As most of you know, Bill (my husband) is an artist.
At our very beginnings of the climb to make a living from Bill’s artistic abilities were his notepapers. The year was either 1980 or 1981. Through the years there were drawings of ducks, geese, swans, deer, fawns, cats, puppies, sailboats, skiffs, workboats, piers, fishhouses, historical places, maps, Raggedy Ann and Andy, quail, eagles, turkeys, owls, songbirds, hunters, decoys, flowers, osprey, goats, horses, herons, lighthouses, crabs, crabpots and just about anything else you can think of that represents our Chesapeake Bay area.
Back then, black and white reproduction was relatively inexpensive. Nice papers and a good print job could be obtained for an amount that could still make it profitable if enough packages were sold. Paper companies would still sell the small quantity of 5,000 envelopes to little businesses like us.
Finally paper companies raised minimum orders to huge quantities making it impossible for little guys like us to buy wholesale. Gradually papers and envelopes of the quality we used became unobtainable and if you ventured too far from plain — you risked having lots of notepaper on hand without being able to get any envelopes.
That pattern continued through the years and got worse. So the 150 or more drawings we offered on notepapers slipped into history. Sadly, it’s the end of an era.
I’ve spent the past several weeks (off and on) going through various boxes of miscellaneous notes trying to inventory what we have left and find envelopes to match.
We still have patrons — who for 25 to 30 years have written only on Bill’s notepaper. In addition I’ve had friends and readers of TMG inquire about the notepapers as well.
With that in mind I have and am offering the following notepapers to TMG readers. These notes make unique and affordable gifts. They’re fun to write on and different than what you usually see. I have a pretty decent stock of the ones I’m showing here, but not unlimited stock.
If you’re interested in what you see here — order now while you’re thinking about it — so I can get these in the mail to you in time for Christmas giving.
You may order securely from this page. Just make your selection and add it to your shopping cart below the pictures of the various notes.
Below:The kitten and the puppies at the dish are printed on lighter weight off-white writing paper. Folded size is is 5″ x 3 1/2″. 8 notes and 8 envelopes for $8.95
Below:Raggedy Ann and Andy are printed on beautiful cream color Strathmore deckled edged paper with matching envelopes.
Folded size is 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″. 8 notes and 8 envelopes for $9.95.
Interested in More?
If you’re interested in more than what’s shown here — just send me an e-mail (Theresa@tendingmygarden.com) and I’ll send you a link to a special page I’m going to create showing other available notes and mixed packages.
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All art on notes is copyrighted by Bill Martz.
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http://billmartz.com
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