NSS Thursday

Tomorrow will be my final NSS 07 coverage posting. it's been a long two weeks with lots to see, it will be nice to get back into the swing of things. I have some collaborations in progress and some new designs of my own to prepare for FB press.

One great (i guess you wouldn't call it a stationier) Booth we bumped into was  Parkhaus Berlin

eveything they make is out of beautiful felt. I wish i took some close ups of their products but i knew i was running out of memory at that point so definately go check out thier site. Their products range from handbags to office products to home and decoration...the colors are just fantastic!

Binth yet again, blew me away with their new lines of greetings, prints and notepads

they are getting more and more into recycled papers which i'm always ecited about

you will also see some new additions to binth baby this season as well!

eieio's booth just popped right out, i felt like a kid in a wrapping paper shop! it was wrap-tastic!
they have loads of new wrap patterns debuting very soon!

NSS Wednesday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

sorry, had to throw that in randomly. Back to business! One of the highlights of my NSS trip was discovering things that I personally haven't seen before. I'm sure many of you already know about TRACE

they had a dazzling array of bold prints on neutral fabrics covering books and made into pencil cases or even nice little hand bags (thats how i would use them!)

they were clean simple and modern...just how i like it!

I also got a few shots of the girls booth at Peculiar Pair Press. They are going wrap crazy this season and boy is it fabulous!

Chronicle's gift division will launch two new wrap kits from the girls this season so be on the look out!

NSS Tuesday

Sorry for the short time laps for my NSS coverage. I've been feeling under the weather so i took the holiday weekend as a relaxing period, but it's didn't help much...go figure. okay here is todays coverage post:

stacy pancake of pancake & franks, is such a riot! she was a busy little beaver when i got there so i took a stroll around her booth, she lucked out with a great big corner "lot".

here is a close up of all her lovely and whimsical new letterpressed greetings. I adore the childlike structure of her designs, it's so inviting!

Stacy even had some mini accordian books made with here cute warm and fuzzy illustrations and a sweet message inside!

Herman Yu also had a stunning booth filled with color! new cards and calenders everywhere!

the botanicals were simply stunning, they know how to do it right!

NSS Friday

*SIDE NOTE* thanks to Patricia for letting me know that i've been spelling the word "Stationery" wrong for all past commentary of the NSS Show! Please except my deepest apologies to those readers out there who can't stand people like me who didn't get blessed with a good spelling and grammar gene :{

On that note, Lets dive right into our NSS Friday!

Meet MEL LIM! (I did!) She is the mastermind behind JOY

What a talent and fantastic personality mel has. I could of talked and laughed with her all day, but as you could see she was quite a busy little bee! As you will see from this post, i took most opf my shots in her booth because she is #1 in my book ( doesn't mean i like anyone less though). I've been following Mels work since the begining, infact i drew a lot of my inspiration from her drive to become who she is today.

Mel has brought JOY to a few new levels this year. Her work is primarily focused on the nature of paper goods due to her background in interior and wallpaper design...she believes that color is the way to go and boy does she make a good point with that! Although, this year Mel has launched two new lines and one more to come: JOY Child which focuses on baby apparel, JOY Habitat for your home, and coming soon, JOY Made featuring intimates, bags and totes.

I was drooling over her new embroiderd pillow collection!

NSS Thursday

This was designer, kenny gee's debut with his new stationary collection: SOCIAL

I had the chance to speak with him for a bit and he made it very clear that he does not play the sax! lol Kenny's focus is aiming for the male end of papergoods!..it's true when he said that men normally get canceled out when it comes to card giving and note writing.

His clean and "preppy" take on stationary was very welcoming and he definately made sure that he included the girls with some of his graphical designs!

Speaking of clean design: Look it's joy!!

of course i had to make time to find joy and see first hand what her new stationary line, Nantaka Joy, looked like and let me tell you!~ i was soooo far from disapointment :) Joy has poured her heart and soul into some fabulous cards and books, her sweet and modest personality permiates from her beautiful creations.

here is the bad part: my last memory card was filled right after this shot! but if you hop over to design sponge, grace has some fantastic close up shots for you to drool over!!! joy way to go girl, you are just as sweet in person and sooo very talented!

NSS wednesday

I'd like to kick off my wednesday with my great "run in" with the Hammerpress booth.

meeting lindsay was super cool, we must have just missed brady as he went to get refreshments. anywho hammerpress makes me gasp in excitement everytime but to see it in person is just unexplainable! There treatment is unlike anything i've ever seen before.

some of their newest creations were these fabulous vintage meets modern calenders. i would almost just use them as art pieces and frame them! and also (of course me favorite) these little test print journals...love love love them!

Notes from 2007 NSS

Well i'm back and can barly move me feet! there was lots of walking, carrying, talking, drooling, eating, exploring, and of course stationary! for the next week or two i will be posting my experiences and finding from this years National Stationary Show but my first posting will be about a great chick who was kickin' tushie! at he surtex show going on at the same time.

Let me introduce you to miss. julia rothman

Julia and i chatted about her newest venture into fabric and went through her giant pile of pattern goodness.

what an awsome endevour for her and a perfect way to showcase all of her beautiful illustrations

she definately blew the show away with her booth! three cheers for you julia!!!

