First Sale: Thank You NY!

Hi everyone! It's only been a few days but a lot has happened. 

1) One of my bestest friends and roomies got ENGAGED!

Claire, Crash and I had champagne with cranberry juice in celebration before dinner earlier this week. Such a fun time catching up! (Note: Crash you look amazing so I don't want to hear anything about this pic!)

2)My business cards arrived today! They said from the start that they would be delivered today, but I've tracked these things multiple times a day, every day since I ordered them a week ago. Obsessive (I agree). Check out these little guys!

I mean how cute are these boxes? They say, "Open them, Quick!" at the bottom.

Look at these all pretty and fanned out. This is obviously the image/"portfolio" side of the cards.

The front!

We have taken some pretty nice photos with our new camera, and when I ordered these there was not quite enough of my cards to put on them yet. So here's a photo of an old, pretty bridge we saw on a bike trail over our anniversary weekend in Northern Ohio. 

Here's a sample of a card on the back of one of my business cards. There's almost 50 different photos. And you can upload up to 100

      

3)And last but certainly not least: I sold my first card!!!! TO SOMEONE I DON'T KNOW. Who lives in NY. I was floored! This is the conversation I had with Brian when I called to tell him: 

Me: "I really was starting to think that eventually my family and friends would start to feel sorry for me and buy a card or something."

Brian: "Well I was going to give it at least a couple more weeks before I started buying things and shipping them to an anonymous address."

But seriously, the gentleman who bought the card (a Cynical Sentiments card, btw) is a saint. I have ZERO feedback on my shop and have been open for about 2-3 weeks. He has a lot of faith and trust, which I appreciate. Now fingers crossed the card gets there soon and in once piece and that he and the recipient love it. 

Back to Brian: What a supportive husband I have. And really, support is keeping me afloat right now. I'm a very confident person, but I also like to do things 110% and go way above and beyond most of the time. Which means I'm pouring everything I have into this business right now without any idea if I'll ever see a return on it, and let me tell you: that is a really scary thing for me. Probably once (okay more like 5) times a day I ask Brian, "What happens if nobody ever buys anything?" and he tells me that's ridiculous and unproductive to think that way. 

So help me spread the word! If handmade cards and paper crafts aren't your thing--pass along my information to someone who might take an interest in my business. I have a Facebook page that I would love for you to be a part of as well. Thanks for your support and encouragement and I hope to hear from you soon. 

Helllooooo Business Cards

Hi Everyone!


It has been one rough, emotional week with Brian's band parent, Pete, passing away on Monday. But one cool thing has happened, and it's really made us feel like maybe God uniquely placed us at LaSalle solely for this period of time right now. And if it's for no other reason than what's happening now, I'd be completely fine with that. Pete's son and his girlfriend are just wonderful kids, and they've been reaching out to Brian and I for support. We are so thankful that they're reaching out to adults, and honored that they've chosen us to help them in any way we can. 


In other news, I have been super busy getting some loose ends tied up with the business. I ordered my first BUSINESS CARDS today! I feel so legitimate. It was extremely cool to be like "Oh, I'll upload my business's logo, thanks...." What's really awesome is the site where I ordered them: MOO. This site is incredible! They just strike me as the coolest, most down-to-earth people. I've decided to order my business cards in two phases. Tonight I got some "mini-cards," which are a fairly new thing (possibly started by these Moo people?). They're small, almost like calling cards. (If you don't read Victorian historical fiction like me, a calling card was something that would be left at a house if the family was out, or for a lady by a gentleman who had come calling [get it?] to spend time with her.) Today, sometimes there is just a name on it or maybe an email address or website as well. These little suckers are genius: sweet mini cards. 


Next, I'd like to get full-size business cards here: big guys!. The really amazing thing about this company is that they do sweet things to your business cards because they think it's fair to help make your product really nice at a reasonable price. They put them on a heavier premium stock, print 4/c process on both front and back at no extra charge. And there's this free thing called printfinity that allows you to upload up to 100 images that go on the back of your business cards. So you could put your entire portfolio on there, or samples of your cards, like I did. It rotates through them for whatever quantity you get. I also added some really nice photographs we have taken since we bought our good camera. And one or two cool things from our wedding. It took FOREVER to upload all those images and crop them correctly, but it was totally worth it. These are going to be so amazing. 


I took a page out of my Mom's online shopping book and googled "moo.com promotion codes" and found a 15% off code that worked! With the priority shipping I'm hoping they arrive by Friday. Hope to see you soon so I can show them off. ;-) 


And since I don't have any photos of the business cards yet, I'll post a photo that I put on the back of one. Isn't Vivienne such a babydoll? 

P.S. Aren't you glad I figured out how to change links into text for this post? It looks so much better than URLs hanging all over the place.