the big 'thank you!' celebration!

as a special thank-you to you all, in celebration of the new year and of my business being open for its first full year:

30% off your entire order from 'washi by maoiliosa', now through january 31st!

just enter "new year" in the 'notes to seller' section at checkout and i will refund you, or you can wait for a revised invoice from me.

i can't thank my friends and customers enough for such a fantastic year... you all are awesome!

i'm really excited to begin 2009. i've been busy the last few days doing little repairs around the house that i've been meaning to do forever (redo the curtain rods namely, which looked hideous before as it was only supposed to be temporary) and doing inventory.

i've also got a whole bunch of new things planned for the shop this year, and i've already met my first goal for the year: redesigning my packaging for more effective branding! i'll be sharing pics of those with you sometime soon (in the next few days), along with a short series of blog posts outlining lessons i learned from 2008 and tips for going forward in 2009.

my next goal is to redo all my shop photos, whether they're "okay" or not. i've learned a lot about revamping photos to meet their highest potential over the course of this past year, and it's time to clean up the shop and give it a new, fresh look with crisper, better pictures :).

there are many things i'm looking forward to this year, such as graduating college (finally!), pushing my business to the next level of success, and of course, my honeymoon with my husband! that's going to be especially awesome - we've decided to go to oregon for a week or so, see all the natural beauty of the pacific northwest, get me on a plane for the first time (no joke! so lame, i know!), see some dear friends (shoutout to lea and ryan!) while spending the largest chunk of our time in the fabulous city of portland (potential relocation in the next few years... ;)), and simply spending time with each other away from home. home is great, but vacations are necessary to my survival, and quite frankly, i don't take them enough, considering all the stress i'm always under with school and such ;p.

so here's to 2009, you all! may all your dreams and goals be addressed amply this year :).

♥,
melissa

finally!

hello! didja miss me?

after basically a 3-week hiatus from blogging, i have returned to you ;p. things have been so eventful the last few weeks that i haven't had time to sit and blog, believe it or not! but i missed it, so here i am :)

let's see, where to begin?

• the nine inch nails concert on october 23rd was AMAZING. it was definately the best nine inch nails concert i've been to, and of course that means it's the best concert i've been to overall ;). here are some pictures:

as you can see, we got REALLY close this time! ah, to be close to trent reznor...

... but i am a married woman now, and even though trent's hair is dreamy, his voice is dreamy, his muscles are dreamy, his butt is dreamy... no! no more of that ;p.



we eventually had to retreat a bit, but i could still see mr. reznor perfectly fine, in all his yelling glory. i got a few really good videos of the concert, too.



the acoustics were much better at this venue than the one in houston, and i was blown away.



the opening band, ghostland observatory (from my native austin), was super awesome as well. the singer really struts his stuff on stage, and it's hilarious and very engaging! look them up on youtube for some examples of what i'm talking about. and yes, the other dude in the band is wearing a cape :p.

i like their music a lot, and brandon and i are going to see them in austin on november 15th at the place where i attended my very first nine inch nails concert :). i'm sure we'll have a blast! they're a lot of fun.

and of course no concert would be complete without a silly pic of me and brandon!

• halloween was mostly uneventful (would you believe that not one trick-or-treater even came to the door?!), but it gave me an excuse to wear my platinum-pink wig!

i love this wig! brandon bought it for me for my birthday last year, and i just adore it ♥.

• my etsy friend heather (auryndesign) is a super-sweetheart and featured me on her blog recently. that means a lot, especially since we are each other's competition, you might say. she is a good friend with a lot of talent, and we each have our own totally unique spin on the washi-paper-jewelry front, so it works out :). so yes, i am excited that i was interviewed for a feature, especially from a friend :D.
  
