12/05/2017

Workshops at Common Room Studio!

DC area friends! We have a couple of fun events coming up at Common Room Studio, and we’d love for you to join us! There’s a modern calligraphy workshop, and a holiday garland and table styling workshop that is the kind of workshop that I’ve always dreamed of hosting. You’ll be able to address your holiday cards using your newfound lettering skills and decorate your holiday table with a beautiful floral garland â€“ and there are cocktails involved! Plus, if I can find room in my schedule, I’m hoping to schedule a couple of holiday crafting socials focused on creating DIY minimalist wreaths and wrapping holiday gifts. Details below!

Photo Credit: Alisandra Photography

Architecture of a Table with wldwst
Saturday, December 16, 1 â€“ 4 pm

Time to deck the halls! Floral stylists Lori Tran of Wild Green Yonder and Colleen West, known together as wldwst, will share their secrets for styling the perfect holiday table and teach you how to make a garland that you can use as a centerpiece or to decorate your holiday mantel, all while enjoying seasonal cocktails. It’s going to be quite a party! You should see the mood board that Lori and Colleen created for the workshop â€“ I can’t wait to see it all come to life! Spots are limited, so grab your seat right here!

Beginner Modern Calligraphy with Brown Fox Calligraphy
Thursday, December 14, 6 – 9 pm

San Francisco-based calligrapher Brianne Connolly will visit Common Room Studio to teach a special installment of her beginner modern calligraphy workshop! Brianne will go over the basics of pointed pen calligraphy, including correct hand position, understanding pressure and how it relates to ink flow, both uppercase and lowercase alphabet, and numbers. The class is limited to just 10 spots, so grab your seat right here!

I’m also trying to find some time in my schedule for a couple more informal crafting socials during the week. I’m thinking of one centered around making minimalist holiday wreaths, and another around making DIY gift tags and wrapping holiday presents. DC friends â€“ if you’d be interested in attending one of our crafting socials, leave a comment below letting me know if you prefer midday or evening events!

11/27/2017

2017 Gift Guide: Small Business Gift Ideas

Well hello there, everyone! And welcome to our first gift guide of the season! I know Small Business Saturday was, well, technically on Saturday, but that shouldn’t stop us from supporting small businesses as much as possible throughout the year, right? So today I’m sharing some special small business gift ideas from some of my favorite makers and shops with a particular focus on home and style gift items!

1. Sunwoven: I’m absolutely LOVING the artist collaboration between Sunwoven and Anthropologie, particularly this throw and this pillow. Yes, this is Anthropologie, but these collaborations definitely support the artists and help them expand into products that they might not have the capacity to produce on their own. You can also find Sunwoven original wall hangings on their website right here and through their collaboration with West Elm here!

2. Beautiful, colorful baskets from 31 Bits that help support fair pay and clean, safe workplaces for artisans around the world.

3. Jill Makes Necklace: I have a couple of necklaces from Jill Makes â€“ and someone compliments me on them literally every single time I wear them. I’m loving this coral and emerald wood bead necklace and this colorful necklace!

4. A beautiful piece from Secret Holiday Co. with a simple and powerful message.

5. Electric Sun Creatives makes the most beautiful metal wall hangings. I can’t stop thinking about this brass and copper piece.

6. The River Haze: I just can’t get over the woven and macramÃ© wall hangings by The River Haze, and the way she incorporates geometric wood art into some of her pieces. Just gorgeous!

7. When trivets are works of art. Loving these brass rainbow trivets from 31 Bits.

8. Hand painted wood wall charms by The Great Lakes Goods (the pastel rainbows are my current favorite!)

9. Candles make such lovely gifts! This ceramic candle is just gorgeous â€“ and the vessel can be reused once the candle is done!

10. Beautiful nature-inspired ceramic pieces from A Question of Eagles

11. Amy Hamley Ceramics: I’m completely obsessed with all the amazing ceramics by Amy Hamley. These starburst dishes are absolutely incredible, but don’t even get me started on the gorgeous planters and vases. They’re all gorgeous and would make lovely gifts!

12. Paper & Clay Danish Mug: My husband gave me this mug in pink for Christmas last year, and I LOVE IT. This deep blue is so pretty!

11/14/2017

Thanksgiving Cards

I know I’m not alone when I say that Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday. There is no religion, no high-pressure gift giving (and receiving), just overeating a large, delicious meal that mostly consists of carbohydrates. What could be better? There’s also the sharing of this joyous meal with family and friends, and the recognition of all your many blessings. All that AND pumpkin pie?! While Thanksgiving isn’t traditionally thought of as a card-sending holiday, recognizing and sharing your thanks certainly does lend itself to the written word. I’ll start: I’m thankful for these clever and well-designed Thanksgiving cards in our round-up below. Cue up the football, don your sweats, and enjoy! – Shauna

From top right:

1. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t be immediately verklempt with this Hello!Lucky for Paperless Post design.

2. Doesn’t this Dear Hancock cranberry sauce greeting remind you of one of the best Simpsons clips ever?

3. Check out this handsome fellow (complete with dapper pilgrim hat), courtesy of Golden Fox Goods.

4. It’s clear that Anne + Kate share my love of pumpkin pie (but not the ‘secret’ family recipe that we recently discovered originated from the side of the gingersnap box).

