Helen Wang - August 14, 2026

My Experience At The Atlas Sidewalk Sale

Greetings! I hope you are doing well :) I am writing from my hotel in Chicago–dangerously close to falling asleep in my outside clothes–with a heart full of wonderful memories.

This event was significant to me, as it was the first event I decided to be involved in, after taking a hiatus from doing in-person events. My hiatus was due to a mixture of reasons: chronic health issues, burnout, social anxiety, and overall wariness about the hectic nature of conventions or things of that sort. Fun stuff!

That said, the Atlas Stationers team, the attendees, and the city of Chicago took care of me in the best way and I had an incredible time.

Preparations

Brendan of Atlas Stationers reached out to me about being involved in the Sidewalk Sale and their Holiday Expo last year. Unfortunately due to the aforementioned reasons for my hiatus, I respectfully declined. Which, if you know me, is very hard for me to do. I felt like I was declining the opportunity to work with a retailer who I have been a fan of since my highschool days, but I was also frustrated that my physical self couldn't keep-up with what my mental self wanted to do. I made my feelings clear about how much I wanted to be a part of one of Atlas Stationers' events, and I might have overshared my personal struggles haha. Brendan always kept the invitations open to me for whenever I was ready, and when he extended the invitation to be part of the 2026 Sidewalk Sale, I felt well enough to consider dipping my toes back into in-person events again. He reassured me on every point of hesitation I had with logistics, and given that this was the 39th annual Sidewalk Sale, I knew I was dealing with a team that was experienced to handle all sorts of contingencies.

I was still cautious not to overextend myself, so I opted to teach two workshops–one on each day of the event–and debut a mini stationery collection for Atlas to sell. I didn't feel ready manning my own vendor table yet, and to be honest, I felt intimidated after scanning the list of well-known stationery companies that were lined-up 😅 I'm painfully shy and introverted, so I decided to stick to my strengths of designing products, rather than sales. The workshops were very nerve-wracking for me though, as I'm not a great public speaker. However, I knew that if I never push myself to practice it, I would never get better at it. And so, I created an outline of the topics I wanted to cover, made a list of gifts to include in the goodie bags, and got to work.

chicago after dark collection!

Workshops

While TheCoffeeMonsterzCo is a business that sells my hand-drawn stickers, washi tapes, and other stationery products, another part of it is just my personal love for stationery and art. I do use social media to promote my products and business, but it's primarily a way for me to share my journals. I often get comments and remarks under my journaling posts, along the lines of: "That looks so good! I can never do that!". This kind of comment always makes me sad, and it has become sort of a personal mission to teach people simple tips & tricks that can be added to their creative toolbox. Doodling really should be accessible to everyone, and not something to be feared, or reserved for only "artistic" people–whatever that means.

I designed my workshop, Inky Doodles & Lettering, to align with this goal. I didn't want to give step-by-step instructions on how to draw X, because students would have a hard time drawing Y if there isn't a tutorial for it. I didn't want to give 26 letters of the alphabet for students to painfully copy repeatedly. Instead, I wanted to teach students how to think about turning anything into a simple doodle, and how to develop numerous fun fonts just from their natural handwriting.

preparing goodie bags!

While I'm sure the attendees were there to learn, I knew that I had to make the goodie bags an exciting one! I don't have wholesale accounts with stationery companies, so Atlas kindly helped me bulk order some items, and I also purchased some pieces from local retailers.

• Guide: A *fancy* card with diagrams of what we covered in class! It was meant to serve as a reference if one needed a closer look at something, or a refresher when practicing at home. 
  
• Sailor Hocoro Dip Pen Fine Nib: This is what we used for the practice exercises during class! I felt like it would be a product many people might not have tried before, and it would be useful for so many purposes outside of this workshop.
  
• Sailor Hocoro Feed: In my opinion, installing a feed is a must for using this dip pen. Otherwise, the flow is very inconsistent. It was important to me that this was provided for all students.
  
• Paper: Every student received an A6 Midori grid notebook! I initially wanted the practice exercises to be done in this notebook, but I thought about how I would be soooo annoyed if I received a new notebook in a workshop, and I was forced to break into it... I would rather hoard it, you know?! So, I last minute bought some loose-leaf Tomoe River Paper for everyone to practice on.
  
