Houston, we have a stationery problem
Big appetites for food, friendship, and stationery at Little Craft Fest
The first four months of 2025 felt so slow at times, and yet this past week flew by in the blink of an eye. I just returned from Houston, Texas, still high from the camaraderie I’ve found through the stationery community.
In the past week, I enjoyed some local adventures with friends I’ve made throughout these years through my journaling hobby. I also met people and form new friendship at a pop-up event at Dromgoole’s a Houston stationery boutique, as well as attending and working at Little Craft Fest, one of the first stationery and craft shows in the region. You sure bet that I ate a ton of barbecue, drank probably a gallon of sweet tea (watered down because I can’t handle sugar like the Southerners do), and spent way too much money on stickers and cute stationery.
So let the story of this
trip begin.
We flew through a thunderstorm
Houston gave me a very dramatic welcome on Sunday night. My flight was scheduled to arrive at IAH airport at 8:30 PM, but the weather had different plans. Intense thunderstorm and weather activity had us re-routed to Dallas to refuel (not the kind of news a passenger would want to hear about). Then we sat on the tarmac for an hour or so before finally trying to fly around the storm to Houston. I and 100 other frantic travelers, waited for our very expensive Uber rides at midnight in the dark parking lot. I was happy to finally arrive at my friend Toasty’s abode close to 1:00 AM before passing out for the night.
Although I come from the land of perpetual rain and drizzle, waking up to warm rain and sporadic thunder in the morning is still quite the experience. Thankfully, this extreme weather passed us, and we were blessed with sunny days for the remaining week. I’m the first guest who will be arriving at Toasty’s house for the rest of the week. I was soon joined by Judy from Tokubetsumemori, and Job from Jobsjournal as we prepared for a week-long stationery adventure in Houston.
I did get the full attention of two adorable doggos at Toasty’s place. Tina and Louise are a pair of enthusiastic pug/frenchie, and they love throwing their cute, loaf-y bodies on us throughout the day. I couldn’t believe it, but I’m already missing their toothy chomps on my toes as well as their snuggly figures when we all took naps.
No thanks to jet lag, all of us took plenty of naps earlier in the week as we adjusted our bodies to prepare for some intense stationery heavy lifting for the weekend.
Before we pick up the remaining friends for our trip from their respective airports, Toasty and I enjoyed a leisurely lunch at a Japanese vinyl bar.
We indulged in seafood-topped donburi, hand rolls, and refreshing kakigori (shaved ice) as the heat of the day set in.
LOVE AND TRIP and elephants
This trip to Houston lines up perfectly with the launch of TRAVELER’S COMPANY’s LOVE AND TRIP collection, which highlights the idea that enjoying things we love and traveling go hand in hand. Well, food is the shared love between all of us, and boy, did we indulge in a lot of good eats.
Our Monday started with fresh pastries from Love Croissants, where the flaky dough is further enhanced with French butter and delicious fillings. I was greedy and got two pastries: Beef sausage with Cheddar and a Love bun filled with lime cream cheese. They say everything is bigger in Texas, so I brought my big appetite. I refuse to comment on whether I myself also grew a little bigger at the end of this trip.
Our first dinner together with everyone was at POST, an old post office transformed into a multi-use building with a diverse food hall, co-working space, and phenomenal views of Houston’s downtown during sunset hours. We enjoyed exploring the unique architectural elements and made our way to the rooftop deck to end the day.
The orange glow further amplified the red leather of my new TRAVELER’S notebook (don’t fret, it’s also the company sample!) We were all giddy from the excitement of traveling to a new city, further heightened by the romance of the beautiful view. I got my first taste of birria ramen that evening, completely different from what I had imagined in my mind, and the Tajin spice color in the soup also complemented my TRAVELER’S notebook.
On Tuesday, Toasty took us on a full-blown Houston experience, starting with warm pastries from The Original Kolaches to colorful bread from El Bolillo.
We enjoyed our bountiful breakfast at the relaxing McGovern Centennial Gardens, looking out at the serene water display.
I don’t know why we planned to stuff our faces before a very promising barbecue lunch at Truth BBQ. However, it all worked out, because we walked out our morning bread sweat by following the trails of elephants — 100 life-size elephant sculptures that are placed throughout Hermann Park.
