PAPAYA! BLOG

Life Unexpected

We received a hot tip last week from a reader of Papaya's blog. Erin Rochelle DeYoung spotted Papaya's Birthday Bouquet card on the CW's Life Unexpected.

Click the link if you want to watch this episode of the CW's life unexpected. The scene shown above is towards the end around the 40 minute mark. 

If you ever see Papaya in an interesting place take pic with your phone or camera, email it to blog@papayaart.com or you can upload your pic to our Flicker group Papaya Around the world.  We love being able to share all the little neat places Papaya goodies end up. Whether on a T.V. show or just down the street at your favorite gift store.  Thanks for the hot tip Erin, we appreciate you sharing.

Ugly Betty "Smokin Hot"

Papaya gets some love from ABC's Ugly Betty

In the episode that aired last week "Smokin Hot" Betty sports the Papaya Lotus Garden Journal while checking out a no name designers fashion show and attempts to make her a star. 

This is the second time Papaya has been featured on ABC. In mid October Papaya art panel prints and giclees got a cameo on the new hit comedy Modern family.  Check out that post if you haven't seen it already.  So thanks to whoever out there at ABC is a Papaya fan.

2010: Life In Progress

As a thank you to our loyal customers for making 2009 a wonderful year for PAPAYA we're giving away a FREE 2010 weekly planner with all web orders over $50 until Jaunuary 31 (while supplies last). Use code: LOYALCUST09 at checkout.

Filled with a generous selection of artwork, an accordian pocket, and note pages... it's a great way to keep your days organized. I've been happily toting mine around for the past two weeks... I use the elastic band as a marker to keep track of what week it is, and the pockets for receipts, stamps, and things I want to keep easily within reach.

 

Or... If you spend $30, You can still get a FREE 12 Muses Calendar at checkout by entering the code: FREECAL12M-JANBLOG. It's packed with amazing artwork and glitter details on every page!

Book of Days

This week a lot of our up and coming product samples came in, which is an exciting point for us in the design timeline. A crucial time of making final revisions for me... but today it also means a special sneak peek for you!

Remember back in October when I was posting about one of my works in progress?! Here it is again, instead of print outs on my wall, now in the first sample stage. Exciting!

The Book of Days is a dateless planner. "Dateless", meaning you can start planning whatever day, month, or year you want to! Every page is full color, filled with unique designs, inspiring quotes, and the second half of the book is dedicated to notes, journaling, or whatever you can dream up!

It's cloth bound, dainty, and comes with a coordinating band, to keep it snug shut while carrying around in your purse.

Sarah graciously hand modeled for me today, so I could make this video to give a glimpse of all of the different types of artwork in the book... we hope you enjoy it!

Sneak Peak: New Extra Large Giclees

A few new product proofs arrived at our door yesterday and I just had to snap a few pictures on my way out the door. Extra large giclees will soon be available and they are just too beautiful for words. The "Gnome Hat" (top left giclee) will be 26" x 36" and looks absolutely stunning. "Hummingbird" (top right) will be 36" x 48" and "Lighten Up"(bottom) is 24" h x36" w.

Here's a peek at some product shots I took last week, for our upcoming tradeshows. The new line of "little sweeties" are total wonders onto themselves. I just love them!

 (Shown above: New Little Sweeties mini greeting cards)

(Shown above: new 5x7 greeting card designs)

(shown above: printed envelope sets )

Papayariffic Challenge Mini-Update #3: First Submissions!

We are getting the first glimpses of peoples creative constructions, and it's more than a little exciting to see people's work.  I love the stories, the images of tea and oranges, the pictures of people's hands folding and cutting (no hands were cut). I'm going to post a couple of the images as a teaser, but please, please, please send your images in before November 1st to win that Tote Bag of your dreams.

If you would like to post images of your work on your blogs, please do, just link back to us, and send us the link, so we can post a link to your blog as well.

PaPaYa! gets some love from a Modern Family

Last Wednesday PaPaYa! got a little bit of love from ABC and their new hit show Modern Family.  I snapped a few stills from the scene in which the lovable little teenager covers her wall with PaPaYa Giclees and Art Panels.

Sorry I know the pics are a bit grainy, the stills were taken from the ABC website.  On her back wall you can see the "Blue Bell" large Giclee,  "Sweet Surrender" small Giclee, and one of Sabrina Ward Harrison's "Adventure" Art Panels

In this shot they chose "Caribbean Woman" Giclee  and the Art Panel prints "Believe" and "Sweet Surrender".