5. Yum! These cute critters from Quill & Fox are sharing quite the feast.

6. Give thanks for gourds – both delicious and aesthetically pleasing. From Pei Design.

7. Let’s be real – turkey is the worst part of the Thanksgiving meal. However, I’m choosing not to hold that against this Gingiber greeting.

8. If a bear, a fox, and a raccoon can put aside their differences to share a Thanksgiving meal, perhaps your family can break bread together despite differing opinions on current issues. From E. Frances Paper.

9. Happy Thanksgiving from this imbibing turkey. From Egg Press.

10. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I REALLY love pumpkin pie. From Hannah Berman for Paperless Post.

11. Check out this sassy turkey from Wit and Whistle.

12. It’s a cornucopia of thankfulness from Lucky Horse Press.

10/25/2017

Stationery A-Z: Milestone Birthday Cards

It’s no secret that we love birthdays here at OSBP (well, their associated greeting cards at least!). We’ve done round ups in the past that focused on a particular message or illustration theme, but today we’re focusing on something special: milestone birthdays! Milestone birthdays are huge landmark occasions that deserve a bit of extra celebration. So whether you chose to celebrate with humor or sympathy (or balloons!), here are a few milestone birthday cards to help mark the occasion. Enjoy! â€“Shauna

From top right:

1. Forty is the new twenty, right? Ten times four equals this fun flash card inspired design from Chicago-based The Found. Pick your poison wisely!

2. In a welcome break from the typical booze-centric 21st birthday card, Little Trees Studio has opted for a birthday cake inspired version instead. Fun!

3. You’re never too old for sprinkles and this Smudge Ink design proves that (also, it’s on sale!).

4. Celebrate a dirty thirty birthday with this cheerful greeting from Wild Hart Paper.

5. Loving this sweet color palette and bold type treatment from Brooklyn-based My Darlin’.

6. Milestone birthdays are an opportunity to take stock of your life. Fancy a reinvention? This gold foil card from Smock is certainly a game changing contender.

7. Got a friend who is less than thrilled with getting older? Use humor to your advantage with this letterpress greeting from Sapling Press. Psst – there’s a 30th birthday version too.

8. In a variation on the aforementioned theme, check out this thirty-something version from Greenwich Letterpress.

9. This card comes with a built-in BALLOON! Really loving this clever milestone birthday card design from Egg Press (and be sure to check out our Behind the Stationery post with Tess and Kara right here).

10. The ladies of Farewell Paperie are always good for a laugh â€“ and this funny 30th birthday card is no exception.

08/24/2017

NSS 2017: A Few Favorites

I’m like a kid in a candy store during the National Stationery Show each year. There’s so much to see! So many people I want to talk to, catch up with, new booths to see, and more! The only problem with being a stationery addict at a trade show dedicated to stationery and paper goods is that I genuinely love ALL OF IT and would take every single thing home with me if I could! Each year, there are a few extra special things that really stand out and make a connection with me, from greeting cards to gift items. So today I’m closing out our coverage from this year’s National Stationery Show with a few show favorites that, for whatever reason, didn’t fit into one of our other round ups. Let’s start with two of my favorite greeting cards from this year’s show from Dahlia Press and Smitten on Paper!

Smitten on Paper (check out the full booth here!)

Dahlia Press (check out the full booth here!)

I’m seriously crazy about these letterpress printed baby milestone cards from Rachael of Pistachio Press â€“ a new mom herself! In addition to number cards for monthly photos, there are milestone cards for when baby learns to roll over, crawl, smile, and more. SO CUTE!!

Pistachio Press (check out the full booth here!)

I’ve made and broken a lot of resolutions over the years, but I think I might actually stick to a resolution with this kit from Baltic Club! It’s undated, so you can start a new resolution any time of year, and comes with cute gold stickers to help keep track of progress!

Baltic Club (check out the full booth here!)

So many gorgeous bags and pouches at this year’s show! These wine and booze bags from Dahlia Press are so cute, and I’m absolutely crazy about the new zipper pouches from Our Heiday and Parrott Design Studio!

Dahlia Press (check out the full booth here!)

Our Heiday (check out the full booth here!)

Parrott Design Studio (check out the full booth here!)

Iron Curtain Press (check out the full booth here!)

Emily McDowell (check out the full booth here!)

Cityscape totes (in all the major cities!) from Albertine Press (check out the full booth here!)

Notepads! I love, love, love the gorgeous color blocked notepads from Moglea and the genius notepads from Smudge Ink that fold up into paper boats, airplanes, and secret messages!

Moglea (check out the full booth here!)

Smudge Ink (check out the full booth here!)

Hologram foil was everywhere at this year’s show, much to my delight! The Social Type had TONS of hologram foil, including hologram foil matchboxes and envelope note sets. Wild Ink Press debuted a new birthday gemstone card collection with every type of shiny, iridescent, and metallic foil imaginable. So fun!

The Social Type (check out the full booth here!)

Wild Ink Press (check out the full booth here!)

417 Press (check out the full booth here!)

Ashkahn (check out the full booth here!)

Alright, that’s it from this year’s show! I hope you enjoyed all of our round ups! In case you missed any of our previous recaps from the 2017 National Stationery Show you can find them all right here â€“ and you can find photos from all the NSS 2017 exhibitors right here!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey and Hannah Nowack for Oh So Beautiful Paper

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Workshops at Common Room Studio!

2017 Gift Guide: Small Business Gift Ideas

Thanksgiving Cards

Stationery A-Z: Milestone Birthday Cards

NSS 2017: A Few Favorites