We braved the warm and humid weather to finally arrive at the largest pod of elephants in the park. A unique elephant stood out with its extra red coloring. Of course, we have to model it with our red TRAVELER’S notebook.
Our efforts were rewarded with a decadent meal of barbecue at Truth. The meat is smoked thoroughly and falls off the rib, complemented by hearty corn pudding and sweet Brussels sprouts. The surprise dark horse of their meat selection was the turkey breast, juicy and tender despite stereotypical expectations. I don’t know how we rolled away from the table, but it was a meal I’d happily stand in line for another go.
After lunch, we detoured West to visit another Southern institution: Buc-ee’s. Oh, hail the holy beaver and its clean and partitioned toilets, it was the perfect break and sightseeing destination for the rest of our day. We stocked up on delicious jerky, sweet snacks, and adorable beaver merch (I got two t-shirts for Elliot and I). Judy, who traveled from Taiwan, was perplexed at the whole concept, which made the trip even funnier.
We ended the second day of travel on a refreshing note with a delicious soursop smoothie from Linda’s Tropical Fruit. This hole-in-the-wall fruit shop sells a lot of exotic fruit from Asia, and I was surprised to get a taste of home in the middle of Texas.
Pop-up at Dromgoole’s Fine Writing Instrument
Job and I spent the entirety of Wednesday camped out at Dromgoole’s Fine Writing Instrument, located in the neighborhood of Rice University. We set up a PLOTTER Pop-up event inside the store, bringing some exclusive leather binders and offering corner hardware attachment services. It felt great to be indoors with the AC and hang out with other stationery lovers (some came in to hide from the pouring rain).
We were joined in the afternoon by other friends in the community (Cheryl from Rickshaw Bagworks and Ana from Well-Appointed Desk), both in town to help out Dromgoole’s and their participation in the upcoming show. Dromgoole’s promise to transition their three-table setup at the show into a mini boutique store, and I have to say they fulfilled the vision spectacularly.
I was initially nervous about my seminar, but once the sweat-inducing public speaking experience is out of the way, I’m even more pumped to enjoy the rest of the week at Little Craft Fest. Job and I celebrated a successful full day’s work (we were at the store from 9:00 AM until 8:00 PM) with surprisingly delicious dim sum at our Marriott Hotel (Silk Road).
Fried chicken, crawfish, and more fried chicken
Since we’re all foodies, we are all willing to wake up early or stand in line for food. We rose and shined early on Thursday at 8:00 to begin the day with a hearty Southern-style breakfast at Breakfast Klub. Think thick slices of french toast topped with multiple deep-fried chicken wings, syrup glaze it at your own pleasure. I mean, if that’s how Southerners do it for breakfast, we must follow suit. I also shared a plate of cheesy grits with catfish with the table — I love a meal with sweet and savory combinations.
Thursday is set-up day for vendors at Little Craft Fest, so a lot of us made our way to the hotel venue around noon to start setting up our tables. Little Craft Fest is held at the Hyatt Regency Conroe, a beautiful hotel with amazing amenities, clean and spacious seating areas and walkways, as well as really comfortable rooms.
After visiting many cities for pen shows over the past few years, I can vouch that this show host hotel is the most comfortable one I’ve stayed at. In fact, during lunch breaks when I go to my room to freshen up, I have the illusion that I’m staying at a resort on vacation.
The ballroom is spacious and fits all 120+ vendors comfortably, with plenty of space behind each vendor’s table. Throughout the weekend, I don’t think there were any spots of congestion, and visitors and vendors alike are all able to navigate the show space without much bottleneck. Setting up is always a chaotic experience: cardboard boxes strewn about, chattering and barking of orders across the rooms, but everyone is feeling excited about what’s the come. We finished setting up the tables for TRAVELER’S COMPANY USA in just under two hours, and we were able to enjoy a brief break before we head out for dinner.
Conroe is an hour’s drive away from downtown Houston, so we’ve been seeking out food options near the hotel, which means large strip malls or fast food drive-throughs. Since it’s peak crawfish season, I HAVE to have a meal of seafood boil, preferably the Viet-Cajun style. I dragged everyone in my company to Crawfish Cafe (at this point, my podcast co-host Kelly from Kellyloveletters had also joined us!)
