Throw-back Thursday

Going way back to 2008 for this Throw-Back Thursday, to the first item that I ever sold on Etsy:

The thing that cracks me up about this listing is that I barely had a description. It read, "Package of six pink Tootsie Toes." I never explained how many cards were in the package, that the pink paper was handmade and recycled from junk mail. I didn't give the measurements of the cards or mention that envelopes were included. I only showed one product photo and the only tag I had on the listing was "paper goods." It's amazing that I ever sold it!

Newspaper art

What amazing art!

Japanese Artist Tightly Rolls Newspaper To Create Incredibly Realistic Animal Sculptures
by​ James Gould-Bourn

For most us, newspapers are for reading. But for Chie Hitotsuyama, newspapers serve a whole different purpose. Because as you can see below, the Japanese artist doesn’t use them to catch up on the sport and gossip. She turns them into incredibly realistic animal sculptures instead. She makes them by densely rolling, twisting, and binding pieces of wet newspaper. The process is done entirely by hand and she even uses the colored print to enhance the contours and gradations of her subjects. From red-faced Japanese macaques to languishing lizards and even a giant dozing rhinoceros, Chie creates the most stunning sculptures from something that most of us simply throw in the trash. It’s a brilliant way of turning bad news into something more positive.

http://www.boredpanda.com/rolled-newspaper-animal-sculptures-paper-trails-chie-hitotsuyama/

Wholesale stationery

Last winter, I blindly dove into selling my greeting cards wholesale. I suddenly got a burst of confidence and approached businesses without fear but also without a clear plan. I landed a few accounts and THEN I sat down and set up a system for keeping track of inventory, orders and payments. It made for a chaotic start, especially when I had to learn everything about making a line sheet, which is a wholesale order form, and a catalog, as well as terms for selling my work. I am happy with what I made with limited time and even more limited technological savvy. (A shout-out to the website Issuu for being a great wholesale resource.)

Now that I am rolling along with my wholesale business and have a diverse set of businesses that sell my lines, it's time to redesign my line sheet and catalog for 2017, including - wait for it - introducing 13 new card lines.

Looking back, I am actually glad I bit into wholesale selling the way I did, even if every marketing professional would advise against the way I approached it. Every step gave me new energy and excitement as well as an urgency to get things done rather than take too long on making them perfect and thinking out every decision to its exhausting end.

Last week I took my new designs to the printing house to be scanned. I am waiting for the proofs and then the printing will begin. Interested in selling my stationery as a wholesale account? Contact me at papercards@aol.com and tell me about your business. I will send you a link to my online wholesale line sheet. Or check out my cards in my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PulpArt?ref=hdr_shop_menu§ion_id=6245993

Shaker Christmas Show

I will be selling at the annual Shaker show in Albany, NY. If you are in the area, please visit my work at the show. I am packing and pricing like crazy today and cleaning off my display racks to make everything shiny for set-up in less than two weeks!

Global domination

My pressed flower Petal People seem to be making it on blogs all around the world, in many languages. Pretty cool! I remember the days when the most people I could get to see my work was whoever showed up within a 25-mile radius of whatever craft show was I was selling at...