Filed under: BirdDog Press, Craft Biz, Friends, Inspirations | Tags: Girl of All Work, Hello Kitty, Jane Marvel, Lilywillow, ManCards, National Stationery Show, Night Owl Paper Goods, NSS, Pancake & Franks, Paper Stories, Robin Beth, Shinzi Katoh, Three by Three, Vert, Yellow Owl Workshop
Alrighty, kids. It’s the last of my National Stationery Show round-up. I’ve tried to go through all of the business cards, photos and shwag that I acquired. My baggage weighed 44lbs. {and let me mention that my husband picked up my bag to put it in the car that morning and said “it’s 44lbs” he is a human scale i tell you} on the way back I thought it would be lighter because of all of the press kits and giveaways I took with me – no dice.
All the way from Birmingham, Owlabama – Night Owl Paper Goods hold a special place in my southern heart. My photo of the new sea otter card didn’t turn out in my hurried pace {oh how i love otters} so I chose this foxy fungi card to show you.
I’m drawn to the clean modern illustrative style of Pancake & Franks. With too many favorites to mention, I went hiking and fishing with my family this morning, so here’s “hope your birthday is off the hook” … A flurry of other mentions are in store here …. Paper Stories offers “a fresh approch to letterpress” and she also spearheaded a letterpress swap that I was thrilled to be involved in. Two neighbors and fellow paper pushers, Lilywillow and ManCards had a great showing. I like the angle of “art for correspondence” from Yellow Owl Workshop. Oh, and let us not forget Robin Beth who has some great designs I’d love to see in fabric.
And now for some things that I walked away wanting, though not all were necessarily paper related: this luggage from Jane Marvel, these office products {oh boy am i a sucker for some organizational office products} from Girl of All Work, anything magnetic, orange or woodgrained from Three by Three and throwing back to my Hello Kitty days – I stumbled across Shinzi Katoh and wanted to take one of each. And with that, my friends, I say farewell until next year from the zero carbon Vert wedding stationery rickshaw.
Filed under: BirdDog Press, Craft Biz, Friends, Inspirations | Tags: Dee & Lala, Dutch Door Press, Egg Press, Hammerpress, Hello! Lucky, Iota, National Stationery Show, NSS, Pearl & Marmalade, Pikku, Wiley Valentine
Continuing on the NSS ship of coverage, here are some designers and letterpress printers that are in the favorite category – of course, most of them, like me, do some kind of pattern work and we all know i’ll never get enough of that. So here goes …
Patterns! Sewn to Paper! Say no more, this is Pikku.
Cute screenprinted tea towel and folksy euro-inspired patterns from dutch door press.
The Geo Mantis from Pearl & Marmalade, reminds me of this neato geometric coloring book I had as a little girl.
Hee-haw from Wiley Valentine, their vintage-influenced style is inspiring and their blog is a must-read.
Pattern in orange? Yes, please. This one from Hello! Lucky.
Super-cute woodland creatures surrounded in faux bois, irresistables from Dee & Lala.
Neighbors hailing from Basalt, Colorado, these punchy patterns are from the Iota line.
Another one of my first letterpress loves is Egg Press. They have some fabulous patterns {including an awesome memory matching game} and a great video on their website you should watch.
Saving some of the best for last, I will never tire of the combinations of lead type ornaments & borders that Hammerpress puts together. Whew! Now I know why my dogs were barking, I motored through the aisles and took it all in. Maybe one more post tomorrow and my coverage will be complete.
Filed under: BirdDog Press, Craft Biz, Friends, Inspirations | Tags: Blue Ribbon, Boxcar Press, Doodlespark, Enormous Champion, Loop, National Stationery Show, NSS, Smock, Sugarcube Press, SusyJack, Sweet Letterpress
Making connections at the National Stationery Show is easy. Pretty much everyone there has a love affair with paper, so right off the bat, you have something in common. Having just done some cupcake flags myself for a bride here in Boulder, I was immediately drawn to the petite patterns in these cupcake flags by Blue Ribbon.
The folks at Boxcar Press, where I get my photopolymer plates from, launched smock. just last year and had their calligrapher there showing their attention to every detail.
