Camping 2011

We just returned from our yearly camping trip with friends on my family's land. Had a great time, but it was sadly overcast and rainy the entire time. Today, of course, is beautifully sunny and we're spending it in the studio printing. At least our windows are big!

You may notice the sweet couch set up at the pond in the middle picture. Our camping trips are more plush every year.

Two new collection

Yes! I'm excited to officially launch two new collections. Our Mid-Century Modern designs are now available as cards and we teamed up with Abbey from Aesthetic Outburst on an entire collection of cross-stitch-inspired stationery. Both collections are also available as notebooks, which you've probably seen already.

To celebrate the new collection and the fourth birthday of Pistachio Press (yep, it's been 4 whole years already) we're offering a 15% discount for all orders placed during the month of June. Just enter code "summer11" during checkout.

On Monday

It's taken quite a while, but I'm almost done editing photos from all of our new products. There will be a shop update on Monday!! I know, I know...Finally

We'll be introducing close to 40 new products. And I'll be sending out a newsletter, which has been a long time coming. If you haven't yet signed up, here's the form if you want to be added to our mailing list. I don't often send newsletters (a few times a year) but they almost always have promo codes when I do :)

The studio is hot

And I mean CRAZY hot. Like over 100. Last week we bought an AC unit, but it didn't have enough power to cool the room even one-degree. I guess that's what 15' ceilings will do! So, now we have to get a 220v outlet installed and a massive 25000btu air conditioner. We've been bringing the dogs to the studio (not in this heat, though) and most days they just lay around. Wish we could, too :)

A little bit at a time

Well, we're back from the stationery show and it feels great to be home! I thought that this time I'd be able to blog during the show. Yeah right. By the end of the day we'd get dinner and then collapse for the rest of the night. It's completely exhausting talking to people all day, no matter how much fun we're having. And believe me, we had a blast. For now, here are a few shots of the final prep - picking envelope colors, driving to the Javits, and part of the set up. I'll be back soon with a bigger post of the experience.

Best New Product

Hello from NYC! It's been a crazy week and I have barely been able to pick up my computer! I wish I had been able to post more about the stationery show so far, but I'll do a full recap once we get back. For now you can check out my daily coverage of the show on Aesthetic Outburst (Day 1, Day 2). A huge thank you to Grace at Design Sponge for featuring our cross stitch calendar (designed by Abbey). Our other piece of most awesome news is that our Telegram invitation won Best New Product for All Things Wedding! I can't tell you how excited this made us :)

On related note, thank you so much to everyone who stopped by so far - I can't believe that so many of you read this blog. I am totally floored!!

NSS 2011 opens Sunday!

Jake and I have been functioning on very limited sleep these past few weeks as we prep for the stationery show and it opens Sunday! We're in booth no. 1664 and are just about all set up. We have a few more finishing touches to make tomorrow and then it's go time! I'll try to keep you posted. If you're attending the show, we'd love to see you. Stop by and say hi!

Also, we're participating in a recipe card exchange (kind of like a booth scavenger hunt) with 14 other letterpress companies. The exchange was organized by my good friend Amber of Flywheel Press and sponsored by Legion Paper. I LOVE everything about it and I can't wait to pick up the other cards!

ps-I won't be at the show on Sunday, but Jake will be there along with one of my fantastic former interns! I'll be at our University graduation saying goodbye to our senior art majors.

Cross Stitch Notebooks

Thank you all for such an amazing response to our new notebooks!! Today I wanted to share the Cross Stitch Collection of notebooks, designed by my awesomely talented friend Abbey, of Aesthetic Outburst. I am planning to launch these at the National Stationery Show next week, we're in booth number 1664, but I also have them available for pre-order right now.

Introducing...notebooks

 

The Stationery Show is such great incentive to finish projects. I've been wanting to make a small line of notebooks forever and we will finally be debuting some in just a week! We have two different sets and this one is based on our Mid-Century Modern designs. I'm in love with them! I'm going to do my best to post new product shots on the blog. If the sun holds out tomorrow I'll get some shots of the other notebook line!

