It's been a while.....

It's been a while since I posted anything here or written any guest posts, as I've been so busy working away through the day and paper cutting in the evenings.

I'm working towards a re-launch of all things Mr Yen for August, which means preparing everything for this, while also making sure I have some things ready for Christmas by July, which will mean I can get press releases and promo pieces out as soon as possible for magazines in time for December.

I'm really excited to re-launch, with completely brand new products, new branding, new photographs and new styling! I hope you will all love the new designs and you can see a little peek of two of them below - the botanical silhouette which can be customised and the botanical paper lace....which brings me on to my next point....if you would like any of the pieces currently in the shop, then act fast as they will be discontinued mid July.

See you soon with another update on the re-launch!

Mr Yen Business Cards

Hello, I hope you're having a nice relaxing easter weekend! I've been back from Manchester for the weekend, where I've been training for my new job at Dwell (that will be opening in Leeds very soon) and I have had my new business cards delivered while I've been away. I got them printed with Moo.com and I decided to go for their new luxe business cards and I have to say, I'm quite impressed! These snap shots are just a little peek - I will be taking some better photographs once I get time.

These new business cards are the start of the new Mr Yen branding and they feature a photograph of a botanical silhouette of me - along with my contact details. I really like the effect of using a photograph of the paper cut as I love the fact you can see it slightly lifting off the page - giving it a slightly 3D element. I will definitely be creating some postcards using the same technique to give away with all new orders after the re-launch. Oh and check out the black middle section of the business card...very nice indeed!

I'm so excited to get back from Manchester for good, so I can work on finalising a few new paper cut designs too. I'm still planning for an August re-launch and there is still so much to do. I expect the blog will be quiet throughout the upcoming week (as I will be living out of a hotel room for six days) but when I get back to Leeds for good, it will be all systems go!

I hope you have a great week!

Losing my full time job...

If you follow me on twitter you will already know this, but if not.....the place I work full time has closed down and me and all my colleagues have been made redundant. This is such sad news as I've only been working there for one month full time, but well over four/five years on and off.

I first started working with Muji as a part time Christmas temp, then as a regular part time member of staff, and most recently as a full time member of staff - but now I've been made redundant. I was really enjoying my job, the people, the place and the products we sold were all great, now after only just making the decision to go back to full time work I'm forced to look for more full time work.

Losing my job has really had me think about the direction I want to go in now, so soon after I had just made my mind up to work full time. I'm still working on everything Mr Yen, such as working on the re-branding/relaunch which I've scheduled for this August, and I'm still available for commissions and designing papercuts, but I would still love the security of a full time job at the moment and have decided to look into getting a job with a local design agency in Leeds.

Over the last few days I've received the most amazing support over on twitter and facebook, with a few emails of support from people too, which I think this is amazing! It really has helped hearing your comments of support and I've appreciated each one so much.

I would just like to say a huge thank you and I hope I can be there to support you when/if you need it too!

---

If you would like to hire me for design work in Leeds, or you would like to commission me to create some paper cuts for you, I would love to connect with you and see what we can create together! 

You can email me here, view my portfolio website here and see the Mr Yen shop here

WIP Wednesday - Guest Post: Finest Imaginary

Good Morning!

For todays post, I thought you would like to hear from another guest blogger, so I present Kim Lawler from Finest Imaginary and her 10 top tips on how to prepare for a craft fair! If you would like to contribute a guest post on how to prepare and organise yourself for a craft fair, just send me an email and I would love for you to share your knowledge with the Mr Yen readers.

***

Top 10 tips for Craft Market Preparation!
For the past couple of years I've been attending numerous craft/design and art markets with my brand Finest Imaginary. The most recent event that I took part in was Renegade Handmade, one of the largest craft markets in the UK. I feel I've picked up some super useful tips along the way that'll make your market experience run smoothly, and help your preparations be stress free!

1) Prepare well in advance.
Eventually you'll be able to do most of it on the fly, but certainly for your first few fairs you'll need to pack your boxes/case a few days in advance, and even have a checklist so that you don't forget anything! It's much better to be prepared!

