I can get ink off my hands...

I discovered something amazing the other day that I thought I'd share.

Sometimes in the course of printing I make some silly mistake and get ink on my hands. Those of you who have worked with letterpress ink, or other similar messes, know that it is difficult to clean up off your skin. I have, in the past, thrown caution to the wind and used California Wash... but I get the feeling that it's not such a good idea.

Enter, Witch Hazel. I use it on my face nightly, and the other day I had the idea to try it on the ink on my hands. It worked! Not as well as the toxic cleaners, but it worked!

it was an adventure indeed.

So that, my friends, is a close-up of a messy experiment. Inspired by my dear friend Rachel and her creations, I decided to try out a non-consistent color for the AIM business cards. (This basically involved slopping a very small amount of contrasting color on the ink disk repeatedly.)

Here you can see the mottled color on the roller, and the plate I used to make the cards. It was more fun than I can express, and the whole experience was exactly what the Adventures in Making blog is all about.

However, in typical Alison fashion, I bit off more than I could chew, and decided to duplex each card individually. (I will not be doing this again.)

But at last, ta da. A fun card for what I hope will be a fun (and useful) blog. (Each card is unique and backed with one of three bright colors. I hope to do the same in other color combos when I go back to the press.)

Oh, and while I have your attention- I'm giving free greeting cards to contributors over at AIM.

having a little joy in plaid

Another new addition to the store!

and here come the Holidays...

I've finally got my first holiday card design up on the (so, there.) etsy shop. Go take a look.

PS- don't be scared, I know it's awful serious... I made a twisted version-- you'll see it soon.

I got distracted...

I've been working like mad to break this holiday writer's block... but I got distracted.

I need to spend some more time on this amazing typography.

http://www.bantjes.com/

of this awesome lego/letterpress idea

Check this out, no, seriously.

My Name is Alison, and I am a Sharpie Addict.

I just bought a set of Sharpie Liquid Pencils- the result was not fantastic, and I put a little review over at Adventures in Making.

Despite this little misstep on their part, Sharpies will always have a special place in my heart.

It was only recently I realized that not everyone had a large collection of these permanent markers. My mom's purse always held at least a few colors, which were out-of-bounds without adult supervision. (This did not keep me from drawing all over myself with them when no one was looking.) One of the first things I bought when I went away to college was my own set. I have increased an replaced the collection as time has gone on.

It's a secret pleasure.

Recently I found out one of Patrick's cousins works for the company- and he offered me anything I want. I'm trying to find something that I am missing (other than the stainless steel marker) but all I can come up with are things I'd like to see....

• more metallic colors... silver is not enough.

• more grays and pastel colors (for those of us who are afraid of color)

• more purples!

anything you'd like to see?

there's some clubbing going on...

Check out the beginning of our Adventures in Making craft club.

so play zonk - part 2

My dearest sister bought me a set of dice for ZONK, and even made a lovely matchbox to fit them. I of course got the box stuck in the door to the game cabinet and had to replace it. I cut pieces of scrap illustration board to make a foldover box.

It's amazing what a little bit of glue and bookcloth can do.

Another great find, these thin adhesive magnets. They are really strong, and perfect to hold the flap of the box down. I put them underneath the bookcloth.

After putting the magnets on, I laid out all the pieces on bookcloth covered in glue.

After I wrapped up all the pieces, I lined the box in some scrap paper left over from the R.

So now, the box closes with a nice magnet, and fits the instruction sheet.

I'm sure I will destroy it accidentally any time now.

so play zonk - part 1

A while back a friend brought the game ZONK into our weekly game night. It only needs six dice to play, and is fast paced enough to wake us up when it's late.

I've put the instructions below, OR if you want, click on the image above to download a printable pdf (front and back) with instructions tiny enough to fit in with your dice. Give it a try, and I bet you'll like it.

To Play

Each player takes turns throwing six dice. They remove the scoring dice from the original six, and choose whether or not to roll the unscoring dice again. If/when there are no unscoring dice, the player can to roll all six, adding the new 
scoring dice. A roll with no scoring dice is a ZONK and ends the players round with no score.

