Moonforest Studio

I just received a visit from Sarah Miller who bought some of our ribbons to enhance her amazing and adorable felted figures. Normally, I cringe at the word "whimsical" in general. It just makes me think of...I don't know...things not whimsical to me. It's too prosaic or something. Anyway, Sarah makes pieces that are MY KIND of whimsical.

Take a look at her little fairy houses and mushrooms and little birds. All my favorite things! You can purchase her figures at her etsy store, but don't be surprised when they are at my store this winter. There's no way I can resist...

Enjoy!

Font Geeks

I realize that not everyone is excited by typography as we are, but for those of you who are... check out the I Love Typography site. The font game is so much fun! It rotates so that each time you play the fonts are different. No cheating! I am honored to say (in all dorkiness) that I made it in to the hall of fame : )

The site even has some great wallpapers for your desktop or iphone

St. Theresa's Textile Trove

St. Theresa's Textile Trove is one of the most wonderful places in Cincinnati, OH. I visit the store to gawk and drool over the huge variety of cotton and quilting fabrics, the large selection of oil cloth fabric, and walls and walls of beads and buttons. She's moved to a new location in College Hill, Cincinnati which is delightfully closer to where I live and where I drop my kids off to the babysitter. I last stopped by the new location around the holidays and my sister and I bought a bunch of felt balls. We still have not found the perfect project for them BUT WE WILL! Do you know how that is in stores so full of textile delights? Inspiration over-load! They do have lots of project ideas to spur your creative process along.

I should also mention that the women in the photo below were here that weekend to do a bead making class by the owner. The raved and raved about how wonderful it was and what a great girls weekend it made.

This is the kind of store you'd find in an New York City off-street in the garment district. If you live in Cincinnati or are visiting soon, you must make the trip there. Have a nice lunch at Bacalls and call it a creative afternoon...

And the last of the paper is out the door....

The paper sale this year was a huge, crazy success! We love to see all our paper going to good homes where the colors and textures and envelopes will be re-purposed into more beautiful work.

Here is a photo of the last bits walking out the door with the happy crafters who were in town for the weekend and have no idea what they are going to do with all this good stuff YET! I know it will be fabulous.

So, we'll start saving the scraps for January's Paper Sale....

Robin Wood Flowers

One of my favorite florists (and people) in Cincinnati is Robin Wood at Robin Wood Flowers. Robin and her crew consistantly come up with arrangements that are unusually packed with color and texture. They have a modern feel to them that I don't see in most flower shops around here. I love the soft purple succulents in the middle arrangement and the careful color combinations of the first. Beautiful!

Robin has just taken a dive into the blogging world, so I've made her blog my feature for this month. Check it out for tips, photos of recent work and flower advice from the pro herself.

Yellow and Black Collage

We just finished this invitation for Carrie and Clay's rehearsal dinner. Her wedding invitations were Kate Spade (left in photo) with a bright yellow border silkscreened on the cardstock. (That's a beautiful detail and most stationers wouldn't go that far for beautiful color, so I was impressed!) Carrie loves bright colors and the preppy style, and she wanted to compliment the invitations without copying them. Together we chose this beautiful elum paper (available at the Margot Madison Stationery retail store) with the yellow mums, added a crisp yellow grosgrain ribbon and the black backing. Really sharp, I think.

Anyway, I decided to do a little collage of some other yellow items I've seen online. The flowers are from the Martha Stewart Wedding site, the pendant necklace is from BGBJewelry, the purse from BorsaBella, the tin plate from ValleyTinWorks and the floral pin with bead details from Ryeleighrose.

Right-sizing the office

So, we're working on right-sizing our office. We've been going through old boxes of papers and folders and envelopes and emails. It's overwhelming to approach the project, but once you dig in, it's refreshing!

Here is a photo of Amber, organizing the great mass of computer cords. And the results in the second photo. Cords are a major pet peeve of mine. I keep thinking that SOMEONE is going to figure out how to power our many powerful things without a cord attached to a wall. Someday...







Have a great 4th weekend! We're going to be closed on Saturday so have fun with your families!

Paper Mongers Like Us

This is an interesting article in the New York Times sent to me by a good friend. First, I have to say that I was shocked at Mrs. John L. Strong's stationery store closed. Wow!

You should know that if you are in the mood to update your "Stationery Wardrobe" we have some beautiful designs that can be engraved, or thermography, or letterpress. I love seeing lots of color in my personal stationery and I'm currently in love with gray and marigold as a combination. These examples shown are available at our retail store only.