nss to the tss to the... (national stationery show)

Today I'm going to the National Stationery Show! You don't know how amazing this is for me!!! I've wanted to attend for the past 2 years and I'm finally going!

The National Stationery Show (NSS) is the biggest stationery event in North America; with over 1,300 exhibitors the NSS's products range from social stationery to cards, scrapbooking (Aimée, I'm thinking of you). There are some amazing wrapups and ideas for booths to visit on some of my favorite blogs:

PoppyTalk
Has the most comprehensive posts about which booths to visit.

Oh Joy!
She is actually there with her Nantaka Joy line in the Mixed Co. booth and celebrated her birthday in her booth.

Papercrave
Also a list of booths to visit. I added a few to my list.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Well imagine my surprise when I showed up this week for my volunteer shift at the Letterpress shop and the amazing Robert Warner had a present for me - my own cards for Bowne & Co. Beautiful letterpressed cards with my name on them for the NSS!! Wow. He also offered me a part-time position at the shop. I thought I would faint, honestly. That made me sooooo very happy. Woo Hoo!

The TSS

The Supply Side is the more secretive part of the Stationery Show. It is "an annual exhibition for suppliers to the social stationery, giftware and graphic arts industries). That'll be really good! The Accucut crew will be there also with their hand operated die cutting machines.

Wrapping It Up

The past few days have been really good - the whole Florida trip was really draining. Seeing most of the family was incredible and so uplifting, but there were a few elements and one family member that made the trip very difficult. Thankfully, I'm heading back on track and feeling like myself again. My sister is leaving NY (sigh), but we spent a lot of time together and that was really what I needed.

Yesterday, she stopped by the studio where we were finishing up the Martha Stewart shoot for Kmart Christmas (it looks sooo good as usual) and we realized that last year when she was in town she picked me up from the same shoot. I have loved working as a freelance stylist for Martha Stewart. The style department is really talented and quite generous. It's a small group but they are able to move mountains. I am honored to have worked for them as much as I have.

Yesterday's shoot was so inspiring and coupled with my time at Bowne, I am so grateful for my life and excited for my future. Also, I finally sent out a thank you to one of my closest friends Lynda, who sent a present for my father while I was in FL. That meant more to me than almost any gift I've ever received. Then last week, Sandi and I took her daughter for ice cream (mmmm...pralines and cream) - that was fun! I am so happy to have such incredible friends.

Till after the show!

Fela @ BABAS2ND

just another letterpressin' day

Murakami at the Brooklyn Museum

Little Elly still does not have rollers. I priced some and they are $75 each - ouch! Well, at least I ordered her manual - that'll be great bedtime reading.

Cinco de Mayo was last week (as well as the birthday of one of my best friends - Toni). In case you need to brush up on Mexican history in 30 seconds - Cinco de Mayo is the day to commemorate the Mexican - French battle. May 5, 1862, 400 indigenous Mexicans fought against 600 well armed French soldiers in Puebla, Mexico. The 400 were victorious and today we continue to celebrate their courage.

My husband and I went to Brown Betty Cafe in Clinton Hill for an impromptu Cinco de Mayo party. Luckily for us, when Cynthia (the chef/owner) "throws" something together it is exquisite!!

from left to right
codfish fritters with habaneros, a vegetarian tostada,
plantain balls stuffed with cheese and chiptole-mango wings.

The company was equally delightful - we met the best people and had so much fun. Too bad Brown Betty doesn't have a dance floor - Cynthia's mix of music was sooo good (cumbia to rancheras).

Last weekend I was given a fantastic collage challenge. The prolific and all around amazing Robert Warner helped me understand layering/patterns and collage. The best part of the challenge was getting to work with the best ingredients. Ephemera from the 1940s, little letterpressed shapes, pictures of dogs and vintage wallpaper. A few items are for sale in the Etsy shop. The run is very limited though. In June I'll mail the Collage Art Cards to the BABAS2ND subscription participants. Here are some of the images - the rest are on our Flickr page.













I loved this exercise. Now I know how my good friend Lynda feels when she creates a new piece of art or a mask in her studio. Content.

