Life List

Does anyone keep lists? And of what?

I am reading Life List: A Woman's Quest for the World's Most Amazing Birds by Olivia Gentile and that's what got me started on the subject of lists. I've been interested in birds for awhile but this book has brought me into the whole world of birding and list keeping and now I am making a life list of birds I have seen.

I am including with each bird, the situation, day, thoughts, etc. Whatever it takes to remember that moment. It's not easy to catch a photograph of a bird and often while trying you while miss seeing the action all together. I've decided to stop trying to catch photos of anything in action and take in the moment the best I can by paying attention and as soon as I can writing it down. Most of our memories are made through telling a story.

So what is the purpose of the list? It's not so much about the end result, but rather to remind myself to keep looking. It's about all the things I will notice that I may have missed; things that might not even be on the list.

If you want to start a list, I recommend starting with a good notebook. My first bird list is in The Paper Apartment's Feathers Notebook. Then find a list for your area to follow. In Chicago visit the Chicago Ornithological Society and download their Chicago Area Birds Checklist on the homepage.  

Happy Birding!

Handmade One-of-a-Kind Wedding Invitations

Rhonda and Nick pretty much (re)built their home from scratch, with help from family and friends. They are truly the do-it-yourself types. They live and will be married by the a river, trees and lots of nature. The inspiration for this card came directly from them.

Using block printing, I handmade each individual invitation to ensure a unique quality in each one. Mixing two colors of ink directly on the block, no two prints are exactly the same.

There is so much to do when preparing for a wedding, so I put together the entire wedding invitation suite including addressing and stamping the RSVP cards. This this the final result in a vellum petal envelope. The outside envelope is the same textured cream as the scallop card and all the other enclosed cards.

Each invitation is marked with "made by kim" just as my handmade cards are.

Most of the paper I used came from the Paper Source. Although there are cheaper places to find paper, the quality and convenience is well worth it. I bought the velvet ribbon online at Paper Mart. The ribbon is a good price but the shipping is overpriced. The vellum petal cards came from Paper and More online. This is also a good source for paper and card stock. You can order samples on most items. All of my block printing supplies came from the Blick Store and/or JoAnn Fabric, just because of convenience. I am sure there are better resources for these materials so I am not linking to these widely known shops.

Thanks for visiting. Please let me know what you think.