What's In Store with Maggie Moore

When Sam and I  were growing up, we would make visits to Gramom's house which always included pulling out all the art supplies and painting, doodling and staying up way too late.  It was the best!  And as a bonus, G-Mom always had Butterscotch Krimpets tucked away in her kitchen cabinet, her favorite Tastykake.  For me, visiting from New England, this was not something I could get at home, so it was extra special. Whenever we see Krimpets now, we think of her.  So it only made sense for us to drop some fun Tastykake greeting cards into the collection this year. Why didn't we think of it before?

All this has us thinking about the origin of the Tastykake. Did you know they're from Philly? And how did it become a Philly thing? Tastykake has been around for over 100 years, established in Philly way back in 1914 by Pittsburgh baker, Phillip Baur and a Boston egg salesman, Herbert Morris. These two put their skills together and started baking individually wrapped cakes at their Germantown bakery. Herbert's wife took one bite, exclaiming, "What a tasty cake," and the iconic snack was born. Why they decided to spell Cake with a K remains a mystery, but it stuck. 

The Tastykakes were priced right and became popular with the city's working class as a lunchbox snack.  To give you an idea of how popular, at the end of their first year, they made $300,000 selling ten-cent cakes! Phillip and Herbert expanded to Chocolate and Coconut Juniors.  In 1927, the year before Gramom was born, came her favorite, the Butterscotch Krimpet. Their most popular Peanut Butter Kandy Kake was introduced in 1931. Tastykakes became a major food group for kids around Philadelphia with the slogan, "The Cake That Made Your Mother Stop Baking."

Until 1941, the snack cakes were delivered around Philadelphia by horse-drawn carriage. When World War II came along, the company took a chance and sent Tastykakes overseas to soldiers in Europe and the Pacific, and demand for these sweet treats grew. Tastykakes were distributed outside of Philadelphia for the first time and the horses were retired.

In the 70's and 80's Tastykake introduced even more to their line up with muffins, chocolate covered pretzels, and pastries. And the great thing is that while things have changed and the bakery has modernized in the last century plus, they never left Philadelphia the city that made them legendary.

If you were lucky enought to grow up with these tasty treats in your lunchbox or you ate them at your Grandma's house like us, you know they're a nostalgic treat.  And we have the cards for that to remind someone else why they love Tastykakes, too. Guaranteed to bring a smile to their face.

January has been a lot and it seemed endless but we made it through.  Between frigid temperatures, shoveling snow and ice, and the horrors unfolding in Minnesota, there were definitely days we struggled to get through.  However, seeing people stand up and speak out is giving us a glimmer of hope that things will improve. Eventually.

Things also getting us through:

-Traitors is back and the podcast hosted by Boston Rob and Bob the Drag Queen is the dynamic duo we didn't know we needed.

-The Hillstone Martini.  Maybe I'm late to this game but if you want to make one at home, here's the recipe.

-I know not everyone will be as thrilled as I am, but as a native New Englander, the Patriots being back in the Super Bowl is giving all the feels I forgot I was missing! And Drake Maye and Ann Michael Maye are the new King and Queen of the North. No, I didn't make this up.  That is what they are calling them. Her baking videos would definitely not be Giselle approved. Somebody needs to get Drake Maye some avocado ice cream.

-My son Jack was promoted to Marine Science Technician Second Class in the Coast Guard and with so much heaviness in the world, it feels good to have something to get excited about! Congrats Jack! Proud of that kid. ❤

Glad you asked. January marked a big drop of new stuff and Faire Winter Market, an online market for retail stores to stock up and take advantage of some deals.  It's an opportunity for us to pitch to some new stores, and the perfect chance for them to give us a try.

Ahead of the market, we designed a mailer to send out to our customers and potential customers with a Road  Trip theme featuring our new East Coast-inspired greetings.  Two hundred and thirty-six mailers went out, and yes, we hand-addressed each one.  Crazy? Maybe.  That was a lot of Betty White stamps! Here's what the front of our mailer looked like.

We added nine new stores during the market, so you can find us in Moore cool places. And only one is in Maryland.  What?!

Kathy's Corner Shop - North East, MD

Decor and More - Westwood, MA

Books and Greetings - Northvale, NJ

Towne Crafters - Walpole, MA

Duck Duck Common - Millsboro, DE

Be Charmed - Medfield, MA

Wee Packet Shoppe - Dennis Port, MA

Dana Farber Cancer Institute Gift Shop - Boston, MA

The Common Man Roadside Stand - Hookset, NH

We were beyond excited when the order came in from Dana Farber because my Dad sees a cancer doctor there, and the shop is staffed by volunteers to raise money for family support and research.  Big Win!

