I'm already looking ahead to 2010.
I'm planning out my handmade resolution - I'm taking on soap making and have even started a blog for everyone to follow my adventure. I'm also planning big things for She's Batty Designs. I have a new (non-paper) product line that will launch in my Etsy shop in January that I'm totally excited about, and I'm planning to introduce 52 new card designs to my shop over the course of 2010 - that's one design for every week of the year!
.....But before we plunge head first into 2010, I thought I'd reflect on 2009. I often have a horrible memory (I blame it on all the "school stuff" I have to cram into my head) but thankfully surfing through the blog archives should jog my memory. Here's some highlights from 2009....
January
Not too much to report (that I can remember) but I did manage to post 7 entries on the blog between working for the OSPCA. If you follow the link to those 7 entries you'll see that I was desperately missing my studio! I was also ready to come home from up north because I was missing Drew and Noel. Princess kept me company up north but I was also missing out on Sassy getting adjusted to life in London.
February
In February I put a lot of effort into a new venue to me, Artfire. I saw a good amount of sales there for the next few months too.
March
I started the Ghouls Guild on Artfire in March and continued major promotional efforts of my AF shop. You can see this in the blog posts from March. The Ontario SPCA Walk-a-thon was also a huge focus for me during this month.
April
By April I had scored myself a "free ride" at Artfire so my efforts were really paying off! No more fees! Hooray! Sales continued and I shared my "scoring a free ride strategy" on the blog. See all the posts from April for more info. April was also my birthday month! I can't believe I'm in my "late 20's" now! That's just plain scary!
May
I finished up my contract at the Renfrew County Branch of the Ontario SPCA. I really miss all the wonderful people I worked with (including all the volunteers who put in countless hours to help give the animals of Renfrew County a second chance), and I miss being around the animals everyday. Of course my pets take full advantage of me missing the shelter because I cuddle them that much more. After returning home, the month got super busy (see the archives for the proof including the beginning of my Garden Adventures Series and the Super Resource Series!). I started writing for Handmade News as a columnist for the Marketing department which took up a lot of my time and finished my "winter term" classes and quickly started my "summer term" classes. I think there was a week of downtime between the ending and starting of classes. I also started working at the university again.
June
Another whirlwind month! I shared a closer look at my studio (which I have expanded on since then in my flickr account under the "my studio" set), I started the Facebook fan page for She's Batty Designs, shared more about my disease, continued writing for HMN, and the blog series that I mentioned under May continued. My classes & work at the university also continued. See the archives for more details and a ton of useful handmade marketing info!
July
I got promoted at HMN to the Editor of the Marketing Department. The promotion was super exciting but my new position took up SO much time! The department grew by leaps of bounds and I developed amazing relationships with the columnists in the Marketing Department. Of them, I really connected with Libby who runs Maylee's Garden on Etsy - a handmade vegan soap shop! I learned so much from her and I hope she learned a lot from me too. I consider her one of my best "online" friends now :) Check out the July archives for more fun stuff including my feature on the main page of Artfire!
August
I started prepping for Halloween in August and was totally bogged down with work at HMN. If you check out the blog archives for August you'll see what I mean. Something note worth that happened in August was that I released the new She's Batty Designs logo.
September
Drew and I celebrated another anniversary - 2 years! I also started my final year of university. I can almost FEEL that bachelor degree! The Ghouls Guild also had their first annual "Trick or Treat" event. You'll want to check out the September archives for lots of helpful handmade business advice, awesome ghoulish finds, and the continuation of my garden adventures. By the end of September HMN had "de-moted" all the editors back to columnists and removed the "editor" positions all together. Although I still carry a bit of a chip on my shoulder about how it all went down, I was thankful to put all the time I was spending on HMN back into my own business.... which resulted in a great "4th quarter" for my biz! You'll see what I mean below.
October
I participated in my first craft show in almost 2 years. Turns out I picked an amazing event to be apart of - the Bazaar of the Bizarre in Toronto, ON. I had a good number a sales, got a lot of business cards out, but the highlight was meeting all the fab artists, like Mel of Kaotic Ekko's Curiosities, and a mini celebrity in halloween circuit - Ghoul Friday. See pictures from all my latest craft shows (including the Bazaar of the Bizarre) in my flickr photo set "Craft Shows".
October was also full of Halloween celebrations - what else right? By the time October was over I was burnt out and didn't foresee doing much for the next two months - turned out I was in for a pleasant surprise - mega sales in my etsy shop (see below).
November
I had the best month in the history of She's Batty Designs for sales on Etsy! I made cards into the wee hours of the night almost every night and loved it! I was also in the storque, a gift guide (Editor's Picks), and the Etsy voter for the first time! By the end of the month I had been featured in the storque (under the related items) multiple times! I was so grateful for all the extra exposure the Etsy admin were giving my little shop because it made a HUGE difference in my sales! I also posted the November edition of the newsletter online. If you don't want to miss out on my monthly update, sign up on the right hand side of my blog or by going here.
I also participated in "Craft off the Lot" in Toronto at the beginning of November. Although the show was sooooo slllloooowww, I did meet two really awesome Etsians, Ky and Becky which made the 4 days of driving back and forth from Toronto worth it! Huge thanks to my parents who helped me all weekend! I couldn't have done it without them :)
December
So far the month as been full of flare ups (AS), weening off one of my medications (a sleep aid that has turned out to have horrible side effects!), studying for exams, and getting rides to school at the butt-crack of dawn due to the LTC bus strike! Let's just say I can't wait for the last week of this month when I can relax and start off the new year rested and refreshed.
Look out 2010, here I come!
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