I quit my day job.

While the decision was a long and sometimes agonizing one, now that I'm on my second week of no longer working on daily deadline as a copy editor at the newspaper, I can safely say that I am quite comfortable, happy, and relieved to have a burden and mornings full of stress lifted. My daughter watches less Sesame Street and we have better quality time together. I am able to develop my business in ways that I couldn't before, and I can meet Mr. Field Notes for coffee breaks.

That's not to say that I don't miss bits and pieces of it. The security of a known-quantity paycheck. Some social interaction. A mainline to news that never shows up in mainstream, online outlets. Yup. That's about it. I'll get used to the fluctuating income, find new social outlets, and find news when I want to.

Business has tapered, but that's the seasonal nature of it. I have a looooooong to-do list of various work and non-work projects I'd like to do, and if it keeps tapering I won't have to juggle 600 things at once. Sweet!

And the best, best part of no longer working at the newspaper is that I get to be politically active again if I'd like to. Very nice. I love politics!

I'm back!

At long last, I think I may finally feel like blogging again. The long and short of it is that my little home business of making plantable paper really took off over the last year and the last six months it has practically exploded. I'm a work-at-home mama to a toddler not yet two years old, with a part-time job and what has now become an almost-full time business. My daughter has been a handful. Business has been a handful, and I hardly ever have free time to myself. And I really like writing, so I think I will give blogging a try again — to share notes from my new field of full-time papermaking, to share new crafts, new stories, pictures, projects, and to vent about being a WAHM (work-at-home-mom), a totally different bear than SAHM (not that being a stay-at-home-mom doesn't involve work)!

Here are a few snapshots of some projects and a little pic of how much "Baby Field Notes" has grown. We've been having chats lately about whether she's a "baby" or a "kid."

Seashell Plantable Beach Wedding Favors

Plantable Wedding Favors Boxed Kit
"Baby Field Notes"

Sapporo Snow Festival

For a week in February, the northernmost island in Japan hosts a fantastic snow festival. The sculptures made of snow are a highlight. Some are enormous — even larger than this one. I haven't been to the festival yet myself, but Mr. Field Notes' dad has been a number of times. He shared this photo and I thought it was so neat I had to share it too. The detail in the leopard's spots and the orangutan's cheek pouches is awesome. It's estimated that 2 million people visit the festival. Here's a little insight into how the massive sculptures are constructed: how to make
a giant snow statue.

In Japan, as here too, it won't be much longer before festivities culminate around a different occasion — the appearance of the spring blossoms — something that is an even bigger event in Japan than this snow festival. I haven't been to Japan yet for the plum and cherry blossoms, but I think this year, Mr. Field Notes and I might have to break out the sake boxes and furoshiki we got in Japan and make our own mini party under our plum tree.

In anticipation of the spring, I've started farting around with a new spring line up for my etsy store. There are a lot more plantable paper offerers on etsy and the competition has had an effect on my sales. It's mostly fine, because I would rather hang out with my gorgeous daughter, but I do need to keep creating or I won't be able to keep buying nifty things on etsy! To that end, I recently received some new paper punches, an ume (plum) flower shape and a sakura (cherry) flower shape. This is what I've decided to do with them (the first one is an old hydrangea shape):



I need better photos and a prettier assortment of colors, but it's a start. I'm not sure, but I think I will offer them as a DIY wedding package, one that is very affordable (under $25). What do you think? I'd love some feedback...!

NEW: Flowers made out of paper that grows!

Spring comes quickly around here, and with the tops of the bulbs already peeking out of the ground, I have a limited amount of time to develop my new line of recycled paper products before planting season is here. For a few years now I have been making 'plantable paper' in my spare time, mostly custom requests from people who are getting married. Plantable paper is embedded with seeds. As the paper biodegrades in soil and water, the seeds sprout and grow out of the paper. It's a really nifty way to give seeds and also makes a perfect, inexpensive favor to give away at weddings. Over the years I've been asked to make butterflies, hearts, cones to hold flower petals, printed table place cards in various shapes and most recently — 200 paper flowers. They are going to be placed in little pots along with a smaller paper butterfly and flower. Soon this years flowers will be growing from the scraps of this project. In the meantime, I am putting them up for sale as a new regular item in my store on etsy. Happy planting!

Back to work!

