when it rains, it makes a whole heaping mess of things

It’s been a bit quiet on the blog because I haven’t had a chance to sit and spend a whole lot of time writing. Checking-in in under 140 characters, on the other hand, is doable so you can always follow the madness, mayhem, and musings on Twitter.

Okay, back to my week.

‘When it rains, it pours’ only goes so far to say that a lot of things can go wrong at the same time. There should be a way to say that things not only went wrong, but that the pouring was a catalyst to the utter collapse of things. For instance, let’s say we get a little rain (and in So Cal, we grumble about a light shower), which makes the road slick, that leads to a 10 car pile up on the 405 N, which you just happen to be stuck on, thus makes you unable to get to something really important.

Point is, things sure collapsed this week.

It started off terrific enough. Orders were shipped, new orders came in, vendors and supplies ordered, printed jobs picked up. I was on a roll for the start of the year. Woohoo! But then the printer died, my supplies were back-ordered, kids got sick.

No problem. I can handle those little obstacles. That’s just a slow crawl on the freeway.

The big collision came at 2am when my wall shelving began to peel away from the anchors and the boxes of stock started to slide off. Wide eyed panic and gaping mouth set in as I rushed on top of a nearby stool and hopped onto my table to hold the rail and bottom corner of the falling shelf. Whew… I caught them just in the nick of time and commenced transferring each box with one hand while the other held up the offending shelf.

Now that the rails were weakened, my whole shelf system had to be removed. I decided to get standing shelves in its place which meant my production table, couch, boxes hiding under those areas, and supply bins had to relocate. I was left with a mess.

While the rain can bring its share of problems, there’s always an upside. The sky is always bluer after a nice downpour.

Remember the saga on the war with my office and reclaiming the walls? Well, this disaster forced me to overhaul my work space. There are a lot of boxes to sort through and supplies to purge yet, but the office has a nice makeover. Well, at least half of it.

Yeah. Cue the rainbows.

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new design debut 2011

The past 6 months have been full of changes. We introduced a new look for the website, started this blog, and now I am happy to announce the debut of new products at the L.A. Mart and Dallas Market Center showrooms.

First up, I’d like to introduce the Noted Musings blank stationery set with matching color envelopes. The first series focuses on big bright flowers with clean lines and vibrant colors. These flat notes are great for jotting a quick hello, sending a thank you, or sharing your latest news.

In addition to blank stationery flats, I am now designing a new format with the Open Door Collection. These greeting cards feature clean illustrations, bright embellishments, and patterns that wrap around the back of the card.

The Little Windows Collection continues to be the signature line with a clean and refined look, white space, mini images, tiny details, and handmade adornments. The new Open Door Collection has been a chance to play with fun colors and busy patterns and larger graphics.

I’ve really enjoyed designing this new collection and I hope you enjoy it too!

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monday mood : a plan

Hello folks. I hope your 2011 started out with much gusto. The beginning of the year always seems like a great time to set some goals for the next twelve months. Last year was lived with a frenzy. The amount of activities and entertaining that we hosted or took part in was overwhelming. Our schedule doesn’t look much slower in 2011, but I believe this year could be lived with less chaos and more calm. In order to create a sense of calm, my key words this year are focus, organize, efficiency applied to both myself and my space. Hm… F.O.E. I guess I’m setting myself up for quite a challenge this year.

Here’s my partial list for 2011:

1. create a weekly dinner menu – this eliminates the need to spend hours each week thinking about what to make for dinner, buying ingredients, and cooking on a daily basis
2. serve homemade or healthy after school snacks – good time to introduce something new or different without worrying about them not eating enough
3. schedule time to work – use time in the office more wisely. I don’t need to have 10 windows open
4. drink more water – to combat the effects from copious amounts of coffee
5. clean out the office closet – purge office supplies and tools that are never used. I really don’t need 10 different eyelet setters
6. work on a new design each week – these may or may not be used in the future, but it’s important to create on a continual basis
7. write more letters – there’s nothing like a handwritten note
8. clean out filing cabinet – shred old paperwork, box papers if needed, and recreate a better filing system
9. sleep earlier – if I use my time well during the day, I might get to sleep at a decent hour
10. and post on the blog at least once a week

What do you have planned for 2011?

1. modernemotive | 2. parents.com | 3. momagenda | 4. container store | 5. paper musings sketches | 6. sigg bottle | 7. paper musings notes 2011 | 8. see jane work | 9. serena and lily

click on images to learn more

may your holidays sparkle

Bright lights strung around the tree, shiny ornaments from every bough, and faces lit up with anticipation for Christmas morning.

