Life Lately

The past few weeks have been insanely busy. Between all of the work that goes into a full out rebranding, to trying to keep up with having a life (what's that, you say?), I feel like I'm a bit frazzled lately. I've been spending every evening, after work, keeping up with current orders, and then I spend 24/7 on the weekends working on my new website, shop items, and general rebranding things.The good news is that I'm planning on officially launching my new business next month. I'm scared and excited and totally, completely ready.

Since I've been working so hard lately, I realized that I haven't been sharing the non-business things that are going on, so I thought I would give you a quick recap, and then some longer posts throughout the week.

So, for now, here's what the past two or so weeks have looked like.

FRIST ROW: I have mild Celiac's disease, which is a gluten allergy. I don't always follow a gluten free diet, but I have been really trying to stick to it lately. Aside from pizza (my ultimate weakness), GF living isn't that difficult for me, I love yogurt, smoothies, salads, and the occasional GF baked item.

SECOND ROW: Design work has been great lately. Lots of fun projects, plus all of the design work I am doing for my own new business.

THIRD ROW: Last week my husband was doing some work around the house when a picture frame fell and cut him down his forehead. I had to take him to the hospital, and luckily it was something they were able to glue back together. Fingers crossed that he doesn't end up with a Harry Potter scar on his head.

As I enter this week, I am hoping that there aren't any bumps in the road (or my husband's head) so that I can keep on moving along with the groove I've got going.

Thanks everybody, really, for reading this blog and supporting me every day!

Growing a Business With Intention

This past month has been huge for me. Not because of high sales or profit, but because of direction, purpose, inspiration and growth. For the longest time I felt like I was clawing along for my business, but that all changed a few months ago when I decided to stop clawing, to stop trying, to stop forcing and to start being true, honest and confident in myself and my business. My new direction was solidified after this post, when out of the blue Jess Lively called me to talk about a new collaboration (more on the collaboration to come in a future post!).

After talking to Jess on the phone, I just sat at my dining room table, perfectly still. My stomach was doing flips and the big-blue-peaceful-pool inside my gut was filled with the kind of joy that comes just before something life-changing is about to happen. I knew at that moment of stillness, something big and amazing was happening and that I would never exactly be the same.

Attending one of Jess's Business With Intention workshops has been on my radar for some time now, and collaborating with her offered me the opportunity to attend the Boston workshop. I was terrified to be traveling by myself, to a place where I didn't really know anybody, and to meet somebody that I really admired. However, keeping true to my goal for networking, along with the feeling of big things coming, was enough to motivate me to face my fears and just do it. Boy, am I so grateful that I did.


Not only am I kind of convinced that Jess is a long lost friend that I never knew I had, but she's one hell of a genuine person too. She's generous, giving, open, honest and she is passionate about serving others. Her workshop was exactly what I would have expected from such an amazing person - it was filled with purpose and intention, and it was 100% focused on helping each person build a more purposeful business.

We had an intimate group of 4 ladies plus Sophie, our Boston Foodie and Allison, Jess's Boston Assistant/stylist attend the Business With Intention workshop, and every single one of us came out with 6 new friends and allies in our purposeful business ventures. Jess led the group beautifully and spent a lot of time with each of us on our businesses. I can tell you that some amazing things are going to be happening for us 6 ladies - Elizabeth is about to blow the world away with her amazing statement jewelry and personal style; Ashley is finally taking her branding expertise and investing in her own perfect couture branding; Ashlee is helping guide GenY-ers find their purpose and change their lives; Sophie is going to teach all of us how to cook just as we'd like to; and Allison is helping us all through interior design and styling (and she's already working with me on a new project of my own!)

The first day was focused on business, while the second day was the Life With Intention Workshop. Again, we had an intimate group of 4 plus Sophie and Allison. Elizabeth joined me for the two day journey, by also attending the Life With Intention workshop, in addition to Sheerly and Patrick, who were such a pleasure to get to know! Just as she had done on the first day, Jess spent significant time with each of us, talking about our lives, dreams, goals and intentions. It was intense, but it was the good kind of intense - the kind of intense that leaves you on a high for weeks and weeks.

