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Mar 31, 2009

Business is finally picking up!

I am so happy. Business is finally picking up! I had two fairly large orders in the past 2 days, which is great! I also have some custom orders that I am currently in talks on. I possibly will be doing those orders as well. Very excited about all of that! :)

I never knew you could explode Cucumber Avacado melt 'n' pour soap. Well, I did. Even if it is absolutely impossible, I did. I don't know how I even did it, because when I tried again to see WHY I did, I couldn't do it. The only thing I could think of, is maybe I put a higher power on the micro by accident and it did it's own thing. (Consisting of a loud BOOM and soap EVERYWHERE) What's funny, is I work with melt n pour A LOT because I just started making hot and cold process. I don't know what to say about how I did it. LOL. :) I have to say one thing...whenever I make my soaps, my house smells AWESOME because of the essential oils I use. lol

Michaels and AC Moore has had the best sales lately and I've had 50% and 40% off coupons. I got some great findings, beads, new crystals from various stores and I also went to garage sales last weekends and got some great vintage pieces to turn into jewelry. I'll be making those this week and trying to add them asap. It's been very difficult lately to do anything.

A few days ago my 3 year old Alayna was running (and I mean running) out the door and down the front stairs because her best friend was calling her from the driveway. In the process of me telling her to slow down, no sooner did I say it, she tripped down the stairs. Down TWO concrete steps. I was petrified she did bad damage but thankfully she didn't. All she did was get a nasty bruise on her nose. Poor baby. I keep putting Neosporin and Mederma for kids on it hoping it will go down soon. I'm so glad she didn't break her nose or do worse.

My youngest has been having a terrible problem with teeth coming in. Both my kids got their teeth early, which is good. Poor Olivia has been having a bad time, though. It got so bad the other day that I guess one of the teeth broke through and actually started bleeding in that area. We were actually at Michaels when that happened and I was so freaked out. She's doing a lot better now, though. We're just getting ready for Spring around here. :)

I will have those other things up a.s.a.p!

Mar 28, 2009

Another order. :)

As I speak, I am waiting for my chocolate eggs (ChocoEggs) to harden so I can get them out to our customer! That's right, another purchase! That makes me jump for joy to know that business is really picking up. I couldn't be happier. March has been an OUTSTANDING month for me! Though we're just starting out, still at this time, and though we haven't had too many orders, I am very happy that we have what we have. This has definitely been great. My mom and I have been coming up with so many ideas for Sugardust Confections as well as our other stores. My mom was digging out my grandmother's recipes so that we could really get some great ideas! Sugardust is definitely in honor of my grandmother. She was an amazing baker and candy maker. She did everything perfect and we would love to follow in her footsteps. My mom and I have fully stocked our upstairs kitchen (The kitchen we only use for Sugardust Confections) with all of the things that we need and we are so excited!

OhMyCupcake and ThreeSeventeen will also be getting some new products soon. We couldn't be happier at the progress we are making. One thing, we do wish there were more hours in a day so we could get all of this done! The kids are a handful amongst my looking for a job to keep this business rolling until we get a steady flow of income. I primarily work at night on all of this and usually end up pulling all nighters. Whatever gets the work done!

I think the eggs are hardened!

Mar 21, 2009

We were featured!


We were featured on A Scrappy Design's FEATURE FRIDAY!! Yay! Be sure to check them out and also check out our feature! Excited! :) New blog and new items coming up!

Mar 17, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!



So, today is my birthday! I'm so excited! I know I'm not going to be getting presents today, my family can't afford them, but I just love my birthday! (Even if I am 24 years old!) Happy birthday to meeee! lol I had my fun birthday festivities this past weekend and hopefully I'm going out to dinner tomorrow with my mom, daughters, uncle and grandmother. :) Later today, it's work work work work on Etsy things!! :)
glitter-graphics.com

Mar 12, 2009

Being a working single mom.

I saw this question on the Etsy forums and I decided to create a blog about it. It was a great topic and I'm so glad I found it so I could share my tips with other working & artistic moms! :) I'm a single mom and I have two girls. (3.5 and 1) They are my life, but being a single mom, I need a way to support my kids as well as keep my sanity in tact. I worked at home for a very long time doing Customer Service from my home office. That was my full time job, besides being a mom, for almost 3 years. I enjoyed that because I could spend time with my kids as well as bring in an income, which is very necessary when you're the only one bringing in an income. I loved working from home and I was bringing in a good amount of money, but it required me to work 65 hours a week, and that was tiring for me and still difficult for me as a mother. I had to step back and think as a mother who was exhausted physically and mentally and a mother who had to put her kids best interest first. I decided to put my job on hold, as hard as it was, and I decided to take on my other love; art. I had a lot of friends who were great and very successful at selling their products and I wanted to do that as well.

Art has always been my main emotional outlet and I knew that I could make an income while also keeping my sanity. Granted, I would have to do my art once my kids were asleep, but it was still a way for me to earn something and still be able to stay home with my kids. I hoped, prayed, and worked on a plan to get my business off the ground. That's when I found Etsy and thought it was a great idea, and felt very hopeful about the business that I was about to venture on!