According to my present employer, I need to get a note from my doctor to go back to work. I've decided I'm ready to go back to work. I see him Tuesday and hopefully he'll sign off on the plan. I have no idea what to expect as far as my chances; I had a c-section so I am thinking he might think it's too early. BUT —

I have already gone back to work in the job of my own creation, selling my handmade paper. I've bundled up and sent out several orders since returning home. I've even collected '09 seeds for use in cards and paper for planting season '10: arctic poppies, bachelor buttons, dianthus and snapdragons so far. The zinnia will be ready soon.

It was a relief and highly gratifying to spend time outside gathering seed pods from my plants. I even took photos of a new product and listed it for sale online. Click the pic to see it up close! The flowers are confetti you can plant and use to grow flowers. The paper flowers are chock full of seeds I gathered from my garden plants. They really do grow too.

That's how I got these beauties at the left. I tell you, I cannot wait to teach Baby FN about plants!

I am ready to go back to work! I need it for my mental health. I hate being cooped up and cut off. That is a killer. So getting back to my former routine as much as possible will be good for my mental health and ultimately my physical health too - that mind/body connection is bona fide. That's the argument I will be making if my doc balks at the idea of me returning to work. I have an easy desk job that I do from home so I can't imagine I'll need to argue much, but I am prepared in case he does.

My doc (me, LOL) signed off on me going back to my papermaking job the first weekend I got home, about 4 days after delivering (and having a major abdominal surgery). I have been taking it easy. Really, I have.
I promise.

More on the labor and delivery soon. I am really eager to share the saga, even if no one is really interested, I need to write about it soon while it's still fresh in my mind.

I labored at home by myself and reached 8 cm dilation without needing pain meds or anybody around me. I don't know what the hell I was thinking, really. It just didn't hurt as much as I thought it would and the contractions were coming 2 weeks early so I didn't even think I was in real labor. Boy was I wrong!

It turned out to be a big week of work: The butterflies I make with seeds I embed in the pulp made an appearance on the front page of etsy. Click the photo to see the butterflies close up.

They didn't sell out, but several other things did that day! What a nice surprise to have. The last time I got that level of free advertising was a year ago. What timing! Fortunately, I have been teaching Mr. Field Notes how to press the paper so I can still make paper for orders. He does the hard, physical labor part while I do the creative, technical end. It's a great division of labor. I will really miss him when he's no longer taking leave time!

Plum Blossoms are here!

One of the selling points of our house when we bought it, in my opinion, was the plum tree in our backyard. It only sports blossoms for a short time. A stiff breeze always comes within a few days and whisks them all away. But in those 4-5 days, the tree is profuse with tiny white petals and buzzing bees. They make quick work of pollination. Later in the summer we'll have gobs of edible plums. And while the blossoms are here, the tree looks stunning and smells out of this world.

I snipped off several twigs to bring inside and put them in a vase. Not only do they look pretty but the perfume the room naturally. Eh, so do the newfies, but this smells way better! One of these days I'm going to figure out which flowering plants to plant so that I always some sort of blossom to snip and bring inside. I had no idea what I was doing when I started my garden so I inadvertently chose plants that bloom in late summer.

I wish I had pics of the full tree, but instead I put my nose to the grindstone and took pictures of cards I made so I'd be able to make use of the excellent but momentary backdrop. The day after I took the pictures, the forecast called for gray skies and rain. Our spring is long overdue. Comparing the dates of last year's plum blossom photos, it looks like this year the blossoms came 3 weeks later.

Seeing the weeping cherry trees just about to explode makes me want to buy one for the front yard but they cost $60 and the environment in our front yard is downright brutal because of the exposure and the extremely well draining soil. I worry it wouldn't make it. So, I think I'll stick with the lavender that's there for now.

Another tree I'd love to have somewhere is a saucer magnolia. Someday..

And I've always wanted bleeding heart bushes. I think I may have found the perfect location for them in the one spot of good shade we have. I'll just have to figure out how to keep Yuki out of them. She is one destructive little wretch. At least I can rely on Katy to pull weeds. She's excellent at it. Only attacks the weeds — never the good plants. It makes me wonder how she knows. With Yuki it's the opposite. She picks the best stuff. Last year it was the jasmine, snapdragons and lilies. Who knows what it will be this year.

DIY Realistic Paper Animal Sculptures

Japan is famous for paper, but did you also know Japan produces some of the coolest patterns for making your own paper sculptures? I didn't until I found a kit to make a mountain gorilla in a nifty store in Japan. Today I stumbled on a website, sponsored by Yamaha (as in Yamaha Motors) that offers the patterns and instructions for FREE! All you need to do is download the PDFs, print, cut and assemble.

Gorillas, ring-tailed lemurs, okapi, sloths, even bugs.

