I have shared my story on how I quit my day job on this blog before. It's a topic I'm pretty passionate about, and there has never been a better or easier time to strike out on your own than now. Yes, now, recession and all. The idea that there is any kind of job security is a myth anyway.

For me, the path from corporate cog to captain of my own destiny was supported by a couple of key resources along the way. The first one was reading Pam Slim's Escape From Cubicle Nation. In this book Pam addresses a lot of the psychological blocks that prevent us from leaving a well-paid corporate gig that we feel we have no right to be unhappy in. Getting past that was probably the hardest part for me and this book helped me break through it.

Chris Guillebeau has a new book out called the $100 Startup. As e.m.papers made the cut to be interviewed for the book and is listed as an - ahem - 'rock star business' in it, I got to read an advance copy (you can see it sneaking out from under the hard copy.) This book is a fantastic guide that picks up where Escape leaves off. It provides real-world, concrete strategic and tactical steps for starting a small business. I had the benefit of using Chris's Empire Building Kit, which is also really helpful, but I sure wish this book was published when I was getting started! He's also got some great free resources on the site here.

Finally, for the day-to-day inspiration required to persevere with your dream of meaningful, self-determined work, I like to look to the work of Cathi Burns at workisnotajob. She produces posters (like the one shown above), t-shirts and clothing with short, to the point words of wisdom about why the transition from a 'job' to real work is so important.

No stationery designer can fully describe the ecstatic feeling of finding an email in your inbox from an editor at Martha Stewart. That's what happened to me last December when an editor from Martha Stewart Weddings asked about including e.m.papers Bluebell printable save the dates and printable place cards in the Martha Stewart Weddings April 2012 Real Weddings Special issue. I restrained myself from sending a mail back with 'HELLS YEAH!' written in all caps, and responded saying I'd be delighted.

I sent my templates with names and wording requested by the magazine. Happily the editor, who was friendly and very good about following up, let me know how wonderfully and easily the templates printed out on their end in New York and beautiful they looked. I can only agree! It's also nice to be included in spread with other incredibly talented stationeers and printers.

In January of this year the New York Times had an Article listing Helsinki as the second of 45 places to see in 2012. I've been wanting to get to Helsinki for awhile now, and little did I know I would be going in a couple of short months. A good friend suggested we go up for a long weekend, and the only suitable response was 'Why not!'

'Design. Design. Design. Aesthetics fuel a new cool' was how the Times described the city. I had known this for awhile, that it was the land of Marimekko, Nokia and iconic Nordic (not Scandinavian!*) design, and wanted to see it for myself.  I always invision Nordic cities as being sleek and ultra modern, like something out of the movie Gattaca. There are a lot of modernist architectural landmarks in Helsinki, but it had much more of a vintage, early Art Niveau flair to it than I knew or expected. The sea-faring port nature of the city reminded me of parts of Hamburg. Dense side streets beckoned with funky restaurants and cool old neon signs.

Another element that I didn't expect was the Russain influence - but of course, Helsinki's eastern border is a very long one along Russia. We came across lots of Russian signage and our hotel (a former prison in the 1800s) was in the same neighborhood as the Upenski Cathedral, which is Eastern Orthodox.

I wouldn't say the Finns are a 'gushing, back-slapping' kind of folk, but they are very friendly and happy to help (we occasionally needed our Menu's translated when they weren't in English, and everybody did, of course, speak perfect English).

Even though it is a very small city, and we explored pretty easily in four days, I definitely want to go back. In the summer the sun doesn't really set and you can tell that when the weather warms up the city is designed for a lively outdoor urban culture.

Have you been to Helsinki? What were some of your favorite sights?

I've decided to try another Minted.com design challenge, this time for non-photo business holiday cards. Some of these designs , or design elements may look familiar if you followed my Christmas in July challenge last summer:

so far this one, 'Big Joy' is my favorite, it seems to be getting the most 'likes' as well

I really thought this was going to be a big hit, shows what I know...Underwhelming response on minted too. Well, no one liked the Eifel Tower when it was built, so bah!

'Blue Note Christmas'. This one is also getting some likes...

You can see all my submitted designs here.