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Shelf life

Studio photo by Chandler O'Leary

You’ll have to excuse the grainy photos—snapping pictures in the basement is never ideal. But this shelf sure is—last week the Tailor built me an enormous inventory storage system, and over the weekend I finally organized my entire stock of stationery. It’s hard to see the scale here, but this monster is about 8 x 7 x 3 feet in size. (Not pictured: the giant metal print cabinets that haven’t arrived in the post yet, which will take up the rest of that whole wall.) I am one happy camper.

Studio photo by Chandler O'Leary

One of the pitfalls of manufacturing your own line of products is finding room to store the stuff you make. It’s only cost-effective to produce cards in quantities of 1000 or so—and when you multiply that by dozens of different items, you suddenly need a staggering amount of space for it all. For years I’d been limping along, sharing my workspace with my storage space, and making use of what little square footage I had by stashing items into shared boxes and then shifting and stacking and repacking those boxes endlessly. Every time I made a new product, I had to divide it amongst whatever nooks and crannies had a little space free. Reordering stock when it ran low was a nightmare, as I first had to check and make sure I didn’t have extra quantities hiding anywhere. More shifting and stacking and repacking ensued. And every time I did a live event, like a craft fair or Studio Tour, the prospect of taking everything out and putting it all back again made me want to tear my hair out.

Studio photo by Chandler O'Leary

So this, by comparison, feels downright luxurious. Now that we’re in the new house, I finally have separate spaces for working and storage. The studio (another work-in-progress, which is why I haven’t posted about it yet) is just for making things, and I have two annex spaces to house the things I make. For the first time ever, I can store the entire quantity of each item, and display every item for easy access. Now that it’s done, all I want to do is spend the day staring my new tiny OCD kingdom.

And best of all, there’s plenty of room to grow. I have big plans for the next few years, and not only can I see what sorts of things lie ahead—I can also see exactly where they’re all going to go.

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Through the front door

Photo by Chandler O'Leary

Settling back into things after returning from a holiday trip, and thinking of everything I’d like 2015 to hold. Seems appropriate that today is Epiphany. (Bonus for the day: it’s so balmy I can have my tea on the porch.) Welcome, new year. Welcome, welcome.

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Their favorite time of year

Christmas photo by Chandler O'Leary

Christmas photo by Chandler O'LearyChristmas photo by Chandler O'LearyChristmas photo by Chandler O'LearySnowy trees photo by Chandler O'LearyChristmas photo by Chandler O'LearyChristmas photo by Chandler O'LearyChristmas photo by Chandler O'LearyPhoto by Chandler O'LearyTacoma photo by Chandler O'LearyChickadee Christmas ornament by Chandler O'LearyPhoto by Chandler O'LearyChristmas photo by Chandler O'LearyChristmas in Ashland sketch by Chandler O'LearyPhoto by Chandler O'LearyChristmas photo by Chandler O'LearyPhoto by Chandler O'LearyPhoto by Chandler O'LearyChristmas photo by Chandler O'LearyChristmas photo by Chandler O'LearyChristmas photo by Chandler O'LearyChristmas photo by Chandler O'Leary

To me this season is not about a certain day, or even a series of holidays—it’s a collection of moments. It’s those moments that I cherish above anything else—especially when they happen with the people I love best, in this part of the world I call home. I hope your season, however you might celebrate or mark it, is filled with the moments you’ll want to remember always.

Merry Christmas, and happy holidays, from our home to yours.

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Starting with the corners

Home photo by Chandler O'Leary

Slowly but surely, this place is beginning to look like home.

Tacoma photo by Chandler O'Leary

Good thing, because the days are absolutely flying by,

Studio photo by Chandler O'Leary

the weeks passing me in a blur of time.

Home photo by Chandler O'Leary

Neither the Tailor nor I could really take any time off from work for our move, so we can only settle in a little at a time. There are so many boxes to unpack, fixtures to mend, hidden spots to clean, surprises to deal with, infrastructure to set up—a million things to build and scrub and fix and dismantle and assemble and purchase and beautify and polish and rewire and dig up and plant and patch and strip and undo and restore and set up just so. Some parts of the house are perfect as they are; others need attention immediately; still others will just need to be lived with as-is for some years, until we can get around to tackling them. If I think about any of it too long, I go a little mad.

Home photos by Chandler O'Leary

So for now, we’re focusing on the corners. There isn’t a single room that’s done yet, but little corners here and there are starting to shape up nicely.

Steller's Jay photo by Chandler O'Leary

These images, then, are little glimpses of what my days have been like lately, of the moments that have alternately focused and fragmented my attention.

