The Tea House Times visits various trade shows to assist busy tea room owners in finding new, unique products for their shops.  Here you will find some resources for wholesale ordering. If you are an individual and not a business owner, check your local shops for these items.

NATIONAL STATIONERY SHOW, NEW YORK CITY, MAY 2008

Once again we visited the National Stationery Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, May 18-21, 2008.  This was the 62nd Annual National Stationery Show!  See www.nationalstationeryshow.com   Here's what we found:

Big push to go green!  So many interesting ways of doing this.  We saw a lot of companies with paper products made with embedded seeds for later planting!

Clear Bags www.clearbags.com Clear bags/envelopes, hanging bags, jewelry hanging bags, zip bags, clear boxes, envelopes, cardstock, Biodegradable clear bags - made from plants.  Certified compostable.  Lactic acid from corn is used to create the material polyactide, certified biodegradable.

Cast Paper Art www.castpaperart.com  Eco friendly paper.  Check out the ornaments or favors made of handmade paper embedded with seeds for wild flowers that are known to attract honeybees.  The new hand crafted line entitled 'Meant to Bee'.  When you receive an invitation or stationery printed on the special seed paper, you can later plant it and support efforts to solve the honey bee crisis!

Fobbie www.fobbie.com  "Gift wrapping in a cinch!"  The fobbie is a round or square, heavyweight piece of decorated cardboard with slits for ribbon.  Thread your ribbon through and pull.  Now you have a perfect gift!  This would be seriously nice with The Tea House Times Tea Ribbons.

Seed Papers www.seedpapers.com  Another company with handmade seed papers - gift cards, ornaments and more.  Just so pretty and you can plant them to grow into beautiful flowers, vegetables, trees or herbs!

Divine Basics www.writebeautifully.com  Too beautiful.  Pens with flower tops.  So perfect and beautiful - these are not your ordinary home crafted floral pen.  This company believes in Inspiration to Live Beautifully through Writing.  Also, beautiful cards, journals, boxes, stationery perfume, and bath and body products. 

Green Field Paper Company www.greenfieldpaper.com  Distinctive papers and paper products: stationery, journals, sketch books, fine art papers, greeting cards, note sets and more.  100 percent recycled.  Using Soy inks.  Handcrafted Grow a Note seed embedded paper & Paper Evolution, Hem Heritage, Archival Quality.

Smitten Kitten www.smittenkitten.ca  Pretty brooches made from silk scarves.  Inspired by Kangashi hair ornaments traditionally worn by Japanese geishas.  Silk Scarf Kangashi Brooches are hand sewn with vintage silk scarves into the shape of a flower - brooch.  One of a kind, 3 sizes.

Trans Link www.translinkcorporation.com  HUGE variety of tea related, low priced, impulse items.  Small gift books, Red hat pin, Tea Chime, small crystal teapot, tea key chain, crystal pot with frame, box and silky wrap, silver teapot music.  All tiny gifts, very pretty.  Check out their website.  They will put together almost any combination of tiny gift book or tea related object. Just ask.

B. Schackman Company www.shackman.com  Gift note card assortment in a stand.  144 gift notes, 18 designs, 8 of each.  Cards are die cut and blank inside.  Small nostalgic cards, gifts and novelties.  Must see, three dimensional cascade cards with envelopes-fold out with beautiful vintage design.  Made in England. 

Bloomin' Promotions www.bloominpromotions.com  More flower cards to plant.  Cute note cards, bookmarks, tags, invitations, papers.

The Rare Orchid www.therareorchid.com  Very beautiful clothespin clip magnets, beautifully enameled and packaged for affordable gift giving.  Bubble stickers, memo boards made with gorgeous Asian and Hawaiin prints. 

Global Solutions www.globalsolutionsonline.com  Vintage Sealing Wax Fobs.  Victorian Seal on 16 inch Bletcher Chain Necklace.  These are gorgeous! 

Friendship Gift Bags www.friendshipgiftbag.com  Eco-Friendly Concept Gift Bag.  Basically the bag gets re-gifted and the bag's journey can be tracked online.

Umbrella Creations www.umbrellacreations.com ~ Hanky gift cards and lace parasols. New designs and all very pretty - special gifts.

Beryl Peters Designs www.victorian-imagery.com  ~ Victorian designs, afternoon tea and cat note cards. 

