Friday Blog Share: Paper Crave

Paper Crave isn't just a blog sharing beautiful cards, it also has it's own stationery shop featuring wedding stationery, birth announcements, business cards, even calendars!

Here are some posts from Paper Crave that I thought you might enjoy

Fun Father's Day Cards Part I
Fun Father's Day Cards Part II
Cuties in Teacups by Darla Okada

AAAAaaand Blue, as Promised

White and Blue Thank You Notes

In case you missed it, here are the past two previous posts featuring the pink and black versions.

Send a "Many Thanks" with a Black and White Note Card

Black and White "Many Thanks" Stationery Set

This is one of those designs that "popped" into my head out of the blue. I think it's very classy, don't you think?

Trending Thursday: Florals

Florals on stationery is nothing new. But it's the style of the floral design that is getting attention.

Stationery Box with Note Cards by New Vintage Old Skins

Monogrammed Floral Wreath Notecards in Aqua by Oliver Blue Designs

Navy and Mint Floral Thank You So Very Much by Designs by Nicolina

How beautiful are these right? Very classic. I love this look. What do you think?

Happy Birthday Card in Purple and White

Happy Birthday Card - $5

 This is the first of many birthday cards, and greeting cards, that will be available in the shop. In fact, it will probably be my main focus next week as I will be (hoping to anyway) ordering some supplies which will take time to get here.

Something Blue Wedding Pinterest Board

Something Blue

Sorry for the tiny screen shot, if I made it any bigger it wouldn't have fit on the blog. So, have some ooing and awwing over the prettiness.

Money Sense

hehe... silly dog

 So, I've noticed a small increase on views in my Etsy Shop since starting this blog, but no sales. Hmmm... Could it be my prices are too high? I have raised them but that was because after doing some math I realized I wasn't making enough, I was in the hole after paying myself. I think it's important for consumer's to know just what goes into what they are buying, some companies totally rip you off by having their products manufactured outside of the country for $0.25 a unit and then selling it to you $200 a unit. I'm not trying to rip you off, many of us on Etsy work really hard at what we do. So, I'm going to show just what goes into my work.

First thing's first, the obvious. C.O.G.S. also known as "cost of goods sold." Meaning the cost of my supplies that went into that stationery set; the paper, the ink, the glue, those foamy things that create a 3D effect, embossing powder... It all adds up.

But lets look at my most basic, basic design I have available, and one of the least expensive per unit (one card, one envelope)

Doily Thank you Notes - $20.40

This is one of my favorites, it turned out better than it did in my head. Anyway...

The paper itself .....................................................$0.06
Use of ink, which I don't even bother trying to calculate.....$0.00
Oh, and the envelope...............................................$0.06

That comes to a total of ..........................................$0.12

That's for the C.O.G.S. of one card. For this particular set, there are 20 units, 20 cards, 20 envelopes. The listing price I have for it is $20.40

Listing price (AKA gross profit)..................................... $20.40

Now, COGS comes to $2.40, but I calculate 25% of the gross profit. For this particular set; that comes to...................................$5.10
Then subtract COGS..................................................-$2.40
And I get net profit....................................................$2.70

So, that 25% is just enough to cover my COGS so that I can replenish my supplies, what is left over is so I can grow my business.

So we still have the listing price.....................................................................$20.40
Here's that 25%........................................................-$5.10
Which gives us.........................................................$15.30

But that's not all, there are also fees I have to pay with each transaction. See, each unit for this particular set costs the consumer $1.00 each. But, there's a listing fee from Etsy that I have to pay every month, $0.20, and since I renewed this particular listing because it had expired, I was charged another $0.20, so that's where that $0.40 comes from

So, here's where we left off.........................................$15.30
Here are the listing fees............................................-  $0.40
And that gives us......................................................$14.90

Etsy also charges a transaction fee of 3.5% based off of my revenue...................................................................$0.71
PayPal also charges my revenue a fee of 6.4% + $0.30..........- $1.61
Giving us whats left over of..........................................$12.58

And that's not even all the fees. If someone purchases an item with a credit card or gift card, I get charged another fee.

