The Crappy Post

..... deep sigh ..... So, for those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile, you already know all the gruesome little details of my health. For those of you that have not, I have had melanoma twice and am currently in treatment. Contrary to much popular belief, while melanoma is skin cancer which many people can have taken off in its early stages in an afternoon, it can also be super scary crazy cancer which enjoys spending it's time growing and spreading to your internal bits. I only mention this to try to get you to have that mole looked at before it becomes something you really have to worry about! Don't get into my situation.

Every Wednesday I fly to Virginia for injections which hopefully act as a sort of cancer vaccine. Well, last Sunday I found a small lump beneath my skin on my back. It's located very close to where my previous surgeries have been. On Wednesday I brought it to the attention of my dream team of doctor's and researchers who thought we should probably do a needle biopsy just to rule out anything we'd need to worry about. A half an hour later we found out that we're entering round three. There were melanoma cells in the tissue.

We flew home that night and the last few days have been pretty chaotic. I had an MRI and CT scan yesterday. Tomorrow we'll be driving down to Virginia so that I can have a PET scan Monday. Hopefully all of these tests will show that this is a small, isolated node and that this thing hasn't gone nuts and decided to travel elsewhere. I should be able to have surgery Tuesday morning, get back into my normal treatment routine and head back home mid-week. I had scans just over a month ago and nothing showed up, so we were pretty shocked by this but we're also very hopeful that we've once again caught this early and will be able to get back to normal quickly.

We'll be closed Sun-Wed while we figure this all out. Feel free to email me anytime. I have every intention of keeping things as close to "business as usual" as possible. My hope is that this won't impact any orders, but should I take an extra day to get back to you please don't think I'm ignoring you. All orders we've already taken are going to ship on time ... no need to panic. We've made all necessary arrangements to ensure that!

Thanks for every one's support throughout this entire ordeal! It's meant a lot to both Dade and I. We're trying not to stress out about this because in the end, there isn't much we can do about it and worrying certainly doesn't help. I've kept busy this morning getting some new images online of a few straight off the press invite orders (you didn't think I'd leave you without eye candy did you?) I'll be updating the blog as we get more info. Now go make an appointment with your dermatologist!

Best,
R

new square damask letterpress insert cards

gold and petal thermographed Mantilla invitations

magenta and cocoa thermographed Charleston invitations with chartreuse envelopes

Raising the Ink

A couple of months ago we decided it was time to add yet another form of printing to our line. I'd received a lot of inquiries about thermography which is a form of printing which has a raised ink finish (basically a less expensive and less labor intensive version of engraving.) Our first orders are in, and we're really thrilled with the results. The papers are lush and tactile, and the new options of having metallic inks, rounded corners etc. make this a fun project for us. Here are a few new images.

Hot Off the Press

I always get excited when we get to see new invite orders in colors we've never used before, or designs which we've not printed in a particular method in the past. Here are a few new orders I'm in love with today. The first is our Aspen design for the first time in letterpress. The second is the same invitation done with blind letterpress for the imagery, and the third is our Venice design printed in aqua ink. Yum...

DIY Fun With Food

I have to share one of my favorite resources for those of you that might have a tiny bit of DIY talent in baking. Every time I throw a party and want to make my desserts look amazing (because I actually can't bake,) I turn to an online source called Fancy Flours. They have a catalog of amazing, edible decorations. Here's a sampling of chocolate transfer papers, wafer transfers (think cupcakes) and other fancy, fun items I thought might work for a wedding.

champagne labels

eggshells

butterfly transfer images

gold eggshells


filigree cupcake and cake stand wrappers

individual chocolate butterflies

gold leaf sheets

Rose syrup (on sale)

Vintage Valentines transfer images

Chocolate transfer papers

New Jewelry

Sorry for the light posting recently. Between treatment and work I've just been really strapped for time. I just received a new shipment of fun sparkly bits for Spring / Summer '09 and wanted to share before I got them all up on the website...

Dejarnette Jewelry

I have been a huge fan of Dejarnette New Orleans for a couple of years now. I bought my first piece as a gift for a friend, and have been going back over and over every since to pick up that something special. I particularly love the way that Katherine mixes unexpected vintage items to create one of a kind pieces. Check out a few of my favorites:

These are a couple I bought last year. I can't tell you how many people have asked me where I got them, particularly the cuff. It works with jeans, but I've also work it with a little black dress. The leather gives it a little edge.

all images: www.dejarnettenola.com

I Don't Like Wednesday's

Actually... I never had anything against Wednesday before, but I have a sneaking suspicion we're not going to get along over the next few months. For those of you that have been reading for awhile, you know I've had some health issues recently. Actually, they weren't issues, they were full on, give you panic attacks in the middle of the night kind of "issues." Anyhow, I've been doing really, really well and my last round of scans has shown no new cancer developing. Being the proactive type of person I at least like to think of myself as, I'm now enrolled in a clinical trial for a cancer vaccine. They jack me in the arm and leg once a week and hopefully the concoction teaches my body to fight off any lingering cells. Kind of cool really. The bad part, the trial is in Virginia and I am now flying back and forth every Wednesday to receive the treatment. That means ... no White Aisle on hump day. I'll be working Saturdays to make up the time. So.... if you email me Wed. please just know that I'm not ignoring you. I'll get back to you first thing Thursday. Thanks for all the love and support through all of this!

I can't leave you without something fun and wedding related, so here are some photos I found on The Knot of a wedding at The Rockhouse in Negril, Jamaica we printed stationery for recently. I loved the fun colors and how amazing is the flower in the bride's hair?

for a full slideshow, visit their photographer Emilie Inc here...