However, being the type of person I am, it's not enough. I want to know what my passion in life is going to be and I am having a hard time accepting that my job might not fall into that category at this point in my life. So while coming to terms with this fact I have been playing around with a few ideas that could be potential full-time {passion} jobs in the future. The first is utilizing my organizational skills to help people conquer their unruly spaces. So, if you're looking for a professional organizer, contact me and I can give you some great rates and tell you more about the process : )
The second is my stationery business. For as long as I can remember my mom has always written letters to friends and family and she passed that tradition to me. While not too many people write long handwritten letters these days I still do so to both of my grandmothers. The rest of my "letters" are more often in the form of a notecard or a thank you card.
I used to receive stationery sets as gifts and I would buy 5-10 greeting cards at the store at one time to use for those special occassions {$$, can you believe how expensive cards are?}. I have a card organizer with slots for different occassions and months so you can plan ahead and store cards. I love all things associated with cards. I get excited when it's time to buy more stamps because it means I get to pick out a new design. I have beautiful return address labels that I bought when we first moved into our house. I very seldom use them though because they are too pretty and I don't want them to run out {I'm working on breaking that mindset}. I have sharpie pens all over the house because they're the only thing I'll use to address my envelopes.
This spring some of that changed when I bought a stationery program for my computer. I had printed our wedding invitations from my computer a few years ago and Christmas cards more recently {and plenty of other creative projects} so I thought why not. It's a great way for me to express my creativity, despite the fact that, while I have great handwriting, I am not always the best artist! I have always loved little stationery boutiques and have frequently made the comment that I would love to own one some day.
Well I figured that was a pretty big leap at this point in my life so maybe I would try out my own online boutique. Less overhead and less capital needed! I opened an Etsy shop and so far I only have my simplest monogram design posted {in two sizes}, but I am excited to add more options. I am planning on having some seasonal items as well as sets of cards that cover multiple occassions. I am also hoping to add some of my mom's jewelry and some gift wrapping sets as well {wrapping paper, box, tag, ribbon, tissue paper etc.}.
For now my simple monograms are a great way for me to get my feet wet and I love that you can customize every single piece of your stationery set! I personally love choices. You can choose how many cards you would like to come in a set, your background color, your font style and color and what type of monogram you would like to you use, a single initial or the traditional three initial monogram for a couple or a single person. Furthermore, if there's something you would like to change that's not shown, you can always message me on Etsy and I can do a custom listing. If you have ideas about what you would like to see I would love to hear them!
One of my biggest challenges was deciding on a company/shop name. I wanted to be able to express my name with a small icon, as well as the traditional text. That got me thinking about things that represent me as a person, but could also relate to stationery. I finally decided that I loved the idea of using a green piglet. Green just happens to be my favorite color, but you're probably wondering where the piglet comes in...
Growing up my grandparents had a pig farm so I spent some time around pigs and one of my favorite pictures of me as a youngster is holding a piglet. It also just so happens that my hometown of Cincinnati used to be nicknamed Porkopolis. In the mid 1800's it was the country's main hog packing center. Nowadays you'll still see remnants of this nickname, including events such as The Flying Pig Marathon, which is a qualifier race for the Boston Marathon.
Since meeting my husband I have learned how to make sausage {pork} from scratch and I participate in this yearly Janesz Family tradition on Holy Saturday. Plus, I happen to have German lineage so I think I'm just hardwired to like that type of food haha.
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| Sausage Making a Few Years Ago |
Now the challenge was how to create a name to tie it all together. After posing the question to several people hoping it would spark a good idea, my mom actually came up with the name PigTales Stationery. I love it because it's whimsical and fun and it's a play on words. It's referring more to the art of storytelling and I love the idea that stationery can tell a story. It may be the colors you choose for your font, or that the type of style says something about you, or the initials might represent the fact that you're newly married.
Depending on the day and who I am writing to I gravitate towards different styles so I love the opportunity to mix it up and print cards on demand for my own use. The more obvious piece to the storytelling part is the room left on the inside for you to use your own words! And now to end my tale with a pig. If you look just closely enough you can see a little J in the piglet's tail. Now tell your story by customizing your own stationery from my shop!
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