The 2011 Thing-a-Day madness kicked off today and I started it off by heading to the New York International Gift Fair in the morning. My former greeting card design teacher was showing again this year and was sweet enough to put a few of us on her list. So I spent some time at her Wanart booth learning about her latest designs, updating her on my progress and just getting a peek at the NYIGF from the exhibitor's perspective.
See, I've attended a couple times before, but as a press member so it was interesting to experience it from the other side. Well let me tell you it was intimidating! Before, I'd stroll around the overwhelming convention center and marvel at all the beautiful products. I'd leave dizzy, ideas and inspiration swirling through my head. This time, I flew by too quickly, barely glancing at all the talent on display. Why? I was scared that the other exhibitors would see my own exhibitor badge and shun me, thinking I was snooping around to steal ideas. I did make mental notes of a few companies and can't wait to look them up in the NYIGF directory to see what great things they make.
Fueled by the dream of someday having my own booth at the show, I emailed a couple of my card classmates to see how they were doing and hopefully meet up to get the motivation flowing again. So far Meetup.com has failed in producing a group that meets my needs for open craft nights (so perhaps I should create my own?) and Etsy's are only once a month. Luckily, one girl e-mailed right away. Cynthia attended the fair last weekend and, like me, was both excited and overwhelmed by the exhibitors and we've made plans to meet up in two weeks. Time to get to those designs!
My goals for this month of Thing-a-Daying are to continue building my card collection, find some sort of creative community and pepper my paper business goals with other artsy/writerly pursuits:
inspiration collection * photography * travel guides/posts * baking * reading * sewing * DIY posts * artist dates * origami * karaoke * and being completely messy.
Images: papyrus.com and papyrus.com