Chronicle Books Blog

Every May, stationers and paper lovers alike gather in New York City at the Javits Center for the National Stationery Show where exhibitors showcase their new creations and designs. As you might imagine, it’s a visual feast for the eyes. Year after year, I am overwhelmed and amazed by all the creative things these artists and stationers make. Here is a sampling of some of our favorite things that we saw at the show this year.

Blackbird Letterpress‘s die-cut notecards and state notebooks really caught our eye. I mean, c’mon, who wouldn’t want to receive a hug from that bear?

Dear Hancock‘s booth is always so fun and always has something wonderfully unexpected. This year the husband and wife team created a painted life-size desk that they setup in their booth! Their art is wonderfully humorous and unexpected as well, here are just a few of our favorite things we discovered in their booth.

The ladies at Egg Press have a style that is unlike anyone else’s and I so love their use of die-cut windows in their designs—so clever and fun! As always, such an inspiring booth to visit!

Ferme à Papier is Cat Seto‘s new line of notecards, and after getting sneak-peeks all week on Instagram, I was so excited to see them in person and they did not disappoint. I’m in love with her new style!

The Great Lakes Goods always has one of the most magical booths at the show. It’s a treasure trove of Rose’s hand-crafted delights. From packages of confetti and balloons to hand-painted feathers and award ribbons, every object she creates is sure to put a smile on your face.

A big congratulations to our friends at Hello!Lucky (authors of our Handmade Weddings and Pretty Please Stationery) for winning a Louie Award for Best Thank You this year. Congrats, you guys!!! As always, their booth was filled with their cheerful and sweet notecards… and a giant hot dog cut-out to take your picture with! (Thanks, Christina, for letting me take your picture!)

In addition to their amazing notecards, Hammerpress introduced an incredible array of die cut notecards and gift cards which were such standouts at the show. I love how Brady and his team really know how to push the color on their presses—such incredible work!

The ever-inventive Lea Redmond of Leafcutter Designs (and author of our World’s Smallest Post Service, My Museum, and Connexio) always has the cleverest of things in her booth. This year I could not get over her bags of Seed Money, paper coins embedded with seeds. Pure genius and so much fun!

Moglea‘s cards hand-dipped-dyed notecards really blew my mind. Love the kool-aid washes—such a clever twist!

Mr. Boddington’s Studio (author’s of our Every Day stationery line, yipee!) had so many new and wonderful things to discover in their booth that I’m not even sure where to begin. From the ex libris book plates, the gift wrap, the calendars to their growing line alphabet posters and iPhone cases—their attention to detail is unparalleled.

OneCanoeTwo‘s bold new calendars commanded your attention from across the aisle. I think that I literally ran into their booth to look at them! They also had a series of scenic postcard sets wrapped in baker’s twine that made me long to travel.

My francophile heart skipped a beat when I saw the new line of paper goods in Pei Design‘s booth this year! Oh là là, bien sûr!

Rifle Paper Co. (authors of our widely popular Botanicals line), as always, had the most glorious of booths. If I could live in a world surrounded by Rifle Paper Co. goods, I would.

Rigel Stuhmiller‘s illustrations of fruits, vegetables and animals really have this hand-crafted charm and the print quality was exceptional!

If you are looking for Downton Abbey with a modern twist, look no further! Sesame Letterpress combines vintage engraved art with modern neon colors for a fantastic and fresh look!

In addition to walking the show, we also have a booth where we showcase our new products and bestsellers. Our booth was bustling with activity this year and as a designer, it was so great to get to talk to buyers and our sales team about our upcoming titles and to see their candid enthusiasm for it!

And here are a few close-ups of some of our upcoming titles, Wishing Tree by Hello Hanna, Box World Adventures by Suzy Ultman, Big Ideas Notepad by Mary Kate McDevitt, and our latest and greatest punch-out format, Paper Chess Set.

Some of our Top 10 selling titles on the left and then our new stationery line with the V&A and our upcoming Art Deco Notebooks which have full-cover metallic foil on the covers, so decadent and divine!

Kristen Hewitt
Associate Design Director

Spring is officially here in San Francisco. And as the days get longer and warmer, I find myself dreaming of long afternoons spent in the sunshine, lounging by the pool with a good book and a journal at the ready. Sporting colorful art of bathers swimming in cool blue waters, Jing Wei’s Divers Journal is the perfect poolside companion.

Jing Wei is a brilliantly talented artist based in Brooklyn. She creates beautiful prints from hand-carved woodblocks that give her art a rough, inky quality you can tell is handmade.

A snapshot of one of her hand-carved woodblocks.

Jing has an eye for detail, and this journal is full of fun little surprises. I love the colorful perimeters on the interior! Those little swim goggles? Hilarious.

I asked Jing how she uses her own Divers Journal, and discovered that she brings that same sense of play to her make process. Play, zombies, and googly eyes, that is. Take a peek inside her journal to see what I mean below.

