marzipan monday :: more help for haiti

if you read my blog regularly, you already know about my fresh snapped photos mission to help the orphans of haiti. (which runs until february 14th) 100% of profits made from our etsy shop will be donated to hope for haiti's children (don't forget: as our gift to you for supporting the cause, we'll throw in a free 5x7 of your choice! just leave the name of your favorite print in the comments at checkout and we'll make sure to add it to your order!)



in order to raise as much money as possible, i'm starting another mission through my marzipan inc. retail site. here's the scoop. 100% of profits from any nostalgic notecard sets sold between today (january 25, 2010) and february 14th will also be donated to hope for haiti's children. not interested in notecards? no problem! 50% of profits for any other products on the site will also be donated through february 14th.

welcome 2010 :: business & personal goals

last year i made a long list of huge goals for 2009. while i accomplished a lot of them, many didn't make it to fruition. i think it was a case of high expectations rather than lack of trying. there just wasn't enough time to complete them all. i'm not too disappointed about this. i'd rather set my goals high and not meet all of them than set them too low and be done by june. i'm carrying a lot of my goals over from last year to this year since a lot of them are things i'd like to continue. 

personal goals:

1. still trying to loose that baby weight. this was one of my goals that i was most disappointed in not accomplishing this year. it wasn't for lack of trying. unfortunately i weigh more now than i did at this time last year. i was well on my way to my goal weight (only about 5 lbs away) but was then prescribed a new medication that caused major weight gain. i'm working with my dr. on this and will hopefully come to a solution which will help me loose the baby weight plus the weight gain from the medication. 
   
2. craft more.
   
3. make thoughtful, beautiful, handmade gifts for christmas this year.
   
4. start those gifts early and do them throughout the year.
   
5. continue to be more daring with my wardrobe. be true to myself.
6. arrange my schedule for one-on-one time with the boys.
   
7. have a date night with hubby at least once a month. just us.
8. save more money.
   
9. finish the kitchen remodel. all that's left is floor trim.
10. continue to improve my photography skills.
    
11. continue to live a thrifty life by buying things used through thrift stores and garage sales.

in my business life:

1. develop new card line based on designs/patterns from fin+roe.
   
2. design, design, design and expand fin+roe.
   
3. determine what direction fin+roe will continue in. (details to come)
4. incorporate shades of violet and marzipan inc. into one identity.
5. expand the sales force for marzipan inc.
6. work on doing more PR for both marzipan inc. and fin+roe.
7. do something with all the overstock & discontinued products cluttering up the studio warehouse room. 
8. now that the studio is mostly organized, continue to keep it clean and continue to decorate it to make it more inviting. 

happy new year to you all! here's to an exciting 2010!

:: BLACK FRIDAY SALE ::

3 days only! black friday (and weekend) sale on now! 20% off EVERYTHING at both shades of violet and fin+roe.





ALSO: buy 1 get 1 free on all prints over at fresh snapped photos!

open house :: office makeover

i want to thank everyone who came to our open house this past weekend. it was a rousing success and i was pleased to meet some new people along the way! for those of you who weren't able to make it to the open house to take advantage of the discounts, i'd like to extend a special discount just for you. i welcome you to enjoy 15% off at both shades of violet and fin+roe until december 8th (our holiday card cut-off date at fin+roe).

on another note, i know many of you are waiting to see photos of my office/studio. they are coming, i promise! things were just so hectic getting ready for the open house that i wasn't able to get them done before the party. i hope to take them sometime this week.

thanks again! i hope to see you around!

marzipan monday :: holiday favorites

for this week's marzipan monday i thought i'd share some of this year's favorites from both of my companies: marzipan inc. and fin+roe.



if you're shopping for a more traditional card, how can you resist this dashing snowman from marzipan inc.? seriously, a mustache, vest, tie, AND a top hat! he is one dapper dan. you can purchase him at your local retailer or online at shades of violet.



our new fin+roe embroidery line for 2010 is in the works, but we rolled out the holiday cards and a few other products in time for holiday shopping. there are 10 cross stitch patterns you can choose from, 20 colors, and 3 different fonts!



i thought i'd include a magnet memento card from last year's line. we're also developing them for this year, but haven't made them live on the site yet. if you're interested in seeing a magnet memento card with an embroidery pattern, let us know. we'll be happy to send you some to choose from!

sneak peek :: september designs

here's a sneak peek of the latest designs for marzipan inc. stay tuned for their official release at shades of violet and stores near you!