Don't like animals? No problem - they've got patterns for engines and whole motorcycles too.

I love what the company has to say about why they're doing this:
"All work and no play would make for a very dull company in any area of business, but when your products deliver as much excitement as ours, it seems only right to support them with an equally exciting range of entertainment options."

For "Rare Animals of the World" pattern choices click here.
For a full list of the patterns, including Christmas ones like sleighs and reindeer, click here.

What a perfect craft project to team up on with a bored 10-year old!

New Holiday Cards & Tags

A custom request I got through etsy inspired me to whip up some new designs for holiday cards and tags. I really love how the design of the snowflake cards turned out. It's just clip art laid over squares I made with rounded corners. The color scheme is one Godiva used a few years ago.

I am a big fan of the turquoise, red and white combination and I hope others are too!

I have one set of 10 cards listed for sale now. Just like the other paper I make, they are seed embedded and can be planted in the spring. Call it the no waste Christmas card that is also a gift!

The other card is a holly card that I colorized in Photoshop. Colorizing a black and white image turned out to be both easy and enjoyable. I haven't listed it yet, but I'm planning to. It's also plantable. I'm thinking about offering the option of customizing it with a family name under the "Happy Holidays" part, something like "Happy Holidays from the Stewart family."

And finally, I made some penguin and polar bear tags. They are more 'cute' than I usually do, so for those who want more 'grown up' tags, I've got the snowflakes design on some other tags that will be available soon.

In the meantime, get your paws on these tags while you still can!

Christmas Holly Card: Click here.
Holidays Card set of 10: Click here.
Penguin & Polar Bear tags: Click here.

Light Blue Leaf Card Bundle

Flame orange berries and gorgeous red dogwood tree leaves created the perfect backdrop for a set of light baby blue leaf cards I recently made.

Usually I don't make quite so many leaf cards all in the same color range, but I made too much pulp for one project and had others lined up so I had to think of something to use the pulp for. It had been a while since I made leaf cards and with the leaves changing color all around, I couldn't resist going whole hog on a bunch of them.


I ended up with 7 full sized cards and seven miniature cards that would be great gift tags. Sycamore, maple, oak, ginkgo and other leaves from trees that grow in my neighborhood grace the fronts of all of them. I collect the leaves on walks with the newfs.

Almost all of the cards bear a natural stain from the leaves too, something that doesn't always happen but I think it's wonderful when it does.

Click any of the pictures or here for a more complete description of them.

I finally made Plantable Christmas Cards!

It took a custom order request to finally get me around to making them, but I finally created plantable Christmas (or holiday or Hanukkuh if you prefer) cards.

The doves on the fronts of the cards are plantable and will grow flowers when planted properly. Instructions are printed in the backs of the cards, which are also 100% recycle paper, albeit not the fancy handmade kind.


I've decided to sell them in sets of 10 since it keeps the cost down and means people can still get a good number of them for those very special people they wish to send them to.



The message on the front and inside can be customized as can the color of the doves and the type of seeds they include.


They are for sale now, so if you like them you can order them in advance of the holiday rush. Clicking on any of the pictures will take you to the right place!

A perfect marriage of wool and paper.

It all started with a simple custom order request. I saw it on etsy, their feature called alchemy to be specific. Someone wanted tags for mittens, but not just any mittens — mittens made from former sweaters. Recycling! I thought the paper I make with wool added to it would be perfect, so I sent a message. And that's when I met Charlotte of HandCandy Mittens. She agreed that the tags would be awesome so I whipped up a little design using graphics she had and the tags were born. Well, that is, after I made so much paper so quickly I thought I'd never recover! But, I did. Good thing too, because she wants more! 1000 of them. Holy cow.

These definitely count as one of my favorite creations ever.

Although it takes a lot longer to make paper with wool, mohair and other threads — the effect is well worth it. I love how some of the threads hang right out of the paper so you can see and feel them. The yarn comes straight from the scraps left over from my husband's weaving. When he has to cut a piece he's woven off of the loom, he saves the scraps for me.

The paper is a mix of junk mail, used envelopes, used office paper and whatever else I find, and these ones included seeds that I collected from the plants I grow: lunaria, lavender, marigolds, bachelor buttons, snapdragons and poppies.

As a thank you, which was totally unnecessary but very, very thoughtful, Charlotte sent me not one but TWO pairs of mittens, and they came inside the coolest recycled bag ever - a black t-shirt made into a sack. The mittens are the perfect size and they are so soft and thick. They're lined with fleece. It won't be cold enough to use them for a while here, but when I need to, I know they'll be plenty warm.



