Kaween: CLP Invitations Growing Across Canada & US!

For the past month, I have been working on a project and putting a business plan into place. I have turn my entire house into a factory! I set up "stations" in my house for different purposes. First, my living room coffee table turned into a Cutting Station where I have a cutting mat, paper trimmer, exacto, scissors and a ruler to cut any large or small pieces of papers needed.

Second, there's the dinning room table where I worked on these little guys...
They are cute little key chains that come in 7 different colours made with satin rattail cords with different combinations of coloured beads. My mommy also turned into my "worker" for the past month and this is what she was mass producing...

Caleb was also helping me price tag the products. He loved helping (cheap labour... more like free child labour)!

Two stations in my room. My computer desk was used to make these magnets packaged in a clear cover tin container. These are popular wedding favours.

I even used my bed as a station to make greeting cards, of course I have to move the stuff to the floor at the end of every night.

I had all these "stations" because since I was mass producing, I can do a little bit of this and a little bit of that and switch back and forth so I don't get bored doing just 1 thing over and over again for 72 hours straight. My house ended up looking like this by the end of last week...

I went on my first official "business trip"
yesterday. It was only a short trip to Nepean, Ottawa but hey, it was still a business trip. I rented a Ford minivan, loaded the entire truck with boxes and off I drove to Ottawa with my mom and Caleb. But before we took off, we kinda encountered a little problem... the Ford minivan had no key hole for the trunk and no lever in the front to pop the trunk with. I am embarrassed to say that I spent almost half an hour trying to figure out how to pop the darn trunk! Looking all over for the trunk lever and reading (omg) the manual I still couldn't figure it out. Guess what? All 4 doors had to be unlocked before the trunk can be opened... even if I had the driver's door unlocked, it wouldn't work. I felt like an idiot for the first time in a very long time.

After a 1.5 hours drive (too long), we arrived in Ottawa. Of course I got honked for not turning right on a right light and gas is only 105.5 (compare to 118.4)!

Finally, we arrived at a store called Amaze (a.k.a The The General Store), it has stores across Canada (of course, except in Quebec! We're always left out. But apparently they are hunting for a store location in Quebec and will open up in the near future). Then I set up my little 4 feet x 8 feet of space on the wall. Other than the Merivale Mall in Nepean, Ottawa, my products will also be selling in Niagara Falls and Canada's largest West Edmonton Mall. This summer, CLP Invitations will be expanding to other Canadian locations as well. But these are three to start with.

Amaze offers free shuttle services from store to store. All I had to do was drop everything off at their Nepean store and they will ship the goods to Niagara and West Ed. When the goods arrive, the staff at the store will set up everything for me. The products retailing in West Ed is pretty much the same as those in Nepean. The products at the Niaraga location is completely different. I have a floor display/spinner right next to the cashier. I was lucky to get that prime location in the store.
From the photo above, the products might seem ordinary, wait till you see the products close up! They are super cute, if I do say so myself. Here are just a few samples...

Jacket Journals (I'm in love with these)

Specialty Bookmarks

Foot Notes

We also carry some books in these retail stores as well as these innovative Smiles Made Easy.

photo taken from www.smilesmadeeasy.com

And finally, thank you Caroline & Lizzy for these beautiful and creative handmade beaded greeting cards! They will be selling at West Edmonton Mall beginning May 15th!

What about the US? I've been making these Wedding Program Fans for some customers from the US. I originally made these for Tanya & Jun's wedding last September. Thanks guys!