Baby Bot and all his friends will be showing off their softer sides in Houston next week for the International Quilt Market with Blue Hill Fabrics. The Bot Buddies collection will be featured on the softest flannel you ever did touch, as well as cottons that are perfect for decorating the nursery or the playroom. The colorways can be all-boy, as well as a fun look for girl-bots, too. Here is a peek at the flannels. (We won’t see the final cottons until next week at Quilt Market … and, we’ll be sure to share some cotton nursery ideas with you after the show.)

We have discovered two new elves here in Austin to help us take our 2-dimensional fabrics to 3-dimensional creations. Thank you Nancy and Deborah! Here are a few samples made from Bot Buddies flannels just to give you a taste of the possibilities. We only had a few bits and pieces of strike-off material … (which are the fabrics that we check to make sure the colors are just right) … but as soon as we can get our hands on whole yards of fabric, we will be posting some fun DIY projects and give-aways to get you started.

And, here’s something fun … Bot Buddy Toss jammies. Nancy is in the midst of adding some great embroidered touches, but I’m just sending it out unfinished ‘cause it’s already so darn cute. (P.S. I am also re-learning to embroider … part of my new empty-nesting phase … I’ll let you know how that goes!)

If you are already catching the itch to stitch, here are some sneak peeks of some of the patterns in just one of the colorways … these designs come in reds and yellows, too. Have fun dreaming up some great bot projects. And, as soon as we know where you can find all these super soft flannels, we’ll let you know. We are dying to see your flannel fashion!

One of my favorite aspects of trade show exhibiting is the sharing that goes on between artists, whether its tips and tricks or tape and scissors. At the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, we were surrounded by great neighbors all around! Next door, to the left, were the men representing The Comstocks. (Julie, the third musketeer, stayed back in Utah to hold down the fort.) Since Ellen and I think of The Comstocks as super heroes, I thought this picture told the story best … note the super-hero stances while at the same time displaying their designer sensibilities with shirts that coordinated with their booth. Julie, you would have been proud!

Next door, to the right, housed Two Town Studios and My Friend Ronnie, and she really is my friend, Ronnie! Here she is with her partner in work and life, Jim Marcotte. Ronnie and I are very pleased that we found two excellent Jims to balance our creative sides (not that our Jims aren’t creative in their own Jim ways!) I am happy to report that we actually accomplished a great deal of work, when we weren’t just flat out laughing. Ronnie kept us in stitches … which is why you should find her ‘My Friend Ronnie’ products to have on hand, in case you are needing a little chuckle in the middle of the day.

We met two new friends at the Licensing Show Cocktail Party, and enjoyed visiting with them in their cheery booth. Sharyn Sowell is known for her amazing and delicate hand-cut illustrations, and also introduced some new directions at this show: beautiful watercolor pieces combined with elegant calligraphy. Barb Tourtillotte creates designs for a wide variety of subjects with a masterful watercolor style. You can see her whimsical snowmen or elegant florals on so many products from soup to nuts (well not soup, actually … but fabric, giftware, greeting cards and more).

Here’s another new friend, Deidre Mosher. You can just tell she is fun by looking at this picture and the spunky booth behind her. Deidre creates images for everyone from tweens to the mature sassy woman (I think I personally fit into that last category, although some might say I can’t claim the ‘mature’ part … just the ‘sassy woman’ part.) :-)

From afar, but right across the aisle at the show, were our new friends from Puerto Rico representing Ñañaritos, a brand created around hand-painted characters with a magical story. Their slogan “When you see us, you will feel happy,” was appropriate for the group, because each morning when they arrived, they were wearing a different set of brightly colored shirts that matched their booth. It was nice to have a daily colorful view across the aisle.

I hope you have enjoyed meeting some of our neighbors and new friends from the world of licensing … or at least those I was able to photograph before the booths were dismantled, which happened very, very fast! (My helpers will tell you that our booth was THE slowest booth take-down EVER, and that we need to create a better way of packing it, so that we can be like The Comstocks, who win the award for fastest take-down of all. And, believe me, after three days of standing, showing, and selling, that is a coveted award!)

