New bulk order etsy listing

At the request of a pen pal, I've decided to list a bulk order option - 40 sheets of A5 sized Tomoe River paper for $15, which is a bit more than 30% off the regular price.  You can get up to 4 designs, or you can order fewer designs with more sheets of each design.  check out the listing here!

Tomoe River Bulk Order

I've also made another Jane Austen sheet, which I kind of love.  It's a quote from Northanger Abbey, and I think the look on Jane Austen's face at the bottom is priceless.  :D  I haven't listed this set yet, but I will soon.

Here are a few cute sets I haven't got around to listing yet either.

If you want any of these sets before I get around to listing them, let me know and we can work something out.  :)

I'm off to package up some orders and design some cute pin-up girl stationery.  Happy letter writing, guys!

Help Me Pay Tuition

I want to take some courses at U of T's Continuing Education department next month, and I need to be able to pay tuition.  I'm selling vintage hair sticks and some old, vintage, new gothy clothes I never got around to wearing.  I'm also selling stationery.  :D

These are the final bits and pieces of all my pre-packaged sets, including the ones I had previously planned to keep for myself (like the mermaid letterpress ones on Tomoe River paper).  They do not come with labels for the envelopes, and for $6/set, I can't afford to send the freebie sheets of new designs I always send with full priced orders.  Sorry about that.  Still, if you're looking for great prices on stationery for letter writing with fountain pens, my $6/set sale is a great place to start.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/265375978/six-dollar-sets-super-sale

Valentine's Sets

I know, I know.  I need a light box, or a photographer, to help with photos!  I didn't want to wait for the weather to cooperate, so I ended up just putting watermarks on my new stationery sets.  There's no way we're getting a sunny day without wind in Toronto between now and the beginning of February.   <sigh>  But I designed a set I'm so smitten with!  Sweets For My Sweet.

  

I've added a Valentine's section to my etsy shop with other new designs as well.  

More blog updating tomorrow!

December Raffle, New Listings, & Mail Call

Have I ever mentioned that I find running a small business kind of annoying?  I love creating stationery, I love using stationery, I love talking to people who love stationery, I love interacting with customers, I love making customers happy.  What I DON'T love is all the business stuff - taking pictures, editing pictures, and creating the listings.  It's all so boring.  I wish someone else would do that stuff and I could just keep creating stationery and making people happy with their orders.  :)

Having said that, Toronto had its first slightly sunny day that also wasn't massively windy yesterday, so I bundled up (it was -4 C) and headed out to take some pictures.  They came out acceptably but not great.  Still, I'm sick of waiting for better picture weather, since the winter is probably just going to get worse rather than better.  It was a fight with the wind that kept blowing away my stationery the entire time, and I was freezing and frustrated by the end.  At least it's done.  I've been wanting to list these sets for a while.  My favourite is the Yummi Sushi stationery, which is a tip of my hat to Buffy's Yummi Sushi pyjamas.  :)  Who doesn't love a kissy sashimi?  <3

Also, it's January, which means it's time to do the December raffle.  This month there were 17 entrants, and the random number generator online gave me #16 as the winner.  Congrats to BonnieM!  I've already contacted her to see what set she'd like to get for free.  Thanks to all my customers for December!  I hope my stationery added to your holiday cheer.  

Mail call!  Check out this AMAZING letter I got from a pen pal in Oregon.  I even love the nifty stamps!

That is the outside of the envelope.  Here's the card on the inside, which like the envelope, is entirely handmade.

I make sure to scan all her letters, because soon after I get them, I rip them apart.  <blush>  I feel slightly bad about this, but I use the art and card stock to decorate the inside of my journals.  :)

Even her stationery was super cute, and a note on one of the pictures spurred me to join the Letter Writer's Alliance.  I'm in Canada, so it will take quite a while for my membership information to reach me, but still.  I'm excited.  (click the image to enlarge it and get a better look at the images!)

The middle image reminded me strongly of a set I just finished working on and hope to take pictures of on our next sunny & not windy day.  The main image is this cute typewriter.   

All in all I was pretty thrilled with her letter.  I'm almost finished writing back, and she will be getting this cute little cactus envelope.

My pen pal in Louisiana sent me an envelope with this pretty, sparkly sticker sealing the back.

Blue and shiny - right up my alley!  I'll be sending her this monkey envelope back, lined with these bizarre timepieces I cobbled together in an illustrator program.  I'm not sure why I seem to think snow monkeys have access to some sort of mystical, watery, time machines, but there you have it folks.

Lastly, I've been struggling with whether to take a night course at U of T or not.  I'm feeling oddly motivated lately to become a better creative writer, and I'd like to focus on that this term, Whether it's by taking a few continuing ed classes at U of T, or just writing every night myself.  That plus a legit university class will be too much.  I'd also be lying if I said that the idea of hoofing it across campus in -30C weather and 3 feet of snow didn't have anything to do with my decision.  It would be nice NOT to go home at 10pm in the bitter cold and pitch dark this winter, even if it is only once a week.  Thoughts?  What do I do - take the university level English class or just wait to take a few over the summer instead?  If I take it during the summer, should I enroll in a writing class for January through to March, or just work on pieces by myself?  Either way, I should get some Charles de Lint out of the library; he's my writing inspiration and it's been quite a while since I've reread his work.

It's late and I'm heading home.  Have a great night!

Holiday wishes!