Now my husband and I get to bicker over who gets what pair. I think he's going to have to order his own though.



You can get your hands on the mittens by visiting HandCandy's online store.

Better snap a few pairs up while you can — at only $20 a pair they'll be gone fast!

Trying something new with paper..

Because it's not planting season for annuals anymore and soon, not even for perennials, I thought it was high time to branch out into a new kind of card that isn't meant to be planted. I also have a stash of flowers I pressed but haven't done anything with yet as well as some mulberry paper. The card ended up being my largest ever - about 5 x 7 inches - which is also a great size for framing. I've got something similar in the works with leaves and grasses. I get tired making the same thing all of the time, and this area is fantastic for growing things, so there are a good variety of materials to work with. The only real limitation is imagination.

This card is now available for sale! You can see it here.

Green Business Products from Recycled Materials

Recently I've had people approach me to create products for their businesses.



These have included biz cards, labels and promotional materials. They supply their logos and information and then I lay out the elements using InDesign — a great program for the job. I print them on the recycled paper I make from 100% post-consumer content pulp.

My most recent work was for Pete Swickles General Store in Oklahoma. I created promotional thank you cards and 9 different, unique labels for their bar soaps.


Because I've been asked so many times to create these sorts of materials, I decided it was time to list them for sale on a regular basis. I'm now offering custom plantable business cards as well as DIY lavender soap labels.

The Paper Factory Grinds to... a Halt

Today was an exciting day in the rag trade. Good stuff was going on at the newspaper as Mr. Field Notes writes about.

Back at home, I momentarily suffered a setback in making paper. Naturally it coincided with 4 big orders I need to complete this week. Midway through one batch, I couldn't get the blender to start up again. I don't what happened to it - whether the water seeping into it shorted out the wiring or the frequent, heavy demands wore out the motor or something else entirely. While I finished pressing the pulp I had already made, Mr. Field Notes fetched me a new one. I marveled at its pristine condition, but put the old carafe on the new body and pressed on.

The sheets I made turned out beautifully — more richly fibered lunaria pod paper.

The other setback was more comical: Mr. Field Notes' ear protector muffs broke when he put them on. My dad sent us two pairs of the type of ear muffs used on shooting ranges so you don't go deaf during target practice, but more relevant to us - so we don't go deaf while I make paper. I use Smith & Wesson; he uses Winchester. The plastic piece that attaches the padded ear cover to the headband snapped right off his as he put them on.

He found some old-fashioned ear plugs but not before joking around by wrapping the earmuffs to his head with a towel - walking head wound style.

The finished product looks something like this:

That's baby Yuki up there being a cute little Busted Stuff model. She's 15 weeks old now and about 45-50 pounds. And, yes, she has busted some stuff - nothing big. We've got a bunch of squeaky toy critters in sick bay waiting for operations.

For the love of - Lunaria

Last year I planted a bunch of lunaria seeds from plants I found growing by the railroad tracks that run through town. I didn't even know what the plant was called at the time; I just loved the seed pods.

Lunaria is also called the "money plant" because the seed pods look like silver dollars. It's a fragrant plant that produces big bunches of purple flowers and unique seed pods that look like silver dollars. They grow to about 4 feet high and produce big wide leaves that are perfect for hiding an ugly foundation. They grow well in partly sunny locations and are perennials so they produce flowers in the second year.

This year the lunaria I planted last year took off! I will be planting more of them for sure.

I pressed some into the paper I make and embedded seeds from the plants into the pulp. They can be planted just like my other cards.

As usual, I had a newfie helper during the photo shoot. She loves hanging out outside on cool, breezy days.

Isn't this littering? Japanese scientists want to launch paper airplanes from space.

Japanese scientists want to launch paper airplanes from space. Scientists from Tokyo University’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics have been collaborating with origami masters to fold airplanes that can be launch from space to float back to earth. I kid you not.


This has to be the most odd story I have come across in along while. I am still in disbelief that paper airplanes could survive re-entry, but apparently a prototype passed wind tunnel durability tests in February.

The prototype was about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. It survived Mach 7 speeds and 446 degree heat — conditions that were meant to replicate conditions during re-entry. Apparently the little paper plane suffered no major damage or burns.

A successful flight from space by an origami plane could have far-reaching implications for the design of re-entry vehicles or space probes for upper atmospheric exploration, says project leader Shinji Suzuki.

“It sounded like a simply impossible, crazy idea,” Suzuki said.