If you know of a store that should carry Maggie Moore, we want to hear about it! Drop it in the comments below.

Another thing giving me life in January, has been the final season of Queer Eye.  Why does it have to end? Jeremiah Brent joined last season I think, and damn he was a good addition.  How friggin' adorable is he? My husband can't take the crying, but we didn't get to see enough Jeremiah!  He definitely needs his own show! I'm following him on Instagram, and he's doing this thing where he shares his five senses for the month, and I thought that was kind of cool, so let's do it.  Why not? This is supposed to be fun!

Taste:  Okay guys I got the app Too Good To Go. If you haven't got it yet, you're going to want to download it. You can purchase a Too Good To Go Surprise bag of goodies that might otherwise go to waste at a discounted price from local stores. I purchased one from Pure Raw Juice and got some surprise Cold Pressed Juices that would have cost $19 for $7. Bargain! One of them was a Lemon Ginger, which was so zingy. I heated it up with some honey to have instead of coffee in the morning, and it was delish and truly woke me up. I need to recreate it at home.

Hearing:  Normally, I'm always listening to old school music, but I can't stop listening to Djo!  If I were in high school and not a 53-year-old woman right now, I would totally be fan-girling with posters of Joe Keery on my wall. Listening to End of Beginning on repeat!

Sight:  My husband and I have been doing a rewatch of 30 Rock, which still holds up, other than what the hell was with the jeans we were wearing circa 2006? I wore them and thought I looked damned good.

Smell: With this cold weather and snow days the Snowy Orchard candle from South Anne Street Candle Co is perfection. I got mine at Su Casa.

Touch:  I've got to say my doggie.  It's so cold outside, and she's always curled up in the sun napping and I have to take a break now and then for some Remy cuddles.

Eeeeeee, so excited this was your favorite card of the month.  The idea for this one was rattling around for a while and we were so happy with how it turned out.  So we're glad you like it too! There's still time to order your Valentines but don't wait much longer! Have a great Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is our favorite holiday for sending cards! We friggin' love coming up with cards for love and friendship, and when we get together to toss around card ideas, we end up with a long list of love cards and are completely stumped when it comes to new birthday cards which we could really use. When it comes to love, the ideas just keep flowing. 

Our Valentine's Day cards can be sent anytime you want to Share Moore Love, but how did this holiday come about? If you go way, way back it was established by the Catholic Church to celebrate two men named St. Valentine who were proponents of love. Kinda boring. 

Fast forward to the mid 19th century when the commercial Valentines we know today were shared, Richard Cadbury made the first heart shaped box of chocolates and the New England Confectionary Company made the first Conversation Hearts.  Check out our new Baltimore Conversation Hearts card.  It's our new fave.

But what I want to talk about is Esther Howland.  With her crafty badassery, she became the Mother of the American Valentine, so I suppose we owe her a debt of gratitude for getting this whole industry started. Esther was an artist and was known as "New England's First Career Woman."  While intricately beautiful European Valentines were available in America, they were expensive, and only the wealthiest of society could afford them. Esther wanted to change that. 

In 1847, after graduating from Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, Esther received her first English Valentine.  From who we don't know.  Esther kept that under wraps.  But like any young entrepreneur, she said, I can make this, and she asked her father, a stationer himself to order her the necessary supplies so she could get to work. Esther used lace paper, paper flowers, and other supplies from England, Germany and New York City.  She wasn't messing around. Her brother agreed to humor his sister and  take samples of the cards she created on his next sales trip for S.A. Howland and Sons.  And wouldn't you know he came back with $5000 in Valentine orders!  

Now Esther needed a home office (sounds familiar) and a group of friends to help with her creations to fulfill orders, and she was in business. She created an assembly line - pre-Henry Ford- of women adding embellishments to each Valentine while she carefully inspected each one. By 1850 she expanded her line to birthday cards, Christmas and New Years cards and May Baskets and her sales grew to $100,000 that year. Guys that's over 4 million today. Go Esther! By the 1870's she made it official founding the New England Valentine Company and in 1879 she moved out of the home office and into a factory.

