Editing The Pen Addict 720/transcript (section)

== Little Craft Fest Discussion ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I like to hear that there was enough difference between like just Orlando and the Florida stationary fest. It sounds like it's just kind of a great standalone event. Yeah. You also went to Little Craft Fest earlier this year. I have not made it. I have not made it to either of those shows, but I got to get to at least one next year scheduled, depending. Why not both? I know you're saying already. Of course.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' But definitely pick us.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Definitely pick you. How was Little Craft Fest? Because that's one I find so interesting because they came out of basically like a retail operation in Houston. Yeah. And in what, three years have just blown the roof? Or two years maybe. This is only the second year. Yeah. Just kind of blown the roof off of it.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' Yeah. And I'm sad that they announced an October show and I don't think I'll be able to go to it this year. Gotcha. But yeah, now they're going to go twice a year. Little Craft Fest, I think, is like the DC of stationary shows. There was 139 vendors this year. Wow. In a 14,000 square foot marketplace. Plus they have classes going nonstop. It's just like a mega con for stationary. It's a blast. I spent way too much money. I think my haul video took something like four or five hours to film. So Ruben will probably end up making an hour or two long video just to get through the haul. Oh my gosh. And I'm sorry to everyone that it's not out yet. I keep getting DMs and text messages and emails going, when is it out? When is it out? But soon, soon, very soon.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Soon.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' Yeah. Little Craft Fest is just a blast.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I have to, I'm not going to say it, you know, with you sitting here on the podcast to make it a priority. But, you know, I'll have to, I have to get, I mean, Orlando is so easy. I can just go to stationary fest.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' No, you've got to go at least to both.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I will.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' They're different. They're definitely different. But there, it's amazing to see stationary fest. It is a difference. There's crossover, but it is a difference. And it was a blast this year. And I love how people do swaps and have a free table and everyone's up to the wee hours journaling. And it was a blast. And people were, I was actually in line for a vendor at Little Craft Fest. And this nice woman in front of me was buying a roll of PET tape. And I somehow convinced her. I was like, like eight or ten dollars for a loop. So I didn't have to buy the roll myself. And she's like, ah, we've been in the line long enough, five bucks. And she gave me a loop. Like, this is fun stuff like that that wouldn't happen unless you're at a stationary fest. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So that's the kind of thing. And I can see why a haul video would take that long. Because it's a little bit different, right? Yeah. It's smaller price points, maybe higher volume of stuff. So you actually, you know, you have a lot more to talk about. Just like a broader set of topics to talk about showing all the things.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' And I picked a lot of small items this time, too. Like two die cut stickers from one booth. And a keychain from another booth. And one art print from another artist.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. That's super cool. Just for context, and not to put you on the spot if you don't know, that's fine. The Florida Stationery Fest, like how many vendor tables was that? Do you recall? I can look it up.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' The vendor tables were probably 80. But we had something about 55 vendors.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's a lot. It was.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' It was. And we did a free table that people were awesome. I had met a lovely woman also named Tony. And she was like, oh, I saw you guys putting stuff out. I went home and went and got you stuff.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, nice.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' And then we had a journaling table sponsored by Lighthouse. And Lauren Phelps donated stuff. Sam Flax donated stuff. Danielle with Happiness Handmade donated stuff so we could keep it going all weekend. And it was just so much fun to see people putting stuff together and stamping. And here, I'll take half a sheet. You take half a sheet. And let's make this spread. So it was a blast to see all that creativity happening.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Did you find anything that you're like, I can't believe I found this at like Stationery Fest or Florida Stationery Fest or Little Craft Fest or something that was surprised or something that was just like, you know, awesomeness overload. Just like, I have to have this.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' Oh, yeah. At our festival with the Florida Stationery Fest, actually that scrapbooking lovely woman, Joyce, she has a store called Boku Creations. And she brought washi tape that is really only known, the brand is only known by scrapbookers. It has a different name. I'll have to give it to you. But it's a roll of washi tape. But there's points that you cut. So you can do like a layered, it makes a whole photo.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I see. Okay. So it's like paint by numbers washi tape.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' In a way, it just has sections that you could cut and then make a whole image from it. That's cool. And it even tells you like the front end, you cut that so you're not continuing the image. And it's a whole block. It was so unique. I was like, how did I not know this? She also had like a six by six inch square of washi tape. That was one sheet that you could cut from it or just cover a book with it. And I was like, that is incredible. I've never seen that before. And then for a little craft fest, I was shocked that Ruben and I were buying like sweaters and shirts with the whichever artist's artwork on it. It was just gorgeous. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. I like that kind of stuff.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' Yeah. It was so unique. And it was awesome because Ruben wore his sweatshirt the next day and the artist was like, oh my God, you're wearing the sweatshirt. That's awesome. And then I bought like so many key chains this year. I bought like 12 key chains and they really got me because I love ducks and they had like four boots just of ducks.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'll have to look. I'll make a racket around here. I have a duck from you. I think it's sitting right over here, but I'll reach it while I'm on here. I don't want to make too much of a noise while I'm on the show. But yes, you do like ducks.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. That's super cool. Just thinking about like something like the scrapbook lady with like the sheet of washi tape is like, huh, I'm sitting here thinking about that. I've never heard of that. And all I can think about is why haven't I heard that before? Because that's kind of how I use it anyway. It's just kind of like randomly ad hoc.

'''Toni Palumbo:''' Yeah.