How is this for a first day in Germany? We started our afternoon in a church and ended it in a castle. We are in Heusenstamm, a small town in the outskirts of Frankfurt.  Home to my sister Julia and her soon be be husband Wolfgang. Today it was all about their upcoming wedding day. A long weekend in October that will bring us together again...

The Gustav-Adold Kirche in the center of Heusenstamm. Build in 1922 this lutheran church is one of the newer buildings in town. Here my little sister will make the promise of "forever" on October 2nd.

Jarek and I are on our way to Germany...visiting our family & friends. My sister in Frankfurt, my mother and my brother in my hometown Altena, then friends in Hamburg and Berlin. Soooo exciting. Stay tuned for updates. Tschüss!

There is no denying that my son Jarek, my collaborator, my “baby” is growing up.
Here my “Sunday Morning” stillife -objects from around his desk, his room, our kitchen, the studio…these are the things he carries with him; the things he creates every day on his journey of becoming who he will be. Today, he seems to be very RED. ( Check out the cards we created together, when he was a little younger. We called that line “Offspring”. Last week I found a drawing on his desk. It is titled “Offspring. Part 2. The Evolution.” Can’t wait to see what he is thinking.)

Pictured here are...

I got a beautiful email from a customer today:

I am so glad I had the presence of mind to bring the baby book with us to the hospital. It was the only thing I cared about making sure I had with me. My son is named Raleigh Wyatt and his birth date was February 21, 2008. His little sister is due on September 24, so the chocolate book should arrive in plenty of time to come with us to the hospital.”

Attached were these photos of the  "Tiny Fingers, Tiny Toe” pages from her Binth Baby Book. How precious. How amazing. I am soo touched. (Kim lives in Colorado and if you noticed, Raleigh's name and the date are not filled in yet. Any suggestion for her on what pen to use?)

Please all of you out there-share photographs of your Binth Baby Book with me, I am curious to see and post them. Kim, thank you for being the first.

When Laura Robinson called from London and asked if we could be hired to design her wedding invitation we said yes. Yes we do. Laura and her groom Adrian had fallen in love with BINTH over our Joker Print collection and the matching playing cards. So much in love that they decided to go with the playing card theme for the entire wedding weekend in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire. And today is the big day. Congratulations !

No, this is NOT another picture of my grandmother...this is artist Ria Charisse's card. And her  “Thorny Twig" cast, a present from my friend Bonnie. For years I have been eyeing Ria's work, I  have a piece of her jewelry-but it is the casts that I love most. “The fascination with natural forms continues. After years working as a sculptor my aesthetic remains centered on the organic and the precious.” says Ria. I would like to get her plated pewter songbird feet next please. Just saying...

Where to find her work: the "Thorny Twig" at Hazel in Chicago and my Hummingbird Skull Necklace came from GoldBug in Pasadena.

Look! Our framed Alphabet letters are featured in the latest Land Of Nod Catalog. I love that the stylist spelled out one of my favorite boy names-and then put these on a BINTH Green wall...FUN!

( Thanks Jamie, Lia and Nancy from LOD for letting us use the picture here.)

You might have noticed our new address-yes, it is true-we moved the BINTH Studio. Moved it to Oak Park. Out and away from the city- I guess we technically will now be called “Chicagoland Designers.” Oh well. With a birch tree in the front and a big old Chestnut tree in the back - we really  landed in our very own “Woodland.” And that's good-by design.  ( Once we are unpacked I will photograph the new space. I promise.)

Turn off the lights...

A new dimension is added: we are developing our very first line of candles. For weeks now I have been tinkering with an amazing array of essential oils-trying to create the perfect concoction. Then name it and marry it with the perfect BINTH design. I love this process. 8 original designs. 8 original scents. All hand poured and made from 100% soy wax. Our candles will release in September.

Thank you Adrienne for your eyes, Gigi for your marketing wisdom, Bonnie for your words...and all of you for lending me your sense of smell. And style.

Look what Jarek got me for my Birthday- a Marshmallow Man. The toasted one. Tasteful on so many levels... Yes, he knows me well. The cutest thing: he delivered this present on a tray, serving me breakfast in bed. Made by Squibbles Ink + Rotofugi this is my third "Marshall" character.Further to be noted is that he carefully picked our BINTH "Woozy" Card to go with the present...Very tasteful indeed.

Our BINTH Single Alphabet Letters have found a second home and are now available at Land of Nod. Where they have joined our Binth Baby Book and the Binth Matching Game. We are so excited.

Adrienne Gits, Linnea's sister sent us these great photographs taken in her son Beckett's nursery. I think she missed her calling as a stylist. Thank you!

Our new catalog is printed and I wanted to share my favorite photographs. ( Download the full pdf at the end of this post. ) Alll images were taking in the our studio by our amazing photographer friend Patrick Voigt. Check out his work at patrickvoigt.com

For the third year now Jarek and I have been spending Easter in Coloma, Michigan at our friends Teddy and Bonnie's family house. Nestled in the woods, overlooking a little valley it has been the perfect get-away and back drop for oh! so many times and seasons. Easter up here though is the most magical.

This year we did exactly what we did last year:  we ate, we dyed and we hunted.

Under Sarah Steedman (Scrappy Nation) watchful eyes this time we we also made terrariums. Those and Sarah's latest creations, very beautiful paper mache birds, were the center pieces of our Easter meal: 3 fantastic pork loins, following a recipe of ( who else?) Jamie Oliver...( Slow Roasted Spiced Pork Loin, on page 245 in his book "Jamie's Dinners")