Esther is credited with the invention of the lift-up Valentine, in which intricate lace is lifted to reveal a picture underneath.  Check out a video here. She even published the New England Valentine Co's Valentine Verse Book in 1879 which included 131 verses of love in multiple sizes.  If you didn't like the verse that came in your Valentine, you could cut one of these out and DIY your own card, pasting it over the original verse. Genius!

We are about half way through the first month of 2026 and it feels like it has already been a life time. This year is heavy already!  Not to mention I am still writing the date as 2025 and when I do manage to remember it's 2026, I don't love my sixes. Maybe it's an OCD lettering thing. I don't know about anybody else but I feel like this country is in free fall and I am helpless to do anything about it.  Let's face it, we've been dealing with this shit for a while, but it's hitting me different this year.  On top of all that, billionaires and AI bullshit are taking over the world and sometimes I just want to go back to when we had a land line, recorded mix tapes and wrote letters and sent cards that were delivered by pigeons or ponies.  Ok, I'm not that old but you get it.  

We've all had enough doom scrolling and I don't want to depress anyone but all this is to say, I've been thinking about what can we as a little bitty card company in Baltimore do to make this situation any better.  And my answer is to keep showing up for each other, connecting and sharing Moore love.  Maybe that's cheesy but hey, it makes me feel slightly better.

My word for this year is Connection.  Are we still doing the word thing?  For me that means giving old friends a call, making plans to get together and really doing it, not just saying we're going to do it. This past week our family got together for a family dinner night and we made pasta! It's really better than the box stuff and the point is, we had a great time doing it together. No one looked at their phones!

Connection also means of course reaching out through the mail by mailing that birthday card on time, sending a thank you or a note just because, or even writing letters. Remember when we wrote letters? We like to call it happy mail. And we could all use a little Moore of that right now.

I recently came across this hand written letter that had been saved in between the pages of my well worn baby book.  It was written by my Great Aunt Betty the day after I was born way back in 1972.  Look at that stamp at only six cents!  And yes we've managed to hold on to it for 53 years, making it that much more precious.  

Aunt Betty went on over the course of three pages welcoming me into the world and telling me how lucky I was to be born into our family, all of them beyond excited to meet me down in Baltimore. What a great tradition to start when new babies come into the world! If this doesn't want to make you pick up a pen and start writing a letter, I don't know what will.  We need Moore of this!

Everyone can relate to opening the mail box every day. Do people still check their mail box? Inevitably it's filled with junk, bills, or if you're in Baltimore, a jury summons. Bummer! But then there's that moment when you spot a real piece of mail - a card, hand addressed, just for you. Everything else gets tossed aside and you tear that sucker open! Best feeling ever!

We can all share that heart-warming feeling with everyone we send a card or letter to—and it doesn’t have to be for a birthday, Mother’s Day, or Valentine’s Day. You can send a card just because, and those are often the best ones because they’re completely unexpected.  I pick up cards all the time that I see from my favorite card people (because I can't just send my own!) and keep them in a card organizer box so I always have them at the ready.

And if you need a little extra encouragement to send cards and deliver some happy snail mail, have fun with stamps. Even though they’re seventy cents now, at least we can enjoy choosing ones that make us smile. I personally am a fan of the Betty White stamps but check out Sponge Bob Square Pants and Muhammad Ali stamps came out on January 15th. They are badass! I'm all out of Betty Whites so I might need to pick those up next. Fun fact, Muhammad Ali received an honorary doctorate and spoke at my college graduation. Well, he didn't say much but he didn't need to.

If it was your New Years Resolution to stay connected and send Moore cards or if you just want to share some love when we could all need it most, well we have a card for that.  Happy 2026!

How is it we are coming to the close of 2025?  This time of year we try to slow down amidst the Holiday chaos and start to reflect on the year that was, and can't help thinking ahead to our goals for 2026.

The year opened with a jolt when I got fired. Truly did not have that plot twist on my bingo card. As they say on Survivor, I was blindsided. After three decades in the hospitality design world, I was shown the door on January 15th. But save the tissues. January 16th became my first day of freedom. I woke up, worked out, got ready like always, and then headed to work for the person who actually deserved my energy: me.

I’m no longer under a sexist boss who thought it was acceptable for a man to watch porn and shop for automatic weapons on the clock, and who punished the women who called it out. Would I speak up again? Abso-fucking-lutely. And I’m proud that standing my ground is the reason I’m gone. It's a badge of honor because All the Cool Girls Get Fired.  (That book is on my Christmas list!)  I will be celebrating my one year anniversary of freedom in just a few short weeks with my fellow firee!  All this being said, I had a lot Moore time on my hands to spend growing Maggie Moore Studio as a full-time boss.

