As promised, I’m sharing the photos from this year’s Paper Party during the National Stationery Show! As you saw with the invitations and save the dates, our party inspiration was driven by a non-traditional color palette – mustard yellow, pale pink, peach, lavender, navy blue, and forest green – and modern abstract shapes. For those of you looking for some colorful modern abstract art party inspiration, we’ll be sharing all the fun party details with you today! This year’s party featured a TON of balloons, a gorgeous art print wall, a hand painted paper art installation, and a calligraphy bar! It was such a wonderful evening with some of the most lovely people in the stationery industry, and together we raised more than seven thousand dollars to help support women’s empowerment and equal rights!

This was my fifth year organizing a major party for the stationery industry during the National Stationery Show. In the past, we’ve always done a free party, but this year I wanted to do something a bit different and find a way to give back in a small way. So I joined forces with Writes for Women, an advocacy group for the stationery industry that helps raise money for women’s empowerment and equal rights via the Ms. Foundation. We sold tickets to this year’s party and ended up raising more than $7,100 – more than I had ever imagined in my wildest dreams! Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who came to the party for making this possible!

This year’s party was again held at Hudson Terrace on their rooftop terrace. My talented friend (and professional event planner) Janice from Bellwether Events helped me plan the party, along with Melinda of Lion in the Sun and Caroline of CW Pencils (my party planning partners in crime from Writes for Women). And of course the party would not have been possible without our amazing sponsors, including Paper & Ink Arts, Mixbook, Legion Paper, Bella Figura, Sakura of America, Hester & Cook Design Group, 1canoe2, and the National Stationery Show, and our fantastic creative partners Ramona & Ruth, Sam Teich, Lillian Farag, Farmette Press, and Meant to Be Calligraphy. Let’s get to all the fun details!

Okay, so first – the balloons! I knew that I wanted to incorporate a balloon installation into our party décor this year, and it turned out so fun and colorful! (We used Balloon Saloon for those of you who might need something similar in NYC) We used balloons in shades of pink, peach, deep yellow, teal, and purple – and calligrapher Sam Teich used some of Sakura of America’s Permapaque markers to letter a few fun party phrases on the balloons! It was super easy!

We also made this really fun paper art installation in collaboration with artist Lillian Farag and Legion Paper! I was feeling super inspired by our save the date and invitation design by Ramona & Ruth, so I came up with the idea of creating this installation using sheets of Colorplan and Stonehenge Aqua watercolor paper from Legion Paper. Lillian painted on the Stonehenge sheets in her signature free flowing style, and we layered Lillian’s pieces together with the Colorplan paper in lavender, candy pink, fuchsia pink, citrine, park green, forest green, and imperial blue. Stay tuned for a more detailed DIY post so you can create one of these installations for your own party!

And can we talk about this Mixbook art print wall? So gorgeous! Mixbook works with an amazing roster of artists, including Hello!Lucky, 1canoe2, Black Lamb Studio, Ashley Goldberg, and Amy Tangerine – totally perfect for our colorful evening! The art print wall featured a mix of canvas prints and acrylic block prints, and each print was either super colorful or had a message of women’s empowerment – or both!

Oh! And Mixbook also brought Eunice from Hello!Lucky to sign copies of her brand new book, Be the Change, and do some illustrations on Hello!Lucky for Mixbook stationery. So fun!

I also love having an interactive element at the party – and this year it was a calligraphy bar in collaboration with Paper & Ink Arts! The uber-talented Sam Teich hung out ALL night to do calligraphy demos using a variety of Paper & Ink Arts tools and materials, including this Paint Your Own Oblique Holder, this pointed oblique holder with a Tachikawa G Nib, a Fintec Metallic Palette, Ziller Ink in Wild Viola Violet and Wild Rose Pink, Sumi Ink, and a Size 1 Princeton Series Round Brush.

Farmette Press also sent an assortment of their GORGEOUS handmade papers for Sam to write on! They make the most beautiful paper in an amazing assortment of colors – I want them all!

The CUTEST paper placemats from Hester & Cook! I couldn’t resist these die cut unicorn placemats – that hologram foil on the horn!! – and the black and white swiss dot placemats were perfect for our tall round cocktail tables. Pretty much everything in this Sorbet collection was perfect for the party!

Finally, a HUGE thank you to the wonderful sponsors and people who made the evening possible:

• The National Stationery Show, Paper & Ink Arts, Mixbook, Bella Figura, Sakura of America, Hester & Cook Design Group, Legion Paper, and 1canoe2!

• Sam Teich, Farmette Press, Lillian Farag, CW Pencils, Ramona & Ruth, Meant to Be Calligraphy

• Infinite thanks to Janice, Melinda, Kelly, and Caroline, for their invaluable help over the past few months and throughout the evening – and our small army of friends who helped with set up before the party. We couldn’t have done it without you!

And of course a big thanks to CJ of Charlie-Juliet Photography for the gorgeous photos and Hudson Terrace for having us!

Photo Credits: Charlie-Juliet Photography