Going to Hoboken - We hope

Hurricane Sandy did a job on our coastline, and Hoboken was hard hit with flooding.  The Hudson had no end to its fury. We had intended to attend the Hoboken Craft Fair for the Holidays and feared it was a wash out.

We found out yesterday it is a go. So perhaps we will go!

Pictures sent - check in the mail - so we will see. Apparently our paper flowers are a bit "different" and a welcome surprise from the usual craft fair fare, soaps, jewelry and toilet paper holders shaped liked Santa... ho ho ho.

We are woking on roses, flowers, Holiday bunches and bouquets.  A little tempest in a teapot with a cobalt tea pot overflowing with flowers of silver, reds, and blues. Quite a little show stopper.

Tea roses are coming together in elegant shades and will soon be ready for the vase. 

We are growing our flower business bloom by bloom by bloom, and we hope you enjoy what we have to offer. The flowers have been popular at our shows and it gives us confidence to create more  flowers in every changing colors and patterns. 

Andrew has been busy shredding muslin for our home made ribbons and we have holdiay stamped ribbons ready for package wrapping! Add your own special touch to each present!

Cate  and the Papercatz gang

Staying the course... always...

We  learn from everywhere and everyone.

Andrew is the heart of this business and we so enjoy seeing him smile.

We will be working on our mailing list and getting Andrew out to the post office and moving him forward.

We appeciate all the efforts from our little team of 3.

So onward and upward and making some new sweet things for Christmas. 

check it out! We are working on hand stamped muslin ribbons, and little clothespins all decorated for your holiday packaging.

We try to engage Andrew in the muslin shredding (something he genuinely loves) so muslin ribbons are a big part of the shop - we hope you like them.

Check out our flowers and one of our chief flower lovers and makers, Amanda, Andrew's  main helper and support for his jobs!

Yay Amanda..


 

Amanda hard at work antiquing flowers!





Christmas flowers with our special birdie friend










Moving forward when backwards is our primary mode of locomotion

For the last two months we have seen the beginnings of obsessive and repetitive behavior. It has reared its head and continues to be the focus of each and every day.

We have a comittment on a daily basis to keep Andrew going forward - no matter how much his brain wishes to take him backward-forward-and backward again. That is the nature of OCD - something we have seen to a minor degree in the past, but something that now has become a part of every waking hour and threatens to grind our progress to a halt.

Working in his own business has been a primary focus of our little company and continues as  part of our sole purpose of existing.  Creating a business for somone who is severely autistic and nonverbal has been a labor of love from the outset and began when Andrew was at another low point in his life.

We are now faced with another giant hurdle, and it feels like we are moving a mountain most days.

We click off the repetitions, tally them up at the end of the day, (for whom we collect this data I am not quite sure), since there appears to be no experts waiting in the wings to help us move him through it and out of it) but collect data we do in the hopes that we will see a decrease in the oncoming weeks.

We have andrew engaged in his jobs for the business, labeling and stamping and we are getting ready for a big mailing to all of our customers and friends who have supported our little shop.

We have donated $200.00 to the SJ Kids Trust and will be donating another check in the next few weeks.

We are committed to  making a difference even if it is a tiny drop in an ocean - we continue to do our very best to help.

We are launching a new flower line - fun for us to do, engaging for andrew and we hope sellable and enjoyable for those who purchase our little blooms.

Each one is hand made from paper from shapes andrew or myself or amanda, (Andrew's  job,  coach and indispensable partner in crime does each day). She is Andrew's organizer and chief work supervisor and she does it very well. Without her I don't think we could keep him going as much as we have been able to do. She is an integral part of all that Andrew does and she makes a big difference in his life. Yay, Amanda!

So our flowers will be the focus of a lot of our energy in these next few months and I hope that they bring a smile to  our customers when they see the happy blooms!

We have flowers for autumn and winter as well as flowers for all occasions, including weddings, parties and babies!  Please browse our Etsy shop and stop in and say hello!  We enjoy visitors to our virtual shop and we appreciate your comments and your interest.

Keep the faith and never ever never give up your dreams!

Cate, Andrew & Amanda

New products - new purpose - Welcome to our paper flower line

 Old year coming to an end - new year looming- we have developed in the past few months a wonderful line of paper products - paper flowers - uniquely hand made for you.

Andrew takes part in the punching of our paper products as well as the making of muslin cotton ribbon wraps for our bouquets. 

We will be streamling the store to include those products we most want to promote but will still carry some of the old favorites.

We have a new focus and a new product line. I hope you will take a look!  Shown above a bouquet in cream and brown, secured with burlap and tied in our own muslin hand stamped bow! perfect for the flower girl or bridesmaids... or any time you want to send a gift that is truly unique and special.

cheers
cate

Streamlining the products - maximizing the effort

Creating a small business aimed at developing the talents of a teen with autism is fraught with change, modifications, and derailments.