After the workshop was over, Jess hitched a ride back with me to NYC - we chatted about everything from our pups (her adorable Franklin and of course my Miss Juliet), to ice-cream sundaes and smoothie cleanses. Jess is one of those people that just makes life better (and long car rides) - she's contagious and I feel honored to have had the experience of getting to work with her and to know her better. If you ever have the chance to attend one of her workshops, I HIGHLY recommend it. However, if you can't attend a workshop, you should absolutely follow her website, which is filled with tips and purpose for life and business.

Over the next few weeks you will see all of the changes that I plan on making as a result of attending the workshops. While I would love to share it all now, I'm leaving it for a future post - but know that it's major, and positive, and filled with intention and purpose.

How do you bring intention and purpose into your business? Is it working for you? I'd love to hear all about it!

Revealed: New Kitchen!

We remodeled our tiny kitchen back in January - and I am pretty sure that the greatest thing on the planet is having a new kitchen, and a functional one, too! I shared a lot during the renovations, which my husband and my dad did on their own, but I wanted to share the final results.

Our kitchen is tiny, like really tiny, but we managed to make it incredibly efficient. We added a double-decker cutlery drawer, pull-out waste can cabinet, and an awesome lazy-susan for the corner cabinet. We cut corners by using semi-custom cabinets from Home Depot, a floor model fridge (our best bargain! It had a few little dents, so it was 50% off! We never would have been able to afford it otherwise!), and we went with a 2cm (slightly less thick) quartz countertop. We came in under budget, and the whole renovation was complete in about 10 days! Amazing!

We don't have any windows in our kitchen, so we wanted everything to be light and bright. The whole mission was for the kitchen to feel more spacious than it actually is, and I think we pulled it off. Especially when you compare to the before pictures in this post. We took down a wall, which helped TREMENDOUSLY! My father-in-law was hesitant, and he doesn't like to admit it, but I was right - taking the wall down made the biggest difference. We also got really lucky at a Sears Outlet Center and found a counter-depth fridge that had a little ding on it and was 50% off. The extra few inches of floor space also help to make the space feel bigger.

To see some of the progress along the way, here are some of my posts:

Remodel: A Prelude
Kitchen Update: The Expensive Part is Over
Chaos
Quick Hello
DIY Kitchen Update

A Very Newlywed Valentine's Day

I know Valentine's Day was almost a week ago, but I thought I'd share some of the awesomeness the Mr.  and I shared on our first Valentine's as husband and wife. 

Here's a glimpse via Instagram (find me @jackieqm). 

Yes, we exchanged some crazy gifts, but that's what makes the two of us special. I was surprised with three dozen roses after a meeting at work, and the rest of the day was filled with smelly markers and buddhas for the Mr. while I got police legos and the latest book in my favorite series. Valentine's Day doesn't need to be crazy over-the-top, it just needs to be filled with love, and ours sure was perfect. 

2012 Resoluations - Future Letter

Better late than never, right? And even betterer if the resolution involves being better??? (Betterer is a word, according to my 5-year-old cousin, and if it works for him, it works for me)

I managed to squeeze in one last post back in December to recap some of what 2011 was for me. Reading that post again, I think I need to revisit that while 2011 was indeed a year of growth,  it was not necessarily a year of "bettering".  Not totally sure if that makes sense to you, but it's the only way I can think of it in my head. Oh, and keep in mind I haven't had my morning coffee yet.  It seems that 2011, for me, was a year of settling into "newness" and with that "settling" also came growth. To be honest, I didn't really seek out that growth, it just happened. I wasn't growing for a particular reason other than to keep up with my life, not that that's a bad thing, because I grew anyway, but this year I want to grow with intention to be better.

So 2012 is going to the year of being better.

Jess Constable from Makeunder My Life does this awesome thing called a "Future Letter" where she sums up her years resolutions in the form of a letter to herself in the vantage point of her already accomplishing the goals at the end of the year. I think it's a fun way to write out some goals so I'm going to give it a shot.

Let's now pretend it's the end of 2012, and I'm writing a letter to myself, as a pat on the back for all I've accomplished.

