The holiday season can really make you feel like there is just not enough time in the day. This is especially true if you plan on making things yourself such as homemade gifts, cookies, etc. The days between Thanksgiving and Christmas just slip by as you try to check off all of those elusive things on your to-do list.

One thing many people end up not making enough time for (and thus, don’t enjoy) is sitting down to write and address holiday cards. Each day you mean to do it, but then it just gets passed over for more pressing items on your list.

This year we would like you to join us, Thursday, Nov 24-Sunday, Nov 27, for what we are calling “Holiday Card Writing Weekend”.  We think that Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect time to write your holiday cards. Like anything, you have to plan time for it and make it important enough that you commit to doing it. Writing cards shouldn’t be a chore! What this activity really is about is making quiet time in your life to connect with friends and family. If you think of it as a chore, it will be.

Together, let’s revive the holiday tradition of sending cards out of love not obligation!

Here’s what you need to do….

1) Think about when you can carve out an hour on this long weekend. Maybe as your pies are in the oven, or when the rest of the family is watching football, or early on Sunday morning as the whole house is asleep. Even if you are traveling this weekend, there is no reason why you can’t bring this small project along with you. Mark it on your calendar!

2) Buy your cards in advance. You don’t want to have to shop for these on Black Friday! Don’t be over ambitious with tons of cards. Maybe just pick 10 people you would really like to send a greeting to this year.

3) Pick out some nice stamps. You can do this online in advance from the post office or maybe buy a selection of vintage stamps (from somewhere like etsy) to use if you really want to get creative. Stamps are like jewelry for the envelope, so pick something you like!

4) Clear off a table or your desk to write your cards. Make yourself comfortable. You can’t do this properly from the coffee table!

5) Use a nice pen. Nothing is better than that feeling of the ink rolling out smoothly on the paper. Your handwriting will improve automatically!

6) Make yourself a nice cup of tea, coffee or hot cocoa to enjoy while you are writing. A toasty beverage will not only put you in the holiday spirit but will make you feel a little bit pampered too.

7) If holiday music is your thing, crank up the tunes! We’ve got the new She & Him holiday album in heavy rotation here at the studio and it instantly puts us in the holiday spirit.

8) Write something from the heart in the card. All it needs is just a sentence or two, but something more than your name and a generic holiday greeting. This has been a difficult year for many people in our lives and a thoughtful message will mean the world to them (and to you!)

9) When you are done and your cards are addressed and stamped, we highly recommend you put on a coat and take a little walk down to the corner to drop these in a mailbox. It will be the perfect end to the time you’ve set aside for yourself!

Just one more thing…Cherish the cards YOU receive. Make sure to verbally thank people for sending you a card when you speak to them during the holidays. Let them know that YOU appreciate the time and effort it takes to send cards and that you loved receiving it! So many people we talk to think that no one cares about the cards they send anymore. They are wrong!

We hope that you will join us in writing your holiday cards Thanksgiving Weekend!

-Susie & Heidi

This time of year, Susie and I have been know to “run errands” some afternoons.  This is code for “we’re going out for a slice of Harvest Pie”.  It’s a scrumptious concoction served a local chain bakery restaurant that is near our studio.  We look forward to it’s arrival each year as a reminder that the holidays are approaching.

Since homemade is usually always better, I decided to try my hand at creating my own version of this pie. It’s a layer of traditional pumpkin pie, followed by a layer of pumpkin mousse and topped with mounds of whipped cream. What could be tastier right?

We might have to drive a little further to “run errands”, but the pie (and the coffee) are usually much better at my house!

Pumpkin Cream Pie

• Pie dough enough for 1 deep dish 9″ pie

• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out pie dough to about 1/8-inch thick and form a 16-inch circle. Fit circle into a 9-inch deep dish pie plate, leaving approximately a 1-inch overhang. Crimp edges of pie decoratively. (I used strips of dough to form a ribbon edge effect)

Cut a circle of parchment and fit into pie shell.  Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until crust is lightly golden, about 15 minutes.  Remove pie weights and parchment and continue baking for about 15 minutes more, until crust is golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

While the crust is cooling, whisk pumpkin, sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla, eggs, evaporated milk, and cloves in a large bowl.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Put pie dish on a rimmed baking sheet and pour the pumpkin mixture into the cooled crust. Bake until the center is almost set, about 50 minutes. Let cool in pie dish on a wire rack and then transfer to the refrigerator.  Let cool for approximately 4 hours.

While the pie is cooling, prepare the pumpkin cream. In a small saucepan, sprinkle the gelatin over 3 tablespoons of water. Let the gelatin soften for about 5 minutes.  Over very low heat, stir gelatin until it dissolves. Cool slightly.

In a large bowl, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. While beating, add the cooled gelatin in a steady stream and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

In a food processor, process pumpkin puree, cream cheese, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the pumpkin mixture into the whipped cream.

Spoon the filling on top of the chilled pumpkin pie layer in your pie dish. Use a spatula to smooth the top. Chill in refrigerator.

