update: the moving thing

The move into my studio is complete, other than a few odds and ends I keep uncovering around my house. Woo Hoo!!! It took longer than I wanted it to! We started with the most difficult thing possible — my cast iron table-top letterpress, Blu. It weighs over 100 pounds and was not easy to get up to the third floor (no elevator) but it is there in it's new home. I don't want to move it again!

I pretty much have everything put away but things are not quite organized very well. I need to make one more Ikea trip for some bulletin boards, a rug and an office chair. When I get the studio into a little bit better shape I will try and snap some photos.

The Splat Flats is having it's 4th Annual Open House October 11th from 4pm - 10pm. Please stop by if you have a chance!

news: the second holiday card is printed!

This is the second Shimmer Studio holiday card for this year. It also features a Shimmer Studio brocade design and reads, "Happy Holidays!" It is folded and the inside is blank for your personal correspondence. This holiday card is letterpress printed on Italian Startdream metallic cardstock and includes a coordinating envelope. The cardstock color is a light metallic aquamarine and the design is printed with a turquoise ink. Both holiday cards will be available for sale soon!!! Here is a link back to Shimmer Studio's Alternative Holiday.

news: little blog break to move!

I will be moving all things Shimmer Studio (and most things artsy and DIY related) to a new studio space in Wicker Park this weekend and I am very excited to be a part of the Splat Flats studios. I am pulling my home office apart Friday in order to move things on Saturday. It will be so good to get all my art supplies out of storage where, sadly, they have been lingering since the end of June. I have been missing so many random things I find it impossible to complete any single project... but that's all going to change this weekend.

So, I guess I have not made much progress on my happy things list yet but that is ok since a majority of goodies are in storage. Expect lots of happy art supplies after I get my new studio space situated. I will try to take pictures along my journey.

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Rock on!

news: Alternative Holiday Card

I just finished printing my Alternative Holiday card today and here is a little preview of it!!! I am so excited with how they turned out. These cards are folded and letterpress printed onto Italian Stardream cardstock and they come with a matching envelope. The cardstock is a metallic gun metal color and the ink is silver metallic. The envelope is also a metallic paper. The design is a shimmer studio brocade pattern and they say, "happy whatever & merry everything else." I can't wait to send out a stack of black envelopes for the holidays — how about you?

I do have another holiday card option that I will be printing next week. It is also on metallic cardstock and comes with a matching metallic envelope but the paper color is light blue and it will be letterpress printed with a turquoise ink (shimmer studio's signature color). The design is a different shimmer studio brocade pattern and it will simply say, "Happy Holidays!"

Shimmer Studio @ Beckman's Handcrafted

don't forget! booth 7-4065

Beckman's Handcrafted Show starts Saturday July 19th at 9am and runs through Tuesday July 22nd. Shimmer Studio is booth 7-4065 on the seventh floor!

Above is a photo of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. It is a convenient location and there are plenty of amenities for a day of perusing giftie goodness. Starbucks is on the first floor as well as a wine store that has yummy gourmet paninis.

I am excited for the start of Beckman's and I start setting up tomorrow so expect pictures (I hope I can find my battery charger)! Of course I am overwhelmed doing another trade show but I can't wait to meet new people and talk to other artists. I think my booth will come together nicely if I finish my boards (LOL)! Time to start wrapping up all those loose ends.

website updated

The Shimmer Studio website has been updated! It is just a little modification — I added a couple of pages and made sure users could get to the stationery catalog from the home screen. There is also a new wholesale page! In the future I plan on adding search functionality and an online store. I plan on using the free Google Custom Search (which was hard to find so I've attached the link in case you want to muck around with a search feature too!) The free version pops-up with advertisements so I'll see how that works. I couldn't launch the new version of the site with the search functionality because I need to submit a sitemap so it works properly. Currently Google does not have much of my site indexed. I will see how it all goes!


I added this photo I took in Florida to the wholesale page.

Beckman's Handcrafted Show :: Booth 7-4065

Shimmer Studio will have a booth at Beckman's Handcrafted Show July 19th – July 22nd. Our booth number is 7-4065 on the seventh floor of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. Beckman's Handcrafted Show is part of the Chicago Gift Show: Living and Giving.

We are very excited to be a part of this show on our home turf.