Merry Christmas and a wonderful story!

Merry Christmas everyone!

It has been a very busy week- but now it's time to relax and enjoy some quiet time. All the presents are wrapped, cookies are baked (and delivered!), and packages are mailed. I think we will kick back, throw on some Christmas shows (maybe How the Grinch Stole Christmas- the classic one, of course) and drink some peppermint hot chocolate. Yum!

But first, I wanted to share this e-mail that Sol from Oslo, Norway sent me. It was my very first international order (placed about a month ago now). A few days ago, I got this wonderful e-mail, with approval for sharing. :)

"Hi Kristina,

Some words from Oslo, Norway and your first international shipment!

I ordered your gold scarf as a fun surprise for my mother at my parents' gold wedding (my father got a gold tie). :-)

Apart from being a fun present, we all loved the scarf -- soft and elegant, and my 71-year old mother is definitely going to use it again for parties.

(Why not produce scarves and ties for gold and silver weddings -- perhaps someone will search for it, like I did?)

My parents married in Trondheim, Norway on the 14th of December 1963 and they celebrated their gold wedding there with children and grandchildren. A lovely day!

Attached you will find a picture of the gold bride! :-)

Thank you for a very pleasant transaction and the nice card which followed it.

All the best for you and your shop,
and best wishes for a merry Xmas to you
from Sol  "

 

The story just made my week. I absolutely love the photo and the idea that my scarf was a part of something so wonderful.  I think she looks so beautiful and simply glows. :)

It is always exciting sending an order out in the mail. It's fun sending items across the country, but for some reason, it is extra special when I get to ship something internationally. It's like a part of me gets to travel all over the world. :) And, it's stories like this that remind me of that. 

Thank you, Sol!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Holidays and a (very) delayed post

Hello all!

I'm so sorry for the extremely long delay in posts! It has been an insanely busy month- but in a good way. :)

As of yesterday, the shop hit 120 sales! I have been working like crazy making sure all orders go out the same or next day. Needless to say, there were a couple of hectic weeks in there.

Here's Monday's mail run. I'm sure the poor post office workers hate me. I have cleaned out their priority mail supplies numerous times in the last couple of weeks.

The last few days have slowed down significantly. But- any orders I receive by tomorrow late morning/early afternoon tomorrow should still make it in time for Christmas. How I love priority shipping. It is honestly a few cents cheaper than standard first class and it arrives within 3 days. I track all of my packages to make sure delivery times are on schedule and I have been so impressed. I print a label and see that a package is going to Florida, North Carolina, or Rhode Island (from the West Coast!) and it says "2-Day Priority Shipping" (it depends where the location is if it's 1, 2 or 3 days and I don't know until the shipping label downloads) and I think, "no way that is going to get there in 2 days." But, it hasn't failed me yet. It's incredible.

I have dropped packages off on Monday evening at 5:30pm and it will be across the country, delivered by Wednesday afternoon. It's crazy.

I have used the little bit of downtime to make a LOT of new listings. I still have a few more scarves to whip up with materials that are ready to go, but I have most of it up now.

Here's a couple I listed yesterday. :)

I can't believe I have over 70 listings now. It's just amazing to me. I never imagined it would go so quickly. I have sold out of several patterns and deactivated a couple to re-take better photos.

This next week, I am going to enjoy the holidays, take time to clean and reorganize the house and all of my stock (I find it relaxing), catch up on making Thank You cards, labels, and tags, and retake some listing photos that I'm not too thrilled with.  Maybe I'll even get some Christmas packages wrapped. :)

This last month has been so amazing. I never imagined that I could hit 120 sales by now and it has been humbling, exciting, and motivational. The Etsy community has been absolutely amazing- both customers and sellers alike. I am so glad that I stuck with it through those first couple of months with 0 sales although I was incredibly discouraged.

Thank you all and check back soon - more news is soon to come! :)