Don't Get Many Letters These Days?

Handwritten thank-yous are a nice thing and so rare these days. Frankly, I don't often get much written correspondence, with some notable exceptions (mostly co-contributors on this blog)! Another blog I follow, though not related to our coverage here at eInvitesInsights, once made a point that I found very insightful. The point was, while many complain about the lack of written correspondence, consider the last time YOU wrote a letter. Can you even recall the date?

I have to admit, I've personally been guilty of lamenting the decline of personal correspondence (outside the world of email) whilst being more than a little hypocritical in not writing my own relations. So, a few months ago I purchased another round of writing tools (mostly notecards) from various individual artists that I happen to like on Etsy.com.

One of them happens to be called Blackbird Letterpress, whom apparently won an award at the National Stationery Show:

(image via Design*Sponge)

So, the next time you're lamenting a lack of written correspondence, pick up a pen and write a letter! After all, the only letters that you receive are the letters that someone else has taken the time to write.

New York : National Stationery Show

{images nss at javits 09}

Some of our team left for the The National Stationery Show today. It 's so exciting to be getting things together for the biggest paper event of the year. With over 1000 vendors, this show attracts over 11,000 attendees. The NSS has started using twitter and facebook as well, so if you are heading off to the show, don't forget to tweet to #stationeryshow!

It is The Core 77 Design Week in NYC. So there will be designers, vendors and buyers galore all over the island. Simultaneous with the stationery event upstairs at Javits is the ICFF downstairs.

The National Stationery Show 2010

We're only a week away from this year's National Stationery Show! We'll be looking for emergence of trends, that we've been following in other industries, into the stationery and announcement market. We can't wait to see what all of the manufacturers will be bringing to the show this year, not to mention the Louie Awards!

If you're not familiar with the Louie Awards, they are an annual award ceremony in honor of Louis Prang, a Prussian-born immigrant whom became the "father of the American Christmas card" and introduced color lithography to the greeting card industry in the United States [from: The Greeting Card Association]. He helped create a well known card company in Boston that lasted about thirty years after his death in 1909.

More than eight hundred fifty vendors will be there! It's a stationery buyer's paradise!

Hope to see you there!

Write me a letter...

{image of Maria Thomas in her home studio shot by Adoniram Sides}

This stunning collage was created for our friends at Checkerboard by insanely gifted calligrapher, Maria Thomas as a promotion for Escargot Stationery. She is a lifelong letter writer herself who has shared wonderful stories of lifelong pen pal writings that took her to London to meet her friend that she had been writing to for years. She is a renowned letterer who collaborated with Checkerboard for the stationery line that features 8 exclusive alphabets designed by Maria.

To watch her work is amazing. To hear the pen on paper is extraordinary and to receive her work in the mail is a gift. I am sure everyone at the post office goes a little slower when her envelopes are processed. The personal feeling of receiving a handwritten note in the mail is pretty tremendous. Now more than ever, taking the time to write and craft a letter or a note makes so much impact on the recipient. No, we don't all have the skills of a calligrapher, but letters brought by mail are savored and cherished. The gift of your words on paper are priceless.

If you are a parent, try sending a note to your children, big or small. Encourage them to write to their grandparents and friends. The excitement of receiving mail is such a thrill to them, no matter what their ages! Not only is this Universal Letter Writing Week, but you know that red, hearty holiday is approaching and the world of consumerism will undoubtedly pressure you into spending and thoughts about what to give to your loved one...why not your words with that little something? That brings me to ...

I am so excited to have ordered the Greatest Love Letters of All Time this morning {yes I am a little dorky}, as I was thinking about letter writing and expression. Some of it looked pretty juicy, so maybe some pointers/exerpts are coming your way for the perfect Valentine's Love Letter. Some of the letters that caught my eye were Franz Kafka to Felice Bauer, Voltaire to Marie Louise Denis, Anne Sexton to Philip Leglar, Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, Frida Khalo to Diego Rivera, and Kahlil Gibran to Mary Haskell. {I don't know how George Bush was included in this mix, but there is a one in there to Barbara...random.}

This little note card , also from Escargot is so cute for an adult valentine message.

NY NY

Just back from New York... details to follow! For now, a taste of typical NYC with a sea of yellow cabs and a deli stand with gerberas. Also, shots from inside Javits Center at the National Stationery Show.