You know what that means…

Love On The Run!!!

What is this you ask? Well here are the details…

Is this era of Facebook, Twitter, computer generated greeting cards, and cell phone texts, we are giving lovers a chance to say “Happy Valentine’s Day” with old-school methods and delivered in an unforgettable way!

We invite anyone to stop by Porridge Papers Friday, Saturday or Sunday to type up a note on our antique typewriters. Then they are rolled up and placed in small bottles which are put into handmade paper bags embedded with wildflower seeds. They are  then delivered FREE of charge on Valentine’s Day within Lincoln city limits.  The hour of events are -

Friday, February 11^th, 5-9 p.m.                                   Hors D’oeuvres & live music

Saturday, February 12^th, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.                   Cupcakes and savory snacks

Sunday, February 13^th, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.                     Cinnamon rolls, coffee & juice

We will also have a photo booth set up so you can include a picture as well!

We are always looking for volunteers so call ahead if you want to help out.

Why do we do this? Well this is our way of giving back to Lincoln! This is such a great community and we wanted to share the love we have with all of you. This year we have had an out pouring of help from local businesses, we would like to thank -

Thé Cup
Screen Ink
Studio Orange Photography
Hillis & Co.
Bread & Cup
The Lichen
Caleb Bailey
Signature Bindery
Cuts Floral
The Leekers
Pepe’s

Hey there, Paper People!  I wanted to let you know about our Stocking Sale. Starting tomorrow, Deceber 15th through Saturday December 18th you can bring in your Christmas Stocking and pack it with goodies from our Holiday clearance section and any of our Paper-by-the-Ounce. Fit up to a pound of paper goodies for only $15! We stuffed a stocking yesterday and added up our pound, almost $30 worth of goodies! Awesome!

In other Holiday related news: our Holiday hours are as follows:

We will remain open for our regular hours (Monday-Friday from 10am 6 pm and Saturdays from 10am – 3pm) until the 23rd. We will be closed December 23rd – 25th and re-open on Monday the 26th.  We’ll close again December 30th through January 2nd and re-open with regular hours on January 3rd.

Keep your eyes on us during the next couple of weeks! We have plans to offer you guys some HUGE savings in the store! We’re also EXPANDING into the space next door with Signature Bindery! This means that in the very near future we’ll have even MORE space for fantastic paper-related goodies in the shop!

Here’s the tricky part: We need YOUR feedback! What other kinds of stationery/gifts/paper goodies would you like to see us carry? Is there something you wish we had a bigger selection of? More imported papers? More journals? Invitation embellishments such as strings, ribbons, twine, etc? What about wax seals? Now’s your chance! Let us know by responding to this post OR e-mailing us here!

While we’re taking your suggestions and ideas, we’ll also be brainstorming on collaborative workshops that include bookbinding/letterpress/handmade paper arts, as well as new and interesting products to produce. So much promise to be found in the coming year! Snuggle up and stay warm, Porridgians!

We’re doing a few things to keep our holiday Spirit alive til Santa comes. First of all we’re featuring a Holiday card of the day every day on our Facebook page. We really bulked up on the greeting cards this year and the quality and creativity of our selection just can’t be beat!

We’re also featuring a Gift Item of the day every day. Keep your eyes on this one, as every day the featured item is 15% off! Its a great way to discover new and fabulous goodies that we have here in the shop!

Yesterday, we did a great Facebook giveaway where we asked our fans outside Lincoln about their obscure holiday traditions. We got a few great responses, but my favorite –  by far- was the tradition sent in by Michelle. Her tradition is this:

“My husband’s family has a mannequin bodice and head, named Ima Vixen, that gets gifted to someone else each year. The receiver of Ima, will have her for the year and on Christmas she is revealed with a new addition (over the years she has received hair, ears, glasses, crazy stuff, etc.) The person that has had Ima, also writes a poem commemorating her year and the new addition. The next reciever of Ima reads the past 3 years poems and then the most recent one. Ima Vixen is quite the sight to see! ”

Michelle was even Kind enough to send in a photo of Ima Vixen. Check her out!

Awesome! She really is quite the sight! What a fantastic (and hysterical) tradition! Thanks again to all of our fantastic Facebook fans for sharing!

Another great tradition that you may or may not have heard of is the sprinkling of Magical Reindeer Dust out in the yard on Christmas Eve. For those of you that haven’t heard, here’s the rundown of things. Magical Reindeer Dust is mixed and scattered in the yard by children on Christmas eve. This special dust attracts the reindeer to ensure they don’t pass your house, and helps them fly faster and higher for speedy deliveries to all kids! According to Santa, it’s also one of the reindeers’ favorite treats!

