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.

Follow Fridays: Introduction and #Reading

In my first months of tweeting I learned about #FF which stands for Follow Friday. It’s a way to suggest to your followers who they might enjoy following on Twitter based on the fact that you like how they tweet. If you are starting out on Twitter it is also a great way to get your handle out there and show some appreciation for the people who keep you tweeting. Friday’s hold a special place in my heart thanks to Twitter and it is all because of #FF. Since I still tweet my series of #FF every week, I thought I would explain the people I typically suggest. Also, I wanted to extend the list beyond the 140 character limit to include the accounts I like but don’t always make room for on Fridays. For the next six or seven Fridays I will give you a post on Friday mornings with all the accounts I like in one overall category.

To begin with I always give a list of my favorite writers or sources labeled as #Reading. This list stays pretty consistent but changes depending on what I am reading that week. If the author, magazine or blog I’ve been into lately has a Twitter account I will always include them. So here is how I tend to get things rolling on Friday mornings:

@GaelGreene – Gael Greene is a food critic and author best known for her hats and sensual writing that blurs the line between food and sex. When I started tweeting as @culinarylibrari the second season of Top Chef Masters was airing so my love for Gael was just starting to bloom. After I read "Insatiable" this past fall my head was filled with all sorts of naughty ideas thanks to Gael. My appreciation fully bloomed and she has been on every #FF #Reading tweet since their inception.

@ruhlman – Around Christmastime I learned about Michael Ruhlman while watching Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations Holiday Special. I thought to myself—who is this handsome man with great knife skills and even better hair? After Googling him and finding a recipe for homemade English muffins on the first page of his site I knew I wanted to learn more about him. He is the author of a myriad of books about cooking and being a Chef in addition to the handful of books he has co-authored with the heavy hitters like Thomas Keller and Eric Ripert.

RSS Obsessed: An Ode to Google Reader

I have recently become addicted to RSS feeds and reading blogs using Google Reader. My obsession began moments after reading the feature on LA Food Blogger Jo Stougaard in the LA Times where she mentions she reads 200+ blogs using Google Reader.

Before this I didn't read too many blogs or look at any sites daily. I would just click links in Twitter that sounded interesting to stay abreast of what was happening. My new style is to add the RSS feed to my Reader for every site I find and like. Google Reader will automatically update me when there is a new post and I can quickly read through all my favorite blogs and websites! 

One of the best things about Google Reader is if you have a Google account already, there is nothing new to create or sign up for and no additional site to sign-in to when you want to read all your blogs and feeds in one place. I can easily click "Reader" at the top of my Gmail screen when I want to check in for new feeds and browse over what was recently posted. The most set-up you need to do is building your reader feed by simply copying and pasting RSS feed and Blog links into the "Add A Subscription" bar. So quick and so easy!

Another great feature, you can search all the blogs and feeds in your reader making it so simple to find things you may have read a few days (or months!) ago or something you glanced at but didn't have time to finish reading. I love this feature because I am always half remembering things and sometimes have difficulty finding the source of my memories. Google Reader narrows down the search process to allow me to quickly find what I am looking for. This tool is extremely useful, especially if you find yourself doing research based in blogs. 

And of course, Google Reader is smart phone ready! You can download the Google Reader Application and get all the features of Google Reader on the go. This is something I'm quite fond of at lunchtime when I want to catch up on things I may have didn't have time to read during the morning. Easy to use and any updates you make on your phone will sync with your reader in-browser. 

So what are some of the things I read in my Google Reader?:

(All links are to RSS feeds-- add and enjoy!)

The Kitchn (found out about this blog from Kelsey Nixon)

A fun blog with a wide range of topics. My favorite thing is all the photos of kitchens they post!

Eater

One of the best sources for what's happening in the "Foodie" world. 

Good Food Jobs

Their blog profiles an individual who has a "Good" food job once a week in interview format. It is a great inspiration to me every Monday (now, Tuesday) morning. 

Marion Nestle's Food Politics

Dr. Nestle's blog is the best source what what is going on in the world of food politics and safety. 

Wasted Food by Jonathan Bloom

Jonathan Bloom's blog shares links about food waste, ways people are reducing their waste, and gets you thinking about what you do with your carrot peels. 

I encourage you to start using Google Reader and see if you like it as much as I do! Such a great way to stay in touch with all your favorite things. And if you do like it, odds are you will become as RSS obsessed as I am and look for that orange symbol on every website or blog you like. (I have even started tweeting and e-mailing sites who don't have an RSS feed asking them to post one!)

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Do you already use Google Reader? Do you use a different RSS Feed reader? 

If so, please tell me about it!

What are your favorite RSS Feeds and Blogs to follow? (Leave links and information in comments)