Search Results for: business cards

Brick + Mortar Q + A: Is my line too one-note?

Dear Emily,

I’m wondering if my line is too “one note.” Long story short, the Louie finalists came out last week, and the last two years in a row I have been a finalist for a Rising Star. This year (the final year I could enter) I was not. Not a huge deal (ok, a bit of a blow to my confidence), but it opened up a conversation with my husband (which is probably never a good idea relating to design), about how my line, cards especially, are “all the same.” As a retailer, do you find that to be true, and if so, is it an issue? I feel like I have somewhat successfully been able to create a full breadth of a collection across multiple product categories, however at the same time, I see what he is saying.

I would just love to hear your perspective on this line of thinking… the good, bad, and ugly!

Thank you!

Meg, Belle & Union Co.

OSBPEmilyMcdowellIllustration

 Illustration by Emily McDowell for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Dear Meg,

This is the stuff. This question is my favorite blend of all of my favorite parts of small business ownership: recognition, self-evaluation and how on earth do I talk to my partner about my work?

I’ll answer your main question so we can move on. Is your line too one note? No. I mean, yes, it is one-note, in the sense that your voice is clear. Your cards are always recognizable as yours. Your style is consistent. Your colors are varied within a complimentary palate. Your sentiments are part of a conversation that customers are comfortable stepping into. You have a great line: strong cards, great wrap and a growing batch of extras. As a vendor I order based on the sentiments that resonate in my region. But my customers? They buy your ‘I love you a bushel and a peck’ card in, well, bushels. I’m not a stationery designer, so I can’t speak to exactly what your end game should be, but I think it’s the look I see the look on my customers faces when they read your cards.

As for the Louie Awards; awards are great aren’t they? It feels good when you win them. Winning them may affect your business and it may not, but it always feels good. I have absolutely no insight as to why you weren’t nominated as a finalist. But my take is this: Your line doesn’t seem like something rising, it seems like something that has already established itself. This wasn’t your award to win.

As for partners, and work, and how do you talk about one about the other? When I figure out how to give advice in this area, I am going to charge all of the money and save all of the marriages. Your husband isn’t wrong, he’s touched on something real and I’ve reinterpreted it. He’s touched on something you should return to each time you design a new card: Have I already said this? But ultimately, it’s your line, and your job is to make what you make, to edit when it’s time to edit, and to keep going.

All the stars,

Emily

To submit a question, email [email protected] or ask in the comment section below. Thank you!

Behind the Stationery: Ladyfingers Letterpress

Morgan and Arley-Rose are the incredible team that is Ladyfingers Letterpress. They have such a dear history with Nole and this blog, so I am especially honored to share their story with you today. The combined effort in their designs and production make for some of the most innovative custom invitations that will, no doubt, rock your world. Read on about their creative processes and how downsizing their business was right for them! –Megan

StudioShot

ArleyDrawing2Photos by Anthony Delao Photography

Our dreams all came true when we got married in 2011, not only because it was the year we tied the knot, but also because it was the year that photos of our wedding invitations were discovered by Nole Garey, who you all know as the editor of this amazing blog! Our unique poster-sized, hand-lettered and neon letterpress-printed invitations were featured right here and from that moment on, we’ve been totally inundated with requests for custom one-of-a-kind invitations. Our business began as we worked personally with each couple to design a totally unique wedding invitation and we soon had people returning asking if we had any greeting cards to celebrate a new baby, birthdays, holidays, and more. So we said, “why not?”.

WholesaleInventory Photo by Anthony Delao Photography
Planisphere

Photo by Arley-Rose Torsone

In 2013, we launched our greeting card line at the National Stationery Show in New York with about 70 products which included cards, booze bags, art prints, drink tags, and a line of custom hand-lettered rubber stamps. When we returned in 2014, we edited down our line and added a bunch of cool new stuff — including a line of Deluxe cards which feature moving parts, fun pop-outs, and 3D paper magic!

Drawing

PolymerPlatePhotos by Love Roots Photography

Since all our design and production is done in house, we use many tools to create our work! It all begins with a Micron pen and a sheet of paper, where Arley-Rose creates her hand-lettered and illustrated designs. She then scans her drawings and digitizes them so we can produce films from her black and white PDFs. With those films, we create our polymer plates and when those plates are dry, we mount them to a type-high printing base and lock them onto the printing beds of either our 10” x 15” Chandler and Price, Vandercook 219, or Miehle v40 letterpresses. We mix all of our own inks, cut and score every sheet of paper, and hand pack each box with the same love and care that was put into creating each piece.

MiehlePhoto by Anthony Delao Photography

People ask us all the time, “You’re married? How do you guys work together without killing each other?”. Luckily we are very different people with different talents and we don’t try to do the other persons job. Each piece that we create – whether it is a custom wedding invitation or a new holiday card – begins with a brainstorming and planning session by the two of us so we’re both on the same page about what will be created. Finding inspiration in a good pair of headphones and a fleeting melody, Arley often finds that the rhythm of a song and the way a pen dances on paper are not too different from each other. She then gets to work with the lettering and illustration and calls Morgan in during the final stages to help tweak the design to perfection. Between piloting a hot air balloon that she built herself as a senior at the Rhode Island School of Design and thinking about the ways that uncommon materials come together to make something new and beautiful, Morgan handles the printing, production, and project management. Together, we keep a journal next to the bed so that when an idea strikes (usually right before we’re about to nod off) we can scribble it out, often finding in the morning that we are totally nuts. And what the heck is that drawing of a cat with cucumbers over its eyes supposed to mean?

MorganMeasuring

MadelineBrimmerPhotoPhotos by Anthony Delao Photography

We recently relocated from Rhode Island to Colorado to be closer to family and in the process re-evaluated the size of our studio and number of jobs that we take on. Back in Rhode Island, our team consisted of seven amazing folks who we were thrilled to work with every day. Once we made it out to Colorado, we realized that for us success wasn’t measured by how big our studio was or how many people worked with us, but rather by how happy our work made us. We realized that we preferred working with each other in a smaller environment, similar to how we got started. We now take on fewer custom clients, which allows us to work with people who are excited to give us a lot of creative freedom and are also looking to redefine what it means to invite their loved ones to a special event.

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Photos by Arley-Rose Torsone

We now basically operate two branches of Ladyfingers: our custom invitation service, which we still create on a one-on-one basis with a select number of clients per year, and our greeting card line which can be found in over 200 stores worldwide and in our online store. Of our custom invitations, we’ve had a terrific response to our own wedding invitations, Sophie’s Constellation Starfinder Birth Announcements, as well as Kate and Alex’s Elegant Rustic Wedding Invites and Shelley’s Destination 40th Birthday Party Invitations. Of our greeting card line, we’ve had the best responses to our Deluxe line where the card is often the gift (our Baby Bump Surprise! for example!) as well as some other punny letterpress cards such our Dog/Cat Love Card.

BabyBump

Photo by Arley-Rose Torsone

 Interested in participating in the Behind the Stationery column? Reach out to Megan at [email protected]

Behind the Stationery: Sycamore Street Press

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today I’m so excited to introduce a brand new column (and something that I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time): Behind the Stationery! Every month we’ll be giving you a peek behind the scenes of some familiar faces – the stories behind how they came to be stationers, a little bit about how they manage work and life, and of course a peek into their creative processes. Today we’re kicking everything off with a company with a long history here on OSBP (they were featured in my very first week of posting in 2008!) – Sycamore Street Press! –Nole

As a stationery obsessed girl in digital world, there are so many companies I follow and admire wondering how they do it all. How did they start their business? What’s their design process like? To me, the behind-the-scenes is the heartbeat of small business so I’m extremely excited to bring you this new column on Oh So Beautiful Paper highlighting the stories of different stationers, starting with Sycamore Street Press. Take it away, Eva! â€“ Megan

Behind the Stationery: Sycamore Street Press via Oh So Beautiful Paper Photo by Jessica Peterson

Hello. I’m Eva Jorgensen, founder and creative director at Sycamore Street Press. Back in 2007, I moved a hand cranked Vandercook letterpress into our dining room and launched the company. By 2009, my husband Kirk joined me full-time, and it’s been the family business ever since. Our goal is to somehow, in our small way, help people to live a simple, beautiful, quality life through the goods we create.

Our stationery is sold in Anthropologie, West Elm, Paper Source, hundreds of independent boutiques around the world, and on sycamorestreetpress.com. I also teach an online class called Stationery Business 100: Starting Strong.

Behind the Stationery: Sycamore Street Press via Oh So Beautiful PaperPhoto by Jessica Peterson

We’re up in the mountains of Utah in a small town called Heber City. We love it up here away from pollution and crime with beautiful scenery and wild animals at our doorstep. We’re only about an hour away from Salt Lake City, so we still have access to just about anything we might need.

We used to have a separate studio space, but when our first child was born we decided to move the business back home to make it easier to juggle the business and the baby. Four years later (and a second child along the way) we’re still here and it’s working well for us. To give us the best of both worlds, we will soon be joining a shared studio space called Hinterland to use for photo shoots, workshops, events, etc.