Unfortunately, my business hasn't been as profitable as I hope, but I still put my all into it. Besides this, now, I have a real full time job. It's hard...very hard...but supporting your family is first. Supporting your family, single parent or married, engaged, etc... it's what you have to put first over your business.

How do I balance everything is difficult to explain because I don't even know! 1. I do take days where I just do things for myself. Be it going to get a manicure, getting my hair done, getting myself a new outfit, new makeup, etc... That is the most important thing. To relax. 2. When my kids nap (which is sometimes at the same time! lol) I take a nap myself. If they don't nap at the same time, when one is napping, I take a "mommy and me" time and lay down with the other, watching TV or playing a game. Something quiet and relaxing. 3. I go to different activities with my kids where I can relax and talk to other parents. If you'r working at home, communicating with other adults is vital for sanity. ;) 4. When you're working at night, I know it's important to get things done, but don't just sit there for 4 hours straight without getting up every once in a while. That's how you get even more tired, is just sitting there. I know how important it is not to break your concentration, but you don't want to go crazy with exhaustion either. 5. Let your kids help you! If you're going to work with Polymer clay, give them some to play with as well, if you're beading, get out some large pony beads and some yarn for them to make necklaces or bracelets out of, if you're making candy, let them mix it or give them a piece to eat while you're making it, if your sewing, maybe let them press the peddle or something. Try to make them a part of what you're doing if you are working when the kids are around.

A lot of people feel it's impossible to work and be creative when they have children and even I put my creativity on hold for the first year of my oldest daughter's life, but you can juggle it all. You just have to come up with ideas and ways to relax. :) You can do it!

Mar 9, 2009

Another new card added!


Chestnuts in Bloom - Recycled card!

“April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom, holiday tables under the trees.” - E.Y. Harburg

Our Chestnuts in Blossom greeting/notecard is made from 100% recycled paper. It's hand made with a glittered branch with chestnuts. Green and a light brown/chestnut colored glitter. The size of a standard greeting card, envelope included. Opens bottom up.

*IF YOU WANT THE FRONT OR INSIDE PERSONALIZED, PLEASE AT TIME OF PURCHASE NOTE WHAT YOU WANT IT TO SAY AND WHERE YOU WANT IT. *

Will be shipped in a heavy duty plastic sleeve that will protect it against water damage and inside of a heavy bubble envelope to prevent any bending or damage. Will be sent priority mail with delivery confirmation. (Delivery confirmation free of charge for our customers)


New Notecard Added!!


Lonely Oak Notecard

Can be viewed and purchased here on Etsy.

Our new Lonely Oak Notecard is made of recycled paper and opens from the bottom up. (Horizontally viewed.) It is hand made completely and has the silhoutte of a beautiful tree glittered with green glitter. It is a beautiful notecard that you can display, give to a friend just because or for a special occasion.

Card can be personalized front and inside! Will either be typed, written or in calligraphy. (Your choice, no extra charge.)

$2.10

Mar 7, 2009

Olivia's first Haircut!


This morning I decided to cut Olivia's bangs. :) Very successful! Except my little baby looks like a little toddler girl now!! Awww! lol I gotta run, I just wanted to post that picture. :) I'm taking Alayna to Connecticut to see Dora the Explorer with her little boyfriend, and Olivia is going with daddy right now to Long Island to see Grandma and Grandpa. Will work on more for the shop tonight!!

Change of plans...

I was going to switch blogs because I wanted a 3 column layout and this kept giving me an error message. Oddly enough, an older blog that I still had on here allowed me to change the HTML, but this blog gives me an error. Well, the newer blog I created also does the same thing. I don't understand the errors, but that's my luck. Nothing is really supposed to work smoothly for me! :D I'm just going to make do with what I have unfil I find out what the stupid Blogspot error is!

I haven't had the chance to work on anything lately because of my kids, their activities, my job inteviews, etc... I went out with my mom tonight to a fundraiser for her friend's daughter's school, so I really had absolutely no time. Tomorrow, I am planning on doing some work for the shop. We also have the upcoming craft show. :)

Please be patient while we move to a new blog!: )

Mar 6, 2009

It looked like a horror movie! lol

Don't mind the quality, it's courtesy of my MacBook webcam. lol

I'm going to a "Card Party" tomorrow with my mom and her friends. (I can hear it now, you are all saying; "Oooo What a mommy event!" lol) The last time I dyed my hair was around November or December and my roots were showing pretty apparently! So I had to dye my hair. I love my hair red, so I wanted to go with that instead of dying it dark. By the time I got the dye into my hair it was 1 am and my mom was too exhausted to help, so I did it myself. Oy! My roots completely did not dye. I guess tomorrow or some other time I'm going to have to just touch them up because of that. I don't know why, I used two bottles of hair dye.