Dear Jackie, 

          Wowza! 2012 was an amazing year, wasn't it! The past twelve months have been a wild ride, but you handled it with grace and composure, such a lady you are! (Ok, am I taking this too far??? Read on...). It's not easy living through a home renovation, and even though your home isn't huge, the challenges were still, well, challenging. You dove into the new year, back in January, by ripping up ALL of your floors and doing a DIY kitchen renovation. They came out so great that you moved on to renovate the second bathroom as well. You've now got a beautiful home, that's mostly finished and decorated, and you can relax and enjoy it without having to plan the next major renovation. *phew*.
          When tax season came around, you finally decided to make your business legit. Yes, you finally got yourself a Tax ID Number for Believe Notes and have been growing your business guilt-free. Taxes stink, and the book keeping is challenging, but the business is better for it. You can now enjoy all sorts of great designer discounts which have allowed you offer new products at reasonable prices. 
          On the topic of prices, you did a great job of putting together pricing sheets, paper options,  invitation suite options, and so on. You're life is crazy, but that doesn't mean it can't be better organized! Your customers are super happy for the easy info too! Job well done!
          Let's talk new products; 2012 was the year that you became a better designer tenfold. You used more of your hand drawn illustrations in your designs, you finally launched your wedding suites (rather successfully, you foxy lady, you!), you started selling custom rubber stamps in your Etsy shop, and you mastered the art of staging photos. Lady, you're on a roll!! You attended the National Stationery Show and finally got to meet so many of your Mintie friends for real - they ROCK ROCK ROCK! It's still a blessing to be part of the Minted community.
          This past year, I'm proud to say, you overcame your fear of networking and have made new friends in the design world. You're Twitter has tons of followers because people are just really damn interested in everything you have to say (HA!). OK, seriously, you've been more active in the blogging community, the Twitter community, and you've began advertising your brand. You're realizing that it's OK to reach out to people, ask questions and be vulnerable. That's what makes you human and relatable, it's what makes people understand that business don't happen out of thin air, and everybody has a secret challenge that can be overcome. It also gives you great material to blog about. Double whammy.
          You're still enjoying the feeling of being a semi-newly-wed with Mr. Law, and he is still safe and sound after every day (night?) of work. After a lack of traveling in 2011, you've managed to take 2012 by storm. You've gotten out of the country and had plenty of time to act like newly weds again. No, you still aren't thinking about children. Although you don't mind hanging out with other peoples' munchkins, there's something that happens when children become tired/hungry where you're reminded that, deep down, you still think of children as scary little aliens meant for other people to endure 24/7. Harsh? Maybe. Got the point? Definitely. Are you ready? NO!
         Corporate world is still treating you well. You've had tremendous growth over the past year and are a better coach, practitioner and I/O professional because of the experience. You no longer shake every time you board the corporate plane. OK, you shake a little, but you don't need meds anymore. 
          On that note, let me take one more chance to congratulate you on a year well done. You've had your bumps and bruises, but you're BETTER for all of it. Not just a better designer, but a better person. You're a better wife, a better daughter, a better friend, a better professional and a better designer.
                   
                           Warm regards, 
                                      Future Jackie :)

I can't wait to check in at the end of 2012 and see if the above letter is accurate. I sure hope so. Does anybody else write a future letter to themselves? I'd love to hear about it!

Quick Hello!

Hello!

I'm having blog withdrawals, seriously! While I want to gab on and on about the past holiday season, New Years resolutions, future stationery projects, and some other fun (and design related things), I cannot get my brain to move past the dust and chaos that is happening all around me. Right now, my home is about 50% completed, with new floors, new lighting, new area rugs and a completely demolished kitchen. Hopefully by the end of this week the kitchen will be totally finished - except for the counters, which take a few weeks to be produced.

Here are some pictures of what the past week has been like (courtesy of iPhone, since I packed away my real camera, oops):

 As you can see, the past week has been action packed. We found all sorts of surprises, from the good (five bucks, thank you!) to the really nasty (more mold under the floors). We used Lumber Liquidators for the floors, and they were a pleasure, I'm thrilled with the outcome. I hope the kitchen goes in as easily as the floors did! 

Speaking of kitchens, how awesome does it look without the walls? Hellllllo open layout. Tomorrow our cabinets and appliances are being delivered. Thank goodness. I am counting down the days to having a hot meal again. Oh, and my desperation for a hot meal is mostly because my husband dropped our old microwave, which means right now I cannot even boil water. Darn! 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday! I'll be back very soon to share some area rug bargains! Yippie!

