In November, I did my second Petite Boutique and my fifth craft show ever! Petite Boutique is so well organized and popular in Oak Park. We were in the sunroom again, the same spot as last year, which was perfect. 
This is the sunroom from the outside. Isn’t it gorgeous?
I didn’t really change a ton on my booth set-up. I re-used my Kimberly AH banner since that’s what I used last year, but I need to consider a new banner with Galaxie Safari. I’d like something to go above my booth so you can see it when people are standing in front of my table. Something to work on this winter… I rigged a little bar to hold my “Comparison is the thief of joy” letterpress print and got a felt board for pricing. I really resisted the felt board since it’s so trendy, but really, you can’t beat its convenience and simplicity. 
I still love my card rack. It’s not big enough for all of my designs now (yay for new products) so I highlighted holiday cards, best sellers, and newer designs in the rack. The other designs were in a wooden box. I feel like last year, my holiday designs sold best. But this year, it was a nice mix of things since I had so many other (birthday, love, thank you, friendship, etc) styles to choose from.
I added a ton of framed quotes, so I no longer had space for my typewriter. The framed quotes sold really well, which was so exciting. 
This particular saying sold the best. I actually came home after the show Friday night and made more to sell on Saturday. I’ll be adding a greeting card to my shop next week, too. (As a side note, I’m so excited for the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote. I think we need to throw a huge party.) 
Naoto was a great sales assistant. He wore his Mr. Zip t-shirt “uniform” and manned the booth while I ate lunch and walked around and assisted with bagging and answering questions. It’s so nice to have a partner who is so supportive of this! 
This winter I’m trying to research and apply to more shows. They have been really good and really fun for me. I am, at my core, a last minute person so planning six months to a year ahead of time is mind-boggling, but necessary. I’ve already signed up for two shows in Berwyn this year at Friendly’s Tap. (I’ll be there April 21 and November 17!) And I’m applying to a few more thanks to friends I’ve met along the craft market way. If you’re local and know of any good shows, I’d love to hear from you!
Since I won’t be standing in the shop telling people that my cards are all typed on vintage typewriters and that I use real cancelled postage stamps and line the envelopes with pages from old encyclopedias, I’m having a stamp made for the back of the cards to explain those details. Most of the cards at the shop are mass printed, so I’m hoping some locals and visitors will appreciate something that’s made entirely by hand.
I plan to use the pencil to decorate the table and black place cards for our next 
I’ve been in 100% neon mode for my mail and my planner this summer. I’ve been using all of my neon washi tapes, pens, pencils, stickers and papers. It’s been fun, but I’m ready for a change, a change to school supplies. Even though I’m not going back to school, I ordered myself a few pencils from CW Pencil Enterprises last week. Those new pencils got me in the mood to refresh my desk space and break out some back-to-school treats from my washi and Japan stationery hoard. I have a “Japan drawer” in my desk that holds a bunch of washi tapes and backup pens. Since we most likely aren’t going to Japan this year, I’ve been dipping into my stash more and more. It’s like having my own little store to visit. 
I bought a few limited edition washi tapes during our last trip that fit the back-to-school bill perfectly. The top two are collaborations between mt and two iconic Japanese brands, and the bottom one was a special tape created by 
Fueki glue is another popular Japanese school supply. Fueki-kun, the little yellow mascot, is a pot of glue. It’s made from 100% corn starch and is safe for young children. 
On Monday, Naoto and I made the trip to the southern part of Illinois to be in the “Path of Totality” so we could see the full eclipse. It was incredible! I’ll have a post about the full day soon–I’m just trying to recover from driving over 800 miles and thinking about how fleeting it was…
The second mailing was a sweet little box. This is what it looked like inside. 
There was a pigeon patch, two tiny pigeon rubber stamps, a 
The third mailing was Dorothy’s papers. It arrived in a personalized kraft folder with some pigeon stamps. 
The final mailing–surprise!–was Dorothy herself! Donovan’s calligraphy adorned a banner on the top of the box. 
Donovan has also been hosting mini letter socials for each action. This month I had a chance to go to one at the 
Speaking of cake…or pie…if you DO end up going to one of Donovan’s Stamp Out Hate Socials, they are often in her neighborhood which means you will be close to 
I wanted to share a little round-up of the things I bought at 
Donovan and Kathy both suggested this Mnemosyne paper. It’s a top spiral notebook with perforated grid sheets of the smoothest paper I’ve ever felt. Of course it’s made in Japan. Like I mentioned earlier, the paper is great for fountain pens and other pens. (I mostly use gel pens and LePens in my letter writing.) And…pencils glide across this paper like butter…sigh. If you are my pen pal, you may be receiving a pencil written letter soon. I had Naoto translate the yellow introduction page for me and he basically summed it up in a rough translation as “Great for creative expression, tool for group discussion, easy to carry in a purse, and good for capturing inspirations while you are out and about.” I think that’s why Donovan likes it so much–she’s an on-the-go letter writer!
And I fell in love with these flat cards from 
kimberly ah 