Search Results for: www.clementinestore.com

Brick + Mortar Q + A: Will anyone find me at NSS?

I love writing this Brick + Mortar column. Your responses are a highlight each month. Often the best conversations emerge in the comments section or via email after a post. Though I love talking through your questions one-on-on, I dreamed up this spin-off Q + A column because many of you had similar questions and I thought it would be fun and helpful to answer them in this format. (For those of you who have more extensive questions about your own line, I’ve also devoted a bit of time each month to one-on-one consulting.) Please submit any questions you have to me at [email protected]. Thank you so much for trusting me to be a part of your businesses. I can’t wait to hear from you and I hope you love this column as it evolves! –Emily of Clementine

Hello Brick + Mortar by Emily McDowell Illustration for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Illustration by Emily McDowell for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Hi Emily!

I finally took the bullet and applied for National Stationery Show. But when I got my booth number, I freaked out that it was really far back and that no one would go to that section. I was curious if you could let me know if you walked that far back (near the supply side), or perhaps I could try to apply for the ‘fresh’ section? 

I attached the NSS floor plan with my booth circled in pink so you can see my spot. Thank you SO MUCH for your help!

I hope you have a gloriously lovely day!

– Jenipher 

***

Dear Glorious Jenipher,

Congratulations! Applying to NSS is a huge, exciting step for a new line.

The great thing about trade shows is that there are literally endless things to freak out about. I truly wouldn’t worry about your location, especially for your first show. Location does matter, but most spots have pros and cons. NSS is a manageable size for retailers to walk. So rather than get into the potential pros/cons of your spot, which I think is pretty decent, by the way – it’s in the 2200s and not too far out (Ed Note: You do have the option of requesting a new booth number from your NSS rep if you’re really really concerned, but yeah, the 2200 aisle is a great location. You’ll be in great company. –Nole), let’s focus on what you can do to make it a great spot for you.

  1. Target your retailers in advance. Make yourself a destination for them at NSS. Make a list of your existing and ideal retailers. Make sure you personalize your mailers to them and consider a show special or incentive to encourage them to visit. This is also a great year to create a memorable mailer – a little buzz can go a long way to get retailers to visit (more on that in a later post!)
  2. Design an eye-catching booth. Dream big, sketch, brainstorm, look through old OSBP posts about NSS. Do it now! As you get closer, you’ll be knee deep in the nitty-gritty work of actually building your booth. If you don’t plan your design in advance, you may be too tired to give it the energy and it needs. I walk up and down almost all of the rows, but sometimes it’s just a quick sweep (an internal no, no, no, yes!) waiting for a booth to pull me in. So you could be right in the heart of the action, but if you don’t stand out, retailers will pass you by.
  3. Build your social media community. Start focusing on other stationery makers and retailers now. Check in with the NSS2015 hashtag to see how others are preparing. Give sneak peeks. Talk to retailers and your colleagues. Find them on Instagram now and start conversations. One of the best parts of NSS is the community you build that carries you through from one show to another. I think it will help ease some of the fears to go in feeling like you’re part of it.

A note about the Fresh section. I do think it’s a great thing to apply for in your first show, because:

  1. There are retailers who will check out that section just because they are interested; and
  2. You meet your peers, many of whom are sharing many of the same experiences. It’s exciting to grow together and maintain those friendships.

However, wherever you are, especially in your first year, your job is to draw retailers in and look fabulous when they get to you. You can focus on that no matter your location. See you in three months!

x + o! Emily

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.

Screen Shot 2015-01-27 at 11.35.10 PM

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:

Screen Shot 2015-01-27 at 11.11.02 PM

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

Brick & Mortar: 2015 Daydreams + Unprompted Requests, Part 1

I’m a brainstormer and day dreamer, the old fashioned kind who stares out windows and loses hours (/avoids to-do lists). Lately, I’ve had the good fortune of being in your good graces, so each day brings gorgeous mail, thoughtful emails and social media hellos. It is the perfect amount of fodder for my product inspired daydreams. In these early 2015 days, I want to share a few things that I not-so-secretly hope you’ll make. I’m going to share it in two parts because, it turns out, my daydreams are far more prolific than my t0-do lists. Here’s part one! –Emily of Clementine

OSBPEmilyMcdowellIllustration

Illustration by Emily McDowell for Oh So Beautiful Paper

First, nota bene: these are my daydreams. As a shop owner, I have the luxury of ideating without the hassle of actual production.  These ideas may be impossible, flawed, or unmarketable. They’re also unprompted, they come from little sparks in my mind, not from customer requests or outside suggestions. This is to say: I send them with love but with absolutely no attachment.

