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hello there.

Well, whaddya wanna know?  Here's the plain and simple truth:  My name is Rebekah Tennis and I love design.  I love paper, the way it feels, its weight and texture.  I love extra special touches on little things: homemade tags on gift-wrap, old stamps on an envelope, and twine on nearly everything.

My husband, business partner and all-around solid rock Matt would probably tell you that he likes tools - lots of 'em, finding the perfect way to do something, taking things apart, and precision in everything. 

So you might as well have guessed by now... we are the perfect match for an old letterpress studio. Together we farm rice and have a small but adorable two-year old son, Cameron.  This keeps us fairly busy, but whenever we have a spare moment, we crank up our 102 year old Chandler and Price platen press and pull some prints. 

There's more, oh yes, there IS more - but that's what this blog is for.  Take a look around, get to know us, our great town of Chico, California and our beautiful presses.


the end of winter.

I know spring has not yet been officially declared, but here in sunny California, it’s headed our way with force. This last weekend we got to spend a treasured time at our family cabin in the mountains, and I knew it was the last of the great snow I would see this year. With letterpress and rice farming, it seems pretty unlikely anymore snowmen are in our near future.

So, given it’s Friday, I thought I’d share with you a few sweet pictures of the last of winter as we know it. Plus, when’s the last time you got to see Cameron on the blog, I mean really? Shameful.

Here are some peaceful cross-country ski tracks…
And the mist on the lake in the cold, crisp morning…

The ground as it starts to thaw among the trees…

The last snowman of the year (although Matt would call it “modern art” – you decide):

And Cameron doing his favorite thing… eating something frozen. In the summer it’s ice, in the winter it’s snow…

Yum, yum.

Happy weekend to you all!

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shepherds pie, two ways { part two }

You all may remember, once upon a time, long ago, when your children all were young and cute (which now they’ve grown to be corporate executives and such)… well, anyway, WAY back then… I posted the first part of this Shepherd’s Pie series.  Which aforementioned series is not REALLY “Shepherd’s Pie” to begin with, because Shepherds Pie involves lamb and these are both beef versions, but I digress again.

The simple sentence is: here is part two. Finally.

This version is your basic, comfort food, stick-to-your-ribs, dinner-on-a-dime Shepherd’s Pie.  We’ll be keeping it simple, throwing it together fairly fast, and using basic ingredients we definitely have on hand already.  The main inspiration of the recipe is from Joy of Cooking, that admirable tome of a cookbook, but I made a couple of time saving adjustments (shortcuts).

We start with potatoes:

Rinsed and sliced in half to cook a bit quicker – and notice I didn’t bother to peel them.

Then we chop our veggies.  It was what we have, so there’s baby carrots and mommy carrots all being chopped into the same pan.  Butter, celery and onion too:

Once the onions are a bit translucent, we add in some ground beef and brown it:

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the potatoes are boiling madly in their little pot:

… and there’s nothing more fun than a rousing rolling boil (pasta, anyone?) to get you in the mood for dinner.

Add some flour to the meat mixture…

And then some broth and some dried herbs and spices (rosemary, thyme, nutmeg):

Now our potatoes are soft, so drain all but a little of the water from the pot:

And you’ll find most of the peel will come off with an easy rubbing motion.  Much faster than peeling with a peeler, plus no extra dirty dish. Oh, and call me a slob, but I don’t bother to get ALL of the peel off.

Smash it up with a spoon directly in its pot (takes two seconds):

Then layer the meat mixture:

And the mashed potatoes:

..forked and dotted with butter.

Put it in the oven at 400 degrees:

And if it’s OUR oven, pray that the temperature holds correctly (lately we’ve been suffering from wild fluctuations of 30 plus degrees either way).  Oh, and you can disregard the scandalous time at which we make dinner every night. ;-)

20 to 30 minutes later, this succulent comfort food will await you:

Ah. Mighty tasty.  Have a bite?

Or two.  Oh so warm and comforting (like food that gives you a hug).

