Luncheon Place Cards

I had a sort of dry spell for projects over the summer. In a way this was a good thing, as my laptop was stolen and I wouldn't have been able to blog about them anyway! Shortly before The Great Laptop Heist of 2013, I was asked to make place cards for a luncheon, which was being held to celebrate one of our parishioner's 50 years of membership in the Altar Guild (and her birthday). The request was almost as charming and adorable as the guest of honor herself; to paraphrase, "Could you make some cards featuring pictures of what the guests will be eating? So, a fish, a pasta, a chicken, and a…beef." I was more than happy to oblige:

If you're ever asked to do a similar project, click and print the above image on card stock, and all you'll need to do is cut them out. I was inspired, as I often am, to use handmade-looking images in mostly black and white, printed on cream-colored card stock. I'm pretty sure the guests liked them, as I saw a few make their way into various purses and not a lot were left on the table at the end of the lunch. Here's the one at my place…

…and the meal it summoned. I'm not big on taking photos of food, but I really couldn't help myself; gorgeous skirt steak with Béarnaise sauce!

Lastly, here is Lois, the guest of honor, with The Rev. Susan Parsons. Many happy returns! 

Nuts for Beans

When I first started working at St. Peter's, I was made aware of a program that had been in place for a while called "Peet's for St. Pete's," in which people would sign up to donate a month of Peet's Coffee for coffee hour for $50. Somehow, this program had fallen by the wayside and folks had been suffering along silently with inferior java for a number of months. I put together this sign and put it on a clipboard to be set out during coffee hour.

I was worried there wouldn't be any signups; $50 is a lot of cheese for beans, in my book. I must have misunderstood the adoration folks have for their coffee; the whole sheet was filled out within a couple of weeks! By June, one family was already asking if they could sign up for August. I picked up a nice 5x7 frame and made this sign that changes monthly; it's on display near the sign-up sheet.

We also make sure to give kudos to the sponsor in the "Noted in Brief" section of our monthly newsletter "The Keys of St. Peter" (something along the lines of encouraging everyone to "raise their cup to the sponsor" at coffee hour). Maybe if the congregation someday tires of Peet's, we could try worshiping at St. Arbuck's! 

Bookmarks for Pentecost

 Bookmarks are one of my favorite projects that can be made with a printer (preferably inkjet; the quality is far superior, in my experience). You can use them as inserts in bulletins on special occasions; folks seem consistently happy and surprised to find them there. All you'll need is card stock (I like the thickness of photo paper, matte finish on both sides), a self-healing mat, an X-Acto knife, and a cutting rail. Start by figuring out how many you can fit on one side; I went with five bookmarks at 2" by 8" each with 1/8" between each one. The image, by the way, is one of the long, narrow stained glass windows at St. Peter's; their shape is very conducive to being a design element for bookmarks!

 On the reverse side I started with a field of red and added the text. I'm not aware of a consumer-grade printer that is capable of producing 2-sided documents with perfect registration, so this is how I get around making the project less unforgiving in the cutting-out process.

 I invested in a small cutting rail and self-healing mat that will fit easily in a laptop case or backpack.

 A handy trick is to paint the cap of your X-Acto knife with nail polish; you don't want it disappearing on you, leaving you with a bare, dangerous blade.

 Place the sheet of bookmarks, face up, on the self-healing mat. Lie the cutting rail on it with just the tiniest amount of the image showing. Make sure your blade is sharp…

 …and start cutting them out. I like to leave the white part intact; it gives the remaining sheet more integrity as you go, and leaves less bits and pieces of paper all over the place.

 Here's how it looks on the reverse. Plan ahead for upcoming holidays and special occasions; one parishioner mentioned he'd like to have TWO, one for the hymnal, one for the Book of Common Prayer. That might be a bit more than this bookmark factory can handle!

Calendars: A Year's Worth of Cheap Advertising

I really like coming up with new projects to make with our copier. This one took nothing more than a pack of card stock and about an hour to figure out the layout. The resultant calendar went into everybody's bulletins one Sunday at St. Peter's, and the fact that none of them made their way into the paper recycling bin tells me that they are hopefully posted on bulletin boards and refrigerators all over town for all to see. 

I started with photos of some of our stained glass windows (one of the church's best features IMHO). Finding the calendar grid was easy; if you do a Google image search with the word "calendar" and the year, you'll get a lot of results in all sorts of colors and fonts. This is the one we used:

Coming up with the "Holidays and Observances" section was a little trickier. I consulted with folks more "in the know" than me to determine which dates should go into this section (including the Feast Day of St. Peter, for whom our church is named): 

You'll also want to include your church's contact information, just in case somebody does happen to see this calendar posted someplace and finds it intriguing. The final product was printed on card stock to give it some durability. As I write and post this, it's a bit early to start actually producing next year's calendar, but it's never too early to start planning ahead for next year's graphic!

Oh, nuts!

