This little tiny poster of love is coming to market this week. I have been a bit overwhelmed by the public relations by the US Postal Service along with phone calls from the local press, the regional press and sneaking around on the various stamp forums to see if anyone out there likes this little snip of cut paper to put on your envelope. Before I go any further, let me link you to some of the cool things out there.

First off, there is this sweet, sweet article by Hilary Oswald on the stamp. I have the most fun talking with Hilary about the stamp and inevitably, about a lot of stuff--and she took all of our verbal scraps and wrote this touching article that made me tear up (just a little). I was so thrilled to see her energy in the piece--which captured my thinking and emotions around getting this amazing project with such a kind >> generous art director, Antonio Alcala. I am not one to squeal, but it was close with this article (plus, look at what a bang up job they did with the layout of the article). Love all around!

Heart with a History by Hilary Oswald

There is a lovely overview on the stamp here:
Cut Paper Heart

And should you want to buy a sheet or a commemorative goody to fill those needs:
USPS Celebration of Love! Please note that they have First Day of Issue programs, Covers, sheets of stamps, big collectible sheets of stamps..it is quite impressive. All are ready to buy in advance of the 21st. and will not be shipped out until then.

The first day of issue is going to be celebrated at the Time Warner Building in NYC. For more information and the invitation>>

Cut Paper Heart Press Sheet with die cuts.

Cut paper owl,  Q. Cassetti, 2013, Trumansburg, NY — Cut paper owl, Q. Cassetti, 2013, Trumansburg, NY

It really feels like summer. I am here in my princess tower...a hardwired princess tower, listening to the birds, and feeling the breeze on my feet from the window anticipating the need to blow warm air around with my turbo fan which currently is tucked in my closet.

Spring has been such a gift this year with the long cool, wet coming on....allowing all of our trees to develop, flower and grow. With this natural prosperity comes a thick coating of bright green pollen that lays on the porches, windowsills, and any surface (even a car sitting for an hour or so) this is shocking in its abundance.

As you can see, I am cutting paper these days. For real paper...not the digital kind with real live scissors and then scanning them in to digitize them. I am making a little collection of thises and thats...and as they are all cut from full sized, half sized or quarter sized pieces of paper, they are all in the same zone building blocks sized. I am getting the paper from this great teacher store called Hygloss who have a thinnish, origami weight matte black paper that really does the trick. I am just feeling so creatively out of it, at least this gets me making stuff that I can use now/ later. With these big black shapes, I can strip textures/color etc. into them and I have translated them all to vectors, so they are scalable as well. I just feel like a creative flat tire these days. The whole Jack is a dull boy thing. Lots of projects sailing through the office...very much beach volleyball with a lob to our side and then back, and back again....all in one day. Not much breathing...lots of moving.

Alex is in NYC taking photography courses. His new work is quite good...and though I am a proud momma--you can see for yourself. He is truly taking in the city and enjoying every minute of it. So exciting to see this little flower begin to bloom. Kitty is with us--working on trying to corral ideas, impressions and direction for her Division 3 project next year. I am coaxing her along though I think Rob is probably a better coach for her at this point in her development. I tend to shut things down too quickly. My harshness works with Alex...matter of fact, he actually likes my directness and was humored last weekend when I sat in the car with him and critiqued the Sunoco logo at the gas station. He was stunned that I thought that way. We also had an amusing conversation about symbols and what things mean in imagery. It was cracking open a door he didnt even know existed...and was surprised by the results. I can work with Alex on ideas and thinking and with Kitty on process, editing and expanding beyond the ordinary. What a few months of talk we will have.

I sold 5 dozen brooches last week (sushi and banana splits) at wholesale to a family friend. This is the way to really do the business with pins versus the onesies twosies. The bill actually looked like something. Funny though I thought the pins would really rock, it turns out that my cards are far and away the more profitable and more requested around here. Maybe I should climb out of the creative hole and just design some cards. Simple, elegant, commercial cards. That seems doable? Right?

Later.