Fun with Q&A

I love hearing your questions—in fact, the Q&A sessions I hold at our Regional Celebrations events are among my favorite activities. I hope you like them too! But if you haven’t had a chance to attend a CTMH event but still want the inside scoop from my perspective, then stay tuned. Over the coming weeks, I plan to answer many of your top questions sent in—and if you have something to ask, just drop me an e-mail at me@jeanettelynton.com.

Today, I’ll tackle perhaps the number one question (or series of related questions) I’ve received.

QUESTION: What is your process for developing products at Close To My Heart? How long does it take? Are you involved in every decision? Who looks at the suggestions for future products? Do you design every stamp set?
ANSWER: Well, first off, let me say this isn’t exactly one question. It’s tons! However, many, many of you wrote in asking for some enlightenment on how product development works at Close To My Heart, so I’ll try to provide some answers. Our process is unique—we are constantly researching trends in color and design, and we are typically nearly one year out in development (we’re working on our Autumn/Winter 2010 collection now). But because we come out with three catalogs a year instead of just one, we can also capitalize on a really hot trend right when it’s hot. For example, if cupcakes are all the rage, we can design stamp sets and get them into a catalog immediately without having to wait for a year. Our stamps and papers are produced right here, so we can respond quickly and lead out a hot design rather than following it. (And yes, the set “Cupcake Sprinkles” has been one of our top sellers this year!)

Yes, I am involved in every decision about products—call it executive prerogative! A passion for beautiful artwork is one of the reasons I started this business, and no matter how demanding my schedule becomes or how diverse my role, product development and approvals are VERY important to me. Every single stamp set, paper packet, and embellishment gets my literal signature of approval before it can go into production.

But no, I don’t design every stamp set—designing was my first love, but as the company has grown, it’s become time for me to share the love with my very talented team. Close To My Heart has a strong team of graphic designers, illustrators, and studio artists and they come up with terrific ideas…so do YOU! The product development team receives and reads every single product suggestion worksheet sent in to the company. The strongest suggestions are discussed and sketched for our art meetings and make it forward through several rounds of testing and approval (think American Idol, but without the harsh comments from Simon!). We meet every single Wednesday to review each product’s progress—sometimes a stamp set can take 4-5 rounds to make it perfect, and getting the designs for a full Level 2 paper packet with six B&T papers can take even longer. But it’s a joyous and creative process, with paper and patterns strewn about our conference table. We mix and match, texture and layer, simplify, sift, color, correct, soften, straighten, simplify, and rework many times. That’s what makes CTMH products unique, elevated, and integrated—EVERYTHING is thought through and I just love the process!