  
• you might have noticed a bunch of brand new things in my shop. well, that's because i put a bunch of brand new things in my shop! ;p. more on those in my next blog entry, but feel free to head on over to the shop and check out the new pocket mirror and pendant necklace designs! the new pendants come on 18" sterling silver-plated chains!

this pocket mirror is called 'natural beauty', and is $6 in my shop

• also, i've decided to no longer do my "monthly goals" blog post, as i rarely felt i was meeting my expectations, and it's just a reminder that i didn't do as well as i hoped for the previous month, if that makes any sense.

but the main reason i've been away from my blog is college work. i am finally done with everything but my final in my biology class, i've studied a lot for my huge french test (i have to test out of 16 credit hours of it), and now i can complete my deviance sociology class with nothing else in the way!

oh, and i still don't have any more wedding pictures to show you; they are supposed to be on their way to be by next wednesday. i'll share as soon as i get 'em :).

and one final thing: i don't like to talk about things on here that might offend people, but i just have to say that i voted for barack obama yesterday, and i am feeling extremely, overwhelmingly, and fantastically proud. his winning speech was so moving that i got all choked up. i know many of you probably would have loved to see mccain win, but hopefully president obama can show all of america how his intelligence, instincts, and know-how will give this country at least a few of the things it has been severely lacking. i have faith in that, and hopefully you guys on the right-side will be impressed with him before too long :).

okay, no more preachy-yeswecan-hope-mongering! ;D

for those of you who have been checking in to see if i'll ever blog again (haha), thanks for sticking around! oh, i'm on twitter, too (see it on the top-ish right?), so you can follow me there!

♥,
melissa

september summary, october goals

is it really october already?! yes, the internet, it is! and i couldn't be more excited!

i'm getting married in just a few days, college is going well, and my shop is seeing much more success than in previous months!

to recap, here were my goals for september:

• sell 25 things in my shop and fulfill at least one wholesale reorder
• reach 560 hearts
• finish all the wedding planning
• finish most of my biology class, and be prepared to test out of all my french requirements for college
• redo all the primary photos in my shop.

i ended the month with 26 sales, so i met my sales goal! i did not reach 560 hearts (ended up at 525), but that's okay. i am (mostly) completely prepared for the big wedding day next thursday, also! and as for the biology and french - i only have to type up a few lab reports and mail them off, then take the final for biology, and i have studied french a lot over the course of the month. out of the 1000 vocabulary study cards i bought, for example, i readily know ~850 of them. the words i'm having the most problems with are adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions. studying my old french textbooks has helped a lot in jogging my memory, too. also, i did redo most of the photos in my shop! overall, i'd say i feel pretty accomplished for september.

looking ahead to october, here are my goals:

• get married! yay!
• push myself more with the french thing, and complete biology by mid-month
• register for 3 more courses
• complete my sociology (deviance) course
• sell 35 things in my shop
• reach 600 hearts
• redo the rest of my shop photos

also, please take a moment to answer my poll questions (at the top, on the right) if you haven't already. changes are coming, and i value your input!

here's to a fruitful october!

♥,
melissa

august summary, september goals

alright, here were my goals for august:

• sell 20 things, bringing my total to 126
• make it to 450 hearts
• finish preparing inventory for christmas
• a whole bunch of wedding planning
• get serious about college
• list at least one new thing in my shop each week
• clear out the clearance section of my shop

well... i sold 15 things. that's not so bad, but i definately need to start selling more if i'm going to be able to continue to, you know, eat :p. i surpassed my heart goals by reaching 480, though! i did prepare more for the holiday season, but not as much as i would have liked to. i think i have all the supplies i will need for a long time, so that's a relief. i accomplished a lot of my wedding-planning goals last month, as well, and planned out a wedding-preparation schedule that runs from now until the big day! also, i finally got serious about the college stuff i was putting off. i might have waited too long on the biology class, because now i'm in the middle of a nervous breakdown about that, but i did start it finally. new items showed up in my shop nearly every day, so i met that goal, and while i didn't clear out my clearance section, i sold a few things from it and added some new great deals!

so, my goals for september are:

• sell 25 things in my shop and fulfill at least one wholesale reorder
• reach 560 hearts
• finish all the wedding planning
• finish most of my biology class, and be prepared to test out of all my french requirements for college
• redo all the primary photos in my shop. i have an idea planned :).

happy september, the internet!

