The {unofficial} start of summer....

Ah, summer. Although it's not officially here for a few more weeks, it has been feeling like summer already, and I must say, I'm loving it! I've been a bit to busy to indulge myself with a beach day (or lounge around for an afternoon drinking icy margaritas), but I have been taking advantage of the warm days with some simple pleasures - early morning walks, having my morning coffee and afternoon iced tea outside on the deck, wearing sandals every day. And I get so much joy from these little things!

I've been busy printing, making magnets, mirrors and bottle openers, and sending goodies to some lovely retailers in coastal communities - yes, loads of lobsters, whales, mermaids and sea shells!

It's all putting me right in the mood for a little summer excursion. Time to make a plan, I think!

What about you? Any plans for a trip to the beach this summer?

What's the BIG idea?

Hello Friends!

The last few months have been an exciting time at Artful Sentiments... I've been busy with loads of wholesale orders since the Boston Gift Show - lots of lovely shops to send goodies to before the New England summer season gets underway. I'm printing, assembling, packing and shipping every day!

And in my spare time? I'm so excited to be participating in A Fresh Bunch and the launch of the BIG Idea.

What's the BIG idea? The BIG idea is an innovate print in store program, which you can read all about here, or if you're a stationery retailer, you can find out more at the National Stationery Show - booth 2042, and booths 2806-10. A Fresh Bunch members (including me!) will be there to explain and demo the print in store program, show you catalogs and samples, hand out info and product samples from our participating members.

The print in store program has been a bit of a challenge for me - adapting some of my existing block print designs has required me to learn some new tools, but, oh, I'm having so much fun! I love that my designs will be available, through the program, as invitations, personalized flat notes, address labels and more...

I hope to get a chance to meet you if you'll be at the show - I'll be there Sunday afternoon through Tuesday morning - and I'll be the one wearing the BIG idea badge!

Preparing for the National Stationery Show!

I'm very excited that the National Stationery Show is almost here (taking place May 17-20, in NYC), and that I'll be exhibiting in booth #2547 with five other talented stationers, and members of A Fresh Bunch. I'll be attending on Sunday and Monday, and I'm really looking forward to meeting many of the fabulous retailers that attend, as well as so many amazing designers, and of course, seeing old friends from past shows.

It's been a busy time preparing for the show, but now that my displays have shipped and catalog updates complete, I can enjoy the anticipation as I finish my preparations!

Speaking of catalogs, my updated catalog is available to view or download on issuu, and I've embedded it here so you can take a peek. I just love that you can flip the pages, just as if it was a paper catalog, but without printing all those paper catalogs!

Open publication - Free publishing - More wholesale

If you're attending the show, I hope you'll stop by! I won't be in the booth full time, but would love to meet you if I can... drop me an email (molly@artfulsentiments.com) and perhaps we can arrange a time!

Thank You Stationery Trends!

Thanks so much to Stationery Trends for featuring my strawbery vine card in their spring issue!

Stationery Trends is such a fabulous industry publication, very fresh and full of gorgeous stationery and wonderful articles. I'm honored to be included among their fresh picks.

Artful news...

Sorry for my blogging absence (not to mention my neglect of tweeting and facebooking)... things have been busy around the studio. I've been printing, assembling, packing and shipping loads of product for all my Boston Gift Show orders, and working on a sales presentation and samples for my new New England rep group... and then, last week I was presented with the most fabulous opportunity - to exhibit at the National Stationery Show in a booth with several of my colleagues from A Fresh Bunch, staffed by a wonderful sales rep. Although that wasn't in my plan for this year, I couldn't pass this up, so add to my neverending to-do list: completing new holiday designs, catalog updates and displays for the show! Whew!

Here's a peek at one of the new collections I'll be exhibiting. These cards combine hand printed patterned backgrounds and little messages that can be mixed and matched with the backgrounds. Perfect little thank you notes, hellos, and wishes for any occasion.