Baby Bot loved Las Vegas … the lights, the sounds, the fun. In fact, as he passed through the aisles of slot machines, he felt uncannily at home … He wondered, “When I grow up, will I be a handsome slot machine, like these popular bots?” We told him that we had higher expectations for him, and that he should continue to do his homework.

We were in Las Vegas for the Licensing Expo, so that we could introduce Baby Bot and all of his bot buddies to companies in need of cuteness. We also met lots of other characters from the world of character licensing. There were so many … but, our favorite fella (I think he was a fella) was this charming Uglydoll who kept sauntering by our booth, dancing a particularly clever jig. We thought he was amazing, particularly since the humans inside the costumes cannot see out very well. Fortunately, all the characters at the Licensing Show are provided with an escort to hold their hands and walk them around so that they don’t accidentally take down an entire booth, get lost, or faint.

This year, we were lucky to have four manning the booth. Ellen and Cathy showed portfolios, while Jim talked to anyone with contract questions. This time, we took a different Hecklette sister, Margaret, to help, and, she was a trooper. One of Margaret’s main jobs was to retrieve items we forgot from our room, which was approximately a mile away, even though it was in the same hotel as the convention center. Some of her other jobs included: set-up and take-down of the booth, replenishing our press kits, and most importantly, checking out the Janet Jackson booth periodically to see if Janet would ever appear. (If Janet appeared, it must have been during one of Margaret’s mile walks, as we never saw her.) All in all, we couldn’t have accomplished it without our extra sister. Thank you Margaret! Here are some pics Ellen took of Margaret dancing with Baby Bot. This is what happens when two sisters are slap-happy during booth set-up … and really just want to go eat supper.

After all the taping, cutting, gluing and shipping, here is a photo of our booth the night before the show opened. (You can never really tell if it is day or night in Las Vegas, which adds to the confusing pretend world that it is.) All in all, we had a great show, and met lots of new friends, and can’t wait to introduce you to our Las Vegas neighbors in the next post.

Oh, and by the way, this time, what happened in Vegas did not stay in Vegas. Here is our boxed booth, which just arrived back in Austin. We have some unpacking to do!

We had fun meeting our new British neighbors at Surtex this year, but it was also great to catch-up with old friends from 2010.  Fellow Austinite, Laurie Wisbrun was catty-cornered to our booth again this year, showing off her new Pooches and Pickups among other collections.  Here is a photo of Laurie (right) with her friend Alison, who was helping out.

(note: While Laurie’s pooches riding in pickup truck beds are adorable, she does mention in her blog that she would never let her own pooch ride around in the back without a seat belt.  I guess she’s using artistic <driver’s> license!  yuk yuk) We can’t wait to have some good Tex-Mex with Laurie when we’re both back in Austin and have recovered from the Surtex whirlwind!

More friendly faces from last year were the Cosmo Cricket bunch – Julie and Eric Comstock, and their best friend/partner Lindsay Moore.  Last year, they were Cosmo Cricket (and still are in the scrapbooking world) but this year at Surtex, they are The Comstocks – which makes them sound even more like the superheroes they actually are.

This talented trio has some great new art to show off – I for one love the little mermaids in the “Salt Air” collection (now featured on their blog), and their new fabric group for Moda, “Circa 1934,” is sure to be a hit.  Cathy loved the way their 3D mockups have reflections under them, as if they’re sitting on shiny white tables.  We are already so excited to be next-door-neighbors with The Comstocks at Licensing show in a few short weeks!

Another busy family team and next-door neighbors from last year were Sandy Gervais and her daughter Abby.  Sandy makes quilt patterns through her own company, Pieces From My Heart and also designs fabric for Moda.  This year, the Gervais family had quite a busy end-of-May considering that Sandy had a booth at both Quilt Market (May 13-15) AND Surtex (May 15-17).  We hope you were able to have a relaxing family weekend after that, Sandy and Abby!