But let’s do a little review, what did our dinner cost us?

Potatoes 1.5 lbs – $.82 ($2.49 for a 5 lb bag)
Carrots 1-2 large – $.50 ($1.09 per lb)
Celery 2 stalks – $.75 ($1.89 per lb)
Onion 1 large – $.30 ($.87 per lb)
Ground Beef 1 lb – $1.99
Beef Broth, 1/2 cup – $.37 ($2.99 for 32 oz)
Flour, dried herbs and spices (you have on hand already, I’m sure)
Butter, 2 Tbsp.  $.12 ($1.99 per lb)

Grand total: $4.85

Not bad, huh?  Dinner for 3-4 people (or two hungry ones) for under $5!  It’s not haute cuisine, it’s not even something particularly healthy, but it is filling and comforting and tasty.  Perfect for a stormy winter day such as this.

Happy Eating!!

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a hex upon you.

The bathroom remodel(s) continue.  And continue.  On and on and on. I’d love to say we’re in the home stretch – but I don’t think we are yet!  I keep remembering the old formula:  great quality, great price, speedy delivery – pick any two.  So true!  We have definitely chosen the former two in that list, let’s hope it pays off!

But slow and steady wins the race, right? Have a look at our progress so far:

Our Carrara marble hexagon tile is down in the master bathroom.  And I love it even more than I thought I would (if that’s even possible).  I can’t believe that I could be so blessed as to have such beautiful natural stone in MY bathroom, without it costing an arm and a leg. I know, it’s weird, but I ooh and ahh every time I see it.  It will be so fun when it is actually done!!

And two:

…we currently have a shower – and didn’t have to go very long without one.  It’s very makeshift because nothing is finished – but when you remodel both of your full baths – having a shower that is not the kitchen sink is excellent.

Lastly, we have tile choices for the guest/kid bath:

They are: Daltile Rittenhouse Square (3″ x 6″ Subway) in Matte Arctic White and Matte Black, with American Unverse (AU) 1.5″ hexagon tile in matte white and matte black.  Finding these was not as easy as we thought!  The Daltile Keystone series (their hexagon) has a version of white called “biscuit” – and it looked just like it sounds (blech). Why they don’t carry a matte white that matches their wall tile is beyond me. So, we found a nearly perfect match with the AU tile – now all I needed was a pattern, right?  (If you don’t remember the inspiration – here it is.)

Enter trusty ol’ Adobe Illustrator for some rough but to-scale mock-ups.  I started with this:

Very classic and historic looking, right? Enter problem 1: Matt doesn’t like the flowers.

That scenario progressed to this:

Still too floral.

Okay, how about this?

Well, now I didn’t like this one.

So, I tried this…

You can see I’m getting fond of making patterns… it’s kind of mesmerizing, a bit like Tetris (the only computer game I ever loved).  This one was too busy, although I like it a lot.

Matt and I both LOVED the Greek Key inspired square mosaic border above (which I threw together very roughly), but this complicated of a pattern with all of the cuts and extra tile shapes would have cost buko-bucks.

And then there was this one…

…possibly my most favorite pattern. Isn’t it terrific?  I found the inspiration for it here.  But, like the previous design, it was not to be.  Too pricey to put together a pattern like that.

So, we finally came to our last design (and the winner!).  Here’s our bathroom floor pattern:

Love the border… and it’s not flowery OR too difficult of a pattern. Whew!

But what do you think?  Did we make the right choice?  Am I crazy for mocking up so many designs? (yes.)

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a happy, happy weekend to you.

It’s Friday!  And a special weekend we have ahead of us… Lincoln’s Birthday, Saint Valentine’s Day and President’s Day all crammed in and jockeying for their own spot. In fact, some of you may be off celebrating already, in honor of old honest Abe.

We are headed to the family cabin in the mountains.  I have to tell you, nothing sounds more perfect at this moment.  There’s no internet, no cell phone connection to speak of either, and there should be plenty of snow. Now I know you east-coast folks are probably fed up with the white stuff, but it is the weekend, right?

