Linda & Harriet 2012 Letterpress Calendar

As you know our 2012 calendars have been rolling in and just last week we received our shipment of Linda & Harriet letterpress calendars. We've carried this calendar every year and it is always my personal favorite. This year is no different!

Liz Libré, the artist behind Linda & Harriet, creates a pattern of hand-drawn illustrations that fill the bottom of each month's page. The drawings are always related to the specific month so that you have snowmen to look at in December and whales to admire in July.

The best part about the calendar is that on the back of each month's page there is a layout of a postcard so that when the month is over (or if you're like us it will be when the year is over since we display all 12 months at once for a huge, life-size wall calendar) you can cut off the bottom of the page where the pattern of illustrations are located and send a dear friend or secret crush an adorable postcard. How clever is that?

Can you guess which month is Sam's favorite? She's pretty stoked that not only does the 2012 calendar feature horse shoes, they just happen to be March's featured illustration, which is Sam's birthday month (March 7 in case you want to send cupcakes).

I love the pattern for October. Halloween is just a few short weeks away:)

photos courtesy of Linda & Harriet

Calendar Round-Up... 2012

Hey there guys and gals. The crisp Fall air hit Portsmouth this morning, and boy oh boy am I thrilled about it. Got to pull out my leather boots and scarves. And tights! I just couldn't be happier. The Fall brings all sorts of loveliness to New England, and to coastal New Hampshire. We hope to still see you all out and about, visiting our beautiful town (and maybe having to bundle up a bit due to that fabulous coastal breeze!).

This past week has been crazy at the shop (you'd think that things would tone down for a minute now that beach season is sort of out... but not so much here at G&R!!) We're starting to get holiday goodies in and will have a display out for custom holiday cards next week :) But before we put the cart too far ahead of the horse, I want to talk a bit about 2012 calendars. I know that I have been a-chattering about a few of my favorites, but now that almost all of our calendars for 2012 have arrived in store, I can't help but want to share! So here it is, a little calendar round-up for your viewing and organizing pleasure.

Last year everyone was looking for calendars with boxes - so this year we are carrying two wall calendars that offer that layout. The newbie is from Fine Day Press. It's watercolor designs are whimsical and bright, and what I love most about this calendar is how beautifully composed it is. It really reads like a piece of artwork on your wall, and just happens to double as a handy dandy calendar too!

As with many of our calendars, the talented folks at Fine Day built this calendar so that you can clip the calendar grid off at the end of every month and use the watercolor designs as prints. Gift them away or hang them in your home - but regardless of what you decide to do with them, we think you'll really love this calendar and get lots of use out of it!

Our other grid-style calendar hails from our upstairs neighbors at BG 2770 Designs. This calendar is always one of my favorites in the group because of it's saturated colors and organic design. My mother used to doodle swirls and shapes all over large sheets of paper for me to color in with my 24 pack of Crayolas when I was a kid - and while my work at that age probably looked like child's play compared to these lovely calendars, I still get that nostalgic feeling every time I see them!

We of course had to bring back the Paper Source calendars this year, as they were a customer fave in 2011! As many of you may recall, this wall calendar has patterns on the back of each page that you can cut out after the month is over and turn into file folders and pillow gift boxes - SO CLEVER! - and a great holiday gift for those of you who like to get your shopping done early!

For 2012 Waste Not also designed an awesome desktop letterpress calendar for Paper Source that I can't get enough of! It's the perfect pop of color and design for any workspace!

Snow & Graham's wall and desk calendar were each a huge hit for us last year as well. See their 2012 designs below...

Love those rainbow raindrops - don't you?!

You've seen our two lovely calendars from Rifle Paper Company, but I'll share them again. Because they deserve it. And so do you :)

This full page print is one of my favorites for sure. Each design by Rifle is hand-painted, and then printed right in house. Imagine this beaut hanging on the wall in your kitchen - by the phone so you can reference it, but framed because it really is a piece of art!

And I swoon over the soft pastel palette of the Botanicals 2012 calendar by Rifle. It demonstrates the traditional number grid on each page, but is really kicked up a notch by each unique, seasonal floral design. This is another calendar that could easily be cut apart and used as decorative prints after the year is over!

The last two calendars I'll share today are great gifts for the men in your lives.

Now don't get me wrong, they'd be great gifts for men AND women, but I think they have a particularly masculine feel that can be difficult to find in artisan printed and designed calendars! (Sorry to be a bit sexist here, but we have such a hard time finding great grabs for men, and so I feel like I have to announce to the world that we've cracked the code calendar-wise this year! :)

You've seen our super cute doggy desk calendar from The Found which has 12 unique pup-tastic illustrations, one for each month:

But then there's this newbie. This super awesome calendar could duo as a desktop or wall calendar, letterpress printed by Old School Stationers. I love the organic color palette and the fact that all of the designs are sort of natural and "Big Fish" inspired :)

Love the root veg page for September and that stark black crow on the October page!