Post Holiday Update



Miss Juliet, waiting for company, at my parents home, on Christmas morning


Thank you, everybody, for making this holiday season such a great one! Business was booming, music was playing, and love was overflowing. I'm actually a little sad about taking down all of my holiday card listings from the shop - but they'll be back next year, and believe it or not, but I'm already thinking up new ideas for the holiday 2012 line!
For those of you that remember my previous posts (here and here), where I gushed over all the white and gold watches, I'm excited that now only does he actually read my blog, but that my husband also took the hint & I'm now sporting a new Michael Kors watch! It's the silicone/rubber banded one I lusted for in this post; and despite the bad reviews, I am absolutely in love with it. *Sigh*, I might just have to buy myself a second watch, that isn't silicone, just to make sure this one doesn't get too worn.

Anyway, we spent our holidays with friends and family, jumping from house to house to house. I love seeing everybody, but I am definitely wondering when we'll be able to stay in one place for an entire festivity. The jumping around is exhausting. Maybe someday I'll have a big enough house to host EVERYBODY in.
Hope you’re all enjoying your after-holiday-lull! I’m sure enjoying the time to catch up and relax!

A Moment With Believe Notes...

Right now it's about 7:30am on a Saturday morning. That's a sin, I should be sleeping at this time on a day off! But no, I'm not sleeping, I'm working hard to get a few last holiday orders out the door and in the mail by noon.

For me, the past two weeks have been a little head-spinningly busy. Hence the lack of blog posts. I've been teaching classes at the day job, and the end-of-semester rush at grad school has included 2 in-depth research papers, a few group projects, and two finals. I'm almost done though...just one final left! (wish me luck, please!)

Christmas is in full swing here at the casa de Mangiolino. Our tree is up (and hasn't fallen, not even a once!), Trader Joe's has their Dark Chocolate Peppermint Joe-Joe's on the shelf, Juliet has on her red velvet color (thanks Mom!), and tonight we make cookies, cookies and more cookies.

I thought I would share a few iPhone shots from the past few weeks:

Hope everybody else is enjoying their holiday, whichever one it is they celebrate!

Coming to Terms: I'm Not Everybody Else

Lately I've been feeling really conflicted about my expectations vs my abilities. Until now I seem to have been able to keep afloat, but barely. I think I am starting to realize that I cannot keep comparing myself to everybody else and what they do or how they live their lives. I need to focus on me, and what I can do and how I life my life.

So let's stop beating around the bush - up until this point I have been able to swing working full time, maintaining a home, running a small business and going to school two nights a week after work. I don't care if other people can go to school six nights a week - this girl can't.

I don't know how some people manage to juggle ten thousand things at once, it's truly a talent, and I don't have it. Maybe other people are like human-versions of honey badgers; capable and ready for anything. However, I might be a little more like a stiffy goat. Right now I feel like I'm in survival mode, which means I'm really not paying attention or learning during classes, I'm just attending and going through the motions because I have to. I don't want to be in survival mode anymore. So, next year I am changing my schedule around - just one class per semester for me. I might take one or two over the summer sessions as well, but at the end of the day I need to start focusing on what works for me; not what everybody else is doing.

I'm looking forward to having a more balanced amount of time next year to focus on all the aspects of my life. I'm especially looking forward to having the time to let my business continue to grow! I don't care if it takes me ten years to get my masters, one day it'll be done and I'll be proud, proud, proud!

Super Lust: Michael Kors Ceramic Watches

It seems that this is the year that I've fallen in love with watches. Actually, not just any watch, but with ceramic watches, and when I think of ceramic watches, I think of Michael Kors. I'm really loving the combo of white and yellow gold, and I think I need one. I've had my eye on a particular watch for a while, but it isn't ceramic and, unfortunately, it gets HORRID reviews....but isn't it amazing anyway??