To Begin

All players must score 500+ points in a round without Zonking to get on the board. After, each player chooses when to end their turn, 
and their ending score is added to their total.

The End

When a player reaches 9,500+ points, they can
not stop rolling till they reach or exceed 10,000 pts. Each remaining player gets one chance to beat that score.

Scoring

• Six of a kind = INSTANT WIN!

• Six dice straight = 2500 pts

• Two triplets = 1500 pts

• Three pairs = 1000 pts

• Three of a kind = # x 100 pts

(Three 1’s = 1000 pts)

• Each 1 = 100 pts

• Each 5 = 50 pts

there's another addition to the adhesive drawer...

Kat discovered this roll of Duck Tape at Michaels. I had to buy it, although I am out of space in my adhesive drawers (that's right, plural.) Maybe some deserving person will show up one day to claim it...

this is just a distraction.

Remember that night when we played with the kitten till he was exhausted...

and he started panting, but just couldn't stop playing with the cat-wand?
Well, I think we went too far. I think he's broken...
because today I found him like this.

(Cats are weird.)

we were there for 3 days.

Day 3 found us at a very overpriced attraction- the Biltmore.

60 dollars does not buy you any pictures of the inside (although you can buy a photo of yourself in there for another tidy sum) so I only have this photo of the front...
and these (illegal) photos of us on the back porch.
There are plans at work behind those smiling eyes. While the Biltmore is a bit overgrown, I have found aspects of the house I would like to work into my future abode.

• A library for instance, could be filled easily. (I would redecorate.)

• A billiard room would be home to games and merry times.

• An indoor pool is a necessity.

• A personal bowling alley might be nice.

• Of course, lets not forget the view. If I even move out of this house, the view is going to have to be spectacular.
(That's what's behind us in the other pictures.) As we were leaving, a thunderstorm moved in, making a fun day even better.
We hid out in the winery (most of the Biltmore grapes are from California, Oregon, and Washington) till the storm passed. When we got back to the hotel room we realized that something had made our hands very large, and we spent a while picking cars off the highway.
Asheville in summary - If I didn't get the point across before, the food was delicious, and vegetarian friendly. The shops were modern and trendy. There are street markets (I bought a neato shirt from circles&squares after spending several minutes trying to pick just one.) The town square was full of electronic music, dreadlocks, and hula hoops. Best of all, it was warm and had proper thunderstorms.

Thumbs up Asheville!

we went to Asheville.

We got to spend our 6th anniversary at a beautiful wedding in North Carolina. Afterwards, we took a road trip to Asheville.

The trip was gorgeous- like driving through the pass gorgeous. We got sun and rain and everything in between (it was just a couple of hours.)

We checked into our hotel which was right next to the highway, but had great views.

We walked downtown- which unfortunately I don't have any pictures of. There were shops set up along the street, and lots of delicious restaurants. Asheville was like Austin with more trees and older architecture.

On the second day we drove out to the Nantahala to go rafting. I have never done it before, but now I'm hooked.


There are a few pictures of our trip below. You might notice that over the series I *ahem* move into the boat. You can also tell how much we hated the whole thing. (Look at our faces.)

It was a GREAT day.

(another installment tomorrow... and by tomorrow I mean Monday)

we let our inner child out.

I've been meaning to share these for a while. One game-night a friend came up with the genius idea to do sparkler shapes.

(It doesn't seem like a fair fight, sword versus chainsaw.)

of Adventures in Making

It's alive!

I mean, it's live. My little brain child Adventures in Making is up and ready to fix all your problems.

Meant as a place to go when you're stuck in your creative pursuits, AIM will be full of creative people with different backgrounds who know just what you're going through.

It's just now shaping up, but keep and eye on the site as it all fleshes out...

and here are a few new colors.

A few more flowery color combinations are up on the (so, there.) etsy shop. They are the result of special requests, I hope you like them too!

Look! a set of five for thanking tons of people.

I am not usually a yellow person, but these sunny colors make me want a lemonade and a hammock.

I've added a couple of "thinking of you" cards to the flowery group. The yellow is perfect for wishing someone a quick recovery.