Fresh out of Magical Reindeer Dust? Not to worry, Porridge Papers is happy to help your kids mix up the magic stuff themselves in our Magical Reindeer Dust Workshop this Saturday, December 11th! Bring your kids in from 2-4 pm to make their very own Reindeer dust! We will have hot cocoa and treats. But parents, there is more to it, just don’t tell the munchkins.

While they are very carefully mixing the magical reindeer dust, our elves will be printing out a personal letter addressed to your kids on Santa Claus’s own personal stationery thanking your kids for the magical dust and for being good this year! We will quietly give it to you in a very special envelope for you to hang on to and put out on Christmas Eve after they have gone to bed! How fun is that! Few things are as heartwarming as children’s excitement for Santa each year.  Bring them in and see their eyes glow with wonder!

Speaking of wonder, what could be more WONDERFUL than saving some cash at your favorite papermill when you buy your Holiday cards and gifts?! Nothing. So while you’re here for the Magical Reindeer Dust Workshop, get some shopping done and save 25% off all regularly priced items! All day THIS Saturday!

Don’t worry, that won’t be ALL for this Holiday season. We’ve got some other fanciful fun in the works, just keep your eyes peeled!  Until then, stay warm and bright, paper people!

We’ve had a lot going on here lately. Marketing meetings, special guests, loads and loads of papermaking, all on top of the usual PIY events and awesomeness maintenance. By the way, thanks to the folks over at Indigo Bridge Books, and all of those that came over to our Halloween PIY storytime event. We had a blast printing up masks and sharing spooky tales!

We also had a special guest stop by all the way from New York a couple of weeks ago. Joe Williams, dancer, Dervish, teacher of the Delsarte System, and lover of chocolate stopped by Porridge Papers during his stay in Lincoln to get the tour and learn to make some paper, porridge style. It was lovely having him and he had a blast playing in the pulp!

Autumn here at the papermill always brings much talk of holiday preparation. The holidays are oodles of fun for us here, there’s so much to do! Decorating, event planning, digging out last year’s holiday cards (now on sale 50% off!!!), creating displays, and printing up new seasonal cards and stationery.

Before I get to the Christmas nonsense, let’s take a minute to think about Thanksgiving. MMmmmmmmmmm…. pumpkin pie, turkey, cranberry relish… gratitude. SO much to be thankful for! I know that all of you are going over your endless list of things you’re grateful for. I’m sure you even have a long list of people that you’d like to stop and say thank you to. Maybe the only reason that you’re not calling them right this very moment is because, you’re like the rest of us and you’re super busy and you don’t exactly have the time to get into a long mushy-gusHy conversation about how glad you are to have your friends/family… FEAR NOT!  Porridge papers saves the day- AGAIN!

Introducing the Gratitude Sale! Now through November 24th you can save %15 on ALL Thank You cards and Thank You card sets. Send Thanks. Send Love. Send Letterpress!

And if you wanna get a jump on your letterpress love for the Holidays, browse our fine selection of Christmas and Holiday cards while you’re here! Select cards are even 50% off!

Would you rather have custom personalized cards for the holiday season? No problem. Check out our great Holiday designs:

Personalize any of the above designs for $50 per set of 25! What a fantastic deal for handmade holiday cards!

That’s not the only great thing going on at Porridge Papers this holiday season. Bring the kiddos in for our Magic Reindeer Dust workshop! Bring your kids in to make their very own Reindeer dust! We will have hot cocoa and treats. But parents, there is more to it, just don’t tell your children.

While they are very carefully mixing the magical reindeer dust, our elves will be printing out a personal letter addressed to your kids on Santa Claus’s own personal stationery thanking your kids for the magical dust and for being good this year! We will quietly give it to you in a very special envelope for you to hang on to and put out on Christmas Eve after they have gone to bed.

If you are familiar with our annual Love On The Run event, this is going to be like that! we have a limited number of bags for the magical dust and like Love On The Run, it is FREE!! Why you ask? Well, we love our fans and we love giving back to the community.

See you soon, Porridgians!