I’ve always gone through phases with sketchbooking. Most of the time, my sketchbook is what I use to figure out ideas and compositions for jobs, so I’m used to seeing it as a part of a bigger process. But recently, I’ve realized how important it is to be able to make work for fun, experiment, and not have any expectations for the results. It’s a great way to keep your work fresh, and stumble upon small breakthroughs with little risk. So when I was asked to participate in this feature, I knew it would be a good push for me to actually do what I otherwise would have kept putting off! I loved working in the Divers Journal because none of the pages felt too precious, and the variety of borders made it easy to jump around and try different things. I hate when I buy a sketchbook that I never touch because it is too beautiful and would probably be instantly ruined by the addition of my drawings. So this definitely fits my sketchbook requirements of being durable, but also pleasant to look at.

So here’s what I ended up with:

1. Drawings

These were mostly bits and pieces that were resurrected from a graveyard of rejected client sketches. The page of plants, for example, were inspired by old pattern sketches that were never fully resolved. By redrawing and recomposing the individual elements, it becomes something new. It’s also a good exercise to draw different things within one category, or draw one thing several different ways. It (hopefully) curbs stagnation, and keeps me from being too repetitive.

2. Notes

It’s always been easier for me to use writing to generate ideas, instead of thumbnails. It’s usually the first thing I do when I start a new assignment. I’ll lay out the prompt, and immediately jot down everything that comes to mind. This also helps eliminate the bad ideas right away. So by the time I actually get around to sketching, I already have a pretty good idea of what I want the piece to look like.

3. Collages

Collaging is the best. I’ve been slowly building a library of hand-printed paper, which I keep both at the studio and at home. I feel like I have a lot of freedom with collage, as opposed to drawing and painting. For me, it has a similar appeal to printmaking. You work with individual layers until it all comes together at the end. Along the way, there is lots of room for improvisation. I would really like to make a whole book of these little collages, all done outside of the studio. And I will try to not watch so much Walking Dead in the process, so the whole thing isn’t filled with zombies.

Oh and lastly – I love googly eyes!

Thanks Jing for letting us peek inside your journal!

Caitlin Kirkpatrick
Editorial Assistant

Subscribe to our Paper Goods Newsletter.

This year I’m giving our journals the spotlight in a monthly series of interviews with the talented artists who illustrate them. Last month we snuck a peek inside Suzy Ultman’s Storybook Journal, and this month I decided to get in touch with Jen Renninger, the talented artist behind the ever-inspiring Make Something Good Today journal. Sprinkled with Jen’s sweet illustrations and positive messages throughout, this journal inspires bright ideas with every turn of a page. I asked Jen how she uses her own copy, and her can-do, glass-full attitude shines through in everything she touches! Take a look below to see what I mean.

A few years ago, while working on an “image a day” project, I decided to create an image that would inspire me to keep with it. The Make Something Good Today print was made with that in mind. I wanted to have something on my wall that would remind me that creating every day was a good thing, that the action of making something is an act of love—an act that brings nothing but joy and goodness into daily life.

Now that Chronicle and I have made the image into a journal, it gets to work overtime as a source of inspiration! I use my Make Something Good Today journal for a handful of different things:

1- Keeping running lists of positive quotes: I started a project this year called “The Everyday Optimist.” Every day on the site, I post a positive quote or an optimistic story. So I’m always scribbling down quotes and ideas for that project in my journal.

2- Collecting: As much as I love painting and drawing, my first love has always been collage. I’m a sucker for paper—the older the better. There is something about the texture and the colors, the clipping apart, and the putting back together that just fascinates me. For that reason I actually keep my journal in a little box. That way, I always have tape, glassine sleeves, and pens and pencils with me. I can easily collage recent finds into a page at a moment’s notice. It’s all right there in one place.

3- Sketching: Drawing does something wonderful to my mood. I’m not sure what it is about the feel of graphite running over paper, but it soothes me. I hadn’t intended to use the journal for anything other than the Everyday Optimist project, but I’ve found as time goes on that I’m drawing in it as well. The pages aren’t plain sketchbook pages, so sometimes I sketch on loose-leaf sheets and then just stick them into the journal when I’m done.

I’d love to hear what others are using the journals for!

Let us know in the comments below. A special thanks to Jen for letting us peek inside her journal!

Caitlin Kirkpatrick
Editorial Assistant

Subscribe to our monthly Paper Goods Newsletter.

We’re already eleven days into February. How are you doing on your Month of Letters? I’ve fallen a little behind myself.

Wait.

You haven’t heard of “lettermo” until now? Before last year, I hadn’t heard of it either.

The challenge boils down to two simple ideas:

1. In the month of February, mail at least one item through the post every day it runs. Write a postcard, a letter, send a picture, or a cutting from a newspaper, or a fabric swatch.
2. Write back to everyone who writes to you. This can count as one of your mailed items.

