It's Easter!

Did you know our Butterstix ® can be mixed with each other to create different color palettes? And our Butterstix® is not just for chalking it up! Try it with water, mix it and use it on different type of medium such as paper, plastic, steel, ceramic and even on eggs!

Canada Launches Jaq Jaq Bird!

As a small brand, blogging usually takes a back seat... but every now and then I will do some posting on our blog to get inspired!

We really LOVED what our distributor in Canada (Jaq Jaq Bird Canada, aka Hestia International) did for us! They invited bloggers, media, press, etc to play with our Butterstix® and did a Chalk writing workshop with Butterstix in a swanky restaurant in Toronto, Oretta. Thank you Nick, Sandy, Stephanie and the gang over at Oh Baby Magazine/Hestia for putting on a fantastic spread!! For Oretta Restaurant for your amazing culinary craft! (you have a beautiful restaurant!) What an amazing team! Han, our VP of sales was there at the launch, only I wish I could have been there too!

Reusable Coloring Book

This year was supposed to be the time I scale back on our product development and spend time marketing.. but that simply is not happening... at the heart of who I am, I am driven more by what I love to do.. develop, create products! (sigh) And to be honest, as much as I love you all, I really dread the social media side of things..(even though I'm a total extrovert and I do love sharing to my customers about my whereabouts!) If it wasn't for the business, I would blot out my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.. accounts right now. Poof! It would be gone... I have tried to hire someone to take over the SM part of the business but then you lose the personal side of the brand! This is all uncharted territory for me.. Anyway, my post is about some new products that are coming in for the summer shows in USA.. (Taking a break in Europe for the summer, sorry folks, I can't be at 2 places at the same time this year).. It is arriving  in June, Reusable Chalk Coloring Books with our Jaq Jaq Bird animal! :) The rest of the new products should be posting soon!! By the way, I'm losing my English living in Germany, yet, I can't seem to speak German either...(sigh again).

A Guide to Chalk Brands

Are you a chalk artist? How do you know what type of chalks to use and when? Valerie McKeehan, author of "The Complete Book of Chalk Lettering" writes about her favorite brands, and of course, ButterStix made the list. Here is a clip of the section on what she wrote in the Huffington Post: 

"I recently discovered this product and was excited to try it! Although I love working with dust, I realize some people have an aversion to it. If you want to use a chalkboard in your home, but find the dust unappealing, Butterstix by Jaq Jaq Bird is an excellent option. Unlike Anti-Dust, it is truly a zero dust chalk. I like to think of it as part chalk and part crayon. It feels waxy like a crayon and truly does write like butter as their slogan says!

Why I love it: 
Butterstix is a great option if you’re looking to create smudge-free chalk art without sacrificing that beautiful chalky texture. Because of its unique consistency, butterstix will look like chalk on your chalkboard, yet not wipe off or smudge to the touch. To remove it, simply use a damp cloth. As with regular chalk, you can sharpen Butterstix with a pencil sharpener for more precision when drawing."

To read more, you can find the article here: Guide to Chalk Brands

Caravene Faubourg

We have been working hard to distribute in Europe. You will soon see our products popping up in Paris, Amsterdam, London, Versailles, Frankfurt, Munich, etc.. We are so excited to be parterning with cool, and hip boutiques in Europe. We are featuring an amazing boutique called Caravene Faubourg in Paris at the  15 Arrondissment on Rue Mablanc. Eléonore is the owner, and had tried out our wonderful chalk products and since then, 

she ordered for her store. Please visit her store if you are ever in Paris for Jaq Jaq Bird products!

2015 International Houseware Show Chicago

The International Housewares show in Chicago was another successful show for Jaq Jaq Bird, our second year here. We met up with amazing buyers and media. This year we debuted some new products for IHA, still in the works: Calendar, and White ButterStix! We have another new product coming out that I am super excited to share, but just can't let the cat out of the bag, but in due time, hopefully it will be ready to show in June/July shows. Here is beautiful Susan at the show.

Aprons are a Must to Inspire Creativity

Why are aprons a must for kids? Because it nutures creativity.  Tell me one kid who puts on her apron and doesn't create. Every child who puts an apron wants to cook, paint, draw etc. Jaq Jaq Bird aprons are packaged in a nice box because when we surveyed parents, we found out parents buy aprons as gifts rather than buy for their children! When we asked what their own kids wear when they want to get creative, moms answered, "wear an old tee-shirt!" Well, now your child needs some inspiration and that cannot happen when wearing an old tee-shirt. So buy our machine washable, stain and water proof Jaq Jaq Bird apron that comes in 7 fun prints. AND no, mustaches are not for boys only, and they are not outdated! In fact, when we showed it in Paris this month, it was the #1 selling print.

Buy here at $5.95 flat rate shipping in USA. 

Playtime Paris

Amazing show for us, the Europeans loved our line.  Colors were bright, fun and wonderful.
Surprisingly bulk of our orders came from Asia, Middle East and Russia!

40th Birthday Uncorked!

A customer sent some pictures of our  Jaq Jaq Bird Chalk Table Runner for her husband's 40th birthday wine party. Our beloved Jaq Jaq Bird Zero Dust ButterStix™ won the show. Thank you Sarah W for sending your wonderful photos!

ABC Show 2012 Under Construction

As I stated in my earlier post, moving to Japan really brought my business to almost a complete halt, but I made headway when it came to production, and manufacturing, etc. If you are thinking of starting a business like this, securing manufacturing is your number one priority. You stand and fall under your manufacturer. If there is one thing that keeps me up late at night, it's my manufacturer, and making sure quality isn't being compromised. There are other major issues too, but this one is by far the biggest one. I love my current factory. They are wonderful people. I'm so glad and blessed to have such a great team that works for me.  Okay, back to the booth.. so I hired a handy man here in LA, and he's great.  I wish my husband can help with the walls, but we have no tools in the house to build something like this, and not sure how handy he really is (haha) I wanted to do a hard wall this year because I think the hard wall will give it that polished and finished look I want to achieve. Here is a video he did of just the set up.

I wanted to paint it too, not sure what color... so I'm still figuring it out. I went to Home Depot last week and decided I might want to have a chalk board finish on the walls, afterall, what's what I sell: Chalk Mats! The paint world is a whole different culture and the array of finishes they offer overwhelmed me, especially in the area of chalk paints! Home Depot and Lowe's sell your standard black and green chalk board paints, but there is something called tintable chalk paint where you can mix a custom color to achieve the same effect! I did some research and found a company that sells tintable chalk paint. I am excited to try it out, the paint just arrived this week:

I had heard of Hudson Paint, but it was super expensive. Afterall it's only a wall that I'm painting, and their paints for a quart started $25.00.  The tintable chalk board option isn't cheap either, but at least I can customize any color at my local paint store. Hudson Paint gives you a swatch of colors that their chalk board paint comes in.  It's going to be super fun painting (that is, my hubby) and dabbling with different colors! The problem is I have to wait until my husband's fiscal year end closes out next week, because he has no time to help me this week. I'm so anxious to try!