Other title options for this blog post:

Dusting the Cobwebs

I’m Back

Design is still always on my mind

How do I log into my blog?

Well, hello. I’m Emily. I design for Timeless Paper. I had a baby in April and took a break from designing. My heart has been with my new baby Graham. Timeless Paper was like my first baby and it got pushed aside when Graham came into my life. I’ve devoted every minute of my life to Graham for the past 4+ months and I’m so happy that I have the opportunity to see him anytime. But I’ve also felt a pull back to Timeless Paper. I’m ready to juggle both now. I’m ready to get back to designing paper and updating this blog while also being a mom. I recently came across this scripture that really spoke to me from Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I feel like I need to give a little update before we start. Things you might like to know:

• I had a baby boy (Graham) in April. He’s the best thing I’ve ever created. He has been my latest BIG project. I’m giving him 110% of my effort.
• I’ve devoted the last few months to my baby so I’m sorry if I’ve had to turn away your business during this time. I needed to just be a mom for a few months. I think I’m ready to try to do both the mom job and the design job.
• Being pregnant changed my desire to share my thoughts on this blog. It made me feel like I needed to separate my work life and business life a bit. So I started a personal blog as a baby book for myself, my baby’s family, and close friends.
• My business thinking wasn’t very clear while I was pregnant. I had a very sick pregnancy. Maybe that had something to do with my strange business decisions. I moved our office three times, opened a retail store, closed a retail store, etc.
• I now work from my home office with my husband, Michael. It’s so nice being able to work near each other while taking care of our new baby at the same time.
• I have millions of thoughts for new designs that I’m ready to create. It may be a slow process, but I’m going to try.
• Timeless Paper is probably going to evolve into more than just wedding stationery. Having baby on my brain means you will see some baby announcements or baby invitations in the mix.
• My husband and business partner, Michael and I have been brainstorming ways to improve the Timeless Paper website and your shopping experience. We have some new online shopping tools to share with you.
• My apologies to anyone who I have inconvenienced or confused in the past year. I’m feeling better than ever and I appreciate the break I had with my new baby. Thank you for your loyalty and support.

Happy 7th Birthday to our golden retriever Finnigan! I can’t believe it has been 7 years! Four years ago today, Finn greeted me with a ring box tied around his neck. Michael proposed and Finn was there when I said yes! To see more of our dogs, click on the Pets category in the right column. —->

In honor of Finn’s birthday, here is a cute dog party idea by One Charming Party.

— Emily

Welcome to the new Timeless Paper office in Arkansas. We still need to install a few shelves in the production area and hang artwork, but we’re mostly unpacked. I’ve had several people email me about my new space, so here ya go.

The front third of our new office is where I design. I sit behind this wooden desk. I found the desk for $5 at a yard sale in Pennsylvania. It was one of those funny moments where Michael and I squeezed it in the back seat of our car while on the way to the park with our golden retriever, Finn. I painted it gray with leftover porch paint and changed out the drawer knobs for these. Yesterday I decided it was time for a focal point behind my desk. Since the wall behind my desk is concrete, it’s hard to hang artwork. Instead, I created a pattern from my paper place card designs and stuck them to the wall with double-sided tape. I also added a Timeless Paper logo under the cutout paper creatures. The two tables that flank the office walls are from our booth at the national stationery show last year. We were sorry to miss the show this year but it fell too close to our move date.

Looking to the left of my desk is a wall of shelves to create a divide in the office. This wall separates my design area from the production area. We store our extra paper, shipping boxes, envelopes, labels, etc. on this wall. Behind this wall is the other 2/3 of the office where we create our products. Michael, Hollis and Abby have work spaces in the production area.

— Emily