If you are a retailer attending the show, please stop by booth 2547. You'll find new goodies and old favorites from Artful Sentiments as well as lovely stationery from my colleagues at A Fresh Bunch.

A big thank you...

... to everyone who stopped by my booth at the Boston Gift Show! I thoroughly enjoyed talking to so many of my favorite retailers, showing my goods to fabulous new ones, networking with industry pros, and sharing stories with the talented exhibitors who surrounded me at the show.

Now that it's over, I'm back to printing. I have a few orders to get out the door very quickly, and then I plan to get back to my normal schedule, where I can fit in a little blogging, tweeting and facebooking around the printing and production!

In need of a beach day

Boy, this has felt like the longest winter! I've been craving warm weather and sunshine, and dreaming of a lovely day at the beach, even if it is too cold to play in the waves.

Many of my wholesale customers are in coastal New England, and each winter I look forward to seeing them at the Boston Gift Show - to me, those four days in late March are the start of the summer season, even though it's barely spring at that point! Each winter I design new coastal inspired goodies that I hope they'll love - this year's designs include the Waves cards, and Waves and Fish pencil tins.

I've been playing with a lot of pattern in my collection this year... which has meant lots of larger, detailed blocks to carve - at least, larger than I'm used to. It's been a great challenge, and has led me in directions that I'm really pleased with.

I'll have more for you to take a peek at over the coming weeks, and look forward to hearing what you think about the new goodies.

January thaw... in February

We're getting a little warm up here in New England... it is supposed to be close to 50 today, but a bit cloudy, and quite breezy. Earlier today it looked like it was pouring rain outside my window, but it was just the massive icicles melting. I'm desperately needing the warmth and some sunshine, and waiting anxiously for when we start consistently getting warm days. Ok, that still may be many weeks away, but a girl can hope.

I've been keeping the dream alive with lots of new spring and summer prints! Can't wait to get them all finished, but here's a little peek to show you what I've been up to. I'm loving curly vines, and have more like the strawberry vine above in the works. I also have lots of new coastal goodies and am looking forward to unveiling all of those at the Boston Gift Show in March. (Of course, I won't be able to resist giving a little peek here in the coming weeks.)

As for right now, well, I'm seeing blue sky and sunshine right now, so I think I'll head out for a little walk and soak up some inspiration!

Life's a beach.... any time of the year.

The beach is a big part of my life and inspiration, not only in the summer, but throughout the year. As a New England native, and a beach-lover since I was 2 weeks old, I am incredibly inspired by the joys of the coast.

Many of my customers, both wholesale and retail, are along the New England coastline, on lovely Cape Cod, the craggy coast of Maine, the beaches of Rhode Island and Connecticut, and of course, the tiny New Hampshire coastline. I've always had a collection inspired by coastal living , and a couple of years ago expanded it to include coastal holidays, combining New England tradition and a bit of whimsy.

This year, one of my retailers, P-Town Pulp in Provincetown (at the very tip of the Cape), asked if I could message the inside of the normally blank coastal holiday cards....it was a bit of a challenge, but wonderful fun! I struggled a bit, not wanting to be too corny, but definitely needing something beyond a generic greeting.... so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites!

Now... I've got tons more of those lobsters with holly to print, so I'd better get back to work.

Getting ready for the holidays.... already.

Well, it may seem early to you, but I've actually been working on holiday goodies for months now. I've been busy with holiday wholesale orders, as well as some new projects for the shop... here's a sneak peak at one of them - bottle openers! I seem to get a lot of requests for more guy-friendly gifts, and these little bottle openers are just the ticket. I gave the fish one to my best friend's husband for his birthday (I know, big spender, right?) and he loved it! I've made several designs, to be sold in coordinating gift sets with my coasters. You can see the rest of the designs here and they will be in the shop soon!

One of the things I love about having my own biz....

...is getting to know some really amazing small business owners, from all over the country (and world!). We share experiences, support and encourage each other, as we navigate through new business milestones, ups and downs.

