Monday, March 29, 2010

"And the nominees are..."

We are tickled pink this weekend to find out that we were chosen as a finalist for not just one but two awards this coming spring!

The first is our WTF Braille card. We are one of three finalists for the prestigious 22nd Annual Louie Award for the Best Humorous Friendship/ Encouragement Card greeting card over $3.50. Each card is blind judged and scored on the basis of six criteria – Imagination, Impact, Artistry, Harmony (the blend of visual and verse), Sensibility and Value (the balance of product quality and price). The dinner award ceremony will take place May 17 in New York during the course of the National Stationery Show.

The other is for The Stationery Trend Award, otherwise known as "The Trendy." We made it as one the top 10 finalist in the Greeting Card Category! The amazing thing is that this is voted online by retailers- the people who buy our stuff. I guess if the Louie Award is like the Academy Award of greeting cards, then The Trendy is like the People's Choice Awards. Online voting for the final round is open now! Voting ends April 17th.

All this anticipation and excitement leading up to our third exhibition for the National Stationery Show in May! Can't wait!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Stationery Trends Magazine:Fresh Picks

Thank you Stationery Trends Magazine for showcasing our Birdcage Letterpress Card as a Fresh Pick!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Cards for Earth Lovers | Whole Life Magazine

Thank you Sarah Mc Clure for the lovely article! You can check out Dec./Jan. Whole Life Magazine for the complete issue online. Click on image for zoom.
P.S. There is a little correction in the article, the Vandercook does require a little bit of electricity. :)


Monday, November 2, 2009

Featured Store: donna hay general store, Woollahra NSW

We are so proud to remind our Australian friends that you can find our letterpress products exclusively at donna hay general store in Woollahra. 

Here at TISELLE, we have been long time fan of donna hay magazine. Whenever we get our ink stained hands on the magazine, each page is savored and admired not only for it's good food but also for it's clean and beautiful layout. The general store is also a reflection of Donna Hay's immaculate taste. It is the perfect boutique for gifts and knick knacks for the home.  If only there was a store here in the US... C'mon, Donna, we're waiting for you here!

donna hay general store can by found at 40 Holdsworth Street, Woolahra, NSW, (02) 9328-6555








Thursday, July 30, 2009

National Stationery Show 2009, part deux

I admit, I have waited way too long to finally post some pictures of my favorite designers and their booths from NSS this past May. The past few months consisted of many many follow ups and long stretches of non stop printing of orders and inventory. Not a bad thing to complain about, eh?

One thing I learned from last year to this is that it gets easier the second time round. Only slightly easier but enough for me to feel hopeful that eventually I′ll have more free time to enjoy what I accomplished.

Without further adieu, a little trip down memory lane. These pics are a few choice booths of fellow letterpress printers whom I admire.

Kamal is an exciting newcomer to the show. Her designs is a mix of modern aesthetics and Indian sensibility. I met her and her sweet family on the first day of set up where she was torn over a mixup with her booth. Does she cut up her prepared wall to fit a smaller space and stay near the more high end designers or does she keep it intact and move to a lower traffic area where she can potentially be swallowed up by large corporations. In the end, she decided to stay put and chop. Boy, did she do a wonderful job! You would have never guessed looking at her dynamic booth that spontaneous rearrangement happened the day before!  

Our cheery neighbors from Someday Designs. They design and sell beautiful wedding albums.  They were also the ones who called Dan eye candy!

Night Owl Paper Goods from Owlbama!
 
Sugarcube Press from Ventura, CA. I love how they sprinkled “sugar” all over their booth!

Two Trick Pony with their beautifully screen printed retro cards. How much do you love their circus tent  booth?

From my alma matar, Shino and Ken from Fugu Fugu Press. A shout out to John from A Single Tree for an innovative booth design and construction. There are hidden pockets in the booth for storage. Can you spot them?

Our other neighbor, Linda and Harriett. They kept my stomach growling throughout the show as they gave away home baked banana bread!


Last and not least, Brad from Maginating! I could not have asked for a better  wall neighbor! He’s also my neighbor in LA. Well, relatively speaking... considering he’s 20 mins. away as opposed to across the country like other fellow printers.

There you have it! My waaaay late wrap up of the National Stationery Show ’09. At the rate I’m posting this,  it can serve as a reminder for us to start thinking of next year’s show!

Monday, May 25, 2009

National Stationery Show, NY '09

Wow! What a show that was! Heading into the show, I didn't know what to expect with the news touting grim reports on the economy everyday. As predicted, the show was smaller by 1/4 in terms of buyers and exhibitors. We simply didn't know if small was good or bad. Thankfully, it was good. A smaller show allowed a more concentrated pool of serious buyer and exhibitors to mingle and that is always good!

Let's start from the top. Three days before heading out to NY was a mad rush of wrapping up marketing material (aka press kits and giveaways) for the show. On top of the mad rush, my family came in town from Taiwan to go to my bro's graduation  at Vegas. Talk about a mad house trying to juggle between being a hostess, a good daughter and a business owner! With a few flared tempers and minimum casualties, I managed to finish what I needed and dashed off to NY on the redeye with Dan, the muscle to my  brains (ok, maybe he's also the brains but don't tell him I admit that). Poor guy just returned from a 3 day trip to Hong Kong and I dragged him off to NY within 2 days of his return. Talk about a messed up sleep schedule!

The plan was to hit the ground running on our 7 AM arrival Thurs. morn. We hit the bed instead and passed out until late afternoon. 

Fri. morning we cab off to the Javits Center and begin our set up. 

A before shot of booth #2063. The cardboard box Dan is sitting at doubles as a computer table and dining table for cheap greasy Chinese food.

Dan complains that I never let him out of his cage!

Ta da! An after shot of booth #2063. It's show time!


Business cards and giveaways. The bread crumbs were a hit!

Throughout the show, the energy on the floor was great! Not only did we meet returning customers, we also made new ones and picked up a few reps. along the way. More updates on that when contracts are solidified! A few of our twitter friends were twittering about the floor. It's awesome to finally put a face to a tweet!

Overall,  we were able to make a presence throughout the show with a few items in 3 categories in the Best Product display, a mention or two in the stationery trend lecture (Thanks, Sarah of Stationery Trend Magazine), a  surprise picture of me in my booth in Day 3's Stationery Today (Thanks, Kim also of Stationery Trend Magazine).


On the last day, clock chimes 12 and the grand carriage turns back into a pumpkin! (Literally! The photo was taken at 12:23 pm.)

It was bittersweet when everything came down. I didn't realize I was heading home to a three day weekend and, boy, am I grateful for it! More posts soon on other booths from NSS.

And, yes, thank you Dan for being my muscle. As the ladies in the next booth commented, you are wonderful eye candy!



Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Postage hikes for Invitaions

An article I just read in Martha Stewart's Bride Guide brought up an important reminder that USPS will have a rate hike on May 11 from $.42 to $.44. This poses a problem for brides who send out invites right before that date and are waiting for reply cards to come in before or a little after May 11. The new $.44 stamps won't be on sale until May 11 and some small RSVP cards won't fit several tiled stamps. The solution is simple- the Forever Stamp. For more information on new rates visit USPS.
Foreverstamps