our resident d*s foodie kristina recently returned from a trip to france where she continued to wow me with her beautiful still life photographs taken on the streets of paris. these two photos are my absolute favorite and i thought they would be a fun way to welcome the day…

when it came time to start thinking about design season this past march i panicked when i realized that i still didn’t have any business cards to take with me. even though i’ve been working on d*s for close to four years now, i tend to be a pretty all-digital girl so i’ve been resisting the idea of business cards for some time. but with the big trade shows coming up and larger companies to deal with (last year many of them wouldn’t let me have a press kit without a card) it was becoming more of a necessity. so, business cards were a must for me this year and designers rebecca kutys and breck hostetter really came through for me in a pinch.

rebecca (who you may know from her beautiful work with moontree letterpress) was part of the brooklyn flea and after talking one weekend she filled me in on the new company called brooklyn social cards that she and breck hostetter of sesame letterpress were forming. their new joint venture was to be all about beautiful, easy-to-order cards produced by two veteran letterpress printers. both based in brooklyn, breck and rebecca decided to create a template library of simple, chic card designs that could be customized with personal information and the client’s choice of paper and ink color. i chose to go the custom route (which is available for an additional fee) and use a lace image with sunshine yellow writing- and i absolutely loved the results.

rebecca and breck are now accepting orders through the brooklyn social cards website- click here to check out their full template options. also, brooklyn social cards will be at the brooklyn renegade craft festival- click here for times and directions.

today is a very special day- maria’s port2port card society is two! established in june of 2006 (and officially announced on maria’s d*s podcast!), the card society is my absolute favorite gift idea for anyone who loves letterpress (and how could you not?). with membership plans starting at just over $14, the card society will deliver new cards right to your door for up to 12 months a year (one year is only $119). and in honor of the society’s birthday, maria is offering 15% of all memberships through june 30th (just enter “birthday” when you check out). if you know anyone who loves stationery and and deserves a little “just because” gift every month or so click here to check out the society and view membership options.

also, starting this month, maria will be delivering gift packages in canvas bags that can be reused- rather than plastic sleeves. i used small canvas jewelry bags as cat nip holders for our cats so if you have a few saved up- they make great pet toys.

click here for more information and to book a membership and a big congrats again to maria and the 2nd birthday of her card society. here’s to two more…

it’s sad to say goodbye to this year’s stationery show, but i left happy and inspired to know that so many fantastic new companies entered the market this year. if one of the four trade shows i saw this season really left me excited for the coming year’s designs and designers, it was the national stationery show. it was really, really thrilling to see so many people using eco-friendly materials in interesting ways, experimenting with letterpress techniques and creating stationery and prints that left me wanting much, much more. so here is the final installment of this year’s stationery show coverage. if you missed the previous posts just follow these links to parts 1-4: stationery show part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

yellow owl workshop was definitely a big highlight of my show experience. meeting christine and her wonderfully sweet and supportive husband evan (when i mentioned how incredibly talented christine was he smiled and said “that’s why i married her”.) was a real treat. in addition to being super cool and friendly, christine’s new designs were really fantastic. i loved the little painted wood circles (top image) and dashes of fluorescent color everywhere. i’m totally ready for hot pink/orange/green to come back in a big way.

night owl papergoods made a huge splash at last year’s stationery show and definitely didn’t disappoint this year. i loved their wooden calendar pages and the collection of floral cards made from leftover and cast-off material. such a cute way to reuse materials that would have normally been thrown away.

egg press is a booth i can always visit and know i will walk away smiling- without fail. i’m crazy about their playful designs and the fun way they incorporate rich dashes of color into each card. their greens were a huge inspiration for my wedding color palette and i’m hoping i might be able to use some of their actual work in the wedding next year.

i was excited to stumble upon the 9spotmonk booth. i’d never heard of this new jersey team and was really thrilled to discover their collection of notebooks with colorful patterns on the outside. click here for more info on their work…

the pikku booth was like a delightful little living room set up in the middle of the show. the vermont studio introduced a colorful new line of textiles and homewares (including pillows and a quilt) as well as additions to their calendar line. you really have to see these in person to appreciate the print quality and colors- they’re spectacular.

i was bummed to miss lindsay at the hammerpress booth, but was psyched to catch head designer brady and hear all about the new collections. i loved the purple colorways in their skull card and was particularly drawn to the alphabet series and it’s deep orange color. and that last card? that describes the way i felt when i realized i’d barely covered 2/3 of the show after 3 full days. argh.

i saved one of my favorite booths for the very last- mr. boddington’s studio. this booth (along with a few others) made me seriously reconsider doing my own wedding invitations. their designs were beautiful and filled with witty remarks. i especially enjoyed the handwriting used on each card- such a nice touch.

screech owl design had an incredible booth at this year’s show. and after walking 20 rows all i could do was look at that beautiful bench and think “thank you, thank you, thank you”. after a quick sit and chat, i checked out some of their lovely new cards and of course, the bench that i was sitting on. screen owl is made up of the husband and wife team of jacqueline and george schmidt. both are artists but george is now launching a series of furniture, like this bench, that will be sold in the near future. they managed to sell the bench right out of the booth so i’m sure we’ll be seeing more from this designing duo soon.

the stationery in alee and press‘ booth was a wonderful study in subtle textures. i loved the ink-less printing technique that allowed really subtle patterns to show through- it’s a great way to add decoration to stationery without going over the top with color.

