Lately in the shop

  I have successfully completed 100 orders in my shop and someone put me at 101 last night.  This doesn't include the handful I've done on the side.  If you would have asked me when I dreamed up my shop if I would have a stamp carving business, I would have laughed.  That was a last minute listing I did when I opened my shop, but clearly there is a demand.  What I love about it is that most all of my orders are custom.  I make it when it is ordered and I don't have to do a lot in advance.  I would like to grow into having goods handmade by me in the shop (and there are lots of ideas swirling), but ultimately time is the limiting factor.

Here is some of what I've been up to lately:

  The other cool thing is that many people request custom orders from seeing the many things I already do have.  I made this flamingo for a lady who just had a baby and she wanted to put it on her daughter's announcements.  After I create a new design, I make a new listing for my shop.  Flamingos don't seem to be overly popular, but I know there are flamingo lovers out there!  I did this with the elephant and dachshund too.

  The pineapple has been a hit!!  I can't even tell you how many of these I have made.

  This has been the other popular one, I make them big and small. 

  This is my newest thing, designing stamps.  The buyer sent me a picture of his boss and told me he wanted those words and a thumbs up.  This is what came of it.  Fortunately, my sister was in town when I started this because she manipulated it all on photoshop.  If it were left to me, I would have been cutting and pasting the images together with scissors and glue.  I really need to become proficient with photoshop to help my business grow.

  Someone asked for the stamp and a digital file of the image.  Had to ask my sister more questions on file formats.  You can see I am computer illiterate!

  Did these for my neighbor's preschool teachers for teacher appreciation week.

  I finally organized all of the stamps I've done in a photo album.  My portfolio if you will.  My desk, however, is a disaster zone permanently.  I choose to work instead of clean when my time is limited.  We are looking into some craft organization furniture for me that I am SUPER excited about.  Not only will it make my desk cleaner, I do think it will make me more efficient.  My stuff is ALL over the house and if I can centralize and have a place for everything and everything in it's place, I will definitely be more tidy and organized!  Until that day, I will continue to rest my forearms on current projects and see how many more things I can stack on the sides of my desk without the pile falling over.

Have a wonderful weekend!