Repeat the process with the gelatin.  In a small saucepan, sprinkle the gelatin over 3 tablespoons of water. Let the gelatin soften for about 5 minutes.  Over very low heat, stir gelatin until it dissolves. Cool slightly.

In a large bowl, beat the 1 1/2 cups heavy cream together with the confectioner’s sugar until soft peaks form. While beating, add the cooled gelatin in a steady stream and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Decoratively spoon the whipped cream on top of the chilled pumpkin cream layer. You can also spoon the whipped cream into a piping bag and decorate the top of the pie as shown.

Chill the completed pie for an additional 3 hours before serving. Serve chilled.

Pie will keep for several days, covered in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

- Heidi

Of course there was a lot of napping going on. With a hammock and a view like that, who wouldn’t want to spend the day lounging around? But what I had so much fun doing over the weekend was working on an embroidery project that I brought along. I can’t explain what it is about doing handwork like this that resets my brain. Sometimes I feel that so much damage is done by all the surfing & scrolling we do on our computers and phones on a daily basis. My attention span is getting shorter and shorter by the day. Spending an entire day (or two) working in the daylight hours on something like embroidery erases all that damage for me.

The project I brought with me was a beautiful piece of printed fabric by the talented gals of Prints Charming. Last month I took a fabric printing workshop with them at the Urban Craft Center in Santa Monica. They talked a lot about how they love to embroider and how they see their printed fabric as a starting point to become something wonderful and unique through embellishment. So I decided to try it out myself…and it was so much fun! Somehow the piece of fabric I choose to bring with me echoed the beautiful pinks and purples and reds that filled the landscape at sunset perfectly. Each day at the ranch ended with a gorgeous sunset and with each sunset, my embroidery came to end for the day.

Photos by Susie Bauer, Hexagon Fabric by Prints Charming for Kokka available HERE and HERE.

-Susie

We’ve been very busy girls here at Rock Scissor Paper. For the last 8 weeks, we have been designing like maniacs. July & August are the months of the year that we release new designs at the wholesale level. This weekend we will be in New York to exhibit at the New York International Gift Fair, where buyers from stores all over the world come to shop for new products.

We designed new styles of existing products like greeting cards, mugs and coasters as well as brand new things like ceramic coin banks. When I look at the list of what we’ve accomplished, I’m very proud!

The final numbers: 40 new greeting cards, 3 new thank you card designs, 18 new coaster designs, 2 new birthday calendars, 15 new enclosure cards, 12 new mugs, 10 new lined journals, 9 ceramic coin banks and to top it off a new 32 page catalog! No wonder we’re so tired!

One of my favorites of the new designs use this bold, colorful type style. This isn’t a font, but rather hand-drawn letters that look like they are collaged out of tissue paper. The mugs in the photo above feature this new type treatment. We also used it on a few new greeting cards and journals.

Our big product debut is our new ceramic coin banks. We have fun, colorful designs for adults and kids. These will make great gift items and also are a fun way to give money as a gift. The smiling apple coin bank is my personal favorite. The photo below is from our catalog photo shoot. Our model Emma likes the apple bank too!

If you haven’t done so already, please LIKE our facebook page because we’ll be posting previews of the new designs throughout the month and you’ll be the first to know when they are available.

New York here we come! Wish us luck!

-Susie

Maybe crazy isn’t the right word. It’s more like obsessed, I just can’t put my needlepoint project down! Last week, I was looking for a new project to work on. Something that wouldn’t make a big mess and that maybe I could do while sitting on the couch. I remembered a needlepoint kit that I had purchased a while back on ebay and decided to pull that out. It turned out to be the perfect thing. The design is bold and the stitch is simple so that I don’t really need to concentrate or make any design decisions. I’m having a lot of fun working on this and even finding myself thinking about my needlepoint throughout the day, longing to get back to it.

I’ve started taking the project with me in my purse, just in case I have a few minutes here and there to work on it. You know what, I’ve snuck in some time! Doctors appointments, car washes, oil changes, subway rides….all have been perfect times to whip this out. The funny thing that has happened is now I don’t mind waiting or being delayed anymore. In the past, I would have gotten very frustrated if my hair stylist was running 15 minutes behind schedule. “How dare she waste my time!” Having my needlepoint project with me, the time went by quickly, actually too quickly! Now I’m hoping for delays.

I’m starting to panic about what I’m going to do when I finish this canvas. I have to get another needlepoint to work on so I’m prepared. Looking around the internet, most kits are really not my style. Then I came across Emily Peacock’s designs on etsy and seriously fell in love!

From the top:1) Sunshine Pillow 2) Think Happy Thoughts 3) Curious Alphabet Kits 4) Give Me Work Needlepoint - a collaboration with Rob Ryan!  Check out her whole collection here: emilypeacocktapestry

-Susie

There is an independently owned party store in the neighborhood where our studio is located. We’re guessing this place has been in business for many years, because from time-to-time, old stock is brought out from the depths of the stockroom. We can instantly spot these items as we stroll the aisles: Yellowed plastic packaging, old school typesetting and often product classifications that just don’t exist anymore. We’re crazy for this stuff!