2) Remember your float.
Your float (or, cash tin with loads of change in it) is essential! How else will you be able to give your first customer, who will undoubtedly present you with a £20 note for a £3.50 item, their change? I generally like to have around £20, with a couple of notes and lots of pound coins.

3) Consider your stock.
Deciding how much stock to take to a fair can be a tricky one, but don't stress out too much about it. Just consider your audience and take what you think's best. You can always prepare a lookbook/brochure so that if anything sells out so customers can still see what products you can provide & what they can buy online.

4) Run through your display.
If possible have a go at setting up your display on a kitchen table, making sure that you have all the necessary display items & props. This makes it much easier to figure out how you want everything laid out on the day.

5) Bring some essentials.
I always make sure I have the following in my stall suitcase:
* Masking tape
* A stapler
* Spare paper
* Pens
* Blu-tac
* Pins
* String
* Calculator (I usually use my iPhone)
* Tissues
* A project to work on (usually my sketch book)

6) Grab a stall buddy.
Having someone to man the stall during toilet breaks & lunch runs is very useful, it also makes the day less boring if it's quiet too!

7) Record your sales
You need a way of marking down your sales so that you can transfer them to your book keeping later on, I have some printed spreadsheets that I take.

8) Don't forget the incidentals - business cards, table covers, price tags & bags.
Along side your stock you'll also need
* Business cards/leaflets (you'd be suprised how many get picked up!)
* All your products need pricing, either individually or as groups
* Paper bags for the customers to take the products away, or whatever packaging you prefer!
* Insurance (public liability insurance, take your docs with you!)
* Table coverings... I always have a white tablecloth
* Spare packaging
* Equipment for quick fixes (maybe you need to switch a chain on a necklace, or make an impromptu card set)
* Snacks & drinks

9) Get there early!
If customers are starting to come in at 10am, get there for at least 9.15 so that you can set up your stall with plenty of time! I've been late before due to silly trains, and it's very stressful setting up at the last minute.

10) Most importantly, have fun & smile!

***

Finest Imaginary is the brain child of Kim Lawler, a recent 9-5 deserter, coffee drinker and kitty lover. Finest Imaginary takes a serious obsession with stories, monsters and make-believe and transforms it into sweet jewellery, clever notebooks and awwww-inducing accessories.

WIP Wednesday - Preparing for the Art Market

Well, this week feels as though it has been at least five days already! As you know, one of my Six Month Goals was to attend my first craft fair and I was accepted to have my papercuts at The Art Market on November 13th.

Now...as this is my first craft fair, everything is new to me. From making up enough stock to take (what is enough?!) down to how to get a display layout sorted for my stand (it's on the to-do list!) so I thought it might make interesting reading for those readers who have never attended a craft fair yet either.

The Art Market I will be attending is on the 13th of November, so I thought from now until then I would dedicate my weekly work in progress posts to my preparation for the market! I will discuss everything I need to do to prepare, including all the mundane bits, like how much money I should take for a float, what promotional pieces I should take, what I should do about receipts, getting public liability insurance and the more fun things, like what I will be selling at the fair and how my stand will look.

***

If you are someone who has attended a craft fair before and you have any tips or links to how to prepare for a craft fair I would love it if you could leave them in the comments below. If you have a lot of tips, I would be very interested in you guest posting on the Mr Yen blog to share your knowledge with us all!

I hope to see you back here for tomorrows Thursday Finds post!

Monday Morning

Good morning!

Last week was a quiet week here on the blog, as the week before (on Thursday) my computer cable decided it had had enough and it gave up on me! It's all sorted now though and I'm back on track with lots of things to share this week from my analogue week...including a new range of papercut products, some illustrations, some inspiration, some photographs and some lasercut examples....maybe I should stay off the computer more often!

Today I will be organising a few things, getting caught up with emails and starting a few exciting and interesting projects! The photo above is from this time last week - I actually had the chance to take a step back and generate some new ideas and have a play around. I'm also thinking about keeping a sort of video blog of me creating the papercut window displays for Christmas - including all the making, designing, installing and travelling etc - I think it might be quite interesting to document it all and then fun to watch back - even though I think having to record myself will be quite scary!

