When Claire Koepp’s baby had her up through the night, first she felt exhausted. And then she got creative.
Koepp, who lives in Oshkosh with her husband and daughter who’s now two and a half, started Called Mama Paper Co., beginning with a journal to allow parents to “reflect on the ordinary days and pause at the extraordinary details” of their child.
Claire shares more about her journey in creating products that help families organize, document and savor the beautiful moments of everyday life.
How did you come up with the idea for Called Mama Paper Co.? Please tell us the story behind the brand!
When I entered motherhood, I experienced a dichotomy of emotions. Caretaking for my newborn daughter and our new normal rocked my world in both the sweetest and hardest ways. Called Mama Paper Co. was first dreamed up when I was, in fact, not sleeping at all but up in the middle of the night nursing. I had a new desire to love on mamas after experiencing the highs and lows of becoming a mom and I wanted to create products to help mamas through the hard moments as well as remember all the sweet moments.
I started keeping a list of all of the ideas I had in an email draft to myself and went ahead and purchased a website domain. That is about as far as Called Mama Paper Co. made it in my daughter’s first year! When my website domain came up for renewal one year later, I realized I had forgotten all about it. I had to decide whether to scrap the idea or renew my domain and go for it. So, I found that email draft, picked an idea from it and went for it. I felt good about the season we were in and the capacity I had now that we were through the newborn stage that was very challenging to both of us.
What was it like transferring some of your own experiences into a company and products?
I made the products not only to love on other mamas, but because I also wanted them for myself. For example, I wanted a space to record the little moments of our days together, and space for reflecting. I couldn’t find anything that I was looking for in other journals on the market. From that desire, the Pause Mama Journal was born.
Please tell us about the items you create and sell. Have certain ones proven to be the most popular or do you have favorites?
My flagship items are my four journals: The Pause Mama Journal, a written time capsule of the little years; What Happened Last Night, a night waking journal; Garden Mama, a garden planning and record-keeping journal; and The Menu Mentor, a meal-planning journal.
The Pause Mama journal has been the most popular product in my collection, and it certainly is one of my favorites, too. I also am really in love with the Menu Mentor Journal, which is a meal-planning journal that launched this past summer. I also really enjoyed using the Garden Mama journal this year. I will be making a few tweaks to that one, so it is not live in the shop right now.
What has motherhood taught you or how has it changed you?
Motherhood has taught me how to slow down. I am so grateful for that. I love the new rhythm of life with a child. I like to go all in with whatever I’m passionate about or pouring myself into at a certain time, but my personality leads me to burnout quite a bit. Having a kiddo to care for and her pace to live by gives me perspective of how I use my time, and helps me create margin into my life. She saves me from burnout and teaches me to look up. We really do truly stop to smell the roses.
Where and how are your products made and sold?
All my products are designed by me on my laptop in my living room during naptime or after bedtime. I use a local print company for printing my journals and notecards. Etsy hosts my shop online, and I have set up at a local craft fair once, but the majority of my business is online.
As this year winds down and a new one is on the horizon, which of your items would you most recommend for parents?
I love the Menu Mentor. I love it so much and it has truly had such an impact on my time in the kitchen. This journal would be a great item to snatch up to set a new rhythm for parents who feel frustrated with getting dinner on the table. Beyond it being a space to plan meals, it has other reflection features that makes your time more purposeful and efficient.
The Pause Mama Journal is exactly what the tagline on the cover says: A written time capsule of the little years. It has space for daily memories, weekly reflection pages and Pause Pages that go a little more in depth reflecting on key moments of motherhood. It also has lots of blank pages in the back of the journal for what I like to call brain-dump reflecting, or writing longer entries.
How has developing and using your products changed life for you and your family?
Developing products has been a huge creative outlet for me. My husband has even dubbed it as “creative time” and has recognized my need for this outlet in my life as a stress reliever. I’m also creating products that I have had a desire to use in my life — tools like the Menu Mentor or Garden Mama journal, or a space to reflect like the Pause Mama journal.
Writing things down has always been a natural stress reliever for me. It feels like it literally opens up space in my mind and is therapeutic that way. I don’t have to reply on my mama brain, I have it written down now.
What are your favorite things to do together as a family?
We love to be outside together. My husband and I have been runners for several years and this summer we started to take C on runs around the block with us, or to our favorite local trail. It was so fun to watch her grow in her coordination and speed and love it, too.
What are the best parts of living in Oshkosh, and in Wisconsin more generally?
Oshkosh really has a lot of great parks and playgrounds! I make it a goal each summer to visit as many as we can. Living in Wisconsin, we love the seasons (as hard as the winter and polar vortex can be), and there are new things to be enjoyed in every season. It keeps our favorite ones special, because they are here and then quickly gone again!
What are your favorite holiday or end-of-year traditions?
I love baking … sharing those baked treats … family crowded in the kitchen … classic Christmas movies and music playing as early and as much as possible. My husband and I try to run a local Christmas-y 5K in town every year that feels like it kicks off the Christmas season for us. We are in our first house this year and are so excited to cut down our first Christmas tree and start creating those traditions with our family in our new home.
What’s next for you? And what are you most looking forward to in the new year?
I’m currently playing with two new journal ideas, updates to the Garden Mama journal, and a black and white Gospel flash card set for littles. I just made a potty training log and listed it in the shop in November. I was never planning on that, but so much of what I make is truly inspired by real life and seasons I’m in.
I’m looking forward to continuing to work on those as well as invite new ideas in. I’ve been playing with a few other avenues of design and am really looking forward to learning more in the new year. I want Called Mama Paper Co. to also remain a creative outlet, so I’m trying to give myself grace with any deadlines — especially since parenting a toddler comes with challenges. I’m having to spend a lot more down time troubleshooting tactics. This year, August to October, I was minimally designing. There was just little space and capacity and that’s okay. There are seasons.
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