Art Studio Confessions: Creating a Stationery Business at Home

When I was first starting my business, I had no idea what I was doing. Most days, I still don't feel like I entirely know what I'm doing...but I do feel like I've learned a lot since 2013!

I first started making greeting cards in 2011 after I came home to California from Italy. This was the early days of Pinterest being such a reliable resource for information. This was also pre-Instagram being the end all, be all for advertising and networking. Blogging was at its peak and it was wonderful! But it was still hard to find resources and other stationery artists willing to divulge their secrets so a lot of things I learned were by trial and error, and also working with a tight budget.

And so! I wanted to share some of my favorite tools and suppliers I've discovered over the last 9 years of working and growing Sketchy Notions from my first failed market to being carried in over 100 stores between the US and Canada!

**Please note: This is NOT the end all, be all bible list of how to start/run your business! These are just some things I've learned and products and resources that I've grown to love and wish I had known about back in the early days to building Sketchy. A lot of these links are affiliate links too, which means I get a teeny bit of money for sharing. But I only share products and services that I personally love and use :) 

Art Studio Confessions: Why I Won't Shop On Etsy Anymore

I used to love Etsy. It has been a consistent source of revenue for Sketchy Notions and a wonderful way to grow my brand and audience over the years.

But over the last few years, Etsy has forgotten their original mission of being a marketplace that supports small makers. 

While I fully understand that Etsy is a business (and now a public company that needs to keep shareholders happy), they've made many moves that feel abusive of their power and the foothold they have in the handmade industry. 

In recent years they've made multiple moves and enforced programs that cripples makers and takes a giant chunk out of our income, leading many makers to close up their Etsy shops for good.

Click below to read more about how Etsy is hurting its makers, and how you can still support handmade makers and small businesses. 

Art Studio Confessions: Making it work in less than 600 square feet

One of the biggest challenges I've encountered over the years of growing my business is space.

Not the lack of sleep. Not the lack of time. Not the lack of help either...but a lack of actual physical space to make my products, store them and ship them. An added challenge over the last two years is doing this while co-habitating with a very patient (albeit messy) boyfriend.

Prior to moving to Pasadena in the late summer of 2018, I was living at home. As much as I hate to admit that (but still, thank you mom) I didn't lack for space there. I had enough room for a painting desk, an area for packing orders and cutting, shelves to store inventory and a corner of the shop to keep my market supplies. It was heaven.

So when my boyfriend and I decided to move in together in Pasadena, I had to face the new challenge of how to run my business in a shared 1 bedroom apartment that was about 800 square feet.

Now that we've moved to Berkeley, we've downsized even further to around 600 square feet. In a word...yikes. I'll admit, I definitely cried a little out of fear when we first moved in that I wouldn't be able to make it all fit and be able to work....let alone be able to see the floor. But over 7 months in I can happily say the floor is (mostly) clear and the boyfriend doesn't notice most days that there's a stationery business running in the living room, the kitchen and in the loft space above our bed!

How do I do this in ~600 square feet? Read more below!

Art Studio Confessions: Surviving (and loving) craft markets

It's been a long journey from my first craft fair back in 2013. A LONG journey with many missteps, sunburns, profitless weekends and disappointing markets.

I wrote a blog post in 2016 about the changes I had made to my booths just over those 3 years. Now it's 2020 and while I'm still tweaking my booth with every market, I more or less have a system now for how I arrange my booth and prep for making every market a success. Or at the very least, enjoyable!

The photo above is from my last Holiday market of 2019 in San Jose and I loved this set up! Compared to the photo below of one of my first markets, my booths have come a long way.

I have a LONG list of tips I've learned over the years below and a big checklist at the very bottom of the post. If you just want the checklist, here's the link to it here but I hope you'll read on for more tips and tricks!

I also compiled an Amazon list of lots of items I've used over the years so here's a shortcut for your market prep shopping!

Introducing Art Studio Confessions

As part of trying to post more and share some things I've learned over the past 8 years of growing my business, I wanted to start a series of blog/Instagram posts called Art Studio Confessions.

These posts will share some insights into how my business has evolved and deep dives into how I learned (or am still learning) firsthand how to run a business. These posts will also talk about the ugly stuff that most businesses don't seem to want to address on social media. Working with little space and/or funds. The steps I took that made it a business and not a hobby. Pros and cons of collaborating and business partners. Contracts. All those less fun topics that are incredibly necessary when you want to create a thriving business. I am by no means an expert in any of these areas but I still would like to share the things I've learned over these past years to hopefully help others who are just starting out or maybe just want a peek into how others do it and want to start a conversation.

I also want to share some of my sources and favorite supplies for running a stationery business out of your home. For some reason in this industry there seems to be an odd veil of silence over our sources and supplies...as if you need to validate your business/struggle by trying things out that many of us learned many steps ago are inferior. So I will also be sharing my favorite printers, paper, envelope suppliers and more to hopefully help others that are starting their own stationery lines learn from my mistakes and missteps over the years

I shared my first behind the scenes peek on Instagram at my studio which has everything AND the kitchen sink...because it's in the kitchen. It felt nice to share what I usually crop just out of the frame and be more open about where I'll be working and calling home for a while.

If you have suggestions of things you'd like me to discuss or want to share your own confessions, feel free to share with the hashtags:
#artstudioconfessions, #confessionsfromthemaker and #confessionsfromtheartist.

Hello blog...long time no blog...

I've been pretty quiet on here yet again for an extended period of time. I didn't mean to, I honestly meant to try and use this space more during this year. But it's been a busy year. Really busy.

Within the last year or so I...

• Moved to Pasadena, and then up to Berkeley 2.5 months ago
• Wrote a third book. More on that tomorrow...
• Grew my wholesale account stock list by A LOT
• Hosted my 4th year of Italy retreats solo (finally) and under a new name, Wanderful Retreats
• Filled my 8th sketchbook while traveling Europe (Berlin, Amsterdam, London and Italy) and Africa (Kenya, Zambia) with my bf
• Attended my first market out of state
• Traveled to teach workshops out of state

I've also got big plans for the coming year too! I already have my 2020 dates for another round of Wanderful Retreats. I've signed up for another stationery trade show, this time in San Francisco. I'm going to finally pull the trigger and make some Skill Share videos. And I've got plans to write/illustrate a 4th book solo!

So yeah, it's been busy. I've been pretty overwhelmed at times too which I haven't shared much of because I got busy and forgot about this blog and I've honestly become pretty disenchanted with Instagram. Yes, I love the friends I've made on there. But I LOATHE the gd algorithm. Those first couple years after the great Instagram follow of 2015 were great but to be honest I got a LOT of spam accounts following me. And if you know the Instagram algorithm (who really does though) the more inactive accounts you have following you that aren't actively engaging with your posts, then the less the app will deem your posts worthy of showing up in the feeds of those that legitimately follow you.

As a result I've been sharing less and less online, but sharing more in person at markets and via DMs and emails I get from people. I get a lot of questions about supplies, running my business, writing books, traveling, making stationery, making art and more. And I love answering these questions and I want to answer more. 

So my goal for the next year is to start sharing more and being more honest about this whole self employed business thing. How I got started and how it's evolved over the years. How to handle the highs and miserable lows of a business partnership. How to run a business in less than 800 square feet in an apartment you share with a significant other. How I shop and source supplies. And how to sketch and paint and all sorts of fun artsy stuff. 

I hope you'll follow along. If you have anything in particular you'd like to know about my work, leave a comment so I can hopefully answer your question in a future post!