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HI THERE! MY NAME IS APRIL MAY + I'VE GOT SOME BIG NEWS TO SHARE WITH YOU!

Some of you may have already noticed my name on recent posts I've written for the blog. Well, that's because we have big news here over at Smudge Ink. After 14 amazing years of business, Kate and Deb handpicked me to become Smudge Ink's new owner, passing on the proverbial torch. They’re confident that I can add something special to Smudge Ink, and we are all really excited about the next chapter!

I EAT, SLEEP, AND BREATHE PAPER. Forever a lover of connecting with people via snail mail, I originally joined the Smudge Ink team in 2010; I managed the studio, got orders out the door, and adored being surrounded by paper goods all day, every day. I truly enjoyed working with customers and learning about the stationery industry. In 2013, I put my business knowledge to the test as I focused on growing my own stationery line, Everything Little Miss. 

STAY TUNED FOR FRESH DESIGNS. I look forward to bringing you even more great greeting cards and gifts that you’ve come to expect from us. We'll be debuting lots of new cards at The National Stationery Show in a just a couple of weeks! We hope you'll continue to read about our adventures here on our blog. To see more paper goodness, check us out over on Instagram!

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THE GOOD. I hope I don't jinx it by writing it here but we are on track with our National Stationery Show (NSS) preparations! That’s right there is an entire trade show just for stationery. And it’s the one time of year when we get to see our retail customers face-to-face to show them what’s new and hopefully drum up more business. In a nutshell, it’s a big deal around here. We’ve been meeting weekly to go over everything from mailers to booth design to giveaway swag since January. 

There’s still a lot on our to-do list but we feel pretty good going into our 2-week count down. We've been able to stick to our timeline because we are benefiting from all of the work that went into changing our booth location last year. The new corner booth looked great and so we’re pretty much reusing the same layout and furniture, saving us a lot of guesswork and time (and money!). Obviously, we’ll be refreshing the overall booth aesthetic with new paint colors and display. Clayton has been toiling away on a large scale art composition made out of hand-cut paper for our counter and walls. And next week we’re going to mock up the booth and test the walls Eric and I are building.

I just dropped our bright yellow mailers in the mail this morning. We divvied up our long list to get everything addressed this week and now we could all really go for some hand massages. But no time for that, we have a trade show to get to!

THE BAD. We are hiring because we've had some schedule changes around here. You may have seen this posting about open positions in the shop (do you know anyone in Boston looking for a job?). This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sorting through résumés and scheduling interviews does throw a wrench into the day-to-day operations. It's important that we find people who are qualified, excited about being here, and want to be part of a small, quirky team.

THE (NOT SO) UGLY. Harris, our mint plant, is looking mighty happy these days thanks to Sarah and her inner botanist. Just in time for ice tea season!

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UPDATE: POSITION FILLED

Interested in joining a friendly and hardworking team with a passion for paper? We have two part-time positions open, and we'd love to hear from you. Contact us if you or someone you know would be a good fit! To apply for either of these positions, email a resume and cover letter to info@smudgeink.com.

PART-TIME LETTERPRESS PRINTER

HOURS: 16 hours/week during training period with Print Shop Manager and then increasing to 24-32 hours/week after several months

JOB DESCRIPTION
Printing on Heidelberg Windmill and Vandercook
Paper cutting
Quality control
Die-cutting
Scoring
Communicating with the Print Shop Manager, Shop Manager and fulfillment team about the status of greeting cards, custom work, and any special requests
Helping to maintain the machinery
Assisting with organization and upkeep of the print shop

REQUIREMENTS
Letterpress printing experience (Heidelberg Windmill experience is preferred)
Experience in a working studio is strongly preferred
Strong organizational and communication skills

PART-TIME FULFILLMENT ASSISTANT

HOURS: 25 hours/week. Monday-Friday, preferably 9AM-2PM

JOB DESCRIPTION
Filling wholesale orders, including packaging greeting cards and other products and stocking inventory
Assisting with administrative tasks, including filing, answering phones, and maintaining studio organization and upkeep
Assisting with packing orders and shipping

QUALIFICATIONS
Attention to detail
Very organized
Ability to lift at least 40 lbs (paper is heavy!)
Communication skills
Pleasant phone etiquette
Ability to multi-task and help out as needed in a team environment

To apply for either of these positions, email a resume and cover letter to info@smudgeink.com.

(photo credit: Arielle Doneson Photography)

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THE GOOD. Our holiday line is finalized, and production is underway! Clayton began putting pen to paper (or stylus to tablet) for our 2016 holiday collection a full year ahead of time. So from Christmas right up to the first day of spring, we're in full on Santa mode. It's safe to say we're pretty much tapped out on fa-la-la-ing by then. Sending along the final files to our offset printer and final proofs to our own print room is a very. good. thing. We're always proud of what we put out there, but this year's release seems especially bright and as usual, is replete with beautiful imagery and nostalgic themes. Sneak peek shown above!

With the holiday designs behind us, we get to enjoy the tiniest bit of breathing room to regroup and spring clean the studio—dust off our desks, purge old files, clean up the inventory room, etc. It's only a few days of calm really, but we'll take 'em. We're now elbows deep in production and stationery show prep (which in the end, are good things too!)

THE BAD. This year, March is a 3-payroll month. Anyone who's run payroll on a semi-weekly basis is familiar with this occurrence. Because of how the dates fall and when you pay your employees, you're hit with three payrolls instead of two, which can result in a cash flow issue. In theory, you plan ahead for these months ahead of time but in my experience they still sneak up on you. Fortunately, April is only a 2-payroll month—yeehaw!

THE UGLY. This month was basically one long, sad commercial for Dayquil, Kleenex, Advil, the Neti Pot, and Emergen-C.  

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This month, the good and the bad are one in the same. Truthfully, it's mostly good, but with the good can come some challenges. This month’s behind-the-scenes post has all to do with our Father's Day order from Paperchase.

THE GOOD. Paperchase is a store based in London with almost 200 locations in the UK, Europe, and Canada. It's a great account: the buyers are nice people and very easy to work with, and they send good orders on a regular basis. Especially great is their Father's Day order, which is quite large for a small business like ours. We spend the majority of January to February printing, trimming, scoring, folding, enveloping and sleeving the cards in anticipation of their trip "across the pond." Pretty much everyone in our studio stops what they're doing to to get the order out the door. It’s a lot of work but the camaraderie of working together makes up for it. It also means a nice chunk of revenue comes in just as we approach our spring/summer cash crunch, and what's even better is that our cards are distributed internationally!

THE BAD. Like I said, it's a great order from a great store. However, as a small business, orders such as these have the potential to throw the shop into a bit of a tizzy for a short period. The bad is mostly figuring out logistics and mainly handled by our shop manager Sarah. Have we mentioned how awesome she is? Routing and shipping guidelines for large accounts can be daunting, and the fear is that if you do something ever so slightly incorrectly, you're at risk of losing a bunch of that aforementioned revenue, not to mention your reputation. It's a huge exercise in patience, but as they say, you gotta take the bad with the good, and this bad is well worth it considering! The logistics include getting the barcodes approved, arranging to have the order picked up on time, and completing the paperwork, to name a few. Sarah handles it like a champ, a smiling one no less.

THE (NOT SO?) UGLY. Fuller House on Netflix … "Cut! It! Out!”

(image source: Paperchase)

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