So, after all the fee's, COGS, and that 25%, I will end up paying myself $12.58

Now, lets look at what the labor of $12.58 pays for. It doesn't just pay for my time making the set, it also pays for my time listing the item (loading photos, categorizing it correctly, writing the description, coming up with tags so that potential buyers can find my item... same goes for the title, too), photographing the items, taking the time to put it on Pinterest, Wanelo, Twitter and my Facebook account, and figuring out the finances for that sale. I also have to take the time to package and process the order.

I hope you found this post informative and enjoyed the little (ok big) peak into what I do. Please feel free to comment below or if you have questions, please email me! You can find my email on the contact page.

Pretty Bird Stamp

I found this gorgeous bird stamp on, you guessed it, Pinterest. The link takes you to Geninne's Art Blog

This stamp is so pretty it makes me want to get back into stamp carving.

Coming Soon to a Stationery Store Near You...

....Near you, as in your computer/laptop/iPhone/tablet. This week I will be listing a birthday card and a new thank you note set design, available in pink, blue, or black. But until then, I thought I'd share an etsy shop that I really enjoy...

JL Mould. JL Mould creates custom stamps, and has done so for me, twice. The first time I was just starting out and had designed a logo for my shop, which they recreated into a stamp. After a while I didn't like my logo anymore, it looked generic, mediocre. So, I asked my brother to make me a logo which he did, and the LMC logo you see above you right now is the one he created, and the second stamp JL Mould has done custom for me. It is also the one I currently use on the back of all of my stationery with my shop address. Thanks JL Mould! And thanks Chase!

JL Mould is professional and provides high quality stamps. They are my go to place for custom stamps.

Happy Memorial Day!

What will you be doing today? BBQ with the fam? Or maybe you'll be hitting the sales. What every you do, just remember that today isn't just a day off from work, or an excuse to go to the beach, eat BBQ'd ribs and get 50% off that top you've had your eye, just remember, that today is to remember the fallen of military heroes past.

In case anyone who has a loved one in the military, or has lost someone in the military, or maybe your in the military yourself; thank you. We appreciate your sacrifice, and your families sacrifice for our country.

Note Card Set - It Must Be Love

White and Purple Love Stationery Set of 5 - $10

This stationery note card set is probably better suited for around Valentines Day, but it was what popped into my head. I have no idea why. I'm not in love with anyone. I hadn't watched or read any sappy love stories. But it'd make a great anniversary gift to your girlfriend or wife, or maybe it's just so adorable you need it for yourself to write secret love letters to your soul mate, who you are forbidden to marry because you're both from different sides of the train tracks and... You get the point.

I hand embossed every. single. letter. It was time consuming but I think it made for a beautiful set. There will be a pink and blue version to come as well. Enjoy!

Don't forget to use coupon code BLOGSPECIAL for 15% off orders of $20 or more when visiting my shop.

Friday Blog Share: Handmade Success

I've been following Handmade Success on Facebook on my personal page, and now on my fan page. Recently, I've been scouring their blog for business and blogging tidbits. The structure of the blog alone is a great inspiration (even though mine is useable, I consider it still under construction but I will DEF go to Handmade Success for ideas). I've rallied together some of my favorite posts from them thus far...

Get A More Professional Look for Your blog in 14 Steps
Blogging and Business: Closing the Gap
How to Find Your Voice as a Business Owner

I realize that these posts are more for business owners than customers, but business is very close to my heart, and I want to share it with you. I'm fascinated by it. I LOVE it. A lot of times, creative entrepreneurs have a harder time with the business aspect of things because they would rather be busy creating. And lets face it, crunching numbers, marketing, SEO, blogging, and all kinds of other business building related stuff does not come naturally. I'm different though. I WANT to learn this stuff, I live for this stuff, I almost love marketing and building my business more than creating. After all, I am a business major.

Don't forget to use coupon code BLOGSPECIAL for 15% off orders of $20 or more when visiting my shop.

