Bits of Fluff – Stationery, papercrafting, design and general fabulousness from Fluff Paper

After months of waiting and weeks of work, we’re finally (mostly) settled into our new place. Last week we held a little partay to introduce our friends and family to the space, and now we’re officially open for business! Here’s a little slideshow of the before, during and after:

There’s still work to be done – window displays to finish, marketing to push out, inventory to buy – but it feels good to have the doors open and customers coming through. Hooray!

In the past week weeks there’s been lots of lots of things to buy (and even more in the week ahead when we travel to IKEA for all the store furniture), but I think I’ve found something that’s going to rocket to the top:

I’m getting one of these hand-lettered signs from Three Potato Four for right over the checkout counter. And maybe another one for my desk. And another one for our house, just because. There goes my budget…

Hello! (hello, hello, hello…) Echo! (echo, echo, echo….)

I can’t believe it’s been almost three months since I last updated the blog! It wasn’t for lack of things to talk about – there are plenty of amazing and inspiring paper goods and design excitement floating across the desk these days. No, my absence is for much more practical reasons – too much on my plate! The workload around here hasn’t gotten any smaller – still plenty of changes to make to the store and catalogs to dog-ear and all the other day-to-day tasks of running a store. But the good news is, our plate is getting bigger.

Just over two months ago – about the time this blog entered radio silence – I mentioned to some fellow designers that I was looking for a studio space that would allowed me to run a storefront. I mean, we’ve got too much paper and crafty goodness to keep it all bottled up on the internet, you know? I’d been keeping an eye on retail space availability, but because we live in a “trendy” area of town, everything in the location I liked was far, FAR out of our budget.

A few miles away, in the city of Lakewood, there’s a an upscale new-urbanist development called Belmar. Belmar sits on the site of an old shopping mall, and the mall was razed to make room for mixed-use development – lofts and townhomes, some big-box stores like Whole Foods and DSW, office spaces, and a ton of retail. And one block of the development was set aside for artists and designers. This block of storefronts, Block 7, is subsidized by the developer so rents are highly affordable (half to one-third of the cost of similar spaces in other parts of the Denver metro). One of the spaces, a 1200-sq-ft. double unit, was occupied by a husband-and-wife design team. They ran their studio out of one side, and the other side was home to their screenprinting gallery and workshop space. And three months ago, they moved into a new space elsewhere in the city. One of my fellow designers mentioned the availability to me, and I e-mailed the leasing agent that afternoon. And thus began a two-month process of applications and interviews and stress headaches and clothes shopping (being self-employed means I don’t dress up for work too often). I had to wait over a month from the time my application was submitted (since the space is so inexpensive, the openings are competitive) to the time I was called for an interview, and then I waited another three weeks until I was called for a second interview. I showed samples of my work and our products, I answered questions about our plans for the store, and I tried to be as honest as possible. And finally, last week, I got the call – we’re in! Starting in December, Fluff Paper will have a brick-and-mortar storefront location!

There will be a few changes, although not really any to the online shopping experience. Our physical location will known as “Fluff Co.” – we’ll have more than just paper goodies in store. We’re also following the model of the previous tenants and half the space will be studio space for me and my friends – designers, copywriters, photographers… whoever decides to join me on this adventure. The store side will have a custom lounge, where people looking for wedding invitations or baby announcements or any other one-of-a-kind products can come to meet with a designer and discuss their vision. We’ll also hold classes and workshops for paper crafting aficionados in the Denver area (feel free to come out and visit us if you’re in town!) and host private get-together for local artists and designers to showcase their work. The upside for our online friends is LOTS more inventory – since we don’t have to cram everything into a supply closet anymore, we’ll be able to stock the store to the gills with all the amazing paper we come across.

Stay tuned for all the fun changes – there might just be some free goodie giveaways come up to celebrate! If you’re a designer or artist and want to get your stuff in stock, drop us a line. And if you haven’t yet, feel free to sign-up for our soon-t0-launch e-mail newsletter – there’s lots to share!

Elsie Flannigan is one of my favorite people on the planet. We’ve never met, but I want to be her when I grow up. I first discovered Elsie when she was creating these amazing scrapbooking layouts that kept popping up in magazines. She even published a book with fun scrapbooking challenges to try out. And then she went and started designing her own products for KI Memories! So it’s no surprise she’s still inspiring me with her retail venture, Red Velvet Art – an awesome, creative space and storefront with kitschy, retro, fabulous, rockstar handmade products. Elsie and her friends leave their touches on every piece, and I would kill to feel just fractionally as creative and inspired as she seems to be.

I’m hoping that RVA’s Autumn Craft Class will at least give me a nudge in that direction. Elsie and her partner Rachel Denbow are teaching an 8-week class that will let participants create no fewer than *30* crafty projects to keep, share, give as gifts, whatever. A private blog, weekly live chats, tons of photos and instructions, and the ability to use materials you already have make this class stand out. I’m excited to make all the fun projects, just to keep my hands busy (and away from the computer that seems to be chained to me), and I’m sure I’ll pick a few new techniques that I can apply to my own future projects. But I’m mostly excited to be inspired – to sit at the virtual feet of a person I admire and learn more about them, their creative process, and their unique take on life.

The class size is limited and the class begins September 15th – so if you’re interested sign up soon!

So, you don’t want to create a wall-to-wall chalkboard – bright colors aren’t your thing, and all the chalk could get messy. Well, my friend, there is another option…

IdeaPaint lets you turn just about any surface into a dry-erase board:

Transform a child’s bedroom or playroom into a place to explore and express their creativity and imagination. Paint a toy box and make it more entertaining than everything inside of it. Use IdeaPaint to keep track of appointments, chores, shopping lists and all your important dates. IdeaPaint creates the perfect spot for the family to interact and keep up with each other’s busy lives.