So there it is - for now at least :) Some of our most lovely ways to keep you and yours organized and up-to-date in 2012! Pop by the shop soon so you can pick from our best selection, and let's talk soon about the other beautiful calendars the we have coming!

K?

Great!!

Lots of love and some big Fall-time wooly sock hugs from us here at G&R

<3

Lizzy

Morning Guys & Gals!

Hey there you - you lovely people... enjoying your lovely long weekend... in this beautiful sunshiny weather.

We've been getting LOTS of new lovely in at the shop over the past few weeks - but I specifically want to talk today about a few new goodies w've recently received for all of you back-to-school, jazz-up-that-home-office fanatics!

As many of you have already noticed, we have the first of our 2012 calendars hanging around the shop. After having an incredible calendar season last year (we are so lucky to have such fab vendors!!) it only made sense to expand our offerings this year. My favorite desk calendar so far is this one from The Found.

Each month has the sweetest little designs of different pups - they sort of have a collaged quality and are very unique. We already need to place a re-order and they've only been in the shop for about a week!!

And it's a toss-up for my favorite wall calendar. I can't get enough of Rifle Paper Co. lately, and really love the light, perfect palette of her Botanicals calendar. I'd want to cut the pages out and frame them for my powder room (if I had a powder room) at the end of the year :)

For those of you who have headed back to school, or who have kiddos who are back in the classroom this fall. These goodies are for you - to help you keep cool, calm, and collected during the rush of the academic year.

We recently ordered Paddywax's Library Collection for the shop - just to try some new everyday candles and diffusers. These are 100% hand-poured soy and come in the most beautiful little canvas covered boxes. What I love about these candles though is their comfy-cozy scents. Each scent is fashioned after a famous author, and their mix of floral and spice is just perfect to get you ready for the crisp leaves and blustery days that we have ahead! (Can you tell I'm hankering for it to officially be Fall?)

We also have some lovely little glass jar diffusers that mimic the Library scents - perfect for those of you who aren't big candle burners!

New page flags are in from Girl of All Work, perfect to use to keep your place in that new novel you started or to mark that roasted vegetable ratatouille recipe in Food & Wine magazine. Or for those of you heading back to school, these page flags work wonders when it comes to demarcating important text or quotes for paper-writing and studying purposes. Think of how much neon highlighter ink you'll avoid - and how pristine your books will look when you go to sell them back at the end of the year!

So imagine yourself - planning out your week and marking up your new calendars with lunch dates and business appointments, coming home to a beautifully scented candle, a good book (marked with your page flags!), and a cup of spiced cider. Yes I said spiced cider. And I was thinking a little pumpkin whoopie pie too. Summer's just about over pals... let's face it.

And who wouldn't want cider and a snack off of these pretty ceramics by Rob Ryan?

:) Alright, alright... enough, enough. I know you're all bummed that the summer's coming to an end. But with all of these beautiful goodies, how could you not be pumped for getting back to the grind?! I'm going to make a list in my beautiful new Russell & Hazel Agenda of all of the things I'm looking forward to this fall!

Ok, I'm done. Sorry... :) sorta...

Talk soon dearies!

XO much love,

Lizzy

Lots to go over....

Hey there folks... we've got some things to talk about today.

These things that I think we should talk about - they're super gorgeous and terribly beautiful and make me wanna write long letters and keeps journals of all of my lovely thoughts.

These things - they're stationery related. Big surprise right?!
I knew you'd be shocked :)

This lovely lady here is Miss. Anna Bond.

Her lovely little biz (if you really could call it little :) is based down in Winter Park, Florida. It's where she paints - where she dreams - and where she and her helpful hubby have developed and designed a phenominal stationery line. Hers are some of the most beautiful and whimsical notecards and custom invitations I've ever laid eyes on. I love her work. Love. Love. Love.

You can watch a little video of her working hard at Pacing The Panic Room:

http://pacingthepanicroom.blogspot.com/2010/11/do-what-you-love-episode-four-anna-bond.html

What always impresses me about Rifle Paper is how perfectly curated each design is. Every greeting card and print is unique, but they all have a painterly quality because that's where the designs begin. Anna's work has traveled from blog to blog, all the way to the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings and back - and we are really proud to have her goodies here at the shop. Check out some of her newer designs, that we just received in store :) And come check them out in person. Seriously. They're RIDIC.








Yes. Those are our first calendars of the season you see there folks :) They're ready and waiting for good homes.

And, yes. Those are foil stamped, floral notebooks for all of your journaling needs... and you know you've got some journaling needs... especially now that the summer's winding down and you want to record all of your fun adventures and get geared up for school to start in a few weeks.

Thanks for listening, and thank you to Rifle Paper Company for all of the BEAUTIFUL inspiration this week. Getting our stationery order in from NSS was such fun!!

Lots of love,
Lizzy