Etsy, Updates, + Plans....

Hey guys!!! My Etsy shop has been like my baby since I opened it up in May of last year, and just like a baby, there's been good days and bad days and we've grown soo much together. [It's almost 1 year old already! I can't believe it!!] As you all know, I'm self taught when it comes to graphic design, and I'm really proud of myself for all the things I've learned this past year and how my designing ability has grown and is really starting to become my own. It's a pretty exciting time for my shop as I am launching more and more new designs and products every weekend!! Even with this semester just starting up, I'm managing my time pretty well between school and 'work.' We all know how horrible I am at mastering that skill but I've really become more focused on what I want to do and where I want to go. Now this doesn't mean that I have figured out all of life's unanswered questions, but I'm as much in the dark when it comes to my future as I've been in the past. 

If you follow me on twitter or even instagram, you'll notice my shop has had some pretty amazing success in the little amount of time that it's been operating. I've had more than ten orders come through within a 2 month period, and I even had my first international customer! A lovely lady all the from down under, a.k.a. Australia! It was such fun conversing with her and designing her engagement invitations for her and her fiance. [Congrats, guys!] Also within that 2 moth period, I was fortunate enough to have two repeat customers! They could not have been any sweeter than they were! I had created a House Party card, which I posted about here, and a pretty modern Victorian Bridal Shower Invitation. I was so pleasantly surprised to have not only one, but two customers return to my shop for their paper good needs! I hope they all come back real soon for some more paper goods.

As well, because I want to really expand the products in my shop, and really get my ship name out there, I've been doing minor updates here and there for. Some of these updates include, shipping+processing time, shipping/product costs, new products, & most recently, a New Shop Banner.

It's pretty obvious my go-to design elements are anything coral and extremely modern. I can't help it, it's what my heart loves! The new banner is refreshing and light, unlike my previous banner, which I also used for my business cards. Soo you know what that means, New Business Cards are in the works! I love designing these little bit and bobs that come together a make up a whole brand so beautifully. I'll definitely share the business cards, once I have them all designed and printed. 

Some more exciting news [am I the only one finding this stuff exciting?], I am updating all of my shop photos over the course of the next few weekends. I've had a very lovely lady by the name of Krysta assist me with all of my printing needs, and she is amazing all the way around. So I'll have a bunch of samples send to me this week of all my shop items. That's right, REAL PHOTOS!!! No more digital images of my designs! Well, expect for when they are brand new and I haven't had them printed yet. But any way, all the photos will be of actual paper goods, so customer/visitors of PLS can have a better understanding of how the product looks in real life. I'm really excited about this, because it's something I've been wanting to do for my shop for what feels like forever! I'm really glad that my product line has grown over the past 8 months and I'm now able to have beautiful, professional photos of my creations. [Side note: My Etsy Shop hit TWO PAGES a few weeks ago, and I was way too overly excited about it! But it's one of those little things that just make you think to yourself, "Wow! I actually managed to do that!" It's silly and problem minuscule in comparison to other Etsy shop achievements, but for me, right now, it the little ones that help big dreams seem more attainable.]

P.S. Sorry if this was way too long and way too ramble-ly (??), but I just wanted to share all my little updates and upcoming plans for PAPER LOVE STATIONERY.

Hope you have your best Monday ever!!

xxoo

iPad Mini Giveaway!!

Hey all!!! Just want to share with you all, this stellar giveaway going on at KaelahBee.com!! Miss. Kaelah is giving away an iPad Mini!!!!!!! Holy Heck!! I can't even believe this!! It way too cool!! 

I've been wanting an iPad since the iPad first came out, but being a full-time college student and first time business owner with a growing Etsy Shop, my funds have had to go to more practical places... like bills and tuition -__-  But this giveaway has brighten my hopes of actually being able to own one! This would be an amazing asset to my life, and more so to my growing biz! I'd be able to bring it with my every where I go, so I could answer any questions any potential customer may have more promptly, as well as edit/update my Etsy Shop!! 

If you all want to check out the giveaway, and even enter for yourself, than be sure to visit Kaelahbee's blog for all the rules!!

Have super fun Sunday all!!

xxoo

Playing Catch Up...

The last time I posted on here, it was just around Halloween and I had left off with a video tutorial for you all. Now that more than a month has pasted, a lot has happened. Besides Hurricane Sandy and the Nor'easter we had a week after, October was full of new orders to fill and ship out, which thanks to Sandy made it nearly impossible to do. All of my orders were delayed for over a week! I still feel so bad that my customers had to wait extra long for their orders, but thankfully they were all so understanding and extremely patient! [Thanks again to everyone who stuck with PLS during Sandy!] October was a very successful month for my little shop, and I am very happy to have meet the customers I did that month! In the little spare time that I managed to find, I was able to craft some handmade halloween cards for my family. Each one was different and unique to the families members that were going to be receiving them. I am really happy with all of the designs I came up with, but even more so, I was soo happy my family loved them as much as I love making them!

