mini cupcakes and girls named pancake

unlike last year, i spent a fair amount of time in the stationery show this year. in case you're unfamliar with it, the stationery show runs at the same time and place as icff. although it was horribly laid out this year (my favorites were stuck way out in no man's land), the show was a wonderful respite from icff. after more than enough run ins with some not-so-nice designers at icff (i'll leave it at that), walking into the stationeray show tent was like heaven. the low din of laughing and girl voices was the sweetest sound after dealing with some of the "i'm too cool for you" icff crowd (not everyone was like that, but more than a few were).

the stationery tent housed some wonderful new (and not so new) card and stationery designers that i'd been dying to meet. i got to meet the fabulous ms. stacy pancake of pancake and franks. ms. pancake was just as wonderful as i'd expected her to be and she was nice enough to shuttle me around to her favorite designers in the tent. after much gabbing and general card girl fun, i got to see some of her beautiful new designs- namely a beautiful card that looked that scattered rice was imprinted on it. gorgeous. she also introduced some antler and wood designs that were equally wonderful. i'll try to post as many pictures as i can- they were all to die for (see above pics).

after stacy came kate lydon of saturate design. cuter than cute can be, kate was the icing on my already sweet card girl cake. i was thrilled to finally meet her and see her new designs. she introduced a few great pieces to her lovey-dovey line (watch out, ac) and a beautiful new peacock design (no, it's not iffy kate, it's wonderful). after hugging had subsided, we all joined in to partake of kate's delicious mini cupcakes. nothing like a good mini cupcake after a long day of standing. saturate was the place to be and i wish i could have stayed with the card girls all day.

tearing myself away from stacy and kate for a moment, i got to check out binth- a great little chicago based card design team (check out their bearded men/beer cards), jezebel- awesome cards in an even more awesome booth (see pics with black wire tree holders), tennis, anyone?- a hysterical design team from chicago that makes super cute cards that you just have to check out (at spoonbill and sugartown in brooklyn!) and last but not least, paper dolls- (see pics below) a texas/la team that makes GORGEOUS wrapping papers and cards i will be tracking down to buy, asap.

all in all, the card girls really made the show wonderful for me. kate, stacy and all their friends (hi lauren from todd oldham!) were just as nice as could be and i really look forward to meeting up with them when i head out west to san francisco for a wedding in a few weeks. these girls are talented, creative, funny and amazingly sweet- i highly highly suggest that you check out their work and find some stores that carry their work in your area (on their sites)- their cards are just what you need to make a down day a great day. thanks again guys- it was beyond wonderful to meet you all.