Berry Berry Quite Contrary

Hi, my name is Lisa and I'm addicted to berries. Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries... any kind of berry out there I'll eat AND I'm not afraid to admit I can plow through a whole carton of strawberries in one sitting. (I'm not talking about those little cartons. I'll pay upwards of $15 for one of those big guys.) So you can imagine how much my grocery bill is this time of year, when I running to whole foods every week to feed my habit. A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine suggested I go to one of those u-pick farms where you pay a standard price for a bucket of berries. If you can cram it the bucket, you can take it home. You can imagine how elated I was to go on such an expedition. In one picking I carted home 5lbs of strawberries (which I polished off already), 3 lbs of blackberries and 1 lb of raspberries.
Berries were on my brain for a good week after visiting the farm. I put them in everything I ate; oatmeal, yogurt, salads, smoothies...I felt like the bubba-gump of berries. So needless to say when Jen and I started concepting or new card line, berry patterns and colors kept popping up.

Lisa: What about this color pink? (as I show her a color swatch on skype)
Jen: (sigh) We already have 5 pinks for our color palette. We need to revise.
Lisa: Really? (as I pop a few more strawberries into my mouth)
So, to get these berries out of my system once and for all, I thought we'd share some of the inspiration we found over the past few weeks and prove to you that others love this fruit as much as I do.

We found 2 really great pattern designers that we absolutely love. Their work is clean, cute and original. Here are the links to their websites if you want to explore more of their designs:
Emily Harris & Lara Brehm

I wish I could eat these strawberries (by emilyharrisdesigns.com) right off my screen.

And these adorable raspberry designs (by Lara Brehm) are the cutest thing we've ever seen.

Etsy is also chalk full of berry inspiration. There were so many items we liked, we thought we'd just post about a few.

Not sure what to do with these strawberries, but they sure would look yummy in your kitchen or playful in a child's room.

This dog collar reminded me of a belt I used to have when I was little. I wish I still had that belt!

A sweet cherry ring. It could be a cute felted button, too.

Definitely a fun wristlet for the summer.

So fellow addicts, relish in this time of year, and don't feel so bad about your addiction. This is one time where you're allowed to overdose and it won't break the bank. I think I'm going blueberry picking this weekend, so if anyone has any great recipes they'd like to share, send them my way! I'll be needing them.

~LGT

All Hail, Retail!

Happy Thursday, folks. We're so close to the weekend I can smell it. What bicoastal smells do I hope the weekend will have in store for Farewell Paperie? To name but a few:

• ocean water
• fresh flowers
• freshly cut grass
  
• hot dogs (or other various Lisa-approved street meat fare), from the VA Highlands fest
• lemonade or other citrus-based beverage, perhaps with a whiff of alcohol to boot
• smoke, from our grills
• smoke, from our super-productive macbooks
• smoke, from our fast-running feet
• dryer sheets, from a long overdue laundry sesh
• sweet baby head scent, from my cute nephew Connor (he'll be out of town this weekend, but a girl can dream, right?) :(
• clean Harley the dog

Can't wait. But for now, some business items to discuss:

We're very excited to add a new retailer to our growing list. It all started when my mother-in-law took me to a great independent stationery shop in Denver, CO. Wordshop is the kind of store that gives Lisa and I a reason to do what we do. Owner Jill's goal is simple, keep the written word alive. Her boutique is tucked away in the heart of the artsy Highlands neighborhood, and inside, is nothing but fun paper goodness. Lots of great cards, but simply displayed and with one-of-a-kind sentiments. If you're ever lucky enough to hang out in Denver, stop by Wordshop and check out ours and other great cards.

{ photos via wordshopdenver.com }

Also, this weekend is the VA Highlands Summerfest in Atlanta, GA., where we'll be selling our latest paper goods at the Urban Cottage outdoor tent event, on the main corner of Virginia & N. Highland. Hotlantans, stop by, get some shade, and check out all the great wares they'll have on display!

What's your weekend smellin' like?

} jp-c

Cross stitch makin' a comback

We've been working on some new cards lately for our San Fran gift show in August and that always gives us an excuse to look for some fun new fonts. This morning I stumbled across this font and didn't know what to think about it. But after a few minutes of consideration, it really started to grow on me... if I were to see it in small doses. This font is like one of those magic eye calendars from the 90's, where you need to stand a few feet back to get the full effect, then once you start to see the whole picture, you learn to appreciate it.

