“On the Paper Trail”, the podcast and video series that I’ve been working on with Lisa Vanness, has it’s own home over on YouTube where you can watch our first YouTube Live Session. We’ll be doing these livestreams semi-regularly until we launch the podcast in early 2026. In this inaugural “Episode,” we talk about surviving the holidays as retailers (both online and in-store), new shop arrivals and our favorite new products, as well as our 2026 Planner Setups and the 2026 Pen Show Calendar! Unofficial “Show Notes” are below:

Joe’s Favorite New Shop Arrivals:

Craft Design Technologies Pentel Sign Pens. We talk about CDT and how they have built a business collaborating with established Japanese stationery companies such as Pentel, Pilot, and more.
Graphilo A5 Slim Notebooks. I had not used Graphilo paper until recently, but I really enjoy the lighter ruling and ink-friendly paper that retains some texture. These 188-page A5 Slim notebooks are my favorite.

Lisa’s Favorite New Shop Arrivals:

Midori MD Stationery Sets (via Vanness Pens). Each year Midori releases new letter sets (pads and envelopes) in a wide range of different designs that include some Washi-style papers.
Wonderland222 Planners (via Vanness Pens). The Wonderland222 is Joe and Lisa’s Planner of Choice for 2026, and we talk about the different formats that we chose. Joe opted for the A5 Core with Stacked Weekends, and Lisa is using the B6 Core Horizontal.

2026 Events Calendar (First 6 Months)

Nashville January TGS Event (Pending Final Dates) with Vanness Pens and Matthew Chen (Matthew’s Nibworks)
California Pen Show (February 19-22, 2026)
Arkansas Pen Show (March 20-22, 2026)
San Francisco Stationery Fest (March 27-29)

If you enjoy our content, please consider supporting us through the T.G.S. Curated Shop or by visiting our Patreon, which features extra content and more hangout opportunities. And, of course, you can also come visit us in person at our Nashville Shop!