Observing Lint

Yes, I spelled it right.

Who doesn't hate pulling the clothes out of the dryer and finding your favorite black 't' all covered with lint balls. If you are like me, and continuously forget what not to wash together (i.e. gray woolly socks with my black pants), then this little trick I'm about to share will make you very happy.

Just get yourself a cheap tube of tennis balls and keep them by the dryer. Toss one in when drying those clothes that love to attract lint and it will bounce around and knock those pesky little devils right off. It doesn't get them all but it works well enough to make a difference.

Warning: Do not do this right before bedtime. It makes some racket (pardon the pun). The first time I tried this I couldn't figure out what the clunking was down in the basement. Duh!

Ann

Gimme All Your Dough!

This afternoon I baked molasses sugar cookies. Tragically, as is so often the case with baking, the end product isn't nearly as good as the dough. : )

Sharon

Do Try This At Home

Willow tree at Tower Grove Park
Photo By Sharon

I would like to introduce you to the Willows. Formed in 2006, this is a group of St. Louis women who own emerging businesses. The co-founders are Sharon (of Secret Leaves fame) and our good friend Gwen Oulman Brennan, the then owner of Larutan Studios.

When this idea first got going we had a dozen or so smart, energetic women on board. Most were just starting out in businesses based in design. We agreed to meet up every month or so with the main goal of sharing ideas, support and much needed pep talks. Anyone who is starting or owns a small business knows this is so important. As time wore on, the group sifted out to a core of seven or eight women. In future blogs I will do individual bios of each of the women in the group, but for now I’ll post the links to their websites and/or blogs. I encourage you to check them out. I’ll skip the details about Sharon and I since you probably know our long, drawn-out story by now and if you don’t, then by all means, please read the other posts in this blog!

Tyler Stallings is the proud mama of beautiful Chloe and owner of periwinklebloom. Jen Sertl, fashion designer extraordinaire, has Angelina Accoutrements. Ria Sharon is a passionate advocate of child food allergy awareness and heads up Check My Tag. Terry Winkelmann is the co-owner of St. Louis’ first green general store, Home Eco. And our newest member is Heather Robinson, who makes beautiful jewelry. Her business is Love Bird Vintage Jewelry.

Gwen, co-founder of the group, is a very talented painter and jewelry designer, but has since moved on to bigger and better things as a post-grad at the Rhode Island School of Design. Very cool for her, but not so much for us. We miss her.

As the group headed into its second year, an interesting by-product started happening. Not only were we verbally lifting each other up, but we were all starting to trade favors. Sharon has helped Jen by taking pictures of her restyled cashmere sweaters and wraps for her website and Tyler is helping out with the design of Secret Leaves' logo. Terry keeps us up-to-date with what is going on in the increasingly popular green movement and Ria, with her vast knowledge of internet marketing, has given us loads of tips and tricks. We all have our talents and everyone in the group is very generous with sharing them.




One thing Sharon and I have learned from our partnership in Secret Leaves is the benefit of bouncing ideas and strategies off each other. And with this group we have lots o’ bouncing going on. When you put six or seven creative gals in one room, there is no telling what will come out of it. There are always many stories and lots of laughs and, oh yeah, I forgot to mention the food. With every meeting there is a bounty of tasty munchies because, you know…we’re women. And we know how to throw a get-together.

I just know that after every meeting I go home feeling a little bit better about our business and that anything is possible. It does my head good. I strongly recommend trying this at home, children. Form a group and get in each other's business! If for no other reason than to make some great friends and have some good times. But believe me, you will get much more than that out of it.



Ann

This week in music

Things are very busy here at Secret Leaves World Headquarters. We are filling orders, planning our year ahead and trying to organize the stupendous mess we call our studio. It is sometimes too much for two girls to handle. But to soothe our worried minds we turn to our trusty boom box and let the tunes wash over us and then we realize, once again, that life is good and we are lucky to be doing what we are doing.

So what have we been listening to that has cured all of our ills? Well one CD that is helping is the Ditty Bops' latest, Moon over the Freeway. If you are hankering for some sweet girl harmony singing with a very talented band backing them up, then this is the CD for you. And in keeping with our recycled paper goods theme, these girls spread the good green word wherever their touring takes them. This year they did a series of farm shows where they played at various barns across the country in support of local farmer's markets that promote organic and pesticide-free foods. They also helped raise money for Farm Aid. In 2006 they did a tour across the country using bicycles as the mode of transportation. And I found out that dhlovelife has a link to their website. You remember dhlovelife, don't you? (Yes, this is a shameless plug of our Scrap Journals featured on this cool website. See blog post below.)

Ann

Scrap Journals and Thank You cards

Here are some Scrap Journals we just sent to Perch Home in Maplewood, New Jersey.

This cover is a piece of handwritten sheet music. The tobacco revenue stamp wraps around the top corner and inside the cover.

A piano ad from the inside of an 1800s sheet music cover. That's a cicada on the front.

This might be my favorite Scrap Journal ever. The cover, a really old piece of German sheet music, is just incredible and I love how the moth is angled in the corner. I hope Michelle at Perch Home likes it.

This order also included some beautiful Take Cover Journals, which, for some reason, I didn't think to photograph. The order as a whole was really pretty : all in browns and creams and linens and pale greens. I think it will look great all merchandised together in her store.

We are working on some Thank You cards too.

This one mimics a vintage cigar box. Recognize the revenue stamp? Again, it wraps around to the inside of the card:

This one is just pretty. They're both printed on 100% post-consumer recycled card stock and come with 100% post-consumer recycled kraft envelopes.

What do you think about these? Are these something you would order for your store?

Sharon