This font also made me think of the lovely Amy Holbrook, who we met at the National Stationery Show a few weeks ago. We walked by her booth and stopped dead in our tracks because we've never seen anything like her work before. Basically she took the simple idea of cross stitching (something Jen and I both admitted to doing when we were young, crafty, and couldn't drive yet) and put a modern spin on it. She created these cute journals, photo albums and iphone cases that are stitched in funky-fresh patterns. You can buy the already stitched pieces or send a kit to someone to create their own. We totally feel in love with this idea and think it's a great way to modernize something that you could only imagine doing if you were 10 or 60 years old.



Be sure to check out her online shop. It's easy to get wrapped up in all of her cute wares. And being the stationery, stitching, and accessorizing ladies that we are, we're definitely going to visiting her site more often for updates.

2011 National Stationery Show = Amazeballs

Hey y'all, everybody!
Well, we are all back from our whirlwind week in NYC for the 2011 NSS. We were so lucky to be invited by our friend Kseniya, co-founder of a group of printers we belong to called Ladies of Letterpress and talented spearhead behind Thomas Printers.

After a fun weekend of eating, drinking, and Brooklyning with friends, we got our game faces on and trekked to the ginormo Javits Center in the city for the show. We roamed, we chatted, and we ogled all the latest and greatest in the paper goods world. To just call it big would be like calling my friend Stacey's cat Tuna kinda cute. It was so expansive, I think we may have walked the same distance within the convention center as we traveled from Stacey's house in BK to the building.

{ l-r: ladies of letterpess booth | so official! | brilliant tooth fairy mail pieces from wildhorse press }

Our friends at the Ladies of Letterpress booth put on an incredibly impressive showing of both greeting cards and custom event invitations, what fun to see how many talented ladies are getting behind the press!

Here are some more of our favorite booths.

{ stationery powerhouse hello lucky }

{ these guys' booth for max & bunny was easily our favorite. uptown chic! }

{ fellow lady of letterpresser flywheel press }

{ any booth with furry seats like at egg press is a winner with us }

{ even with all the letterpress stationery, we fell in loooove with figs & ginger
and their laser-cut wood bunting and items. so different and cool. }

Truth be told, Lisa and I were too awestruck to get any great close-ups, but, as usual, the team at Design*Sponge had some great posts to check out here and here.

There was even a Paper Runway, which featured a contest of handmade paper costumes. Kind of thrilling for the origamier in me.

We've been too chicken to actually exhibit ourselves at such a huge show, but with this behind-the-scenes glimpse, I think Lisa & I might be Pisa-leaning toward a 2012 NSS debut. Stay tuned!

*** Special announcement ***
That said, we are definitely on the books to show at this year's San Francisco International Gift Fair this August, so we'll be sure to update as we prepare (eek!). With all the inspiration we had in nyc, we'll have plenty of brainstorming seshes to share. In the meantime, we'll use this as a good before photo for our foray into the trade show circuit...

"uhhhh... are we allowed in here?"

cheers!
} jp-c

Pretty In Pink

Precious, pink, frilly, fun; adjectives our latest client conveyed to us for their baby girl's birth announcement. From the pink envelopment, to the ribbon w/monogram and the little birdies at the bottom of the design, we pulled out all the stops to make this announcement an explosion of cuteness.

Font of the Week: Aphrodite

While Jen has been enjoying the sun and surf in Costa Rica this week I found myself aimlessly wondering around the internet and getting caught up (or caught in) the many blogs that I have been neglecting this past month. Today, I opened my inbox and found an email about "Top Headlines in Design". I clicked on it hoping to get some words of wisdom to jump-start my creative juices. Not really finding the inspiration I was looking for, I noticed a link that directed me to new Wordpress themes, which led to google webfonts, which led to myfonts.com, which led to.... well you get the picture. Two hours later and multiple rabbit holes of links, I ended up getting sucked into endless pages of font eye candy. Some may say this is a waste of time, but as a designer it's pure bliss.

So, I figured I'd share the wealth and direct you to the new font I just downloaded. (Sidenote: I'm truly my father's daughter and tend to bargain shop, even when it comes to fonts, so I hit the freebies and sales first.) Low and behold my cheapness paid off and I found this diamond in the rough on the sale page. This striking font is called Aphrodite. Jen and I both love • love • love swirly opulent fonts that are classy, but not too stuffy or cutesy.


You can find it on myfonts.com and it's only $12.00! (My dad would be so proud.) There are tons of other free fonts on the same site and many of them have a combo deals for text & web fonts. They update the sales pretty regularly, so keep an eye out for our new favorite font next week.

~LGT

Quickie: Inspiration Monday (a few days late)

Fanueil Hall inspired these lovely Boston-themed Save The Dates we recently created for a client. The wedding will be held in Bean Town this summer and the couple wanted an modern, fresh look for the city's landmark.

Inspirational Pic

Final Save The Date