The Business of Business Cards

By Kate Riley January 26, 2010

Many of you know that I am on my way to the Blissdom Conference starting next week in Nashville.  At first I hesitated to go, but after some prodding, I decided to hop on a plane from California to attend this much celebrated and talked about event.  Plus, I’ve never been to Nashville and I’ve always wanted to visit that city.  And I really want to meet some amazing bloggers that inspire me.

Naturally, networking is a big part of these large scale events, and blog/business cards are a necessity, so I set my sights on purchasing a stylish card holder.   When a girl goes to a conference, she deserves something pretty to hold her cards, am I right ?

At first I shopped around for some modern cases.  Take a peek at some of these beauties, then check out my vintage Etsy find at the end !

Zebra Print Crystal Case

zebra crystal case

Tiffany Blue Patent Leather from Tiffany & Co.

tiffany blue patent leather

Graphic Image at Saks Fifth Avenue

saks business card case graphic image

Kate Spade ‘Jane Street’ in pink

kate spade ny

Gramercy Coach Wrist Wallet

gramercy

Green Parisian on Etsy

parisian on etsy

Tori Burch Metallic Leather Holder from Bloomies

tori burch metallic

Then it dawned on me, being such a lover of vintage accessories, that I should look for something more unique, like a cigarette case from back in the day.  What a perfectly chic and modern way to put an antique item to good use.

Vintage Shell case

vintage shell

Antique Floral Sterling Silver case

vintage floral

Silver cigarette case on Etsy

vintage cigarette case coolvintage

What did I finally settle on ?

This vintage mother of pearl case from the 1950s.

mother of pearl case

It arrived today.  It’s just so pretty in person.

Isn’t it so Betty Draper ?  I absolutely love it.

For those of you who will be in attendance, I hope we get to meet each other.  Look for the flashy but classy mother of pearl cigarette case – that’s me behind it.  Yay for vintage on Etsy !

Any suggestions for “not to miss” spots in Nashville ?

36 comments

  1. It’s gorgeous. What a fantastic idea as well. Now you’ll stand out by being so unique and therefore be remembered. Great job.

  2. Welcome to my home town! Love the cig/card case. You will be quite classy. Sure hope you brought something for the really cold and potentially snowy weather.

  3. Love your choice. :) I have a china cigarette holder that I used to keep on my desk to use for business cards. I also like the Kate Spade, Green Parisian, and the Coach. :) Nice choices! So, so wishing I could go to Blissdom…maybe another year. You’ll love Nashville, and the Opryland is such a fun place to explore. Mucho jealous here!! ;)

  4. You definitely made the better choice going vintage…but that Kate Spade is just my color! Makes my simple black fold-over look so plain. But, alas, I’m not going to Blissdom…

  5. I love the one you chose. What a difficult decision with so many to choose from!

    Have a fun and safe trip! What a wonderful time! I look forward to hearing all about it!

    :)

  6. I love the Vintage Shell case. I may have to snag that one since you didn’t. I hope you absolutely love Nashville!

  7. Love the case! My mom used to have a mother of pearl wallet. I wonder what happened to it….

    You should check out Belle Meade plantation while you’re there. It’s definitely worth seeing.

  8. You will absolutely LOVE Nashville!!! It looks like the conference will be a busy one, but if you can, get to downtown Nashville! It is filled with the most amazing musicians I have ever seen in my life (and I’ve lived a lot of places!) The “Honky Tonks” on Broadway are incredible to see and experience!

    I love your blog :>) Very inspiring!

    Kate

  9. Second Ave in the evening. The Parathon, and the Orpy if you can score tickets…..Let me welcome you to Nashville before your arrival and say I hope you have a great time in our fair city.

  10. Have a great time handing out those business cards! I wish I was going to be there to get one myself…a few people have asked if I am going, and seriously, before the inquiries it never crossed my mind to attend. I’m sitting telling my husband next year it is on the calendar! Janell

  11. The Vintage Shell case is exquisite! Very Betty Draper and totally YOU! You’ll love Nashville, the people are lovely & genuine and the city itself is a gem. Have fun, give out lots of business cards, and bring us back some Bliss! Safe journey!

  12. Drool…I love the Tiffany Blue one, I always have loved that color (it was one of my wedding colors and is in our living room as well) maybe because it’s named after me :P

  13. I too adore the Tiffany Blue case. very elegant presentation, who knew there are so many styles and types of business card holder!
    Karen

  14. Love it! I’ve been a SAHM for 17+ years with absolutely NO need for business cards…but your find makes me wanna run right out and order some just so I can have an excuse to carry one of those lovely vintage finds.

    You will LOVE Nashville! It is a beautiful city, with loads of history and fun things to do. I have to agree with one of your previous posters…Second Street in the evening is great…lots of cute little boutiques as well as lots of what Nashville does best…live music. The Parthenon is also lovely and houses a nice art museum. And you can’t visit Nashville without seeing Opry!

    Have a great time on your trip! Looking forward to living vicariously through your posts.

  15. Just got back from a girls trip to Nashville. Spent every night at the honky tonks on Broadway (Robert’s, Tootsies) because the music was so awesome. Have fun!

  16. We love Nashville. It is about 5 hours from us. It is a city, but very relaxed and the people are so nice. I wrote about Gilchrist and Gilchrist which I loved. The Pancake Pantry is always mentioned in magazines etc. Very yummy food…blintzs, sweet potato pancakes, if you get a chance to walk through the Gaylord Palms Opryland Hotel, it is stunning and huge with several nice restaurants , shops and a gorgeous atrium full of blooming things. The outlet mall near the Gaylord Palms is horrible, but there are other nice stores in the area. You don’t have to love country music to love Nashville.

    http://ineedmom.blogspot.com/2010/01/worth-it-gilchrist-gilchrist.html

  17. I love the Tiffany card case and your mother of pearl case. I went to Nashville several years ago for a conference at the Opryland hotel, and across the main street are 2 interesting attractions: The Willie Nelson and Friends gift store and The Dukes of Hazard musem. Very entertaining with crazy stuff for sale!

  18. You’re coming??? I wanna meet you! I’m not going to Blissdom, but I live really close to Nashville and will be coming up to meet some of the others… I do hope we can meet.

    Ok. That made me sound crazy, but that’s alright…

  19. Beautiful.

    But don’t roll your eyes at me, when I whip mine out from a plastic bag. Seriously, it was the only way that I could stay organized at BlogHer. I had two baggies. One for my cards, and one for other people’s card. When I came home, I sorted through all the cards and checked out their sites, if they were new to meet.

  20. Hello, Kate! Beautiful choice…I wish I was going so I could come get a card out of your case and meet you in person!! I would just come to see your outfits alone~you know I love your style :) Have a fabulous time and live it up in Nashville!

  21. Have an awesome time in Nashville. That conference sounds like so much fun! Enjoy! Love your pearl cardholder! Have a wonderful trip. Love & blessings from NC!

  22. i use a silver cigarette case with lovely filigree work on it for a wallet– have for years! these are all gorgeous picks and i will certainly be going vintage when this one finally kicks the bucket!

  23. OMGosh – I have the matching compact to your cigarette case! My Dad gave it to my Mom on their wedding day back in 1955…too bad it’s not long enough to hold business cards like yours is, what a cool idea.
    Smiles, DianeM :)

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