The time has come for things of a spooky and scary nature! You know, ghosts, goblins, zombies, creepy spiders, and the like. And to celebrate these creepy crawly things that go BOO in the night, Porridge Papers is hosting a PIY event of the haunted kind. That’s right! Stop in tomorrow from 4-7pm for ghost stories, courtesy of Indigo Bridge Books, creepy treats, and limited edition masks that were designed by fantastic graphic design geniuses, Bennett Holzworth and Eric Nyffeler. When you come in, you’ll get to pull your own letterpress printed mask on our Vandercook all by yourself for only $5! wow! For more information on this festive, creepy, fun time, check out the Porridge Papers Facebook event! We’ve even got the studio all spookified! Check out these pictures:

You’ll also get to see Jarvis, the “strange-but-true” pulp monster! Created by our newest addition to the family, Allie!

EEEEkkk!

Speaking of Allie, our fabulous new employee, we’ve had her write a bit of an introduction for our fans. Here’s what she has to say about herself (in the 3rd person, of course):

“One word to describe Alley would be, “spooktastic”. When she’s not squishing paper pulp into marvelous sheets of paper, Alley spends her time writing stories, sewing whimsiful dresses, oscillating wildly, doing special effects zombie makeup, and practicing Misfits songs on her harp, Skullcrusher. She’s got a jangley walk, a mumbly talk, a feral tongue, and often keeps her charm set to Stun. Originally from the Pocono Mountains of Northeast Pennsylvania, Alley misses the mountains and the rivers of home and is still getting used to the Midwest.”

We think she’s getting along just fine! Stop by and welcome her to the family!

Can’t wait to see you all tomorrow! Again, that’s at Porridge Papers- 1422 South Street from 4-7 pm! Til then, keep it real, paper people!

I simply can NOT wait til this display is finished. It is going to look FANTASTIC! Does the tree look familiar?? If it does, you’d know that it was inspired by the amazing tree inside of Indigo Bridge Books. Which is no coincidence considering that we’re pairing up with Indigo Bridge for this month’s PIY event! October’s PIY event will be October 23rd from 4-7 pm. We’re going to be featuring pull-it-yourself letterpressed masks, designed by local letterpress masterminds, Bennet Holzworth, and Eric Nyffeler. We’ll also have munchkin-friendly ghost stories being read from 4:30-5:30 pm and super scary stories for adults read from 6-7 pm- courtesy of the fine folks at Indigo Bridge Books! There will also be light refreshments and snacks so don’t miss it!

If you can’t make it in for the PIY series, but are DYING to get your hands inky, don’t forget that we have WORKSHOPS! Check out the dates and availability of our letterpress workshops by visiting the website here and e-mailing to sign up. These workshops are SUPER small which means more quality time for you and the Vandercook!!

Also, if you’re in Brownville this coming weekend, be sure to check out the Paint Brownville Autumn event on October 9th and 10th. There will be a Civil War reenactment, a first-rate quilt show, trolley and pony rides, a live concert on Saturday night, and more! Of course, we’ll be there with the shop doors open, so stop by and say hello! For more information on Brownville and it’s treasures visit the website here.

Lastly, I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome the newest member of the Porridge Papers family, Allison Getz. Alley started interning with us several weeks back and did such a good job making paper that we decided to actually pay her to do it! If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and welcome her to the crew!

Speaking of chai, thanks to those that came out for our PIY Mehndi event and enjoyed chai and snickerdoodles while getting henna tattoos and pulling their leterpress prints! I hope that you all thought the prints came out beautifully, I know I sure did! Here’s a quick shot of the finished print:

So pretty! If you like what you see here, just wait! I’m sure our other PIY posters will be just as fantastic! For those of you that attended September’s event, bring in the coupon portion of your print for that discount on your shopping til the end of October!

October’s PIY event is sure to be tons of fun too! On October 16th from 4-7 (tentatively) we’re going to have spooky ghost stories and ghoulish treats. For the printing portion, we’ll have letterpressed masks that you get to print yourself! Keep your eyes on our blog and the Facebook page for more details!

Other Autumn events that we’ll be participating in is the Paint Brownville Autumn event on October 9th and 10th. There will be a Civil War reenactment, a first-rate quilt show, trolley and pony rides, a live concert on Saturday night, and more! Of course, we’ll be there with the shop doors open, so stop by and say hello! For more information on Brownville and it’s treasures visit the website here.

We’ll also be getting more and more great items in both of our shops for the holidays. Stop in through the coming couple of months to check out our new selection of imported papers, stationery, and greeting cards! We just placed a HUGE order for imported paper to be used in invitations, personal stationery sets, and sold by the sheet. The selection is going to be fantastic, I can’t wait till they arrive!