Hope you have a productive and successful Monday!

Monday Morning

Good Morning!

I hope you are all enjoying the bank holiday weekend in the UK! Today I will be having a day of planning a few things for Christmas and putting a few finishing touches to the August Mr Yen newsletter, which will be sent out on Wednesday. As it's a bank holiday, I thought you might like to have a read of last weeks posts if you didn't have time to read them earlier....

Inspiration Tuesday

I posted about my Flickr Favourites.

WIP Wednesday

A new papercut that I created in a Papel Picado style for an Exhibition piece.

Thursday Finds

Paper craft and music videos with Petra Storrs & Paloma Faith.

Feature Friday

Five From The Ground - great photographs, styling and wire sculptures.

(the image above is of the new Letterpress thank you cards included with every Mr Yen order!)

Monday Morning - Six Month Plan Update

Good Morning! 

I thought I would start the week with an update of what I posted about on Friday - my six month plan....

By the end of this year I want to achieve the following: (I have added a few things since Friday!)

* A papercut window display - preferably a Christmas one!

{This goal is now getting started, with a few offers coming in - so thanks for all the mentions and spreading the word!}

* A papercut book cover design

* A papercut illustration for an advert for a cosmetics company

* A few papercut illustrations for some editorial work (such as magazines, newspapers etc)

* To exhibit/display my work at a craft fair/trade fair

* Create a papercut installation.

* To have my work stocked somewhere outside the UK.

* To have my papercuts on display in some local businesses (as installations)

* To work with a paper company to promote their paper and business.

I am still working towards the rest of these goals and would love to secure more of them by the end of this week, so if you have any information on how to go about creating/doing any of these things I would appreciate any help I can get...you can send me emails here - and if you would like me to create any of these things for you, you can see my portfolio website here and get in touch here.

Hope you have a productive Monday!

Monday Morning - Paperwork...and not the fun kind!

Good Morning!

This week I will be catching up on some admin and paperwork - the filing and sorting kind, not the cutting and folding kind!

I'm also in the process of creating something interesting and exciting in relation to how Mr Yen products are displayed with my current and future stockists, and on that note - if you are interested in stocking my papercut artwork or printed stationery in your shop or boutique, you can send me a message here.

Hope you have a productive Monday and I will see you back here tomorrow for an Inspiration Tuesday post.

{Monday Morning}

Good Morning!

I hope you're all having a nice day on your last day of the long weekend! Today I will be making a start on designing and planning all the Mr Yen Christmas products for this year. I have given myself a deadline of just a week to get everything designed and ready to be made up for photographs. This year I have a few ideas for some letterpress items, some prints of some detailed papercuts and lots of festive papercut products - with maybe even a 2012 calendar! (I'm thinking letterpress mixed with papercuts)

Oh, one last little thing....the Mr Yen Newsletter should be sent out today (I know, a day late), with a free desktop calendar (using an image of some of my experimental papercuts) and a gift tag tutorial! If you would like to sign up, you can do so here.

Anyway, I have a busy day ahead of me so I best get on with it - I hope you can have a more relaxed Monday than I will be having!

A Quick little update...

Hello! I hope you're all enjoying a day off work for the Royal wedding today if you are in the UK.

It seems a bit out of the blue, but I have been thinking recently about what my title and direction is with my artwork & designs...

Designer...Artist...Maker?

I am comfortable with all the above titles and roles but haven't really embraced any of them fully. I feel as though I have only focused on the maker side, with a few hints at the design side of my work, so now I would like to delve into the art side of my work.

What Direction?

I would love to create some larger scale papercut pieces that are very limited edition or one offs & I have wanted to make make more art type pieces for a while, but always felt as though art ensured less income than design, which I don't think is necessarily true as pricing is so different due to the nature of one off pieces of artwork.

Designer?

