Stacking the deck

It's been a busier-than-expected week, but quite productive. I managed to get a whole bunch of pieces finally finished - mostly cutting hanging threads, putting buttons on, that kind of thing; also updated nisseworks' Facebook page with photos and some links to my work so it's not quite so blank; and ventured full steam ahead into the world of custom work.

Taking on four custom orders in the last week has opened a new venue for revenue (ooh, rhyming), one that I had considered, but decided against because I thought it would just lead to headaches. Well, after almost 6 months of my Etsy shop being open and only selling 3 pieces, it's probably time to start looking at other ways to use my creative skills to help pay the bills.

Hence, my Cargoh shop. Let me just say that Cargoh is awesome. Just awesome. Sure there were a few hiccups earlier this month with the jurying and eliminating sellers and all that, but they've come out ahead. I like being part of Cargoh and hope that it succeeds, and I'd think that even if I wasn't a seller there. It's got a very close-knit feeling to it, unlike some other online venues that make the seller feel like they're just a cash cow for the owners.

Then there's the request for a quote to do up some wedding invitations which came right out of the blue. Back in January, I had given Keith a stack of flyers to post up around town and pass on to people he thought might be interested. He dropped by a small wedding boutique here and they were quite happy to take 200 smaller flyers to put in the goody bags they gave to prospective brides. Fast forward 8 months, and I get an email from a bride-to-be... so I sent her a quote and a basic outline of what she can expect/what I need from her and I'm hoping to hear from her within the next week or so. I had assumed that the boutique just stopped handing them out or no one was interested, but lo and behold, someone is. Hopefully.

August has been the month I didn't expect, but hoped for. I've been really busy coming up with new designs, trying new promotional ideas, doing research, as well as selling and taking orders. Keith is leaving for a week on Saturday and I'm planning on taking some time while he's gone to figure out where I should take this little business of mine next. I've got a couple of ideas - like the paper/digital design line that I'm 99% sure I'm going to launch in the next month - simmering away, but need to figure out how to get them out of my head and into action. I know that I'm farther ahead today than I was a month ago, which is all anyone can really hope for... I just need to keep the momentum going for the rest of the year.