A Holiday Task in August

When I last discussed the progress on my Christmas cards, I had my painting scanned, and the image put onto a memory stick.  I hoped that the small print shop, a tiny at-home operation that did my cards last year, was still in business.

A couple weeks ago, I found the phone number of the shop on my cell phone, and I called.  There was no answer, and I left a message.  I started looking at Google Maps and making a list of other print shops, just in case.  But while I was doing that, the phone rang, and it was the lady that printed my cards last year.  When I told her that she printed my cards with a painting of the snow-covered mountain Iztaccíhuatl last year, she remembered me.  I asked her if I could come in with another printing project, and she told me to stop by after two that afternoon.  I wrote up a description of the painting to be printed on the back, and later I walked to the shop, about a mile and a half away, in the neighborhood of Condesa.

As I said, it is an at-home business.  It is located on the top floor of an apartment building, and the only indication of its existence is a little sign next to the door bell.  I was led upstairs, and I gave the lady the memory stick with the image of the painting and the description of the painting, and I explained to her what I wanted.  I paid a deposit, and she said that would message me when she had made a sample for my approval.

By Saturday she sent me pictures of the sample.  I said that it looked good.  She told me that I could pick up the cards in a couple of hours.  So, later that afternoon, Alejandro and I walked to Condesa.  The cards looked very nice.  I was especially pleased with the how the painting on the front turned out.

I then asked her if she could print up stickers with my return address.  She said "yes", and I gave her my apartment address and a deposit for that job.  I had her print 300 stickers so that I would have a good supply for future use.  I was able to pick up the stickers the following Tuesday.  I was surprised because I was expecting 8.5 x 11 inch sheets, similar to what you would buy in an office supply store in the U.S.  Instead, the stickers were on several large 12.5 x 20 sheets.

I now had everything I needed to start making out my cards, including standard greeting card envelopes which I had purchased on an earlier trip to Ohio.  (Oddly enough, none of the office supply stores nor stationery shops here sell that size of envelope.)  As I write this, I am nearly half-way done with the cards.

When I return to Ohio in September I will take the cards with me.  I will go to the post office, buy stamps, and give the cards to a friend so that they can be sent out after Thanksgiving.