Copper Beech Publishing www.copperbeechpublishing.co.uk  ~ Vintage style gift books: afternoon tea, seductive chocolate, recipes and romance, good manners and good taste. We have reviewed several of these books and they are all great!! 

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NATIONAL STATIONERY SHOW, NEW YORK CITY, MAY 2007

Once again we visited the National Stationery Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, May 20-23, 2007.  This was the 61st Annual National Stationery Show!  See www.nationalstationeryshow.com   Here's what we found:

Beryl Peters Designs www.victorian-imagery.com ~ Victoriana designs, afternoon tea and cat note cards.  Visit Beryl at the upcoming World Tea Expo to see her new line of tea note cards.  They are stunning and fashioned after original Victorian papers and images.  The cards are blank inside and come 8 to a pack. 

Bonnie Marcus & Co www.BonniesStylePress.com ~ Where fashion meets paper. Very stylish invitations, fold-overs, note pads, announcements, counter cards, pads and flip flops!

Copper Beech Publishing www.copperbeechpublishing.co.uk ~ Vintage style gift books: afternoon tea, seductive chocolate, recipes and romance, good manners and good taste. We have reviewed several of these books and they are all great!!  See Copper Beech Publishing at the upcoming World Tea Expo and their new book: TEA an Everyday Indulgence.

eeBoo Corporation www.eeboo.com ~ This is the place for fabulous children's games.  Card games, journals, wall art, travel games, art supplies, matching games, and stationery.  Check out the Tea Party Game and a few new cute things. 

Elmwood Inn Fine Teas www.elmwoodinn.com ~ Tea in the City New York and Tea in the City, Paris books are out.  Also Children's Tea and Etiquette book released in November.  Check them out at the website or visit at World Tea Expo July 9-11, 2007.  Elmwood Inn teas are great too. I tried Blueberry Infusion and it was very tasty.  The green teas are great too.

Heartstrings Enterprises www.heartstrings.net ~ Personalized jewelry including sterling silver, wood, shell and gifts.  The entire line is fabulous!  Really.  I wanted it all.  The jewelry is all very nice, high quality.  The sterling bracelets, necklaces, earrings are absolutely gorgeous esp. with the engraving - very elegant and Victorian looking too!  You can get soap (try Raspberry Mint Tea soap), towels, key chains, jewelry, hand bags, totes, and more monogrammed. 

Jezebel www.ilovejezebel.com ~ Correspondence for the vagabond heart.  These are all cards with black cut out silhouettes on colored papers.  Check out the yellow card: Clyde & Matilda Take Tea and the Thank you note in blue.

Menus and Music  www.menusandmusic.com ~ Beautifully packaged gift sets with gourmet cookbooks and music CD's created by Sharon O'Connor. Sharon was at the booth and it was a real pleasure to meet her and discuss her passion for recipes and music and especially afternoon tea!  Keep watching for a review and sampling of recipes in upcoming issues of The Tea House Times.

Pancake & Franks www.pancakeandfranks.com ~ Assorted note sets.  We found a darling tea time note set. You get one each of green tea (drawing of loose green tea), chamomile (drawing of chamomile flowers), Delft cup (drawing of a delft tea cup), and Black Tea (a drawing of a teabag). Very original and crisp and clean.  100% recycled paper and biodegradable sleeves. A couple other nice designs were the black or red lace cards.

Two Women San Francisco Inc. www.wholesale.twowomensf.com ~ Fabulous paperweights, great cards and little treasures.  Boxed note cards with art stamps on the fronts, cameo bookmarks, cameo boxes and pins, coasters, paperweights, dream boxes, journals, albums, bookmarks, coasters, and trays all with old time, very beautiful images. 

Umbrella Creations www.umbrellacreations.com ~ Hanky gift cards and lace parasols.  Okay, yes, we've all seen the hanky gift cards at the local tea rooms, but these are different. (Rather than having a hanky wrapped around a card figure to look like a skirt, these are regular rectangle cards but the hanky peaks through the card through cut outs)  Several of the cards are made using beautiful, vintage hankies, while others are created with new, beautifully embroidered designs.  The cards themselves range from Victorian images to vintage to more modern, but all have a touch of romance and include a hankie and a pin.  Cards for every occasion, holiday, wedding, baby (hankies made into bonnets!), flirtation, etc.  Custom Corporate and Non-Profit choices available.  Pretty parasols in white, ecru, red or black.

