Truth be told, Zeichen Press owners Fran and Jen Shea didn’t start a letterpress intending to be the next Hallmark. Sure, Zeichen can be sweet, but when you’d rather be honest, borderline snarky, Zeichen’s notecards are refreshingly blunt. The 30-something sisters-in-law have backgrounds in design—Fran formerly an art director and Jen previously worked as an interior designer—and both had been stay-at-home moms prior to starting the press. The Shea sisters use an antique press to make bold, new statements such as “I’m glad you’re having a baby and I’m not.” If it’s true, why not say what you feel? www.zeichenpress. com

Here at No Coast Craft-o-rama planning headquarters, we are heads down, feverishly putting the finishing touches on the big event — ordering tables, passing out postcards, getting ads ready for VitaMN and City Pages and generally just running around like chickens. And I’m sure all the vendors are even more so, cranking out all the goods we can’t wait to get our hands on!

I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on why I was motivated to get this group of people together to plan this event, and hopefully dispell any rumor that this craft sale harbors any ill will toward crafting grannies. Let me tell you what I mean.

In 2005, my mom retired. She has always been crafty, in fact she is my inspiration in that arena. So, I thought I’d plan a craft sale she could participate in, and it would give her something to do with all her new free time. Fast forward to now. My mom, also a “granny” (In fact her business name is Granny’s Closet), is a big seller on Etsy (six hundered and thirty some odd items sold…wah hoo!) and also No Coast Craft-o-rama. This week I did an interview with her on my blog. I think it’s kind of cute.

My point in all this? Granny’s rock, and we love them as much as we love Cricket Syndicate and his handmade underwear, or Rar Rar Press and her “F that S” postcards! Truth be told, a granny might be our very reason for being!

Okay, okay, I know it’s over 3 months old, but there was a great article on our very own Zeichen Press in the Strib August 8th. I’ve never met Fran and Jen, but I imagine two witty and sarcastic women, feverishly pressing out billions upon billions of letterpress holiday cards for the No Coast Craft-o-rama. Personally, I am looking forward to picking up this one, and sending it to my friend Jen. Good work, ladies. Looking forward to meeting you in a matter of weeks!

We were excited to see that Papered Together, one of our new vendors this year is featured in the December/January issue of Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion as well as getting noticed in the upcoming December issue of Minnesota Monthly, the Holiday Gift Guide.

Way to go Krista!

We here at No Coast headquarters think long and hard about how to ensure that our shoppers can find things for everyone on their holiday shopping list at our sale. One of the toughest to find is good gifts for the male species. After all, not too many men in our lives are big fans of knitted tea cozies or smelly candles. This year, I really think we did a good job in sniffing out some fantastic crafters of good gift ideas for guys. Here are a few of my favorites:

• For the boyfriend, how about a fantastic pin-up calendar or cityscape calendar made by poster artist Adam Turman?
• For your little Anglophile baby bro’ — a totally hip Union Jack shirt from Charlie and Sarah!
• For dad, a clever film canister by Marti Nelson.
• Great for all the hot rodsters on your list, a cool vinyl art piece by Nate’s Custom Sewing
• What I want to send my husband, the punker: a sweet punker postcard by Rar Rar Press.
• Another great boyfriend gift, a set of coasters featuring “social don’ts” from Zeichen Press
• For dad or grandpa, a beautiful Japanese woodblock-inspired stained glass window by Green Lantern Glass