Then came November. The end of fall. The beginning of the Holiday Season... & Turkey Day. Nothing to exciting occurred in November, but I was able to take a mini-trip to Virginia with my family for Thanksgiving. We left The night before Thanksgiving after I got out of work, and made it to my Aunt's house at around 1:30 in the morning. I was soo tired by the time we got there that I just went straight to bed. The next morning was Thanksgiving. Not my most favorite holiday, well to be honest, I hate Thanksgiving because the food selection is pretty much everything I hate, expect for mashed potatoes and my mom's pumpkin pie! I brought with me, a Tofurky, because I don't eat meat. It's my Thanksgiving tradition for the past 3 years, which is how long I haven't had meat. So basically Thanksgiving went something like this: 

9am: I woke up and got dressed.

9am-11am: assembled a lots of items that I was already behind on submitting to a lovely blogger, and took photos out side because it was soo lovely outside.

11am-12noon: Ate breakfast & kind of watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

12noon-1pm: Played some pool, and kick my little brother's butt... 3 times! [I'm just that good lol]

1pm-2pm: Cooked my Tofurky...

2pm-5pm: Ate our lovely Thanksgiving meal with my whole family, which was very nice

5pm-5:30pm: Chatted with my Aunt's friend's mom about some business stuff

5:30pm-7:00pm: Ate desert, which included lots of pumpkin pie in my belly

7pm-til I went to sleep: Played pool against my brother (again), my Dad, and my other brother on and off.

So my day wasn't too exciting, but it was definitely fun to just hang around with my family in a different environment for a couple of days. We ended up leaving the next day around 5:00pm, because we had lots of activites to attend to over the weekend here in New Jersey. But we made it home in less than 4 hours and my Grandma drove back up with us to spend Christmas here. Yayy!!

Now here we are in December (!?!?) Did I just say that? Seriously, though I can not believe it's already December! Hey 2012, where'd you go!?!? I'm hoping to build up my shop inventory this month and just focusing on making my shop one big, cohesive brand that I will be proud to share with others. I wanted December to be filled with orders for all my Holiday Note Cards, but with the Holidays coming up, I'm hoping it will be a little slow in the shop, so I can spend as much of my free time with my family & friends as possible!

What did you all do for your Thanksgiving? Do you have any fun/exciting plans for Christmas/New Year's? Let me know what you Holiday traditions are; I love creating new ones with my family!

Have a happy Monday night, all!!

xxoo

Something about the South + a New Design...

I was contacted recently by a return customer of my Etsy Shop, who was inquiring about a custom order for 'House Party' cards. Yes, that's right House Party. Now, if your mind works like mine did when I initially read my customer's request, then your probably thinking of an actual house par-tay... loud music, too many people and not enough beer. But guess what, we're wrong. This type of 'House Party' couldn't be any more opposite from what I was envisioning. 

It turns out, that in the South, a House Party is what, I interpret, as a second-string Bridal Party, but in the best way possible. You see, your House Party traditionally consists of all the lovely ladies in your life, whom for one reason or another, are not able to be apart of your Bridal Party. [Side Note, I totes wish my sister-in-law had a House Party, because I would have been the first to join that, instead of the Bridal Party, & I say this in the nicest way possible.] I didn't want to seem uneducated, for lack of a better word, to my customer, so I asked Google for a hand in helping me find out what exactly a House Party was. I came across We Love Weddings, The Blog and they provided me with the most simplest explanation to this mysterious concept. The post I read can be found Here. It was very helpful to me, being that I have never heard of a House Party for a wedding before. The South has such beautiful traditions, and I'm learning the best are usually kept secret. Seriously, I love the idea of a house party, and I'm a bit upset that we don't have these up North, and uber jealous of the South for their heartfelt traditions. House Parties are great for the ladies in your life, who maybe can't afford[Read: don't want] to buy that hideous gorgeous Bridesmaid dress, or maybe for the ladies who are full-time career women and/or mommas, and just can't devote that much time to their lovely bride. Whatever the reason maybe, I would totally prefer being in a House Party than a Bridal Party.

So after I did my homework, I began conversing with my client to obtain her vision for these House Party cards. After many edits and re-edits, I finally came up with what she had envisioned. Below, is an image of the House Party cards she has decided on to ask her best ladies to share in her very special day. 

The chevron pattern she chose, is the same as the Engagement Party Invitations she purchased back in August. Chevron is my all time favorite pattern! You will see chevron patterns worked into a lot of my designs, because, well, I love it, and secondly, because I find it to be so versatile. You can customized it to any color combination your little heart desires, and you can change up the actual pattern, making it thinner, taller, horizontal, vertical, etc...