If I lived in New York, I would want to live in Brooklyn. I am trying to connect what seems to be an ever growing list of those creatives that I know there – and everyone I know in Brooklyn is creative. This frisky fox is from another couple team Enormous Champion – he’s on my to buy list.
It was great to meet the girl behind SusyJack, she has an interesting perspective on the stationery industry and I was thrilled to be able to personally thank her for her wisdom-filled writings on exhibiting at the show.
Learned of these vermonsters at my local coffee shop, and found this mother-daughter team all smiles exhibiting at the show. Beautiful hand-drawn patterns, now found on fabric, this is Loop.
Neighbors and printing buddies in nearby Boulder {though they are transplants from New York, so the show probably feels like coming home}, here are some offerings from Sweet Letterpress, yet another couple team.
And last, but not least, rounding out the sweetness, here’s Sugarcube Press! Turns out the designer’s sister-in-law lives in Lyons – what a coinkydink.
Filed under: BirdDog Press, Craft Biz, Friends, Inspirations | Tags: Linda & Harriett, National Stationery Show, NSS, Old School Stationers, Porridge Papers, Tiselle, Twig & Fig, Two Trick Pony
Maybe I am partial to circuses and carnivals, but I absolutely adored the look that Two Trick Pony {GREAT name & FAB branding, too} put together in their booth, and their patterned beauties {yes, i’m still obsessed with patterns, pictured below}.
Ran into Christopher of Porridge Papers here too, which was good fun. I love the language that both of these companies use for their voice – clever, relaxed and witty, just my style.
I have been a fan of Old School Stationers for quite some time now, back before I bought my press, I purchased their wares at my local cardshop boutique. Great log cabin-esque booth. I really really want one of those wall prints, too, just have to decide which one.
Check out this savvy booth giveaway idea from Tiselle! Looks like they had a great booth at the Unique Los Angeles gift mart, too.
Twig & Fig is another discovery from way back when. They are full of fresh ideas and a great booth design too : simple, light and very effective. You should have seen their beautiful press kits. And their wedding invitations are oh so … wow.
Serving up a keen concept were the lovely ladies of Linda & Harriett. It had quite the Anthropologie window display feel to it, and the content was none to shabby either!
Filed under: BirdDog Press, Craft Biz, Friends, Letterpress | Tags: Embellished Ink, Fugu Fugu, Make My Notebook, National Stationery Show, NSS, Product Superior, Sub-Studio, Sycamore Street Press
And now for a few first time exhibitors at the National Stationery Show. I don’t know how new they all are, but they were new to me. Great stuff! First up, Jennifer and John of Product Superior {geez, i might need to have separate categories for Brooklyn and California}, fun branding, great illustrations and super nice folks.
Loving the lure prints from Sub-Studio, another couple team from New York. Seems they are multi-talented and contribute to a lot of design genres, not just stationery!
Here is Shino at Fugu Fugu Press, and I forgot to ask what that means. Nice clean booth design and great cards with ridiculously cute illustration style.
Sycamore Street Press is a shop after my heart as they do a lot of collaborating. I like this “I would trade two of my other friends for you” card, it’s a good one.
Speaking of collaborating, I ran into the Make My Notebook booth just as they were headed on a beer run. We quickly confirmed that as neighboring Coloradans, we should chat about some collaborative efforts. Sweet!
Yet another couple team, this time from the D.C. area, Embellished Ink came packing great patterns and a happy yellow booth! Alrighty, more later!
Filed under: BirdDog Press, Craft Biz, Friends, Inspirations | Tags: Chewing the Cud, Chronicle Books, Crow & Canary, Delphine, Design*Sponge, flybird press, Grace Bonney, Green Paper Company, Junzo Terada, National Stationery Show, NSS, Oh So Beautiful Paper, Paper+Cup, ReproDepot, Twitter
I met so many wonderful folks at the National Stationery Show this year. It is a joy to make new friends and make great connections. Upon arrival to the show floor on Monday, I went straight to Delphine for Monday Morning Mimosas – yum! – because I was so sad to have to leave before their scheduled get together on Tuesday night at TouchNYC, which I now come to find out was a celebration for Erika’s Birthday! John humored me with answers to many questions about the way they run their press, and the work they did for Strathmore. And as a huge bonus, I was able to meet Darcy Miller and her team from Martha Stewart Weddings. I was so excited, I forgot to tell them that we did stationery for the same wedding, Heather + Brandon had Delphine for your party goodies at a shower and I did their custom wedding invitations and guestbook.
