The creative process...

Designing products for Maya Road is really fun. You get a brainstorm, spend a week noodling on it, put it on paper, send it out and a month later get the product samples and you stare at them intently. I ask myself all the time, will customers use this? How would it look? Who is it for? I am a scrapbooker, but I barely have time to finish a couple dozen pages a year since starting this company. But I love seeing others use and love the things I make. I was so excited to see my humble chipboard flowers (our Blossom I Collection) show up in Memory Makers top 50. And my wire flowers in Creating Keepsakes. My "babies" are out there someplace being used and love, and as a product designer, there is nothing better! As I think about what to do next for CHA Summer, I am bursting with new ideas. We are venturing into some unknown territory, but I am so excited! I am targeting at least 50 new products for the summer show. Maybe hitting a high of 70 if the stars align. My computer is chock full of crazy ideas, and I cannot wait to show you all... A lot of people ask how C and I divide our work. After all, we live thousands of miles apart and see each other half a dozen times a year. Well, as the older and wiser sister (and for many other good reasons), C is the managing partner. She takes care of our great customers, the beautiful tradeshow booth, our fun designers, and the always present financial books. She is also a great brainstormer who comes up with a list of a dozen ideas to start me off. I am the behind the scenes gal. I own the product design, work with our factories, maintain the website, host the contests, and make the marketing collateral like catalogs. It is a good balance of skills. We have grown Maya Road from a conversation over C's dinner table to where we are today with this model and it works well for us. Some people say not to work with family, but we have been in business together since we were about 10 and 12 when we started our first craft company selling our wares at a local craft show. So we are old hat at this.... If you are planning to come out to see our new lines at CHA Summer, I am bummed I will not be there to meet you. The show starts 10 days after my due date. The doctor said that he would induce before the show since they do not like to have the baby go a week beyond the due date anyhow. So that means David will be able to attend. So if you go to CHA Summer, please tell my hubby hello and congratulate him on being a new father. :)