Our big goal in 2025 was simple: get our cards into Moore stores and keep our little paper dream growing.  We pushed for a huge drop of new goodies in July in time for Faire Summer Market.  For the first time ever, it didn't feel like we were sending cards to print in the eleventh hour, sending out a few emails and crossing our fingers. We actually had time to plan!

We set our sights on growing the biz on my home turf of New England.  We added 76 total new items in 2025 and in July our big drop included lots of new Boston, Cape Cod, and Rhode Island cards and stickers and we targeted New England stores with custom New England Summah Mailers just for stores in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. This was followed up with what seemed like about a million emails.  The result was our best Faire Summer Market yet. Turns out,  when you have the time to take all the right steps, oh wow, it actually works! 

 We ended 2024 just shy of 100 stores and we are ending 2025 with an additional 35 new shops for a grand total of 133.  I'm going to put it out there into the universe now. Our goal is to be in 200 stores this time next year.  

If you know of a local shop that would be a perfect home for Maggie Moore, send it our way!

With 928 total orders, wholesale continues to be our top revenue maker with 73% of our sales. Our top selling card of the year for the second straight year is the Happy Bird Day Orioles Card. The page most landed on in the Maggie Moore online shop? Happy Bird Day Eagles and on Etsy this card was by far the favorite with 233 orders. Turns out people really like the Philadelphia Eagles. I guess winning a Super Bowl helps.

How about our Maggie Moore Hot Dog Race? Our Team Ketchup, Mustard and Relish Stickers are still hot sellers. Last Year Team Relish was your clear winner, no photo finish necessary. Leading the race this year Team Mustard rallied with Team Relish not far behind and Team Ketchup bringing up the rear. But your favorite sticker of 2025 was All that and a Bag of Crab Chips.

Our Maryland Faves Print was your favorite for the second year in a row, with Home Is Where the Old Bay is at number two and surprise, the Philadelphia Eagles Type Mashup at number three. We added four new Type Mashup prints this year, Outer Banks, Jersey Shore, Massachusetts Food and the Eagles. Not sure what will be next but if you have a suggestion, drop it below!

We started a blog in 2025! Or more accurately, we actually started showing up to the blog in 2025. No more once-or-twice-a-year posts written only when inspiration, caffeine, and the planets aligned. This year, we posted consistently and ideas for new blog posts kept popping in my head. And if you’re reading this, I suppose you already know that. Unless I’m just talking to myself again. Is anyone reading this?

All jokes aside, I’ve truly loved blogging. It’s been a joy to write about our year in stationery, pull back the curtain on how things get made, and share the stories behind some of our favorite cards and prints. We've talked about our favorite Snowball Stands, my fear of the Bay Bridge, the history of the Berger Cookie and Hoodsie Cup and celebrated Maryland's new official state drink the Orange Crush. Turns out, typing out our paper-obsessed thoughts is actually pretty fun. 💌✏️ What else should we talk about in 2026?

Our online shop is a constant work in progress. We’re always tweaking, polishing, and fussing over the details, so swing by the website and tell us what you think.

And while you’re there, exciting news: you can now leave us a review! Please do. We’re on a mission to get Moore reviews in the shop, and honestly, we wouldn’t be mad if you left more than one. Just saying. 💌 Here is our favorite heartwarming review of 2025. Thank you Arthur!

Guys I truly feel like I just finished typing the October recap a minute ago and now November is already gone in a flash.  Things truly need to slow down.  With Thanksgiving in our rear view, Christmas is coming fast! It's definitely time to switch to our Festive Christmas Anxiety. Have you checked out our sale section? Hint, Hint, this card is on sale.

November kept us busy as usual.  After a few years away, we got to participate again in the Ridgely Middle School Craft Fair and it didn't disappoint.  The last time we did Ridgely was 2021 still in the height of Covid and so we had to set up our tent outside.  It was cold as to be expected but suddenly a storm came rushing in with strong wind gusts and rain.  We were holding on to the tent for dear life, cards were flying, and around us vendors with glass and pottery were dealing with things crashing to the ground.  And then our tent started to leak.  Water and paper goods do not mix, and we had to cut the day short.  

