funky print studio

Funky Box Studio turns 2! Roundup.

April 6, 2015April 6, 2015 Andreea

Our boxes and packaging supplies shop, Funky Box Studio has just turned 2 years old. Woohoo!

I’ve read the post on the old blog where we celebrated FBS‘s first anniversary and as i finished, i kept wondering: where did the time go? It’s like i was just writing that article yesterday!

So here’s the introduction i wrote then that is still ok today: Funky Box Studio is a little paper goodies supplier and we have high hopes for it. The beginning wasn’t actually as filled with hopes as the present is, to be completely honest. We started off by simply providing die cutting services and soon after, we opened our Etsy shop where we sell boxes of various shapes and sizes, envelopes, tags, coasters, various die cuts, table numbers etc.

Now, two years after opening FBS, things have picked up quite a bit. The most significant moments for this second year of activity are:

– moving into a new studio – by far, the most important step for us was moving into our own studio. It’s really not much if you think about the small room we first got, but it was ours and we were thrilled.

– expanding the studio and the activity – quite soon after moving into the new studio, we decided to finally officially give letterpress printing a try, so because of the new machines coming in, we added a larger room to our initial tiny one. It’s been a real struggle and we were faced with many hardships – and we still are! -, but it still is an incredible feeling walking inside that studio and knowing it’s ours. :)

– finally setting up an official website for both FBS and FPS. I kept wanting to do this ever since we first started, but a free platform blog seemed like the best idea at the time. Now, however, as we’re already 2 years old and we can already walk on our own two feet, i say this website was more than appropriate.

I did write there at the end of the 1st year anniversary post that the goal for the second year was to turn FBS into a full time job. We’re still not quite there, yet, but this dream still stands and hopefully we’ll be able to make it come true this time around. The third time is the charm, right? Also, as for the first year the sales’ goal was to reach 100, for the second one we figured we should double that and reach 300 in total. Well now, 340 official sales later, 6000 Twitter followers and 1300 facebook likes later, i can say we definitely reached that goal entirely. Moving forward with that doubling sales thing seems kind of a stretch, but hey? Let’s see how many we can have out of the final goal of 700 at the end of our third year!

It’s been a roller-coaster, but still a fun ride altogether. There were countless nights spent working in the studio, frustrations because of so many reasons, but also wonderful people who helped us wake up the next day and do it all again, small successes that made us feel like we’d just saved the planet and all of this makes it all worth it.

Thank you for your support!

The Funky Studio team wishes you, as always, a colorful day!

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etsy, tips and tricks

Etsy shop reviews tips and tricks. How much do they really matter?

March 12, 2015 Andreea

The Etsy shop reviews was a subject i talked about on the old blog sometime last year. Since I decided to use only this site for blogging now, i thought it would be a waste to lose information i had on the other one, so i’ll bring them back over here, revise where necessary and update where i have anything to add. So the very first upgraded topic is “Etsy shop reviews”.

There are lots of talks among Etsy sellers about shop reviews: how to get happy customers leave a positive feedback, how to avoid being rated with fewer stars, how much do customers rely on the shop’s reviews?

I will be honest with you, i never paid special attention to my shop’s reviews, nor have i ever asked a customer to leave a feedback. That doesn’t mean i wasn’t excited every time i got a positive review or that i don’t appreciate them! It’s just that there are other things i believe to have a greater importance than this.

What are shop reviews?

After buying an item, the customer can leave feedback – whether it’s positive or negative – and can rate the shop, services and products with stars from 1 to 5. The customer can leave detailed explanations about why they gave the number of stars they chose to give. Usually they take into consideration: communication, items’ quality and shipping.

How do you get customers to leave feedback?

I’ve seen this question many times on teams’ forums. While i do enjoy hearing back from my clients, i do not want to push them to come back and leave a review. I’d much rather encourage them to come back for another happy sale! However, this is just me. The most efficient way to have a client return for a review is by making a little note on a thank you card you send along with the item he bought. That way he won’t feel pressured, but he would have appreciated your work and would feel more inclined to share this aspect. You can also write this note when announcing the item has shipped. However, try not to insist on it. You’d risk getting a fewer stars rating.

How do shop reviews affect an Etsy shop?

Whether they’re good or bad, the shop reviews can play a decisive role in making the decision to buy. If, on the overall shop look, the rating stars are not all yellow, there would be an instant alarm signal for the customer. After carefully reading customer’s opinions, one can change his / her initial opinion. Other potential customers that are indecisive at first, after reading a whole bunch of positive feedback, actually decide to buy.

How much do shop reviews really matter?

The shop reviews are simply subjective opinions of customers. Reading lots of shop reviews myself, i found that many times the customers that rate the shop with fewer stars have one general problem: item never arrived. As an etsy buyer, i try to solve the problem directly with the seller. That would pretty much be the best and easiest way to get everything sorted out. We all know about postal services problems. I used to think it was only something that happened with my country’s postal services, but i actually found that people all over the world are dissatisfied with their post offices. So that’s the main reason etsy sellers get in trouble: something that is out of their reach and that they can do nothing about. However, it is their job to promptly answer their client’s messages and let them know what they can and can’t do about it. Avoiding and not answering the messages would certainly earn you a negative review. On the other hand, trying to explain to your client what’s going on and giving deadlines and ultimately giving a solution would certainly mean a lot. Basically it’s a time when both sellers and buyers must be reasonable. However, this is by far the most common explanation for negative reviews, so you as possible future clients should ask yourselves: is this something that was the seller’s fault? Does this negative review actually count for that much?

