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UPDATE 8/8/2018: THIS POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED

JOIN OUR TEAM
Smudge Ink is a design and letterpress printing business in Charlestown, MA. We manufacture and sell greeting cards, gifts, and custom invitations. Our team is friendly, hardworking, and a little silly.

Help us continue to grow by bringing your organizational skills, attention to detail, and enthusiasm. This part-time position is a great opportunity for somebody who wants to learn more about small business or the stationery industry!

JOB DESCRIPTION
This is a part-time position with flexible hours Tuesday - Friday. We are looking for somebody to work 12-36 hours per week (exact hours TBD).

Fulfillment assistants are a crucial part of our team and play a major role in making sure we ship orders accurately and on time. 

Fill wholesale orders: pull and package greeting cards and other products, stock inventory.

Administrative assistance as needed: help with filing, answer phones, and regular studio organization and upkeep.

Studio assistance as needed: assist print room manager with studio tasks such as trimming and folding letterpress cards, quality control of custom projects, and packing custom projects for shipping.

HOW TO APPLY
To apply for this position, please email a resume and cover letter to april@smudgeink.mom.
Apply by August 10, 2018

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We're celebrating National Ice Cream Day a little early because it falls on Sunday this year. We're treating ourselves to some Ben & Jerry's and Halo Top from the little corner store just down the block. 

It's been wicked humid here in Boston, so a little, frozen pick-me-up is just what we needed! Phish Food was an office hit; after all, who can say no to tiny fudge fishies?

Here's to hard work and de-stressing with four pints of ice cream! 

Have a great weekend!

-Stef

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This Independence Day, we'll be raising a glass to The Statue of Liberty and thinking about Emma Lazarus's sonnet, The New Colossus.  

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

-Emma Lazarus, 1849-1887

Learn more about the poem here.

Want to take action? This is a good list of organizations that could use help. 

And below is a printable recipe card for a summer cocktail we're calling Miss Independent (right click and open image in a new tab). 

Recipe illustration for Smudge Ink by our summer intern, Stefanie. 

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The first day of the show always fills me with butterflies. I was excited, but also a lot nervous! I had silly thoughts like What if I forget how to have conversations with strangers? Or What if nobody visits our booth? But that all ended as soon as an enthusiastic attendee stepped into the booth and oohed and aahed about our cards. Phew! I knew right away that all of that work (from planning to execution) had been worth it. 

We had lots of visitors and by the end of day one, we were already halfway to our goal in terms of the number of orders placed! As you can imagine, Erin, Ally, and I were all super excited. 

The rest of the show was a bit of a blur. We reached our sales goal on Monday (day two)! It was an action-packed day talking to new customers, old friends, sales reps, and everybody in between. We took turns eating lunch when there were lulls in traffic. We also had a staffing switch mid-day when Erin headed back to Boston and Melissa (our good friend and owner of Print Therapy - go check it out now!) came to help us out at the show. That evening, even though we were exhausted, we headed over to Postable's party on a roof deck. Why didn't I take any photos?! It's always great hanging out with those guys. 

On Tuesday, George joined us at the show and we achieved our stretch goal! That was a good reminder that it's always good to have goals and stretch goals. Traffic was definitely lighter on day three, but we still had a grand old time in booth #1421! We told silly stories and had some lovely chats with customers. By the end of the day, I think we were all beginning to run out of steam.

Wednesday was the last day of the show and it was a half day. The aisles were pretty empty and we only had a few people visit our booth. We each spent some time looking around and visiting stationery friends in other booths, so that made the time fly. At 1:00 the show ended and by 1:01 we were breaking down the booth. George's wife, Thy, was ridiculously kind and helped with the breakdown. Altogether, there were six of us and everything went sooo smoothly! The van was packed by 3:00 and we were on the road by 3:10. It took us about 5 hours to get home.

Everything about NSS is exhausting to an introvert like me. But also I truly enjoy talking to customers and meeting new people! I was a zombie for about a week following the show and I'm honestly still catching up with emails and to-dos that were put off, but I also had a lot of fun!

A super huge shout out to our team for MAKING IT ALL HAPPEN!

Thanks for following along on our journey. :)

-April

Don't forget to check out Part 1: Set Up!

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