Some of you may have seen on my IG feed that I attended my FIRST EVER National Stationery Show (aka NSS) in Newww Yooorkkk (must be sung in Alicia Key’s voice). Or as I like to refer to it, THE paper lover’s Paper Paradise.

It was a big deal for me, as we are coming up on Pretty by Post®’s one year anniversary and all. So I thought why not celebrate in a paper lover’s true fashion by going to the biggest stationery show.

Mark your calendars for lots of fun stuff coming at you to celebrate the big day on July 20th, which is also my 14th wedding anniversary. July is also my birthday month, and if I had been thinking clearly at the time, I wouldn’t have had a wedding and the launch of my paper empire so close together, because celebrations should be spread out. All the other months are really really jealous of July!

But I digress.

2016 National Stationery Show

NSS was AMAZING, fabulous, fantastic, everything a paper lover could want and imagine (and then some)! The lead up to it was like Christmas in my mailbox. I started receiving invites a couple of weeks before the show. Well played designers and stationery peeps.

I was only there for two and half days and that was plenty for this introvert. Large groups, heck, small groups too, drain my energy. And this was the mother of all groups. I had several intentions for going:

1. To meet my wholesale vendors. I order and receive all these awesome cards and other paper products from designers, and never get to meet them. I couldn’t miss out on meeting these creatives and fellow business owners in person.
2. To find new designers and new products (hint: for stationery boxes and special themed collections).
3. To do a solo trip and get out of my house. I work from home which is my dream come true. But my daily in-person interactions consist of my husband (who travels a lot for work), so really it’s just my dog and my cat when she graces me with her presence. I don’t mind because introvert, remember? But I recognize that I need to cultivate more spontaneity and fun in my life.  

I was able to accomplish all those goals and I even met two interwebz friends IRL. And they turned out to be just as incredible in person as they are online. Big sigh of relief! One of these friends was my #sendcardsspreadlove challenge co-host Christina!

Today, I’m sharing some of my fave exhibitors, booths, products, etc. from current wholesale vendors. I’ll be back to share new-to-me vendors, trends and products next week in Part 2.

Enjoy and keep the drooling to a minimum.

Josh and Jenny of Hello Happiness Card Company were a major priority for me to meet. Josh has graciously designed my newsletter opt-in, written two guest posts (read them here and here) and has been incredibly helpful and supportive on my business journey.

Both he and Jenny were extremely friendly and open and honest about their business. You can find their custom made You Are So Loved card in the August 2015 Collection. And they let us write encouraging statements on their walls at their NSS booth.

laLa Grace really wowed me with their new products. I’m a big fan of their cards (Your Face was a big hit in the November 2015 Collection) and couldn’t wait to see what they’d be launching.

They did not disappoint. Unfortunately, the images I took disappeared from my phone, but you’ll see their stuff in upcoming PbP collections. I’m absolutely in love with this ombre pink and gold heart, and the bag they gave out. 

I’m so smitten with Moglea that I’ve offered two of their cards in previous collections (the January 2016 Collection and the May 2016 Collection). For NSS, I wanted to see their line of hand painted notebooks and letter-pressed notepads in person.

Sometimes a girl’s just gotta be able to touch all the things. WOW! Talk about gorgeous. These will definitely make an appearance in the stationery boxes.

Another high priority of the must meet variety, I made a beeline for Coleen and Joe’s booth, Paper Freckles. And I visited them two days in a row – sorry guys for being that girl.

I love their sense of humor – see their You Totally Rock card in the March 2016 Collection and read their #sendcardsspreadlove challenge guest post Letter For Little Ones.

Katie of The Good Twin is a bonafide twin and claims she’s the good one, depending on the day. All her cards are hand drawn (The Golden Gals card from our October 2015 Collection still makes me smile and sing that song – *shakes fist*).

She has great new cards, but I was really interested in her flair. Yes, flair has gotten way cooler and is so in again. “You do want to express yourself, don’t you?” I’ve got something awesome for the July 2016 Collection from Katie that you don’t want to miss out on.

Richie Designs sent me my very first NSS invite ever and that makes them the coolest (along with their awesome thank you card in our September 2015 Collection). Also, I got to meet their rep, Sasha, in person and she’s pretty much the coolest chick ever on the face of the earth. All the coolness made my head want to explode.

Check us out as total twinsies in our green jackets and dark jeans. Not shown: her matching striped shirt and both our black flats. I just realized that we got our pic taken in a different booth. LOL.

Lastly, this pink and gold wishbone birthday card from Underwood Letterpress is everything. Their confetti card was super popular in the May 2016 Collection. All of their cards are hand-drawn and hand-printed too.

See you next week with more NSS goodness in Part 2. Also don’t forget that the June giveaway is still going on. Don’t miss your chance to win!