nyc: best of nss

My most favoritest things I saw at NSS last week included cards from Blue Barnhouse (above and below).

An absolutely gorgeous recipe box from Rifle Paper Co:

Dorky typeface cards from A. Favorite:

Fabric wrap (a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth) from Chewing the Cud:

Canning print from Old School Stationers:

...and animals from Enormous Champion:

 Want to know more about NSS? I'll be blogging about the show at H!L all week.

nyc: from the show

For me, the National Stationery show is a week of little sleep, aesthetic awesome-ness, many, many inspiring friends and design crushes, manual labor, poor eating and drinking habits, and a general good time. It also helps to have a fantastic booth-mate who's just about as particular as you are.

 Photo of Kelly and I in the H!L booth. By Jordan.

recent thrift store treasures

Found this Saks Fifth Avenue purse at Council Thrift. I really like the detailing on the flap.

I also scored a basket for my bike. I didn't like the black plastic finish, so I spray painted it silver. Please note my classy use of zip tie's to attach it (extensive trade show booth building has resulted in some pretty great MacGyvering skills).

boredom + creativity + cheese

There were a ton of things that I liked at Renegade this year, but none more so than the impromptu wax creations from Hannah (Pie Bird Press) and Marina (Honeylux). Inspired by the fair junk food and motivated by the underwhelming sales, the girls put their creativity and time to use in creating a veritable feast using the protective wax from their Laughing Cow cheese. I can't decide if the hot dog and fries (above) or eggs and bacon (below) is my favorite.

renegade craft fair

I'll be spending my Saturday working at our booth for the Renegade Craft Fair. I attended last year's show and am looking forward to seeing some old friends, as well as meeting some artists and designers whose work I really admire.

maker faire

I lost what was left of my voice working the booth at the Maker Faire on Saturday. I wish I had felt a little better as there was so much to see there - way more than I had originally anticipated, including innovative rides (above) and Victorian-inspired Steampunk cars:

Maybe knitted poo isn't for everyone, but I thought it was hilarious (forgive the use of Papyrus):

I'm always a fan of seeing ArtCars, such as Mercedes Pens:

and the candy house:

This 20' sculpture (the photos don't do it justice) was made entirely of used soda bottles:

Photos by me and Heather.

national stationery show

I'm a bit sad about missing this years National Stationery Show due to financial cutbacks at work. I always look forward to being in New York and seeing all my wonderful stationery friends.



Images, top to bottom, are Delphine, Dutch Door Press, Hello!Lucky and Tallu-lah, all by Oh, So Beautiful Paper.

real big apple

I'm off to New York tonight for the gift show, which hopefully should be a good experience. I am going to attempt to blog from the show, but I'm not promising anything.

fruit

To be honest, I have always been a fan of apple imagery and graphics, but recently I have found myself draw to fruit more and more (not to eat, unfortunately). Recently, I became the proud owner of this apple bell from Etsy seller We Think We Can:

I'm thinking about getting this set too. Cute, right?

At the San Francisco Gift Show this weekend, I met Tina Lilienthal, a jewelry designer living in London. I love her strawberry's and cherries: