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<p>Watching card and gift shops successfully navigate their small brands first through a pandemic, and then civil unrest, has been unexpectedly heartening. While huge names in retail are closing their doors forever, small makers are emerging, if not unscathed, then at least relatively intact. And few have been more inspiring to me personally to witness in real time than Shayna Norwood of <a href="https://www.steelpetalpress.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Steel Petal Press</a>. </p>



<p>Those entering its Logan Square doors in Chicago don&#8217;t realize, but Steel Petal Press was born in 2008 as a side project for Shayna, letterpressing greeting cards for friends. That grew into wholesale business, and <em>that</em> became the retail space in 2016. ;When I last saw Shayna at <a href="https://nynow.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="https://nynow.com/">NY NOW</a> and <a href="https://www.nationalstationeryshow.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="https://www.nationalstationeryshow.com/">National Stationery Show</a> in early February, all was pretty well in her world: She had a booth of her wholesale range that seemed busy every time I walked by, and also I saw her walking the show shopping for her shop as well.</p>



<p>When coronavirus hit, Shayna kept her doors open as long as she could, then once she had to close to the public, she was still in the shop every day, shipping orders or delivering them curbside. Shayna finally reopened June 4 — just in time for some of the biggest civil unrest this country, including Chicago, has seen in decades. ;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://i2.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/IMG_2177-copy.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10005299" width="1255" height="1255"/></figure>



<p>If that&#8217;s not enough to grapple with, Shayna recently started sharing her struggles with anxiety with her community, mostly <a href="https://www.instagram.com/steelpetalpress/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="https://www.instagram.com/steelpetalpress/">on her Instagram feed</a>, in a very open, brave way. At the winter markets she actually released a series of <a href="https://www.steelpetalpress.com/collections/notepads" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="https://www.steelpetalpress.com/collections/notepads">mental health tracker</a> notepads — great timing, I&#8217;ve got to say — but I am really curious as to how she is doing personally with all this as well. Tune in to find out!</p><div class="inline-post clearfix"><div class="see-also byline">See also</div><div id="block-wrap-54364" class="block-wrap-native block-wrap block-wrap-23 block-css-54364 block-wrap-classic columns__m--1 elements-design-3 block-ani block-skin-0 tipi-box block-wrap-thumbnail ppl-m-1 clearfix" data-id="54364" data-base="0"><div class="tipi-row-inner-style clearfix"><div class="tipi-row-inner-box contents sticky--wrap"><div class="block block-23 clearfix"><article class="tipi-xs-12 clearfix with-fi ani-base tipi-xs-typo split-1 split-design-1 loop-0 preview-thumbnail preview-23 elements-design-3 post-10002628 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-off-the-press tag-art-prints tag-collaboration tag-eighty-seventh-st tag-fashion-illustration tag-monica-smiley tag-nordstrom tag-nordstrom-nyc tag-note-cards tag-notebooks tag-notepads tag-sarah-schwartz tag-stationery tag-stationery-blog tag-stationery-design tag-stationery-designer tag-the-paper-chronicles" style="--animation-order:0"><div class="preview-mini-wrap clearfix"><div class="mask"><a href="https://thepapernerd.com/eighty-seventh-st-x-nordstrom-nyc/" class="mask-img"><img width="100" height="100" src="https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/N_Instapost_1-1.jpg?resize=100%2C100&;ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/N_Instapost_1-1.jpg?w=800&;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/N_Instapost_1-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/N_Instapost_1-1.jpg?resize=770%2C770&;ssl=1 770w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/N_Instapost_1-1.jpg?resize=200%2C200&;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/N_Instapost_1-1.jpg?resize=350%2C350&;ssl=1 350w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/N_Instapost_1-1.jpg?resize=460%2C460&;ssl=1 460w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/N_Instapost_1-1.jpg?resize=570%2C570&;ssl=1 570w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/N_Instapost_1-1.jpg?resize=24%2C24&;ssl=1 24w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/N_Instapost_1-1.jpg?resize=48%2C48&;ssl=1 48w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/N_Instapost_1-1.jpg?resize=96%2C96&;ssl=1 96w, https://i0.wp.com/thepapernerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/N_Instapost_1-1.jpg?resize=300%2C300&;ssl=1 300w" sizes="(max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px" /></a></div><div class="meta"><div class="byline byline-2 byline-cats-design-4"><div class="byline-part cats"><a href="https://thepapernerd.com/category/off-the-press/" style="color:#b79b0d" class="cat">Off The Press</a></div></div><div class="title-wrap"><h3 class="title"><a href="https://thepapernerd.com/eighty-seventh-st-x-nordstrom-nyc/">eighty seventh ST x Nordstrom NYC</a></h3></div><div class="byline byline-3"><span class="byline-part date"><i class="tipi-i-calendar" aria-hidden="true"></i> <time class="entry-date published dateCreated flipboard-date" datetime="2019-10-24T13:49:41+00:00">October 24, 2019</time></span><span class="byline-part likes-count"><a href="#" class="tipi-like-count " data-pid="10002628"><span class="likes-heart"><i class="tipi-i-heart-o" aria-hidden="true"></i><i class="tipi-i-heart" aria-hidden="true"></i></span><span class="tipi-value">0</span></a></span></div></div></div></article></div></div></div></div></div></tipimidc>



<p>Music Credits: “Your Treasure is Your Self”; written and performed by Sharon Glassman; Courtesy of Sharon Glassman/Smile Songs. <a href="http://smilesongs.com/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">smilesongs.com</a></p>

Shayna Norwood of Steel Petal Press
