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