The funny part is this: It's red hair dye. When I washed out the dye from my hair, I swear to God my shower looked like a scene from Psycho or any other horror movie shower scene. LOL. I was so worried it would stain the bath tub and my mom would flip. (I was using her shower, not mine upstairs. lol) It came out good despite the root problems. I usually pull my bangs up with a clip anyway, so the roots won't even show. It just annoyed me they didn't dye too!!

Mar 5, 2009

Advertising on YouTube?

YouTube?? I've never heard about advertising your business on YouTube until today when I was reading the Etsy forums. I guess it's pretty obvious that you can post just about anything on YouTube and it will be seen by millions of people, but for some reason I just never thought about this. I have no idea why! I think I'm going to start a YouTube channel for my business and post some small videos about craft shows, maybe some video blogs, tutorials and small "commercials". I know how to use Windows Movie Maker and stuff, so I'm going to try. :) Let's see if it makes any difference! I'm also going to try to put up a Facebook add today.

Mar 3, 2009

OH MY CUPCAKE - VISIT IT!!

OH MY CUPCAKE

I finally got my 2nd shop up.  (Visit it above!)  I am very happy with it.  I love my Oh My Cupcake products so much!  I'm basically going to use it for my bath and body projects.  Possibly some cards as well.  I'd like to keep Three Seventeen just jewelry.  I've read in the Etsy forums that it is easier for customers if different "genres" (so to speak) are in different shops.  I do want my business to succeed, so this is something that I think is proper in order for customers not to be too overwhelmed.

I worked very hard on my soaps the other day.  My favorite of all of my soaps are my denture soaps.  They came out so well!  My favorite scent is the Columbian Coffee soap.  It smells so amazing, I had to make one for myself so I could use it. :)  I love the scent of coffee so much!   

A third sale was made the other day!  That made me so excited.  Unfortunately, though, we are pretty much snowed in until tomorrow.  So my two orders will ship tomorrow because of that.  The satellite post offices near me (within walking distance) are closed until tomorrow and only the main post office was open, but we could not get our car down the block.  Snow plows don't think that little dead end private streets need plowing, obviously. *sigh*

Tomorrow morning I have a big job interview at a company in Long Island City, NY.  It's a position for a Junior Sales Representative at a publishing firm.  I'm very excited and a little nervous.  Firstly, I have no idea how to get there and I'm really going to have to leave early enough so I don't get lost.  I also have to find parking.  I'm going to be printing out my resume tonight so that I would be able to leave early in the morning.  I'm nervous because I've never been on a real interview before that wasn't an interview for a retail position.  I am very hopeful and trying to think positive.  I really do think I need this job in order to support my family and be able to securely do the Etsy thing as well.  

I posted a few business cards on the pin board at the local grocery store today.  It was completely empty. so I thought I'd draw some attention. ;)  I don't know if it's going to work, tomorrow I'm going to go to the store and see if there are still the 5 there that I posted, but I'm hoping that maybe I could also get some local publicity.  

My Google Analytics did say that I had 89 visitors yesterday.  That is a HUGE jump from my usual daily 20-30.  Not sure why I had that many visitors, I don't think I was on the front page or anything, but I just had a lot of visitors.  Strange!! (But good!)

Mar 1, 2009

Our school district is closed tomorrow.

It's not like Alayna would even be going tomorrow anyway. She's still so sick and running a low grade fever. I'm worried about dehydration. She is so skinny as it is and she can't hold anything down. Not even water. I feel so bad for my poor little princess. I just want her to feel better. She isn't even excited about the snow and slept all day.

In the midst of her sleeping, I got a lot done today! I got a few great bars of soap done and am going to make the new store tomorrow for the soaps & bath and body. I really want to separate my items so that the jewelry isn't with everything else. I think it should be separate. :) My most favorite soap I made today is the cinnamon bun soap. It smells so good I want to gobble it all down! lol I'll definitely take pictures of them tomorrow when I get them wrapped perfectly.

Tomorrow, hopefully I'm going to work on some jewelry pieces. I have so much going on this week, I'm supposed to be going out for lunch tomorrow with a friend, I have a lot of mystery shops to do tomorrow, and I also have to work on my items before March 23rd, when my first ever craft show is that my mom and I are showing at. Nervousness! Stress! lol

Such a great new thing, I found.

I know this has NOTHING to do with crafting, but I found this great new breakfast food that I know my kids will love, when they feel better, and that fits into my Nutrisystem perfectly! I'm always searching for new "entrees" for my Nutrisystem breakfast because the NS food gets so bland after a while, so after reading the nutrition stats on everything in the frozen Breakfast aisle, I found these:

Eggo Mini Muffin Tops
I paid $1.99 on sale for them at A&P.


You can't see them too well since they are double chocolate and I took this with my Blackberry, but they're so good! I had them with the normal NS add ins, fruit and chocolate milk, but they're so good! (Have them with whipped cream too!) They come like mini chocolate chip cookies - that size. I toasted them and they're delicious!

I suggest everyone get them for themselves and their kids! lol They're heavenly.