By the Bay Part 1: Hero Arts!

So sorry for the lack of posts lately — I really missed all of you! Did you miss me?

I’ve been mega crazy insanely busy at work on the Hero Arts 2011 catalog.  But I have good news: the catalog is mostly at the printer’s — whew.

I can’t wait until I can share the catalog with you! Even after seeing the stamps and the samples there’s just something magical about holding an actual printed catalog in your hands. Plus, there’s just so much good stuff!

So until I can share the catalog, I thought I’d share just a little bit about what goes into it, especially my trip to San Francisco for the photo shoot and the adventures I had while I was there.

My adventure starts on October 20th — yep, almost a month ago! — when I flew from Austin to San Francisco.

Here’s the view looking out from the Bay Bridge as I went to Hero Arts (they are in Richmond) after landing at SFO. It was around 10 am, and the pilot said it was 55 F.

(I kinda like how the white line on the road goes with the lines of grays in the photo.)

My first thought was — “Oh no, I forgot to bring a jacket. I’m gonna freeze!” — because even though I grew up in Ohio, I’ve lived in Texas for over 14 years now. And it was in the 90’s when I left Austin.

More on that later.

I couldn’t wait to get to Hero — I just love being there — it reminds me a little of Santa’s workshop — only instead of making toys, they’re making stamps. And the smell of the rubber cooking is so yummy too — it always makes me hungry for chocolate chip cookies for some reason.

Jackie —  the Creative Director and founder of Hero Arts — and I spent the day getting organized for the photo shoot the next day. We made list of supplies that we’d need, and I ran around the warehouse making sure that we’d have it: inks, acrylic blocks, notecards, and most of all — the stamps!

I also got to see the incredible samples that Shari, Sally, Jennifer, and Liz all made. So awesome. We all make tons and tons of cards to Jackie’s specifications and then she decides what will go in a shot and arranges them just-so at the photo shoot. I’d hate to have her job, I don’t know how she ever decides!

Later in the evening I got to go to dinner with Louise — she’s the one who got me started working for Hero back in 2005. Seems like so long ago! Hard to imagine that this is the 6th catalog that I’ve worked on.

We went to one of my favorite restaurants in the whole world — O Chamé — on 4th Street in Berkeley. Oh wow it was so good! But did I take any photos? Noooo, I was too busy talking. And eating. It was so great to see Louise, I just love her. And she loves cycling even more than I do, so of course we had to get caught up on Lance, Floyd, and the whole scene.

(photo from SFGate)

So, since I didn’t take many pictures of the food or Hero, I’ll have to share the little things I purchased while shopping with Louise at some of the sweet little shops on 4th Street instead.

First off, these three paperwhite bulbs from The Gardener. I have a super hard time finding these in Austin.

(photo taken back home in sunny Austin, TX. ha ha!)

Oh I can’t wait to plant these — and smell the blooms.

Then I couldn’t resist this little mushroom from The Castle in the Air, isn’t it just too cute?

Be sure to check out The Castle in the Air website — it’s too cool. Another thing I got there? Gold foil bicycle stickers! Oh yeah.

And, I also got an awesome pack of papers at a Japanese paper shop. What a great first day by the Bay!

In my next post I’ll have one (!) photo from the photo shoot, some shots from when I got to hang out with Sally at a make-n-take at Flax, and some more shopping and eating adventures!

Hugs,