750

So, I've been sittin on 560'ish likers on Facebook, for the past 63 years. Or, so it seems.  I'm trying to get to 1000, just to see what it feels like. Will you help me get there?

I've learned during my years as a business owner that the most rewarding accomplishments come with the smallest of baby steps.  Which is why I'm not shooting for 1000.  I'm shooting for750.

Will you help me get there?

Once I get to 750, I'll randomly pick a "liker" and give you a personalised notecard set with matching envelopes.

Once I get to 1000? Well, I just can't say right now because it's too awesome.

So, without further ado, can you please hit the "recommend to friends" button?

You'll be my best friend and I'll love you forever. :)

xx
Autumn

The Handwritten Brigade:: Part Deux

I have had so darn much overwhelming support for this little 3 person club that I started the other day.  It's amazing how quickly the word has spread and now our little 3 person club has turned into a mighty handwriting army that spans 4 continents & countless states/regions in each of those continents.  Oh wait. Let me just repeat that because I can't comprehend it just once::

FOUR.GOSH.DARN.CONTINENTS!!

I've only just completed the 1st sample design that I decided to create especially for this handwritten revolution we've started, and everytime I turn around, someone else is contacting me wanting to join. How awesome is that?! How awesome are YOU?!  So I ask you to please continue spreading the word to your friends; family; pets; neighbours and neighbours great Aunt twice removed.  And for each one of you that is going to write a letter and then pay it forward, I ask you to PLEASE email me your name, a little about yourself, and how many people you've told to write a letter & pay it forward.  For the people that you've asked to participate, please pass my email address on to them & ask them to email me with the same information.  I promise you, as sure as I'm typing this, your information will not be given to anyone else, advertised or displayed in any way.  I just want to keep a running list of how many people are participating so I can occasionally post numbers, and also give each of you a badge for your blog and/or website.

Based on the response and the feedback that I've received so far, it's so easy to see that people crave real social contact and meaningful communication.  I am so thankful with how far this project has come and I would be so happy with the results, even if it had to end today.  But knowing it doesn't end today, I'm so excited to see just how far it can go.  With your help, it's limitless and knows no boundaries.

Don't forget to check back to the blog from time to time because I'll occasionally do a short progress post, and again, thank you so much everyone for your support and unending encouragement with this project.

Autumn
xx

Like so many others, my heart is broken.

My heart, soul, prayers, thoughts, and love are with the family and friends of each of the miners in NZ.

Revolution: Handwriting Style

So tonight I was on Twitter, like I am every other moment of every other day, and I started "talking" to a lovely girl, Kismet, from The Unreal Bride.  We were chit chatting about packages and how great it is when we receive one.  Then, she opened up a can of worms when she said something to the effect of "I'd be happy with a letter."  And so it began....

We discussed this whole letter writing thing and I decided that I'd send her a letter. Why not?  I don't really know her.  Only started tweeting with her tonight, but what the heck?  Everyone appreciates a beautiful letter.  We decided, along with my dear friend Steph {@stephbubble}, that we're going to start a handwriting revolution.  I've aptly named the 3 of us, The Handwritten Brigade.  In an age of social media, emails, and texts, a handwritten letter is beautiful, special, and can be treasured well after the letter's arrived.

So, tomorrow I will design some special, beautiful stationery and I'm going to write a heartfelt letter to 2 girls in 2 different countries, and hope that it makes them smile. But along with that letter, I'm going to send them each a blank card.  And I'm going to ask each of them to pay it forward by handwriting a note, in that blank card, and sending it off to someone else with another blank card for that person to write their own note.  And on and on I hope it goes.

My challenge to you is that you do the same.  It only takes 5 minutes to write a note to someone you care about, even just to let them know you're thinking about them.  And when you do this, I encourage you to pay it forward.  Can we do this?

Let me know if you want to be a part of the Handwritten Brigade.

Let's do this.

Stumbling

What is this?  This is my stumbling block. In terms of it's overwhelming size, the camera does it no justice. It might as well be the size of Alaska.

