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

WINNER UPDATE!: Love Letters + OliveBox Card Box Giveaway & Discount

First, thank you to Olive Box for giving me the opportunity to offer all of you a discount and a giveaway! I was so happy to share the love of snail mail. 

Second, our winner, chosen using a random number generator, is Elizabeth Harrison! Please send me your email [to theculinarylibrarian[at]gmail[dot]com ] so I can get you in contact with Olive Box about your prize! 

Thank you to everyone who entered... I will be doing more stationery giveaways in the coming months so keep an eye out right here! 

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Love letters. I love letters. I love love letters. I love writing love letters. I’d love to get a love letter that I would love to respond to with a love letter.

Valentine’s Day is around the corner and as I sit here and I think of it I cannot come up with a more paper-focused holiday. Do you remember being in grade school and, even before you wrote out your little Valentines, crafting the special envelope or shoe box that was used to collect all the cards from your classmates? I sure do.

There is just nothing like a love letter. There can be heart-wrenching texts, confessions of love in a Tweet, Instagram photos of romantic quotes, long emails detailing your irresistible ways…all of these things are fleeting. But a hand-written, carefully intended, sealed-with-a-kiss, sprayed with perfume love letter that comes by mail, that is meant to last, to be cherished and kept. To eventually be shown to ones children, grandchildren, published in books of great love letters. A missive read breathlessly – sometimes standing just inside the doorway, sometimes carefully taken in and savored while cozy in bed. . .

What could hold a candle to someone quietly taking the time to put pen to paper in your honor, licking an envelope, pressing on a carefully selected stamp and letting it go into a blue box. . . intended to reach your heart?

♥   ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥  ♥

As a lover and promoter of the love note and all forms of snail mail I am happy to tell you that OliveBox has given me a discount code to share with you all, my readers, to use on their new OliveBox Card Box! Unlike the regular OliveBox, which includes cards as well as little gifts, the card box is a set of themed greeting cards. A perfect way to get an unexpected mix of cards to send out to your loved ones all year round! (And a great way to find out about fabulous new stationers, if you’re as wild about mail as I am.)

The Discount: Through January 20th enter the code culinarylibrarian10 when you sign up for the card box and you will get 10% off your purchase (one per customer)! You have the option to sign up for the current Love Card Box (1-month) or a 6-month membership.

The Giveaway: In addition to the discount OliveBox is also going to send one of you your very own card box! Post your answer to the following question by 11:59pm EST on January 22nd and be entered to win. I will randomly choose and announce a winner the following day (January 23rd) and notify OliveBox, who will send you a card box! The question:

Who would you most like to receive a love letter from?

Living, dead, fictional- no limits…feel free to get creative! Leave your answer as a comment below or email me your reply: theculinarylibrarian[at]gmail[dot]com.

Good luck and happiest of LOVE lettering!

DOUBLE WINNER: A Call To Write: September & October, Apples and Thanks

Hey y'all! I have chosen the two winners for the September and October Stationary & Stamps giveaways! I asked you guys to tell me what your FAVORITE food to eat this time of year. I'm a biiiiig pumpkin girl, but these two responses got me salivating for something a little different! 

The Apple cards will go to Ann! Ann says:

                "Pumpkin bread (thanks Grandma!) with a mug of hot apple cider :)

                      Oh and "apples" - being a teacher and all..."

And The Merci cards will go to Sabrina H.! Sabrina says: 

                "This time of year always makes me want Southern Style baked Mac n Cheese. 

                  I also love spaghetti squash and spicy turkey sausage ragout." 

Ladies,  please send me the address you would like your stationary and stamps to be mailed to theculinarylibrarian[at]gmail[dot]com! 

A Call To Write: September & October, Apples & Thanks

For the past two months, maybe even the past three, I have taken to scheduling my life out by the minutes. Dinners with friends, phone calls with parents, trips to the grocery store, self-budget meetings and sometimes even sleep. I have been busy- again. I’m bored of saying it, but it continues to be the truth. Maybe I can finally get a hang on scheduling some Culinary Librarian time again though. Can’t speak for you guys, but I know I’d enjoy once more sharing with you on the regular.

So here we are with more stationary and stamps, two month’s worth in one post. I had come up with these little sparkly red apples for September just after my summer vacation on the Cape and was filled with those old back-to-school feelings. So here they are now, untimely but still autumnal and just as cute. These will be sent with vintage flower seed USPS Stamps – fruit and flowers!