I met up with two blogger friends through Twitter which was great to use since I was on the move on the show floor. Here I am with the lovely Carina of Crow & Canary where we met up at the Green Paper Company booth. What a delightful and insightful girl! Someday, I’ll talk her into adding me to the list of companies she reps ;) … More on the blogger front, Tuesday morning I met Nole of Oh So Beautiful Paper for coffee and I am so sad that I didn’t get any photos. Both Carina & Nole have done FABULOUS coverage of the show, so you should check their posts out. I am noticing that I missed a lot of great paper!
Most of the booths I visited were the small letterpress companies like me. But I just had to pop in to the Chronicle Books booth for a peep. There I met a senior designer, Kristen, who indulged me and met my propensity for the beautiful patterns they had on display from ReproDepot and new cutout animals from Junzo Terada.
Just as I met Joy of flybird press in the Chewing the Cud booth, the ladies of Strathmore/Felt & Wire showed up and gave me this cute “paper obsessed” button. If you haven’t seen the custom work that Chewing the Cud puts out there, I suggest you run, not walk.
The other buttons in this photo? Well they are from the highly organized & innovative Paper+Cup. I love the one that says “Have a Bonjour”. And while I was in the Paper+Cup booth, I had the pleasure of meeting Grace of Design*Sponge. See how things connect and keep rolling as you stroll the aisles? Now I am not only PAPER OBSESSED, but I am OBSESSED with PEOPLE who love PAPER.
Filed under: BirdDog Press, Craft Biz, Friends, Letterpress | Tags: 9SpotMonk, Blackbird Letterpress, Blue Barnhouse, National Stationery Show, NSS
As all of the wonder of NSS is coming to a close, exhibitors are breaking down and awaiting their crates, ready to get home and get to work filling orders, … I am just ramping up my coverage of the show. Overall it was such an inspiring show for me. A few twinges of regret for the decision not to exhibit this year, but mostly thrilled with the freedom I had, the ability to talk with just about everyone, experience it from the other side and source new materials for all of the new product ideas I have.
So funny to run into Kathryn Hunter of Blackbird Letterpress in the Blue Barnhouse booth, brilliant minds must think alike as she had her blackbird bag and I was sporting my birddog bag. Brandon’s booth is always impressive and is covered in enough clever cards to delight your witty side for days. Brandon Mise of Blue Barnhouse and Vivian Leung of 9SpotMonk are two of the first folks that I learned from on the letterpress list-servs from way back, mainly occupied by older traditional printers. It is so nice to see that they are still around and have a strong footing in this new form of letterpress industry. I will forever be indebted to their advice. Check out the fun kids coloring cards that 9SpotMonk was sporting on the orange walls …
Filed under: BirdDog Press, Craft Biz, Feedsacks, Handmade Revolution | Tags: BirdDog Press, feed sack, Feedsacks, National Stationery Show, NSS, NYC, sewing
Here is my BirdDog messenger bag made with chocolate canvas and feedsack fabric to carry at the National Stationery Show. I didn’t get the feed sack wrap skirt done in time, I may have to enlist my mom’s help with that project when I get home.
I’m leaving on a plane in the morning for NYC! If you are attending NSS, look for the bird dog bag and stop me and say hello!!
ps. i am not a seamstress
Filed under: BirdDog Press, Craft Biz, Feedsacks, Friends, Green, Letterpress | Tags: ecojot, ink+wit, lobotoME, National Stationery Show, New York, NSS, NYC, Stationery Trends Magazine
I guess it’s acronym week. National Stationery Show! Just got my ticket and I’m headed out in less than two weeks to NYC for some paper action. Stationery Trends Magazine has a Spring/NSS issue that they publish just in time for the Show and the BirdDog Press feedsack patterned coasters are featured alongside LobotoME, ink+wit and ecojot on page 37 in the Green section! The BirdDog is not exhibiting this year, but we’re still going to mingle with the media, do some trendspotting, source some materials for new product ideas that we have and get a bite of the big apple. We will be reporting via blog and Twitter from New York, so stay tuned.
ps. Here are some posts from last year as Jenny and I reported from the Show.