Crawfish Cafe is a no-frills, fast-food-like restaurant with clean tables wrapped with parchment paper, ready for our messy dishes. This is my first time trying crawfish, and I was blown away by the sizes of them (during peak season) and the intense flavor. We all dove in enthusiastically into our bowls with our hands and tools. Crawfish brain bits were splattered on my glasses and hair, but I didn’t care. We ordered sides of gumbo and chicarrones with queso, but the seafood boil with snow crab, crawfish, and shrimp was the best.
Halfway through dinner, another round of thunderstorms rolled I,n and we settled into our seats and ordered another round of seafood boil to wait out the storm. It was the best way to spend the evening, hanging out with friends and getting excited for the weekend.
On Friday evening, we opted for Chicken Express as a quick dinner before Toasty hosts a meetup for the Houston Journal Society. We brought our boxes of freshly fried chicken and went to town on them at the hotel lobby. After a long day of work, eating with our hands feels primal and satisfying, like cavemen digging into the day’s haul. I couldn’t get enough of all the hearty and plentiful dishes in Texas, and I’m already missing those meals as I pick at my salad bowl here in Seattle as I write this post.
Little Craft Fest and all its glory
I say this all the time about going to pen shows or events, but this one blew it out of the park. Following the success of Yoseka Stationery’s Stationery Festival in 2024, and Chicago Stationery Fest filling in the gap this spring with a similar loft setting, I had expected something different with Little Craft Fest since it is going to be held at a sterile hotel. However, I think the vendors brought all of their artistry and completely transformed the ambiance of the marketplace held in the convention hall-like ballroom. The ballroom also had ample lighting with tall ceilings, which made the room feel more spacious and relaxing for visitors and vendors.
Each morning, the show offers free goodie bags as a prize for a number of guests who have completed the stamp rally. It’s the only hour or so that felt like there was a “stampede” (hehe), but the rest of the show all felt comfortable, with a constant stream of visitors throughout the day.
Little Craft Place, host of the show, is located near our table and brought an entire row of show merch (think T-shirts, hats, exclusive stationery, and more), while their store booths mimic their actual store with actual shelves that display their iconic Washi wall.
Across the ballroom is Dromgoole’s, who also set up shelving against the wall that allowed them to display heavier items like notebooks, PLOTTER leather binders, stationery pouches, and more.
However, my favorite part about the show is all the artists and vendors in between — this is my first time attending a stationery event that highlights so many artists and small makers who showcase their artwork and stationery items with their unique styles. Each day, I take 1 hour or so to walk the floor and visit the variety of vendors presented, and yet I don’t think I've been able to take in all of them.
This is going to sound like a roll call, but bear with me as I share my favorite artists and booths from the show.
I especially love the presence of Taiwanese/Taiwanese American/Taiwanese Canadian artists and creators that are in this mix: Linchianing (LCN Studio) with her exquisite wax seal creations, Lazlo/TPL Stationery store, who hail from Taichung, Rabch.jpg with cozy cafe journaling items, Tokubetsumemori and her huge curation of Taiwanese artists, Ilootpaperie based in Pasadena and their whimsical pun illustrations, new-to-me Karepango from New York, even Once More With Love and her icons. It was very inspiring and motivating to see the creative energy from Taiwan taking over the stationery scene in the US, especially in a predominantly planner-themed event like Little Craft Fest.
Again, this event for me is also about meeting artists I’ve been friends with online, or those whom I’ve been a fan of for a long time. Aggie from Little Red House brought a ton of beautiful cards and stationery. Elda from Thousand Skies restocked her beautiful ink swatch cards. It was nice to see Kwohtations (whimsical greeting cards) and Calliope Paperie (sassy stickers), who all just hustled at Chicago Stationery Fest. I reunited with Grace from Wednesday Company, a stationery friend I made when I was still living on the East Coast in 2016. I finally met Cissy from ccsartcafe, and I’ve been a patron and fan of her art since 2017!
Aside from other pen show usual suspects such as Christine from Everydayexplorersco (I HAD to buy her Texas-themed clear stamp set), Sakura Dragon (who were at California Pen Show), the girls from Itoya and Sailor Pen Guild; I also got to visit artists who are local to the Pacific Northwest such as Mis0happy, and Shooleyart.
My haul also includes an incredible amount of stickers and sticker sheets from Pantycat (yes, a ton of animals with only panties on), adorable bunnies from 2jingis2jing, cute illustrations from aoilittlestudio (this is her first show ever!), Korean culture-inspired stickers from SimplyMKO, cute pixel art depicting cats with existential crisis from Pixemancer, and adorable cat blobs from Mochamochicake.
