Lettergirl

Giveaway winner!

First of all, thanks to all of you who answered my plea for help.  I've been reviewing the content on this blog over the last week, and realizing I'm going to miss it more than I thought.  I may need to consolidate it all in one book to keep and remember.  Meanwhile, I'm excited to sift through the posts and present your favorites when I start over on my new blog.  (I'm just about ready to start counting the days.)  I'll be sure to include my handwriting tips, my creative manifesto, my A to Z book, stitching projects, and lots of quotations. 

And...I'll be starting things off with a whole week of giveaways in July.  That's FIVE giveaways, plus a bonus giveaway I'm kind of excited about.

The winner of this week's giveaway is Michael Nelson:

I'm gaga for lettering, book comments from you and quotations ~ and all things "Gina"! :-)

Michael, give me a shout on email to claim your prize:  your choice of any stamp design in my shop, in self-inking or red rubber. 

New in the shop: printable PDFs!

Make your own greeting cards, print artwork for your walls, the sky's the limit with my new printable PDFs:

Song of Solomon

Robert Browning

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have more quotes on the way, but if you have a favorite, let me know & I just may add it to the list.

Two more days to enter this week's giveaway!

Best of the "old" blog: a giveaway (and a plea for help).

Later this month I'll be saying goodbye to this blog address, and hello to my new site: ginasekelsky.com .  Rich Inner Life will still be available for you to access the old content (at least for awhile), but I'd like to revisit the best posts on my new blog.  Any suggestions?

I know I'll include the skirt, and the heart word cloud, and my book scrapbook, and lots of quotations.  I'd love to know if there's a particular post that brought you here or inspired you to try something.

Leave a comment on this post by Thursday night, and on Friday morning I'll draw one winner, who'll receive their choice of any address stamp in my shop: any design, in self-inking or red rubber.  Be sure to include your favorite (or most helpful) post from my blog in your comment. It can be a link, the title of the post, or just a description of what the post was about.  You don't need to write an essay (unless you want to!), just remind me of some posts I may have forgotten about so I can bring those ideas over to the new blog.

Wednesday Book Club.

Gluten-Free Girl Every Day
Here is a book I checked out from the library and had to buy for myself almost instantly. 

I picked it up at the library on Friday afternoon, woke up early on Saturday, and settled myself down on the parlor couch with a cup of tea and some scraps of paper to mark recipes I'd like to try.  So many slips of paper tucked in to mark pages that it was silly not to have my very own copy. 

I don't read Shauna's blog daily, I do more of a once-a-month check-in.  Although her photography is gorgeous (and makes you want to cook right away), too many of her recipes won't work with the restricted diets in our house and I just don't always have the energy to adjust/modify/play.  Also, her cooking philosophy is very spontaneous; I can admire that from afar, but I need (and enjoy) a meal philosophy that's plan-plan-plan.

And a note for anyone who doesn't need to/want to eat gluten-free:  it really doesn't matter with this book.  Many of the recipes are "naturally" gluten-free (that is, they don't contain gluten-substitutes), and the photography alone is worth a peek. 

I love to read cookbooks.  Have any on your nightstand (or kitchen counter)?

Summer Reading Program 2013.

When I was a kid, I always took part in the Summer Reading Program at our local library -- you know, read 20 books and earn a prize at the end of the summer.  Over the weekend my daughter asked if it was time to sign up at the library yet, and the wheels started turning for this year's version of the Summer Reading Program for Grown-ups.  Won't you join me?

The Details

Read any five books this summer and write a short paragraph review of each (a few sentences will do it).  Your books can be fiction or non-fiction.  (I even count cookbooks!)

The Deadline

Send me your list via email August 15-31st:  gina {at} ginasekelsky {dot} com.

The Prize

Everyone who sends a book list (complete with mini-reviews) will receive 5 quotation bookmarks, handwritten by me.  One prize per reader, please.

 

Stay tuned for updates throughout the summer (plus a sneak peek at what I'm reading). 

Red + elephants.

I love when a customer I've worked with through the years comes to me and says, "I need some notecards.  I like red and elephants."  Creating small sets of custom notecards is soooo much easier than it was when I started designing.  Once upon a time, everything had to be printed offset, which meant making a plate and producing a large enough quantity to make it worthwhile.  Now I can easily print off a batch of 20 in black on my printer (still adding color by hand to each and every card) and everybody's happy.

Open Studio Hours Today!

Open Studio Hours are the last Tuesday of every month, from 11-2, at my St. Paul studio, 2500 University Avenue West. Bring your lunch and we can have a nice long chat!

Help: new class ideas?

Two years ago I introduced my Love Your Letters Workshop; last year I revised the materials & format; this year...I'm ready for something new!  I have a few ideas I'm playing with for new class topics, but wondered if you have anything on your wishlist?

Trunk show sneak peek.

A sneak peek of projects in my fall trunk show:

Giveaway winner.

What creative suggestions for teacher gifts!  And especially the ideas that included a thoughtful note from the child.  The random winner of the name stamp is:

Allison

At Christmas, we usually give travel mugs with our homemade cocoa mix and biscotti.  At the end of the year, bookmarks (made by my kids) and gift cards to a bookstore.

Allison, please email me at lettergirl66 {at} gmail {dot} com; let me know the name for your stamp, if you'd like self-inking or red rubber, and which lettering style to use.  You can see the options here. 

Come back and visit in June, when I'll be hosting a whole week of giveaways in honor of my 21st business anniversary (which was actually last week, but I'm hoping to host the giveaway week on my brand new blog!).  Be sure to sign up for my newsletter so you'll know just when the giveaways start!