Hey you lovely Porridgians! The time has come for me to remind you (not that you need reminding) to come in to the Papermill starting this Friday, February 12th at 11 am to type out your lovely love notes! The 3rd annual Love on the Run is just days away! We’re expecting the best turnout yet! If you haven’t experienced the joy of writing a letter on an antique typewriter, now is your chance. There’s just something about the click-clack of the old keys that makes anything you’ve got to say a little extra special.

Typewriters are available Friday, February 12th from 11am – 5pm. Or come to the Open House on Saturday between 10am – 6pm for great food, great music, and great fun!

Thanks to Robert of Studio Orange for taking these fantastic photos. Amazing, as usual

Can’t wait for Love on the Run?? Stop in today and pick up a card or two to scratch your stationery itch. All Love cards are 14% off now til Saturday! Great new designs in this year, sure to make you laugh, giggle, blush, and coo!

Also keep your eyes peeled for updates on Letterpress and Papermaking workshops this spring! We have 4 Kelsey tabletop presses that are being made over for their debut as stars in our Letterpress Lab! If you have any interest in working with these adorable little presses, either in a workshop setting, or on more of a free form basis, please don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know! For the papermaking enthusiasts, we’ve got a custom-built Hollander Beater on it’s way to us all the way from New Zealand! Hopefully we’ll be able to experiment and develop higher end art papers to offer in conjunction with our letterpress/printmaking workshops. We’re currently brainstorming on the best ways to let our fans have fun with our papers and presses. I’ll keep you updated with details as they solidify.

Stay funky-fresh, paper people.

<3

Being a sweet little papermill/letterpress studio/card shop, we just have to get excited about Valentine’s day. After all, it’s a great card giving holiday, and we happen to like cards! And if that isn’t enough, we’ve gone and created Love on the Run, which, in my opinion, is one of the best things to happen to Valentine’s day yet.  This fantastic event is only a week away and we couldn’t be more excited. Lots of work has gone into getting ready. Typewriters have been tested. Windows painted. Boxes made. Pink and red sparkly decor decorates the store. We just can’t wait.

In case you haven’t heard, Love on the Run is a free event, hosted at our little store at 1422 South Street. We have a collection of antique typewriters ready and waiting for you to come in and type out a note for someone special. After you have your thoughts in print, you’ll roll up your note, place it in a tiny bottle, and leave it with us (along with an address and phone number) so that we can deliver it for you on Valentine’s day. We’ll have the typewriters available next Friday the 12th from 11am-5pm and on Saturday you can stop by for an open house (10 am- 6pm) with treats, coffee, and live music.

What really makes this year special is the great collaboration that we were able to do with some other local businesses. Gorgeous posters have been designed by Ella of The Lichen and silk screened by Screen Ink and hung around town. This year we’ll have cookies provided by Kristin of The Cup, who also did our great Sweet 16 cake. Cafe Indigo will be donating Cultiva coffee, and a cheese plate will be donated by Hillis and Company.

Each year this event has grown and grown. Its been amazing to see the community response. People just can’t believe that we’re willing and able to do something so great for free! And for those of you that aren’t big fans of Valentine’s day, this event is not just for lovers. While there’s been a fair share of love notes from husbands and wives, boyfriends, fiancees, and the like; we’ve also had kids writing sweet notes to parents. Brothers, sisters, friends, co-workers have come  in and fill our store to share kind words in a simple and thoughtful way. It’s really quite awesome. If you haven’t been in, I encourage you to come and check it out.

Unfortunately we are only able to deliver within Lincoln city limits. Now, I know that many of you have sweeties abroad. Don’t fret, darlings we have THESE:

Sweet little valentine’s just like the ones you used to send in gradeschool! They’re fantastic! Thanks to Melanie of Lucky and Lovely for creating these great designs for us. The best part is, each card features a plantable paper heart so your sweetie can grow a mini garden full of wildflowers! They’re sold in packs of 8 (2 of each design) for $8. Perfect to send to all of your friends! We also have a fantastic selection of other greeting cards and stationery here in the store so stop by and check them out! Come in the week before Valentine’s day and save too! Starting Saturday, February 6th we’ll be offering 14% off all Valentine’s day cards until Saturday Feb 13th!!! Come on in! We’re sure to have the most unique cards in town!

See you soon! <3

And clear your calendars for Saturday afternoon! We’re hosting our first ever Pitter-Patter of Little Printmakers event. We will be hosting a printmaking party for children.Bring them by and let them draw their design on printmaking foam and ink it up! Use some of our great handmade paper for great gift ideas! This workshop is free, though donations are welcome. Don’t miss it! We all know that kids make some of the best art! Be sure to tell friends and family that you think would appreciate the workshop! Space is limited so try to RSVP or call with questions. 742.5415

Don’t forget Wednesday either! We’re havig a little get-together to kickoff the holiday season in style. Stop in for our Holly Jolly Jinglebell Jubilee this Wednesday, December 2nd for home-made eggnog and cinnamon rolls. Get your holiday card and some gift shopping done and get 20% off your purchase! This will also be the last day to submit any orders for custom letterpress holiday cards. Check out the great design options below!

If you would like to be the first of your friends to know about our little events, make sure you’re signed up for our mailing list here. Can’t wait to see you there!

We’re having a sale!