MK5145 Watch from Macy's - $195

I love the watch to pieces, but I really want something ceramic - and almost ALL of the reviews on this watch say that the band (some kind of rubber material) gets dirty & stained almost instantly. Such a shame, it's too pretty to be of such crummy quality. I'm a little heartbroken, but I don't want to spend my money on something that won't last long....soooo I kept on searching for something better, and have found the following, which isn't Michael Kors, but is almost IDENTICAL (and OMG less expensive?!):

Fossil's CE1006 Ceramic Watch - $130

I'm coming to terms with the idea of not having a Michael Kors. Actually, I am surprised at myself for even wanting something name brand, since I typically don't care about brands. And the below watches show exactly why I shouldn't care about brands, there are so many AMAZING watches available!!

Here are some other white ceramic watches with gold accents:

Fossil's CE1004 - $130

Akribos XXIV Women's AKR484WTG - $89.99

DKNY #NY8215 - $172.29

AK 109310RGWT Watch - $150

Armani AR1417 - $398.88

Michal Kors - MK5269 - $283.90

So many lovely watches! I don't know which is my favorite! But I love all of them and I love that there is a great watch for almost any budget.....

Small Business & Sacrifices

I was reading through my own blog this morning and I noticed that I seem to be busy, a lot. I also noticed that I've painted a very lovely picture of life, which certainly isn't always the case. I think I blog about maybe 5% of my life, the other 95% of my life is happening at the speed of light, and I either don't want to, or don't have time to, blog about it. What I haven't talked about much are the sacrifices I've made in order to keep my little business growing.

The hardest thing for me has been the distance that's grown between myself and my friends. Sometimes I blame it on the fact that I moved from Long Island to Queens, sometimes I blame myself for not inviting people over more frequently, and sometimes I don't blame anything, and just accept that this is what happens when you grow up. But, lets be honest, a huge part of why my social life has fallen is because I'm nurturing a business 24/7.

Since moving and starting my business, I've been able to really put my finger on the few friends that I know I can count on for everything. They've made the trip to hang out with me at my home, they've called me to see how I was doing and just say hello, and they've given up their Saturday nights to help me fulfill orders.


Having my business has made me realize that maybe I don't need a ton of super close friends, and I'm so thankful for the handful I have. I'm also happy for all of the other people that welcome me with excitement when I finally do make it out to a bar or party or whatever; seeing people that are as happy to see me as I am to see them, well, it makes my whole month!

Life's not always easy, and the older I get the faster life seems to move. I have a feeling that part of my 2012 resolution will be to spend maybe a little more time nurturing my social life.

An Epic Weekend for Love

This past weekend my very best friend (since birth!) tied the knot to the love of her life. Sarah and Giancarlo have been together for 9 years and have known each other since elementary school, how cute is that?! Sarah was my maid-of-honor nearly five months ago, and I was honored to be hers this weekend. We've also been lucky enough that now our men have become fast friends as well. Her husband was also a groomsman at my wedding, and my husband was a groomsman at theirs. Such an honor!

For the past (almost) decade the four of us have become partners in crime. Mr. Law and I are so blessed to have such wonderful friends, and we were both so happy to be to be standing at their sides for their special day. We're all pretty sure that the rest of our lives will be friend filled, adventure packed, and incredibly memorable!

The newly weds are off on their honeymoon now, but I can't help but relive their day by listening to their first dance song. It's so unique and perfect for the two of them! It's called "Home" by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros....

And here are a few pictures of the beautiful couple that I stole from their amazing videographers, Moho Creative:

CONGRATULATIONS Sarah and Gian! I love you both with all my heart, may you enjoy icing for the rest of your lives!!

Derailed by Home Ownership

I took a five day weekend and am preparing to go back to work tomorrow, which I'd love not to do, but hey, girls gotta make money. Any time I take a few days off, I always have these grand plans for how much I'll get accomplished, and then all of a sudden the time is gone, I'm back to work, and nothing really got done.

This weekend, however, I got most things done. Except for two major things, oops. Mostly, they didn't get done because I left those two things for today, and today got majorly derailed. How? Because of home ownership.

You may remember our carbon monoxide scare immediately following the honeymoon, and while that's been fixed, we're now on to the next issue. Water. Damage. From where? We don't really know.

A few months ago we noticed our new hardwood floors buckling. Within two months a three foot section of the floor totally bucked on itself and came up entirely. When we lifted the wood planks we noticed our subfloors were molded. Mold comes from water, we know that, but where is the water coming from? We don't know. Enter insurance companies. Yes, plural, since we own a condo we also have to include the insurance company for the building (since the subfloor technically belongs to the building and not us).

