I love stationery. Is that weird? Note cards, notebooks, journals, calendars, planners. Paper products of any kind, really. I have a vivid memory of lingering in the school supply aisle at the local drug store, trying to decide what to buy with my birthday money. I think I was all of 9 years old.
When I was in 7th grade, my brother’s school sold personalized note pads for a fundraiser. What??? Yeah, that opened up a whole new world. Custom. Personalized. Stationery. Come to mama!
My first job out of college was at the French Library in Boston. One of my duties was creating marketing flyers for our language courses. I did a lot of cutting and pasting until the Programs department invested in a license of PageMaker (for you youngsters, think InDesign). I taught myself how to use it and it changed my world. Since then I’ve designed note paper, letterhead, business cards, invitations, newsletters, flyers, calendars, etc. You name it, I’ve probably mocked it up.
Flash forward several decades and now I’m the crazy lady scouring through page after page of holiday card templates on the Minted and TinyPrints sites. I put together a mini gallery of options each year. Their systems have definitely come a long way, but I still get frustrated not having full freedom to shift design elements just so, or tweak the wording exactly the way I want it.
When I first started plotting my photography business, I knew I had to find a way to weave in my obsession with paper products. In fact, my grand plan was to dip my toe into the business world via an Etsy storefront selling prints, notecards, and calendars. That was, until personal brand photography flashed across my radar, diverting my attention for several months.
However, I haven’t given up on developing custom stationery products! Last week I started working on a prototype for a 2019 calendar. I’m only a few months in at this point, but I'm sure I'll make the time to create the full year. Might have to fire up that Etsy shop after all!
Until I cut the ribbon on my storefront, you can purchase prints of some of my favorite shots, including the cherry blossom images I've used in my calendar prototype. Just visit my online gallery!
So, now that I’ve admitted to my strange guilty pleasure, what’s yours?
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