Guest Blog: Pamela Jorgensen, National Stationery Show 2011 Report

Whoo-hoo! Today’s guest blog is from Pamela Jorgensen at PamJArts, and is our first report from the National Stationery Show 2011 in New York City (May 15-18). Sounds fascinating…wish I could go next year!

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This week I put aside my ‘taxi-mom’ hat and headed out of the ‘burbs’ on a little adventure to the National Stationery Show in New York City. At one time in my life it would not have been much of an adventure. Let’s just say, it’s been a while since I was in the actual hustle and bustle of commerce, instead of my quiet suburban life and the virtual world of my online enterprises!

The National Stationery Show is huge, it boasts 900 exhibitors and features 10,000 product lines, gift wrap and ribbons, party supplies and tableware, writing instruments, calendars, bridal accessories, to mention just a few examples, and of course, the one thing near and dear to our hearts … Greeting cards. Each exhibitor has a booth and is there to showcase their products, hoping to draw in potential retail buyers from all over the world.

Those big name Greeting card companies were there (you know who they are), along with our very own GCU artist Sandra Rose of Sandra Rose Designs. It was great fun to meet with Sandra in person and share our GCU experiences and artistic interests. She is very inspiring in every sense of the word, both for her business sense and her accomplishments. It was really a pleasure.

I also had the chance to meet with our fearless leaders, Nasser and Mindy who had been working tirelessly on our behalf. They are a great team, and passionate about GCU and it’s artist community. I am confident in their hands this company will continue to grow its presence in the industry. I feel as artists this is a great opportunity for us to grow too, in striving to produce quality cards that rival the best in the business and help propel GCU into the big leagues.

I did not get to walk the entire show, but my impression was a trend toward colorful upbeat cards and humor. Bright cheerful designs, whimsical illustrations, scrapbooking look, and f-u-n-n-y cards all geared toward providing a smile to someone’s day in these often challenging times.

How was my day? As my kids put it ‘COOL’!

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Thanks, Pamela! It’s great to hear a first hand account of the show.

I expect a report from Mindy (that’s her with Pam in the pic above) next week, and I’m also hoping to get with Sandra to find out her impressions of NSS 2011. Stay tuned for more!