So all that being said, we were really happy to be inside this time! Outdoor markets can be a real crap shoot. It was a great turnout, we were warm and cozy, and we were really thankful to everyone who came out.   Old fans stopped by to chat, new fans laughed and helped us with card ideas and lets give a shout out to the woman who came by Bits and Bobs in October looking for Hello from Connecticut cards.  I told her I would bring them for her to Ridgeley and she came!  And I remembered them, which is an even bigger miracle! Brooks wanted to join us as an official Maggie Moore employee this time. He did not have quite the same patience as his brother Alex at Bits and Bobs Market in October and really just wanted to support other small businesses.  We can't blame him for that.

On the 12th I turned 53! Holy shit!  If you want to talk about time going by quickly, I'm not sure how the hell this has happened.  It was a low key birthday. I took a day off from Maggie Moore for myself, did a little shopping for books at the Ivy Book Store.  Gotta shop local on your birthday.  Treated myself to lunch and a fun coffee at the Corner Pantry.  It is just consistently, always so damned good! And just basically did stuff I wanted to do. 

And the day after my birthday I did a thing and went to see my new favorite writer, Catherine Newman on book tour for one of my fave books of the year Wreck.  This was a follow up to my favorite of last year, Sandwich.  She was a total delight and so hilarious.  She was appearing at Enoch Pratt Free Library downtown which is a Baltimore treasure and it was such a lovely evening.  The next day she even commented on one of my stories about hoarding Trader Joes Rosemary nuts as she is also a fan, so I feel like we're true pals now.  Have you tried those Rosemary Nuts? They're ridiculous. I'd like to see more authors on tour in the New Year because I am such a book nerd and it's kind of a cool thing to do. So you can check out future events at the library here. Or follow your favorite local indie book store for their upcoming authors stopping by.

Then came Thanksgiving! We did our pregame celebrating when Sam's brother (my cuz), Zack came in to town on All Time Low's Everyone's Talking tour.  We got the VIP treatment at the Anthem in DC to see the show which was the perfect way to kick off the holiday. We were out way past our bed time!

After a late night it was good to chill watching the Macy's parade and the National Dog Show (congrats Soleil) while I made creamed onions (it's a New England thing) and chocolate pecan pie bars. Sam crafted a kick ass grazing board. Sam's boys put on a concert with their Uncle Zack. Alex played a sweet harmonica and Brooks was not to be outdone on cowbell.  This was really the highlight of the day. 

We're coming into the home stretch of the year, which means for us in the stationery world we are working like crazy on a big new drop of Valentines and Moore as well as wrapping up fourth quarter finances.  Because it can't be all fun and games.  And all while putting our focus on Christmas sales! We will be at Bits and Bobs again at Cross Keys on December 6th and popping up at Brightside Boutique in Fells on December 14th.  So it should be a crazy busy month!

You can find Maggie Moore in four new stores which means we are now up to a grand total of 132. Can we bump it up to 135 by the end of the year? We are now in Lykos Pharmacy in Timonium. I delivered the order and was pleasantly surprised at their selection of local goods so check them out. Pick up a Maggie Moore card at Amazing Glaze in Bel Air. I honestly thought of it as a place to bring kids to paint a mug for Grandpa and was pleasantly surprised at their cool classes. I want to sign up to make a book vase! Another New Year goal. In Towson you can find us at Radebaugh's. How have I been in their greenhouse so many times and not realized they have a kick ass gift shop? And lastly in Pennsylvania you can find us at Snuggle Bunny Boutique in New Hope. Oooh I love New Hope. If you know of a store that should carry Maggie Moore let us know. We would love to reach out to them.

As a Baltimore-based stationery brand, celebrating the city’s quirks is kind of our thing. So this year we launched two new holiday cards starring everyone’s favorite tacky lawn ornament. But how exactly did the plastic pink lawn flamingo end up becoming such a Baltimore thing?

Like another of Baltimore’s unlikely claims to fame—Edgar Allan Poe—the pink plastic lawn flamingo actually hails from my home state of Massachusetts. Yup, Poe was born in Boston. But today we’re talking about the tropical inspiration behind our newest holiday cards: the gloriously kitschy lawn flamingo that’s become a true Baltimore icon.

Back in the post-war ’50s, babies were arriving, (okay boomers), suburbs were exploding, and  new houses lined every street. Enter mass-produced plastic—suddenly, lawn ornaments were the go-to way for homeowners to add a dash of charm to their tidy new yards. And the plastic lawn flamingo took flight! They came in a box, nestled in a pair because you couldn't just have one, with detachable wire legs for instant tropical elegance. The original pair sold for $2.76, a true bargain.

