Guest Blog: Mindy Rosso, National Stationery Show 2011

Today’s guest post is from Mindy, who lets us in on her experience at the National Stationery Show in New York City. Pay attention, folks…there’s some interesting tidbits in there that could help you to design trendy cards that sell.

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Our visit to the National Stationery Show was fun and fruitful.  Witnessing the wide variety of designs was impressive and inspiring.  Booth after booth, aisle after aisle of talented and hopeful artists.  Big sales, little sales… all money in the bank (or at least enough to recoup conference expenses they hope) but what seemed to be just as important as sales was affirmation – a nod to the value of their creative work.  Such commitment and bravery to create a product, put it out on display to be judged and scrutinized.  It must be an emotionally draining as an exhibitor to “present your wares” for 2 and a half days having thousands of attendees stroll by, glancing, evaluating, all the while wondering, Do they like my art?  Is it good enough?  Why is that other booth so busy?  Have I missed the mark?

Certainly a highlight of the NSS was getting to meet in person GCU artists Sandra Rose and Pamela Jorgensen (of PamJArts) and bestow upon them both, whether they liked it or not, a great big California hug.  I felt like I was hugging 4,445 artists all in one.  Did you feel it?

Design Trends worth noting:

• Eco-chic – A twist on the past years’ trends of organic and recycled. Still earthy but now modern and elegant.
• Humor – Plenty of dry, sassy, snarky, irreverent, blunt humor which was few and far between when we attended in 2008
• Pretty Ladies – different variations on stylish, stiletto clad beauties toting miniature pooches or oversized martini glasses
• Popular Colors – long gone is the trendy chocolate brown & pink combination, giving way to charcoal and Honeysuckle (2011 color of the year)
• Animals – the popular penguin seems to have been trumped by his woodland friend, the hedgehog

We spoke with many artists and hope to see some of them join our GCU community to help expand their reach and grow their sales.  Seeing how hard these artists work in preparation for and at the show makes me realize even more what a great opportunity GCU affords artists.

Too many to list but here are a few artists that we hope to see join our team:

Steven of Frog Greetings – fun and beautiful live frog photos.  Reminded me of GCU artist Ellen van Dellen and her darling Dumbo rat.

Carla of Viva Greetings – bilingual and bicultural with a touch of fun

Melissa of Made to Keep – funny & direct “sh*t happens” cards

Foxy Blunt – bold designs with devilish humor

Tattoo Cards – cool & edgy, “not your grandma’s greeting cards”

Kristin of Hearts Happen – nature inspired hearts

Tammy of Brave Heart Greetings – uncommon cards;  divorce, cancer support, morning sickness, etc.

Peter, Josh and Cathy of J-Dig – ridiculous & fresh twist of humor and clever play on words

Nina of Gooseberry Press – the cutest, custom maps you’ve ever seen. Take me away!

Nasser and I attended the Opening Night Party.  We wondered why it would be held nearly 45 minutes away from the Javits Convention Center at the Battery Party Gardens.  Once we arrived it was quickly obvious as we were welcomed by a superb view of Lady Liberty herself.

Making good use of our time on the East Coast we also met with a PR firm we’ve just contracted with to help us spread the word about GCU.  We’re expecting great things with this effort and exposure, exposure, exposure.  The first of which included 2 radio interviews I had on Monday, May 13^th: WDIS-AM of Boston, Massachusetts on “Talk of the Town” with Dan Collier, and CKMN-AM of Colorado Springs, CO on “Tron Talk Live” with Tron Simpson.

Next year we hope more of our artists are able to attend, even if to just walk the show floor for an eyeful of inspiration and for me to deliver a big California hug.

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Thank you, Mindy, for that informational and inspiring report! We look forward to greeting new artists, and we especially look forward to seeing Greeting Card Universe continue to grow!