♥,
melissa

july summary, august goals

i'm sorry i've been away for so long! here, have a cat to make it up to you:




okay, so here were my goals for july:

• sell 45 things in my shop
• complete all these wholesale orders and delve into the new ones
• reach 430 hearts
• introduce my new washi fortune cookie line
• start preparing my inventory for christmas
• attend my bachelorette party
• take care of the rest of the wedding stuff
• plan brandon's birthday
• do all that biology and french stuff

... uh ...

i totally didn't meet any of my goals. it's rather depressing, really:

• i did not sell 45 things. i didn't even sell 4.5 things. i sold 4 things. that does not feel awesome!
• i completed the wholesale orders from last month, but all my opportunities for new wholesale accounts fell through because the people who wanted to buy from me went out of business. boo.
• i did not reach 430 hearts. i reached 400 hearts.
• i was so unmotivated due to the above failures that i didn't even put anything new into my shop last month, including the washi fortune cookies i had planned.
• i did start preparing my inventory for christmas, but i didn't get as far as i planned.
• my bachelorette party was fun! it was just 4 of us girls, but i had a good time. nothing crazy happened; it was just nice to hang out with a few of my closest friends.
• the only wedding thing i took care of last month was that i ordered individual mini-bottles of martinelli's sparkling apple cider for the toasts. they came out looking really cute with their cherry blossom labels! i'll show you some pictures in a later post. i guess i really need to get my butt in gear this month with the wedding planning, huh?
• brandon's birthday is pretty much planned. i got him an awesome present! more on that after he opens it :).
• ... i didn't do any of my french or biology stuff. i did manage to find my biology textbook and put it on my desk, but that's as far as i got with that! today, i'm going up to my school to talk to my new advisor about this whole french mess. i'm actually not supposed to have to take a foreign language since texas has exemptions based on how much you took in high school (i got 5 years of high school credit in french, including 1 advanced placement class and the a.p. test). so today i'm ready to fight, because my degree audit says i need 16 hours of french, but they have my high school transcript, so they should know i don't need foreign language. ugh.

so basically last month wasn't very good, you all. i am, of course, grateful for the 4 sales i did make, and my first wholesale buyer placed another reorder with me, including a new piece (yay!).

i'll keep my august goals modest:

• sell 20 things, bringing my total to 126.
• make it to 450 hearts.
• finish preparing inventory for christmas
• a whole bunch of wedding planning
• get serious about college. i can't keep putting this stuff off!
• list at least one new thing in my shop each week.
• clear out the clearance section of my shop (just added!). almost everything in there is $4-5, so check it out!

congratulations to everyone who sold well in july; i'm not really sure why my sales were so low, but my competitors stayed steady :/.

to a better august!

♥,
melissa

june summary, july goals

'lilith', one of my newest beauties in my shop


my goals for june were:

• sell 25 items in my shop, bringing my total to 81 items sold
• look into another wholesale opportunity
• clear out my tile pendants
• reach 360 hearts
• have lots of fun! i'm going to a book signing/reading of my favourite author, chuck palahniuk, this thursday, then saturday brandon and i are seeing eddie izzard! my best friend sarah and i need to plan my bachelorette party, too. and i want to read a bunch of the books i just got in the mail :)
• join an etsy street team?
• work on my french and biology stuff

here's what actually happened:

• i sold an amazing 44 items in my shop... wow! as of the end of the day on june 30, i reached 102 total sales.
• i did more than just look into wholesale opportunities; i landed 2 new wholesale accounts, got a reorder on my previous one, and have 2 pending wholesale accounts! all this happened the last week of the month, too, so i'm still feeling a bit overwhelmed (but in a great way!)
• immediately, all but 4 of my tile pendants sold out. i still have 4 left, and they are still $4 and waiting for good homes :).
• i surpassed my goal and made it to 363 hearts ♥
• i did have a ton of fun! i did all the stuff i planned, although i didn't get as much reading done as i wanted.
• i found an etsy team to join and contacted the team leader (EAST - earthpath artisans street team, by the way), and all i have to do now is go through their checklist to be in compliance and participate in the team :D. they seem like a really nice group of people, and i think me and my shop will fit in nicely.
• okay, now hear me out! i totally didn't do anything for my biology class :/. i really need to do that; summer is quickly passing. i did practice my french a bunch, but i need to start studying my textbooks in addition to practicing.

