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