This summer I was scrolling and a woman named Alesia from Ohio kept popping up in my TikTok feed. She was making photo magnets with her so-called "yeet" machine, an automated magnet maker that allows her to keep up with her many orders -- and she's making serious money doing it. A photographer and mother of two, Alesia started her business back in 2014 -- and she is absolutely killing it in the photo magnet corner of the creative world.
I knew I'd stumbled onto something very cool.
I live in a house of creatives. My husband is a visual FX artist with thirty-six years in the film industry; I'm a novelist and freelance editor and once photographer; Yaunna is an award-winning photographer and journalist who specializes in dog/pet portraits; our middle lad is an absolute whiz with video storytelling and editing; and the baby, well, she's working on her third novel. That is a lot of creative mojo in one 1800-sq. ft. house. (Yes. We are absolutely packed in like sardines, but have you seen the housing market in Vancouver, BC? We're number 3! We're number 3!)
So, I did that thing I do when I have an idea: I walked into Gary and said:
"I have an idea."
And GareBear, having been married to me for nearly a quarter century, took a deep breath and braced himself. (My ideas are usually either expensive or involve moving furniture. Or building things. Or adopting a cat. In 2001, I had an idea about moving to Canada. That worked out brilliantly, if I do say so myself.)
After doing lots of math (that invariably turned out to be incorrect because any time you say "This business will only cost $XXX to get going," the universe hears you and chuckles and immediately everything costs a whole lot more than $XXX), I talked to the family, showed them the TikToks of people making magnets, wrote a business plan and feasibility/scalability forecast, talked to the business lady at the bank, enrolled in Alesia from Ohio's course, and started the process of ordering supplies. So many supplies. (These button manual machines are $2K USD and up for all the components; good thing the business lady at the bank trusts me.)
Huzzah, Bard & Bloom was born!
Technically, Bard & Bloom is a division of SGA Books, my publishing umbrella. I mentioned I'm multipassionate, right? (That's the new buzzword used to describe folks with undiagnosed/untreated ADHD who do a lot of things all the time because sitting still for more than an hour at a time is uncomfortable.)
But why PHOTO MAGNETS, Jenn? I'll admit -- it did sound a little weird to me at first, especially as I know some people in the world are very adamant about not having anything on the fridge. Not even fingerprints. But our fridge was an art gallery when the kids were small, then a bulletin board so I could remember important shit like school fees and dances and soccer games and acting/piano/archery/tap dancing classes, and now it bears evidence of our Favourite Things™, i.e., magnets from travels, inspirational pick-me-ups, approximately one million photos of our three cats and Pippin Took (granddog) ... and now that I can make my own photo magnets? Yes, I have gone a little magnet mad.
I do lots of stuff, but ART has always eluded me. While I have wildly talented artistic humans in my lineage, I can only draw a stick figure. And not well. And usually with NSFW appendages. Photography was my "in" to art. Over the years, our living space has basically become a gallery of kids and pets (in addition to being a proper library that may or may not be compromising the foundation).
Because I cannot draw to save my life, I started taking graphic design courses (Photoshop, etc.) about six years ago in yet another attempt to find a creative outlet that doesn't involve words and commas. I've since learned just enough to make some of my favourite things: snarky coffee mugs and bookmarks and notebooks for my wordsmith friends.
With Bard & Bloom, NOW I CAN MAKE ALL THE THINGS AND OFFER THEM TO YOU. And photo magnets are the perfect fit to take all the things I love and stir them into a delicious casserole of awesomeness.
As such, Bard & Bloom will be making ALL the magnets and snarky coffee mugs and bookmarks and tote bags and maybe apparel and more notebooks and really anything you need to bring a little pep to your step, a little light to the gloom. Photo magnets make terrific gifts -- think of all the photos you have locked away in your phone that you've forgotten about! We can PRINT them and make them into MAGNETS so you can smile every morning while grabbing your International Delight French vanilla coffee creamer out of the fridge.
Bard & Bloom custom gifts are also perfect for author swag, custom party favours for bachelorettes and birthdays, film or theatre crew gifts — you imagine it, we can (probably) make it. Like I said, lots of creative mojo under this roof the landlord keeps in excellent condition. (Thanks, Jimmy!)
[Insert Caesar Flickerman here: THIS IS SO EXCITING!]
Thank you for supporting us in this magnetic new endeavor!