Just like chalkboard paint, this product has a wealth of applications. Plus, as anyone who’s bought a dry-erase board larger than a small piece of paper knows – they’re expensive. Meanwhile, here’s a product that uses less packaging (so less waste), can be applied anywhere (even old dry-erase boards that have lost their zing), and there’s nothing to throw away when you don’t need your board anymore – just repaint! What’s not to love?

Check out IdeaPaint’s gallery for pictures that customers have submitted of their IdeaPaint in action.

(photo © IdeaPaint)

Chalkboard paint has been around a while now, but the traditional “basic black” color doesn’t quite fit into everyone’s decor. But Hudson Paint has come to the rescue with chalkboard paint that comes in a whopping 24 colors.

The paint is sold in quarts, and each quart covers approximately 90 to 100 square feet. There are all sorts of applications – everything from kids’ rooms (paint whole walls and let them go crazy!) to appliances (a few coats of chalkboard paint on an old fridge and suddenly you can ditch the sticky notes and grocery lists). You could make gifts for friends – write their name over the top in acrylic or something – or use the paint in small quantities for place cards or retail signage. Instead of placemats, why not paint directly on an old dining room table and keep your kids (and yourself) entertained?

I wonder if you could combine magnetic paint and chalkboard paint – layering the two together – to get twice the functionality (or maybe Hudson Paint is already working on something to that effect in the lab). It might be fun to use this stuff in my office; I could find some empty wood frames at an antique store or garage sale, freshen them up a bit, and hang them up on the walls. I’d paint the walls behind them, and then sketch my own artwork that could change with my fancies.

At long last, we’ve got some products in our Custom Design section! There’s more to come, but kicking things off is fin+roe, an adorable line of customizable announcement and invitations for babies, birthdays, graduations, weddings and any other occasion or event you can dream up.

In addition to customizing the text, you can also choose a pattern and both text and background colors – between the designs and the options, there are literally hundreds of different combinations to choose from. Among the announcements and invitations, there are two basic formats – flat cards and those with Magnet Mementos, 2.25″ magnets featuring the photo of your choice attached the card. The magnets have the added feature of your custom text around the rim; even if the magnet is permanently separated from the card, your recipients will always have the details with them. And if you need favors for a wedding or party, the magnets can be purchased separately with or without glassine envelopes and coordinating seals for a flawless presentation.

There are also options for personalized stationery – coordinating notecards, calling cards and address labels – so you can correspond in style. So, don’t you think it’s time to go shopping?

While the blog hasn’t been updated in a while, there’s been a flurry of activity behind the scenes. A new custom line is being added to the shop TODAY, and a range Fluff exclusives will be making their appearance shortly thereafter (with some teasers and sneak peeks right here). In the meantime, I thought I’d share some photos of my visit to the studio of Genghis Kern (best print shop name EVER). The store is just one of the businesses I run; I’m also creative director of a boutique design agency called 327 Creative. And every designer needs fabulous business cards – hence my trip to Genghis Kern’s shop. Genghis Kern is the brainchild of Jason Wedekind, an amazing graphic designer with a keen sense of craftsmanship and attention to detail. We’ll have some letterpress lovelies in our custom section, and Jason will be taking care of all our printing (I haven’t quite told him that, though!). Anyhow – take a gander at the press check for our business cards below.

I’ve never traveled much internationally – okay, only once – and I’ve got a whole list of places I want to go when I do. And, thanks to the Airstream Penthouse at The Grand Daddy Hotel, Cape Town is rocketing to the top of said list.

From The Grand Daddy’s Web site:

A gleaming fleet of seven iconic American Airstream trailers have packed up their corndogs and tucked away their picnic blankets to roost on the rooftop of The Grand Daddy Hotel. Here, the quintessential African skies and the alluring outline of Cape Town’s Table Mountain are reflected in the polished aluminium of the American Dream.

Peek inside – there’s more! Each of the seven trailers has been handed over to some incredibly creative Capetonian soul to find new life through playful, eccentric and dazzling décor interpretations of how life in an Airstream can be.

Your Airstream is enclosed by a tidy garden complete with US Postal Service mailboxes. Watch an outdoor movie on hot summer nights at The Pink Flamingo Cinema and find an excuse to make this the destination for your next gathering of family and friends.

It’s interesting to see the iconic “American-ness” in a culture opposite the globe. I’m ready to pack my bags! My favorite trailer is the Dorothy – fine artist Sara Pratt “reinvents the airstream with a Duck-egg-blue foundation colour and then covers every inch with white polka dots. Some of these dots are three dimensional and hinged to contain mini exhibition items inside. The mini exhibitions will be changed every three months.” How cool is that?!? Although I wonder how long it takes for all the dots to make you a little stir-crazy – they cover everything! In the end, that’s probably a good thing; who would want to go to Cape Town and never leave their lodging?

If you’re looking for decor that’s a little less graphic, the other six trailers have designs that are just as unique.

[via Apartment Therapy Re-Nest. All photos © The Grand Daddy Hotel, Cape Town]

Remember Jim Datz’s Manhattan Poster we mentioned not so long ago? Well, he’s done it again…

If, like me, you can’t resist a matched set, then head over to Three Potato Four now – they’re the only ones selling it! And it looks like they got a Daily Candy mention, so this one won’t last long…