NutsforPaper

In celebration of the new year, I wanted to feature a shop with planners and calendars.  I found exactly what I was looking for right at www.etsy.com/shop/NutsforPaper

Weekly Planner

Etsy Paper:  Tell us a little about yourself?
Mafalda & Catarina:  Hello, we are Mafalda and Catarina, we are the creative duo behind the Nuts for Paper brand and Etsy shop. We have known each other for one decade. We both come from a graphic design background though we like different things in it. Mafalda's is the illustration expert and Catarina is the typography guru. We are both born and raised in a small town near Lisbon, called Torres Vedras. Our city is quite famous for it's Carnival and we both like to celebrate it a lot.

Etsy Paper:  When did you open your shop on Etsy?
Mafalda & Catarina:  We opened it July of 2013. 

Notebooks

Etsy Paper:  Tell us about your shop.
Mafalda & Catarina:  We are both collectors of stationery, especially notebooks. That's our main product. But we also do planners, calendars, notepads, wall art, illustrations and postcards. At least for now, because we have many plans for the future.

Etsy Paper:  What is it about paper that draws you to create with it?
Mafalda & Catarina:  We love to draw, and the paper for us is still the way of doing it. Sharing the love we have for notebooks and illustration in the form of creating them and making them unique products for each of our clients is our way of share a little bit of love and paper with everyone. And despite this world is becoming more and more digital, paper is not dead!

Etsy Paper:  Do you remember the first item you made, and if so, do you still have it?
Mafalda & Catarina:  The first item we've made was a A5 softcover cookbook with hand painted illustration cover with our mascots - the squirrels. And no, we don't have it anymore. We sold it to a friend.

Squirrel Art Print

Etsy Paper:  Why did you decide to become on Etsy seller?
Mafalda & Catarina:  We wanted to open an online shop. We already knew Etsy and thought it was a great home for our products, because it's not just a selling platform but also has a community of makers around it that are willing to help and also appreciate others' works.

Etsy Paper:  Do you sell mostly online or at craft shows?
Mafalda & Catarina:  We mostly sell online, but only in the second half of 2014 we started to bet more in crafts shows and flea markets.

Etsy Paper:  How do you get the word out about your products?
Mafalda & Catarina:  We mainly use the Etsy and Facebook, but we've been also making some contacts and partnerships with national and international bloggers. This past year we were also lucky to appear in the Time Out magazine too.

Address Book

Etsy Paper:  How do you package your items?
Mafalda & Catarina:  Of course our package had to be in paper too!  We created a envelope in kraft brown paper, that we sew with our sewing machine and then we have some red baker's twine and a label with our brand. Everything goes inside of a padded envelope.


NutsForPaper is the perfect shop to get you organized and inspired for the new year.
Read more about these lovely, creative ladies on their About Page.

Until next time,

Jenni

Etsy Paper Team, Captain

Edelweiss Post

This month I chose a shop that sparked some curiosity in my mind, www.etsy.com/shop/EdelweissPost. 

Frida Kahlo Stationery

I never realized old stamps can still be used as long as the amounts on them add up to the new requirements.  What a beautiful idea Patrick had in creating the most gorgeous stamped envelopes to buy and use.  

Love Note Stationery

Patrick also had another great idea when he decided to reply to my interview in the form of a letter.  

The letter offers a peek in to the kind, sentimental person he is.

Orange Stationery

Dear Etsy Paper Lovers,

I live in beautiful Minneapolis, Minnesota with my husband, Scott and our little red fish, Ruby. We have about a foot of snow on the ground as I look out my window.

My wedding inspired me to open my shop in 2012. I wanted to pay homage to my stamp-collecting grandfather, so I decorated our wedding cake with colorful bunting I made using old stamps from his collection. You can see the stamp cake in our wedding film here:vimeo.com/27956172 

In addition, I discovered that old stamps are still valid as postage as long as they all add up to the current mailing rate. So I began to scour local "mom & pop" stamp collecting shops for colorful vintage stamps for our wedding invitations. They were a huge hit. For certain guests, I used specific stamps I knew would have meaning for them. For example, my dad is a pilot, so I used all airplane stamps. My aunt rides horses, so I used all horse stamps on hers, etc. 

The more time I spent with stamps, the more I became addicted to these tiny pieces of art and began to curate a large collection of my own. But unlike Grandpa who kept his buried in thick catalogs and dusty boxes deep inside his study, I wanted to share my vintage stamps, dispatching them through the postal system and beyond. Grandpa explored the world through his stamps but I wanted to share my stamps with the world so that other people would be inspired to send mail and keep our postal system alive.

The internet, for all its efficiency and convenience, has made communication something you cannot touch, cling to, keep, and pass down. When is the last time you received a thoughtful hand-written letter, a tactile note or a party invitation in your physical mailbox? 

Postage is a beautiful but dying art form. Our mailboxes have been relegated to the status of junk depositories and checking the mail has become a chore rather than the adventure it once was, fueled by anticipation. With my shop, I want to help change all this in my own little way. 

Regards from The Land of 10,000 Lakes,
Patrick

P.S
People often ask about my shop's name, which also stems from my wedding. All of our wedding flowers were chosen not only for their symbolism, but also for the role they play in various films (I'm a film major and we are huge movie buffs). One of the flowers - our boutineers - was edelweiss, an alpine flower made world-famous by Roger's and Hammerstien's haunting ballad in 'The Sound of Music'. Edelweiss symbolizes our common Bavarian ancestry and is also a symbol of courage and male fidelity. Suitors had to brave the treacherous Alps in search of this rare flower which only grows high in the mountains, as proof of their devotion, often at the cost of their lives.

Polar Bear Stationery

As you can see Patrick is creative and seems to have a heart of gold.  What a gorgeous shop!  

There's no better time to pick up the pen and start writing letters again.  

Until next time,

Jenni

Etsy Paper Team, Captain

Want to read a bit more about Patrick and Edelweiss Post?  Have a look at his About Page, www.etsy.com/shop/EdelweissPost/about