Behind the Stationery: Sycamore Street Press via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Photo by Jessica Peterson

I went to school for a BFA and MFA in art with an emphasis in printmaking, so it wasn’t much of a leap to start designing and printing letterpress cards. The business side of things, however, was a big leap! I wish I had taken some business classes in school. That said, my dad is an entrepreneur and gave me a lot of great advice about going that route. As for Kirk, he got his master’s degree in Slavic linguistics. While he was working on that, he was helping me at shows on weekends. Although he loved speaking and teaching Russian, he was really drawn to the idea of doing something more hands on and building a family business.

Kirk and I love working together. When we were a young couple, we took a backpacking trip around Europe. One of the highlights was working on an organic family-run farm in Denmark. We loved how the couple worked together to take care of the kids and household and provide a living. Kirk and I decided then and there that that’s what we wanted for ourselves. We’re fortunate that Sycamore Street Press has allowed us to do that.

Behind the Stationery: Sycamore Street Press via Oh So Beautiful PaperPhoto courtesy of Eva Jorgensen

For the first 5 years of our business, we printed every single Sycamore Street Press product on our hand-cranked letterpress, but we got to a point where we couldn’t keep up with orders. At the same time, I wanted to try and branch out creatively. I love letterpress, but using it exclusively came with limitations, such as only printing in 1 or 2 colors per item. We decided to start partnering with a few other local print shops; they’ve been able to help us handle the workload and fulfill bigger orders while also opening up the possibilities in terms of medium. Now I can go where my inspiration leads me to choose whichever printing method seems best to execute my idea – from a simple letterpress print in one color with a beautiful impression to a 4 color process offset print to capture the nuances of my ink washes, overlaid with foil stamped typography. For an upcoming project, we’re looking into screen printing. Each process has unique strengths that can be used to our advantage depending on the design. This doesn’t have to be the way for everyone, but it’s working well for us.

Behind the Stationery: Sycamore Street Press via Oh So Beautiful PaperPhotos courtesy of Sycamore Street Press

I am constantly looking for inspiration — travel, film, fashion, art, decor, folk art, and vintage books are all things I look to. I actually make a point to go outside the world of paper and stationery for inspiration because I think it helps me have a fresh approach. Recently, I’ve been intrigued by the idea of the West – the character and history of this region where I live. I’m reading Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner and plan on going back and reading all the Willa Cather books I loved in high school and college. And really, I only have to look around the high mountain valley where we live to feel inspired.

Behind the Stationery: Sycamore Street Press via Oh So Beautiful PaperPhoto by Jessica Peterson

It’s true that it can be difficult to balance running your own business with having a family (or just a life in general!), but we find it really rewarding. It’s been so important for us to learn when to say no, especially since the kids came along. Sometimes you have to cut a lot of good things out of your life in order to make room for the best things. And of course it can be difficult not knowing exactly how much money will be coming in each month, but somehow it always works out one way or another. Our faith and trust in God has always brought us together and guided us through hard times where we wondered if we should throw in the towel.

Behind the Stationery: Sycamore Street Press via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Photo by Jessica Peterson

For the most part, we have our separate duties. Kirk is over wholesale accounts, retail sales, and operations. I’m over design and marketing. We work together on big picture stuff. It took us a year or two after Kirk joined me full-time to really get that sorted out, but now we’ve got it under control for the most part. (Neither of us likes finances! We have a bookkeeper and an accountant to help with that.).

Behind the Stationery: Sycamore Street Press via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Behind the Stationery: Sycamore Street Press via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Photos by Jessica Peterson

A lesson we’ve learned in working with loved ones is to make sure that you are hiring or going into business with someone because they are well-suited for the job, not just because they are family. Kirk is a natural at operations and working with accounts. His brother Karl does our shipping and has a really organized kind of brain that a shipping manager needs. A bookkeeper needs to be level-headed and completely trustworthy, and our sister-in-law Kate is both of those things. Our design assistant, Natalie Fielding, isn’t a family member, but she has the skills necessary and works well with the team. And she’s a part of the Sycamore family now! â€“ Eva Jorgensen

Behind the Stationery: Sycamore Street Press via Oh So Beautiful PaperPhoto courtesy of Sycamore Street Press

Interested in participating in the Behind the Stationery? Please email [email protected].