Fast forward to 1972. The plastic flamingos had gone out of fashion until Baltimore's own John Waters introduced a little movie called Pink Flamingos. The movie was really not about the lawn flamingo but featured Towson's own, drag queen Divine who decorated the entrance to her trailer with a flock of lawn flamingos and the connection to Baltimore was cinematic history. 

While Featherstone designed over 650 lawn ornaments, people flocked to the flamingo like no other. In 1987 he even updated the mold to include his autograph on the rump to distinguish a Featherstone design. Fun Fact! In 1996 he was even awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Art for his design which has stood the test of time. Baltimore isn't the only city obsessed with the plastic lawn flamingo.  Madison, Wisconsin also has a connection with the birds, which started with a UW-Madison prank that involved 1008 flamingos showing up one day covering a hill on campus. At the 30th anniversary of the prank, Madison named the Pink Plastic Lawn Flamingo their official city bird.

To send a little Baltimore kitsch this holiday season check out our Lawn flamingo cards below and of course we have Moore holiday greetings. Have a lawn flamingo story you would like to share?  Let us know in the comments below.  Seriously let us know someone is reading this stuff.  I actually thought my mom was reading them but then I realized she thought our Instagram account was a blog, so apparently Mom is not reading. 

Maggie Moore Art Prints make great gifts year round to remind someone of a favorite place or team, a vacation or their hometown. They make especially great gifts at the holidays. We call them our Type Mashups and they are 8 x 10, ready to put in the frame of your choosing.  When people pick them up at local markets, many don't realize they are hand drawn and people often ask how we create our art prints, so we are here to tell you!

Before the Maggie Moore days, I was big into hand lettering—constantly experimenting with styles, flourishes, and fonts. My Instagram, @beckletters, became my creative playground where I shared everything from lettering challenges to graphic, hand-lettered and water-colored versions of my monthly journals. I’ve always loved the look of collages that mix words and illustrations—and as a lifelong list-maker, that combination just clicked. Before long, an idea kept rattling around in my head. I found myself dreaming up lettering collages inspired by some of my favorite things—baseball, the Red Sox, and all things Eighties.

First I tackled the Red Sox.  I am a Bostonian after all. Every Type Mashup art print starts with my favorite thing, a list.  I'm forever making lists and this is a Deep Dive into everything about the subject. As a life long fan the Red Sox came easy to me and I included, all time favorite players, Boston sayings like Boston Strong and Red Sox Nation, everything about Fenway, the years the team won the World Series and retired players.  Not to mention the Fenway Frank. It wouldn't be a game at Fenway without one. Here is my original list for the Red Sox art print.  I'm that crazy and I still have all my lists and yes, making lists is fun. If the subject of the art print is not as familiar to me as say the Red Sox sometimes we have to enlist the help of another fan or someone who lives or visits the subject of our latest design. Typically a list of twenty to thirty things is a good amount to fill the page. 

Now when I created this art print, it was Old School.  This was before I treated myself to an iPad and Apple Pencil.  I sketched out everything on the list in pencil and fit it together like a puzzle with the Red Sox front and center. If something didn't look right once I put it down, my eraser got a good workout.  Once it was all laid out and I had checked off everything on my handy dandy list, I went over the pencil sketch in ink, usually with a Micron Pen for the final result.  I remember getting lots of drawing time in, while working on this one when the Red Sox were playing Game 3 of the 2018 World Series vs. the Dodgers, an 18 inning game.  I couldn't possibly go to bed! Below is the final result.  There was no polishing with the Procreate app on the iPad or swapping something around if it didn't look quite right. And if my hand was shaking, well that was part of the beauty. This design was eventually done digitally to create the art print we have today with some added touches.

Once I started experimenting with lettering on the iPad, my process evolved—but I couldn’t quite give up the feel of a real pencil. I’d still begin in my 9 x 12 spiral-bound sketchbook, laying out the design in pencil. Then I’d scan the sketch and import it into my iPad, where I could trace over it digitally, adding “inked” details. Here’s the very first sketch I did for a Maryland Type Mashup art print, ready to be brought to life on the iPad.

