NEWS

I'm so excited to announce that I am now officially a full-time invitation studio! This is been a huge decision for me and is a plan that started back in February (what can I say, we are big planners). I got to a point when I just couldn't do both anymore, which sparked the conversation with my husband about what could be. Once I had convinced myself that I could do this, I've just been waiting for this day. The past two months I've spent working part-time to wrap things up and yesterday was finally my very. last. day.  I spent 5 years working with some really amazing people and it was sad to leave, but nothing has felt more right. Sure, I'm afraid of not having steady paycheck, of working from home and well, all the uncertainties that go along with running your own business, but the excitement of finally getting to do what I love all the time overshadows all of that. I feel determined, content, and frankly, kind of tired, because these past 2 years have been BUSY.

I have so many goals for the next few months, which brings on a whole new level of emotions, but for now, all I know is, today, I can't stop smiling.

The Simple (Business) Plan

Last week, I attended The Simple Plan, which is a business planning workshop for wedding industry professionals.  It’s put on by Michelle Loretta and Kelly Simants, of Sage Wedding Pros.  It was, without a doubt, the BEST THING I could have done (and probably will ever do) for my business. I spent two days surrounded by some pretty amazing people – it was so inspiring.

I’ve just been going a hundred miles an hour lately and this workshop forced me to stop and think about just my business for two whole days.  Yes, this is a ‘side’ job, and no, it’s not the main source of my income, but I was treating it like the business aspect wasn't important because of those things and I wasn't giving that part of running a business the time it deserved. This workshop gives you tools to write your business plan... and it will change the way you view your business. It gave me such a fresh perspective and got me so excited about the future of Palm Papers.

If you want a little taste of what I learned, check out the Sage Wedding Pros blog. It is full of business information and tools and they explain it so that it’s easy to understand. Michelle even makes accounting simple... okay that might be because I already have a ‘bit’ of a background, but still they are good.

My Design Style

Lately, I've been wanting to put into words what my design style is... what to call the type of work people can expect to see from me. I am not making any progress coming up with these words (I'm an accountant, not a writer), but I have noticed lately that there is a style that I don't do particularly well and it's bugging the heck out if me... and that's 'cutesy' (this is indeed a word by the way). Not 'that is so cute' cutesy, but 'children's illustrations and themes' cutesy. I am currently trying to come up with some children's themed birthday invitations and having a really hard time with it. I'd like to embrace the fact that this is just not my forte, but I will probably have keep trying my hand at them.For now, I am much better at the elegant style invitation, and I think I am okay with that. And that doesn't mean you can't hire me to design your child's invitation, because maybe my non-'cutesy' style is just what you are looking for. My friend, Viv, says that I 'design for the parents, not the kids.' She's so wise. Maybe someday when I have kids, I'll learn how to design for them...

Welcome!

Welcome to the new Palm Papers blog! I am so excited for everything that I have in the works: a new blog, a new website, new designs... I hope you’ll follow along for all the fun things to come. For those that are new to my blog, swing on over to lettersbylauren.com to see all of my designs up until this point. I’ll be leaving that blog up so that you can always browse through the archives for ideas.