I tried it in 2012. Stamps were bought. Fountain pens were cleaned and filled. Addresses were gathered. My overflowing stash of postcards, notecards and stationery was dusted off. And, I started writing.

For twenty-nine days, I eagerly awaited what the postal carrier might bring. I noticed blue mailboxes everywhere I went. I found moments to scribble out a note to a friend from high school or newly-made friends from Twitter. I sent and received more personal mail that month than during the past two years’ deluge of holiday cards combined. It was pretty sweet.

When this year’s February 1 rolled around, I was ready with my first letter to the pen pal I wrote to (almost) daily last time around.

Sadly, since then, I haven’t written a lick. This means I’m eight pieces of mail behind, not counting today. It’s not that sad, I guess. I’ll simply have to write a few extra over the next few days to get all caught up. I can do that.

The joy of connecting with friends though physical, tangible objects (not pixels on a screen, text messages or electrically reproduced audio impulses) is special. It may take me more time to write by hand, but it’s a welcome break to my routine. Creating a little space to get into my head, think about the person to whom I’m writing and sharing with them in this old-fashioned, but intimate way brightens my day. Hopefully it will brighten theirs when the missive makes it to its destination.

One of my favorite things about working for Chronicle Books is being surrounded by pretty postal paper products. There’s a plethora of non-book items that enable the act of writing and connecting with others. We’d love to share ‘em with you, so, during February, take 25% off and free ground shipping on all postcards, card sets and stationery. Enter promo code LETTERMO at checkout. (Personalized MyChronicleBooks gifts are not included.)

Just because February has started, doesn’t mean you should wait until next year. Want to join in A Month of Letters? Pick up a pen, pencil, crayon or quill and start a-writing today!

Stephen Houghton
Director of Ecommerce

The Chronicle office has been buzzing the last few weeks with new inspirations, brainstorms, and big ideas for 2013. Good thing we just so happen to be the lucky publishers of a plethora of journals all perfect for keeping track of to-do’s!

This year I’ll be touring our latest and greatest journals by getting in touch with the talented artists who illustrate them. This month, we take a peek inside the journal of Suzy Ultman, the wonder woman behind a cornucopia of adorable Chronicle stationery and gifts. She created the Storybook Journal with the look of vintage classics in mind, and with a debossed cover this journal looks and feels just like a collection of old fairy tales.

I asked Suzy how she uses her own, and it turns out she’s a die-hard list-maker. Here’s a look at the list of lists she keeps in her journal, all sprinkled with adorable Suzy doodles, of course!

I love making lists. Always have. As a teenager, I re-wrote my class notes in notebooks and journals just for fun, listing out science-y facts or bullet-pointing homework assignments.

These days, I like to keep my list-making creative and fun. My journals are a place where I can explore ideas and goals, keep track of thoughts, and organize concepts. It’s also a way to revisit places I’ve been, and think about the places I want to go.

The best things about lists…
1. They are easy to keep.
2. They are never-ending. You can always add bits, delete parts, and come up with ideas between the lines.
3. There’s no greater sense of satisfaction than adding something new to your list, or crossing something off of it.

The Storybook Journal has become my go to spot for list-making. The detailed cover is a constant source of inspiration. It’s almost like the quaint characters are suggesting lists for me to make.

INTRO LIST

I started my Storybook Journal with some brainstorming, by jotting down lists I’d like to begin. Hey, it’s a list of lists!

COLOR “LIST”

I have scraps and scraps of paper with color pencil markings. I decided to organize my color thoughts for a project where I need boy, girl and gender neutral color stories.

BOOK LIST

Sometimes I like to paste a little pocket into my journal. As my book list grows, I can add cards to the pocket.

BACKYARD SIGHTINGS LIST

My boys & I like to bird and critter-watch. We call our backyard the “Nature Channel”. I was actually reminded, by my oldest son, that I forgot to list banana slug on this list.

GROCERY STAPLES LIST

I keep a post-it like this in my wallet (minus the doodles) with our household grocery essentials. I add everyday lists like this to my journal, and use them for drawing exercises. Sometimes, nothing is more inspiring than a quick post-it list.

PEN LIST

I am constantly on the hunt for good pens. These are my favorite! They all live in my totable pencil case, so they can go wherever I go. Most of these pens can be found at Staples or Blick. For the Japanese pens, check-out:
Muji Pens
Delfonics Pens
Paul and Polina Pens

WORDS I LIKE LIST

This list is ever growing. It comes in handy for creative writing, and also sparks visual ideas.

MANTRAS LIST

I like to approach each day with thoughtful, positive energy. If I need a nudge in that direction, one or more of these mantras always helps. I love making additions to this list.

TRAVEL WISH LIST

Inside the giant clog is my very special travel wish list. It is especially fun to cross items off of this list!

Special thanks to Suzy for sharing her journal with us.

Caitlin Kirkpatrick
Editorial Assistant

Subscribe to our monthly Paper Goods Newsletter.