For the second year in a row, we are hosting a Sip+Shop here in our studio on November 1 from 4-8pm. If you live or work in the Boston area, please make sure to mark the date on your calendars and stop by! This is a fun, festive event where you can get a kick-start on your holiday shopping and drink craft beer as you browse the loot. Good combo, right? Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project will be doing a tasting and several of our favorite local vendors will be selling their wares: 2 Fresh Threads (gifts for baby and home), Soap + Paper Factory (homemade products for home and body), EH Chocolatier (artisan chocolates), and of course, Smudge Ink (stationery and paper goods…read: holiday cards!). A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Greater Boston Food Bank, there will be a free giveaway for the first 50 customers, and a fabulous gift basket will go to one lucky guest. It could be you!

Please spread the word to friends and family if you think they’d be interested.

This week we’ve been busy organizing and brainstorming for our annual Sip + Shop event. We’re super excited to invite everyone over to the studio for some beer and early holiday shopping. The poster is really coming together, and although I can’t reveal the final design yet, I am including some sketches below. Emily Goodale, our beloved print shop manager and a talented illustrator, is the designer, and her artful hand always helps set the stage for this fun fall event. This year the Sip + Shop will be on November 1. Details to follow soon, I promise.

This past Saturday, I attended the opening of the 30th Anniversary Poster and Broadside exhibit hosted by the Letterpress Guild of New England. It was fun to reconnect with the other Boston area letterpress folks, and equally enjoyable to check out all the colorful, clever and wickedly cool broadsides. Below are a few of my favorites. Special thanks to Keith Cross, Michael Babcock, and Leslie Evans who made this event possible and who are forever committed to keeping the letterpress love alive.

1. Year of the Rabbit by Leslie Evans (Sea Dog Press) 2. Union Square Farmer’s Market 2012 by Eli Epstein (Union Press) 3. 100 Years, 100 Letters by Shelley Bandares (Albertine Press) 4. Eat in Season by Karen Domnitch (Itchy Inky Press) 5. Urbs in Horto by Jennifer Farrell (Starshaped Press) 6. Johnny Drove by Clare Carpenter (Tiger Food Press) 7. WMAA Open Studios 2010 by John Carerra (Quercus Press).

Usually I find myself on the Cape for the 4th of July, but this year I’m excited to stay in Somerville and enjoy a day in the city. Instead of heading to the beach and watching the local parade, I think we’ll take a family bike ride on the Minuteman Bikeway, hit Christina’s on the way back, maybe visit Conway Park, and then get our grill on with friends later in the day. The Cook’s Illustrated Grilling book is our summer bible — we cook from it almost every evening and this Wednesday is no exception! One of our favorite recipes is the Sweet and Sour Chipotle Sauce. We eat it with flank steak, wrap it up in a corn tortilla and add a few avocado slices…yum!

Once the sun goes down, and provided our little guy cooperates, I’m hoping to head up to Prospect Hill Park to watch the Boston Fireworks. I hear the view is incredible. What are your plans to celebrate the 4th? Whatever they are, hope it’s happy!

“I love bikes” by Susana Parada, available on etsy.com; Ice cream cone image by Jackie Rueda via Lushlee; Yellow grill illustration by Smudge Ink; Cook’s Illustrated Grilling and Barbeque; Flank Steak Tacos via Tasting Table; Fireworks photograph by Jodi Miller Photography

A few weeks ago, Emily, April, Sabrina and Lis walked over to the North End and took an evening calligraphy class with Lettering by Liz. Liz Roessler, the owner, has been obsessing over the alphabet for as long as she can remember and has spent much of her life practicing all 26 letters in different fonts and styles. She admits her work is not very “by the book” and has a ton of fun developing her own signature look. Liz’s talents are clearly appreciated by many as she has to turn away work these days because she’s so busy!

The class began with a studio tour and a meet + greet. Then the ladies held their first nib pens and nervously applied acrylic ink to paper. It definitely got easier with each stroke, but certainly not as easy as Liz makes it look! Thankfully, Modern Pastry was close by, so the night ended on a sweet note with a delicious cannoli.

Oh, and the next day, Lis put her new skills to work and addressed a card for her father…how beautiful!