On a recent visit there we scored this awesome Father’s Day Beistle paper decoration from 1982.

This particular decoration has a real unique element. It can be reversed and used as a “Gay 90″ decoration. We don’t remember that being a very popular party decoration theme. Do you? :-)

This Sunday is Father’s Day and we would like to send out happy hugs to all the Dad’s out there. Have a great day!

-Susie & Heidi

It’s always the simple things. Our Dad loved nothing more than to spend the day taking a drive. So many Sundays of our childhood, and virtually every Father’s Day was spent going for a drive somewhere in the outskirts of Los Angeles: Malibu Canyon, Sand Canyon, Pearblossom Highway, Aqua Dulce, Decker Canyon, Santa Paula, Apple Valley, Angeles Crest. These are some of the places Heidi & I experienced as passengers in the back seat of the family station wagon. It never really was about going to “a place”, but more about the route to get there. Usually our Dad’s drives were large loops with a stop for lunch at a coffee shop along the way. Sometimes we would get out and take a little stroll, but more often than not, we didn’t get out anywhere. It’s funny to think about it now, but the whole family was dressed “nice” for these drives.

The picture that opens this post was taken just off Piuma Road in Malibu. It was our Mom’s birthday in March 1973. On our drive, Mommy fell asleep and when we got to a nice spot along the road, Dad gently pulled the car over. He had us get out quietly so that she could continue napping and took us for a little walk over a small rounded ridge. The hillsides were entirely covered with a blanket of spring wildflowers. Even though I was only 5 1/2 at the time, I remember it well. Heidi & I and Dad picked flowers from the chaparral and made a bouquet. When we returned to the car, we joyously woke up our Mom with a shower of kisses and the flowers we had picked. Sounds like a perfect day, right?

The places our Dad loved were empty, naturally beautiful and always at least an hour away from our house. One drive we repeated quite a bit was through Placerita and Sand Canyons in the Santa Clarita Valley. When we were kids, these were wild places with big ranches, horses grazing alongside long, wood fences, and softly winding canyon roads. Our Dad would dream of being able to one day move to a place like this and have his own ranch. This particular route always ended at a Denny’s Coffee Shop that we called “Dad’s Denny’s”. We never ate at any of the Denny’s that were right by our house, only this one. It was his favorite and we celebrated many Father’s Days there. As children, this drive seemed like it took all day and the anticipation of getting to the coffee shop for our grilled cheese sandwiches made the drive seem even longer.

Recently, on a Sunday drive of my own, I unconsciously ended up on this favorite route of Dad’s.  When I got to the Denny’s, I said to my husband that I couldn’t believe how quickly we had gotten there. It is such a different perspective of time then when you were a kid. Now, 19 years after our Dad passed away, his dream ranches and open land are mostly filled in with tract houses and recent subdivisions. I had a hard time recognizing any of the landscape, but the feeling of driving along the road was definitely familiar; relaxing and meditative and filled with the spirit of our Dad.

-Susie

A friend of ours just gave us a little present. It is a wonderful surprise! At an estate sale she bought a handful of petite, vintage books by Peter Pauper Press and thought that they were perfect for us. She was right!  We already have quite a few of these books in our inspiration library here at the studio, but most of the ones she picked up for us were not duplicates!

Peter Pauper Press, a small publisher started by a husband and wife team in New York, was devoted to publishing fine gift books, with exemplary design and illustrations. These books are so delightful, inside & out. I could go on and on with history and trivia about these, but I think that they are best devoured as pure eye candy! Here are some examples of the amazing illustrations that are included within these books:

If you are interested in learning more about the Peter Pauper Press, here is a LINK to their company history page. While the company still exists, they have made nothing of a similar quality or artistry since the late 1970s. There are lots of images of these books that you can view on Flickr. Here is a LINK to one such group.

I hope you enjoy these!

-Susie

That’s Nick, our brother, outside the Rock Scissor Paper studio with his mustache mountain.

A few weeks ago, we were shipping a large order of Father’s Day mugs out to a store.  There were a lot of cartons that had yet to be labeled with product numbers and Nick had just gotten finished packing up a bunch of our Mustache Father’s Day mugs.  I asked him to label the boxes with a marker so that they wouldn’t get mixed up with the other boxes.  When I came back by a few minutes later I discovered he had marked them with mustache portraits.  They totally made me smile.  Hope they do the same for you!

- Heidi

May is all about bikes and bike riding. In fact, today is Bike to Work Day. Heidi rode in this morning with her lunch in the handlebar basket and a smile on her face! Bicycles have been popping up as a popular design motif as of late and in celebration, I put together this etsy round-up of six of my favorites to share with you.

1) Vivienne Riding Her Bike print by Matte Stephens

2) Fingerprint Balloon Guest Book by bluedetoi

3) Telephone Bicycle Bell by dringdring

4) I Like Bikes print by Parada Creations

5) Going to See My Baby screen print by strawberryluna

6) Butterflies and Bicycles print by CocodeParis

We are celebrating our love of bikes with a special section called Bike Love. All bike designs are 20% until the end of the month!

-Susie