grammar girl

e are so pleased that summer has finally arrived in Portland – even though it feels like it’s almost over.  We are pleased that the sun is out everyday – even though it doesn’t come out until noon.  We are pleased to be wearing flip-flops – even though we pair them with a sweater.  We are attempting to remain positive about the sunshine season despite the fact that it has been practically non-existent.  After all, if the summer was doing what it was supposed to be doing (luring us outside), we would be less happy stuck inside fixing up our new house every weekend.  And if the summer was doing what it was supposed to be doing (being all hot and sticky), you would be less likely to come into the shop and see our new favorite find:

Even on the grayest of summer mornings, we find a glimpse at one of these little landscapes makes the day BRIGHT!  They are made locally by Bright Design Lab, a clever little collective who not only create these tiny terrariums but design and build all kinds of wonderful things and spaces.  We get new terrariums in every week and the images above are just a small example of what you might find at the shop when you come in for your next visit.

or those of you who haven’t been in the shop recently, we thought a mini tour of some mini things might be nice.  While most of us aren’t looking for a living room couch and even fewer of us are in the market to buy an eggplant colored fridge, we can usually all treat ourselves (or our friends) to some of these little goodies:

For the Word Nerd or Font Freak:
letter tiles, calligraphy pens,
a book that teaches us the long lost art of letter writing
and a glass tray with a swirly alphabet

For the Simple Scientist:
a glass cloche, porcelain petals, vintage pyrex-turned-vase,
and a love-filled test tube on a sweet silver tray

For the Wedding Guest or Happy Housewarmer:
a lustreware vase and pitcher, decorative spindles
and cards for corresponding

ast month we were scouring the world wide web for a new letterpress company to bring in as part of our “Out-of-Towners” collection.  (If you didn’t know, the Out-of-Towners are a constantly rotating crew of small studio stationers from outside of Oregon.  We add them into our usual local letterpress lines for variety and to keep you wondering what you’ll see next.)  You can imagine our surprise when we stumbled across the super cool Oddball Press in our very own Ohio.  When we lived there, the closest thing to letterpress was the seal on your birth certificate from the notary public.  My how things change!

We received our order this week and along with the awesome cards that came (click here to see our favorite one), we also got two black and white prints that present a fantastical view of the ABCs and 123s.  So intricately awesome, we recommend you come by yourselves and see them up close.  We had our neighbors down at Luke’s Frame Shop put one of each design in a simple black frame to help show them off. Nice, huh?

eriously.  Who doesn’t love a locket?  Perfect for friends or lovers.  Traditional yet trendy, sentimental but not sticky sweet.  Fill them with faces from the past or current crushes.  We just can’t think of one good reason NOT to own a locket.  Perhaps you already do.  If not, you may want to peruse the new collection from our gal Jesseca of Paper Treasure.  Here are just a few:

ortland is an amazing place.  We love our city.  We love it so much that we simultaneously want everyone to move here (because it’s so awesome) and no one to move here (because we want it all to ourselves).  There is delicious food at every counter, a friendly smile on every countenance and creativity around every corner.  What’s not to love?

One of our favorite vendors, Lark Press, must feel the same way we do because they’ve created this super cute collection of letterpress cards.  Each one celebrates Portland in its own way.  There is the iconic St. John’s Bridge, a cityscape along the Willamette River, the Vaux’s Swift gathering at Chapman School chimney and our favorite, a US map with a heart over Portland.  We think these are the perfect way to send a little bit of the Portland we love to those who aren’t lucky enough to live here themselves.