I really enjoyed creating these with this customer, as she is such a doll to work with, and also because, it was something new that I've never done before, in the sense of a House Party card, which we now all know the actual meaning of. 

If you'd like to see more of my Custom Designed Paper Goods, be sure to visit my Etsy Shop: Paper Love Stationery

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Hope you all have a stellar evening! And be sure to share some of your regions wedding traditions and superstitions; I'd love to hear about them!

Let's start off with an introduction...

Many of you may not know the story behind my little Etsy shop, Paper Love Stationery, so I decided I would take time today to tell you a little bit about it, and I guess a little bit about me as well!

You can read the condensed version of my Shop's story Here, or you can continued to read the adventure-in-the-making after the jump!

College student + aspiring graphic designer, who opened this shop to share her Modern Paper Goods that she designs, assembles, prints & ships from her {tiny} home studio in New Jersey.

That is pretty much the most condensed version of my Shop's story. It's nothing too crazy, but it's my own story and that alone makes me soo happy that I finally found the courage to pursue something I truly love, even if it's still a work in progress.

Ever since I was little, I had a quiet love for art and creating pretty things. I say 'quiet' because I never really expressed my creativity to anyone because I was always afraid of people, mostly my family, not approving of me. My family places school very high on our list of priorities, and although I do value school, the standard 9-5 is not my dream. I want a job that leads to a more creative path, where I'll be able to use my creativity every day. What's better than working everyday doing exactly what you love to do? As I said, I always had a love for creating pretty things, but I never gravitated to one specific interest... until I discovered my love for graphic design and paper goods. I opened this shop in May of 2012 to share the items I create with others in hopes that they love them as much as I loved making them. I started 'paper crafting' in November of last year, making my family handmade cards and ornaments as gifts. My love for crafting grew so much after that, and so I began to design note cards and stationery, which inevitably lead to designing invitations!

My shop is going to be 5 months old tomorrow [October 9th!]. I've had some pretty great success so far, that I never thought would happen so quickly. 

            My Ombre Chevron Thank You Cards 

             were featured in a Treasury List on Etsy!! 

I made my first sale in August, just 3 months after I opened my shop, and from there they just kept coming! Which makes me so, so, so happy that others love my items so much they are willing to purchase them! Every customer I've had the opportunity to work with so far has been absolutely fantastic; such lovely people, who were absolute joys to work with. 

Such lovely feedback from 
one of my first customers!

I believe I owe a lot to Meredith of One Sheepish Knit, for my first Etsy Sales. I reached out to her in May or June, when my shop was brand new, in the hopes that she might be willing to accept some of my cards as a gift for graduating college {Congrats again, lady!!} and much to my delight, she did!! I sent her a mixed set of my 'Keep Calm and Carry Yarn' Cards, being that she is a badass knitter! Upon receiving them, Meredith emailed me with the best email I've ever received! She wanted to offer my 'Keep Calm and Carry Yarn' Cards in a giveaway on her blog! I was beyond flattered/shocked/excited/nervous!!! I quickly accepted and from that gained many followers/supporters of my shop + it was great opportunity for my to promote my Shop! She really is an awesome gal, who helped my shop out a lot, and I don't even think she realizes that!


[To Meredith: Seriously, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for the truly amazing opportunity you gave to me!!! I hope to work with you again in the future!]

Thanks to my first sales, I've gained a lot of confidence in my little shop and the items I've been creating, which I questioned in the beginning because I'm actually self taught at the moment.. All my items are created by me from the idea in my mind to the finished product that arrives at your door. I design, print, assemble and ship each product from my {tiny} home studio in New Jersey. There's a lot of love and care that goes into designing each item! My most favorite part of the whole creation process, has been creating my 'brand.' I'm having a lot of fun choosing colors and patterns that I want people to identify my shop with. 

My current packaging/branding for my Shop! 

I'm really loving coral lately, so it's kind of the main color theme.

Of course the most fun part of running my shop, as side from the truly amazing people I've encountered so far, is designing items for my Shop. My inspiration for my designs comes from things that I love, be it colors, patterns, places or objects.. even phrases inspire my designs. I really love color & whimsy & all things modern, which you will see reflected in all of my designs. I'm beginning to prepare for the Holiday Season, with lots of modern note card gift sets, which are the perfect little gift for the Holidays! 

Well, that's all I have for now; hopefully there will be more stories and successes to share with you all! Thanks for taking the time to read more about my shop! 

