“Client Visits”

Recently, Patti and I had the opportunity to visit with two NSS exhibitors while we were on a trip to California.

Our first stop was San Francisco (or, more accurately, Emeryville) to visit with the folks at Cardstore.com

Cardstore.com offers personalized cards for every occasion, and they license artwork from exhibitors in the National Stationery Show for its on-demand portion of the business. Some of these companies include Driscoll Design, Great Arrow Graphics, Spruce Avenue and Pipo Press – to name but a few.

Their offices are in this former industrial section of town, and they occupy a few spaces on the block – all just steps away from each other. They have one area for their offices (with loft ceilings), one for print and production and another for fulfillment. It was fun for Patti and me to see their printing equipment in action – and to see the custom orders coming out the other side. The VP of Operations, Paul Felber is amazingly knowledgeable in all kinds of printing equipment and inks (that’s years of experience for you), and he described how the different machines worked to Patti and me. I love this behind the scenes stuff! I’m sorry I can’t show you!

But here is a photo outside the office.

That’s Paul (L), Matt Cedillo, account manager (center) and Marty Reed, the company’s new CEO, (R) . (Matt has been my main contact at the company for 3 years and it was fun to see him in his home environment, so to speak).

Patti and I also met with Katy Borden, the Creative Production Director, but alas, only after this photo was taken. Katy has a great artistic eye, and I had a lot of fun getting to know her.

On Monday, I received this great, personalized thank you card from Marty. (I’ll just show you the front…)

The design is by Lilla Rogers Studio.

The next day, Patti and I went down to La Jolla, and got to stop in on Elum Designs! I have known Melissa and Brad Foster since before they joined the National Stationery Show for the first time back in 2002, so needless to say I was thrilled to have the opportunity to see how they create their beautiful line, and what it takes to store, pack & ship!

When we were visiting, we got to see Melissa finishing up an order of gorgeous letterpress invitations to a swanky fete that was being held in, of all places, White Plains! (That’s where we are, here at GLM). Her choice of paper and ink color and overall design – exquisite! It sure made me want to go to that party! (Don’t worry, I didn’t crash it!)

Elum has a few Heidelberg presses to handle the volume of custom letterpress invitations and announcements they create. I love these dependable machines – they look so big and clunky, and make a bit of noise, but they produce such lovely, even delicate results. Here’s one all inked up for a run. The press guys were shy about having their photos taken, though!

We also were treated to a tour of the warehouse. I was amazed by all the products there – staged to be shipped. I get to know exhibitors products by how they display it in their booths. So to see all the great giftwrap, notecards, journals and those amazing stationery desk sets (a Best New Product winner at the 2008 Show) on high shelves was really cool. I got a better idea of the sheer volume of products that this company is turning out. And to think, they got their start just a few years ago with a few lines of letterpress invitations. That Melissa, she’s talented!! (And she has a great team, too!)

When we were there, Patti asked about their efforts to be a “green” company. Brad told us that they use tree-free and recycled papers for their various products, and that they even recycle their steel-backed letterpress plates.

Here’s Melissa and Brad in one of their workrooms at the offices / warehouse.

You might be able to see that their workspace is clean, bright, organized and beautiful. What else would I expect from such a well-run company?

Thanks to both of these great companies for allowing Patti and me to have an inside look at their operations! We love to always be learning about how our customers do their business in order to fulfill the needs of their customers!

“Until next time!”

Kelly

We’re back!

Oh, who knew there would be such a delay in our postings? It has been a busy summer thus far. How does a girl get it all done? In fact, how does a man?

Speaking of men, we now have a guy on the NSS team. How ‘bout that? So what do we do about our blog name? Shall we become the NSS Girls and a Guy? That doesn’t sound bad – kind of has a ring to it!

Soon, exhibitors in the National Stationery Show and friends in the blog community will get to know the new members of our team:

Alyson Milbourn



Alessia Adler


and… the “guy” – John Kelly


All of them have worked at GLM for a number of years, and I’m excited to have the chance to work with each of them as they join the team.

They all have joined the team because we’ve done some shuffling around of jobs here, and that has really been keeping us on our toes!

