february recap

it's hard to believe, but it's the last day of february already! where has the time gone?

being that it's the end of the month, it's time for me to check in on my goals.

my first goal of the year was to increase sales by 40%. so far, with the sales of january and february, my sales have been 318% higher than last year at this time! it's insane....i know....almost unbelievable to me. february is typically a dreadfully slow month for greeting card sales. most stores stock up in january to refill all their empty holiday shelves, therefore, not needing much in february. this february has been very similar. much slower than january sales, but at the same time, much improved over last year.

i have been working feverishly on my other goals as well. starting plans for my 4th national stationery show experience. i'm hoping all that i have planned will help drive buyers to my booth. i'm excited to see the results of all my new plans. hopefully they all work!

i've been really good at designing on a more regular basis. i've already completed my new winter holiday designs for 2006 as well as some other non-greeting card products that i'm super excited to release.

i've updated my website with new editorial releases as they've happened as well as updating my retail store list once a month. (tomorrow is new store addition day!)

the retail site is well on it's way! i've been working hard to keep up to my programmer. i have all the thumbnail images completed and am working on the detailed product images this week. it's coming along very well and quite quickly. i'm sure we'll be up and running well before july!

that's about it for my work related goals. i feel good about all that i have accomplished in two months. i only hope that i can keep up.

i'll recap my personal goals at a later date as i need to get back to work since the little dude is down for the night.

featured artist of the week!

i'm so excited to announce that marzipan inc. is the featured company/artist/craftswoman of the week on a great new website! you can view it here: crafty synergy.

on another note: i'm heading out of this cold weather climate tomorrow for a long weekend in california! i'm super excited! i'm also a little nervous. it will be my first time away from the little dude....ever. i'm not quite sure how i'll handle 4 days away from the little guy. it will be good practice for me when i have to leave in may for a whole week to attend the national stationery show.

see you on monday!

furnace weather

this week has been very different from much of the winter weather we've had so far. thursday left us with over 10" of white stuff and very strong winds. we're pretty used to this kind of stuff here in the midwest. however, thursday was different. it came on hard and fast. schools were closed, people were leaving their workplaces to try and get home before they got stuck at work. it was crazy. but something else happened that i've never seen before. our grocery store AND our major clinic in town closed their doors. things like that don't happen around here. snow is a normal occurrence and people just go on with their lives....just a little slower. it was quite a day.

the past two days since then have been crazy cold. when i spoke with my mom today, she said it was -27º when she woke up this morning....that's BEFORE the wind chill. it's pretty insane.

in our household we were lucky to wake up this morning to our thermostat reading 57º. yes, that's 57º in our home. why, you ask, was it so cold? well, our furnace decided to stop working in the middle of the night! the poor little dude's fingers were like icy little popsicles this morning. it was horrible. we called all over town to find someone to come fix our problem. it seems there were a lot of people in the same boat and the waiting times were hours long for emergency service. we were finally able to get someone out to look at it about an hour after we made our first call. of course at emergency service, weekend prices. why do things like this always seem to happen on the the coldest day of the year, and on a weekend? he found the problem pretty quickly and was able to fix it within an hour. it took nearly all day for our house to warm up to normal temperatures. although it was horribly cold and miserable for awhile, it makes you realize how lucky you are to have a home with heat while many do not.

the devil has arrived

yup....it's official. the devil has arrived to our small wisconsin town....and oh, how i love thee. we visited our newly opened coldstone tonight for the first time.

we were already all too familiar with the yummy goodness that is coldstone. when we lived in minneapolis, we enjoyed their treats much too often. now, that goodness has found it's way to us again. it is my weakness. set a bowl of ice cream in front of me and it will be gone. at least it's on the other side of town, so it's not like i'm driving past it all the time. i may just have to find more reasons to head over that way!

happy valentine's day!

gifty 3: from the heart

i recently joined my first ever gifty! the lovely leslie over at rubber-sol organized it, and i couldn't help but join in. this gift swap theme: from the heart.

today, i received my oh so lovely gifts from sally at shim + sons. they are beyond description!


