Pretty Shells for My Snail Mail

I didn't make the business cards I was hoping to carry to BlogHer, but I did walk away from a Letterpress party at the Evanston Print and Paper Shop with some so very lovely stationery. And I made it! I am not the crafty type, nor a design whiz, but Eileen Madden gently guided us through the process of two-color letterpress printing on a Vandercook proofing press. "Smart Frocks" is the name of the font used for my name. Isn't that sweet?

"It's so Zen!" we kept repeating as we hand-cranked our papers on a cylinder over the inked, raised letters. Zen as in requiring a full concentration but also full of pleasure and satisfaction as each paper emerged, infinitesimally different than the one before, but each in its own way, perfect.