PART I . Matchmaker, matchmaker. You know when you have two single friends who you think would be perfect for each other but you’re not sure how to tell them so you decide to do it on the internet without any warning? This is kind of like that except I barely know anyone involved (but if you know any single straight men in NYC, do I have a few amazing friends…).

  • Brown Parcel Press & Andie’s Specialty Sweets: When I first saw the cards and prints from Brown Parcel Press, I thought: They look good enough to eat. Similarly, upon my introduction to Andie’s Specialty Sweets, I thought: That can’t be real! They look too incredible to eat! Both of these makers mold their material into a truly scrumptious product. I would love to see Andie’s base a little line of candies from Brown Parcel’s card lines. (I would admire them for an appropriate amount of time and then I would totally eat them up.)

Screen Shot 2015-01-20 at 6.32.33 PM

 Brown Parcel Press’s Grapefruit + Andie’s Specialty Candies marzipan fruit

  • Sapling Press + Notabli: Last week, while eating breakfast, my 3 year old turned to me and said “Mama, your eyebrows are too bright.” I reacted like many moms of my generation: I grabbed my phone and decided which social media platform deserved this quip. I chose notabli, a scrapbook-like app that saves your kids moments in photos, audio, video or just a little note. I love the note function because everyone always tells you to “write down what your kids say” and of course you never do, but now I finally am.

Screen Shot 2015-01-18 at 8.17.14 PM

Sapling Press card + a little shot of the Notabli App

A while back, I laughed through my entire Sapling Press order. So here’s my idea: I want these two to join forces. I want Notabli to hold a contest for parents to enter the funniest things their kids say and then I want Sapling Press to print them. Kids do say ridiculous things, but that doesn’t mean they’re not worthy of letterpress. (Spoken like a true parent, I know.)

  • Our Heiday + MCMC: I’ve carried MCMC fragrances at Clementine for several years and Anne’s descriptions are just my favorite, vivid and lush, they take you right to a place. Last year, Pat from Our Heiday sent her beautiful intro packet and with each new card I found myself wanting another sense involved. They were like visual ingredient bouquets and I kept wondering: what would these cards smell like? I would love to see what these two would do together: a scent MCMC creates based on an Our Heiday illustration? Or Our Heiday illustrations based on MCMC scents? Either way, I’m in.

Screen Shot 2015-01-18 at 6.58.39 PM

Our Heiday’s Mom Card + MCMC’s Garden Fragrance

  • Anna Joyce + The Hive Studio: I have horrible handwriting, so calligraphy truly is magic to me. Though I carry a few calligraphed cards at Clementine, people still think it is reserved for wedding invitations. I would love to see its application expand. Lindsey Buck of The Hive Studio was my Goody Goody Gift Swap mate and I was just floored by her calligraphy, it was bold and graphic, penning in a vibrant teal ink it was raised from the page and I wanted to see it on repeat. Anna Joyce‘s line of accessories has been a Clementine favorite for a while. Her contrast of her fabric and leather makes her accessories rise to art status, especially with her new hand painted series. It seems like a seamless jump to turn Lindsey’s wrapping paper into fabric for a special limited edition line with Anna’s skills.

Screen Shot 2015-01-19 at 3.13.58 PM

Anna Joyce Design’s Splatter Print Clutch in Yellow + The Hive Studio holiday wrapping paper

  • Red Cap Cards + Hygge & West: I spent my childhood skirting the edge of Vermont’s forests. My little friends and I built endless fairy houses and lived knee-deep in a land of make-believe. Whenever I find a designer able to capture the feeling of that time, I want to live in their world. This is to say: wallpaper. I want them to make wallpaper. Currently, I think Hygge + West is knocking it out of the park translating illustrated designs onto walls and I love scouring Red Cap’s line for illustrators who create the worlds I could live within.

