Charlottesville Recap

Back from an inspiring+relaxing long weekend in Charlottesville. The rumors are true, folks. That town has a great love for paper. Made our hearts flutter a little.

Exhibit A: O'Suzannah's overflowing baskets of extra-special handmade cards, including fabulous fathers day cards, like this die cut number from egg press:

Here's an inside peek at the O'Suz card stock:

We also picked up this funny little thumb-stamp-it-yourself notecard set from The Small Object.

The set includes 20 notecards and envelopes, plus a sticker sheet, an ink pad and a set of step-by-step instructions that explain how to turn your notecards into one-of-a-kind works of art. It's the ultimate craft project for the too-busy/not-artistically-inclined crafter crowd (i.e. me).

Exhibit B: Rock Paper Scissor's delightfully decorated and well-stocked storefront on the Downtown Mall. Co-owners Dani and Heather, a graphic designer and a marketer respectively, have gathered a great collection of unique paper goods and gifts.

The animal lovers in us kvelled over their Cardboard Safari collection - a Charlottesville original. Each animal is laser cut and made from recycled materials. An amazing (and affordable, and earth-friendly) way to add to your trophy wall.

The store is so well thought-out - right down to their business cards, which are both embossed and debossed - a process we hadn't heard of before Sunday. Swoon. Something to consider once our Post cards run out.

Road Trip: Charlottesville

We're hitting the road this weekend and heading south to Charlottesville to spend time with Dave's family. Woo-hoo!

While Northern Virginia has been sort of a bust in the paper department - the local paper stores here and in the District feel stuffy and/or outdated - our sources tell us wonderful things about the Charlottesville paper market. Here's a peek at the places on our list to check out:

1. And George: Manned by mother-daughter designer/photographer duo offers a carefully crafted assortment of furniture, clothing, art and paper goods. We're fascinated by the 20th century books covered in 17th and 18th century writings.

2. O Suzannah: Carrying more than three dozen paper lines, including egg press, carrot and stick, and Dee and Lala, a trip to to O'Suz feels almost like heading back to the Stationery Show. We can't wait to get our hands on the newest line of letterpress cards from Satsuma Press, a tiny little shop out of Corvallis, Oregon.

3. Rock Paper Scissors: A Charlottesville institution, RPS is the place to go in Central Virginia for top-of-the line stationery and invitations. They also have a great gift selection, from Rag and Bone baby albums to journals by Orla Kiely.

And what will we do when we're not visiting with family and friends or shopping our little wallets away? Well, a hunt for the elusive Chef Peter Chang is on the agenda. Tune in on Monday for an update on our adventures.

UPDATE: Where's Cid Pear

Mom found the Green masterpiece!

Where's Cid Pear?

Today when I dug into my stationery drawer to draft a note to an old friend in Seattle, I happened upon a long lost piece of one of my favorite boxes of stationery - my Cid Pear pink Vespa notes.

Photos courtesy of Friends and Daughters

What a delightful surprise! Cid Pear's watercolor designs are created by hand by artist Tina Givens. My mom and I first met Tina at the Stationery Show years ago. I remember walking by her booth and coming to a standstill - her cards were so well-crafted, so whimsical, so different than everything else we had seen at the show. They were mesmerizing.

Photos courtesy of Pen and Parchment

More on Tina's style:

Not a traditional watercolorist ~ Tina created a saturated, and more opaque method which allows her characters and florals to be injected with personality. Her sense of color is dramatically different and appears so in everything she does from her paper products to textile design and clothing design.

My mom started working with Tina a lot and soon I think every person in our family owned a box of Cid Pear Stationery. We even had a custom-made box that showed the Green family in their element.....as frogs. Papa Green on the drum set, Mama Green in her studio, Little Boy and Little Girl Green hard at work on the baseball field and typewriter, respectively.
Lately, though, we've lost touch with Tina and our CP supply has all but dried up. Having passed along what might have been my last slice of CP paper, I made it my mission to track down Tina today and find out what she's been up to.

Looks like the fabulously talented artist has turned her attention more recently to textile art, creating a line of fabric and quilting material based on her signature watercolor aesthetic. She also launched a more economical paper line. See Tina's complete lineup of paper goodies at Cid Pear and at Tina Givens Stationery.

I see more pink Vespas in my future!

Reader Tip! Austin Press at M29

Reader Tip!
PPL reader Melissa tipped us off this week to a great selection of Austin Press goodies at M29 Lifestyle, an exceptionally well-curated home accessories shop in Georgetown, which opened earlier this Spring. Here's a peak inside M29 from Blogger Deacon does DC.

Based in San Francisco, Austin Press was a hit last week in New York at the Stationery Show (check out what the blogs were saying).


We had a chance to visit AP's booth, where they debuted a gorgeous line of alphabet flashcards and other lovey Victorian-inspired line drawings-turned-letterpress delights. Here's a peak courtesy of Poppytalk Handmade:

Not that we need excuses to visit Georgetown, but we're penciling in an after-work visit this week to explore M29 ourselves.

E before A

Good post over at The Crane Insider.