above:
chololates (in tin)....divine
file folders (upper left)....classic
button push pins (front)....precious
gift tags (front left)....oh so beautiful

then there was the unexpected added gift for the little dude!


above:
precious alphabet cards that are just too beautiful for him to actually use. i'm hoping to decorate his room with them. little did sally know, but his room is alphabet themed!

i can only hope my gifts live up to these!

thanks sally!

thing 1, idea 2, milestone 3 (edited***)

several things on my mind today:

1. we were at a birthday party last night for my nephew. one of the attendees was an acquaintance of our family. she's about the same age as me and i only know her through my sister-in-law. while at the party she asks: "so, are you still doing your card thing?"

where do i even start with that? hello! it's not a thing! it's not a hobby! it's a business. not something i just wake up one day and say: "you know what, i think i'm done with that card thing". luckily my sister-in-law's mother spoke up and said something to the effect of how successful i was*** etc. etc. etc.... which of course, made me feel even more uncomfortable. (note to self: work on being able to accept compliments more gracefully)

2. i came up with, what i think is going to be, a very cool idea for a new set of boxed greeting cards. i'm really excited to get a start on them. i need to get some quotes before i go forward, but i think they're going to be feasible.

3. another new milestone! the little dude officially took his first real steps tonight! (it's about time!!) the hubby and i were sitting on separate couches and the little dude would do the frankenstein walk from one of us to the other. only about 3 steps, but it's a start. he must have done it about 20 times. he was having so much fun with us cheering him on and giving him kisses as he made his way to each of us. it was a definite kodak moment!

*** i don't want to imply that i think i'm uber successful. i know i'm not. those are just the words she used.

all about me

i've been tagged for another meme by the lovely gilley at burned cheese straws AND the ever sweet ponderer at daydreams & ponderings. don't i feel special!

four jobs I've had in my life:

* waitress (many times)
* art director
* clothing retail
* paper entrepreneur

four movies I would watch over and over:

* a christmas story
* big fish
* romeo and juliet (the newer one)
* american beauty

four places I have lived:

* fond du lac, wi
* minneapolis, mn
* sheboygan, wi
* apple valley, mn

four tv shows I like to watch:

* the office
* american idol (even though i swore i wouldn't watch it again!)
* oprah
* desperate housewives

four places I have been on vacation:

* san francisco, ca
* new york, ny
* portland, or
* europe (italy, france, greece, croatia)

four websites i visit daily:

* paperpreneurs
* WAY too many blogs to list
* this fish needs a bicycle
* usps

four of my favorite foods:

* crispy lemon chicken from "the big bowl"
* rigatoni con mozzarella from "tratoria stefano"
* pretty much everything i've ever had at "margaux"
* ice cream from anywhere!

four places I would rather be right now:

* shopping by myself or with a girlfriend (it's one thing i really miss since having a baby)
* taking a nap with no interruptions
* having a massage or facial
* on vacation pretty much anywhere


bloggers I am tagging:

patricia at a little hut
erica at paper bride

bizsh bizsh bizsh

that's the best way i can describe what the little dude is now saying about his sit 'n spin. it's his version of me saying "spin, spin, spin". not really sure how the "b" got in there, but hey, at least he's trying. it's pretty darned cute either way.

all done

i think we have our official first word....or words!!

at the end of every meal i ask the little dude: "all done?"

at breakfast yesterday i did the same. his response? he raised his adorable little hands, palm side up....and uttered "a dun". i couldn't be 100% sure that what i was hearing was true....until today.

at breakfast AND lunch he did it again with daddy there to see. daddy looked at me and assured me that what i thought i was hearing was, in fact, true.

we're convinced that he's a genius, of course....because his first word was really two.

end of the month review

typically january is not the best sales month out of the year. so i was surprised when january turned out to be such a good start to achieving goal #1 for 2006. not only did i double, or triple sales compared to last january, i nearly quadrupled them! it was completely insane and unexpected. to top it off even more, it actually qualified as my best month of sales in history!

i am one happy lady! i can only hope that this great beginning continues throughout the rest of the year.