Screen Shot 2015-01-20 at 8.55.03 PM

Becca Stadtlander for Red Cap Cards + Hygge + West’s Mint Peonies by Rifle Paper Co

  • Red House Inc + Swiss Cottage Designs: Vermont is tiny state, with big state pride. Red House Inc, a fave local maker is creating some fantastic waxed canvas products. I especially love her thoughtful details, like her choices for liner fabrics. Courtney from Swiss Cottage Designs recently sent me a sample card from a Vermont wedding she designed. I was planning to crash the wedding (for the goodie bags) because I love LOVE, but then she wrote to say: let’s make something out of this and I thought: ug, where do I start? Well, I’ll start with fabric. (Then wallpaper, wrapping paper, notepads….). How about these two together:

Screen Shot 2015-01-20 at 10.23.59 PM

Red House Inc’s extra large tote + Swiss Cottage Designs Vermont illustrations

  • Little Auggie + Clap Clap: Little Auggie is creating some of the softest, sweetest bedding around. I’m especially grateful for their patterns for boys – which don’t fall into the easy rut of sport/superhero/truck themes. Instead each line creates a narrative that even parents can love . Similarly, Clap Clap Design‘s stationery stops me in my tracks with bold colors and a clear story. I would happily pull a duvet cover designed by these two over my head for a long winter nap.

Screen Shot 2015-01-20 at 11.53.14 PM

Little Auggie‘s Rabbit Patch Collection + Clap Clap‘s Greeting Cards

  • Julie Song + Pretty Plum Sugar: It turns out, these two were well ahead of me. For Christmas, I was gifted a gorgeous robe from Pretty Plum Sugar (long live the pinterest wish list!). I returned to Clementine to find Julie had sent her beautiful 2015 Calendar. As I was dreaming up this post, I had a fleeting thought about how perfect Julie’s designs would be on these robes. Then last week on Instagram I saw that it had already happened, even prettier than I had imagined (and dare, I say the perfect get-up for 2015 tea-drinking bed-lounging daydreams):

Screen Shot 2015-01-21 at 12.12.36 AM

{Julie Song for Pretty Plum Sugar exclusively via BHLDN}

Join me back here soon to day dream about new and expanded products from some of your existing stationery lines. And in the mean time…What brands do you think could partner to create a new product?

xx 2015!

Hello Brick & Mortar: Real Customers, Merry & Bright

Ed Note: I can’t imagine a better way to sign off for the holidays than with this beautiful post from Emily – with real cards carefully picked out by very real people. I’ll be back next week with my annual “best of” round up and a couple of New Year’s posts, and with brand new content on January 5! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! xoxo – Nole

It’s Christmas Eve! I love this day almost more than Christmas itself, all of the anticipation of tomorrow just bursts today. But I’ll be honest, this shop owner is also very, very ready to settle down for a long winter’s nap. I’ve had a wonderfully full and exciting year, due in large part to many of you who egg me on and share the best conversations and questions. This will my fifth holiday owning Clementine. I know that holiday magic waits behind so many tiny moments: sneaky emails, hiding presents, surreptitious returns to purchase that little gift a loved one adored.  I’m totally exhausted, but equally hooked on the bits of magic that flutter through this season, I hope wherever you are, a bit flutters to you. ~ Emily of Clementine.

OSBP-Hello-Brick-and-Mortar-Clementine-by-Emily-McDowell-IllustrationIllustration by Emily McDowell for Oh So Beautiful Paper

In the past, I have asked customers to hold their card up as they purchase it and tell me where the cards are headed. This year, we are all so rushed, I asked instead for a simple image of the card and story about it’s recipient.

From Nan: I used the box set of cards to send a little bit of Middlebury love to some of my best friends who go to other colleges who I haven’t seen in a while. It’s the perfect personalized note to let them know I’m thinking of them this Christmas season. 

