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Date:
May 17, 2016

Author:
Ashlyn Carter

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Let's get you a message so tight you can bounce a quarter off of it. Around here, we serve up science-based storytelling strategies the creative set.  Even while raking in more than 1.26M in agency work since I've been at it, I firmly believe working from a place of rest (not hustle) IS possible—and I want the same for you. Words matter. Best be sure they work (and oui, with math) ... and know how to party while they're at it. 

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Reading time: 2 min.

Wandering around the National Stationery Show in NYC yesterday, it hit me: this has been a long time coming.

Dad declared I needed a job in high-school:  ballet wasn’t exactly teaching me the “value of a dollar” as much as it was teaching my mans’ man daddy that pointe shoes last two weeks and cost five times a sleeve of golf balls. My friend Ruthie always calls Montgomery “an overgrown country town,” and it must be true: faster than you can blink I had a job offer from Mrs. Virginia Noblin of The Paper Store, via my father via my mother via my grandfather via my great Aunt Joy (or something like that).

Atlanta Wedding Calligrapher Stationery Ashlyn Carter

So there I was, high-school Christmas breaks, tucked behind the counter of the only stationer shop in Montgomery — likely practicing releve.

Some people toss invitations and note cards for the sake of some magic art of tidying up, and some people savor every calligraphed envelope, business card, and birthday note. I am card-carrying member of the latter camp.

Back on Mulberry Street at The Paper Store, I learned pre-internet stationer basics: Black ink on ecru for girls coming home to get married, foldover notes cards for ladies, flat cards for the Chamber of Commerce set, calling cards for everyone. “Ashlyn, go count and see if we have 10 of these — it’s Oddballs designs I think — let’s just do those at a ‘dollah’ each for her. Put it on Jane’s house account.”

NO one pronounced their “r’s” on the end of words at The Paper Store. I graduated Southern invitation etiquette school before knowing I’d even enrolled.

Binder after binder of invitations swayed the wooden shelves. A threadbare Crane’s blue book kept watch over our dealings, and a circa 1994 HP had enough “typestyles” that Mrs. Virginia could whip out anything: We have InDesign; Mrs. Virginia had that HP and a stack of white paper — she’d just keep backspacing and re-printing and holding the invitation over the paper up to the bay windows until she was satisfied.

Yesterday, taking commands from my Illume Retreat speaker Katie O. Selvidge, I took a personal field trip. Mission? Better stewarding of my craft as a writer and calligrapher. One free press pass and a sweet Delta-benefits understanding husband later, I was zooming from LGA to Hudson Yards for the 70th National Stationery Show this weekend.

All I could think the whole time was how proud Mrs. Virginia (pronounced “Vuh-GIN-yah”) would have been.

You know about Emily Ley, Rifle, Ladyfingers. But after wandering the aisles of the show, I got hooked on some newbies. Here are 16 stationers you may not be following on Instagram, that you’d may want to follow for inspiration, if you’re a paper-lover or calligrapher like me!

I hope you enjoy the list! Who else do you like to follow for stationer inspo?

  1. Farmwood Press
  2. Smitten on Paper
  3. Antiquaria
  4. Paula and Waffle
  5. Amy Heitman
  6. Imogen Owen
  7. Ramona & Ruth
  8. Marrygrams
  9. Printable Wisdom
  10. Shannon Kirsten
  11. Paper Epiphanies
  12. Ink Meets Paper
  13. Caroline Creates
  14. For & Fallow
  15. Bundle Designs
  16. Appointed

Reading Time: 3 Minutes

Wandering around the National Stationery Show in NYC yesterday, it hit me: this has been a long time coming.

5/17/16

comments +

  1. Reeve Currie says:

    I LOVE stationary so much! Perhaps it comes from the hours I spent with my nose stuck in a book as a child, or the hours I now spend typing away at my computer. Either way, I love the feel of real paper and the beauty of a simple design that says so much more than a nicely worded email or text. I love discovering new companies as well – thanks for the recommendations!

  2. Andrew Bolin says:

    Great post! Thanks for sharing!

    • Ashlyn Carter says:

      Thank you, Andrew! I hope it was a fun little 5-minute diversion! All my favorite blog posts are. Ha!

  3. Becki Smith says:

    I am going to have so much new prettiness in my instagram feed! <3 <3

  4. Love this, and I love your story! You are a great writer! I will definitely be adding these accounts to my instagram feed!

    • Ashlyn Carter says:

      Hayley! You are so, so kind. Thank you! I just added ’em too … I think I walked away from NSS with about 20 new accounts — whoops! All in the name of inspiration, right?

  5. Anna Napier says:

    Love this and can’t wait to check out these accounts!

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