Yes I realize that it has been forever since I blogged... I love to write but in the grand tangle of all my hobbies, writing is always the last one to be spooled back up.
First let me get the excuses out of the way. :) In my last post I talked about selling my wares online through my website Butterfly Garage! It took me(with help from the husband) approximately 2 weeks to put the website together, and I was quite proud of myself. I waited for the orders to come pouring through.... but it has been more like a slow steady trickle. I have had at least one order on the go since, with the exception of maybe a few weeks in the summer. I am grateful for these orders so thoughtfully put in by friends and family, yet I haven't had one order from a stranger yet( I do have a remedy in mind, but more on that later). And because I have had one order on the go consistently, I haven't had time to work on a whole lot of stock....
Plus... When I had the "craft = money" epiphany I had one baby and one part time job. 6 days later I was pregnant with baby #2, a few weeks after that, I had 2 part time jobs... any of you who have been pregnant, know what the first trimester is like, let alone having a 1 year old, let alone having two part time jobs!
So in conclusion, having one order always on the go, plus a 1 year old, plus pregnancy, plus 2 part time jobs, I haven't been able to make stock for Butterfly Garage....
Fast forward 11 months... Baby number 2 has arrived all chubby and cute, and I only have one part time job to contend with! Ah finally the pace has settled down a lot, yet I am left with thoughts of how I can contribute financially. I have my one part time job which is only about 5 hours a week, which I work for my previous employer from home.
In an attempt to raise our family with as much love and faith as possible, we have decided that I will not be returning to work outside the house until we feel that our children are at a stage in life where they are comfortable without my full support(maybe junior high, or high school?)
I praise God for this opportunity, as it has always been my dream to be a stay at home mom(don't scoff at my "lofty" aspirations, as I believe being a stay-at-home mom is one of the most important jobs in the world!) I am deeply grateful to my hard working husband who is working 2 full time jobs in order for this to happen. I fall more in love with his sacrificial, loyal, and committed heart every day. He is my first greatest blessing.
But still... how do I contribute? We are one of those families that don't live to keep up with the Jones's, but still like to live a comfortable life, i.e. good food, nice clothes, a practical car, and comfortable home. We obtain all these things on sale, or second hand, and therefore I feel okay with making sure we are comfortable. We don't buy the latest gadgets, or fancy cars, or go on vacations, and although it would be nice to live a higher class life, we are happy and thankful for where we are at. Plus I don't know how I could live with the moral, social implications involved with that style of living.
Andrew and I have always maintained a good work ethic, and trusted God to provide the rest... BUT I must admit, we haven't always made the wisest financial decisions, and are, as most people, in a bit of debt. Andrews salary covers our day to day living, but doesn't dig us out of the debt hole. I would love to help do that. The biggest reason, besides the obvious(living without the extra financial weight), is we have a major house repair(foundation... oh the prices we pay for not trusting God to give us the best!!!) that is only accomplishable if we are out of ALL our consumer debt. So that's my goal for wanting to contribute financially....that and I like cute second hand clothes and decorating my house.
So now that life has slowed down a bit (how slow can it actually be though, with 2 babies under 21 months and a part time job??? but I digress) I want to amp up Butterfly Garage, and get my sore butt(having a baby hurts) in gear! I am planning on updating the web site with a whole bunch of new materials and stock! I already have about 6-7 stock items, and am working on LOTS more.
Plus I am excited to further expand my selling options by opening a store on etsy. Etsy, for those of you who don't know, is an online "mall" where you can go from store to online store and shop for handmade, vintage goods and materials. Its definitely worth checking out if you need some gift ideas! I don't know how many hits the site has per day, but I am willing to bet it has more than butterflygarage.com... I will maintain butterflygarage.com, selling stock and special orders(etsy doesn't do special orders the way I would have them handled) but I will also be posting my wares on etsy.com, and hopefully between the two, I will have steady work and profit!
My newest addition to Butterfly Garage is the Teddy Baird!(all names of all products are derived from butterfly names) It is hand crafted out of 100% recycled 100% wool! My mother, acting as my creative and emotional supporter, and I went shopping for the materials, and I am SO excited with what we brought home! I have already made 7 of these bears for special orders, and I must admit I am just as excited about it as I am of Judies Booties, and the Brimstone Reversible Diaper Bag! As I make stock I will be posting them for sale, so stay tuned!
Thanks for your patience, and interest, and hopefully I can maintain this blog a little bit easier in the future!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
New Year Resolution
It’s been a while. You all know what it is like over the holidays. Busy Busy Busy! I was gone for most of December to BC and Saskatchewan visiting friends and family.
Although I was gone I was able to get quite a bit of my crafting done. In fact I finished several projects that had been plaguing me for –literally- years.
The following are the pictures of some of the projects I finished since the last post.
In other news!!! My New Year resolution! I am going to be taking my crafting one step further. I am going to be selling my wares in a number of venues- online through this website, through a crafting website called Etsy, and at craft sales.
