monthly recap

March was a crazy month at Cotton & Flax HQ – exhausting, but a lot of fun, too. The business turned 4 years old – and I turned 30!! This month was full of great milestones.

Some great conversations happened in March. I was a guest on two new podcasts: the “Why do we have things?” podcast, and The Crafter’s Box podcast. I love having the opportunity to talk about the work I’m doing at Cotton & Flax – sharing my ambitions as a business owner, the challenges of running a business as a solo-entrepreneur, and getting into more detail about my creative vision for the company. If you listened to either episode, give me a shout on Twitter or Instagram – I’d love to hear what you thought!

I also taught three different workshops in March, which is definitely a new record for me. I taught a block printing workshop for The Crafter’s Box, which is now completely sold out. I also taught an online intro to screen printing class with CreativeLive, which is the perfect place to start if you’ve ever wondered how I print everything you see in the Cotton & Flax shop. That’s me above, posing for a photo before the class began.

The third class I taught in March was a business class for creative business owners, called Connect with your Customers on Social Media. It’s a great workshop for any small business owner who is looking to make deeper connections with their customers, and provide real value with each post. I’ll be talking more about the classes I taught on CreativeLive in a future post, so stay tuned.

Another fun opportunity that came my way last month was an Instagram takeover of the Etsy Success channel! I took over their feed for a day, and shared some snaps from behind the scenes here at Cotton & Flax. It was great to meet so many Etsy sellers (and shoppers!) during the takeover.

There are lots of fun things planned for April, so stay tuned for some new products, plus a Spring sale! Don’t forget to follow along on Instagram to get more frequent updates about what’s happening at Cotton & Flax HQ.

It feels like I’ve just started getting used to writing 2016, but it’s already February! January was surprisingly busy – thank you for all the orders, which kept me occupied in the studio. I’ve been working on lots of little projects behind the scenes: website updates, taking some new product photos, bookkeeping and taxes… all the little things that aren’t very glamorous, but keep the business going. Now that I’m mostly caught up, I hope to have more new creative projects to share in February!

I’ve been broadcasting on Periscope recently – have you tuned in to any of my broadcasts? It’s a new format for me, and I’m hoping that I’ll get less nervous if  broadcast more often. The streams expire 24 hours after they go live, so it’s a very ephemeral way to share what’s going on around the studio. In some ways, it’s nice to have a more casual approach to sharing my process. Follow me over on Periscope to see what I’m up to!

I’m excited to share that Cotton & Flax is hiring a Marketing + Operations Intern! You can find all the details on our jobs page.

My class at Maker’s Mess was so much fun! I always feel so inspired after teaching workshops – my students bring so much enthusiasm, and I get to rediscover my love for printmaking as I share it with others. The notebooks they printed all looked great, you see Kari Lopez’s cute kitty notebooks above.

Finally, I just launched a new product – felt keychains, created using remnant wool felt from our signature coasters! This new product helps move Cotton & Flax closer to becoming a zero waste studio environment, which is one of my biggest long-term goals. Plus, the key fobs are awesomely unique – I created them in collaboration with local leather workers Deakin Handmade, and I love how they turned out!

Thanks for your continued support this month – I’ll be focusing on creating new patterns every week, and building a portfolio of patterns to use in future collections! Tune in on Periscope and Instagram to see what I’m working on.

Phew, December flew by so quickly! The holiday season always passes in a flash, and I’d like to take a moment to thank you all again for the amazing support you showed me in 2015! It was a fun, creative, challenging year that kept me on my toes, and I’m truly grateful for all the encouragement you’ve shown me since founding Cotton & Flax a few years ago.

This month, Cotton & Flax was featured in a handful of great gift guides, including Reading My Tea Leaves and 3 Fish Studios. Between packing and shipping online orders, I was also out and about at a few in-person events, including Remodelista Market, and Emily McDowell’s studio sale in Atwater Village — so much fun! Thank you to everyone who came out to these markets to say hello, or pick up a tea towel, coaster set, or throw pillow as a gift!

It was a fantastic year of growth at Cotton & Flax, and I had the opportunity to collaborate with a bunch of creative makers and artists in 2015. My collab with Minor Thread is ongoing — we just added a fresh batch of lavender sachets to the shop! Working with Scout Books was also a wonderful opportunity, and the seven patterned notebooks we created as a collaboration continue to be bestsellers in my shop. I also had the chance to partner up with one of my favorite makers for a second time: AHeirloom! We created a super festive cocktail set, and I believe there may just be one set left.

Not to turn my December recap into a 2015 recap, but it really was a wonderful year of creative collaboration for me. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a couple other highlights of my year: collaborating on photoshoots with Laure Joliet and Jessica Comingore. I’m so lucky to call these artists my friends!

Cotton & Flax also added a new stockist in Hudson, MA in December: MOCA Gourmet. If you live in the area, stop by to shop our tabletop goods in person (and tell them we sent you). If you want to browse some of our other stockists, I’ve been doing a series of posts this year featuring all the gorgeous shops that carry Cotton & Flax goods. If you have ideas for shops that you think should carry Cotton & Flax items, reach out on Instagram or Twitter to let me know your favorite retail stores.

Looking forward to what 2016 will bring! Thanks again for visiting the blog, and for all your support.