I really do love hearing from you all, so if you have a feedback or questions, regarding me, my shop, a product, or anything at all, let me know:

comment below

tweet me: @PaperLoveStnery

comment on Fb: facebook.com/PaperLoveStationery

shoot me a quick email to: hello@paper-love-stationery.com

xxoo

Ardiana

Owner/Designer of PAPER LOVE STATIONERY

Paper Love Stationery has a BLOG!!

Hi all!!

PLS finally has a blog, where I'll be able to connect more with all of you! On this blog, I'll be posting some DIYs/Inspirations, projects that I'm working on and all the other little things that happen from day to day. 

I hope you all come back and visit again real soon! & until my next post, you can visit my etsy shop, Paper Love Stationery, tweet me on twitter, and Like PLS on facebook!!

Hope you all have a stellar Saturday day night!

xxoo

Ardiana

PAPER LOVE STATIONERY: New Shop Name!

I'm BACK!! These past few months have been crazy busy between work and my Etsy Shop. I just got my first big order for my Shop too! I'm super excited about it. You can check out the invitation I'm working on and all the other paper goods I have up for grabs on my Shop, PAPER LOVE STATIONERY.

Okay, so it's raining and ugly here in Jersey and I have a four day weekend a head of me. I'm going to watch Sex and the City and work on some more designs.

Have a great weekend all!

xxoo

SHOP UPDATE {JULY 1ST,2012}

Hey all!!!! Sorry I've been M.I.A. these past few weeks, but work is crazy and I've been designing like crazy!! I added lots of new designs to my shop as well as a new Section- Invitations!! Below I posted some of my favorites from the new designs I posted. 

So please head on over to my Shop and check out all the sweet paper goods up for sale!

Chevron Minimalist Invitation

Cheetah Themed Invitation

Chevron Hear Banner Thank You Card

Thank you for all you support and interest in my Shop! This venture is something I've always been (quietly) passionate about and I've finally mustered up the courage to share my passion with others!

Have a fabulous Fourth of July week!!!

xxoo

Handmade Graduation Gift...

Hello, and Happy Wednesday!! Half way to the weekend already! (Except for me lol because yesterday was the last day of my 5 day vacation from work, and it was very much needed/enjoyed!), so I only have three work days left this week and then I get to enjoy a family graduation party on Saturday and attend my little brothers' baseball games. Yayy!!!

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So I'm back to share with you all, those custom stationery note cards I was talking about in my last post. I was on Etsy for some inspiration for graduation presents for my friends, who have recently graduated from college, and I saw that stationery was a highly recommended gift. Being that I have a liking for creating paper goods, I thought, "Oh my gosh, I could totally make custom stationery for my friends' gifts!" And hence, the stationery note cards I've created below. I'm in love with chevron, so I decided to use that in my design and to add the unique, personalized element, I placed a monogramed design at the center front of the note card. I'm super, super pleased with the design, and I am definitely considering adding these babies to my Etsy Shop! 

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Be on the look out for a Shop Update this weekend! & don't forget you can still get 15% off your order when you use the Promo Code below:

Happy Wednesday all!!!

xxoo

Mini Shop Update...

Hi all! Just wanted to share a little shop update with you! I've added a few more Thank You cards, with a playful bunting theme in some lovely summer shades! 

Be sure to stop by my shop and check out all the paper goodies!

Happy weekend all!!

xxoo

First Time Being a Sponsor..

Hiiiiiii everyone!! I hope you're all enjoying this loveliest of mother's days and spending it with the most beautiful, strong, inspiring women in your life, because I know I am!




I just wanted to pop in today to let you all in on some BIG news for me and my little 'ole blog!!
For the first time ever I am sponsoring a blog for the month of May. Lauren from The Perfect Pear, is such a doll and her blog is chalk full of super DIYs and some fantastic outfit posts! You really must give Lauren's blog a read, and while your there keep an eye out for a super sweet giveaway from yours truly along with Lauren's other May Sponsors. It's one giveaway I am positive you will not want to miss out on!!

Also, if you're looking for some amazing handmade and self-designed cards and paper goods, then be sure to check out my SHOP, where you can find my lovely creations available for you to purchase and send to your loved ones and friends all over the world!

Have a lovely Sunday evening and Happy Mother's Day to all the kinds of moms out there!!

xxoo

Big News!!!!!!

    If you hang around my pathetic excuse for a blog, then you will already know that I sell handmade fabric flower hair accessories on my blog. Well I finally decided to take the plug and open my own Etsy Shoppe. Click HERE to visit my very very new Etsy Shoppe, Garden State Hair. Its very new, like not even 30 minutes old yet lol I only have a few items up right now as I need to take more photos of items and even make some new ones!! I'm really excited about this little business venture I am starting. So please, drop by my etsy and check out all the handmade goodies up for grabs!! Even purchase one if you like it that much! I just know you'll love them as much as I do!!

Thanks for all your support guys!!!

xxoo