Here are a few pictures of the floors, which need to be replaced entirely:

Molded subflooring

part of where the floor raised completely & more mold hiding out underneath

can you see the rippling & buckling down the entire hallway?

 So on top of all the other lovely things we've got going on, we're also waiting for an engineer to come search for the leak, and once we find that bad boy - it's new floors for us! Hopefully our home won't look like a disaster for the holidays.

Big Love

I have a pretty busy weekend planned, but I'm looking forward to spending time with my friends and family.

Tonight I am taking my dad to his first ever Dave Matthews Band concert, which we were originally supposed to go to a few weeks back at Governors Island. The original date was postponed, due to Hurricane Irene, and so tonight we will head off for Randall's Island instead. Between my husband and myself, I think we've seen DMB somewhere in the vicinity of 30+ times. Unfortunately we'll probably be seeing less and less as our responsibilities as adults grow more and more. That's ok, because I don't know that we have the stamina anymore for some of the all-day festivals, or for throwing elbows in general admission situations...oh, yes, we do feel old.

Tomorrow I've got some things going on with the family, and then I'm hoping to get into the city for a little Mintie Meetup. I'm looking forward to being able to finally meet some of the people from the Minted Design community that I've been able to talk to through emails and whatnot.

And then on Sunday I've got some more family fun in store. It seems that, for the most part, 2011 has been a year of celebration, which I couldn't be happier about. We've seen lots and lots of family, and it really has not been for any kind of sad events. Instead we've celebrated anniversaries, birthdays, weddings and holidays - there's been a lot of love going around and I hope it stays that way!

I hope you all have some good things planned for this weekend as well!

 

My Mind Hurts....

I'm sorry everybody for the lack of posts over the past few days. I took five days off from my 9-5 job with high hopes for relaxation, enjoying the summer and catching up on all of my stationery projects. Unfortunately, my body had other plans for me, as I've so far spent 4 out of the 5 days on the sofa with a migraine.

I've suffered from migraines for as long as I can remember, although they were recently diagnosed as "cluster" style migraines. Clusters are the most debilitating type of headache, as they last for days/weeks and progressively get worse as the time goes on. Imagine a migraine that wakes up with you in the morning, and goes to bed with you at night, day in, day out - until, all of a sudden, it's gone.

Ick, I just hope this thing goes away by the time I have to return to work tomorrow....

On a lighters note, I've spent a whole bunch of time this weekend on our new, leather sofa! Yes, the saga from this post, and this post, has finally come to an end. We were finally able to get the sofa inside, and I have to admit that I love it. Our living room is starting to come together, although now I need a new (I'm thinking round) coffee table, and a new sofa table (maybe a white parsons?), oh, and a few pillows would be good too!!

I've been secretly wishing for this pillow, from Martha & Ash on Etsy. I'm just smitten with the ikat pattern, and we alllll know I'm a sucker for all things orange. The only thing holding me back right now is that I can't seem to find a perfect, luxurious down alternative for the insert. If anybody has a good source for super lush pillow inserts, let me know!!!

Orange Ikat Pillow Cover from Martha & Ash

I'm also digging this pillow, from Giardino, another Etsy seller! Again, sucker for orange. Again, need a good insert.

Faux Bois Stripe Pillow Case from Giardino

Alright - I'm now off to spend my last day of vacation sipping coffee and taking Advil. If the weather holds out, and if I feel up to it, Mr. Law and I are planning on trying to get into the city to try out S'MAC, which has been on our "must dine" list forever. Unfortuantely (or fortunately, depends on how you look at it) S'MAC has recently been on every foodie show on the Food Network channel. I'm anticipating HUGE lines, but hopefully the mac and cheese is as good as they say it is!

Today I'm Feeling Happy

I genuinely believe that being happy is a decision you have to make every morning. Some days it's much harder than others, and some days it as if everything just floats around wonderfully.  Overall I find that life is good.

