national stationery show 2012: that's a wrap!

wrapping up my first trip to the national stationery show with one last round-up of favorite booths. thanks for indulging me as i share the highlights of the 2012 show -- as you can see, there was SO much to check out and i definitely could have spent a week there and probably still miss things, but for my first visit i was pretty happy with what i got to do and see.

first -- a little shout out to anyone considering a booth in the future. katie, the owner of kelp designs, is also the creator of tradeshow bootcamp -- a small business guide to doing tradeshows for the stationery industry. workshops cover topics like booth design & logistics, product strategies for the wholesale market, marketing outreach & social media, networking with buyers & sales reps, and follow-up strategies for after the show. more info here -- this workshop is PERFECT for anyone who's been seriously (or not-so-seriously) considering getting their own booth at a future stationery show. more than FORTY bootcamp alumni had booths at this year's NSS!

loved the bright colors and fun designs at the man vs. george booth. they had a kickstarter campaign set up to help them get to NSS this year, and they made their goal! congrats. ryan and tilney also invented these cool mini-shelfs to help exhibit their trademark wrap-around card designs.

couldn't wait to check out the marsupial paper booth after i toured their headquarters last year, and they didn't disappoint! new offerings for this year like thermography printing and new envelopes -- so pretty.

more pretty things from susy jack -- love these designer sets in such fun colors. turquoise, anyone? :)

i wore my "send more letters" pin with pride at the show! thanks to carina from crow & canary for that sweet little accessory.

loved all the brightly colored cards and fun illustrations in the happy cactus booth. such a great company name too!

me with some of the talented designers of brightside prints -- so fun to have stationery-loving friends. (and once again, please ignore my crazy rain hair ;)

all in all, i had a BLAST at the national stationery show. i kind of can't believe i was there last week -- feels like a dream. i hope i get to go back again one day!

more stationery show coverage:

a newbie's guide

bright booths

personal favorites

trends in stationery panel

good ideas

for foodies

national stationery show 2012: for foodies

you might remember my post a few weeks back about yours is the earth, a beautiful shop dedicated to stationery & art related to fresh food, eating seasonally and buying local. maybe that got me in the right mindframe to notice this trend more often, but i saw SO many cute foodie-related things at this year's stationery show. take a look, if you're not too hungry already ;)

pretty hand-screenprinted cocktail napkins from fisk & fern:

susy jack introduced a beautiful line of kitchen items -- coordinating dish towels, recipe cards and more. i think these would be a perfect housewarming gift! (photo credit: kristen magee @ paper crave)

saw a bunch of decorator place mats at the show, like these cute ones from mixt studio. so many different patterns and colors to choose from -- the commitment-phobe in me loves that you can swap them out (then throw them away) for any occasion. 

a tasty-looking "certified gluten free" line of cards from wallace west:

more stationery show coverage:

bright booths

a newbie's guide

personal favorites

trends in stationery panel

good ideas

national stationery show 2012: good ideas

here's a look at some of the best "good ideas" spotted at the 2012 national stationery show.

fill-in-the-blank thank you cards for kids, from elum designs! genius. jack needs these. 

also from elum: gorgeous boxed blank notes. what would i use these for? i think the right question is what WOULDN'T i use these for. #need

"manly" notecards from blackbird letterpress. [another trend discussed in our panel? the rise of male-friendly stationery. men need to write thank you cards too!]

stamped wax seals, spotted at the simplesong booth:

cool decorations in the smock booth -- paper leaves cut from their signature patterned papers:

hand-stitched envelopes (and chalkboard walls!) from B.T. elements:

more from the stationery show:

bright booths

a newbie's guide

personal favorites

trends in stationery panel

national stationery show 2012: top 10 trends in stationery

i've always dreamed of going to the national stationery show, of course, but the thing that finally got me motivated to actually attend was the chance to speak on a panel about trends in stationery. i was SO excited to be able to participate and i'm so grateful to the team at GLM for inviting me!

my fellow bloggers are stationery social media celebrities -- nole from oh so beautiful paper, kristen from paper crave, and suann from simplesong -- and i was seriously honored (and intimidated!) to speak with them. it was lovely to finally meet them in person after emailing and tweeting with them for so long. our panel was moderated by sarah schwartz, editor of stationery trends magazine. this was just one portion of a phenomenal three-day buyer education program sponsored by NSS, filled with other informational sessions designed to help store owners and buyers with new sales and marketing strategies.

the day of our panel was humid and rainy -- i had forgotten how CRAZY my hair looks in that kind of weather. for the record, i don't always look like a frizzy mess ;)

we discussed the stationery trends we've been seeing online lately -- fun things like chevron, nautical icons, stripes, bright colors, stamped seals, envelope liners...all my favorite topics. we also discussed some of our favorite social media tools like pinterest, instagram, twitter and facebook. i hope it was a helpful overview for the attendees.

[photos by amy locurto for the stationery place]

we were also asked to put together our "top 10" trends of the moment. i think my list turned out a little different than everyone else's because i don't have the sophisticated design background of my esteemed fellow panelists -- my outlook is a lot more marketing- and social media-focused since i spend my days in the business consulting world. anyway, if you're interested, here were the trends i listed on my handout:

Top 10 Stationery Trends from The Stationery Place

1  -  S O C I A L  M E D I A

These tools are everywhere and bring so many possibilities to the table. Research the big ones, decide if / how they'll help your business, and put them to work for you

2  -  P I N T E R E S T

Whether you love it or hate it, Pinterest is the fastest growing social media tool around. Learn to harness it appropriately to boost your visibility, sales and fan base.

