Zeichen Press – Page 12 – Design & Letterpress for the people.

My older brothers had a bunk bed, my little brother had his own bed and my sister and I shared a queen-sized bed.

We also shared countless hours of strange bedtime rituals: she would put on her school uniform (white blouse and brown plaid jumper) and pull her nightgown over it � that was for early morning efficiency… I would skip the uniform step and go right to the nightgown.

I was so slow!

She would coat her arms in Elmer’s Glue,

elmers-glue

I would dress and redress Raggedy Ann.

I don’t know if she shared my fear of the monster under the bed.

No, what am I saying?�She did not. In fact, she created the fear!

Siblings can be so cruel. monster-under-the-bed

Local Woman Not Kidnapped By Craigslist Poster

PHEW!

My Faith in Humanity was fortified! I bought a�tripod from a stranger on Craiglist and he�made no mention of kidnappng, torturing, OR skinning me.

Now I can stumble my way through taking photographs of the new cards!

The Craigslist man assured me (three times) that the tripod was the “real deal” so that should help.

Left, Left, Lefty, Right-o Left, Right

That’s the sound that March makes � that and a muffled sobbing.�February triggers cabin fever but March in Minnesota is far more dangerous.

Here’s a story about March:�One Christmas, Santa put a baby albino rabbit under the tree ��so delightful!�

The little rabbit grew into a big rabbit and by the next Winter, our basement smelled like the bunny barn at the State Fair. With scraps of wood and a bale of hay, I built an outdoor rabbit hutch.

In a pinch, it could serve as a coffin for an adult man.

IN A PINCH.

By March it was buried under several feet of snow and I’d order my eldest to go spend time with the rabbit in the snow coffin.

The moral of the story is: Get a dog.

And something about March creating crazy. Thank God I have an outlet for my March crazy: water-vodka-2

Vocabulary Quiz And Card Celebrating Angry Parents

My high school English teacher told the class that if we looked up the word ‘glib’ in the dictionary, there would be a picture of me. glib-fran-definition-2

She was right!

I think I felt insulted.

I’m sure Jen’s high school English teacher said something similar about her. jen-reckless-definition-2

And if not, she should have.

What does this have to do with angry parents or a new card?

Obviously, my glibness was not celebrated at home. In fact, it was frowned upon ��can you believe it?!�

And Jen’s reckless behavior?? You’ll have to ask her about that… I mean, pregnant at 19?! What was she THINKING?! (Wait, that was me?? We need to hire a fact checker.) sometimes-mommy-and-daddy-fight

#AmericanMadeMSL AND The Land of Counterpane

Recovering from a collapsed lung is the perfect time to learn all about hashtags.

Thank you, lung!

I obsessively�tweeted�and nagged everyone on�Facebook. I’M SORRY EVERYONE.

Wait,�#HelpMe.

It’s been a�trending/not-trending�rollercoaster-week for Zeichen Press… trending 11 screen grab trending 4 trending.15 YOU MUST REALLY BE SUFFERING!

But may the�best (wo)man (named Fran and Jen)�win.�Did I mention that you have to vote 6x every day through October 13th?�And did I mention that my doctor told me that my other lung will collapse if we don’t win??

PS: I made a new Mother’s Day card… thankless job.period

Voting is a Good Thing

Running for student council vice president of my Freshman class was so stressful! Our platform was twofold:

1) Instruct � and therefore unify � our class via a comprehensive Class Cheer: “Nine-tee! Nine-tee! Ninetyninetyninety nine-tee!!! YAYYYY!!”

2) Oh, I guess it was only a onefold platform…

NEEDLESS TO SAY, votes were cast, and I won. It was a real nail-biter. AboveAverage

SPEAKING OF VOTING, you can finally start�voting for Zeichen Press here!

And you can (and should!!) vote 6x per day! SIX TIMES. PER DAY.

Attack of the Spontaneous Pneumothorax!

Yikes! That sounds scary!

Lungs are not�supposed�to collapse, but that’s what makes life so exciting! Sunday mornings could be all jejune French toast and bacon, OR they could be all ambulance and emergency surgery.(I was just as stoic as the�woman in the above illustration while they performed�my�surgery. Eyes wide open, no tears.)

Life is so full of twists and turns!

There is nothing like having your very own chest tube � my aunt said it was my friend. And indeed it was! My little friend with a one-way valve who caused me nothing but suffering. After just two days, the doctor pulled my friend out of my chest � and again, like the woman in the illustration: I was stoic, with eyes wide open and no tears.

I’ll write a card about this as soon as my painkillers wear off.

We want to be more than just friends with: Portobello Road and Rags

Portobello Road and Rags�-> 4 Dock Street Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, MA

ANOTHER profile in that special series dedicated to bringing our readers biased reviews of shops that carry our goods.

Great. Now I�HAVE�to go to Martha’s Vineyard. portobello road.rags signage But I’ll do it for you, reader, because I’m a giver. A GIVER.

Will residents of Martha’s Vineyard embrace Zeichen Press cards? Will they clutch them to their breast while weeping�tears of joy and relief?? WILL THEY?? carly simon

Oh, Carly Simon! Let�us both�wear our overalls, place one of our feet delicately upon a fieldstone wall, and laugh and laugh while we read Zeichen Press cards that we (you) bought�from Portobello Road!

Yes, LET’S. portobello road interior inside portobello road

American Made… FINALIST!

Zeichen Press is a finalist for Martha Stewart’s American Made contest.�

YOU HEARD ME.

The Grand Prize is $10,000 and Martha legally adopting the winner. Alexis is so tired of being an only child. Remember when I told you to SHARE the�American Made�Zeichen�Press�page�on Facebook and twitter??

WHY?

BECAUSE I’M ACTIVATING MY SOCIAL NETWORK TO EARN A FINALIST SPOT!H elp!

And don’t worry, I’ll be harassing you on Sept 15th to vote for us…

Here’s the script they gave me: The judges have named me a 2014 @AmericanMadeMSL Awards finalist. Support & share my work to get involved! #celebratethemaker

American Made!

We make things!

We live in America!�

“American Made�spotlights the maker, supports the local, and celebrates the handmade. The program is made up of people and communities that have turned their passion for quality craftsmanship and well-designed goods into a way of life.”

A WAY OF LIFE.

BAM.

In order for Martha to notice Zeichen Press�(umm, she should really just ask Alexis about us)�YOU need to SHARE our American Made nomination page with all of your Facebook friends and twitter followers:

� Step one: Click this�link.

� Step two: Scroll down a teensy bit on that page.

� Step three: Click button that looks like this:(WARNING: The above image IS NOT AN ACTUAL BUTTON, MOM)