June Butterflies

Last January 10, 2012, my husband and I came face to face with death and luckily, we managed to get away with just a few minor bruises... or so I thought. The accident ended up costing us medical bills, calls to the insurance company, trips to the orthopedic surgeon and anxiety brought on by a fractured middle metacarpal on my right hand. 

 

Me before the surgery on February 17, 2012

First x-ray a week after the surgery.

I learned that having a broken limb can only get a lot worst if no one is there to help you as you try and get better day by day. Simple things became impossible to do. So I'm grateful for the many months my husband patiently cared for me.

With my hand in a concrete-solid cast, I mentally listed the things I would do as soon as I get my hand back! Learn to play the guitar, bake a storm, ride my bike more often... but the one thing that I kept going back to was designing. Yes. Designing. Back to creating stationery. My mind just simply clogged up with ideas unable to be turned into paper goods.

So now that I got my hand back - oh, what a relief! I am happy to be back doing one of the things I love best to do and being able to share them, too!

"June Butterflies" free print-at-home stationery.

Happy June everyone!

Love,

Cindy

100% Recycled

If you've never ran a small-scale paper goods online shop, God bless your soul! It can be such a pain! It's one of those cases when a designer tries to be a business force and finding out that doing so eats up all the time to still be creative. Maybe I haven't found my balance yet. But all throughout these years I know that finding the right printer to work with and dealing with them is much harder than filing your taxes. Seriously!

I have gone to countless of online printing companies, all the FedEx Kinkos in the area, as well as all the Sir Speedy in my surrounding zip codes. If they're not expensive, the quality is terrible! Or worse, the paper they use is the same as with every other product they produce. Something you would not want for your wedding invitations!

Don't even get me started with post-consumer eco-friendly recycled paper, the printing guy will look at you like you probably had bean sprouts for breakfast.

The really big stationery companies like Punch Studio outsource all the production to China but I'm light years away from becoming that gigantic of a company, or have the likelihood to be.

So, I was left with the option of printing at home. After days and days of research for the right inexpensive and somewhat professional printer, Epson Workforce Pro WP-4530 All-in-one promised to deliver, alas, setting it up and making all its features work is another hurdle in itself.

But I'm determined to make it work. 100% recycled paper for my letter sets and envelopes? Check.