Blog

Hello! My name is Molly McEachern, and I am Smudge Ink’s 2015 spring intern! I am a senior illustration major at Lesley University College of Art and Design, and I enjoy reading comic books and collecting animal bones!

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I found myself thinking about how some of the most important loving relationships in my life are with my best friends. When you’re single, it’s easy to snub Valentine’s Day as being a holiday just for couples. But then I thought--why not use it as an opportunity to show those BFFs in our life what their friendship means to us?

I thought back to elementary school when the whole class would decorate paper bags with construction-paper hearts and ridiculous amounts of glitter glue, and everyone would give valentines to everyone else. It was so much fun making the cards and just as much fun opening up a bag that was filled to the brim with adorable, hand-made valentines from all your friends! Most importantly, no one felt left out or unloved.

In the spirit of such a tradition, I designed these printable Valentine’s Day cards for kids (and adults!) to share with their friends. It turns out you don’t need a sweetheart to celebrate Valentine’s Day, only a little glitter glue. Enjoy!

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So what does Smudge Ink do as Boston is being covered with over 2 feet of snow? Here are everyone’s snapshots of how they spent winter storm Juno. 

Clayton brought out his trusty painting supplies.
Kate strapped on some snowshoes.
Emily dreamed of the time when trees still had leaves (and also painted).
Sarah was the official human snowfall chart (looks like we’re up to 0.33 sarahs!).
Margaret went sledding with her niece.
Sabrina squeezed in some letter writing before succumbing to a cold.
Deb dug her children out of the snow.
And Rheana warmed up to some homemade chicken soup.

Current forecast: another 4 to 8 inches of snow across the city!

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Are we the only ones who can't wait to open up a brand new calendar at the start of a new year? Along with this simple change comes a sense of excitement about the possibilities and adventures ahead. Don’t get us wrong, 2014 was a good year for many reasons—we launched a brand new website, welcomed Margaret and Clayton to the team, brought back the Holiday Sip & Shop, proudly supported the #5DaysofEquality campaign, and gave our studio a facelift just to name a few. But we’re pretty darn excited for what’s ahead. Sure, there’ll be some overwhelming and stressful days in the mix (the nature of the small business beast!). That’s when we remind ourselves that our products won’t make people smile and write more unless we’re happy too. So in 2015 we’re going to try some new ideas (hint: see photo for a sneak peek) and have fun along the way. That’s a resolution you can hold us to!

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Season's Greetings from Smudge Ink! We’re celebrating the holidays by sharing our staff’s special festive traditions. We’re also revealing a few of our favorite memories, food, drinks and songs. We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year! [This picture taken last Thursday where we spent most of the morning decorating the auditorium at the Boys + Girls Club of Charlestown for their annual holiday party.]

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Smudge Ink is proud to announce our involvement in GLAAD’s 5 Days of Equality, a global campaign for marriage equality. Calling Massachusetts home, the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage, we were moved by the stories of 31 couples in Australia whose marriages were nullified by the government only five days after getting married. These marriages happened during the brief window of December 7-12, 2013, and one year later, we stand with others around the world to recognize and celebrate their first anniversary (traditionally the paper anniversary!). 

Inspired by this remarkable initiative, we designed a collection of anniversary cards commemorating the couples' unions. Smudge Ink has donated 6,000 cards in which your messages of love and support will be written and sent to the couples. On December 14th, GLAAD will hold a public celebration where the couples will open and read their cards. (The video of the event was released after this initial post and is shown above).

Between December 7-12, we invite you to support marriage equality and send anniversary messages to the couples by posting a message on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Vine, using the hashtag #5DaysOfEquality.

"It's about celebrating the love we have for each other. I get a bit teary about it. Love is love and love will win."  —Joel Player (Joel and his partner Alan were the first same-sex couple to marry in Australia during the 5 days)

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