Row House 14 is Moving!

To celebrate one year of running my business full time, I have launched a new website! The new website is now hosting my blog and my shop. Please head on over to the new website for more information. I'd love to continue having you in my handmade and blogging community!

In addition, you may follow the new Row House 14 blog on Bloglovin' here.



Thank you for following along as I continue to grow my handmade business! Your support has be phenomenal and I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for all of you!

xo Heidi

New Father's Day Cards

With Father's Day around the corner on June 15th, I thought I'd share the new Father's Day cards that I've added to the shop this year. I feel as though I'm finally happy with the cohesive nature of my shop with the addition of some of my latest work. Again I've opted for bold colors and simple designs that provide something both recognizable and relative for most of us.

While Father's Day tends to be a less card heavy holiday than Mother's Day, I still feel that it's important to recognize the dads in our lives. When I was growing up, my dad was the stay at home parent for quite some time, so I have many fond memories as a child in a different way than many people may have had, and for that I am incredibly thankful. While I didn't crash the family car and I rarely text my dad, one thing that I do enjoy doing with him when I visit home is sitting and chatting over a good cup of coffee at my mom's bakery.

What are your favorite things to do with your dad? Did any of you have a stay at home dad?

3 Sharable Links That Will Change Your Perspective

We're all guilty of getting sucked into the black hole of the web. However, sometimes that black hole isn't such a bad thing. Recently, I've found that some of the articles I've happened upon have literally changed the way I think about my daily life. I thought I'd share three of those with you today in the hopes that they'll give you the same boost or that "aha!" moment that they gave me.

1 // Andrew and I bike a lot when the weather is nice, he even more so than I. As we have officially entered the season or gorgeous weather, he bikes to work almost every day and we try to ride our bikes as a way of getting to Orioles games, happy hour, the farmer's market, or wherever we are traveling locally. Last week, Andrew already had two very close calls due to drivers that were not paying attention to the fact that he was in the unprotected bike lane. Things would be much easier for all parties involved if we had a system like this ingeniously designed intersection for protected bicycle lanes.


Protected Intersections For Bicyclists from Nick Falbo on Vimeo.

2 // I think as whole our society tends to get burned out on the job. I loved this article about 5 simple office policies that make Danish workers more happy than Americans. The points made are absolutely true for many people. Especially important in my book, was point number five in which being happy with your work is an absolute priority.

3 // Some days, I find myself having an incredibly bad or unproductive day for one reason or another. This article about how to make your unproductive days better has some really great ideas on getting a restart and sums up a lot of the same strategies that I often use.

What new ideas have helped put things in perspective for you lately?

Copper and Gold Foil Stationery

After introducing gold foil pressed cards into my shop several months ago, the creative wheels began to turn as I thought of all the beautiful foiled stationery that I could create. While the hot foil press seemed to be an easy shoo-in for foil stationery, it came with many limitations that began to irritate me. I could only press paper with letter type that was sized small enough for my press, and I couldn't really use my own designs.

With these limitations in mind, I began looking into the process of foil embossing and printing without the use of the hot foil press. I spent many hours completing test runs, and finally felt confident with the results. I have since debuted two new designs in my shop-- a beautifully simple stationery set printed in copper paired with aqua envelopes, and a gold foiled hello card sweetly paired with light pink.

I'm thrilled with how my original visions for these designs have come to life on paper, and look forward to adding more foiled paper products in the near future.

Do you like the foil look? Do you prefer foil on stationery or art prints?

The Biltmore Estate

A few weekends ago, Andrew and I planned a four day weekend mini road trip to Asheville, North Carolina. Our basic plan for the trip was to enjoy the vast number of craft breweries in the area, eat amazing food, and take a day trip to the Biltmore Estate. Beer, food, and architecture tend to be our general itinerary for most places we travel to or explore, and Asheville didn't disappoint in any of those departments. In fact, there were so many places that we didn't get to try, beer and food-wise, that we hope to make another visit sometime in the future.

As an architect, Andrew always wants to take in the famous or historic buildings that are nearby, so the Biltmore was an obvious no-brainer. If you ever plan to visit, you will need at least a day to take in the gardens, go on the house tour, and enjoy the winery afterward. The estate is absolutely huge, which we knew going into it, but we still hadn't realized just how huge until we arrived.

While it ended up being a rather overcast and gray day, we still enjoyed our time strolling about the estate. The spring flowers were in bloom and were just gorgeous. Perhaps my favorite part about the entire estate were the many greenhouses that you could wander through. I could have spent hours amongst all of the lush plants and flowers had Andrew not nudged me along to the next thing.

Have you taken any quick road trips lately? Have you had the chance to visit the Biltmore?