So, I suggest you take a moment to…

…build the perfect snowman.

…jaunt about in cross-country skis (or snowshoes).

…watch the ice break apart at the edge of a lake, or listen to it crash down from the eaves.

And then when you get thoroughly cold…

…head back up to the cabin (or house).

Settle in, and have a warm drink…

…if tea is not your, well, cup of tea, then coffee or cocoa. Be sure to mix this with good conversation and stimulating discussion with your Valentine (or a good friend).

Maybe pick out a game or two…

…and get really involved in it…

…remembering, of course, that it IS just a game.

Sit by the fire…

And bundle up very warm…

…well, maybe not quite that warm.

I’d like to propose a toast: to avoiding the Valentine’s Day madness by NOT going out to a fancy restaurant on Sunday, or feeling the need to spend hundreds of dollars for a day of the year.  Just remember to use valentine-esque gestures often throughout the year. Cheers!

Happy weekend!

P.S.

This post is dedicated to a beautiful gray milk glass lamp which didn’t make it through the week.  A certain child of ours (who shall remain nameless – oh wait, we only have one) knocked it over and it shattered into at least 563,482 tiny little pieces.  Oh, and it’s been discontinued, so I’m not sure how its brother/twin will make it on alone in our living room. RIP lamp.

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xoxo.

Happy Monday, dear friends!  We are excited to be very busy this week with stationery orders as a result of our website launch and stationery giveaway (yay!).  But before it’s too, too late, I wanted to share with you our last, nearly-belated offering for Valentine’s Day (although, you should note, all of our valentine cards are not branded as such and so are good to give to your sweetheart/friend any day of the year!).

Who doesn’t need a little xoxo (virtual kisses and hugs) every now and then?  This card plays off of that fun little abbreviation, and also embraces your inner child with a game of tic-tac-toe:

It should be noted that this particular game is “cats” – as all good tic-tac-toe games (and also all great relationships) are.

Available now in our etsy store – we ship through Wednesday morning for Valentine’s delivery (extra charges may apply).

So, what are you doing to celebrate Valentine’s?  Got a romantic weekend planned?  My husband and I are slipping off to the snowy mountains (with some dear friends) and cozy by the fire sounds just about as good as it can get right now!

Enjoy your short work week!

xoxo,

Rebekah

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{ a gala. }

Gala. Ever since I was little I have loved the sound of that word.  It seems larger than life, starting great words like “galaxy” and exotic words like “galapagos”.  Look at the definition: Gala n.  A festive occasion, especially a lavish social event or entertainment. Sounds fabulous, right? Mostly, it makes me think of a sparkly dress-up party, and who doesn’t like one of those?!?  Oh yeah, nearly every guy on the planet.

Well, these invitations that we printed recently for our local community hospital, Enloe, are for a Gala that does promise to be incredible.  Our challenge was expressing that in a piece of paper – and I must say, it was a lot of fun rising to that challenge.

Would you like to take a peek?

The event is subtly themed around “A Night in Venice” (but not in an over-the-top, prom sort of manner).  In order to reflect that in the design, we used jewel tones (turquoise, lapiz lazuli, plum and soft gold) and a die-cut shape for the main invitation inspired by a Venetian window.  Then we added a few sumptuous swirls and bit of intricate repeating pattern, and voila!  Hopefully inspiring an exotic evening, a grand gala.

I should note here, that the scale of this project was big – I mean B-I-G.  Originally we had thought to run them on our Heidelberg, but we ended up hand-feeding them into our trusty old Chandler and Price.  2,000 invitations x 7 times through the press (there’s printing on the back too) = about 15,000 feeds into our machine, mostly done by the patient and forebearing Matt Tennis for this job (thanks, hon!). Whew!  We were happy when it was done, off and away!

But it really promises to be a fun event for Chico – and for a great cause, our community hospital.  If you’re in town, you should definitely try to go!

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