What is more important than the golden 5 stars?

I was saying at the beginning of this article that in my opinion, there are other things that are more important than reviews. If i check out an etsy shop and the overall image doesn’t appeal to me at all (basically it’s all photos’ fault), i won’t even look at the ratings, much less reading explanations for them. It might not be a good thing, but in online shopping photos are all you’ve got. A client doesn’t get to actually see the item he’s buying until after he’s already bought it, so photos should be at least appealing. Then we have the item’s basic description. Words should cover what photos couldn’t, so these descriptions must be accurate and precise. Otherwise, if i don’t know what i’m buying, how am i supposed to order anything?

Then, if i like an item, but the shop doesn’t have a 100% 5 golden stars ratings, i check the explanations on both sides. It would be a lot better if negative reviews had explanations from sellers even if it wasn’t their fault. That way possible future clients can see that you did try your best to solve the issue until the very end.

There still remain a lot of aspects to talk about when it comes to reviews. As we move forward and come across other related issues, we’ll create a Chapter 2. Feel free to express your own opinions on the matter in the mean time!

The Funky Studio team wishes you, as always, a colorful day!

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letterpress, letterpress business cards, letterpress stationery

Custom letterpress business cards. General ideas and introduction

March 2, 2015June 5, 2015 Andreea

Custom letterpress business cards is the very first “serious” subject i chose to blog about as i can also look at it like it’s an introductory post.

Short letterpress introduction

I’ve explained briefly what letterpress is in our FAQ and Terms section, but i’m pretty sure more and more people are already familiar with this process even though it’s so old. The reason for that is the sudden rebirth of letterpress printing appealing to more and more people each day. As terrible of a photographer as i am, you can still clearly see the indentation letterpress printing leaves on the piece of card stock. That is basically what people are looking for as well as good quality, thick card stock.

Letterpress for business cards

In this era of technology paper is indeed losing ground, but no matter how advanced technology gets paper will surely always be used. The rebirth of letterpress printing comes as one of the responses to this technology evolution. Nowadays, when exchanging contact information all you need is your mobile phone. We even started sending wedding invitations through emails! RSVPs? Just a text message away… Well letterpress printing came to show that a tangible, physical object will surely leave a lasting impression that will definitely be beneficial on the long term.

In the custom letterpress business cards’ case, you can even see in our photos (if you haven’t already had one) that they are way different than regular, digital printed business cards; they are special, they provide an exquisite visual and tactile experience that will make it difficult for the receiver to throw it away. Having someone write your number in their phone will simply mean adding a new name in a long list that’s already more than half forgotten. Do you want that person to actually consider you for a future business? Do you actually want that person to call you back or send an email? Make that statement directly through your custom letterpress business cards. The receiver will surely have a hard time throwing your custom letterpress business cards away, so having one on his desk every day, being reminded of you every day will surely increase the chances of getting back to you, right?

Letterpress business cards at Funky Print Studio

Little details about business cards letterpress printing at Funky Print Studio:

– we usually work with 4 types of 450gsm card stock – Keaykolour Original Snow White, Keaykolour Original China White, Keaykolour Original Biscuit, Cordenons Creative Wild. However, if you have a special card stock in mind, don’t hesitate to ask and we’ll do our best to make it happen

– we do not have standard formats that we only work with. We can have your custom letterpress printed business cards cut at whichever format works best for you

– we normally recommend using no more than 2, maximum 3 colors and without having them overlap

– we do offer edge painting as well as rounded corners and any other die cutting service you can think of

Well, hopefully i was able to shed some light on this whole letterpress for business cards matter. However, if you have questions, please feel free to leave a comment or contact us directly at office@funkyprintstudio.com.

The Funky Studio team wishes you, as always, a colorful day!

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funky print studio story, letterpress, letterpress business cards, letterpress cards, letterpress stationery, letterpress wedding invitations

Welcome to Funky Print Studio!

March 1, 2015 Andreea

Hello and welcome to Funky Print Studio! The time has finally come when i, Andreea, your personal customer service provider can wholeheartedly welcome you to our new letterpress shop and website.

It is definitely a turning point for us as we’ve been providing gift boxes and other paper supplies since April 2013 on our Funky Box Studio shop and now, 2 years later, we are extremely excited, happy, thrilled to be expanding into the letterpress printing world. We’ve definitely worked hard to get to this point, but it is such an accomplishment for us that it surely makes it worth it.

So what exactly do you do?, oh yes, i can hear your question there! We at Funky Print Studio offer letterpress printing services materialized in letterpress business cards, letterpress wedding invitations, simple flat cards or folded cards, coasters, tags, stationery etc. Our studio was born after careful consideration, out of love for printing, card stock and paper, colors and art. We had a huge interest in letterpress for a good chunk of time, but only recently decided to open a studio of our own. It is still far from what we have in mind as a final goal, but hey! we do have to begin at some point, right?

We sure hope our services will be put to good use and our letterpress printed items will help in leaving a lasting impression on your guests, your clients, yourself.

The Funky Studio team wishes you, as always, a colorful day!

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