Today you can find a guest post I wrote at the blog Shades of the Departed, a site devoted to all things old photography. Yes, it’s a bit dreamy.

I love this quote from their site, about where their name comes from.

You can go check out my post here.

Thank you, Linda, for the opportunity!

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[ me & liz in our booth ]

It has taken me a bit to recover from being away for a week. But here’s a bit of a wrap up from my first-ever genealogy conference and trade show.

I’m so happy I went to the show. It was long and exhausting, but overall very worthwhile. My highlights:

- Fun Liz. She’s as fun in person as over the phone, and to say we hit it off is an understatement. Having a real client helping sell my books was amazing - thank you, Liz!

- The response from attendees when I asked how long they’d been researching their families, “Oh, not that long…only 10 years now.” (!!!) Apparently unless you’ve been researching for 40 years you can’t claim longevity in the world of genealogy.

- Hearing people rave about my books. I never tire of that. And meeting people I can’t wait to make books for!

- Meeting the Photo Detective, Maureen Taylor. She can tell you the story of an old photograph, just by looking at it. This lady is a veritable database of historical facts and references, from fashion to architecture to photography itself. Besides which, she is totally fun and was recently on the Today Show!!

It was great to meet everyone! Here’s one last booth shot…

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Hey look! People Magazine featured Isaac McHale’s birth announcements this week!

Yes, I knew this was supposed to happen but quite honestly I don’t believe these types of things until I see them. But it was so fun picking up the magazine in the airport and seeing my work!

Thank you, Sarah and Joel, for letting me be your designer!

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Isaac is the son of my dear friends Sarah and Joel McHale. Yes, the Joel McHale of Soup fame, and a great friend of mine since high school.

So when Sarah and Joel asked me to make their son Isaac’s announcements, I simply could not think traditional baby blue sweetness. Sarah is one of the most stylish people I know, and Joel is one of the most…Joel people I know! So this definitely called for some fun.

Enter 3 year-old big brother Eddie with a quote to save the day, “He looks like a bald man.” Indeed. That became the centerpiece for the announcements, which you can see here. We letterpressed the cover and digitally printed the accordion fold out page.

If you’re interested in having an announcement like this for your child, get in touch. Pricing starts at $150 for 25 qty.

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