Call me stodgy, but I 100% agree with Mr. Peter Hopkins, historian for Crane & Co., on this one: If you're going to extol the virtues of paper over email correspondence, get your spelling straight: Stationery is spelled with an "E," not an "A".

Like Mr. Hopkins, this is one of my all-time major pet peeves. What put Hopkins over the edge this week? The insanely high number of web searches and tweets for "Stationary Show" this week on Google and Twitter.

Stationery Show Recap: What the Blogs are saying

With the 2010 National Stationery Show in the books, it's time to see what the other blogs are saying about the show - what one out big and what fell flat.

Will start with the most comprehensive show coverage from Design*Sponge. They noticed a major trend in Animal prints - the creatures not the skins - across everything from tea towels, coasters and wine stoppers, to stationery (for kids and adults) and even wedding invitations:

These beautiful cards are from Snow Queen, while the animal mobile above is from animal mobile from ink & wit.

Over at Poppytalk, the bloggers picked up on the old school vibe channeled by a lot of the handmade paper designers.

Calendars from Hammerpress, cards from Hello! Lucky.

My Mom Shops picked up on the great goodies for baby and kids, like frame-able alphabet prints by Gilah Press + Design and wooden birthday cards from Night Owl Paper Goods.


And, of course, the Old Gray Lady got in on the coverage, by way of their City Room blog. The Times found their news angle in show:

One might imagine that this would be a world summit of all things cute and cuddly in this gentle, pastel-washed world of ours — but try telling that to Michael Walters, who was operating the booth for Whitelines, a purveyor of fine paper that fell victim to a brazen act of thievery during the show.

It seems a sticky-fingered, stationery-starved shoplifter coveted the 300-page, 3-pound notebook with company’s trademark box-line stock – so subtle, so sexy. The $32 notebook was apparently swiped from the display table – no thank-you card, nothing.

Seriously bad manners.....

Stationery Show Recap: Elum

Umi, the midrange letterpress line by Stationery Show mainstay Elum, offered some really high quality invitations at this year's show. Like this lush green Foliage number:

Some of the themes in the Umi collection seemed a bit tired. TheFoliage grouping reminded us much of the Kate Spade Green Bough offering from a few years ago.
Still, the quality of their letterpress is some of the best in the business, and for roughly $2,000, you can get a full suite of luxe-letterpress paper products for your wedding - from the save-the-date to the thank-you note and almost everything in between.


We love Elum's philosophy on investing in fine paper:

We know that you can email a friend a message in mere seconds, and we know that stationery isn't the necessity that it used to be. But, we see stationery as having a new place in our technological world. We see it as art. Our cards are like small pieces of art that have been handcrafted on some of the most beautiful printmaking papers from around the world.

Million Dollar Stamps

We're a little late to the party here, but we got a letter in the mail yesterday adorned with the most lovely works of art from Willelm de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Hans Hofmann - all in the form of 44 cent stamps of the U.S. Post Office. These new stamps are part of the Post Office's Abstract Expressionists Series:
The stamps were released in mid-March. Read up on the collection, including which works were selected and why, on Postal Reporter News. According to the site:

"These bold artists used art to express complicated ideas and primitive emotions in simplified, abstract form,” said Linda Kingsley, USPS senior vice president, Strategy and Transition. “Although these stamps can’t compare in size to their real-life canvases, they bring the passion and spirit of abstract expressionism to an envelope near you. The Postal Service is proud to pay tribute to the legacy and unique perspectives of these revolutionary artists.”

Stationery Show Recap: Old Toom Foolery

What do you get when you throw lace a birthday greeting card with Onion-y wit? You get perfect greeting cards from Old Tom Foolery.

These letterpress foldovers were clever enough to elicit an out-loud chuckle from both my mom and from me.

Founed in 2008 by Joel Gryniewski and Lauren Weinblatt, courting ad execs on the hunt for killer cards, Old Tom Foolery has become a smashing success at the show. Both times we walked by, their booth was buzzing.

Can't get enough of their witty one-liners? You can cozy up to OTF on Facebook.

Stationery Show Recap

Back from another fabulous show! Will blog about the goodies we found over the coming weeks, bit wanted to give you a glimpse of the goods. This was our take home!

Live Blogging: Stationery Show

Check out te Crane display:

Live Blogging From The Show

First looks at what we love.

Countdown to the Show!

Mom and I both made it safe and sound to NYC. Checked in to our fabulous suite at the Carlton Hotel (upgrade!). Take a peek at the very appropriate artwork in our (second) bathroom.

We're getting ready for dinner at Les Halles, around the corner from our hotel.

Consider this meal like one of those big spaghetti dinners before a track meet. Gotta load up on carbs so we can make it through the miles of track tomorrow at the Javits.

Countdown to the National Stationery Show: Part 3!

Let's shine the spotlight one our next vendor, shall we? This time we're going after something other than letterpress.
Clouds and Ink is a cards and invitation shop out of Brookline, Mass. Can't tell for sure what their process is here - mum's the word on their site. But we think these nifty designs are created in-house using watercolors.
We're sort of digging the old-time-y feel of these images. Something very civilized and 19th century feeling about the whole affair. We promise to give the good a thorough once-over at the Stationery Show. Promise to post with more details.