Today's weather feels more like March than March did with its record highs, but we've been enjoying a lovely spring all in all. The blooming trees and acid green of new leaves is very picturesque. I've been to the UW Arboretum a few times - and my mind is whirling a bit with ideas of color combinations in different shades of petals and buds.
April 1 has been and gone, which means that most of the orders placed in San Francisco should be on their way. There are still a few purchase orders left but last week was busy with new arrivals. These lovely necklaces, and accompanying earrings, are from a small studio in Canada. We love their simple and elegant shapes.
Our artists have also been busy. We got a delivery from Mindy in Oshkosh, from Naomi in Madison, from Lori in Kimberly (WI), from Andrew in Minneapolis, : stamped bracelets, storybook coasters, "WI proud" print, letterpress prints with inspiring messages, yo-yo hair clips...
And more "Midwest is Best" shirts, just in time for the springtime flying of the nest of high school and college graduates.
The paper department got a nice boost with pocket notebooks from Japan ("Most advanced quality gives best writing features"), silly animal post-it notes, colorful notebooks and sketchbooks, stickers...
We also received more of the popular "Keep Calm" prints. I like the twist on "keep calm and carry on" - somehow "keep calm and craft on" suits me much better and feels more active. The "teach on" and "ride on" prints are particularly popular as gifts.
In a few weeks, the Wisconsin Film Festival will be underway. Sachi installed a film-themed window, but we also had a customer come in and make buttons. As soon as we saw their ad, we thought about buttons - the circles are almost exactly the right size for buttons.
And, of course, we are still making buttons. Sachi found a fun old Barrett picture, though we are still on the fence about a specific candidate. Her series of panty pins have been very popular. In cleaning out the office, I came across some old Wilton cake decorating books and was inspired to make this set.
The weekend after the film festival is my workshop at Valley Ridge Art Studio so I'm mostly just brainstorming in preparation for that - as usual, gathering many more supplies and ideas and patterns than a person can do in the three days that I'm out there, but the anticipation is always fun.
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