May your days be merry and bright!

a new look

I’ve always loved those super bouncy balls that you get in the quarter machines. If I was lucky, more than one would fall out when I turned the knob far enough. They were little, but these balls were bright, fun, and boy could they fly high. So when I first designed my logo, 8 years ago, I wanted to use colorful dots to represent the feeling of those bouncy balls. My first website also used an overlapping dot pattern for a background.

When it came time to redesign the website in 2006, I wanted to capture the spirit of those bouncing balls. And that year, I fell in love with the Sony Bravia commercial where 250,000 colorful super bouncy balls danced down a hill in San Francisco. The colors were overwhelming. The song poignant. And the fact that they used real balls makes this ad much more amazing. This video, found at, perfectly enough, The Inspiration Room inspired the second website.

Well, you can see why it spoke to me. My web designer incorporated my love for the brightly colored orbs and introduced movement. He made the dots in my logo bounce around the page and settle into their proper place. It was my favorite part of website version 2.0.

Now as I head into my 9th year in business, I have found that Paper Musings has grown up a little bit. I’ve learned a lot about myself and the business over the years, but I still believe in a product that could be amusing and surprising. In the redesign of our website for 2010, I wanted to express those principles and find a way to capture the playfulness that is Paper Musings. I wanted professional whimsy.

Three people helped to make this website a reality. A budding local photographer, Michael Hoddick, agreed to take on my project. Photographs of my cards tend to look washed out because of the white space in the product. Michael was able to light and capture the details of each design. Lucky for me, he understands lighting, as one of his favorite subjects to photograph just happens to be lights.

Sara, my assistant, has worked with me for the past four years and she has always been one to take the initiative and help in any way she can. She is my extra set of hands, another pair of eyes, and always great company. Sara helped organize, set up, and oversee the photography sessions when I was unable to give my full attention to each shot (thanks to my little one who has a knack for needing me at the most inopportune moments). I will miss her dearly as she leaves to focus on college.

Finally, my web designer, the brilliant and ever jovial Pete Xifo, simply laughed at the contradictory characterization that I wanted to encapsulate in the website. He wasn’t perplexed by my request for professional whimsy. He let out a big hearty chuckle that showed he was up to task. Maybe it’s because he’s also an actor and a theater set designer. I’m sure he’s heard far stranger requests, but he got me. He understood my vision, my work, and my style.

The finished product reflects where we are today – an evolving and growing company. Please stop by our new Paper Musings website. There are lots of surprises and places to explore in the site. You may have noticed that our logo has changed and the dots are right below our written logo. Not to worry. They’re not at rest. Those balls are actually at the point of impact, on the verge of taking off higher than before. You might even find our super bouncy balls hiding on the site. There’s no way I could part with those.

A lesson learned

Lesson #1: Wait until the next morning to reread and publish posts.  A 2 a.m. post is akin to the drunk dial. It will most likely be a really bad decision when viewed the next day.  The Save Draft button is there for a reason. Use it!

In my haste to post something, I published a post that was absolutely dull and should be banished for sheer lack of imagination. The topic was an invitation that served as a catalyst in the development of Paper Musings. The treatment of it, however, was embarrassing. I had reduced an important narrative down to a set of bullet points. As written, it could very well have been a series of tweets instead of a blog post.

C- is generous. At least there are no spelling errors.

This post failed on so many levels:

1. It’s boring. The post is a set of notes and a sequence of events rather than a narrative.
2. I don’t show the reader how I integrate my design sense into the piece.
3. There is barely a description of the invitation.
4. The picture sucks. It’s better than the first one though. I can’t call myself an amateur photographer. I’m barely a casual photographer, but I know I can do better than a single straight on picture. I will get a good picture or two with that new point and shoot camera.

Remember in grade school when you took an exam or wrote a paper that was mediocre or even a major fail? And your teacher believed that you were capable of so much more? And she would allow you to make up the test or rewrite the paper?

Well, I am calling a do-over. Stay tuned…

a work in progress

Paper Musings has always been a place where I can escape to play with ideas. After a long day with everything from errands, cleaning house, homework, dinner, dishes, and diapers, I find a little peace and sanity when I stare at a blank screen on my computer.
I love a white page because it’s a new beginning full of promise. Paper Musings is the result of a wandering mind and staring at a blinking cursor on a blank page. The white space became a space to create, reflect, and celebrate.
I look forward to sharing these moments with you and exploring my work in progress that is Paper Musings.