Well, it's clear that over the holidays I need to make myself a lightbox.  I had a ton of really cute designs to list for Christmas, but the weather in Toronto did not cooperate.  It was either overcast, drizzling, or windy every single day since the beginning of December.  I shouldn't complain because we've hard record warmth as well, but the weather we had did not allow me to take pictures of my designs.  I need to set up an indoor space to get this done, obviously.  In the meantime, here are some sneak peeks.  :)

Yummi Sushi (I've been rewatching Buffy lately, and her pjs spurred me to make this set)

 Call of the Sea

 Three Little Bears

I've been a really prolific pen pal writer lately, and I'm super proud of myself for that.  Of note is that I found another new pen pal, this one in Ireland, and sent off  a letter to her that included some free stationery. I've also been drinking a lot of David's Tea lately.  Coincidence?  I think not!  :D

Mail call!  This cute envelope came from a Canadian pen pal who reminded me that great envelopes don't always have to be super elaborate.

To send back to her, I tried my hand at another envelope made from calendars.  The charities I donate to monthly always send me a calendar at the end of the year, I think to try and convince me to continue my monthly donation the following year.  I keep telling them it isn't necessary, but they don't listen to me.  I end up with 5 different calendars for the year, and I never use a single one.  I've decided to re-purpose them for pen pal letters.  This time I tried sprucing it up with a funky lining too.

This one came in time for Halloween, and I've been super delinquent about replying.  I've gotten started on it finally and I think I'm up to 10 A4 Novi Tomoe River sheets.  :)  One day I'll finally finish it and send it off though, Michelle, I swear!  Michelle has sent me a lot of gorgeous envelopes, but I think this one is in my top five.  

These came from a pen pal in the UK.  The paper for the envelopes are amazing!  Thanks Adrienne.  :) 

This fun fountain pen sticker came in on the back of an envelope from a pen pal in Toronto.  She is a friend from the Toronto pen meet ups who bought a pen from me at the Scriptus 2015 show.  I wanted to see how the pen wrote, so she sent me a letter.  I sent a reply and now we're pen pals.  See what I did there?  :D  I'm sneaky when it comes to drumming up pen pals for myself.

If I don't write again before Christmas, I hope everyone has a great holidays season, whatever you celebrate.  I'm planning on just having a small family dinner on the 25th, mostly vegan.  I have grudgingly agreed to let someone else bring in a small amount of turkey breast for my 90 year old aunt who doesn't "get" the whole "vegan thing".   But that's it!  Other than that, my best friend is making yummy chicken seitan pot pies, I'm making sweet potato mash with maple syrup and summertime succotash, and my mom is bringing carrot salad with apples and pineapples.  I'm hoping my friend will also make me a pear and blueberry pie.   :)

Happy holidays, everyone!  I hope you all get some time to sit down and write letters during the break.  

Upcoming designs

The raffle prizes started their journeys towards the winners this afternoon, winging to the UK and New Zealand.  I added a few freebie sheets into each packet too, and I hope the recipients like them.  :)

It's been a busy week for me, what with finishing off my class for the term with an exam on Wednesday and trying to figure out what's next in terms of schooling for 2016.  Do I take more university English courses, or do I enroll in the continuing ed writing classes at Woodsworth College at U of T?  Ideally I'd love to do both, but even one course this term felt like a lot, piled on top of all the other stuff I do.  I'm still torn about what to enroll in, and I'm not sure how much time I have left to decide.  Arg.

I've been designing some stationery, dividing my time between the old school letterpress stuff I really love, and the more modern, coloured images I've worked with for the past year or so.  Here are some sneak peeks of both.  First off, the letterpress stuff.  These are from older book designs from the early 1900s, I think.

And here's a snapshot of some of the coloured designs.

Lastly, mail call!  I got some really cute washi tape in the mail this week, from two different people.

The pumpkins are actually gold and shimmery on a clear backing.  Super pretty!  The blue washi tape came with this card.

I'm a sucker for blue, so this is right up my alley.  :D

This weekend I have a lot of chores to do, but I'm going to definitely carve out some time to respond to pen pal letters.  I've got probably 4 lagging right now, and that's more than I like on my to-do pile.  I'll also be finding some urban fantasy writing prompts to share with a pen pal of mine, and working on them with the goal of posting on my Kind Words of Fiction blog on Tuesday.

Happy weekend and happy writing, everyone!  

Raffle winners

This month I was feeling generous and decided that as a pre-Christmas treat I would pick two raffle winners for November.  :)  Congrats to Adrienne and erymis!  I've contacted both and I'm waiting to see what sets they pick.

I wanted to do a mail call today because I've gotten some letters with nice washi tape and paper.  Sadly, I've got an exam tomorrow and I don't have time to do all the scanning and replying to letters, so I'll post a mail call on Friday instead.  That way I'll even have time to try my hand at more envelope art!

I've decided that I hate the idea of posting creative writing snippets or extra personal stories on this blog.  It distracts too much from KWS.  But I have been meaning to make writing more a part of my life, and even though I do all my writing by hand with a fountain pen, I think that having a writing blog I have to post in every other day will keep me writing.  I just need some practice before I dive into writing the novels ideas I have puttering around my head.  I've set up a Kind Words of Fiction blog that is empty right now, but I'll put up my first post of writing on Friday.

I've got a few KWS orders left to get out today and I want to head home soon, so I'll sign off until Friday.  Catch you then!