So that was just a little tid bit of what else is to come in the next few weeks so stay tuned...now i'm going to go soak my feet and lay down for a few!

watch that tail move!

watch that tail move!, originally uploaded by freshlyblended.

so i'm off to NY. When i come back i'll be enlightened and inspired and ready for some new projects and collaborations. I heard it's going to be yucky and rainy there this weekend so i'll be sure to bring my umbrella. SO until tuesday, and have a splended weekend....i'll miss you puppy-kitty! MUAH!

solace in the midst of chaos

I've seemed to find a bit of solace in things this past week, less then what i would like but still some. a pleasant surprise was on my door step on monday from Ashley G., this beautiful print will adorn my studio walls one day when jay and i find our new house. for now i must keep it nice so i wrapped it up and nice and put it with my other "craft tree" print from lara. it will be nice to break them out again to frame once we find a home.

QUICK WEBSITE UPDATE: we replaced some of the goods photos that were looking a bit yellow around the edges (if only i was a good photographer!lol) but we are still trying to troubleshoot the footer, we still can't figure out why it strangely likes to appear in the middle of the page. if anyone could give us a few tips we would greatly apprechiate it! for now you can just refresh the page and it will be fine. seems to only be happening on firefox so we think it could be a coding discrepency between the html and firefox, i heard it's touchy with CSS.

FB+SPCA=LOVE!

One of the Things about the New FBpress is that i've been able to team up with the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), which is a NO KILL organization. and device a plan of action for me to say thank you for helping homeless animals find a new home who can't help themselves, like my puppy-kitty once was! I've decided to package up all my wallpaper scraps left over from the journals and minis and sell them for $2.00 in the shop...ALL the proceeds from these scrap packs will be donated in a healthy chunk to the SPCA at the end of this year! With your help, you can help our fuzzy friends too!...and get a nice helping of vintage/modern wallpaper pieces to play with at the same time!!

P.S. yes i'm still tweeking the FBpress Site so please bare with me still...times like these i wish i were a twin!!!

catching up...

before i leave you again for another couple of days, i wanted to at least catch up on some great things that were brought to my attention while i was launching...mind you, some have already been happening but i still was inspired by them and still am so i'm posting anywyas... enjoy!

Shanna Murray just launched a beautiful spring line of her fab fabric creations along with a brand new site!


Alena Hennessy had an opening in NY this past Saturday and she also has a revamped site with some new treasures to be had! Alena, i hope your show went without a hitch.


If your going to the National Stationary Show this year, checking out the Relish Booth (#3472) is a must do! They have a great new line up of some favorite talents: jill bliss, good on paper, mateo ilasco, allymoon, and the debut of Joy's (of Oh Joy!) new stationary line called nantaka joy...congrats joy, i can't wait to come and see your new babies!!lol


speaking of the NSS, Surtex will be going on as well and if you have a pass for the NSS you can use it to show hop within the center. One great lady to go see at surtex is the great Julia Rothman, she will be debuting a new fabric line as well as some other fantastic goodies in booth 236.


there are only a few new pieces from the stamen series left from the nebo peklo shop


night owl paper goods is quickly expanding and will launch some new goodies this june also don't forget to check em out at the show as well...i already started a "must see" list!

bug fixing...

Just a quick note while i get my act together again... thank Oh Joy! and Decor8 for posting about the new FBpress, that was very kind of you gals!
also, i really apprechiate all the great comments i woke up to this morning, it was unexpected, i love you guys! i have also got some great comments about things to tweek on the site, mainly pertaining to browser usability, we are looking into it and hopefully we can work out the kinks asap, also i suggest NOT using internet explorer if your running on a windows because i hear that it doesn't like CSS at all, you can however download firefox for free here. please continue to contact me about anymore bugs you may see, i aim to please.
soon, i will be back and start being a good blogger again, i promise!

YOU ARE NOW FRESHLYBLENDED!!!!!!!

like i promised, i did not make a post until i launched freshlyblended press!!!

go on in and take a peek and enjoy! my talented husband worked so hard on it and i'm soooo proud of him, i'm not very technologicaly compitant, the blog is as far as i can go so i feel very thankful to have him and his talents!
anywho, i am sooo beat from my pecha kucha presentation tonite so i'm going to hit the sack and wake up bright and shiny, in hopes the you all like the newly revamped, redeigned, and renamed: FRESHLYBLENDED PRESS!!

Today Shelly and I bought our Jet Blue tickets to NYC for the National Stationary Show on May 20th-23rd. We are sooooo totally syked about it, i'm going to go crazy with my camera so i can come back with lots to show! i hope i don't get kicked out for taking too many pictures! I also had a chat with Kathleen and we decided to make plans for a little "honky tonk" visit this coming fall.

Alas, with all this excitement going on i am still up to my eyeballs in final preparation for my pecha kucha presentation next tuesday and the FINAL touches to the website and upcomming books to lauch FBpress. So, i've decided that i'm making my next post the actual LAUNCH post of FB press...i am vowing to myself that i will not post any more until it's that special one! As progress gets closer and closer to opening up shop, life just gets crazier so i think the best thing for me to do is spend a few days, de-blogged and just get things D O N E! I'll just tell you a little something though...come hell or high water, FBpress will be open the the public by the end of this weekend!

On a closing note, I will see you on LAUNCH DAY!...until then, thanks to links from crustation, here is my "ode to finlands handmade<>modern" ENJOY!
Hau Hauz

IVANAhelsinki