I really want my desk and office to be a welcoming place that people like to visit. It seems like the easiest first step toward that goal is to set something edible out and watch the buzzards circle. I usually lean toward seasonal offerings (mini candy bars at Halloween, candy canes at Christmas, etc.) but I don't want be blamed for contributing to a parish-wide influx of tooth decay. A few months ago I discovered a desk accessory/snack vessel/conversation piece that has developed quite a following: the dual nut basket.

As you can imagine, the nuts go in one side, and the shells go in the other. I'd consider using peanuts, but the Montessori school down the hall from my office has a strict "no peanuts" policy (and all the peanuts I bring to work, usually a pound or two a week, go out the window to the squirrels).

Pistachios have been my favorite nut pretty much forever; to me they're the filet mignon of nuts. They definitely cost a bit more than peanuts, but they're SO worth it. I'm not aware of a better brand than Wonderful Pistachios. The salted variety (is there any other kind, really?) is absolute perfection. Most of the shells practically fall open in your hands (those few that don't get tossed out to the squirrels). It seems to me that Wonderful Pistachios have a more luscious green color reminiscent of avocados (if you have a horror story about how they get that way I don't want to hear it; nothing will make me go back to the twig color of lesser pistachios). They always seem to be on sale everywhere, too! I thought for sure I'd have to put away the basket on account of feeling a financial pinch from keeping it filled with pistachios, but it hasn't yet come to that, thankfully. I had to laugh: one Vestry member looked at the basket and asked in astonishment "Is it self-replenishing?" So it would seem! I hope we don't all burn out on them any time soon; I can't imagine a more perfect snack. Oh, and speaking of "burn": are you wondering what becomes of all those shells? I pour them into paper lunch sacks and use them for fire starters! Talk about being green…

Wake Up and Hear the Coffee

The office at St. Peter's has a new soundtrack: the dull roar of a coffeehouse! A friend of mine recently turned me on to this hipster version of white noise, coffitivity.com. I must admit, when I first heard about it I was skeptical; how long would it take for me to go insane with this thing rolling in the background? Would I get the jitters, or just crave java all day?

I emailed the link to my work account, and clicked on it as soon as I powered up my computer. Astonishingly, I've had it going almost constantly ever since! There is something oddly comforting about the clattering, chattering din of a desktop cafe; I'm starting to wonder how I ever got anything done without it! True, a hot cup of coffee on hand at all times enhances the experience, but is unnecessary. According to Coffitivity, research shows "it's pretty hard to be creative in a quiet space. And a loud workplace can be frustrating and distracting. But, the mix of calm and commotion in an environment like a coffee house is proven to be just what you need to get those creative juices flowing!"

I truly believe it has helped my creativity; I've had an especially productive week that ended with my cleaning my desk to an unprecedented degree. However, I think there is room for improvement. I wrote to the Coffitivity team and asked them to incorporate more actual "coffeehouse" noise into the mix, such as milk being steamed, beans being ground, orders being called out, texts being sent and received, laptops powering up, etc. I wonder if they'll write me back? In the meantime, I'll stay tuned. Maybe all of a sudden I'll hear someone head out for a smoke and know they're working on keeping it real! 

TGI Throwback Thursday!

"Throwback Thursday" on Facebook has been a great opportunity for St. Peter's Episcopal Church to share our collection of vintage photos, and has also given us the motivation to scan them so we can store them digitally in a permanent place. Occasionally we've run across photos that didn't have the names or the year written on the back, and folks have contacted us with information we might never have known otherwise. Here are a few pics that have been posted over the last few months on our Facebook wall, starting with one of my favorites: two ladies serving tea at a "Tasting Luncheon" in 1961 (the dishes served were a sampling of international fare).

 Here's our Vestry from 1964; our Rector, Father John B. Haverland, is front and center.

This is a page from an early '50s stewardship brochure, illustrating the need to expand the church buildings for youth groups.

Here's a group of kids and their pets at the 1954 Blessing of the Animals. The young man seated appears to have a cat in a birdcage! Perhaps in those days cat carriers were relatively unheard of?

 This photo is of the laying of the cornerstone in 1952. It's especially unusual because the altar is situated in front of the doorway at the back of the church.

For a while I thought this image of Rev. Albert S. Clay from 1925 was the oldest photo we'd ever be likely to post…

…but then we were asked to help identify the church and minister in this photo that dates back to approximately 1880 to 1905! It's part of San Mateo County History Museum's archival collection, and it was taken by prominent Redwood City photographer James Van Court. We haven't figured out the specifics of this photo, but we're going to do all we can to help out! 

Not everyone at St. Peter's is on Facebook, but a lot of them are on the mailing list for our newsletter, The Keys. This page in The Keys let them know about the Throwback Thursday photos, and where to find them.

As much as I've been enjoying the classic black and white photos, I'm looking forward to the color-drenched '70s and neon-infused '80s!