sneak peek : holiday 2009

a quick sneak peek of a few of our holiday designs for 2009! stay tuned for their official release at shades of violet! 

how it all started

for my first marzipan monday i thought i would tell you all how it started since i've had people asking that a lot. it might not be glamorous, but everyone has to start somewhere....

actually it was really purely by accident. i never planned on owning my own business. not in a million years. i graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in graphic design. i always knew i was going to be an artist, but i figured i’d work at a design firm and that would be it. i never took a business class in my life. (something which i obviously regret and would have done differently had i known this is what i'd be doing.)

my husband and i got married in august of 2001 and being a graphic designer, i designed our wedding invitations. after that, i knew my calling was to work with paper. i initially thought i wanted to do wedding invitations, but didn’t know a lot of people getting married at the time and thought it might be hard to market myself via word of mouth since i didn’t have anyone to start with. i decided to start off with greeting cards with the intention of heading off in the wedding invite direction once i got my name out there. luckily for me, it was a perfect fit. i’m so glad now that i didn’t go into weddings because i couldn’t deal with crazy brides. the good thing about what i do is that i design what i like and if the stores like it, they buy it. if they don’t, they don’t. i don’t have to sit and change things because someone else wants it a certain way. i love that.

when i started there wasn’t such a thing as etsy. heck, i hardly used the internet at that point! i started by going to my favorite local shop and i was very lucky that there was a super nice buyer there who looked at my cards, gave me advice, helped me with pricing, and ordered a lot of cards from me. i worked nights and weekends for that first year and saved every penny so i could attend the national stationery show in 2003. from there i learned about working with reps and signed on with one. i've been adding ever since. i quit my full time job in 2004 and i’m now employing between 4-6 people (or more) depending on the time of year.

(there's actually a whole lot more to this story including a partnership with my best friend and a nasty "break-up". it's too much to write about and, honestly, quite a downer, so i tend to just leave that part out of the story.)

all marzipan inc. designs can be found online at shades of violet.


then in september of last year i opened up a custom division of marzipan called fin+roe (named after my two boys: finley, and rowan). even though i said i’d never go into custom, i wanted to diversify a little instead of having all my eggs in one basket. it’s not truly full custom work. it’s more, customizable. i have standard templates available and people can pick their colors, patterns, add their photos and text. i’ve had some luck with it, and i’ve had a lot of inquiries from retailers who want to sell that line as well. so i’m currently in the process of figuring out how to wholesale it which has become a huge undertaking. more on that as it develops....

HUGE, HUGE, SALE! 50% OFF

we have some big sales news to share with you!
after much deliberation, i have decided to draw my focus in at marzipan inc. to one thing.... while it’s nice to have an array of products, i want to return my focus where it all began.....greeting cards.

because of this i'll be offering 50% off all of my gift items at shades of violet until they’re gone! i still have plenty of stock of all of these products and will extend the discounted price until they sell out!

(i am NOT going out of business....just refocusing my attention!)


*click for bigness!

the winner is.....

the winner of a complete set of magnets from marzipan inc. is comment #4, which happens to be the oh-so-talented patricia from a little hut! patricia, please send me your address so i can send your magnets off for you!

don't forget the giveaway!

i know many of you were gone over the christmas holiday and are just returning to the real world today. i wanted to remind you that today is the last day to enter the giveaway for my 500th blog post! in case you missed it while you were out, you can get yourself entered here

you can win all of these!

new designs ready for the new year!

my new designs are ready and posted on shades of violet, waiting to be sent to that perfect recipient! we have 6 new birthday designs all based on circus themed imagery as well as 4 other non-birthday designs. you can see the birthday selection here, or if you'd like to see all of our new designs (including those for valentine's day and spring) you can go here.

hello! 2009

i have so many plans for my business(es) in 2009. i'm not quite sure where to start or if it's all feasible, but i'm going to try my darnedest! i don't want to give too much away, so some of these plans may sound a little vague, but i'll update here as things start to happen! also, a few things for my personal life.

in my personal life:
1. still trying to loose that baby weight. it WILL happen this year.
2. craft more.
3. make thoughtful, beautiful, handmade gifts for christmas this year.
4. start those gifts early and do them throughout the year.
5. be more daring with my wardrobe. be true to myself.
6. take better care of myself. rest.
7. arrange my schedule for one-on-one time with the boys.
8. have a date night with hubby at least once a month. just us.
9. be more diligent about our budget. stick to it.
10. save more.
11. finish the bathroom that's been under construction for 1.5 years.
12. go through the house room by room and purge.
13. make a wider variety of food for dinner.
14. improve my photography skills.

