins the actual return I will get. (just ask my husband) However, I find them to be incredibly cool, useful, and definitely strange and will probably, against better judgement, keep making them.

Spread the word to your friends, kids, enemies, and even strangers!

 

Cheers!

 

Anna

 

 

April 27, 2012 Read More
Supplies!

Supplies!

When will I learn NOT to use adhesives from Michael’s on papers that I want to stick to one another? It sucks (and yes I really should know better) because they have such a wide- looking variety of adhesives, findings, papers, etc…. The thing is, they are only intended foe people who create awesomely unoriginal scrapbook pages meant to be slid into nice plastic covers.

I will stop my rant because I really should have known better.

 

March 23, 2012 Read More
Three for Tuesday.

Three for Tuesday.

1. Redesigned my writing papers with the help of my dear pal, Amity. She insisted that she was not the only girl in the world who would appreciate some simple visual prompts directing her where to fold the paper in order to fit it into the envelope. I also redesigned some packaging to streamline things a bit and create a space where I can spout my opinions and bark orders at strangers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Took a bunch of fabulous-ness to Who’s Your Betty, a small independent gift-shop in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood. Yes, now you can buy Pickypockets at a real store. Go there. There is an incredible selection of locally produced goods. Go support them (and me). I neglected to take nice pictures of the things I sent over there but I did snap one to send to a friend.

Small letterpress printed cards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Realized that a real person actually designed my favorite handwriting workbook. Upon this realization, I immediately emailed his design firm asking for permission to possibly reproduce some imagery. Yeah, I know.

 

March 20, 2012 Read More
Books, bread, and poetry: Fun at NOCCS

Books, bread, and poetry: Fun at NOCCS

Today I had the pleasure of spending the morning with the Kindergarten and 1st grade classes at North Oakland Charter School (a.k.a. NOCCS) . I taught students and staff/parents how to construct a simple three hole book structure.

They have been learning to write poetry using the process of bread baking as a vehicle. The results are impressive. I’ve scanned two of my favorite poems for you here.  It was really nice to be back in a school and interacting with kids. I got to work with Janet Heller (SF WritersCoprs) who led the project!

February 28, 2012 Read More
In the mail

In the mail

My dear friend Quin is lucky to have many mothers in her life. One mom , Laura, lives in New Hampshire and owns a little stationary store called That Little Spot of Red. She has requested I make a few goodies for her shop to see if they will sell.

Here we go!

 

to you soon!

February 28, 2012 Read More
A book for a Diane!

A book for a Diane!

I’ve been having so much fun writing and receiving mail for the past few months. I’ve got a pen pal from England, New York, Alameda, and Oakland! One new pen-friend (who is also a mom of one of my kids classmates) gifted me a huge amount of books last month. Some of which are NOT for tearing up, thank you. Among the haul was a set of reference books for veterinarian students complete with view master reels for each illustration. One reference book for medical students (the human kind) which contained the same view master reels with a bonus portable view-master viewer! Ive never seen anything like that before. So very cool.

So, in order to thank Diane I made her a sketch book that almost has the dimensions she requested (almost because I only had 17 x 11 sheets and could not make a 6 x 9″ book).

I covered the boards with paged from a Golden Book Astronomy text I had in my shelf and covered the spine with black book cloth. The overall design didn’t come out as nice as I expected however the mechanics are nice and functional. Somehow, in the past year or two, I have completely forgotten how to make a case bound book. Truly forgotten. After spending some time accurately observing other case bound books plus the help of this book I feel successful.

Here are some pictures of the book and of the package for her. Note the old cancelled stamps at the top right corner. I dropped the book through her mail slot because I wanted her to have it sooner than the post office would deliver.

 

February 28, 2012 Read More