it was such a pleasure to meet tara from ink + wit in person- she’s as sweet and friendly as her cards are. i loved these tiny cards and enclosures with animal imagery- the soft yellows were really beautiful as well. again, apologies for my camera’s inability to nail the correct yellow color.

this incredible series of intricately cut cards are from designer charlyn koo. each laser-cut card had a colorful blank card inside where you could leave a message.

peculiar pair press always goes above and beyond when it comes to the quality of their work. these new “petite” letterpress journals were tough not to take home with me, secretly, in my purse. can’t wait to grab a few in stores- that deep purple color was so gorgeous in person.

fun new “stamp” stationery from boston’s albertine press.

sweetbeets had such wonderful children’s stationery on display. i loved the little baby in a basket in this card- the soft greens and yellows were the perfect compliment for such a sweet card.

the intense detail in this beautiful letterpressed card from tiselle really blew me away.

bold new numbers cards from alison riley at set editions. a big thank you goes to alison as well for her generous donation to the d*s scholarship.

i loved all of the sweet calendar options at the magnolia moonlight booth…

i may have to continue national stationery show coverage into tomorrow a bit- there’s just so much to see and i don’t want to overwhelm anyone with hundreds of images in one day. so i’ll post parts one through three today and parts four and five tomorrow- along with our scholarship winners! if you haven’t voted yet, please click here to view our finalists and make your choice- tonight at 10pm the polls will close so be sure to vote before 10.

two trick pony had some seriously awesome cards at their booth this year. i loved the peachy tones in their work- especially in the poodle card above. that’s two trick pony work above the intro text, too.

i loved all of the bold colors at the suzy jack booth. i’ve been following susan’s etsy shop for a while now and it was such a pleasure to finally put a face to a name.

new needlepoint necklace and keychain kits from amy holbrook at amh design.

new metallic notebooks and tea towels from karen at hammocks and high tea (love that hot pink towel).

jean at eieio studio (who is one of the coolest girls around) introduced a beautiful new line of prints- and new gift wrap design- at this year’s show. the incredible placemat is from publique living of san francisco.

leigh at jezebel introduced a seriously killer line of jewelry at the show. i can’t wait to see what she does next- if this line is any indication i’ll be lining up to buy her jewelry at the store somewhere soon…

oh my dear stacy pancake. i love stacy beyond words and am always intrigued by the work she produces each year. stacy is focusing on being a green stationery line right now, using eco-friendly inks and papers- as well as using cast-offs to create the lovely line of gift tags above.

i loved the bold contrast in these new cards from rosebud design studio.

new designs from portland’s tenth and grant…

the lovely ladies at L/2 design collective had a wonderful new series of cards and notebooks on display…

beautiful initial ribbon from angela liguori at carta inc.

great new cards from emily at orange beautiful….

these cute little gift tags from linda & harriett were too cute to pass up. they do such beautiful invitation work as well- click here for more.

i loved just about everything at the modern printed matter booth. that ‘old bastard’ card had a gorgeous velvet ribbon tied around it- it was hard to capture on camera but it was so, so cool.

scenes from the jhill booth at the national stationery show. i’m such a big fan of jennifer’s work and it was a super bonus to finally meet her in person. i loved those little feather notepads.

i loved these hinge cards from sub-studio- and the ‘brevity’ line of jewelry at their booth.

elegant invitation designs from rsvp press.

colorful letterpressed calendars and stationery box-sets from elum.

AWESOME! cards from gilah press…

one of the new vendors that really stood out to me was fugu fugu press of pasadena (fugu means pufferfish in japanese). after walking about 20 rows of the show they were definitely one of the companies that everyone was talking about. their letterpress designs were really crisp and clean in person- and had such fun, playful images. i’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more from fugu fugu so i’m excited to see what they do next- i’d love to see them turn their work into prints-for-sale. i know i’d scoop up a few. (and how cute is their booth? those dark orange stools are my favorite)

sadly my photos just don’t do these cards justice- this collection of baby stationery by soda for cardiology was just so sweet i couldn’t resist them. now that our friends are starting to have children i finally have an excuse to buy up cards like these- that little mobile card was just the cutest thing.

metallic notebooks from the gang at poketo…

joy’s new collection was pitch-perfect from top to bottom. her metallic series of notebooks and cards expanded with two new colors this year (a beautiful deep blue/grey and a metallic silver) and was as beautiful as her debut last year. i even loved her business cards. it’s been so fun to watch joy’s collection take off- i can’t wait to see what she does next.

i really loved this soft grey card from laurel denise at the mixed co. booth. laurel had a great range of soft grey and yellow designs on display- a color palette that definitely hit its stride at the show this year.

meg mateo ilasco always has great new designs in her booth- this year she headed up the mix co. section and debuted new cards and those little clips we all fell for a few weeks ago.

diva at linea carta had some incredible new pieces at the show this year- i loved her pencil bags and the custom work she had on display- that green envelope was gorgeous.

i’m all about purple right now so i was loving lisa at good on paper’s purple calendar- and of course her adorable pixel bag (named after her pup, pixel)

lovely new notebooks and notions from jacinta at allymoon.

urban bark’s notebooks and cards were even lovelier in person…

beautiful letterpress invites from toast letterpress.

the little oranges booth was full of color and some fun great almost retro-style designs. i loved these hello cards and the notepads with decoration on the bottom.