Well, that was an unexpected blog break. First off, thank you to everyone who stopped by the shoppe last week to look at my new stationery collection. And thank you to all the lovely folks who placed orders. You know how to keep a gal busy! I made several trips to our local post office last week and sent off all the orders. I made the not-so-wise decision to make the gift + tags after people ordered them, which I forgot is quite a time-consuming process. Next time around I'll have all the gift +tags ready to go so they won't be holding up any orders. See, I learn something new everyday.
Anyways, it just occured to me that it is significant [but completely unplanned] that my first collection debuted last week. Many of you might know that the National Stationery Show was held last week in NY. This is the show for stationery peeps. What many of you might not know is I had this little dream a few years ago to exhibit at NSS. It was one of those "in-my-head-rarely-talk-out-loud" type of dreams. It started shortly after moving to Portland, a few months after Big J was born. My good friend and I were seriously considering plunking down a large amount of money to get a teeny tiny booth to showcase our handmade cards. But logistically [Big J was quite "attached" to my body at that point, if you know what I mean] it didn't work out. And then the following year we toyed around with the idea again [Big J was still quite "attached" to me], but it wasn't a go. And then the following year, well I was very pregnant with Baby J. So it just didn't seem like the stationery show stars were in the right alignment for me. After becoming a mother of two young ones, I quickly realized I wouldn't be able to fit in a full-time stationery designer role into my life. So, instead I continued to focus on custom stationery design where I had the flexibility to accept new projects. But I always toyed with the idea of designing a stationery collection and trying to sell it to stationery boutiques. Never in a million years would I have imagined I would be selling my stationery in my own little online shop. [And that people would actually buy it.] So, here I am, with one stationery collection under my belt, feeling like everything does happen for a reason. Maybe not in the way I thought it should, but really, for the best.
Wow, that was a lot of babbling. Anyways, what I really wanted to convey is my appreciation and gratitude to each and every one of you who stops by to read my ramblings, who encourages me by your kind and generous words and who also share the dream to live a creative and full life. Thank you.
And on a side note, I really do love packaging up orders. Everyone received a few little sweet treats this time around along with another little freebie. And second-time customers were gifted with a little spool of decorative tape. Fun, fun.
