We're in Real Simple magazine!!

A couple of months ago I told you that I had a request from a magazine to feature one of my items in their magazine. We went back and forth on the colors, and in the end I created a packaging and gift wrap kit specifically for them. And then I held my breath, and hoped like heck that it made the final cut after the stylist and photographers had their way with it.

So I am THRILLED beyond belief to finally be able to tell you that my humble little shop and one of our gift wrap kits is featured in the December 2012 issue of Real Simple magazine!! I can still hardly believe it.

The great news for everyone out there is that it's included in their "Discounts and Deals" section, which means it is a discounted deal!!

The magazine will be on news stands November 19, or perhaps you already subscribe to it and will see the issue in person. Or, you could always check it out on their website and see it in all its glory. Well, almost. There are about 160 items in the kit, and only a tiny fraction of them are shown in the image online. It also made my day to see them describe it as "So fetching, it could be a gift in itself."

You can see the online version here.

And even though the magazine suggests that the discount code is good only for this product, here's a little secret: the code is good for your entire purchase on everything in the shop that you may also want to buy.

Identifying the source of busy

Have you been watching any of the Olympics lately? I have it on the TV all the time and run out into the living room throughout the day to watch items of interest. My favorite parts so far have been the Individual Dressage Finals and all of the races run by Oscar Pistorius (You've heard about him, right? What an inspiration!).

Other than a few bits of calm while I watch the Olympics, it has been crazy busy around here and I have been running in circles as usual. The other day I was thinking about how busy things have been, despite having my awesome babysitter here 20 hours a week to help me with Lachlan and with packaging things. And then my mother-in-law and two nieces were here for a bit and helped out, and now my mom is here and working at a feverish pace to help me. But I'm still super busy with Paper and Present and I feel like not only am I not getting ahead, I am slipping further behind, especially with my plans for my other shops.

So the other day I looked at the shop stats in Etsy for Paper and Present. It's a fairly new feature that lets you look at your orders, revenue, shop views, etc. over specific periods of time. When I looked at the number of orders for this year alone, I almost fell off my chair. This one simple chart explains everything:

From January through April I was holding steady at about 100 orders per month. Most of them were on the small side, just a few items. In May, it went to 173 orders, and I started getting orders with many items. In June it went to 214 orders, and in July I hit a record of 290 orders! And I am already working at a pace this month that will make August even busier. In fact, I just got an order from one woman in London who ordered an overwhelming 63 items!

I have had some level of anxiety over how I will manage this pace mostly by myself once my babysitter starts school again on August 20. And when I think about what will happen in October and November with the holiday rush, I want to curl up in the fetal position in a dark room! So I continue to work as fast as I can to pre-package as much stuff for Christmas as possible and just take one order at at time. And as I work I think in the back of my brain about what to do next, and whether I need to hire an official assistant.

As I work through all of this, I will probably be here a bit less often than usual, which I realize hasn't been very often lately... But if you can hang in here with me for a bit, and check in on occasion to say hi, it would make my day! And when it comes time for the holidays, I promise it will be worth your time to stop in and see what's going on around here. :)

Paper and Present 1-year anniversary GIVEAWAY

**The giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who participated!**

Sorry I am a day late in posting the Paper and Present one-year anniversary giveaway. But better late than never, right? :)

To enter to win, just take a look around the shop and then post a comment here letting me know what your favorite item is. If there is something that you wish I had in the shop but it isn't available, let me know and I might just add it in the future.

If you want extra chances to win, mention the giveaway and provide a link to this post on twitter, facebook, your own blog, or any other means of social media, and then post a comment here letting me know you did it. Each time you mention the giveaway, you get another entry (mention on twitter, facebook, and your blog, and you can get three separate entries).

So what's in it for you?

There will be one GRAND PRIZE winner, and that person will get FIFTY BUCKS in store credit to spend any way they want in the shop. And that's $50 in stuff; I'll pay the shipping! Yeah, baby!

And here's where it gets fun. For every ten entries in the giveaway, I'll pick one additional person at random to receive $10 worth of items of their choosing. In other words, if there are 23 entries, I'll pick two winners to get $10 store credit. If there are 55 entries, I'll pick five winners to get $10 store credit in addition to the grand prize winner. So feel free to spread the word and increase your chances of winning.

This giveaway will be open through this Sunday night, May 27, at 11:59 pm EST. I'll announce the winner(s) on Monday morning.

Good luck!

Estimation

Before taking on any project, it's important to estimate how much time it will take and decide whether you can realistically complete the project in the time given.

I thought I had it all worked out to sponsor a big wedding industry event in Californa that involved producing 100 goodie bags for attendees. But then the Heartsy deal happened, and I got stuck finishing the new space out in our workshop, and my computer died, and then I had to set up a new computer. And in between I was chasing Lachlan around. All I can say is that I really owe my mom for being here for the last 3 weeks. Especially because she stayed up until 2 in the morning helping me custom stain some wood tags and clothespins and wood filler for the bags (that almost caught our gas stove on fire, but that's a story for another day...) so that I could ship them in time to arrive in California by Friday.

Mom's are the best!!!!

Here's a glimpse of one of the bags. I'll give you more details on it once the event happens. :D