back to school

all products shown available at target

All the products show above are from Target. How cute is that alarm clock? I have a natural alarm clock that wakes me up around 5:30 a.m. every morning (my four-year-old!) so I guess I don't really need it. But how cute! The Samsung 8GB USB power drive would come in super handy. I looked at the Target store yesterday but they didn't have any good ones in stock.

There is something about the Back To School season that literally makes my heart race. All those bins of brand new pencils, pens, protractors, rulers, elmer's glue. Oh, my. I think I am not alone in my school supply obsession, as I was certainly not the only person shopping the back to school section at Target with no school-age children.

I bought myself a brand new box of 64 crayons ($2!), a pack of white pencils with green erasers, and some storage cubes ... all for the studio, of course. J's desk chair broke (he's been sitting precariously on the edge of his seat for weeks) and I think we'll finally replace it with the chartreuse swivel chair above (the one in the middle). The green "pod chair" on the left would look awesome in a trade show booth, but it's hard to tell from the photo how much of a footprint it would consume.

shop we love: lesesne

lesesne

The very best thing about trade shows is all the fun people we meet! A few years ago we met Barbara and Bryte at the National Stationery Show. They were shopping for their fabulous store in Charleston, South Carolina: Lesesne. Every time we go back to Charleston we hang out with Barbara and Bryte and have such a blast. Of course I can never help myself from buying goodies in their Upper King Street store, either. This time I bought that little green vase (lower right photo) and a gorgeous two-tone torchon (kitchen towel).

sophie matthews textiles

sophie matthews textiles from trowbridgegallery

These lovely embroideries from Trowbridge Gallery stopped me in my tracks at the Atlanta Gift Mart. Gorgeous!

christmas in july

photos by delphine

One of my favorite booths at the Atlanta Gift Mart was the delightful John toole. Christmas ornaments just make me happy, and I loved the chic use of color, especially theses aqua/grey/gold pretties.

seersucker

seersucker pants: ann taylor loft
"skylight" lapis necklace: delphine
navy wedge shoes: old navy

In preparation for our trip to Atlanta & Charleston I broke down and bought these seersucker pants (on sale! yay!) from Ann Taylor Loft in a loving homage to The South. Found these navy wedge shoes at Old Navy, but am thinking they may not be the best choice for walking a trade show. Perfect for dinners out, though, right??? The matching "Skylight" lapis necklace is from our delphine inventory of fabulous semi-precious jewelry. Might have to "borrow" it ...

Hotlanta Gift Show

The Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market at AmericasMart

We are headed to the July 2008 Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market (known here in the studio as the Hotlanta Gift Show). We will not be exhibiting this year, but will be attending as buyers to help out a friend who is opening a gift store. I'll also be covering the show for this blog. As you can see from the map above, it's a HUGE show, so please drop me an email: (erika at delphinepress dot com) if you'd like me stop by your booth. I can't promise that I'll get to everyone, but I will pack my tennies and try my best to make it.

National Stationery Show GUIDE

If you're headed out to the National Stationery Show today, don't miss some of my favorite booths:

Hello Lucky: booth 1356
Little Oranges of California: booth 1363
Mixed Co: booth 1448
Old School Stationers: booth 1551
Night Owl Paper Goods: booth 1644
Hammerpress: booth 1762
Mr. Boddington's Studio: booth 1752
Orange Beautiful: booth 1944
Boatman Geller: booth 2341
Blue Barnhouse: booth 2469
Whitney English: booth 2545
Waste Not Paper: booth 2903
Elum [my pick for best booth, although I haven't even had a chance to walk in yet]: booth 3013
Louella Press: booth 3176
Cat Seto: booth 3208
Green Paper Company: booth 3456
Russell+Hazel: booth 3524
Kate Aspen: booth 3614
Chronicle books: booth 3740
Twig & Fig: booth 4240
Motel Deluxe: booth 4235
Whimsy Press: booth 4242
Blue Ribbon: booth 4227

I KNOW I missed a bunch and will try my best to list more later on, along with photos and links.

Best of luck to all you fellow stationers for the last day of the National Stationery Show today! We (delphine) are in booth 3845 so please do stop by to say hello if you have a chance.

pack rat

photos & products: Container Store

I have always loved traveling. My parents took me on my first big trip when I was only a few months old: from my home "town" of NYC to Haiti. Ever since I have had the traveling bug, I suppose, and haven't stayed put for more than six months at a time without taking a trip at least out of state. I thought I had the packing and traveling thing down ... I have lived out of a backpack for a summer (or two) in college and can go for a month-long European vacay with only a carry on.

Packing for work/trade shows, however, is another story. I find myself dumping my entire wardrobe in my (very, very, very large) suitcase. When C introduced me to these Eagle Creek Pack-It Folders I was skeptical at first, but was quickly converted when I realized I could cram (without wrinkles, no less) all my clothes for a week-long trip in one folder.

Also essential are the Nalgene leakproof bottles. No more lotion explosions!

Now if only there was a way to shrink my size nine shoes so I could cram more in my bag ...

9th anniversary

Photo: Circular Congregational Church

photo: The Mills House Hotel

Nine years ago John & I were married at The Circular Congregational Church in my "hometown" and favorite city of all time: Charleston, South Carolina. We had a wonderful wedding reception at The Mills House before we jetted off to my other favorite city, Paris, for our honeymoon. When we got married John was a First Lieutenant in the U.S.M.C., and I worked as an advertising editor at a small town newspaper. John looked so handsome in his dress blues! I never guessed that we'd end up in California and start our own design business ... but here we are. So lucky! I love working together.

I wish I could say that we are taking a day off to celebrate, but, with the National Stationery Show coming up in less than a month, the best we can do is a day out of the studio running errands together. So, we're off to Ikea to pick out some furniture for the show.

margaritas in studio

photo and drink dispensers: pottery barn

These sculptural drink dispensers from Pottery Barn are on the studio wish list ... they'll be perfect for our overseas trade shows (we'll be allowed to serve drinks in booths) as they are pretty, functional, and light/easy shipping (made of acrylic). They come in colors, but I prefer the clear ones so you can see the color of the beverage you're about to drink. I fantasize about having one filled with never-ending supply of margaritas here in the studio all summer. Is that so wrong???

trade show shoes

photo: aerosoles.com

The weeks before every trade show are filled with important to-do list items, such as: reserve plane tickets, order new line sheets, mail booth number announcements, press check new products, and design a fabulous booth display. But one of the tasks on the list that I actually look forward to is to shop for trade show shoes. I stand for 10 hours a day in the booth, so they have to be cute, chic and very very (very) comfortable. I haven't tried them on yet, but I suspect you'll be seeing these cool green moccasins from Aerosoles on my feet at the National Stationery Show!