That said, remember when Jess posted her farewell blog? Well, there must be some kind of saying about saying goodbye too soon. Whatever it is, it applies to this situation, because as it turns out, she will continue to help out on our team, along with her new responsibilities here at GLM. And, we just couldn’t let her off the hook with blogging (and frankly, I think she would have missed it!) so, she will be back on our page here soon!

Arque has joined the operations team here at GLM, so exhibitors can and will chat with her about booth display, move-in, move-out and all kinds of logistics related to the NSS, and all of our other Shows.

Rosanne has left us, and is about to set sail on a wonderful family reunion cruise! We wish her nothing but the best!

Meantime, Patti and I have been out and about in the market this summer (and we’re not done yet!) I’ve had the opportunity to chat with current NSS exhibitors as well as potential new ones, and I can tell you, the excitement and interest for the 2009 Show is already building! One new company I met is very well positioned to join the Show. That company is Tachits. The product is a decorative item that allows one to attach a greeting card to a wrapped gift or gift bag. This is most handy for showers, as any of us “girls” who have attended showers can attest. It is not a good thing when the card and gift are separated from each other! The clever sisters behind the product spent a lot of time in research and development on their line and it shows. They have a good sized line (and growing) and they would find a great audience in the buyers at the National Stationery Show! Fingers crossed they’ll be with us next May!

Where I was, I couldn’t help but notice that the black & white trend is going strong! You already know this of course, but that color combo is on everything – invitations, notebooks, notecards, pens, pads, bags – you name it! And it does look stylish right now. One of my very favorite items is this computer bag from Anna Griffin, sported by our very own Patti Stracher.



And I love this chain link pattern on notecards from Boatman Geller.


Animal patterns are still going strong, and the zebra stripe hits the mark twice – black & white and animal. Check out this great invitation from Whitney English.


Another animal trend going strong is the giraffe pattern. You must have seen this at the National Stationery Show this past May, but have another look at this great set of notecards from Toss.

I’m a fan!

One shot of color that I thought stood out was a bright sapphire/cobalt blue. I saw this at another show, in a booth of an exhibitor with home décor items. The rest of the booth was black, gray and white, and the blue looked especially beautiful. The company that did this (sorry, remaining nameless) is somewhat of a trend-setter, and I fully expect to see more of this color moving back onto all kinds of products. We’ll see if that bears out!

We should be back with a post soon, and as September rolls in, we’ll be back to our usual weekly schedule.

For now, I hope you are having a summer that is both productive and enjoyable!

-Kelly

Just Say Thanks!

It’s said that we spend more time with our business colleagues than we do our family. So why is it that we spend so much time giving thanks for our family and friends, and not the people that we see Monday-Friday, 9-5, and sometimes weekends too!

This Thanksgiving, I’m making sure to give thanks to those who get to see my smiling face on a Monday morning and my tired eyes at the end of a trade show – namely my boss and teammates. I also think it’s important for companies to thank its, employees, reps, vendors, customers, service providers…you get the picture! Take a minute from your “to do before vacation” list and make sure your colleagues know how much you appreciate them! Here are a few ways to say a quick, but meaningful, THANK YOU:


1 – Send out greeting cards (don’t tell me you didn’t see this coming!) Hearing “thank you” from your boss is great, but the words will soon fade into a distant memory. Cards can be hung in cubicles, stored in files and brought out again and again to help keep a smile on an employee’s face, day after day – not just in the spirit of the holidays. You should see my bulletin board!

2 – Give a gift basket or gift card. Many times it’s hard to buy a present for a business colleague. How much is too much? Or too little? Will they like it? Gift baskets and gift cards are the way to go! No matter how much you spend, it’s always a nice and appreciated gift.

3 – Have a pre-Thanksgiving lunch with your boss/employees. There is nothing like a lunch with co-workers that is done in the spirit of thanks to make your point.


I’m sure you can come up with many ways to say thank you. The most important part is that you say it in your own way. Thanksgiving is about appreciation and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want to feel appreciated.

So on that note, the National Stationery Show Team (NSS Girls!) would like to thank its exhibitors, attendees, industry friends and faithful blog readers. We wouldn’t be here if not for you!



- Patti, Kelly, Arque, Rosanne & Jess

We would love to hear the ways that you showed your appreciation this week. Please leave us comments filled with your stories!