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NATIONAL STATIONERY SHOW, NEW YORK CITY, MAY, 2006

If you don’t already know, The Tea House Times is dedicated to assisting tea business owners by bringing quality information to share with customers, and helping you find new products when you simply can’t get away to find them yourself.  We have visited the Fancy Food Show, NY Gift Market, the Chocolate Show, the World Tea Expo, and here with this report, the National Stationery Show.  This report, like others, is written with the business owner in mind.  The businesses highlighted here offer wholesale to businesses with valid resale identification, etc.  Not a business owner?  Look for these products at your favorite tea room or gift shop.

This show was held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.  If you have ever been to the Javits center, you know how HUGE it is and how long it can take to visit a show.  Several days of visiting will only scratch the surface.  Sometimes it is like finding a needle in a haystack.  So, what we like to do is some on-line searches for exhibitors before attending to help narrow down the booths we would like to visit.  Here's what we found at this show of particular interest to tea room owners and also those businesses with a Victorian flair.

Ben's Garden www.bensgarden.com ~ Beautiful pressed flower coasters, trivets, photo frames.  Mini Garden Grow Kits, Decoupage Bent-Glass Plates, Oval & Dome Paperweights, Pressed Flower Botanicals, Magnets, Gift enclosures, Standard & frameable Notecards.  All designs crafted individually by hand.  Many of the designs incorporate true pressed flowers, picked from Ben's organic gardens. 

Paper Orchid Stationery www.paperorchidstationery.com ~ Too beautiful for words.  Laser cut stationery, imprintables and dimensional accessories for any occasion.  Must see the Filigree collection invitations, cards, and the most gorgeous cupcake wrappers ever seen.  Victorian fan designs, Asian fan designs, leaves, flowers, holiday, and religious designs.  Laser cut, high quality stationery products. 

Emily & Edward www.emilyandedward.com ~ The latest most beautiful designs that will take you back in time.  Images and quotes from the late 1800s to early 1900s.  Beautiful and unique cards and blank cards--Combining images, poetry, and fine fabrics. Soon to also feature a variety of keepsake items, from greeting cards and stationery to gift bags, journals, and photo albums.

PSA Essentials www.psaessentials.com ~ New line of self-inking stamps and embossers.  Over 30 designs including monograms, scripted names, and youthful designs for kids and tweens.  Used for return address, personal stationery, book plates, etc.  Beautiful and elegant for creating your own stationery or embossed labels for gift bags, envelope seals, more.

The Westerman Collection www.westermanmfg.com ~ Distinctive gifts imported from England including Tudor soaps, English Bath Herbs, Herbal Bath Sachets, London Fruit & Herb Tea, Fine British Gift Books, and Heath & Heather teas from Scotland.  All products are beautifully designed with an old look to the packaging.  Very nice line of products.

Jonathan Wright and Company www.jonathanwright.com ~ Simple, elegant, quality stationery, cards, notes, invitations.

You & I Novelty, Inc. www.youinovelty.com ~ Small decorative boxes. Tiny floral teapots and mirror compacts.

The Pamela Co. 212 255 8233 ~ Tutus for little girls.  Pretty for dress up.

LumaBase www.lumabase.com ~ These are the tea lights we are all looking for!  Battery operated tea lights. They sell like hotcakes in tea room gift shops!

Benjamin Press & Elmwood Inn Fine Teas www.benjaminpress.com www.elmwoodinn.com ~ Benjamin Press, America's publisher of tea books presents a new guide to tea in New York City and coming soon a new etiquette book geared towards children.  Fine teas, jams and more.

Carol Wilson Fine Arts, Inc. www.carolwilsonfinearts.com ~ Yes, we've all seen them, and now we know how to buy them. The incredibly gorgeous embossed note cards, paper, and more.  Extensive line of tea related items including card sets packaged inside a floral embossed teapot.  Many floral designs.  Beautiful and elegant. 

Victorian Imagery www.victorian-imagery.com ~ If you are looking for a designer--someone who can design a new product line for you from start to finish, Beryl Peters is your gal.  Her extensive line of Victorian Imagery is impressive and she designs everything from cards to fabrics.  Victorian custom designs.  Images and prints to license.  Beautiful diecut cards. To contact Beryl directly email: beryl@peters99.freeserve.co.uk    P&B Textiles www.pbtex.com ~ possible tea themed fabrics designed by Beryl Peters.

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