Finally, my sister is in town!!!!! Woo hoo! She spent the night on Friday and the three of us had a sparkling rose that was so good from Olivino (our local wine shop). On Saturday we went to the Brooklyn Museum to see one of her favorite artists, Takashi Murakami. Last year was the first time I'd seen his work and this was such an massive show. I was definitely inspired by his use of metallics and the sense of scale. I plan on creating some new art cards very soon.

It's good to be back

The clock tower in Brooklyn - formerly the Williamsburg Bank..now luxury condos.

It is so nice to be back home. The trip to Florida had its ups and downs, but overall was as good as I could've hoped. My grandmother is sick and everyone flew in from their respective locales to wish her well. There are 4 of us grandchildren and it's been ages since we were all together. Some things don't change and loving your family is one of those things.

Flying back into the city is one of my favorite pastimes. You know how you sometimes get fed up with NYC? Well, the best cure for that is going away and flying back into LaGuardia Airport.

I figured it out on this flight; I sat on the left side of the plane by the window. It was around 8pm, so night was creeping across the horizon. The Mets were playing at Shea Stadium, so the stadium was so bright. I smiled when we passed the massive globe from the World's Fair and the Statue of Liberty. When we passed the City and I saw the Empire State Building I felt myself puff up with pride - I love my city, I love my New York!

While I was away - my vintage envelopes from our Etsy shop were featured on the front page in a treasury (a collection of Etsy items that someone curates). Very cool and just what I needed when I was feeling sad because of Grandma. So now we have over 40 people who heart our shop....baby steps, baby steps.



I sold the envelope pack and mailed them off to their new home in Chi-town, what a feeling! It may be only a $5 sale, but it made me sooooo happy.

Last night, I met up with some friends at Marshall Stack in the LES (Rivington and Allen). I thought there would be 5 of us, so I made each of them one of my new cards (Thank You Mr. Parmentier). Wasn't I surprised when there were like 30 people there!!! It was like a stylist meet-up and I was so excited to see an old girlfriend, who I haven't seen in 5 years! Also were some of my favorite people that I rarely get to hang out with. The crowd was heavily populated with Domino employees - they're a fun bunch.

I can't wait to get back into the letterpress studio in a few days! I miss working with Robert Warner and creating lovely things. Of course I'm sure he's probably created 500 pieces of artwork since I've been gone - hmmm...I'd better get cracking on my work! Florida afforded me a few hours of downtime on the plane. I reread sections of Twlya Tharp's book , The Creative Habit, and came up with several new designs. Promise I'll show you when they're ready!

Lotsa love,
Fela @ BABAS2ND DESIGN

Heading to the F.L.

I'm heading down to see my grandparents in Florida - Grandma is in the hospital, so everyone is rallying and meeting down there.

Sorry for the absence, but Tax Day took a lot out of us, but we completed them (whew)! Oh and really good news - I submitted several card designs for a book that's coming out on handmade greeting cards. Guess what? They accepted 5 of my designs! I sent the hard copies to the publishers last week. I'll definitely let you know when the book comes out (I figure a year or so).

This week I sent out a few items from the Etsy shop:

Letterpressed envelopes by Robert Warner

I love this wasp

I also sent out my first letter to my fellow Letter Writers Alliance member:

Robert helped me make these envelopes, aren't they sweet?

Hey, have I introduced you to the latest addition to the Baba's 2nd family? Her name is Little Elly and she's gorgeous!



Here's an example of how great our friends are:
Our good friend, Julie is such a connector - she overheard another friend (Elly) talking about her letterpress. Elly wanted to find a new home for her little Kelsey press and Julie mentioned that I'd be interested. Oh Julie!!! You are great! My sweet husband gave me a lift to Elly's storage space and helped me bring the press down to the letterpress shop. The ridiculously prolific and amazing Robert Warner is helping me restore Little Elly (he even suggested that we paint pinstripes on her - swanky).

I expect good things will come from our studio in the next few weeks. Til I'm back from Florida - enjoy yourselves.

...sometimes you need to slow down and do something else

I've spent over 110 minutes on hold today, had five conversations with my webhost (4 with billing/customer service and 1 with tech support), spent a few minutes having a meltdown and 9 minutes on Verizon's site troubleshooting our phone service and realized that I am not receiving ANY business emails from my server. Some days you're not supposed to do certain things.