Here is a little background as to my resolution:
Some of you may know that I have a little girl… that little girl is turning one on February 2nd which also means that my mat leave and subsequently my EI, is also coming to an end. I have decided that due to the fact that daycare is ridiculously expensive, and I would have had to have been on a waiting list since before I was pregnant, and lets be honest I don’t want to leave my little girl- I wont be returning back to work full time, so I will need to make some extra cash.
Reason number two. I LOVE to craft!!!! I love it, love it, love it! I think I have come up with some pretty cool stuff, and I have had amazing response to my finished projects. A lot of people have said that I could sell some of my wares, and that was so flattering to hear and it got me thinking, “Why not?”
To sum up: I love to craft, I need to make some extra$ and I know people who would like to buy my crafts….
As of right now I am doing research, setting up the appropriate internet web pages, putting the final touches on my logo, and the most important thing- building my stock.
My stock will be made up of mainly two products. As soon as I build up enough stock in these two areas Í will expand my wares.
The first product is reversible diaper bags. One side will be for him and one side for her. It features at least 5 pockets, and is made of durable and stylish fabric. I will be looking into repurposed fabrics as well as environmentally friendly and sustainable fabrics. If you know of any place I can get good prices on this let me know. (See below for example of product)
The other product is baby/toddler boots. These boots will be leather soled. The leather will be repurposed from garments, or scraps. The color of the boots is unlimited, the closure Velcro, and can come with a leather medallion of your choice. (See below for example of product)
And to my fellow crafters- I will also be selling the patterns online for those of you who would like to make these products yourself. I just have to write them out first!
I am also going to do graphic design for all your announcements needs! (baby announcements, thank you cards, invitations, holiday greetings, music posters, CD covers, ect). What I will do for this is request a high quality digital photo and the pertinent information, I will do the graphic design based on the customers request and email back a jpeg for the client to do with what they like. Here are some examples of some work I have done. Once I have my other page up and running you will be able to view a full portfolio!
As of right now I am still researching how much I should charge. If you have any advice let me know!
If you would like to put in a special advanced order, I would be happy to accommodate you, and can make the product to your liking. Email me at butterflygarage@gmail.com with a subject line of “Butterfly Garage advance order”, and we can correspond from there!!
Eventually I am going to set up a special webpage for sales purposes, but for those of you who like to follow my crafting adventures stay tune to this blogspot, as I will never stop chronicling my experiences!
Although I was gone I was able to get quite a bit of my crafting done. In fact I finished several projects that had been plaguing me for –literally- years.
The following are the pictures of some of the projects I finished since the last post.
In other news!!! My New Year resolution! I am going to be taking my crafting one step further. I am going to be selling my wares in a number of venues- online through this website, through a crafting website called Etsy, and at craft sales.
Here is a little background as to my resolution:
Some of you may know that I have a little girl… that little girl is turning one on February 2nd which also means that my mat leave and subsequently my EI, is also coming to an end. I have decided that due to the fact that daycare is ridiculously expensive, and I would have had to have been on a waiting list since before I was pregnant, and lets be honest I don’t want to leave my little girl- I wont be returning back to work full time, so I will need to make some extra cash.
Reason number two. I LOVE to craft!!!! I love it, love it, love it! I think I have come up with some pretty cool stuff, and I have had amazing response to my finished projects. A lot of people have said that I could sell some of my wares, and that was so flattering to hear and it got me thinking, “Why not?”
To sum up: I love to craft, I need to make some extra$ and I know people who would like to buy my crafts….
As of right now I am doing research, setting up the appropriate internet web pages, putting the final touches on my logo, and the most important thing- building my stock.
My stock will be made up of mainly two products. As soon as I build up enough stock in these two areas Í will expand my wares.
The first product is reversible diaper bags. One side will be for him and one side for her. It features at least 5 pockets, and is made of durable and stylish fabric. I will be looking into repurposed fabrics as well as environmentally friendly and sustainable fabrics. If you know of any place I can get good prices on this let me know. (See below for example of product)
The other product is baby/toddler boots. These boots will be leather soled. The leather will be repurposed from garments, or scraps. The color of the boots is unlimited, the closure Velcro, and can come with a leather medallion of your choice. (See below for example of product)
And to my fellow crafters- I will also be selling the patterns online for those of you who would like to make these products yourself. I just have to write them out first!
I am also going to do graphic design for all your announcements needs! (baby announcements, thank you cards, invitations, holiday greetings, music posters, CD covers, ect). What I will do for this is request a high quality digital photo and the pertinent information, I will do the graphic design based on the customers request and email back a jpeg for the client to do with what they like. Here are some examples of some work I have done. Once I have my other page up and running you will be able to view a full portfolio!
As of right now I am still researching how much I should charge. If you have any advice let me know!
If you would like to put in a special advanced order, I would be happy to accommodate you, and can make the product to your liking. Email me at butterflygarage@gmail.com with a subject line of “Butterfly Garage advance order”, and we can correspond from there!!
Eventually I am going to set up a special webpage for sales purposes, but for those of you who like to follow my crafting adventures stay tune to this blogspot, as I will never stop chronicling my experiences!
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