The rising and falling of cycles of obsession lead us to change our expectations and to modify our work load with deference to his abilities on any given day.

A project expectantly hopeful that Andrew will participate fully will, at times, have to be modified to a much simpler format due to an obsession with a tag, a string or a bit of accessory that catches his eye and demands he remove it.  We fully accept these limitations and accept also that the business is being developed and run by and for an individual with autism, and we adapt ourselves to his particular needs on any given day.

There is often an audible sigh as we watch Andrew take apart a project we had hoped to package and sell. But, the dismay passes quickly and we regroup to try again in a different way to keep him engaged in the process.

This is a journey, unmapped and untried so we soldier on!

Getting ready for fall - some new products for the shop

We have been working on some new products for the fall - some very deliciously scented soaps - Pumpkin cheesecake - in little pumpkin shapes - with organic cinnamon and nutmeg.

Exfoliating when you scrub since the cinnamon acts  as a natural little scrubber! They smell fabulous.

We also added a few skull and cross bones pumpin cheesecake scented soaps for Halloween Fun.

Surviving the storm - when your CEO has autism

When this little grass roots company was established and formalized  it's primary purpose was and is to create "creative employment" for individuals with autism. 

For the most part,  people with severe autism are overlooked, under utilized and disenfranchised from the gainfully employed/happily employed working population. I have to sort this out by saying that in my own personal opinion - being relegated to do jobs that you detest or have no skill  set for - is not employment but busy work - intended to keep individuals out of trouble, and engaged (and not the worst case scenario by far), but don't our individuals with autism deserve free choice, fair options, diverse opportunities?

I pondered that question in my own mind many times. Could we as humans do the same job every day without some sort of burnout/fallout/stress induced illness, mental deterioration or a loss of joy?

I believe all of us verbally driven and socially appropriate individuals would answer with a resounding NO - we cannot.  However, we differ from our counterparts with autism - we have choice - they do not.

Have studies been done correlating  mental distress/illness or behavioral dysfunction associated with high stress jobs  - I believe more than likely,  and most probably funded by drug companies,  all would agree - job dissatisfaction and stress have a clearly circumscribed set of symptoms that accompany such daily dissatisfaction and mental fatigue.

So many individuals are on anti depressants and anti anxiety medications one has to assume there is a high level of dissatisfaction in many people's lives and a high degree of frustration, stress, boredom and irritation when subjected to  a less ideal than ideal job or work environment.  Couple that with lack of jobs in general and life becomes more difficult.

When we factor in the individuals with autism who are now turning 18-21 - high functioning - lower functioning with no jobs or limited jobs or jobs that they either have no skill for or interest in - I would believe studies would reflect a high degree of behavioral aberration in response to an unhappy, understimulating work environment.  But.... since they are now out of the school environment and have aged out of those sets of circumstances - no one tracks them and their response to  the employment situation/environment and stressors. Nor does anyone track the total lack of employment  and its stress factors on the young adult and/or the family caregivers. 

There is a learned sense of hopelessness and despair that I believe sets in with many individuals on the spectrum as they exit school - routines disintegrate, activities stop - life stops.

Despite being disabled many individuals with autism do understand what lack of  purpose feels like, lack of respect from familiar adults/teachers/job coaches   and/or lack of recognition of their unique abilities. They DO respond negatively to being unengaged/underemployed and most especiallly to not being given a chance to test their wings/try  new things and be praised for their work.  

Essentially young adults and adults with developmental disabilities exist in a vacuum. On a good day they may hear something positive from a caregiver or assistant, but for the most part it is a drudge to get through the day, they become overweight and understimulated in a very short period of time. They are rewarded with food, as it is the easiest and most portable reward and in no time they become more and more sedentary and bored. Boredom turns to destruction and destruction turns to institutionalization  and eventually the removal from their homes.

And so we come to our business, created for Andrew - an 18 year old with autism- with Andrew's interests and skill sets clearly in our minds.  We did it to save his life and we did it with no thought initially but to save his life.

Has this business made a difference in his life? YES.
Has he decreased his most difficult behaviors (self injury) in response to working in this company? YES
Has he become happier and eager to participate? YES.

This business is a tiny drop in an ocean of need - but it is a drop - and it is important.

We modify our expecations based on his demeanor on certain days, much like a real job environment - some days are more complicated and some days easier. We do use primary rewards at the end of his "shift" to reward a job well done, paired with social praise and his own internal motivation (he likes to complete tasks).

His smiles tell us we are on the right track, but we constantly adjust for this CEO with autism. Though he receives no pay check - he does receive in its place -  satisfaction, praise, interaction, and engagement. Our CEO calls the shots and we are more than happy to "listen."

Cate