june was a fabulous month! i'm really excited, because everyone says summer is slooooooow, but i'm getting so much accomplished.

here are my july goals:

• sell 45 things in my shop, bringing my total to 147.
• complete all these wholesale orders and delve into the new ones
• reach 430 hearts
• introduce my new washi fortune cookie line (thanks for your enthusiasm and advise, ryan!)
• start preparing my inventory for christmas, as i will not be able to do a whole lot of new creating once college starts again at the end of august
• attend my bachelorette party and have a blast! :D
• take care of the rest of the wedding stuff, because, again, i won't have as much time on my hands when college starts in august
• plan brandon's birthday (august 9)
• do all that biology and french stuff (for real this time!)

here's to a fruitful july, everyone!

♥,
melissa

may summary, june goals

here are the things from my goal list that i managed to accomplish in may:

• complete my first wholesale order
• order new moo business cards
• finish the semester of school (i even got all a's!)
• buy my wedding dress (yay!)
• list cool and cute things in my shop
• entertain friends at my house (i think we had people over at least once a week in may)
• read some books for fun

i didn't:

• reach 300 hearts. i'm at 290, which is close! and i did gain 70 in may.
• sell 20 things in my shop. i sold 17, which is more than april, though :).
• have a give-away. i decided to scrap the idea i had. i did list some great deals in my shop throughout may, however.
• begin my biology class. what can i say, i'm a procrastinator!
• start to study my french stuff. i'll get around to it :p.

overall, i'd say that may was a good month. i didn't quite meet my selling goals, but i did come up with many new ideas and improvements on current items. june will be a great month for introducing all the exciting things i have planned :).

so here are my goals for june:

• sell 25 items in my shop, bringing my total to 81 items sold
• look into another wholesale opportunity
• clear out my tile pendants (i've got a new and improved version planned!). and just so you know, all throughout june, all my tile pendant necklaces are just $4!
• reach 360 hearts
• have lots of fun! i'm going to a book signing/reading of my favourite author, chuck palahniuk, this thursday, then saturday brandon and i are seeing eddie izzard! my best friend sarah and i need to plan my bachelorette party, too. and i want to read a bunch of the books i just got in the mail :)
• join an etsy street team?
• work on my french and biology stuff

well, here's to an awesome june, the internet!

♥,
melissa

april summary, may goals

here's a recap of what i wanted to achieve in april:

• sell 10 items from my shop
• finish writing both of my history papers
• begin my biology class (and send in my extension request
• finish my film class
• write my last literature paper
• no more lupron in my system! :D
• file my first quarterly sales tax return
• make and list new and exciting items in my shop!
• mail the wedding invitations
• entertain friends at my house at least once

of these, i completed most! actually, i sold 16 items in my shop, so i nearly doubled what i aimed for. i wrote my literature paper, finished my 6 months of lupron shot therapy, filed the sales tax return, listed a lot of new and cute things in my shop, mailed the wedding invitations, and i even managed to have friends over (allbeit on the last day of the month, yesterday, haha). i haven't written my history papers yet, finished my film class (although i only have an essay and the final left), or started my biology class, but i did file for the extension for biology. i still have a few days left before the other stuff is due :p. overall, i'd say i did pretty well!

also, i watched seasons 3-7 of 'the x-files' for fun, 'fargo', 'moulin rouge', 'lost in translation', and 'spiderman 2' (bleh) for my film class (i love/own all those movies except stupid spiderman, haha), 'elizabeth' and 'elizabeth the golden age' for my history class, and 'memoirs of a geisha' last night, and even 'the forbidden kingdom' at the theatre.

i haven't lost any more weight, but i have started exercising more. i cleaned the house. i read 'the handmaid's tale' by margaret atwood (my third time reading it).