Freebies and more at Wedding Paper Divas

Wedding Paper Divas

 I honestly have never heard of Wedding Paper Divas, I discovered them through a tweet (Yes, I finally have a twitter account, no I don't have have side button on the blog for it yet. But I'll get there.) last night and decided, "I need to share this!" As you can tell from the name of the website, it's a wedding stationery shop. right now you can order 8 wedding stationery samples for free! And that's not all, they are having discounts on their wedding invites through May 28th and a weekend sale for their day-of stationery, such as reception and ceremony stationery.

They have beautiful stationery. I would very much like to get to a point where I can offer wedding invites, save the dates, baby shower invitations, party invitations...
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Don't forget about our Memorial Day Weekend Sale, be sure to use coupon code BLOGSPECIAL for 15% orders of $20 or more when visiting the shop.

(A late) Trending Thursday

Sorry, I had meant to post this Thursday but forgot to schedule it and didn't notice it until today, so your getting an extra post.

Occasionally, to get my creative juices flowing, I like to browse through Pinterest, (who doesn't?) and here lately I've been noticing some trends in stationery, which seems to follow the fashion trend... Or does the fashion trend follow stationery trends? Unlikely. Anyway, one that's been popping up is nautical designs like these...

Stationery Designed by M.E.

Jack and Jane Paper

Brittany Lauren Design

I personally like the nautical trend, and hope to hop on that boat before the year is out. I think this trend is here to stay, as it always pops up around summer. What do you think; do you hope this trend is here to stay or do you hope it goes down like the Titanic?

Don't forget to use coupon code BLOGSPECIAL for 15% off orders of $20 or more when visiting my shop.

Memorial Day Weekend Sale

It's Memorial Day Weekend and you know what that means... DISCOUNTS! You can go to my shop by clicking the link to the right. Be sure to use coupon code BLOGSPECIAL for 15% off order of $20 or more, good through May 24th-31st. And if you look in the shop announcement you might find a special surprise!

Preppy in Pink (and Green)

Monogram Stationery Note Card Set of 30 - $40

This note card set has been in the shop for a little while but is still fairly new. When I'm trying to force an idea into my head (sometimes ideas just come to me and I have to run with it, other times I got nothin' and I need to inspire myself), I have a question that I concentrate on; "What is my shop missing?" In this case, I needed another design for a monogrammed note card set. I had offered others in the shop but they weren't doing so well so I removed them. So, with question one answered, I move onto question number 2; "What colors, and other design elements can I use for it, that I haven't used before?" In this case, I had just purchased a bunch of pink paper and had some green card stock that I rarely used. I also had an embossing stencil that I just hadn't found a use for yet. I use stamps most of the time, but I didn't have anything that I found useful so combed through my Cricut cartridge collection (I only have four, not really a collection) and then the real fun begins. Sometimes this takes a few hours or a few days to find figure out sizes, and layout. Sometimes, during this process, I realize my initial design just isn't working and I have to come up with something else (That's when it ends up taking more than one day). However, luckily for me, the design in my head came out only took a couple of hours and I think it came out beautiful.
The other monogram note card set looks like this...

Monogrammed Note Cards of 20 - $20.20

Oh Baby!... Blue

One of the more popular thank you note card designs in the shop has been sitting there a while. I decided it was time for an upgrade... In Baby Blue.

Baby Blue Thank You Note Cards Set of  15 - $15.20

Here is the original thank you note card design in pink.

Pink Thank You Note Cards Set of 20- $20.20

I will have a black, teal and purple version available soon for purchase.

New Blog in the Blogosphere

Robin Stationery set of 5 - $12

Welcome to Little Miss Cards blog, we're so excited to have you!
Little Miss Cards is an online stationery shop on Etsy that concentrates on supplying tasteful, classic, charming, and lovely stationery sets along with a few extra's such as adhesive ribbon, blank paper notebooks, and assorted greeting cards, which we are currently working on to build up our stock.

This blog is an extension of my Etsy shop. Here, I hope to let readers and customer's alike in on what's new, and what projects I am currently working on.

I know the blog is rather empty right now, but there will be pages to come for contests, giveaways and I will have an about page.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog, please be sure to click on the links to the right, which will take you to my shop, Pinterest profile, and Facebook page. Eventually I hope to have a Twitter account as well.