If your interested in watching the entire episode of Modern Family just follow the link. The scene with PaPaYa! starts at 8minutes and 30 seconds into the episode.

Our First Creative Challenge - Create a Papayariffic Gift

We love hearing from the people who love our products.  Even more than that, we are love seeing the creative ways they are used.  Because of that, we want to start our first Give-Away Challenge by giving gifts, about gifts!

I remember when Kathleen first helped Eli wrap a present for a friend.  I really had no clue how amazing a gift could look until that point.  She used a great set of scalloped scissors to cut the paper.  Some ribbon perfectly wrapped around the parcel, and a couple cards snipped here and there, and punched to let the ribbon through.  It was so perfectly put together, the gift inside was almost the cherry on top. 

We will be sending an assortment of gift giving supplies to the first 25 people to sign up.  Everyone will start with two varieties of Paper Wrap, a smattering of Correspondence Stickers and 6 Love Letters.  We want to see how you adorn a gift to a loved one.  Feel free to add your own items and inspirational items.

We want to see what you can do when it's time to give that special person a gift...

Instructions:

• You sign up here.  You pick two varieties of Paper Wrap, and 6 Love Letters.
  
• We send you the product you selected, plus some stickers to embellish your work.
  
• You document the creative process, inspiration, story and result.
  
• You send us aforementioned documentation (video, audio, images, sketches...)
• We pick a winner randomly. (We will use random.org)
  
• Your artwork will be showcased on our blog! 

So what do you win?

We will send the randomly selected winner one of the first Papaya Luxe Totes we get! Feel free to check these two posts, to see what they are all about,  A Peek Inside Our Totes and Fall Preview: Papaya Luxe Totes.

 

Update:

All the submissions are in! We will be contacting you shortly and sending your goodies out quickly, so get ready folks!

Express Youself

For some of us, journaling can be a intimidating; staring at that blank sheet of paper- your mind swirling with things you'd like to express. Sometimes it's hard to be honest with yourself because you fear someone might read your innermost thoughts and insecurities. You might get hung up on how your writing looks or with hoping you don't make a mistake.  Sometimes, you might feel like you just don't have anything to write about.

PaPaYa's motto of Creative Abandon has helped me break through those barriers with my own creative expression. The Creative Abandon credo of "answering only to your creative impulses" helps me in the creative process to experience the joy of creating. It's been very inspiring to be in an environment where I can witness this motto in action from artists like Anahata Katkin, Sabrina Ward Harrison, and Kathleen Rossi-Howell. So inspiring, in fact, that I have started to create my own journal.

I believe everyone is creative. Maybe you're better at writing than drawing. Maybe colors or photographs inspire you. Maybe you like to be reminded of things that make you laugh or smile. Whatever it is that inspires you, expressing it in a journal is one way to keep a record of your journey.

Here are some different types of ways you could journal:

Art Journals
For those of us who don't like to "stay inside the lines" try art journaling. For an inspiring glimpse into the world of art journals, visit Anahata Katkin's website. Anahata shares images from her art journals as well as some very thoughtful insights on the whole creative process. The Flickr group for art journals has some really beautiful collaborative images along with  interesting discussion threads to help you get started.

Gratitude Journals
RealSimple.com had their staffers keep a daily gratitude journal every day for one month. They posted a few of the results on their website (my favorite: “My babysitter, who is flexible sans crabbiness.”) and got a list of sweet, heartfelt, and funny entries that will make you smile.   DailyOm.com has a great article on gratitude journals that will help get you start your gratitude journal. 

Travel Journals
Too many times I've experienced something so wonderful during a vacation I thought there would be no way I would ever forget it. Then, the suitcase is unpacked and the sand is washed out of your shoes and pretty soon the moment is gone. Although you might seem rushed, writing down one particular scene that you love, a town's name and a quick or funny story, even a conversation will be worth your time for years to come.

Parents Journals
Keeping a journal of your child's life is priceless. As your child grows to become an adult and may become a parent themselves, those insights will become the most wonderful gift you could give. Things that may seem insignificant at the time could have a profound impact on your child. You could even find creative ways to give the tidbits of the journal to your child as they grow.

How do you use journals?