Wistful

Once again, these bright colors rule! Up to this point we haven't done many envelope liners for clients, but over the last few weeks we've been inserting plenty. This suite, based on our Wistful collection, includes the most gorgeous envelope liners. I love how the orange really pops.

And...we're so excited that this suite was included in the new invitation lookbook from Invitation Crush!

Bloom invitation

 

I love that so many of our clients lately are opting for bright cheery colors for their wedding invitations. It's also been fun to print square invitations.

Dream Cabin

The end of the semester is always crazy, but paired with prep for the stationery show and some very sick puppies I have been fantasizing about a vacation. A real vacation. With no phone, no internet, few people and several books. I also have a longtime dream of owning a small cottage or cabin. So, when my boss showed me his friend Michael's cabin I fell in love. LOVE. Such a quiet, perfect space to get away. I really think Jake and I might book as stay here - once in the summer to enjoy the creek and hiking and once in the winter because I've never gotten to vacation in snow. You can check out the rental listing here.

Copper and Cyan

We got to print this gorgeous suite a few weeks ago. The bride's sister designed everything and we printed them with cyan and copper ink. They turned out amazing and I just love how the pattern carried through to all elements.

And more wall progress

Yep, we're still working on those walls for the show. They've been patched, primed and painted. Jake and our intern Tracy worked hard to get each panel looking great. Now we just have to figure out how we're displaying everything and do a test run. Hoping to do that next week.

Custom calligraphy invitations

We printed these gorgeous invitations a few weeks ago. Black ink on ecru paper and calligraphy by Grace Edmands. I love how they turned out!

Damask in sunny yellow

It's been exciting to print such beautiful bright colors recently. Here's Pantone 116 looking super hot paired with a warm gray. One of my very favorite color combinations. We printed this design on super thick 220# lettra and it turned out pretty amazing.

tangerine

Mixing the perfect orange ink while the sun sets. Hello spring. Finally!

Seafoam green

We made so much progress this past weekend with prep for the stationery show, printing, and even managed to have a bit of fun with friends (and not feel guilty about taking time off work!). I can't tell you what a difference it makes to have done a few shows already and know what my limits are. I'm trying a new zen-like approach to trade show prep - it gets done if it gets done. There will be things that I won't have time to finish and I'm ok with that.

In the midst of planning, we're still crazy busy on the press and sending proofs to our great clients! Our Mexican Tile design has been quite popular lately and was super fun to print with this beautiful shade of green.

*ps - It's in the low 70s here today and my house windows are open for the first time in 2011. I can't wait for spring to stay!!!

Building walls for NSS

After much deliberation (mostly me internalizing and annoying Jake), we decided to go with hard walls for our booth this time at the Stationery Show. This is a bigger decision that it probably should have been, but since we're doing three shows every year we figured it would be worth it financially and more than worth is aesthetically and functionally. We used paper "walls" for the last two shows which limited how we could arrange our cards and prints.

We picked up sheets of plywood and Jake has been busy assembling everything. We aren't allowed to use power tools at the show, so everything has to be planned out beforehand and bolted together. I'm really looking forward to figuring out shelving and to having a reusable booth. The best part is that we can set it up in the studio and troubleshoot beforehand, I hope!

Countdown to NSS, 4 weeks to go

We have exactly four weeks until we leave for the National Stationery Show. We just ordered four cases of paper and tons of new envelopes. No room for it all in the studio, but we've been printing so much I hope we have enough for the next few weeks.

Wall Update: My friend Sara has agreed to let us borrow her van for the show, which means we're going to have hard walls, providing 4x8' sheets of plywood will fit in! I think we'll probably try to see if we can pick it up this weekend and start making a mock booth in the studio.

Random related info: I still don't have a to-do list for the show, so I guess I should make one! I know I'll forget something if I don't put one together. But I'm also afraid to see everything in one spot.

*We printed these invitations a few weeks ago and I love how they turned out! The blind deboss is so perfect with the rich black ink.