3  -  V I D E O

Online video is the marketing tool of the future. Think tanks estimate that online and mobile ad budgets will have tripled by 2015 -- how can you bring video into your business plan and take advantage of this?

4  -  B O L D  P A T T E R N S  &  C O L O R

From damask to lattice, bold patterns are IN and not likely to leave any time soon. 

5  -  M E T A L L I C S

Gold, silver, bronze -- they're not just making an appearance at London 2012 this year! Shimmer and shine pop up in more stationery text, graphics and accents every day.

6  -  J E W E L  T O N E S

Taking a page from the fashion runway, the "in" colors for this year include bright, rich colors like rhubarb, navy blue, chartreuse -- and of course, the Pantone color of the year: Tangerine Tango.

7  -  B U S I N E S S  C A R D S

Unique, clever, tasteful business cards are all the rage right now -- what does your card say about you? 

8  -  H A N D  L E T T E R I N G

 "Typography" is a hot buzzword these days as the world falls in love with rare fonts, calligraphy and design. Hand lettering adds a personalized, organic touch to an average piece of stationery.

9  -  P H O T O G R A P H Y

With DSLR cameras so prevalent, no blog or shop can afford to post grainy, dark or ill-focused photos anymore. Get a nice camera and learn how to use it (there are plenty of free tutorials online!) -- a good photo makes your product look 100% more awesome.

10  -  C A P I T A L I Z E  O N  I R L !

Relationships IRL, or "in real life," are becoming more sacred as we're all driven further into online worlds. Join a local networking group, host a face-to-face meet-up in your shop for other stationery and design fans, support handmade craft fairs or art shows. And bring handouts -- you never know who you'll meet or how they'll be able to boost your business.

national stationery show 2012: new favorites

obviously i'm a bit of a paper addict, but thing i loved most about this year's stationery show was the chance to find a handful of new-to-me designers and studios. here's a bit more about my latest discoveries.

first up: farewell paperie. the second i walked into this booth, i knew i was destined for instant friendship. the walls were painted turquoise (my favorite color...are we noticing a theme here?), they were giving out jelly bellys (my favorite candy), and the owners lisa & jen just moved to SEATTLE of all places! it was meant to be, i tell you. i'm already planning a seattle paper series post about these girls, but in the meantime here's a peek at their cute booth.

the girls were also giving away letterpress bumper stickers -- i grabbed one that said "ink if you heart letterpress." adorable! (i borrowed this image from their twitter feed.)

the ladies of letterpress booth was amazing -- LOLP is an organization to encourage and promote women in the letterpress industry, and they had 11 members (all first-time exhibitors) showcase their wares in one giant booth. one of these ladies, meg from moglea, was so adorable i wanted to bring her home in my pocket. she had cool hair, a cute outfit, and beautiful stationery that included watercolor washes, hand lettering and customized envelope liners. AND she lives on a farm in iowa. yeah, she's pretty cool.

i also loved the dingbat press booth. i had heard of this studio beforehand but really liked getting a closer look at their cute tags, cards and notebooks. and their booth was AMAZING -- the walls were made out of hundreds of punched kraft paper circles! they did double duty as an awesome backdrop + a filing system for all the product. so cool.

loved this little series of iconic landmarks -- can you spot the space needle? (sorry for the awful lighting...that section of the show was really dark.)

(random side note: one of the girls working the dingbat press booth knew my sister in college -- in idaho! so funny that we'd meet each other in NYC of all places and have that connection.)

among the zillion booths i toured at the stationery show, these three stood out to me the most. i highly recommend checking out their shops / sites for all your stationery needs.

more NSS 2012 coverage:

bright booths

a newbie's guide

send something good 2012

taking a little break from my national stationery show coverage to share a fun package swap i participated in a few weeks ago. happy memorial day!

a few months ago i featured the shop isavirtue. shortly thereafter, kaitlyn and a few friends dreamed up the send something good project and i was totally in. how fun to be assigned a secret blog partner, put together a special package, and then receive another package from someone else!

i was assigned to surprise megan from here's to you mrs. robinson. i had never met her or read her blog before, but i was pleasantly surprised to find we had a lot in common -- both have a little boy, both went to the same college! funny. i put together a fun little package full of random trinkets & treasures. (i took this photo from megan's twitter feed.)

then, a few days later, i received an amazing package in the mail from nadine-adele at freebird. she lives in the UK and works at a stationery shop so she sent me all sorts of amazing cards & things that are right up my alley. i love the union jack cards and mug! too cute.

they were also packaged in a super cute little box full of red white & blue confetti. some of us just couldn't resist playing with it all day long :)

huge thanks to gentri, kaitlyn and kristy for setting up this whole project, and to my swap partners for being awesome. can't wait to do it again! (links to all the other participants after the jump.)

national stationery show 2012: bright booths

i definitely loved all the BRIGHT colors at this year's stationery show. as we discussed in the panel (more on that to come too!), vibrant colors, rich hues and neon are all the rage in 2012 and NSS definitely delivered. here are a few of my favorite booths showcasing color:

fine day press had such a great use of color and shape -- they even had metallic notebooks AND a new watercolor calendar too.

fabulous neon cards from anemone letterpress (one of a handful of stationery studios based in my hometown of pasadena, CA! way to represent;) :

egg press has been one of my favorite studios since i started blogging -- i was so excited to meet their team in person. (AND they're in portland -- yay, pacific northwest!) the neon geometric cards were the best.

fisk & fern was a new discovery for me this year -- such fun colors and illustrations:

wallace west had a booth with pastel walls to showcase all the cute hand-illustrated cards. i liked the dogs the best.

a wall full of brightly-colored cards from kelp designs:

stay tuned -- more to come next week!
other national stationery show coverage: a newbie's guide to the national stationery show