OSBPNanPDSMerryChristmas

{Merry Christmas With Love from Middlebury ~ Custom Designed cards by Parrot Design Studio}

From Susan: I’m sending this to my Manhattan friend. We have sort of a tongue in cheek “city mouse/country mouse” joke so I love sending her cards that remind me of her hustle and bustle neighborhood. She, in return, sends me cards of farm animals and generally bucolic images…

OSBPSusanSwissCottage

{Swiss Cottage Designs Christmas on Main Street}

From Chenoa: This card is going to one of our favorite people who cares for our daughter every day. We truly couldn’t live without her. 

OSBPChenoaRPCSnowglobe

{Rifle Paper Co. Snow Globe}

From John: I’m putting together a collection of cards from your store for my wife. She’ll love them all, these are especially beautiful. 

OSBPJohnHartlandBrooklyn

{Peace Wreath and Succulent Wreath by Hartland Brooklyn.}

From Sas: I sent this postcard to my dear friend in Brooklyn; she’s the only person I know who gets into the holidays the way I do! I love that the scene on the card feels like a snapshot of rural Vermont!

SasRPCholidayscene

{Rifle Paper Co. Holiday Scene Post Card}

From Emily (that’s me!): I chose these diagramed snowmen for my son’s preschool teachers and friends because I love that they take the jolly holiday spirit of a snowman and break them down into their fun little bits. They remind me of all of the toddler activities his teachers so thoughtfully design – taking each craft piecemeal and creating something wonderful. OSBPEmilyGCT

{Girls Can Tell Snowman}

From Meg: My husband and I don’t give each other gifts for the holidays. Instead, on Christmas Day we leave notes for each other and treat ourselves to a delicious homemade chili.

OSBPMegPearl

{Pearl & Marmalade’s I want to hibernate with you!}

Sarah purchased a little stack of cards for her employees, a mix of holiday and thank you cards. Like many of you, Sarah is running a small business and knows that the greatest holiday sentiment at this exhausted holiday moment is thanks! From Sarah: This card, among the others, is for the amazing hard work my employees did this year. We would have never gotten here without every one of them. 

OSBPSarahEmilyMc

{Seriously Thank You Times a Million from Emily McDowell}

I’ll take a tiny breather here to say that this final story is a bit more tender. In other words, it makes me cry every time I read it. But in a good way, and I hope it hits you in a good way too. Stephanie and I have followed each others lives, without ever meeting, after becoming far-away friends on instagram almost three years ago. I tucked a card in to her order last year with no idea how it would follow their life story. This year has been momentous for Stephanie, I am lucky to be the tiniest snowflake in her story and to get to watch this family grow. From Stephanie: Last year I admired the Dear Santa stationary from afar. My husband and I didn’t have children, and at the time, weren’t planning to, but the idea of it was so sweet. I made an order from Emily’s shop and she slipped the Dear Santa card into my order. I squealed when I opened it. It was precious.

Screen Shot 2014-12-22 at 4.31.34 PM

{Dear Santa by Printerette photographed here with another favorite, Parrot Design’s From the Desk of Santa}

When we unexpectedly found out in January that I was pregnant I pulled the Dear Santa Letter out of the Christmas stuff. I wanted to have it for our baby girl’s first Christmas. We named her Wright. At 18 weeks she was diagnosed with a chromosomal abnormality that was terminal. We spent the next 6 weeks waiting to go into labor though we knew she wouldn’t be born alive.  For many reasons I never got around to putting the Dear Santa letter away. In late summer we had another unexpected event; a distant family member called, asking us to adopt her 2 year old son. We said yes.

On September 14th, C landed at JFK to the waiting arms of my husband. As we began Advent, I found the Dear Santa letter among Wright’s things, and with profound awareness of how complex and fantastic the year had been my husband, C, and I sat down to write our first letter to Santa as a family. Far more tearfully and joyfully than I expected – we mailed it from Macy’s on 34th Street – with our deep grief in our hearts and our overwhelming miracle in our arms.

