I’ve been tossing around a few ideas for new products I could introduce this year, and figured it would be a good idea to ask for your feedback. Everything is just ideas at this stage, and I haven’t done detailed investigation of raw materials or costings, so please don’t be upset if something doesn’t happen or ends up a bit different!

Possibilities include:

* Adding a mini-sheet of 4 or 6 coordinating stickers to the lettersets.

* Lettersets with larger paper, approximately 6×8″. This would fit nicely in the current size envelopes when folded in half, and I’d combine 8 papers with 4 envelopes (and perhaps stickers, as above).

* Or the opposite, teeny-tiny lettersets! About business card size – little things are super cute. I wouldn’t be able to print on the envelopes, as my printer freaks out about feeding very small sheets, but I could use nice coloured ones that coordinate with the design.

* Postcards. I’d offer them individually, with a discount for buying several like with the buttons and magnets. (The main problem with these will probably be choosing which designs to print, I have to do them in bulk which limits the number of designs it’s practical to have in stock…)

* Gift tags. I intended the write-on labels to substitute for gift tags, but given how many requests I still get for them it seems there’s a demand for a more traditional kind as well! Would a flat shape or a folded mini-card be preferable?

* Post-it notes. I haven’t got quotes for printing these yet so they might be totally unreasonably priced, but it’s an idea!

* Blank notebooks with illustrated covers, again I’m not sure how realistic pricing will be on these but I’m keen on the concept!

Please leave a comment if any of those ideas sound particularly interesting to you, if you have any feedback or suggestions about them, or if there’s anything else you think might fit into the N&B range well!

(I’m already planning to re-introduce recipe cards in the coming months, as I think I’ve figured out a way to produce them satisfactorily, and t-shirts/tote bags are also underway subject to logistics…)

I was still in a buttonny mood after drawing that first batch of doodles, so here are some more potential button designs. Again, I probably won’t use all of them, so leave a comment if there’s some you’d particularly like to see!

This time they are animals! There are a couple of favourites that often turn up in N&B, like the panda and jellyfish, but I also tackled some animals I don’t think I’ve ever drawn before, like the badger and armadillo. If you’ve placed an order with me you’ll know I ask at checkout for your favourite animal, and I browsed through some of the recent responses for inspiration :D

Instead of a regular Sketchbook Sweetie today, here’s a few doodles that might end up being buttons and magnets… I haven’t decided yet how many I will use, but some of them will be in the next update. Leave a comment if there’s one you’d particularly like to see :)

A little preview of what will be coming once I get back from holiday: more rubber stamps! The sheets arrived today and I think they look great. There’s nine new designs, and some of the existing ones that have sold out will be restocked.

I’ve also figured out how to make selling individual stamps work out, which wasn’t possible to start with, so once these are launched you’ll be able to buy a single stamp if you like. And the new packaging is so nice!

I must admit my hand aches a little thinking about cutting all of these up, hee. (Don’t worry, I’ll take it easy and just do a few at a time. I’m quite careful about not straining my hands or arms since they’re so important for my work. I might try and buy some of those special rubber stamp scissors in Tokyo, which will make the job a lot easier!)