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.

Patchwork Festival 2012

Who's having her first art and craft festival booth? Me!!! I'm super excited and nervous! Just wanted to clue you all in on what I've got on my plate. I will only be doing the one closest home on June 10th at the Helms Bakery in Culver City setting up booth next to my wonderful friends, Greg and Eeling Marin who are behind REMade in LA who did last year's, too! If you have read my posting around Halloween, Dan and I helped out Eeling prepare her products.

It's a nice change from just being merely a crafts fair attendee to vending! But we'll see how crazy this will get. I will be selling under my shop name Letter Parade and I've only very few items on my shop so I'm scrambling to add more to my collection!

You can read some more of my crafts fair attendance here at the Renegade Crafts Fair in 2010 and 2011 which is a massive organization with major events in six major cities including London! Eeling and I have our eyes on perhaps joining the one here in Los Angeles. But first, we're focusing our creative chakra towards Patchwork Festival at the moment!

If you can make it, we'd love to see you there! There will be:

"Over 100 local independent artists, crafters and designers in an outdoor setting. come down and eat & drink from local cafe & restaurant booths and food trucks as you listen to tunes and peruse goods from the best southern california creators. look & shop... clothing for men, women & kids, handbags, accessories, art, ceramics, home goods, garden finds, plushies, jewelry, paper goods, edible treats, pet gear, crochet & knit goods, kits & patterns, bath & body goodies & more. check out our bike valet, photo booths, on-site screenprinting & diy crafting tables for adults & kids."

See here for more event details. If not, the least you could do are: LIKE my Facebook page and Patchwork's page. Thanks and I'll keep you posted!

300 Facebook Likes Giveaway Winners

Earlier today at 12 noon, I drew the winners for the 300 Facebook Likes Giveaway from the names of all those who participated through facebook and here on my blog.

CONGRATULATIONS to:
Lisa from Bath, England for winning Set #1;
Wendy from Zuidbroek, Netherlands for winning Set #2; and
Kristin from Rosedale, West Virginia for winning Set #3.

Lisa and Wendy, if you're reading this, please email me your address at letterparade@gmail.com so I can put your prizes in the mail tomorrow.

Thanks for joining the contest! Until next time... say, 400?

300 Facebook Likes Giveaway

To celebrate reaching 300 likes/fans of Letter Parade page on facebook (and yes, that's a big deal for me!) I am giving away three sets of writing stuff to three Letter Parade followers! If you're not on facebook, but are subscribed to this blog, no problem! You can join, too. You can get up to three chances of winning if you follow all four of these steps:

STEP 1) Subscribe to this blog.
STEP 2) Write on the comments bar below your:
               FIRST NAME, AGE, CITY/COUNTRY,
               PREFERRED GIVEAWAY SET (example: Set #1)
               COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS FOR LETTER PARADE - 1 point
STEP 3)  Like Letter Parade on facebook and type in above info on comments bar when you see this   giveaway posting - 2 points
STEP 4)  Go to my Etsy page and hit the icon LIKE - 3 points

I'll be drawing three winners next Sunday, October 16, 2011 12:00 noon PST
This contest is open worldwide! Shipping is on me!  Allow 7 days to two weeks for delivery from announcement of winners.

Remember, you don't have to do all FOUR steps, but if you can, great! 

Good luck!

Personalized Note Cards

Hello friends!

All over Los Angeles, the wind and sun are not showing any signs of slowing down in lieu of fall. "What fall?" asks the locals. And here I thought I bought my bike way too late for summer, but nope! Having all this heat deceives me into thinking we're still in June but my massive wall calendar tells me otherwise. SEPTEMBER! Time to think about presents, cookies, Christmas trees, and personalized note cards! I always enjoy designing our own note cards (you can view our 2009 and 2010 cards here) and this time around, I am opening up my doors and graphic designing skills to anyone who wants their own special note cards, too!

A couple of months after New Year 2011, good friend, Lynn Kwan approached me for a surprise she wanted to give to her Beatles fanatic boyfriend, Chad Porter for V-day. She let me have the creative freedom which for me is the only way an artist should be able to work (ideally)! I ran the whole nine yards hyper ecstatic and it was incredibly rewarding to have very satisfied customers at the end of the line.

Meet Lynn Kwan and Chad Porter.

I'm a major Beatles fan myself (and saw my favorite Beatle, Paul McCartney at Coachella '09!) so it was a bit challenging where or how to start; which song to pick, which album, which image, etc. Finally, Lynn suggested I use the 'All You Need Is Love' song which is appropriate for Valentine's.

The animated version of the fab four from the famous "Yellow Submarine" film was too irresistible for me not to use, and how fun would it be to make Lynn and Chad like Heinz Edelmann's characters?

Lynn's Valentine's card for Chad has definitely up my inclination in designing personalized note cards especially after she posted this testimonial on my Etsy shop.

I am now excitedly working on wedding invitations for a wonderful pen pal in France! Stay tuned for that! And if you want your very own personalized note cards, email me at letterparade@gmail.com and quit sending massed produced cards that are no more special than the paper and envelope they come with!

Happy writing!

Cindy Gonzales-Kujat

Framed & Lovely

Hello friends!

My blog entry "Free Stuff Monday" last month had subscriber Marinette suggesting that I should post the free stuff here instead of posting on my face book page where I've shared ten stationery designs that are free to be downloaded and printed for personal correspondence. Though I only have 32 followers here and 272 (and counting!) on face book, I know it's wrong and unfair to neglect sharing with my faithful subscribers here. So, to Marinette and you my faithful reader, I am making up for it starting with these three new stationery designs I call 'Framed & Lovely.'

Design No.1 - "Black Flowers"
I was looking into my old designs and dug up one of the Paris-inspired note cards I did way back at the urging of my mother-in-law, Donna. The pink frame accent struck a creative chord that lead to the creation of all three in this series. I may want to create more in the same style, or create a completely different design. 

Design No. 2 - "Sea Creatures"
So far, all the ten stationery designs I've shared through my face book page had nothing on summer, and it's terrible because it's my favorite season! So, here's to summer and the countless fun memories I've had at the beach growing up as an island girl.

Design No. 3 - "Tribal"
This one uses elements that I've previously used on an earlier stationery design. I love these characters so you'll definitely be seeing more of them here!

I am seriously considering getting these printed and sell as notepads on my shop only if they're worth putting on the shelf. What do you think?

29 Ways to Stay Creative

"Being Creative" and "Staying Creative" are two very different things. The former at times I can force myself to be, but staying creative would be ideal and whenever I'm stuck in a rut I always beat myself up. When I found this list I am reminded that I am reminded by my younger days when just being spontaneous and having fun actually helps me become more creative for longer periods of time.

A few weeks after I found this list, a video by Japanese motion graphics agency Tofu Design was passed around by design blogs, and just like the list, the video was well done and not one less inspiring.