Last but not least, here is a photo of Cathy with long-time friend and artist, Ronnie Walter of My Friend Ronnie and Two Town Studios.  Cathy and Ronnie met at the Stationery Show over twenty years ago! (They must have been ten years old!) Ronnie and her husband, Jim, were representing Ronnie’s great group of artists at Surtex this year and will also be our neighbors at the Licensing Show next week.  We can’t wait!

This year at Surtex, we had the pleasure of finding ourselves on what could have been dubbed, “Portobello Road”, both facing and adjacent to booths from the U.K., which was a blast. Our facing neighbors, Delphine Cubitt and Kym Bowles with Diane Potter of Acanthus Design Licensing were as jolly and fun as their artwork.  (It’s always nice to be across from a booth you like, since you’ll be looking at it for three solid days!)

They also taught us New Worlders about some great energy-boosters for future trade shows: fit flops (they were wearing matching pairs) and Kendal Mint Cake, which Sir Edmund Hillary carried up Everest (because sometimes walking a trade show can seem like hiking Everest)!

Our other cheerful British neighbors were the uncle/nephew team of Portfolio Select Art Licensing.  David and Jake were so cute – and not just because of their accents.  As you can probably tell from this picture, they were great crowd-pleasers, selling work from a selection of their 54 represented artists.  (They were also the driving force behind my purchase of the official Geocaching app the day after returning from New York.  Geocaching, if you don’t already know, is a GPS-guided treasure hunt, in which you find a hidden “cache” and can track various items that are hidden inside – a bit like letterboxing.  I’m sure you’ll hear more about this later…)

Delphine, Kym, Diane, David, and Jake, we miss you already.  The best and farthest-traveled geocache we found in New York was you!

We’re back in the Austin studio after Surtex in New York City.  Once again, we were inspired, energized, encouraged and exhausted.

The forecast for New York was rainy, and the weatherman was correct.  But lucky for us, we had one  perfectly pleasant day for “research” (shopping).  Then off to Jacob Javits we went, with Look Books in hand and a tasty picnic lunch, which we enjoyed on the floor of our booth.

Our newest addition this year was our new booth helper, Julianna, sister to Ellen, daughter to Cath.  Julianna just graduated with an art degree and will begin to pursue a graphic design degree this fall at VCUarts.  So we decided to put her to work in the family business, pronto. Nothing like a trade show to add a little reality-check to the glamour of graphic design.  Ha. Jules also brought a fresh new perspective, which kept us laughing throughout our set-up.

Photos above left to right: Ellen re-assembling our excellent stools we found last year. Cathy and Ellen hanging the Emma panel. Ellen and Julianna goofing around with a Little Pond duck towel, which coincidentally used to fit on Julianna’s own tiny after-bath head.

For our background frames this year, we chose a soft buttery yellow, primarily because it worked so well with one of our featured collection, Bot Buddies … but, also because it would add a little bit of sunshine in the midst of the florescent halls of the Javits Center, and, as it turns out, a bright respite from the rain that fell on New York City all three days.

All of our marketing pieces celebrated Bot Buddies, and once again we ordered our coordinating flowers from Big Apple Florist and they did a great job.
Photos above left to right: Our booth is finally up and the sisters are a little slap-happy.  Cathy attaching the cyber-cute sign to the Bot Buddies panel. Cathy and Ellen, relieved that the booth is finished … and, just in time for a tasty New York dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Trattoria d’el Arte.

Below is a little mini-movie Julianna made of our booth going up in one minute.  Ah, if only … Next post, we’ll introduce you to our new Surtex neighbors (and now friends) from across the ocean.  Have a wonderful Memorial Day everyone.