Screen Shot 2014-12-22 at 5.36.17 PM

{Dear Santa, Printerette Press)

Wherever you are I hope your hearts are full and your holidays are bright. Even if you’re slogging through some of your days, I hope you catch a little bit of the magic too.  May you hug, laugh and create as much as possible. Merriest of holidays to you all and a Happy New Year! xoxo, Emily

Guest Post: Raising Your Baby & Your Business

I’ve asked some of my favorite creative mamas to help out while I’m adjusting to life with our new baby. Today, our very own Emily from one of my most favorite shops – Clementine â€“ and the author of our Brick + Mortar column is sharing some thoughts on growing a business while raising a child! This post in particular makes me love Emily about a billion times more than I already do – thanks Emily! –Nole

Hoo-rays and congratulations to Nole on the birth of baby Alice! Making a baby is no joke and we should probably start sending birth-day cards to moms. (Might I suggest “Happy Birth Day, from my uterus to yours!”) I love joining you all here in the Brick & Mortar column and I’m excited to share the behind-the-scenes jungle gym that is my life as a small-business-owning mom. â€“Emily of Clementine

Thoughts on Growing a Business while Raising Children by Emily of Clementine via Oh So Beautiful Paper

  • Surprise! I found out I was pregnant a month after opening Clementine; and so began my life rearing the Irish twins of boutique & baby. Three years in, I only have time to skim articles about work/life balance. I appreciate the intent. I have studied, worked, and advocated for women to be able to make healthy choices for themselves and their families. I also know that the simple question of “Can women have it all?” can lead to simply feeling defeated. I’m more interested in conversations about the struggles we’re actually facing as parents, makers, and small business owners:  Am I making enough to justify daycare? How do I plan for a baby while running a small business? How do I support my friends who are struggling to conceive? How can I become a more loving step-mom? How do I strengthen my marriage while raising a business and a baby? Will this work sustain me? These conversations (and not the answers, which are often fleeting, if found) helped me grow, happily, into my thirties and feel confident that the choices I make for my business and my family are mine, even if they are difficult to make.
  •  A Day In The Life: My Imagined vs. Actual Day. My every-day mom struggle is a common one: How do I keep it together and feel successful when my imagined day is often so different from my actual one? Online, a lot of us look like super-woman. I’m not. I can take a good photo, and mask exhaustion with humor, but every time someone asks how I “do it all?” my answer is simple: I don’t. It’s sharing the honest struggles that helps me feel human and face the day. And oh what a whirlwind 24 hours can be!

Imagined Morning: Julian sleeps through the night and totally wears underwear all the time and actual clothing for most of the day. He eats a good breakfast and gets to pre-school on time. I do a lot of yoga and leave the house in an outfit free of yogurt/snot/something unidentifiable.  Thoughts on Growing a Business while Raising Children by Emily of Clementine via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Actual Morning: I slept, sort of. Some people have eaten; other people have shoved cheerios into the couch and put on one sock. Julian is only wearing underwear, refuses to put anything else on and is halfway down the block on a scooter. No one has showered. We get to pre-school only 10 minutes late (success.) I give Julian kisses and talk about fire trucks. I hug him, tell him to have a totally fantastic day. Sometimes he still cries, it is still excruciating. Sometimes he runs off with friends, that is bittersweet too. Either way, I try to leave quickly (quick exits are the key to success). 

Imagined Day At Work: I am super productive, I get caught up on orders, inquiries, and bills. All new shipments get priced and displayed in the shop. I eat an actual lunch. I make good use of my time. My desk looks good. I answer the phone when it rings. (Just kidding, I hate answering the phone.)Thoughts on Growing a Business while Raising Children by Emily of Clementine via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Actual work day: Before going to work, I manage to carve out 30 minutes to take a walk and listen to a new podcast (bliss is walking in one direction, by myself, with the space to think). I shower! I get dressed. I jet. On my 5 minute drive, I make a mental list of 12-24 things that must get done today. I open Clementine’s doors at 10:35 (only 5 minutes late!) I love the smell and sight of Clementine. The windows, the light. I feel genuinely lucky and forget at least 12 things on my to-do list. I unlock the door to my coffee shop neighbor and order. I write down everything I need to do today. (Just kidding, I like lists < answering the phone.) Instead, I drink my coffee and “work on social media marketing” for an hour. Good thing I’m the boss.

