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

taking a little break...

... to write a blog. whew, what a weekend!


saturday, brandon and i had our second cake tasting for our wedding cake (delicious!), and the ladies who are doing our cake complimented my purse and asked about it. i told them i bought it from a woman on etsy, and it turns out that one of the cake ladies' husband has a shop on etsy! i told them about my shop, which turned into me telling them about my wedding washi fortune cookies, and they said they would put my store's link in their "friends" section of their company's website as soon as they have a free moment! wow! also, they told me about this indie shop near downtown austin that sells on consignment, and after checking it out, i am definately going to make an appointment with the buyer so i can begin selling there. and when brandon and i got home from austin, i saw that i had sold a pair of earrings ('the dawn is still dark')!

sunday was full of cleaning and reorganizing.





here's what my workspace looks like now that it's all organized. MUCH better than before, trust me! i am normally a very organized person, but my workspace can be a very confusing place at times. but the most exciting thing about sunday was that i sold 7 things from my shop, plus 2 books from my half.com store!


and this morning, i woke up to ANOTHER sale - this one from a friend of a friend! i truly am on cloud nine. i am so happy my little shop is taking off. hopefully soon i won't have to worry about how i'm going to pay bills :).


so today has been one big, busy blur - packing orders, mailing orders, ordering new moo cards (yes, i am already almost out!), starting to remake all my sold items, and talking business with lea (who is having a "free shipping" sale today, by the way, in honour of her 2-year etsyversary!). here's what my fat stack of mailables looked like today:





on my dining room table. 7 packages (... and my mortgage payment, grrr...), including 2 international ones!

and the day's not done yet: i just made ANOTHER sale! the etsy gods must be testing me to see if i've got what it takes, haha ;p.


all i can say is i am so grateful: i'm grateful for all my blog readers. i'm grateful for all my customers. and most of all, i am deeply, deeply grateful for all of you that i call "friend". ♥


have a wonderful evening :). who knows what tomorrow brings!


♥,
melissa

eddie izzard, new items, and the day i was bombarded with sales

i've just added this cutie to my shop! this is the first piece of my new collection of aanraku bail pendant necklaces, which i am calling washi-scape pendants. the piece above, 'sugar blossom', is a "portrait scape" pendant necklace (being more tall than it is wide), and i have also made another style, which are "horizon scape" pendant necklaces (which are wide).

these little ones are about the size of a scrabble tile, at 1" x 3/4", but in no way am i going the scrabble tile route! that market is way oversaturated, and i always try to find ways to do something different. brandon cut each piece of wood for me, and i filed them all down, one at a time, to make them perfect. also, this is the line i was refering to when i was talking about my epoxy problems. i think i've got it all under control now :p.

i really like the aanraku bail style. at first i was hesitant, but they do look really nice, and i was able to inflict my own style on these so they stand out from all those scrabble tile pendants on etsy. it's my hope that these are a big hit :).

and oh! my sale is going really well so far, too! i've sold 10 tile pendant necklaces so far this month, which is great! i've gotta make room for all the new stuff i'm planning, in addition to my washi-scape line ;). if you have your eye on one of those tile pendants, grab it while you can! and if you see one in my "sold" section that you want, let me know and i'll make one specially for you and it will still be just $4 throughout this month :).

i also listed this pretty piece:



this is 'peace crane', part of another, small line i am doing call "deluxe pendant necklaces". let me tell you, you wouldn't think so maybe, but a lot of work went into this little guy! i am very proud of it :). it's got a glossy sealer on top, giving it a very shiny look that is different from the other items i sell. also, the washi paper (such a cute crane!) is mounted on a stainless steel pendant plate, making it heavier than my other necklaces. it comes on a pretty white organza ribbon and it neatly tucked inside a matching pendant box, all for $17 :).

okay, now i've got to tell you about my saturday! saturday was eddie izzard day, and he was amazingly hysterical as always :). like i said in a previous blog, no cameras were allowed, but i took a picture of the shirt i bought and my ticket stubs for you to see:



the only disappointing aspect of the show was that he didn't dress up in his normal garb (he jokingly refered to himself as "an off-duty transvestite", haha). but his act was very funny :).

eddie wasn't the only good thing to happen on saturday, however. by the time i got home, i had accumulated 3 orders from my shop! woohoo! i sold 9 things in all, just on saturday! this means that i am only 10 sales away from my goal for the month. i think i can make it ;).

well i suppose now i'd better get off the computer and play around with some washi paper. cheers!

♥,
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

it's been a long time...

... since i posted on my dear blog! sorry about that, the internet! the reason for my absence can mostly be attributed to me freaking out about school.

you might remember a post way back in february where i said something like, "okay, i'm off to take my film class' midterm! wish me luck!". well, i never took it. it's a self-paced distance-learning class, so of course i didn't get in trouble or anything, except that the course expires in 1 1/2 weeks, and i hadn't even made it half-way through! so guess what i've been doing for the last few days? reading my film book and watching my films like crazy! at least it's a fun class :). also, i have these two 10-page papers due for two history classes. i've got 1 1/2 weeks to submit those, as well. plus i have a paper due in my literature class on tuesday, followed by the final the next tuesday. but then i will be done for the semester, and i will breathe a huge sigh of relief! i have a knack for putting things off till the last minute and somehow pulling it off and making all a's, so hopefully that trend will continue :p.