We’re on our way to the Big Apple to show off fully-developed collections created this year in the studio!  Feel free to stop by Booth #550 for a snack and a chat with Cathy, Ellen, and Julianna, where you can also see Baby Bot, his bot-buddies and many other adorable designs.  If you can’t make it to New York, here’s a little studio video featuring some of our newest developments:

Here it is in its taped corrugated glory – Surtex Booth #550!  There’s a lot of paint, and foam, and paper, and fire-code-sanctioned flame-proofing, and adorable baby robots, and argyle elephants, and jumpin’ monkeys, and you name it – it’s in there.

Now to tackle the seasonal 6″ paper-flurry that has blanketed the studio…

Well, it’s that time of year again.  Spring has sprung and for Cathy, that means sports events, school events, graduations (three this year!), and of course Surtex, the premier art licensing trade show of the year.  As we turn our sights to New York in May, Surtex organizers have asked Cathy to share some insights as a guest blogger for the show.

Over the years, Cathy has acquired some great tips for emerging designers out there – especially those of you who are just starting to license your own art.  You can find the guest blog here.  You’ll also meet DaVinci (above) at his 1485 Surtex booth, who shares some good tips for putting together your own booth this year…

I wish I could share more about the city of Atlanta with you, but we really only saw it from the inside of the Rube Goldberg-like halls and tunnels that connected the complex that is AmericasMart.  So, here’s a view of Atlanta, Georgia from the perspective of two artists inside trade show land.

Due to record snowfalls and closed airports, there was some worry among the gift companies that the weather might affect sales, but by the time we arrived, sales were soaring, the halls were packed and buzzing, and showrooms were selling until midnight!  Little Robot, who is the main character of our new Baby Bots collection, was delighted to be featured in the front window of C.R. Gibson.  Normally, I would have worried that he would get a big head, but fortunately, he is humble and spent most of his time playing with puppybot and birdywhisk … and wooing customers.

Photos clockwise from below left:  1. Cathy with Sherrie McCulloch, Director of Infant Products for C.R. Gibson, who made it possible for our three new collections to make it from drawing board to showroom in a few short months. 2. Close-up of the front of the new baby book (you can place your baby’s name in the nifty nameplate).  3. The keepsake box with alphabet cards for personalizing.  We love this product.  4. Cathy signing brag books. It was fun to meet so many retailers, many of whom were moms and grandmoms with their own babies to brag about!  5. The Baby Bot Ceramic Coin Bank, which was definitely the hit product of the day. We just wanted to fill his tummy with coins and give him a hug.

Little Robot’s favorite part of Atlanta was that he was joining two more collections born in the studio, Alex and Emma.  Ellen masterminded these two great groups and the final pieces were gorgeous.  They appeal to parents who enjoy both contemporary and traditional styles. Here is Ellen in front of our twin collections.

The Alex and Emma products are printed on cloth with embroidered embellishments and ribbons, which add to the keepsake quality of the collections.  Alex, for boys, features traditional patterns in crisp blues and whites with accents of navy.  Dimensional insets add a high-end feel to the group, which we like to describe as handsome (in a baby way).  Below are photos showing the baby book and its interior, and two of our favorite pieces, the natty brag book and precious embroidered frame.

Emma, the sister collection, is all about tradition – with a twist.  The colors for this group bloom in preppy pinks and greens.  We wanted it to feel fresh and clean and fun, and it really does. Below is a photo of the book with its sweet interior, as well as photos of two of our favorite Emma pieces: the embroidered frame and the very popular photo clutch, which was a favorite new item at the show.

So, that is what we saw in Atlanta, Georgia.  If you are welcoming some precious new babies to your families, we hope you see some perfect ways to celebrate them in our new collections. We have also created coordinating nursery art for all three new collections (which you can find right here) so that you can spell your babies’ names or place their monograms right above their cribs.  It’s never too early to start learning the ABCs, especially when A is for An Adorable new baby.

Next stop on the magical baby collection tour:  Dallas Gift Show.  We’ll be at the C.R. Gibson showroom signing books on Friday, January 21 at 1:00.  See you there!