Brick & Mortar: 2015 Daydreams + Unprompted Requests, Part 1

I’m a brainstormer and day dreamer, the old fashioned kind who stares out windows and loses hours (/avoids to-do lists). Lately, I’ve had the good fortune of being in your good graces, so each day brings gorgeous mail, thoughtful emails and social media hellos. It is the perfect amount of fodder for my product inspired daydreams. In these early 2015 days, I want to share a few things that I not-so-secretly hope you’ll make. I’m going to share it in two parts because, it turns out, my daydreams are far more prolific than my t0-do lists. Here’s part one! –Emily of Clementine

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Illustration by Emily McDowell for Oh So Beautiful Paper

First, nota bene: these are my daydreams. As a shop owner, I have the luxury of ideating without the hassle of actual production.  These ideas may be impossible, flawed, or unmarketable. They’re also unprompted, they come from little sparks in my mind, not from customer requests or outside suggestions. This is to say: I send them with love but with absolutely no attachment.

PART I . Matchmaker, matchmaker. You know when you have two single friends who you think would be perfect for each other but you’re not sure how to tell them so you decide to do it on the internet without any warning? This is kind of like that except I barely know anyone involved (but if you know any single straight men in NYC, do I have a few amazing friends…).

  • Brown Parcel Press & Andie’s Specialty SweetsWhen I first saw the cards and prints from Brown Parcel Press, I thought: They look good enough to eat. Similarly, upon my introduction to Andie’s Specialty Sweets, I thought: That can’t be real! They look too incredible to eat! Both of these makers mold their material into a truly scrumptious product. I would love to see Andie’s base a little line of candies from Brown Parcel’s card lines. (I would admire them for an appropriate amount of time and then I would totally eat them up.)

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 Brown Parcel Press’s Grapefruit + Andie’s Specialty Candies marzipan fruit

  • Sapling Press + Notabli: Last week, while eating breakfast, my 3 year old turned to me and said “Mama, your eyebrows are too bright.” I reacted like many moms of my generation: I grabbed my phone and decided which social media platform deserved this quip. I chose notabli, a scrapbook-like app that saves your kids moments in photos, audio, video or just a little note. I love the note function because everyone always tells you to “write down what your kids say” and of course you never do, but now I finally am.

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Sapling Press card + a little shot of the Notabli App

A while back, I laughed through my entire Sapling Press order. So here’s my idea: I want these two to join forces. I want Notabli to hold a contest for parents to enter the funniest things their kids say and then I want Sapling Press to print them. Kids do say ridiculous things, but that doesn’t mean they’re not worthy of letterpress. (Spoken like a true parent, I know.)

  • Our Heiday + MCMCI’ve carried MCMC fragrances at Clementine for several years and Anne’s descriptions are just my favorite, vivid and lush, they take you right to a place. Last year, Pat from Our Heiday sent her beautiful intro packet and with each new card I found myself wanting another sense involved. They were like visual ingredient bouquets and I kept wondering: what would these cards smell like? I would love to see what these two would do together: a scent MCMC creates based on an Our Heiday illustration? Or Our Heiday illustrations based on MCMC scents? Either way, I’m in.

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Our Heiday’s Mom Card + MCMC’s Garden Fragrance

  • Anna Joyce + The Hive StudioI have horrible handwriting, so calligraphy truly is magic to me. Though I carry a few calligraphed cards at Clementine, people still think it is reserved for wedding invitations. I would love to see its application expand. Lindsey Buck of The Hive Studio was my Goody Goody Gift Swap mate and I was just floored by her calligraphy, it was bold and graphic, penning in a vibrant teal ink it was raised from the page and I wanted to see it on repeat. Anna Joyce‘s line of accessories has been a Clementine favorite for a while. Her contrast of her fabric and leather makes her accessories rise to art status, especially with her new hand painted series. It seems like a seamless jump to turn Lindsey’s wrapping paper into fabric for a special limited edition line with Anna’s skills.

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Anna Joyce Design’s Splatter Print Clutch in Yellow + The Hive Studio holiday wrapping paper

  • Red Cap Cards + Hygge & West: I spent my childhood skirting the edge of Vermont’s forests. My little friends and I built endless fairy houses and lived knee-deep in a land of make-believe. Whenever I find a designer able to capture the feeling of that time, I want to live in their world. This is to say: wallpaper. I want them to make wallpaper. Currently, I think Hygge + West is knocking it out of the park translating illustrated designs onto walls and I love scouring Red Cap’s line for illustrators who create the worlds I could live within.

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Becca Stadtlander for Red Cap Cards + Hygge + West’s Mint Peonies by Rifle Paper Co

  • Red House Inc + Swiss Cottage DesignsVermont is tiny state, with big state pride. Red House Inc, a fave local maker is creating some fantastic waxed canvas products. I especially love her thoughtful details, like her choices for liner fabrics. Courtney from Swiss Cottage Designs recently sent me a sample card from a Vermont wedding she designed. I was planning to crash the wedding (for the goodie bags) because I love LOVE, but then she wrote to say: let’s make something out of this and I thought: ug, where do I start? Well, I’ll start with fabric. (Then wallpaper, wrapping paper, notepads….). How about these two together:

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Red House Inc’s extra large tote + Swiss Cottage Designs Vermont illustrations

  • Little Auggie + Clap ClapLittle Auggie is creating some of the softest, sweetest bedding around. I’m especially grateful for their patterns for boys – which don’t fall into the easy rut of sport/superhero/truck themes. Instead each line creates a narrative that even parents can love . Similarly, Clap Clap Design‘s stationery stops me in my tracks with bold colors and a clear story. I would happily pull a duvet cover designed by these two over my head for a long winter nap.

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Little Auggie‘s Rabbit Patch Collection + Clap Clap‘s Greeting Cards

  • Julie Song + Pretty Plum SugarIt turns out, these two were well ahead of me. For Christmas, I was gifted a gorgeous robe from Pretty Plum Sugar (long live the pinterest wish list!). I returned to Clementine to find Julie had sent her beautiful 2015 Calendar. As I was dreaming up this post, I had a fleeting thought about how perfect Julie’s designs would be on these robes. Then last week on Instagram I saw that it had already happened, even prettier than I had imagined (and dare, I say the perfect get-up for 2015 tea-drinking bed-lounging daydreams):

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{Julie Song for Pretty Plum Sugar exclusively via BHLDN}

Join me back here soon to day dream about new and expanded products from some of your existing stationery lines. And in the mean time…What brands do you think could partner to create a new product?

xx 2015!

    • Gen, there were so many great potential matches for Little Auggie. I’m so excited about the Queen size line myself, your company is dreamy!

  1. Found this awesome post via Red House + all I can say is that if any of these things happen and even if they don’t cuz c’mon), I need to bring $$ when I come back to VT this summer. You’re the raddest.

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