This is how I've been feeling the last couple of days. Like 1 big ginormous stumbling block is in my way... personally, professionally, as a wife and as a mother.  I hate the feeling of being out of control. Yet that's all that I feel and it is scaring the hell out of me.  I need to change the behaviours and actions of others, but I can't.  I can only change mine. And it scares me. It scares me more than I can say.

But I received a gorgeous email today from one of my Twitter friends who is living in the Bay Area, she shall remain nameless but she knows who she is, and her email made me realize so many things.  Namely, that when I make an honest blog entry, like I did last night, it's going to resonate with at least 1 person.  And I have the email in my inbox to prove it. But what's even more spectacular than that, is that while she's telling me how much she related to my journey, I was relating to hers. It's strange how that works.

And I realized something after I closed the email down.

And that something is this: No matter what I'm feeling, no matter what stumbling blocks are in my way, no matter what obstacles the universe is throwing in my path, there is always at least 1 person who understands and can relate.  I'm not alone. I. Am. Not. Alone.

I still have concerns right now about things that are bigger than design, bigger than my business, bigger than anything.  And they are HUGE concerns.  But knowing that at least 1 other person out there is feeling what I feel, in some way or another, lets me know that, I can AND will, climb that stumbling block.  And when I get over it, when the problems that I'm facing have been dealt with, and put into their proper place, I know that I'll be able to look at the ginormous stumbling block that might as well be the size of Alaska and say, "Geez! Look at that little pebble I just walked over!"

I'm sorry. Again.

Well, here I am again. My name is Autumn and I'm a serial blog-neglecter.  {Is that even a word? "Neglecter"? It looks weird.}  Anyhoo.

Many of you know what I've been up to the past few months, but for those of you who don't, let me give you the scoop....

1) My Husband got a job transfer.
2)We moved from Melbourne.
3)We moved to the Northern Territory.
4)Specifically, the great Australian Outback.
5)More specifically, Kakadu National Park
6) I decided I didn't have enough going on in my life so I thought a business re-structure was a good idea.

That pretty much sums it up and lets you know where I am now:: Still in the midst of aforementioned business restructure.

To be honest with you, I wasn't happy with the way it was "working" before.  Why, you ask? Well, because it just wasn't working.  So because I'm not a glutton for punishment I decided I needed to grab it by the reigns and pull tight to make the whole shindig come to a grinding halt. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.  I took stock of where I was at, where my business was at, and where I wanted it to go.  Boy, was it hard.  Boy, isn't it STILL hard.  But, it's a difficult path that I'm willing to take because, as the saying goes, the journey is better than the destination? No. That's not it..The destination isn't as special as the journey? No. That's not it either. You know what I'm getting at.  I love this journey. I'm struggling. It's hard work. I'm stressed, to the max, and at times, supremely frustrated. But I love every.single.minute. Why? Because it's my baby.  Because it's my passion. Because I know as sure as I'm writing this, that design is what I'm meant to do.  It's my purpose on this Earth. It's my love, and I love it so.

So, I've been designing new paperie, designing a new website, and scouring the ends of the Earth for the perfect web designer whose ideas; creativity; aesthetic and style will mesh with mine.  I want a beautiful product and I want my visitors to enjoy my site...to return time and time again.  I know I do that with websites that I love, whether I'm buying or not. {Sorry all you eCommerce peoples. Sometimes I just wanna browse.}

Oh yeah, and I bought a new letterpress.  At this moment, she's on her long journey from France to Australia. She's my 2nd baby. {My first baby is a teenage girl human baby named Hunter.}...More on the press later.

So, essentially, that's why I've been a blog-neglecter. And from the bottom of my non-writing-non-blogging heart, I'm sorry. Really. Honest.  But I promise, that when the business is settled, when the site has been designed and when the paperie is on the "shelf" of the world wide web, I will get back to posting and blogging and letting you in on more fun goodies from the Paper C headquarters. Which is now, in my home studio, in the middle of the outback, amongst the breathtaking beauty of World Heritage Listed Kakadu National Park.