After a while I graduated from the pencil and 9 x 12 sketchbook though I do miss real life paper. However I still "sketch" the design in pencil first with the Apple Pencil.  I know, I can't let go of the sketching process.  There's something about it that lets you draw more loosely. It doesn't feel so permanent. Am I the only one who does this? Below is our Washington DC art print as a sketch in the Procreate app.  The nice thing about sketching in this way and as you puzzle the pieces together if something doesn't fit right you can move it around or make it smaller or larger or adjust as necessary.  Once the sketch is complete I turn down the opacity of the sketch and go over it in "ink" in different layers so adjustments can still be made. It is a process, but usually done in front of the teleivision binging Survivor, Great British Baking Show or when the weather is nice, out on my deck with a cocktail listening to a favorite podcast. 

Though I had to leave the sketchbook behind for the ease of creating digitally, I still love the feel of pencil on paper so I bought the Paper Like Screen protector for my iPad the closest I can find to make it feel like you're drawing on paper.

When Maggie Moore started way back in October of 2019, we had Baltimore, Maryland and Ocean City designs which were not only available as art prints but we also printed them on T-Shirts, tumblers and the most adorable onesies. Since then we've decided to stick with paper and include our designs on greeting cards as well. But damn, those onesies were cute. We've added to the collection with the Orioles, Red Sox, Ravens, Patriots and Eagles, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Boston, Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Maine, Rhode Island, the Outer Banks, Maryland and Massachusetts food, Washington DC, Virginia, Annapolis, Bawlmer (IYKYK), the Eastern Shore, Delaware Shore, Jersey Shore, University of Maryland, San Francisco, and the decades of the 70's, 80's, and 90's.  Whew, did I get them all?

I have lots of lists started for the next Type Mashup art prints we would like to tackle, but not sure where we will head next. Because there are some days that I'm fried and not sure what to do next, so why not make a list?  I have Long Island, Chicago, the Celtics, Austin, Nashville, Charleston, Connecticut and my hometown of Brookline at the ready. I know very few people would care about Brookline but hey, it would be fun for me. If you have any requests, let us know in the comments below. You can find all of our Maggie Moore art prints in the online shop! And now you know how they are created.

Here we are in November already, fall and the scent of pumpkin spice is in the air, Thanksgiving plans are being made and in case you needed a reminder, Christmas decorations are everywhere in the stores. I just saw a giant, talking Yukon Cornelius at Lowes which was pretty tempting. Have you heard Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You" yet? The craziness of holiday shopping is here, whether we're ready for it or not. And if we can make your gift giving a little easier this year, all while you support a small business, it's a win win. Giving a locally inspired gift is like wrapping up a favorite memory — a nod to their hometown pride, beloved team, or happy place. It’s just as fun to give as it is to unwrap (trust us, we’ve seen the smiles!).

If an easy-peasy gift bundle isn't for you and you like to go the extra mile and put in a little Moore creative effort, how about a Maggie Moore art print pairing. We've got tons of fun ideas to make this simple, spark your imagination and inspire the Santa in you.

For the ultimate sports fan we have prints repping the Orioles, Ravens, Red Sox, Patriots, and Eagles.  Put the print in a frame and score bonus points,  pairing it with game tickets, a jersey or ball cap, a signed ball or a book about their favorite winning season. Get creative with it and make the gift personal to the fan you're giving it to.

Games are totally having a moment and our Decades prints - featuring the groovy 70's, rad 80's and nostalgic 90's make the perfect gift pairing! Try our Eighties Print with Games Room 80's Pop Music Quiz or our Nineties print with That's So 90's Game for the perfect throwback gift. 

If food is their love language, try our Maryland Food Print in a basket with local Maryland goodies like Utz Crab Chips, Zeke's Coffee, Old Bay, Berger Cookies, Moore Crunch Pretzels, or Otterbein Cookies. Pair our Massachusetts food print with a gift card to Dunkie, or in a basket with Fluff, Cape Cod Chips and Fig Newtons. 

Pair our Baltimore print with something special from a local business like a Hey Hon! candle from South Ann Street Candle Co., a Baltimore Hon' Rat Ornament from Lucky Bat Paper, (I have one on my tree) or a Raven Dishtowel from Fuzzy Mug. Let your imagination run wild! You can browse all of our Maggie Moore art prints, perfect for your own gift bundle, here.

We know the holidays can be super stressful so hopefully we've provided you with some ideas or inspired your inner gift giving elf with some creative ideas of your own.  And if you have a good one, share it with us below.  We would love to hear your gift ideas too and everyone can use some help this time of year.  Happy Shopping!