Home photo by Chandler O'LearyStudio photo by Chandler O'LearyConstellation illustrations by Chandler O'Leary

Through it all, work goes on, as close to uninterrupted as I can make it,

Home photo by Chandler O'Leary

while the hum of everyday life picks back up around me.

Home photo by Chandler O'Leary

I’ve gotten in the habit lately of keeping my camera on a shelf behind my work table. It’s a good reminder that while forward momentum is nice—

Home photo by Chandler O'Leary

—I need to remember to stop every now and again and take a good look at where I stand.

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Home sweet home

House photo by Chandler O'Leary

In a season full of big events, tomorrow is the biggest day of all, because that’s when the Tailor and I move into our new home. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this—we’ve been saving for years and looking for months, and we finally found the house (and studio!) that is absolutely perfect for us, in every way.

House photo by Chandler O'Leary

It’s going to take a goodly bit of time, elbow grease and TLC to preserve our little piece of historic Tacoma just the way we want to, but we’ve had a lot of good omens to remind us that we’re headed down the right path.

House photo by Chandler O'Leary

For one thing, we found a poster I designed already hanging in the basement—

Tacoma photo by Chandler O'Leary

—and for another, we’ll get to come home to this every day.

I’ll be whipping my new studio into shape over the coming weeks and months, so I’m sure I’ll have photos and stories to share as I go along.

* * *

Thank you to everybody who came to my reception yesterday! We had a massive turnout—I think we gave the library staff a nice surprise by filling up that gallery. Many thanks for all your smiles, hugs and support, especially on the eve of the big move!

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Full house

Tacoma Studio Tour 2014 photo by Chandler O'Leary

This weekend was the biggest and best Studio Tour yet—and I even remembered to take pictures!

Tacoma Studio Tour 2014 photo by Chandler O'Leary

Well, sort of, anyway. I managed to document my space for the last time,

Tacoma Studio Tour 2014 photo by Chandler O'Leary

but then chaos took over. It’s a good thing I bought just about every last organic jellybean in the city of Tacoma, because we needed them!

Tacoma Studio Tour 2014 photo by Chandler O'Leary

This was the only “action shot” I managed to grab all day—most of the time it was so packed there wasn’t room to stand on anything to snap a quick photo. We blew last year’s record out of the water, with well over 200 visitors this year!

Tacoma Studio Tour 2014 photo by Chandler O'Leary

And then afterward the only photo I managed was the view from the floor, where I lay in a heap.

To everyone who came to bid the old house farewell, as well as the many new folks who stopped by for the first time, thank you so much for making the weekend an enormous success. It feels so good to be a part of such a supportive and enthusiastic community—I would not be able to do what I do without you.

And I’m already thinking up ideas for 2015. See you next year, at the new studio!

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Last hurrah

Moving boxes photo by Chandler O'Leary

I know I’ve been a little quiet online lately, but it’s certainly not quiet around my house. This is the state of things right now—at least in the back half of the house. The Tailor and I are moving to a new house/studio in just over a week (still in Tacoma! Just a couple of miles away is all…).

Anagram Press studio at the Tacoma Studio Tours

To give my studio of the past six years a proper send-off, I’m doing one last Studio Tour at the old house, this weekend. (Don’t worry, this isn’t my last Studio Tour—next year it’ll be at the new house.) Since the event is a month earlier from now on, we’re all crossing our fingers for better weather! I’ll have my fancy hand-crank die cutter set up for folks to make a take-home keepsake, and there’ll be new artwork and goodies for sale, as always. Here are the details:

13th Annual Tacoma Studio Tours
Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12, 2014
11 am to 5 pm, free!
(Anagram Press studio is #18 on the tour)
More info and maps available here

See you this weekend!

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Quelle surprise!

Lunch photo by Chandler O'Leary

Hey, everyone—Gilles is back!

He’s here for Thanksgiving, but that meal’s not until tomorrow—so what do you think our favorite Frenchman would choose to serve up for lunch?

Lunch photo by Chandler O'Leary

Fresh, raw, Pacific Northwest oysters, of course.

Lunch photo by Chandler O'Leary

But I’d better stop blogging and get back to the table—before he eats them all!

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A toast

Election 2012 sketch by Chandler O'Leary

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, abled, disabled, gay or straight. You can make it here in America if you’re willing to try.”

— President Obama, 6 November 2012

There’s a lot of work ahead, and not every step we took today was in the right direction. But I want to thank everyone who voted for women’s rights, for marriage equality, for four more years. Tonight I’m raising my glass to everyone who voted to move us Forward.