I've been helping Carrie of Sommer Designs out a bit with how things work at a wholesale show, and sharing my many resources and long to-do and to-bring lists for setup and the show itself. Carrie is exhibiting in her first wholesale show - the California Gift Show next week, debuting her fabulous new full aprons, to complement her line of half aprons, beautiful bags, and sweet hand sewn gifts. You can visit her blog to get a peek at her new aprons, and the gorgeous photographs she has to show them off!

I was so excited to go to my PO Box today and find a lovely gift from Carrie - these beautiful lavender liners. Now my unmentionables will be smelling 0h-so-pretty.
Thanks so much for the wonderful gift, Carrie, and for thinking of me when I know you're so busy! (Oh, and of course, have a great show!)

It's show time!

Whew, finally checking in after the Boston Gift Show. I saw some of my favorite retailers, met some wonderful new shop owners and buyers who are going to be carrying my goodies in their shops, and got to visit with my fellow exhibitors in the handmade section of the show. Most of my neighbors return year after year, and we look forward to visiting with eachother and catching up on the last several months of news.

This year I introduced some new hand block printed coasters, and I'm so happy to say they were a hit! I'm quite busy printing now - as well as getting ready for the next show which is just 4 weeks away (National Stationery Show in NYC).... it's a busy time right now.

I'm also enjoying the fact that we finally have some beautiful spring weather here in New England - after the long winter I'm really loving every minute of the sunshine and warm weather (even if much of the time I can only enjoy it through an open window in my studio....)

Spring Fever!

I have it bad. Despite the chilly New England weather, I rejected socks for Easter Sunday. Refused to put them on. Admittedly, I felt a bit like a rebellious child, doing something that I knew wasn't very sensible, but I did it anyway. Fortunately it was a pretty nice day, so I didn't freeze my toes! Unfortunately, despite what the calendar says, spring isn't really here yet, so I can't put away my socks (and sweaters) just yet.

There was a little dusting of s&@# (yes, it's a 4-letter word) on the grass this morning, and more in the forecast for Friday... not enough to really accumulate, but enough to keep it from feeling like spring.

I should be thankful that it's only a dusting. We've been known to have feet of snow in March and April, and a little further north, people are dealing with just that. My friend Michelle and her family went their camp in Maine for Easter, and found 3 feet of snow in their yard, and a big icy pile at the end of the driveway courtesy of the plows. (Yes, I can handle a dusting, I guess.)

I've been compensating for the long winter by carving flowers... lots of flowers... some of which you can see here. Despite my attempts to create designs in some other categories to have ready for the Boston Gift Show and National Stationery Show, but I can't seem to focus on anything but spring blooms. And I know, the real spring blooms will be here very soon!

Really, I'm not a spammer!

My mailbox has been filling up with email message bounces from messages I didn't send. At first it was a few messages, then I got inundated with 100 overnight! Seems I am a victim of spoofing. Yes, my email address has been used as the from address on someone's spammy email messages, and now I'm getting all the bounces and out of office replies. It's making me crabby, and there's nothing I can do about it!

On a more cheerful note, I'm feversihly working on new designs and products and will be sharing with everyone soon. I'm less than a month away from my first wholesale show of the season, and have lots of new goodies to get ready before the shows!

Busy bee....

It's been a busy week - I'm getting ready for the upcoming Boston Gift Show, and it's the start of the holiday season as well. I'm shipping holiday cards galore to my lovely retailers!

The fall Boston Gift Show runs from September 15 - 18, and I'll be in the Handmade section again, booth 1309. At last fall's show, I was caught by surprise that there was such demand for coastal products - I wasn't really showing many since I had expected all the shops to be stocking up for the holidays. Fortunately I was able to adapt some of my standard coastal designs for the holiday season, and they've been a hit! I'll be showing those for sure this year, along with some new additions! (Stay tuned, you'll see them in the shop, too.)

I'm looking forward to seeing all the fabulous retailers from New England and beyond. Please stop by if you plan to be there! (Note that this show is open to the trade only.)