DC Cherry Blossoms and the MLK Memorial

On Saturday we decided to brave the crowds and take in the beautiful cherry blossoms that were blooming along Tidal Basin in DC. We had not been down that way for the blooms in a couple of years, and since the weekend had brought with it such beautiful weather, it seemed like a fun enough way to spend a leisurely afternoon.

The blooms were beautiful as they are each year, and walking amongst these old trees makes you feel as though you're in a winter wonderland of petals instead of snow. It's hard not to sigh a few times here and there as you take in the beauty.

At the end of our walk around Tidal Basin we paused for a bit to take in the Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial. We had not had a chance to visit the relatively new memorial since it was installed.

While reading some of his most famous quotes, that had been engraved on the memorial, I thought of how powerful his words are still today. So many of the quotes deal with us understanding each other and placing the importance of all of humanity above anything else. And here we were, amongst the beautiful cherry blossoms with thousands of others from all over the world, and at that moment none of the strife, or conflict, or inequality that exists in the world mattered. We were all there together just to take in beauty-- and there was nothing complicated about that.

Oregon Ridge Park

Yesterday morning, The Beast died. The Beast, also known as my printer, was four years old and had finally decided that it had fulfilled its duty after printing thousands of cards and stationery sets in that time period. This left me at a standstill yesterday until my new printer would arrive. The weather was gorgeous, and so I decided that it only made sense that I spent my new found extra time outdoors.

I decided to make a quick 20 minute drive just north of Baltimore to Oregon Ridge Park. We first went to Oregon Ridge for the Hot August Blues Festival a few years back, and subsequently found out that there are plenty of trails to hike there as well. It's a nice place to head to in the Baltimore area if you want some decent hiking without having to drive about an hour away.

Oregon Ridge was full of sunshine, but at first felt disappointingly dead to me. The brown colors and crunchy leaves under my feet made me feel as if it were November. And then slowly, but surely, I began to find peeks of green amidst the brown. Spring may have arrived later than it usually does, but it certainly was making itself visible in a small way.

What I had hoped would be an hour hike, turned into a two hour, 3.68 mile hike throughout the park. My hike was followed by a stop at the coffee shop for an iced coffee and some reading. While my day began with a stressful event, it ended with time off that I realized had been greatly needed. And this morning, I have felt newly energized and recharged.

Has your spring finally arrived? Have you had some time off to spend outdoors lately?

Richmond Weekend Wrap-Up

We spent this past weekend in Richmond, Virginia as I was participating in the Richmond Craft Mafia's Spring Bada-Bing. You may remember from back in December, that we were in Richmond for a day for their Handmade Holiday. We had previously never been to Richmond before our one day in and out in December, so this time we decided to stay for an overnight and do a little exploring on Sunday before heading back to Baltimore.

The show itself on Saturday was held at the Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, which meant that we were able to enjoy the fabulous smells and tastes of their craft brews. My booth was set up directly next to one of the many large fermenters. Oak barrels line the walls, and two bars were open for customers and vendors alike to enjoy in a few libations. The show went exceedingly well (I feel a lot of love from Richmond in the last several months!) and the general atmosphere was something that left me feeling incredibly happy to be doing what I do.

 

I was also able to briefly meet Karl of Blackbird Tees. He and his girlfriend Jody create the best screen printed tees and and other such textiles. I have to admit, I truly look up to them in terms of the way they carry their handmade business as a lifestyle, so it was awesome to finally meet! Not to mention, I was able to snag one of their Share the Road tees for Andrew, the semi-avid cyclist, who may now have about one of their shirts in one form or another for every day of the week.

After a successful day at Hardywood, we stopped at Legend Brewing to enjoy a pint and some outdoor time in the beautiful weather. We noticed in December that Legend has a fabulous patio that overlooks the river and the city, and so we decided to test it out this time around. After a quick pint, we headed downtown to the Capital Ale House for dinner and more brews. The food was delicious and the selection of local beer on tap was the highlight for us. The weekend was definitely a good one for us craft beer lovers!

We stayed overnight at an apartment we had found through AirBnB, and then spent a lazy Sunday morning at Lamplighter, an amazing coffeehouse nearby. If you ever find yourself in Richmond, do yourself a favor and get your morning coffee and breakfast there. You won't regret it!

After fueling up on coffee and food, we spent some time exploring the Historic Fan District, which is filled with beautiful homes and architecture. Lastly, we spent the early afternoon meandering through Carytown, popping into a few boutiques and browsing through records at a local record store before heading back up 95 to Baltimore.

This weekend was incredibly exhausting, but it a good way. And now that Wednesday has arrived, I'm finally feeling reenergized and ready for another adventure. 

Did you do anything fun this past weekend? Do you have any adventures planned for the near future?