did you notice the new title of this post? on tuesdays, {when i post on tuesdays} it's normally "tangent tuesdays"... i've decided to change it up a bit and alternate from "tangent tuesdsays" and "show and tell tuesdays"... on show and tell tuesdays, i'll give you a little peak into my workspace and showcase letterpress paraphernalia and other random things laying around that may be of interest.

my earliest typing lessons were on my parent's typewriter from the 70's.  i've always been obsessed with the little gadget and growing up would throw hints and outright requests to have it passed down to me when they didn't want it anymore.  a few years ago, my parents finally let it go!

a few weeks ago i dragged my friend melanie with me to an antique market to hunt for some good finds {if you read my last post, i also dragged that same friend melanie with me to california.. she's such a good friend!}.  look what i found... and at an awesome, rock bottom price!

isn't she a beauty!!  she's still dirty and is still sitting on the floor, but once she gets cleaned up and when the occasion presents itself, she'll be used as a prop for product shots.  eye candy and useful... can't get better than that!

hello friends!  i've been away, i know.  forget the excuses, shall we?  let me just dive right in and fill you in... i returned on sunday from a quick 72ish hour trip to california for the LA Printers Fair.  i dragged my friend melanie along with me and we crashed with our good friend remy that lives in california.  what a grandiose time we had!  aside from the printer's fair, our schedule was wide open so what else better to do than EAT.  you read that right.. EAT.  everything we ate was from local, food joints.  these are my top 3 best eats from this trip:  WARNING: this entire post is filled with really poor phone camera pics and i'm horrible at photo collages {if you have tips for me on that, please share}...

#1  porto's bakery and cafe {cuban}:  oh my, so good!  their cuban sandwiches are so fresh and delightful. i cannot forget to mention their awesome potato balls {tasty cuban ground beef encased in creamy mashed potato and deep fried to perfection} and flaky empanadas.  their wall of bakery items had so many options, we had a difficult time deciding what to devour.  porto's is a family owned business that has been around since 1960 and my friend remy has been going to porto's since she was a little girl.

#2  kogi {korean and mexican fusion}:  oh my, the kogi food truck!  heaven!  i ate three tacos: spicy pork, short rib, and calamari.  korean tacos = genius!  for dessert we split the sirachi bar, dark chocolate with a spicy kick.  we loved it so much that we decided to go back and try the chocolate tres leches cake too.  yum!  you can tell from this post how much i love food. the three of us ordered our food and literally moaned and sighed with every bite. the owners of the kogi truck capitalized on social media when they got started. they used twitter to spread the word of their location, it caught on quickly and their popularity and following spread like wildfire.

#3 daikokuya {japanese}:  i LOVE soup. all kinds and even when it's hot outside. soup is such a comfort food. the restaurant wasn't even open for half an hour and there was already a line of locals out the door. we signed our names in and we were #25 and had a 30 minute wait, that's how good it is.  the photo doesn't do the soup justice {not only is it a camera phone picture, but this is a picture of my leftovers that i ate the following day.  all of our cell phones died due to too many camera pics that we weren't able to take a picture of the soup at the restaurant}. they simmer the pork broth for a whole day, tasty! how is this a workday wednesday post?  ha!  i'm getting there...

hello my lovelies!  i have a big announcement and i can't seem to keep it in.  i'm opening up my very own online store!!!  i don't mean to scream the news at you, but i can't seem to contain myself!

do i still love etsy?  but of course.  will i keep my etsy store open too?  why, yes!  i can't abandon all of my etsy shopping folks.  etsy has treated me well... it made it easy for me to test my brand and products, is a great format to get your feet wet for selling online, and is a great handmade marketplace filled with tips, great buyers, and a warm community of sellers.

with that said, i do believe though that it's time for me to spread my wings beyond the etsy "walls" and open my own store.  let's be honest though.. opening your own online store is a ridiculous amount of hardwork.  i've been communicating with my web developer for months now on what i need out of the site, how i want it to look, how i want it to function, and all of the features, bells, whistles, etc that i want it to have {this is on top of working with my web developer on the re-design of my logo. don't you love it? in addition to communicating to my blog designer to make sure my new blog design is cohesive to my new store design and re-brand.  don't you love the new blog design too?  phew}.  my etsy store has been closed temporarily because day in and day out i've been working on my end of the new "store"-- taking new product photos for my existing products, creating new products, taking photos of said new products, cleaning up my product descriptions, writing new product descriptions, writing faq's, a new about page, etc, etc, etc.  it.  doesn't.  stop.

i've given myself deadlines and my web developer deadlines.  the deadlines come and go and i feel like my site is never going to open!  so, i've decided to soft launch my new online store on september 7th.  repeat. september 7th!  yikes... that's only a few days away.  so what is a soft launch?  according to our fine friends at wikipedia, a soft launch refers to,  "the release of a website, hotel, or other product or service to a limited audience. Soft-launching is a method for gathering data on a product's usage and acceptance in the marketplace, before making it generally available as a hard launch or grand opening. Companies may choose a soft launch to test the viability of a product or to fine tune a product before implementing a large marketing effort."  come september 7th, will i have all my products loaded?  eh, probably not.  will there be glitches?  hmm, maybe.  will there be fine tuning? yes, plenty of it.  that's ok though {that's what i keep telling myself, that it'll be ok} because at this point, if i don't force myself to open up my shop doors, i'm going to keep putting it off, and keep putting it off, and keep putting it off.  sigh.  so there you go.. i've put it out there into the universe and out all over the interwebs.

come september 7th, this blog will have a new url.  if you have bookmarked my blog or subscribe to this feed, the new blog address will be "blog.penelopespress.com".  please do note that change, i would hate to lose some of you readers out there.  the new online store will be take over the penelopespress.com web address.

why september 7th you ask and not the 6th or the 8th?  well, that's easy.  i'm asian, the number 7 is supposed to be lucky.  i opened my etsy store exactly one year ago on september 7th.  and well, i was also born on the 7th.  well friends, that's it for now... back to products photos and descriptions.  here's to september 7th... wish me luck!

oh, i almost forgot... here's a little sneak peak...

i love pockets, don't you?  love pockets on dresses, multiple pockets in purses and bags, pocket folders... it's no wonder that brides {and grooms} like pocket invitations!  pocket invitations are so functional.. they keep all of your wedding information nice and tidy and it helps that pocket invites come in a multitude of colors and styles.

nina and eddie contacted me a few months ago to create custom wedding invitations for their big day, 09.10.11 {what a date to remember!}.  nina and eddie were so easy to work with and open to design ideas.  after some back and forth, we came up with a design that fit their style!

here are some photos of the ensemble, with a pocket holding all of their important wedding details.  congrats nina and eddie.. thanks for letting me create invites for your special day!

{btw, i know i'm not very good with keeping up with my blog, but this is my 100th post.. hooray!!}

ever wonder how handmade paper is made?  there was a paper making demo by frank brannon at asheville bookworks during the ladies of letterpress conference.  here's a picture story about the paper making process.  so interesting.

ta da... there you have it.  the pink paper is from pink clothes from the thrift shop... cool!