• Ink Sample: I made a bunch of ink samples with inks from my personal collection. I was worried that my suitcase would be an inky mess, but thankfully there was no leakage haha.
• Tombow Dual Brush Pen N79: This is one of my favourite markers from Tombow! We used this for one of the exercises.
• Midori Memo Pad: Also for one of the exercises, I needed a sticky note that was ink-friendly. I gave each student some of the memo pad, albeit I didn't realize until the day before my flight that these were simple notepads and not sticky notes, yikes. I quickly ordered 8 tape runners to use with these, but in haste, I accidentally ordered 8 tape runner refills. As a very last minute effort, I ordered actual tape runners on Walmart, through Uber Eats 😭
• TCMC Goodies: While we didn't need anything else for this workshop, I of course wanted to gift a few goodies from my own store! Each attendee got some sticker sheets, vinyl stickers, and a Peculiar Pigeon washi tape (to be released).

As for how the workshops actually went, I will admit that it didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. I will give myself some grace as I again, haven't done anything involving public speaking in maybe over a year. The projector also gave me a bit of trouble as it mirrored the video, and it had a hard time picking-up any thin & light lines. We love technology! However, what was notable for me was when glancing around the cozy room, everyone was looking at me with a smile, nodding with affirmation, doodling alongside me, and making friends with the other attendees. So if any of the workshop attendees are reading, thank you so so so much, not only for your time and money spent on this workshop, but for encouraging me throughout.

workshop day 1 group picture!

Meet & Greet

As mentioned, I designed a mini collection of items for the Atlas merch table: a washi tape, plastic envelope, sticker sheet, and set of sticky note flags. Since the workshop class size was rather small, we wanted to set-up a time for me to meet with more attendees who couldn't participate in the workshops. Brendan set-up a booth for me at the merch table from 3-4pm on both days, so I could greet customers, sign things, and take photos!

That said, there was quite a scare as UPS held the inventory I sent hostage, and it actually still has not been cleared at the time I'm writing this post. As we were approaching the event, I was getting increasingly nervous and I (thankfully) made the decision to expedite a duplicate batch of stock to Atlas overnight. It was quite a... hefty bill, but it was important to me I don't let Atlas and any attendees down. My dad used a cardboard box from a microwave we bought to package up the items, and Brendan later told me that he had never been more happy to see a microwave arrive 😂

Furthermore, I was so worried that I brought even more stock in my suitcase, in case the expedited parcel wouldn't arrive on time lol. This turned out to not work in my favour, as when I arrived at the YVR airport, I realized that my suitcase handle was jammed. I had to handle (hah!) this heavy suitcase filled with washi tapes, and my arm felt like jello the next day–not great for a doodling and lettering workshop...

ready to greet!

sidewalk sale taking over!

I am just a normal person, living in a small city in Canada, and I keep to myself most days. And so, it feels very alien to be the focus of a meet & greet. Please don't get me wrong: I was overjoyed to meet everyone, and I was incredibly touched by all of the stories that were shared with me. Rather, this is the best way I can explain it: when someone expresses that they are starstruck to see me, I am in return, starstruck in the sense that I can't believe this person sees something in me, that made it worth their time to meet me. Does that make sense at all? If we ever cross paths, I hope you keep in mind that I am just a normal person who got incredibly lucky, and I am probably freaking out interanlly about how cool it is that I'm meeting you :) I will list out a few memorable instances, although my brain is so fried right that I'm definitely missing things.

• Meeting a someone who drove 11 hours with their aunt, just to attend this event.
• Meeting someone who has shopped with my store since 2017, and getting to thank them in person.
• A customer facetimed her friends(?) all the way from Mexico, to shop my merch. I suddenly forgot all of the Spanish I learned in that moment, so I am going to start practicing my Spanish again when I get home haha.
  
• Several cases of friends & family shopping, taking pictures, and getting signatures for loved ones who couldn't come to the meet-up.
• Recognizing people I have met at past events I attended, and getting to thank them again for their continued support.
• Receiving several gift packets of stationery! Including a bunch of yellow ink samples to aid my quest in finding my perfect yellow ink.
  

hi omaris!

Conclusion

I could honestly go on and on. I'm surprised that I managed to write so much about a 2-day event, but here we are! I didn't do too much shopping myself, but I did pick-up an ink, and some stickers from friends who were vending at the event. I want to say another massive thank you to the Atlas Stationers team, who made me feel like I was part of their family. Thank you again as well to everyone who attended my workshops, greeted me, purchased my products, and cheered for me online. I feel so much more confident to put myself out there, although, I'm going to take a nap first...

hi rosie!

signing a bag!

memories!

hi luis (& tim)!

hi stephanie!

still designing!

hi martha!

valois!

table is ready!

teaching!

travel rants!

hi fellow helen!