in the short breaks i allowed myself, i created some ginkgo pieces that have a simple kind of beauty. here's one:



it's not washi paper, but it is japanese paper, so no, i didn't cheat :p.

this week i was surprised with two custom orders and a normal order! that was thrilling :D. one of the custom orders was a batch of 40 washi fortune cookies, so that was exciting! my little shop is getting a lot of traffic lately, and i couldn't be happier. i ran an ad on projectwonderful for about a week and gained a customer from it, and over 500 clicks to my shop from the ad. so if you're thinking about that sort of thing for your shop, i say go for it! it worked for me, anyway :).

i made it past 200 hearts at last! i'm not sure how some of you ladies do it (namely tizz: girl, you've got a ton more hearts than me, and we started selling at the same time! congrats to you!), but my hearts have come in slowly since 3 months ago, when i opened my shop. and speaking of hearts, my washi fortune cookies have over 600 views and 17 hearts!

also, i decided to buy a full arsenal of gold-plated findings to keep on hand just in case a customer can't wear silver (or if they prefer gold).

on a personal note, it's been one year since i landed myself in the emergency room, unknowing that i had stage iv endometriosis. it's been a really rough year, i have to say, but a lot of really great things happened, too. two surgeries and one year later, i have finished my shot treatment. the hot flashes stopped, and i feel a lot better since the lupron is leaving my system, and hopefully now i can get on with my life! up until now, it has been impossible to lose weight (i look like i'm average weight, but i'm somehow at 170 pounds since endo and all the treatments i have been on made me gain weight) since i wasn't allowed to for about 6 months (for risk of bursting the cysts, and also recovering from the surgeries, which were a few months apart). i've been exercising vigourously throughout the day, almost every day, so we'll see. i really want to look fabulous in my wedding dress in october!

oh, and my soon-to-be mother-in-law, whom i haven't spoken to in 3 months, wants to eat dinner with brandon, the step-dad, and me on monday. that should be interesting...

well, that's what's up! it's likely that i won't be able to blog much in the next 1 1/2 weeks, but i'll make an effort ;p.

and by the way, ladies who won prizes in my recent contest: don't forget to redeem your gift certificates! there's no expiration on them, i just don't want you to forget your free goodies :)

♥,
melissa

yay for friday!

today has been a great day so far! first of all, i woke up to a sale (i love when that happens!):

the item i sold was my "spring's arrival" gift set. and ^this is my packaging :). i make little tags for each item with my shop info on the front and a 'to' and 'from' area on the back. i punch a hole in the cardstock with my sakura punch-out, then snip it on the very end so i can easily attach it to a ribbon! furthermore, i wrap the earrings and necklace in tissue paper (in this case, champagne-coloured, to match the ribbon on the necklace) so they won't rattle around in the gift box on their way to their new home. i would love to receive a gift that looked like this, so it's my hope that others will feel the same way :).

in related news, i told you that i lowered many of the prices in my shop, but today i am pleased to say that my gift sets, like the one above that i sold this morning, are now reduced by $4! they now are only $26 for a beautiful, complete, and thoughtful gift. mother's day is right around the corner, hint hint ;p. earring sets have also been reduced in price; they're now just $15, and they come in a gift box, as well.

what else have i been up to lately? hmm... well, the other day, i decided that my yard looks like crap, so i decided (in the rain...) to start pulling some weeds. i managed to make myself extremely sore (should have stretched first, i guess!), but i got a lot done, and i ran across this beauty in back of the house:

indian paintbrush! this is one of my favourite flowers. i don't really see them around very often, for some reason. our yard is covered in bluebonnets (we're the only house on the street that has them growing in our yard, strangely), but those just don't compare to the gorgeous red of an indian paintbrush :).

also, brandon (who has been very sweet lately) surprised me with this little cutie:

it's called a squidlet, and it's just about the cutest thing ever. i got the last one of a batch, too, which is lucky :D. so cute! i haven't figured out a good name for him yet, but he hangs out on my work table and watches me wrestle with rolls of washi paper all day :p.

also, brandon ran across this awesome thing yesterday:

it's a star wars version of 'the last supper', made from tiny pictures of scenes from the movies! holy crap. here's a closeup:

seriously, how cool is that? i am amazed. here's the original post about it if you're interested (nerd!). a word of warning, though: curse words await you if you click the link. just sayin' :p.

one last thing: i made new cuties for the shop!

^freedom, a washi coin pendant necklace

and two rings that i haven't listed as of yet:

so yay for friday, and yay for etsy :D. have a great day, everyone!

♥,

melissa

the happy dance!

i'm so excited, i just had to share :)

i just made my first big sale! i sold 5 tile pendants to one person this afternoon. i am on cloud nine ^-^.

hopefully this isn't a one-time thing, because if i were able to sell 5 pendants a day, every day, i could pay all my bills each month and not have to get a loathsome "real" job: just focus on school and work on my etsy business! who knows, maybe my dream is coming true :).

i think the main reason she bought so many is because i'm having a sale right now:
buy 4 or more pendants, and get 10% off! plus, i tuck them away in a pretty brown and gold silk necklace bag.

whew, i am a little overwhelmed at the moment, sorry! i posted about a dozen new things so far today, and i'm going to post 9 more over the course of the evening. also, i need to remake all the pendants i just sold, take new pictures for them, and relist them! it's going to be a busy night, but that's the way i like it :).

well, the internet, i just had to share my happiness with you. thanks for listening :).

<3,
melissa