Those of you that live in the Nebraska area, may have already seen the feature on Porridge Papers in the Lance’s Journal segment of the 10/11 news, but for those farther away, we thought you should see it too! Check the video below to watch! Lance did a great job on the piece and it was really great having him in the store. He seemed to have a great time spending the afternoon here and we have already had several people come in after seeing the feature. Thanks, Lance!

Now I know the reason that most of you may be reading this post is because of the mention of WORKSHOPS! We’ve finally nailed down all of the details to offer Letterpress workshops!!! Wheeeeee! You can see the dates and details of the workshops from this page on our website.  As always, if you have any additional questions or ideas, please feel free to contact us! We’d really love to make sure these classes suit those that are interested and feedback is always welcome! I can’t wait to get the first class rollin!

See you soon, paper people!

Happy Monday, paper people!

As you may know, we have some fun things going on right now at your favorite papermill. For example, we’re still having our $5 sack sale until this Saturday, so stop on by and stock up on some cute cards and oodles of paper scraps to suit your every paper crafting whim!

This Saturday, we’ll also be having our first event in the The PIY Series from 2-4 pm. The PIY Series this month will feature a Mehndi art print for you to print with *your own two hands* on our Vandercook letterpress! We’ll also have cookies and chai for refreshments and a brief history and henna tattoos by Samantha. So come in, mingle, shop, get decorated, become a pressman for a minute, and be happy! See you there!

We’re really excited about the PIY series, and we’ve brainstormed and started working on themes for the next few months. Ideally, we’d like to have an event every month that features and cooperates with a local movement, art, craft, or some other such awesome idea. Future workshops to look forward to will include: PIY masks, handwritten thank you notes, make your own reindeer dust for the holidays, wine tasting, flower arrangements, bicycle tuneups, and many many more! As always, we love hearing your ideas so if you have any brilliant ideas or themes for one of our workshops or a PIY event don’t hesitate to e-mail us at pulp@porridgepapers.com! These events are about our community so we’d love to know what you want to see!

For those of you that are just itching to know the details on our Letterpress classes, you’ll be pleased to know that the schedule, pricing, sign-up, and guidelines will all be available on our website for you to download and print out by this Wednesday! If you follow us on Facebook, keep your eye out there. I’ll also post a link in the blog so you can get the press rolling!

As always, we do our best to keep it fresh! We can’t wait to see what you folks think of all of our great events and ideas!

Until next time!

A couple of other exciting things also happened over the holiday weekend. Christopher did a bit of work finalizing the pricing and guidelines  for the Letterpress Workshop! The first of which is scheduled for the middle of October! The classes will be tiny to start (only 2 people per class) and they’ll be about 4 hours long. You’ll be able to come in and print your own personal stationery or business/calling cards. We’ll also be extending the press to the Letterpress Class alumni for rental so you can come in and print a special project. We’re also hoping to offer invitation/announcement printing classes before the spring so keep an eye out!

As you may know, we here at Porridge make our own papers, the most popular of which being our plantable paper with seeds in it. While we’ve made tons of different papers with a variety of seeds, the wildflower mix is still the most popular. In order to keep our quality up as high as possible and ensure results for our customers, we do regular test-germinations of our papers at different points in our processes. Over the weekend we had the most recent results sprout like crazy! Check it out!

These are just a few of the different seeds that go into our wildflower mix. Two of them sprouted within just two days! The rest all sprouted within 4-5 days of being tested. What a fun way to start the morning. Little sprouts are just so cute!

You fellas that follow us on our Facebook page may have seen the little blurb about our being published in Fashion Hangtag Design. Here are a couple of shots of our pages in the book, which features different unique and innovative tag and packaging designs. Check out the publisher, Artpower’s website here.

Its always great having our work recognized in such fantastic print and design publications!

Just a quick reminder: We have a ton of great stuff lined up for the month of September. Going on now until the 18th is our huge $5 Back to School Sack Sale. Come in and stuff sacks with cards, envelopes, and paper scraps and save a ton! You can also take 15% all notebooks, journals, and jotters! If you’re in Lincoln, stop by the Meadolark Cafe, The Mill, Bin 105, Indigo Bridge Books, Ivanna Cone and other locations around town where you’ll find a small flyer with our September events and a coupon for 15% off of any item in the store!

We’ve also got our first ever P.I.Y. (pull.it.yourself) event on Saturday, September 18th. Stop in from 2-4 pm and pull one of your own Mehndi art prints and get a henna tattoo from Samantha!

Also, all football season long, on Home games for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, we’re having Red Saturday Sales. Come in on Home Game Saturdays and save 20% on anything Red in the store! Hooray!

Until next time, enjoy the great weather and keep it real, paper people!