I have to agree. Paper? A paper plane wouldn't bust apart or be instantly incinerated? The freakin' Space Shuttle has blown up twice and PAPER is supposed to work?

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency thinks so. They are spending $300,000 in funding per year for the project.

The origami airplane can survive these harsh conditions because it's made from sugar cane fibers that happen to make the paper resistant to heat, wind and water. The plane is also sprayed with a special coating, of exactly what they don't say.

Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata has apparently expressed a personal interest in the project and has offered to throw several origami shuttles into the wake of the international space station.

The Tokyo University scientists hope lessons from the paper planes could lead to the development of new lightweight space probes or help to design a full size paper space shuttle.

The biggest hurdle?
They have no way to track or predict where the paper plane will land.

But Suzuki says he has a solution — a message of peace in several languages, along with a request for anyone who finds them to notify the team.

“Just imagine, children around the world would be anxiously waiting for the return of our origami shuttle, perhaps looking up into the sky from time to time,” Suzuki said. “That would be great fun.”

See the story here.

My paper really can be grown!

I made some pastel note cards from what amounts to junk mail and used office paper.






I embedded them with seeds that you can plant to grow plants like these:
* hollyhock flowers (green cards)
* columbine flowers (pink cards)
* cosmos flowers (yellow cards)
* lavender (lavender cards)

About a week ago I put some damp paper scraps inside a plastic bag and set it on a window sill. They germinated! The cosmos sprout easily and quickly. I can see the hollyhocks will take some more time before they will sprout, but they look like they're trying.

If you really like these cards, you can buy them. They are for sale right now in my etsy store for fourteen dollars a set.

** Give the gift that keeps on giving **

Oh yeah, and my shop got picked up by a pretty cool website devoted to environmental stuff - Groovy Green.

Dressing Up Used Containers

I prefer to re-use containers whenever possible.
My preference is strong enough that I can honestly say it was a sock-rotter when an item I ordered from etsy arrived in damaged packaging.

The USPS 'apologized' for damaging the container (a bubble mailer I would have happily re-used to mail off items that get bought from my etsy store). The bubble mailer smelled like smoked salmon - not a scent I want permeating anything I send to a customer, let alone my house! The smell was nauseating so I chucked it, albeit reluctantly.

Recently I had a craving for Brie, the kind that comes in those round wooden boxes with about a 4 inch diameter, and with the help of Mr. Field Notes emptied the container. Delicious! This afternoon I fished out some Japanese paper from my collection and covered the now empty brie container with some really terrific indigo-colored paper that I found in the Origami Center of Japan.

I had enough left over from the small sheet to also cover a now empty tea canister. I had eyed several tea containers while I was in Japan but elected not to buy one - perhaps because I knew I could make one of my own at a tenth of the price. Besides, plain green tea is easy enough to get at home and I prefer spicy chai anyway, so it was after all, a really easy thing to forgo.

I am very pleased with how the dressed up containers turned out.

In general I like re-using things. I spruce up empty toilet paper tubes (they become pen and crafting tool organizers). I have also turned some used calenders into envelopes and magnets. It turns out I amassed quite a collection over the last several years.

One set is from Le Petite Prince, a Little Prince calender I found in Paris.

The words on the magnets are lines from the original book, en francais.

The envelopes were snapped up by a Little Prince fan I know, but I still have the magnets.

It would take a princely sum to make me part with the magnets. Le Petite Prince was the first book I read in French, and I am fond of the imagery. More importantly, I have no idea when I'll be in France again!

Another set is from La Vache Qui Rit, a Laughing Cow cheese calender.

I bought it in Paris at the same time as the Little Prince one.

I think the cow art is very handsome. I left the calender hanging up on the fridge and kept rotating the pictures because the art is so wonderful. It dates back to 2001.

I also converted a Newfoundland dog calender and two calenders from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund into envelopes.


I only have magnets for the newfies. The DFGF didn't set up their calenders the way commercial ones do so there aren't little images on the back cover to show buyers what is inside the calender. They haven't sent one for 2008 so I don't know whether they're not doing them this year or if we didn't donate enough, or some other thing. I like the calenders a lot, and don't need them as a reason or reward for donating.


I'm storing the envelopes in the plastic containers that our Organics lettuce comes packaged in. After the labels are pealed off and the container rinsed and dried, they are perfectly functional and look great. I never have to wonder what is stored inside.

Once you train yourself to consider other uses for packaging and containers, you'll start noticing all kinds of "garbage" that should never end up in the landfill.