in my business life:
1. hand my monthly and quarterly tax paperwork off to my accountant instead of struggling with it myself when i don't enjoy it or have the time.
2. make a big move regarding the sales force of marzipan inc.
3. develop new card line based on designs/patterns from fin+roe.
4. develop new designs for fin+roe starting with new magnet cards/announcements.
5. determine what direction marzipan inc. is going to continue in.
6. incorporate shades of violet and marzipan inc. into one identity.
7. get my etsy discount site back up and running.
8. organize the office once and for all!

i'm sure a million other ideas and plans will come up throughout the year, but this is a good start.
happy new year to you all! here's to an exciting 2009!

500

i just realized i missed my 500th post! i knew it was coming but, of course, got caught up in holiday activities and totally missed it. total bummer. so, in honor of my 500th post i'm going to hold a (late) little giveaway! leave me a comment letting me know why you visit this little blog of mine, what you'd like to see more of, or what your favorite post(s) has/have been. in return i'll send one lucky recipient (chosen randomly) a crappy re-gifted holiday present. haha! just kidding! i'll send the winner a set of each of my non-holiday magnets from my shop. that's $48 worth of magnets!


since it's so close to the holidays and so many people are out of town until the new year, i'm going to keep this giveaway open until january 5th at 8:00 p.m. CST.

black friday (weekend) sales!

our two little shops are both holding sales for black friday weekend! check out the details below!


shades of violet: with everything on sale, there's no excuse not to shop! we've got you covered when it comes to holiday cards, gifts for teachers, babysitter, and any other stocking stuffers you may need for the upcoming holiday season! need suggestions? check out our gift tags, magnet sets, correspondence notes.....they all make great gifts! make sure to buy a few extra to keep on hand for those last minute gifts you forgot to give. (or that person at the office you didn't expect was going to give you a gift!) this big event only lasts 3 days, (november 28-30) so get your shop on now! use code: BLACKFRIDAY for 20% off your entire order!


fin+roe: we're offering a special deal for anyone who places their order this weekend! (november 28-30) just enter code: BLACKFRIDAY at checkout and you'll receive 20% off your entire order!

(don't worry if you don't have your photo ready. you can still take advantage of the discount! just place your order during the sale dates and we'll wait for you to send your photo later! no problem! we'll wait!)

new designs sneak peek!

i've been designing like crazy to try and get my december release done! once again i'm behind. (i really need to re-implement my "design friday" so i'm not rushing at the end) i just sent my designs off to the printer, so hopefully i'll have them in our studio by the end of next week. then it's another rush to get them all embellished and out the door to the reps! it's critical that reps have all of their new samples before the first of january because that's when they hit the road hard to replenish storeowners empty shelves after the holidays.

i decided to focus on circus/carnival type imagery for this release. with the economy in the dumps i think having fun colorful imagery that makes people smile and reminds them of good times will help sales. (at least that's what i'm hoping for!) above you can see sneak peeks for 4 of the new designs. in total, there are 6 new birthday cards and 4 new everyday designs to replace others that i've actually licensed off and don't have the rights to sell anymore.

sneak peek

i'm running really behind on my december release, but cranked a couple out the other day. here's a sneak peek at a portion of one! more to come!

new designs

we just got a ton of new designs back from the printer yesterday. i spent a good portion of my morning reviewing and unpacking them, and they're gorgeous, if i do say so myself!

you can see all of our new designs at shades of violet.

and don't forget, our holiday boxed sets of cards are 20% off until november 30th!

get some holiday steals at modish marketplace!

with the economy in the dumps, a lot of us are cutting back our holiday spending this year. this is why the fantastically awesome jena from modish has put together the modish marketplace.

The Modish Marketplace is where you can go to find deals and discounts on some of your favorite handmade, vintage and indie goods! Updated monthly, you can browse the over 90 "coupon" listings for November by category to find deals that range from free shipping, 10-20% off and free gifts included with your order!

please consider shopping with these lovely shops instead of the big box stores this year. not only will you save money, but you'll be helping out independent artists who need you most during this tough economic year!

oh yeah, and you can find deals for BOTH fin+roe and shades of violet there this month!

tweet tweet

i'm just hopping on every bandwagon lately. i keep getting sucked in by the people around me. so, if you're interested in hearing the little things i'm doing during the day, feel free to follow me on twitter:

http://twitter.com/finandroe

see you there!