As many of you know, a few weeks ago we had our world premiere at the 2010 National Stationery Show. Apparently we’re so exhausted that even writing a few measly blog posts is now a daunting task. Either that or we’re just lazy. One of the two.

Anyway, it was quite the glamorous event: the paparazzi were going wild as we stepped onto the red carpet, rumors were swirling, wardrobes malfunctioned … wait a minute, we must be thinking of the SITC2 premiere. Our experience was just slightly different: neon green carpets, endless rows of metal cubes, ever-so-stylish vinyl signs dangling from the ceiling on chains, dim fluorescent lights, plastic name badges … oh and a leaky roof during the heaviest rainfall of the season. So pretty much as close to prison as you can get outside of the Big House.

Sidebar: How is it possible that the largest conference center in the biggest media market can’t have a working roof? This is a PAPER show. You know, paper? The kind that absorbs water and generally gets destroyed by deluges? Grrr.

To give you a sense for our environment, here’s an overhead view of one small section of the show:


Can you see us?? Not so much? Hmm ... wonder why. Could it be that there are a MILLION booths? Perhaps.

So, clearly, standing out at the stationery show isn’t easy. Thus our goal was to make our booth represent who we are simply (and by that we mean cheaply).  Jen’s very gifted carpenter husband built our walls (yes, built them from scratch, so sexy) and we became the most talented vinyl installation chicks you’ll ever meet. We’re thinking that if this card business doesn’t work out, installation might just be a viable alternative. Reach for the stars, folks.

We hit up Wal-Mart (booo hisss) and Target for bins and tables and stools (clearly all the buyers were going to be exhausted after spending so much time at our booth and would need their rest), printed a few signs and poof! We were ready.

Unfortunately we also had to plunk down ridiculous amounts of money fireproofing our booth so we could meet the Javitz Center standards. Umm, it’s a stationery show. The entire facility is literally filled to the brim with paper products. If this building goes up in flames, you might as well grab a marshmallow because our fireproofed carpet isn’t going to exactly thwart its progress.  But we digress…

Since we’re a self-funded start up (re: poor) we declined the assistance of the on-site labor staff and decided to set everything up ourselves. Here’s a shot of our space before:



Isn’t it just gaw-geous? We don’t know what’s more appealing – the drab curtains that looked like someone peed on them, the cement floor that causes painful leg cramps, or that stylish sign with our name on it in black block letters and a box that says “new.” Not even a starburst, just a box. Why even set up? We could just use this! Not.

And so began our afternoon of manual labor (incidentally, next year we’re calling Manuel instead). Here’s a shot of Jen. What could she be thinking? Maybe “Am I really in this god forsaken place at this god forsaken hour wearing a god forsaken name badge?”



I think this is when we realized that our space wasn’t exactly square and the cheap Home Depot carpet tiles we bought were a total bitch to put down straight. That and that our husbands (who were supposedly quickly bringing boxes to the car) had been conveniently missing for an hour.

Here’s another shot of Jen trying to put together the cheap Wal-Mart furniture with the teaser holes that look like a screw can fit in it but actually are only a millimeter deep so you have to bore a hole in your hand trying to get them in.

What a glorious day.

After several hours of grunting and pulling our hair out (no, there was not a mud pitt) we were finally making progress:


That’s Danielle’s husband putting up our shelves. And look at how straight that carpet is!

Finally, our masterpiece was complete!




Don’t you just love it? Don’t you want to step right in and buy everything??? How could you not?

Set up was finally done. Time for some wine…