I still love design and would love to get more work with big clients (like I did here with Lynx) it is just a matter of creating more commercially viable work that could be used in things such as ad campaigns like this one that I love! (by Kate Forrester) and getting it seen by the right people.

Artist?

I feel I have potential to create larger art pieces as I would love to spend a long time focused on one giant, detailed papercut piece, plus I feel as though this would also generate more income, because lets be honest that is important too! I have to remind myself that this is a business sometimes as it feels great to be working daily on things that I love, which never feels like work!

Whats Next?

I will be starting the new project I mentioned here on Monday, I will be sending out the second Mr Yen newsletter on May 1st and I will be keeping my shops open and running (Big Cartel, Etsy, NOTHS) while starting work on some designs for a large on off papercut. I am also starting to design things for events later in the year, such as Christmas products for the shop - more on this later next week! (Yes Christmas already!)

{Monday Morning}

Good Morning!

I hope you are having a nice start to the day. I'm finally getting back into the swing of things, of which it has taken me far too long to do so, but now I'm kind of prepared for a few months ahead and working on some exciting things (which will be revealed later)

I always like Monday mornings as I have a whole week ahead of work I actually enjoy in front of me! January has been quite a quiet month for me so far, which has both good and bad points to it. On the one hand it gives me time to catch up on the more mundane side of things (such as emailing, planning, organising and general tasks) but on the other hand I prefer to be kept busy so I hope this quiet time doesn't last long!

Below you can see the start of a new series of cards I will be bringing out this week too. I will have the whole alphabet available, so you will be able to choose your own initial that will have a floral element added to it. They will be available with red inserts and red envelopes to match...but more details on these will be saved for my {WIP Wednesday} blog post!



This week I'm organising some ltd edition, instant art collections - having a few papercuts & products in one package. There will be an introductory package, a basic package and a deluxe package, and they will all be filled with lovely papercut bits and pieces from last years stock - so it will be the very last opportunity to get certain items. Once they are gone, they're gone for good! I will keep you updated and let you know how they are coming on in my {WIP Wednesday} blog post too!

If you missed anything last week, here's a little round up...

*I blogged about my new Valentines cards and other ways to use them*

*I started experimenting with a new papercut feather design*

*I posted a photo of my inspiration board for January*

{Monday Morning}

Good Morning!

I just thought I would let you know that the blog will be quiet for the next few weeks as I am taking some time off over Christmas to recharge and get all my new designs finished for the new year. I will be back here on the blog, on the 3rd of January with new designs, new products and new blog features. A new year, with a truly fresh new start!

I would just like to say a big thanks to all the amazing people out there who have bought, blogged, tweeted, and spread the word about my work, I could have had nowhere near as much success in my first 'year' (well, few months) without you!

Hope you have a great Christmas and a happy new year!

{Monday Morning}

Good Morning! It's a grey dull day here in Leeds and I need to take some photographs, but I guess that will have to wait! How is it where you are? It's starting to feel a lot more like winter now here, with this kind of weather, the adverts on T.V and the dark early nights.

This morning I have been sorting out the studio as there is so much mess everywhere I can't even see the desk! Also I think it is time to get some admin work done this afternoon, as the past few weeks I have been so busy with lots of making and organising that it has been put to one side. I will also be having three extra special blog posts this week about new stockists & some examples of what you could do with my new Xmas tape!

While sorting out my folders of old work I came across the black & white photo in the image above, which is one of the very first black & white photos I took with a professional film camera, (all developed & processed by me too!) and I thought it would like nice in this frame in my living room....I wonder what other little treasures I will come across while making my way through the mountains of old work that is stashed around the apartment!

Hope you have a productive day!

{Monday Morning}

Today was the first time Toby visited the vets with us and we thought it would be time for his next injection, meaning he could go out within a week, but the injection is not for another two weeks! Now he has been to the vets and is starting to settle in, I can get back to some work!

I feel like it has been a long time since I have created anything new and have slowly been making progress with the notepad covers for these notepads while trying to get some Christmas designs finished. I am aiming for a few Christmas card designs & a limited edition, Christmas themed papercut to be released soon....so keep your eyes out for sneaky peeks of those in the next few weeks!

