week twenty-nine 2025

Last week was crazy busy with Chicagoland Stationery Store Day designing and deadlines. 

I feel like I lost the entire month of June this year. We received 12 orders from a big retailer in late May and the clock started for the July 7th ship date. It was a lot. Mistakes were made. Hurdles were overcome and it got done. I'm thankful it's over. However, many projects and deadlines got pushed because of it. The main one being Chicagoand Stationery Store Day. This year we decided to do a booklet style passport for the Chicagoland Stationery Store Day. I volunteered to create branding for the event and a 20 page passport with cover. It should've been done by end of June but I wasn't able to make the time to design. Because I waited until my orders shipped, it became a whole lot to manage in a very short time. Last week was catch up. I was running out of time to design, proof, print, perforate and assemble. I kept looking at my to do list and realized I would have to work an entire week straight to create the 400 passports needed for all the shops. I made the decision to reach out to my offset printers to see if they could create and fulfill the passport in the time we have. Thankfully, they stepped up. We discussed paper options, perforation for the entry form page, cover stock suggestions and delivery details. They are a lifesaver. If you ever need offset or digital printing, check out North Shore Printers. They are amazing. Once I had the estimate from them, it was time to finalize the passport. A few stores forgot to supply logos, I had to send multiple email reminders. Which stressed me out but I made the most of it and had Tom and mom proofread all the details I did have.
The idea behind the Chicagoland Stationery Store Day Passport is for customers to stamp their passports at each location and create a keepsake. For each location visited, you'll be entered to win stationery from that shop. I'll have my usual shop stamp available but I also designed a stamp just for the day as a lil' bonus. 

While waiting on logos for the passport, I finalized stickers for Stationery Store Day. They shipped on Friday and I should have them Wednesday. I made an exclusive sticker design just for my shop. It's the first time I've ever created stickers, I'm nervous but also excited. Be sure to check out our Instagram page for some sneak peeks!

2013 NY International Gift Fair Booth - Jaime, Amber, Tom

Along with all the Stationery Store Day designing and planning, I worked on readying my Faire wholesale shop for their Summer Market. When I first started wholesaling in 2007, in person trade shows were the norm. It was the best way to discover new products and for us creators, the easiest way to be discovered. Then came Etsy Wholesale, which was amazing but discontinued after just a couple years. When Faire came along, people were ready for it. Buyers are getting younger and prefer to shop online instead of in person. It seems like trade shows have yet to rebound after the pandemic, the cost of traveling out of state to shop 100's of vendors under one roof isn't appealing for everyone now that you can sit at home and scroll. Faire offers Markets twice a year and has replaced in person trade shows for many. As a maker, trade shows are a HUGE expense. The booth cost alone is several thousand dollars and doesn't include booth design or furnishing it, shipping that booth all your product in a crate cross-country, getting catalogs printed, order forms printed, plus pay for airfare for two to three people, hotel rooms and three square meals for an entire week. It's a very costly endeavor. Many vendors don't even break even. Trade shows are a gamble. Faire is a little safer. We offer a discount to our customers and send emails to market then let the orders flow in. Our margins aren't great, in fact they're almost non-existent with the discounts. However, we usually get new customers who reorder within a few months, in the long term it's beneficial. 

And of course, I was on press one day last week. It should've been two but TIME. I am but one human. I printed on both my antique presses, my Chandler + Price Platen Press as well as my Heidelberg Windmill Press. It was a very productive day and week.