Additional applause to Little Craft Place for bringing stationery legends who built the foundation of the stationery community since 2014: Simply Gilded, Once More with Love, Amandarachlee, Amy Tangerine, and even Wonton In a Million for meet and greets throughout the show. My first stationery event in the US was Plannercon back in 2017, and it feels like I’ve come full circle through this event after meeting these people in person again.
Finally, it wouldn’t be a stationery show without hanging out with my friends whom I’ve met throughout several pen shows over the years. Some of them even came all the way from California to join in the festivities (via road trip and plane). We found time to chat, get dinner together, and share our hauls during meetups and downtime. After each show or event, I always return to my room feeling drained, but this weekend I’m 100% charged all the time.
Oh, and this show brings in food trucks every day! From barbecue to southern fried chicken and waffles, we indulged in Texas-Filipino grilled pork platters (from Texpino LLC) for two days in a row. There’s always a little bit of a wait, but oh boy, were they worth it. I devour my plates each time, and I could’ve eaten more.
I did buy some stationery
I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t resist. I flit around the show looking at all the tables, and the more I talk to the artists and the more I learn about their artwork, the more I want to support them. Therefore, I ended up buying a little bit here, a little bit there…and it adds up very quickly.
By Sunday morning, I was sitting on the edge of having already spent close to $1K at Little Craft Fest (after some paintstaking calculating at breakfast), and I figured I’d push it over the edge with a Little Craft Fest branded Kaweco sport, my only pen purchase from the entire event. There were other tempting pens and inks such as the Blue Bonnet pen from Penlux and exclusive inks from Dominant Industry (how could I have resisted an ink with the name “A day in April”?).
I made it out of the event, barely, but my heart was filled with joy from owning a little bit of art from over 35 vendors and shops.
Some iconic items from my haul include the special freebie from Calliope Pencil Club, a “stationery brat” tote bag that mimics Charlie XCX’s studio album. I think this is the energy I was channeling throughout the show.
There’s a common theme throughout my purchase: bath time, trashy pandas, snarky cats, sad cats, sad artists, and cats with existential crises. I had to get two rolls of tapes that says “Fuck, Shit, Balls”.
In a way, I choose stationery and artist themes that channel my mood, state I’m currently in, and self-deprecating humor to add on to my pages. After all, these artists remind me to have a little fun while we’re going through some really sad times in the United States and the world (Chicago Stationery Fest had more edgy “this world is on fire” themes which I appreciate). After all, it’s all of us trying our best to find pieces of joy through trying times.
This show was a special experience for me because I finally gave myself permission to attend workshops! In fact, Little Craft Fest had a full day of workshop rosters throughout the three-day event. I overcame my fears of playing with fire and enjoyed playing with wax seals under the expert guidance of none other than Linchianing, known for her artistic wax work.
Of course, I struggled with a defective candle at first, and was having trouble even using a lighter (I’m v scared of fire, okay?) but everyone else at the workshop was so helpful and encouraging (they all checked in on me throughout because I was the only person who has not played with wax seal before).
Linchianing taught us how to layer wax seals, buff colors, and even demonstrated high-level scraping techniques (which I spent 15 minute attempting and still couldn’t replicate). I burnt myself with the glue gun, melted wax all over my tools, but still had a ton of fun. We even got to take home the full set of tools and materials to continue our wax seal fun at home! Is this the beginning of another rabbit hole? We shall see.
Overall, this was a banger of an event: everything a creative journaling/stationery lover would want. It’s a different market from what pen show goers are used to, but my stationery-loving heart was bursting with happiness throughout the show.
Job and I enjoyed a last mound of seafood boil back at Crawfish Cafe on the way out of Houston. I’m already looking forward to the next time I’m going to return to Houston (do you know that there is a stationery event happening again in August?)
I hope you enjoyed reading this stationery travel blog. I’m exhausted but also eager to start diving into my goods and enjoy them with my journals.
Did you go to Little Craft Fest? What’s your favorite part?
I haven't been to Houston since my teen years and wow, it's become such a food hub. Hopefully I can make it to Little Craft Fest next year.
I subbed when I read the title of this article 🤣. Fellow writer, urban sketcher, creative and stationery hoarder among other things ✨🎀