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

Another creative product in my inbox today – this time it’s fanciful connect-the-dots dinnerware from Edith Levin (via Design Milk).

Imagine how much fun it would be to buy a whole set of plates and connect the dots on each one with a different color.

Edith Levin’s design won a 2008 award from Fishs Eddy, one of my favorite places to shop online (besides Fluff Paper, of course!). Some of my current favorites:

• Floorplan dinnerware
• All in a Day’s Work trays
• Alphabet Pattern mugs (on sale now!)
• Brooklyn umbrella

Cecily Ink, one of the manufacturers we stock in the shop, is closing its doors. As I understand it, they’ll still be doing custom design work – just no more retail. So, to clear out inventory and make room for new stuff, we’ve marked down all Cecily Ink products to half-price. Get ‘em while they last – especially their fabulous Card Files.

Think papercrafting is all photos and glue? Think again! If you need inspiration, look no further than the portfolio of Megan Brain – who can only be described as a paper artist. (via WHORGANGE)

I’m dying to ask her what scissors she uses.

Megan has some great recent work in her blog that hasn’t popped up in her portfolio yet – check it out! I particularly love the paper renderings of her dogs; how cool would it be to have a paper sculpture of your pet?

If you’re looking for a project for the less X-acto-inclined, Design*Sponge has a great do-it-yourself idea for you – some family silhouettes wall art. Lifestyle expert Alexandra Hedin provides the instructions for this easy, inexpensive project (I wonder if our cats would sit still long enough to let us snap a decent profile or two).

I stumbled across Jim Datz’s Manhattan Poster on Three Potato Four long after the first printing and dutifully signed up to be notified when the poster was reprinted – I had to have this cool retro screenprint for my office. Last week, the second edition was finally released, and I rushed to the Web site and ordered almost immediately.

I took my first trip to New York City last year for the National Stationery Show. It was amazing to me how a city that isn’t all that large (compared to the wide open spaces in Texas and Colorado that I’m used to) could have so many diverse and unique neighborhoods and personalities. I don’t know if I could ever live there – I like living in the city, but Denver is very different from Manhattan. But since I have a sister-in-law who lives there and a job that practically requires me to visit, NYC could just be my home away from home. And now I have something to remind me of it often.

(image courtesy Jim Datz)

I was browsing though my Google Reader backlog today and stumbled across a post on Katy Elliot’s blog about some fab craftiness in the latest issue of Country Living magazine – handprints preserved with needle and thread instead of paper maché or cement. I don’t want to steal Katy’s photo, but essentially you outline your hand, or your child’s, on fabric and then stitch the outline, add the subject’s name and the year below and then use an embroidery hoop to mount the creation. It might be neat to go one step further and use the same hoop for a child over the course of their childhood – trace their hands every other year, maybe three or four times – and use a different color thread each time so their handprints look like a colorful version of the rings of a tree stump.

I tried to trek over to Country Living’s website and find an image with some instructions, but no luck. But I did find a treasure trove of crafty goodness and inspiration. Some gems I bookmarked:

• The 2008 Country Living Women Entrepreneurs – profiles of 10 amazingly talented women (including Whitney English, stationery designer extraordinaire)
• Polka Dot Craft Projects – who doesn’t love a good dot (especially on a cake)?
• Instructions for Fabric-Covered Journals and Boxes
• and Cupcake Decorating Ideas that will make your mouth water

And the best part is – most of their ideas can be adapted for those of us with a less “rustic” aesthetic.

PS: If you like embroidery hoops, you’ll love hoop.de.do – Jennifer Pebbles (one of my all-time favorite scrapbookers) creates these mod bulletin boards that fit in with even the trendiest decor.

It may be April Fool’s Day, but this calendar is no joke (although it certainly has gotten some laughs in Fluff Headquarters).

While the calendar may gently mock our obsession with social media (speaking of which – follow us on Twitter and fan us on Facebook!), it does have a point – this handy little calendar is a great way of remembering just how we spent our time this year. Instead of using a calendar to plan ahead, we can use it to reflect on our past. Pretty deep, huh?

And if you like wacky calendars, here’s another one that might tickle your funny bone.

via designspotter

There’s something about the onset of spring that makes me want to pull out my scissors and glue stick and make something pretty. It’s not quite spring yet, but when blooming flowers and green grass get here, I’ll be well equipped – Martha Stewart’s vast enterprise has launched a new blog, The Crafts Dept. Knowing Martha, the blog will be filled with all sort of good things (pun intended) to make and do. My favorite entries so far:

• Craft Rooms 360 – a cobbled-together photo comparison of the writers’ old and new craft spaces.
• Making the Paper Cut – I want a room with nothing but drawers of beautiful paper sorted by color… sigh…
• Crafting on the Side: Blake & Corinne – …and now I’m coveting a necklace of metallic leather.

In other Martha news – a new book popped up on Amazon and I felt obligated to pre-order. The Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Crafts covers popular crafting techniques, describes the ideal tools and equipment, and even includes project templates to make your own. And, knowing the attention to detail that pervades the Martha Stewart Omnimedia staff, everything will be described exhaustively (apparently there’s a “glitter glossary” – who knew there was so much to say about glitter?) and photographed beautifully.

…but I’ve been busy working on a very important project:

That’s right – the site is live! We’re calling it a “beta” version because there’s still work to be done. But it’s up and it works and now we can focus most of our energy on populating it with the best products out there.

A few notes:

• Everything works. You can check out. You can add things to your wishlist. You can browse everything. You can join the mailing list. All the standard functionality is in place. If anything doesn’t work, let me know and we’ll fix it as soon as possible.
• It’s not quite finished. You’ll notice some pages have “Coming Soon!” messages and some pages, like the Custom Design section, are empty. We’re working behind the scenes to get these filled, but we thought it was important to launch the site and keep some forward momentum for our business. And we had all this great product on our shelves that we wanted to show off!
• This is the fewest products we will ever carry. There are several orders en route to the shop that we haven’t placed online yet to avoid shipping delays. There are several orders waiting to be placed. And we’ve got trips to the National Stationery Show in May and the Craft & Hobby Association show in July planned to make sure we’re carrying the newest, hottest stuff. To sum up – there will be much, much more.
• There are more features coming. We’ve got big plans for the site, and that includes making sure it’s not only a store but a resource for a host of different things. So stay tuned for some of the big things we plan to roll out.

This is only the beginning, and we can’t wait to share the rest of our journey with you!

As promised, here are the new recipes from Envelopments. Very colorful, and in a range of prices to suit every budget.

The two shots above are of what I’m assuming is their most expensive recipe – it was the featured design in the latest Envelopments ad for Martha Stewart Weddings. The multi-layered invitation has a handful of enclosures inside a pocket folder, and the cream paper has a beautiful pearl finish that sparkles when the light hits it.

Below are some more shots of their new recipes – enjoy! And if you want a better view of all the new recipes, be sure to check them out in our Envelopments showcase.

If you’re searching for a printer or stationery designer to create that perfect invitation, the options can be overwhelming. Letterpress, engraving or thermography? Who’s name goes first on the envelope? Are those DIY kits at Target really all that good?

Thankfully, there are The Stationery Guides. Written by some of the best stationery designers and manufacturers in the business, this blog is the perfect source for information for brides, parents, party planners – from those who need stationery and don’t know where to begin, to those who want to stay in the know about products, trends and methods. Bookmark it!