Keep that in mind, and have a good day :)

Month in Review

So today is Sunday, July 3rd...it's a rainy, muggy, steamy day here in Queens, and when I look out over the water, Manhattan seems lost in the fog. Yuck. Weather it's raining or not, I seem to have found a pattern in that I almost always blog on Sundays, which is good, because I know my weekday blogging has been slower. It's for good reason though. Remember this post? Well, I am still tired, but I have gotten a lot accomplished. During my honeymoon I really did some thinking about where I want my life to go, and I decided that someday I would love to do full time stationery design. That sort of a thing doesn't happen overnight. So over the past month I have spend every moment working on my business. I get home after the 9-5 and I begin working on my Etsy shop, networking through my Facebook page, and taking photos of new designs to prep them for sale. I've also been able to submit a few birth announcement designs to Minted, which reminds me, you need to go vote for them!!! Here are the two designs I submitted, click and vote please:

"Falling in Love" Birth Announcement

"Sweet Hearts" Birth Announcement

I am very proud of myself that I was able to pull out two designs. It's the small milestones that make me proud these days :)

My Facebook page is doing very well, we're up to 129 "likes" which I'm feeling good about. I had a giveaway when I reached 100 "likes" but it seems the person that won has gone out of business and did not claim their prize. I'm thinking I might do a "pop up" giveaway in the near future to make up for it.

I've launched my new line of business cards on Etsy, and so far they have been a hit. I sold one around five minutes after it was posted and I have a few more custom orders that I am working on as well. Designing business cards is fun for me, but I am definitely struggling with the costs involved. Since they are so tiny I have a hard time cutting them properly at home. While I would love to print them on my trusted home printer, I've realized it would be better to have them done professionally. The problem with that, of course, is that it is slightly more expensive and takes much more time.  So far it seems the "Soft Lattice" design is the winner, I've already sold several of them. She sure is pretty though, isn't she?

"Soft Lattice" Business Card on Etsy

I seem to have finally found the secret to taking pictures of my cards, which happened accidentally, but who cares! I love the way they've been coming out. My research has taught me that no matter how much research you do, and no matter how many "how to" tutorials you watch, the "correct" way to do something is always a little trial, a little error, and totally unique. What works for everybody else may not work for me, and what works for me may not work for everybody else. Hmm, sounds like something my mom has been telling me for, well, ever. *sigh*

You may also remember this fiasco with my carbon monoxide situation, and I'm very, very happy to report that my dad did indeed fix the problem. We haven't had any carbon monoxide issues since the whole thing happened, but I still panic when I hear things beeping. My coworkers cell phone was dying a few days ago and it began to beep, my first instinct was to panic, but then I realized it was a cell phone. I wonder how long it'll take before I can hear a beep without thinking I need to evacuate?

Anyway, life is moving along pretty well. I wanted to give you a little catch-up post before some other posts about specific topics. Oh, and I haven't forgotten about all of my vendor reviews for the wedding. I am waiting until I get my professional pictures are back so that I can use them in the posts. Hopefully next week :)

I hope you are all enjoying you Sunday, whether it's rainy or sunny!!

Today I am Tired

Today I am tired. Not just a little tired, but sleep-in-your-food tired. You know the feeling, looks a little like this...

I might feel like hell right now, but I think I've gotten a lot accomplished this week. I've started a Believe Notes Facebook page, which is really exciting because I adore Facebook (who doesn't?!). I'm planning on doing a little give away when the page reaches 100 "likes" so please head on over and like like like me!

I've also finished up two more of my wedding invitation designs for a new line, which I know I've been dragging my feet on, but now that my own wedding is over, I can focus on launching these new designs.

Over the week I've done some research on taking better pictures of my products, and I've starting re-shooting everything using the tips I learned. Everything looks great and I plan on adding a new item to my Etsy Shop every week! I'm also exploring other options for online stores. Etsy rocks, but I would love to be able to offer higher end wedding invitations through a separate vehicle. Sometimes I feel like Etsy demands the lowest prices possible, and in order to do that I need to keep the designs simple. I'd love to have two shops, one for the high end products and another shop for the more DIY client...I might even explore printable designs.

Anyway, this week I have also begun networking. My business has taken a backseat over the past two years to home buying and wedding planning, but moving forward I want focus on growing my passion for stationery. I'm looking forward to learning as much as possible about the stationery business world over the next years.

So, for now, me and my tired little self are going to go relax - for maybe 5 minutes....and then I'll find something more interesting to do :)