my little blondy

I took this picture of my son in the park last Sunday.  I am always astonished at how blond he is when I see him in photographs.  My hair is very dark and my husband is a tow head.  Go figure... he is a   1/4 Greek, 1/2 British, 1/8 Italian, 1/8 unknown European mix blue-eyed-blond.  I can only hope that he gets my over 6' tall grandfather's genes. Have I mentioned how short I am?

lovely discoveries

I have fully recovered from my two day trip to the National Stationery Show and have so much to share.  Typically I don't have a hard time making a decision about the products I want to purchase for the store but this particular show had me stumped.  The NSS was filled with cards and stationery from talented letter press companies, off set and screen printed goods and fantastic pick up items.  I placed many re-orders of products we stock and was hoping to find a couple of new lines to fill in where the others leave off.  I think I accomplished my goal.  We expect our tried and true items to start trickling in soon and the new goodies will begin shipping in July.  

I also landed a new purveyor of vintage ribbons, notions and old store stock. I found their prices to be fair and their selection of vintage goods really lovely. The owners are keepers too! I especially love when I find a resource where I know the people behind the product.  The merchandise I find from these types of sources have a special place in my shop.  You betcha I buy from the big boys, but supporting mom and pop wholesalers is where my heart is.

sweet shop

Last week I saw a picture of Design Sponge's Grace Bonnie in a confectionary store in San Francisco.  It looked like the sweetest sweet shop I have ever seen.  The post had no mention of the location so I scoured the internet in search of the little store.   It took some hunting but I finally found Miette Confiserie.  If I ever make it to San Francisco Miette Confiserie & Miette Patisserie (the original bakery behind the confectionary) will be on my list of places to see.  

Once you visit the site you quickly see why this little gem is so special.  It is the people behind it.  I love stories about people following their passion and this one is exactly that.  I hope you will visit their site to read all about it.  

help the honey bees

I have been hearing about the plight honey bees for awhile now so I was not surprised to see the people at Haagen Dazs have started a campaign to help. If you have a chance please visit help the honey bees and see how you can do your part.

A side note: since I have been doing my fair share of web research for my site, I was overwhelmed with the amazing website they have devoted to the subject. I think all you design junkies out there would agree.

Read all about it: I just got my June issue of Martha Stewart Living and there is a great article on page118.

national stationery show

There is no other trade show that excites me more than the National Stationery Show and it is a little over a week from now.  What makes the anticipation worse is that all the design bloggers that I know keep showing products that some of the exhibitors have been sending their way for publicity.   I was begining to feel left out when low and behold the mail man shows up with brochures, postcards and samples from the very people I have been reading about on those other blogs.  Yeah!  I had my own little piece of the action.  

With notes in hand I hope to order some new lines for the shop and refill the lines that I currently stock.  

holy smokes

I enjoyed a fantastic dinner last night with my friends Cheryl & Grif, owners of Back in the Day Bakery and Haylie (former shop girl, now big city girl) from Philly.  It was so nice to catch up with Haylie and hear about all of her new adventures.  If it were up to me all my girls would work for me forever and ever but they keep growing up and moving on.  It is really nice to see how they mature and all the amazing things they are doing out in the "real" world.  I keep thinking that when the shop turns 10 we will have a big reunion.  Maybe a giant trunk show of all their work.  

Back to the topic.  I can't express to you how delicious the meal was.  I had ribs or should I say a rib.  No, I was not shorted by the chef watching out for my caloric intake.  The rib was enormous.  I even joked with the waiter that it came from a dinosaur.  The sides were yummy (especially Haylie's fried okra).  The ambiance was very low key.  We sat outside and watched people play horse shoes and the bean bag toss.  By the look of things (full parking lot & tables) Blowin' Smoke is making quite a splash.  

sloooooooooow posts

Sorry for the lack of posts but many of you will be happy to know I have been working very hard to get our website together.  I had no idea how much behind the scenes work was involved. Taking photos, typing information, moving files, renaming files and just plain thinking about the web is all consuming.  I am dreaming in HTML code.  OK, not really but as soon as I master it I know I will be.  The plan is to launch a new site in July with shopping coming in September.  My web tutor has explained that July is too optimistic for the ecommerce part.  My friends at McMaster & Storm have been going through the same process and their site will be ready this week.  I can't wait to see what they have created.  I know their experience will prove very helpful as I get further along.  

score

My little man (and Dada) recently accompanied me to a local market where I found these interesting pieces for the store.  He used the contents of his toy cash register to purchase a match box car (a little junker already).