In case you haven’t read the Twitter or Facebook posts, Christopher just finished ordering a TON of great new stuff for the Holiday season! Dozens of cards, boxed sets, wall prints, journals, and the like are on their way to our little shop! The only problem is, shop space is limited so we’re trying to make room!!! This means that you can come in and buy yourself (or someone else) some fantastic paper paraphernalia and save 20% on all retail items in the store excluding custom invitations and announcements. Cards, notebooks, prints, paper! Its all fair game, so come and get it! This sale will last until our first box of Holiday goodies arrives, so shop while it lasts!

And while you’re in, don’t forget to ask us if we have any more of the truffle boxes for sale, we still have a handful left over from the party and they’re going fast so get your hands on some of these delectable delights for only $5!

See you soon, Porridgians!

Awww… look! her first impression!!! precious.

Also! Lots and lots of goodies are showing up in people’s mailboxes this week. Our sweet 16 invites went out last week and they’re getting rave reviews. This party is going to be an amazing opportunity to hob-nob with all of our other paper geek friends.  If you’ve gotten your invite please send in the RSVP asap so we can get our guest count tally!

And for our awesome Facebook fans, keep your eyes on that mailbox! Our goodie giveaway will be going out this week! I know you’re all waiting very patiently so here’s a sneak peek to taunt you further:

And a reminder to all of our local paper peeps; all October long we’re having a 16% off sale on all cards and stationery here in the store! Come in and wish us a happy sweet 16! For store hours and location visit our local page!

We’ve finally given in and you can now follow us on Twitter! Tweet Tweet!

Cheers!

Read the article here!

Thanks again, Hanna!

Also: We just got a shipment of some great imported papers for all of you paper junkies! stop in and check em out! See you soon!

just a few snapshots of recent goings on around the shop.

We’ve been doing a LOT of brainstorming around here lately. LOTS and LOTS of great things are in the works. We’re working on expanding our retail and wholesale lines to include more finished and customizable products, we’re playing with expanding our line of stock plantable papers to include some funky and vibrant colors, and we’re getting some great letterpress projects under way to fill our schwag bag for our Sweet 16 party in October. In hopes of building a stronger local network and really pushing the envelope for some fun projects, we’re working closely with some great local artists, companies,  and designers. The schwag bag is the main focus right now but we’re hoping that the ideas will keep flowing and we’ll get to keep making fantastic pieces for sale in the store and beyond!

Speaking of great ideas, we have sold our paper to great minds and talented bodies all over the world and we have seen a few shining examples of fantastic work done with our papers. We’re quite proud of our customers’ work and we’d like to show it off. If you, or someone you know, has done something you’re proud of with Porridge Papers, let us know! Send us photos, samples, information about the design, and the ideas behind the project and let us do a little bragging for you. Over the next few weeks we’d like to start featuring these projects and goodies on a section of our blog.

We’d also like your suggestions and ideas for different unique stationery companies that you might like to see carried in our store. We’re always on the look out for fun and quirky paper goodies to fill our shelves with. Let us know if you have any bright ideas!

Its been a ton of fun rearranging and redecorating everything in our retail space. The outside of the building is getting tons of attention (and it should! it looks FABULOUS).  It feels good to be focusing this much on our little shop and our local customers. We have a handful of people that come in that really just love the place. To me, the most fulfilling part of my job- or any job for that matter – is knowing that people really appreciate what you’re doing. Not only do we get a ton of paper geeks that walk through the door, but folks that have never seen a letterpress, or if they have they have fond memories about them, kids will stare at them in awe while they’re running. Some people come in and just comment on how nice it is to have a store like ours in the neighborhood. Others exclaim that it’s about time they can find the papers and cards that fit their tastes. To say the least, its very satisfying on many levels to talk to the people that come in. I love being able to share what I do with people. I love watching their faces light up as they run their hands over our business cards, or seeing their expressions when I tell them about the papermaking process. I’m very excited by the idea of getting to share the things I love about this place with more and more people.

Christopher and I have been tossing around ideas for different free-form workshops and other little community get-togethers that we would like to coordinate. At least once a month we’ll be sharing some of our paper toys and our skills with our customers so they can come in and make something unique and awesome! Starting next Saturday- BUTTON DAY! Stop in from 10-3 next Saturday and buy a baggie of button parts. you can buy 15 buttons for $10 or 5 for $5. We’ll have our button maker out and ready to use with some of our awesome scraps of imported papers and old photos, magazines, comic books, and other paper paraphernalia. Bring in some of your own button-able paper goodies and mix and match with ours!

If you would like a friendly reminder about our upcoming workshops, check out the  Local Page to sign up for our e-mail newsletter. We’ll also be sending out updates regarding any upcoming sales, specials, news or events. Also, if there’s a paper-related project that you’d like to toy around with, give us a shout and we’ll see if we can’t make a workshop out of it!

We’ve had a few people ask if we’ll be open on Monday for Labor day. No, sorry, but we will be closed. One of our favorite things at Porridge Papers, is a good three-day weekend. We like to savor them as best we can. Stop by on Tuesday and we’ll be here, rested, relaxed, and rejuvenated!

In non-paper related news- Christopher had surgery on his knee Thursday. The surgery went quickly without a hitch. He’s resting up this weekend and should be hobbling around the office next week. Check back soon for updates! Have a great Labor day weekend!

stencil is up!

looks great!

now we just have to get the rest of the building to match!