New products, discontinued products and Secret Leaves' name in lights

I have a few pieces of news to share and thought I would share them here. First, I am excited to announce that handmade stationery products from Secret Leaves paperworks have been selected as movie props for upcoming Screen Gems feature film The Roommate, starring Leighton Meester of Gossip Girl, Minka Kelly from Friday Night Lights and Cam Gigandet of Twilight fame. Recycled paper journals, handmade recycled stationery, 100% post-consumer recycled gift enclosures and handmade greeting cards were among the items selected as set dressing for the suspense thriller, which is currently in production.

As a result of the Screen Gems news, Secret Leaves has been getting some good local press as well. We were featured in Sauce magazine's Daily Sauce and also in the St. Louis Business Journal. The story is also circulating the web. Kind of a fun little tidbit, no?

Secondly, I am dropping some items from the line and have added some others. I have three Cigar Box album kits left and once they are gone, I won't be offering them anymore. This is largely because when I first introduced them, there wasn't much of anything like them out there, but now I am seeing all kinds of items packed in cigar boxes for much cheaper than I can afford to offer them. The good news is that the three I have left are on sale, marked down from $85 to $45! Email me if you are interested in them.

Kit #1 - Maduro SOLD

Kit #2 - Partagas SOLD

Kit #3 - La Gloria Cubana SOLD

There are also some new blank note cards added to the line, which are not on the web site yet.





They are quite lovely, multi-purpose, have across-the-board appeal and are reasonably priced at $3.95 each, retail. (If you are a shop owner, email me for wholesale prices. For those of you who haven't ordered in awhile, there are several other new products you may not have seen.)

If you have any questions or would like to purchase something, you can contact me here.

Sharon

The Pricing Bug-a-boo

One of Little Brown Sparrow's exquisite cuffs.

We were recently given a blog award by Little Brown Sparrow. (More on this later.) If you haven't yet visited this blogger you must do so right now! She features her work and often showcases the work of others. All of it a breathless venture into a world of texture, color and beauty. Little Brown Sparrow recently blogged about the conundrum of pricing handmade products. This is a subject that crops up regularly here at Secret Leaves World Headquarters. Sharon and I go round and round trying to figure out the pricing on our handmade wares. LBS discusses this issue eloquently and brings up very smart points about the value of one's work.

We are constantly worried that we are pricing our journals, cards and cigar box kits beyond what the market can bear. But it also isn't sound business to under charge and have the profit margin not reflect the amount of work and original design you have put into the piece. I think her point of not under-valuing your work is well taken. We must charge what we have to. It will all come out in the wash whether the market can bear it or not. I personally think there is an audience for all of us who are trying to make the world a little more beautiful.

The one point she made that I take away with me is not cutting corners. Sometimes we think we should streamline production and have fewer designs. But in the end, we always come back to the books as individual pieces and fuss over each and every one. Her comment about taking the soul out of it when you start doing work assembly-line style really hit home with me.

What makes our journals and journal kits special is all the time we take searching for the bits and pieces, all the time we spend on what color the endpapers should be, the exact placement of an image or how we present the item to the public. This all has value and the price should reflect that. And when people buy our products... Ah ha! Validation!

Again, please go read the Little Brown Sparrow blog, it will make you feel better.

Ann

Cigar Box Kits - sometimes it's ok to think inside the box

Here are some Cigar Box Kits Ann and I are working on. These contain everything you need to make your own journal, album or scrap book. A typical kit includes bits of vintage ephemera, old buttons, postage stamps, ribbon, twine, old-fashioned picture corners, tags, labels, mini envelopes, fancy fasteners and more, all housed in a beautiful cigar box. Kit also includes two book boards, pre-cut, pre-drilled and covered in vintage paper along with two antiqued binder rings.

I love the bit of ephemera that says "Nerves Ruin Pep and Sleep." Ain't that the truth!

Here is another one:

The book boards are covered in some gorgeous old handwritten ledger paper from the turn-of-the-century. I love this ledger paper and have been using it in lots of our handmade paper goods.

The endpapers on inside book boards in this kit are pretty.

This is what they look like all packaged up. If you are interested in Cigar Box Kits, email us at inquire@secretleaves.com.

Sharon

Unique Boutique

Greetings all. I am finally getting around to posting about Unique Boutique, one of the shows Secret Leaves participated/is participating in this holiday season. The annual event is held at John Burroughs prep school in St. Louis and vendors are by invitation only. It was a good weekend for us: sales were brisk and it was extremely well-organized and well-run. Our thanks to organizer Bren Souers and all of the volunteers for a job well-done.

Our big sellers--as always--were Scrap Journals and Take Cover Journals. We also did quite well with a couple of new items: our Cigar Box Album Kit and our new Map Albums. We are still in the process of deciding whether to add these permanently to our offerings.

Unfortunately, my photos are not great, so you will have to trust me when I tell you that our display looked really good!

The letters draped across the front were printed on pages from an old book. It looked really cool, but the show was so crowded and the hallway so narrow, I don't think many people saw them. (The artwork on the back wall is not ours.)

Unique Boutique Teaser

Just a quick post with a sneak peek at our table at Unique Boutique this past weekend. More to come...

Sharon

Arizona Wedding

I’m sure you can picture it...Sedona. It made the perfect backdrop for my niece Crystal’s wedding. My family made the trek to Arizona to witness the nuptials and it was a fantastic time. I always enjoy the chance to spend a time with them and the trips we take together are always memorable. And I do mean memorable in a good way.

Below are a few pics of the setting. The wedding took place in early October so it was a tad chilly, but other than that the day was perfect. Also pictured is the Cigar Box Journal Kit I gave the happy couple as a wedding gift. We will be selling these at some of our upcoming holiday events and we are considering adding it to our product line. Tell us what you think!

Ann