WINNER UPDATE: Paper love and A Jenny C Designs Stationery Giveaway!

Thank you again to Jenny for the opportunity to share her lovely designs! 

The winner of the six cards and stamps is: Tasha (PaleoCouponLady)! Congratulations, Tasha! Please email me with the mailing address to send along your cards. 

Thank you to everyone who shared their favorite sites! Look out for more giveaways on the CL. 

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Nowadays it seems for every passion or hobby there are a slew of blogs and social media accounts to match. By now you know I have a whole-hearted obsession with mail and subsequently gorgeous stationery for sending it. Lately I keep discovering new stationers weekly, and from there I uncover their blogs or blogs they have been featured on – filled with styled photos full of lust-worthy paper, wedding invitation suites, and adorable props. Here are some of my current favorite places for getting my stationery fix:

• Mail Models: I actually was told about Erika Burho’s site by a customer where I work and quickly realized she is styling paper products for so many companies I already love such as Olive Box, Rifle Paper Co. and Parrot Design Studio. Check out her Instagram, too: @mailmodels.
• Wordshop.: When researching stationery/gift shops in places on my hope-to-travel-to list I stumbled upon Wordshop. in Denver. Since then I have been rejoicing in their hilarious Facebook posts that in a very literal sense have me LOLing every week. Check it out: Wordshop. Facebook
• Oh So Beautiful Paper: A full-on paper blog covering new collections from stationers, stunning invitation suites, graphics and more from a wide range of designers. And in January friend Jenny’s designs were featured on the site!

Which leads me to our giveaway. . . After my Olive Card Box giveaway Jenny offered to send me some of her playful letterpress cards for a giveaway here on The Culinary Librarian. A couple months ago my friend Linda, of Bake For You (who just opened a new location where All Good Bakers in Albany used to be), mailed me a note on one of Jenny’s “Sweet!” cards. It was a nice touch, coming from a sweets baker. Thankfully Jenny offered to send me a few of the very same design along with another design I love from her Jenny C Designs Facebook page:

The “Sending Caring Thoughts Your Way” is a great card. Sometimes we need to drop someone a note so they know we are thinking of them, but it can be hard to find the right card or paper to express this sentiment – it can be tricky to hit that balance of beauty and thoughtfulness. These cards work perfectly to catch up with someone, as get well cards, or even sympathy cards. And I love the little sealed-with-a-heart envelope design above the text. And these “Sweet!” cards can express any and every excitement with absolute ease. Thank you, Jenny, for allowing me to share your designs!

              

The Giveaway: Enter to win three of each design, wrapped in their own cellophane sleeve. I will also throw in six USPS forever stamps to encourage the winner of these cards to send them anytime! Post your answer to the following question by 11:59pm EST on April 6th and be entered to win. I will randomly choose and announce a winner the following day (April 7th) and send out the cards and stamps ASAP. The question:

Which blog or social media account do you count on for a little boost of inspiration? Share the link in the comments section!

By no means does it need to be a paper or food blog – share what you love! Leave your answer as a comment below or email me your reply: theculinarylibrarian[at]gmail[dot]com.

A Handful of Books I Can’t Wait To Get My Hands On. . .

This idea of writing up a list of books I’m looking forward to is constantly knocking around in my brain. Thankfully, the list never stops growing, but ultimately the works I anticipate are released and that list ebbs and flows. . . Alas, there are a handful of books that have yet to be released right now that I have been looking forward to for a long while. Perhaps it is just that I am an adult now (am I?) and I understand how the world turns a little better every year, but it does seem that thanks to social media, and the Internet on the whole, we are exposed to the progress of beloved authors’ latest works. Be it a periodic Instagram post or an apologetic/grateful blog post addressing a stressed/excited absence from their virtual space – we are given insights to how things are going, snippets to whet our appetites. 

Here are the titles I cannot wait to hold in my hands on, get cooking from, and finally see in print:

Extra Virgin: Recipes & Love from Our Italian Kitchen by Debi Mazar & Gabriele Corcos

The chemistry that flows between Debi and Gabriele on the screen and in person is practically tangible – they’re the kind of public couple you can tell are doing what they do because they absolutely love it, and love each other and their daughters. When I need some soothing I can find a clip or full episode of their Cooking Channel show. Their gentle, playful nature calms me and inspires me to get cooking. I’m looking forward to relaxed Tuscan recipes alongside their sweet and entertaining stories. [Photo from: http://underthetuscangun.com/]

Get It: May 6, 2014

Delicious!: A Novel by Ruth Reichl 

Ruth Reichl is one of my favorite writers. Her food memoirs are ones I want to re-read every year, and ones I often refer back to for reliving the moments she’s written (like hiding out in Danny Kaye’s kitchen and eating his luxurious lemon pasta). To have her writing food-related fiction has me over the moon with excitement. As far as I can tell it will be a story of: sisters, magazines, letters, and a rich tapestry of all things food. I devoured her food memoir trilogy in no time and I look forward to carving out time to take in Delicious! as soon as I get it. [Photo: https://www.facebook.com/monica.bhide1]

Get It: May 6, 2014

Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Practical Pantry by Cathy Barrow

Many moons ago I had the pleasure of meeting Cathy Barrow at my first Duckathlon. When we met I didn’t know about her blog, Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Kitchen, or about her work with Charcutepalooza (and the-one-and-only Michael Rhulman), but soon after I began following her across the board online I realized she was my kind of food person. She does an amazing job preserving the bounty of the seasons to enjoy all year long – in every form possible, not just jams and tomato sauces (although we once exchanged treats and she sent me to-die-for strawberry rhubarb preserves!). Her book is already making me want to live out my aspirational kitchen fantasies. To top it all off Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton (Canal House) did the photography for the book. The stunning cover is enough to get me anxious for what is inside.  [Photo: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/267823509064638838/]

Get It: November 3, 2014