Thoughts on Growing a Business while Raising Children by Emily of Clementine via Oh So Beautiful Paper

The mail arrives. MAIL! Gorgeous letters and packages. God I love you all. I drop whatever I’m doing  to unwrap, delight and instagram new inspirations. Back to work, I try to reply to product submissions (thank you, especially for the sweet notes). This means reviewing your catalog and making a yes, maybe, no determination of how your product would fit at Clementine. It’s not always easy, I try to send a reply email immediately. I don’t always (please follow up!). I flip to the other 15 tabs open on my computer (bills, orders, inspiration, content writing, consulting). I’m interrupted every 5 to 30 minutes by customers. Some days I plow through, others times I dive into conversations with friends and customers about life, parenting, design, paint, color, marriage, that we must grab coffee (we both mean wine). I love these conversations. I will drop anything for them. I will also drop every thing for a milkshake or anything from Middlebury Chocolates. Is it 3 yet? Close enough.

Thoughts on Growing a Business while Raising Children by Emily of Clementine via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Megan comes in, she gets actual work done. I love her. I love trusting someone to help me. I have time to place my orders, shipments get priced, updated online and out on the floor. I wrap and write notes for Clementine’s online orders. Sometimes this means making quick emergency orders with vendors because something a customer ordered is out of stock (you know the feeling?) By 4pm I’m on a great roll, I’m totally in the zone and bam, it’s 5 o’clock. My desk is a total mess, but I have to bust out of the shop and down the hill to my car. I am only 3 minutes late for Julian pick up. He chatters and gives me a hug and the world stops. I love this moment more than anything in the world. Anything ever. Sometimes I get out early and when I do, we go on tiny adventures. I try to have no agenda and let him lead.

Thoughts on Growing a Business while Raising Children by Emily of Clementine via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Imagined evening: My family eats an actual dinner, we talk, we snuggle, we fall asleep happily before 10.

Actual life: People eat stuff, some of it is green and healthy (it’s Vermont, y’all, I may be busy, but our chicken nuggets are organic and I sneak in kale whenever possible.) It’s a wild nightly tangle of Julian, my husband and Julian’s big brothers. There is laughing and chasing and eating and did someone say ice cream? We have fights and whining. We have belly laughs. Some teeth are brushed. We read the same book again, because: toddlers. We talk about our day. Most people fall asleep. I finish all of the work I didn’t finish during the day. I place most of my orders between 10pm-12am. Bills I thought I already scheduled actually get paid. I have ideas. I plan for tomorrow. I hear the Colbert Report end. Time for sleep. Good night friends.

  • Balance: Being a mom and a small-business owner is a mildly ridiculous exercise in productivity. Everyday is a new game of ping-pong: a symphony of joy, a cacophony of frustration. I won’t say I don’t believe in balance, but as a mom who loves her work, there is an unshakable tension between the two. I’m not Type A or overly organized. I get incredibly frustrated with that because it breeds a messy desk and some internal anxiety, but I happily abandon perfection to focus on making Clementine a space where community builds and people are intoxicated with design and craft just by walking in the door.

Thoughts on Growing a Business while Raising Children by Emily of Clementine via Oh So Beautiful Paper

I try to go easy on myself when I don’t get it all done. I try to focus on friendships and experiences that fill my life (and my family’s) with as much laughter, creativity and kindness as we can stuff in. I believe that we can and should share the pretty instagram photos with a dash of the scared, ugly, unsure feelings.  We can be ourselves and moms. We can recognize that people we love are struggling to become moms. We can send more cards. We can have more laughs. We can be kinder. We can fail and start over. We can climb mountains to be creative. We can fill this life with more love.

First & last photo by Jessica Anderson, delicious chocolate photo by Middlebury Chocolates all others by Emily.