'washi by maoiliosa' achievements:

• sold 16 items from my shop, with 11 customers
• landed my first wholesale account (with a really cool online shop), and was approached for another (haven't spoken with the owner of the shop yet, but it's a physical shop, not online!)
• in all, made enough money to pay my half of the mortgage bill
• was featured in several treasuries
• bought supplies for some cool new items for my shop, including more gorgeous washi paper designs!
• had 3 custom orders (including two batches of my washi fortune cookies!) and 1 pending custom order request
• ran projectwonderful ads and got 3 confirmed customers from them ( i spent $60 on the ads and got about 1000 clicks)
• gave away a lot of cute, free goodies with my customers' orders :).
• made closer friendships with a few of my fellow etsy sellers :D.
• had my first international sale (!) to a sweet girl and fellow beatles-lover in england, and after realizing that mailing overseas is a lot cheaper than i thought, i lowered my shipping prices to canada and the u.k.

best thing that happened in april:

• i accomplished a lot college-wise

worst thing that happened in april:

• well, i can't really think of anything other than i got minor colds like 3 times

craziest purchase:

• i didn't really buy anything out of the ordinary. i mainly just bought a lot of supplies for my shop :)

and now, onto may!

may goals:

• sell 20 things in my shop
• complete my first wholesale order, and see about taking on the offer for the other wholesale account
• have a give-away (details soon!)
• order new moo business cards (i'm almost out!)
• finish all my school work from the spring semester, and begin my biology class
• start to study my french textbooks, workbooks, and vocabulary cards so i can test out of 16 credit hours of french at the end of the summer (i just need to refresh my memory. i've got 5 years of learning french under my belt)
• buy my wedding dress!
• list cool and cute things in my shop!
• reach 300 hearts?
• entertain friends at my house a few times
• read some books for fun

overall, my shop is really picking up speed! i couldn't be more grateful :). this is really what i want to do with my life, and it feels so good to be rewarded for my hard work!

also, in case i didn't mention it: i'm having a sale! now through may 5, save 10% on your order! just check out, and i'll reimburse you 10% of your merch. cost through paypal :).

well, i'm off to pack up an order from a customer in germany (yay!). talk to you soon, the internet :).

♥,
melissa

march summary, april goals

lots of stuff went on in march! hopefully even more will happen in april :).

here's the rundown:

personal achievements

• watched the first three seasons of 'the x-files', 'no country for old men', 'the darjeeling limited', and other dvds
• wrote a paper for my literature class; got an a
• read 4 books about racism for my history class (not easy, let me tell you! how depressing!)
• did a ton of wedding planning/preparation! :D
• entertained friends at my house
• spring-cleaned
• made it through my final full month on lupron (shot treatment for endometriosis)
• lost 4 pounds

'washi by maoiliosa' achievements

• sold 9 pieces from my shop (1 custom order of 7 pendants, and 2 bags of sakura punch-outs)
• made enough money to pay the water bill :p
• came up with cool ideas for new items to sell (shh, it's a secret!)
• was featured in a few treasuries
• received my first sales tax return
• redid all the photos in my shop after learning some good techniques
• changed my store banner and avatar (much better now!)
• made a new animation for shop advertising; posted on a million plugboards

best thing that happened in march: i got a beautiful engagement ring from brandon <3

worst thing that happened in march: side effects from lupron were bothersome

craziest purchase: well, i spent over $200 at etsy shops :p, but most of it either went toward shop expenses or my best friend's maid-of-honour gifts

goals for april:

• sell 10 items from my shop
• finish writing both of my history papers
• begin my biology class (and send in my extension request)
• finish my film class
• write my last literature paper
• no more lupron in my system! :D
• file my first quaterly sales tax return
• make and list new and exciting items in my shop!
• mail the wedding invitations
• entertain friends at my house at least once

i hope everyone has a wonderful and productive april!

special thanks to my etsy friend tizz, who is full of great ideas :).