On the very bright side, I'm working on three cards that are so lovely! They are for submission to a project on handmade cards. In spite of all the small business woes, I am happy. Get this - two turtle doves were eating from our birdhouse outside my office window. CUTE!!! Next time, I'll have the camera on hand.

Well, when life is overwhelming (or underwhelming), make something lovely. Here are some inspiring DIY projects:

An amazing hand stitched quilt that you can make yourself. 

image courtesy of the Purl Bee 

Repurposed Security Envelopes

images courtesy of Design*Sponge

Reuse those envelopes your bills come in or finally use that 

box of #10 security envelopes you have sitting around the office.

Shoe Rack Attack

image courtesy of Apartment Therapy

Shoes off the floor? I like the sound of that one. Of course you could paint the rack a nice shade and change out the hooks if you're feeling particularly randy. 

NO PICTURE BUT WORTH CHECKING OUT

Alicia Paulson's embroidered dishtowels. This one comes with a freebie pattern. She asks that her images not be used, but you can CLICK HERE to see the pictures and the pattern. Yay for the Rosy Little Things blog. 

So have some fun and take a freakin' break!

Brooklyn Rocks - Music This Weekend

Highlights from the Brooklyn music scene this weekend.

Jazz + Hip Hop

Brooklyn resident, Maurice Brown, the talented trumpeter is playing this Saturday at Rose Live Music in Williamsburg. The prolific jazz man is teaming up with keyboardist/producer Sam Barsh on a new project called Lose Your Mind. If you haven't heard Maurice play, you're missing out on the most exciting jazz show of our times.

345 Grand Street (between Havemeyer and Marcy) 10pm $3.00

Finger Styling Guitar

J.D. Wood, Brooklyn resident and all-around good guy, is playing this Saturday, 5 April 2008 at Sidewalk Cafe in Manhattan. Jeff plays the standup bass with a host of talented guys and this time it's acoustic ballads and blues with Lenny Molotov, Jake Engel and Karl Meyer. If you ever lived in Seattle, you probably know JD Wood and rocked out to his music. 

94 Avenue A (at 6th Street) 9pm  No cover

Japan's No. 1 B-Boy

The King is coming!!! DJ Muro, the King of Diggin is coming from Japan! This First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum , DJ Muro is playing the dance party at 10pm 9PM. Years ago, our friend Pooky let me borrow a few of his King of Diggin cassettes. I listened to them for years! I still listen to them now - yes I pull out my Walkman and pop in those puppies. Well, everyone from Ghostface to U-God to Kool G Rap praise DJ Muro. He also plays the best rare groove East of London. And it's FREE!

200 Eastern Parkway (at Washington Ave) 9pm FREE 

Art Tuesday - Diebenkorn on the Park

Yesterday evening as four of us gals were zipping through the Village in our friend's TD300, we passed Washington Square Park. Lynda, an amazing artist/human/friend pointed down the park and told us to check out the Diebenkorn exhibit at the Grey Gallery. 

Who?

Richard Diebenkorn, the late and great American painter that's who! Lynda loves his work and I see why. His earlier works remind me of a bossa nova track - beautiful in composition and quite accessible. 

Ingleside, 1963

The "Ocean Park" series (1967 - 1978) is his best known. Abstract and sophisticated, Mr. Diebenkorn's works are rife with his "trademark mysterious transparencies."

Ocean Park No. 54, 1972

Ocean Park No. 116, 1979

Born in Portland, Oregon and raised in San Francisco, Mr. Diebenkorn was culturally educated by his grandmother, a retired Civil Rights lawyer. An alum of Stanford, most of his life was spent in California - the subject of many of his works. The exhibition at Grey Gallery focuses on Mr. Diebenkorn's time in New Mexico and the Southwest; the experience that fostered the artist's exploration of the abstract.

Untitled (Alburquerque), 1952

Diebenkorn in New Mexico on view through Saturday, 5 April 2008 at the Grey Art Gallery in NYU (100 Washington Square East NYC 10003).