Hello Brick & Mortar: Daydreams + Unprompted Requests, Part 2

Customers often visit Clementine and tell me what I should sell. Their ideas are well intended but often there’s a good reason that I don’t take the suggestion. As small business owners, we know our business best. We know our capacities and our style. We know what we like and where we want to invest. I, for example, don’t want to sell soap dispensers or small ceramic cat sculptures (actual suggestions). But sometimes someone makes a perfect suggestion and I dive in to explore its potential. I offer the daydreams with the chance they might click as something you want to invest in and because I would sell each of them. (None of you should make soap dispensers.) ~ Emily of Clementine

Brick + Mortar by Emily Blistein of Clementine for Oh So Beautiful Paper / Illustration by Emily McDowell

Illustration by Emily McDowell for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Part 1 of this post was my daydream pairings between a few favorite stationery and non-paper lines. This half looks at products you already make and imagines them as a new product. It is born mostly from instagram perusing and your introduction mailers.  Thank you for sharing your work through the mail and on social media. It’s why I complain about never getting anything done, but it’s also my favorite part of the day.

Ok, on to PART 2. You’d make a great…

  • Birdwalk Press sent their beautiful holiday card – a snap from their wedding with gold foil embossed with the words THIS MUST BE THE PLACE. I pulled it out of the envelope and immediately said: I want this to be a print. Just the words (they’re a beautiful couple, but for marketability…). It would make a great card and an even better print (8″x10″ or larger). My imagination already has it framed over my bed.

Birdwalk Press Holiday Card

Birdwalk Press holiday mailer, photo by Lockie Photography

  • The Library Press. You know when an adult tells a kid “you’re so cute, I could eat you up,” and the kid looks back at the adult like they’re crazy? Well, picture the same exchange, but I’m the grown up and The Library Press’s tiny series of chairs is the kid. I mean, what don’t I want these little chairs on: cards, prints, wallpaper, stamps, some kind of custom candy? Yes, I could just eat them up.

The Library Press Perpetual Calendar

The Library Press, perpetual calendar

  • Shanna Murray’s illustrated decals. Shanna has hinted that her decals may be cards in the future. I’m happy to offer a little nudge. Recently she sent me a ‘You Are So Beautiful Decal’ affixed to a card. I happened to feature it in a store display and it gets more than a few requests (cough sneeze, hint nudge)…

Shanna Murray You Are So Beautiful Decal

Shanna Murray’s You Are So Beautiful Decal

  • Nottene. I met Kimberly briefly at a recent Renegade Craft Fair and was pretty smitten with her booth. Her illustrations translate beautifully between mediums: wrapping paper, textiles, print. I would love to see her design a wallpaper collection, but I’d settle first for having some of her recent playing card illustrations turned into greeting cards. Take the Queen, is it not the perfect Mother’s Day card?

Nottene Queen of Hearts Playing Card

Nottene Queen of Hearts

  • Leah Duncan, color trends: Leah Duncan is another whose work translates seamlessly from print to fabric to endless products, so what’s left for her to do? I’d settle for a bi-annual color chart where she tells me what colors to paint my house, or dress in, or simply sends a mailer of color chips to use as bookmarks.

LDflowercards

Leah Duncan ~ Desert Flowers

  • Sad Shop. Everybody loves an 8 x 10 print, but Katie’s cards, with their bold, clean, perfect sentiments should be bigger. I’d vote for 16 x 20+.  And, I know I’m already asking for something, but I’d love to have them letterpress printed too. Even though the space over my bed is getting crowded, I’d make room, because I like these cards, and naps.

SSblanketfort

Sad Shop Let’s Make A Blanket Fort

  • Wild Ink Press. Last year, I encouraged Happy Cactus Designs to make mini-Valentines (and she did, and they’re fantastic!). This year, I saw Wild Ink Press’s mini classroom notes and thought: ug, these are so good, make them full size cards! There are so few cards for young kids, especially boys (not that diggers and trucks are only for boys…) to give or receive. Each of Rebekah’s designs below would make a perfect birthday or hello card. I wheelie like them.

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Wild Ink Press Classroom Valentines

  • 200 Lemons. Megan spends a bit of time each week at Clementine, arranging fresh and paper flowers and generally saving me from the chaos of my desk. Lately, watercolor pet portraits have appeared in her feed. I would love to see this series of sweet faces become card sets: dogs, sea creatures, wildlife, flora, fauna. But to be completely honest, my endgame is a storybook with her watercolors illustrating some lucky adventurer and their trusted animal friend. I think this guy agrees:

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200 Lemons French Bulldog

Since social media is such a big part of where these daydreams arise, I linked to the artists above with their social handles and internet sites. Go follow them and tell me who your current favorites are below!

Yours in daydreams and adventures ~ xo Emily

Happy Weekend!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all have a lovely weekend! But in the meantime…

HappyCactusDesigns-Embroidery-Instagram

Photo via Happy Cactus Designs (so pretty!)

…a few links for your weekend!

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

Check back this afternoon for this week’s cocktail recipe! Have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday! xoxo