{Hand cut paper notepad covers above}

{Monday Morning}

Good Morning!
I know it's a Monday and this is a long wordy post, so if you don't read it all I understand!

Today I would have liked to show you some samples of my new notepad designs that I got from the printers...but the printers were running a little late on their jobs last week and so didn't get round to finishing all my order off. I should be getting the new designs either today or tomorrow so I will give a little sneaky look at them on Wednesday. Also I have decided, after spending so much on Etsy fees last month, I think it is time to start my own shop over on big cartel.

This would mean just one monthly fee & I think this change/development is quite exciting in a way as it feels like starting all over again, it feels like a challenge! I will still keep my etsy shop up & running, but would really like to get everything for my new shop up and ready to go before the end of September or at the latest early October.

...So, if any of you have any tips, or think there is something you would expect to see from an online shop, just let me know in the comments and I will see if it is possible to work your recommendations into my new shop. (I will keep you updated on the progress of the new shop every Wednesday)

I also think it is time to increase my prices (which will come into effect with my new shop opening) to reflect the time and effort my work takes to make, plus now I am actually working on my papercut designs full time and making this my career, not just a hobby.

All these changes will include a more organised way of creating designs and releasing new work for both my artwork and my stationery designs. I would like to release a Spring/Summer collection of artwork designs that will focus on one or two themes and then release an Autumn/Winter set of artwork designs that also focus on one or two themes. I feel this would give me a more focused approach to my work and give me more time to promote my designs instead of constantly making & listing random designs in my shop.

I also want to release four different ranges of stationery to coincide with the release of my two releases of artwork designs. These would be more regular throughout the year and would be released as a Spring range, Summer range, Autumn range and a Winter range. Again I feel this would just help me focus in on specific products and promotion of them.

Well this is all just talk for now, I need to get all this into action and get organised, but I will keep you updated!

Oh and If you managed to read this whole post...thank you, I hope it was worth it!

{Monday Morning}

This morning I have been making another small batch of vintage map covered notebooks (that will also have papercut covers, like the ones I made before) and these will be available to purchase as of tomorrow, from my etsy shop.

I have a few things I am working on at the moment that I will show you little snippets of on Wednesday, but for now I have to be getting ready for work! (some extra hours at Muji) oh and I also have to go and post something very special today that I will be able to tell you about soon!

Hope you have a productive Monday!

{Monday Morning}

Last night I packaged up my recent orders, which have all been the map covered notebooks and now I only have two left, I can't believe how quickly these have sold out!

I am now in the process of making some new papercut covered notebooks that will have gridded/plain paper and some sketchbooks which will have some good quality sketching paper. Neither of the sketchbooks or notebooks will have vintage map covers and so will be a little more affordable too!

I will keep you updated on when the new notebooks and sketchbooks become available so you can get the first pick!

Hope you have a productive Monday morning!

{Monday Morning}

As some of you who follow me on twitter will know, I had to go to hospital on Friday as I had an accident while paper cutting. I have never had an accident while paper cutting, and the first time I do it's so bad I end up in hospital!

Anyway the reason I am telling you this is that, I was planning to launch a new product today, but as I was out of action on Friday and I didn't get a chance to prepare everything, then I have been working at Muji all weekend, so....

I am organising my week this morning, working on stockist orders and my Recycled & Rescued notebooks, then I will be launching on new product on Thursday, with a look at my Recycled & Rescued notebooks on Wednesday.

Hope you have a productive Monday morning!

{Monday morning}

Toady is officially my first day as a freelance designer! and I have already had some interest in my work for a few commissions and collaborations.
Goodbye University!

So far this morning I have been busy sending emails and sorting things out. Later this week I will be revealing another new product, working on my recycled & rescued notebooks, completing some projects/collaborations started a while ago and making some more papercuts to send out to mrYen stockists - so expect the blog to be updated regularly this week!

[image of my course yearbook and students business cards from my course]

Hope you all have a productive Monday morning and a great start to the week!