I LOVE Etsy

I love Etsy! For so many reasons. Too many reasons to list. So... as I wait for files to save, upload to servers, print, & etc. I find myself on Etsy. I love seeing all the unique & beautiful handmade goods. I love that you can buy something origional that can't be found at the store. I love that you can support stay at home mom's who like to make things. I could go on & on. But one of my favorite things about Etsy are all the weird things you can find.


For example, you can buy these toilet tea-lights. They are perfect if you plan on throwing a potty-training party! I'd like to see you find something like this at Target.

Or this smoking squid pin that would probably match every outfit hanging in my closet. Even Anthropology doesn't sell anything this unique.

I'm not sure what this is. But I guess it doesn't matter since it's SOLD anyhow.

If I were to purchase this dancing dog portrait for my wall (at $300). I could count on being the only person in my neighborhood to hang such a piece of artwork.

I actually think this headpiece is pretty cute. But I'm not sure where I'd wear it. The library perhaps?

Don't show up at a baby shower again fearing that you may be giving a duplicate gift. This Baby sculpture is one of a kind. Not found at Babies-R-Us. Only $45.

My kids would LOVE me if I had a shirt like this. Too bad it's already been sold.

I can think of numerous occasions when I would need to wear this bald eagle hat.
(Also great for bad hair days.)

A Smoking Dora Pony adorning a horn? Who wouldn't pay $70 for a mutilated toy?

Wouldn't this look fabulous on my doorstep? It's a total steel at $17 + shipping. I think I'd have to re-paint the toenails pink though.

This is seriously the second coolest Christmas card ever!!!

Did I mention that I LOVE Etsy?

CHA

We are back from CHA. I didn't think anything could be crazier than getting ready for & packing for CHA while babysitting neighbor kids. I was wrong. Coming home to a weeks worth of Vinyl orders plus an abundance of Stamp orders from the show is much crazier. Even after working from 7am until 1am everyday except Sunday... we still haven't caught up. You can't really see how many packages we ship each day because the packages that we haven't printed shipping labels for yet are still hiding behind the desk. The picture above depicts a daily occurance since we've been home.
The drive to and from California was the most relaxing time we've had in a very long time. No one was crying and we enjoyed listening to books on tape.
Somehow Tyler fit our entire booth, all our promotional materials, & our luggage into our tiny little Jetta.

The show was fun. I got to see a lot of friends I used to work with (at least 10 of them.) It was fun to catch up. We made lots of orders, learned a lot, and talked to lots of media. We are happy we went and think it was just the kick start that our stamp company needed.
Everyone (including Elizabeth Kartchner, who you can watch on Studio 5 tomorrow) loved all the stamped samples that Emily made. Thanks Emily!

We didn't do much after the show ended each night. We had just enough time to grab some dinner. Afterward, we tried to keep up with emails from customers. By the time we finished answering as many emails as we could on our hotels low speed internet, it was nearly midnight.

Tyler had a birthday while we were gone... we will celebrate after we get caught up.

We missed Ella & Lily and were very happy to see them when we got home.

We appreciate My mom, Trisha, Emily, & Tyler's parents for watching our kids while we were gone.
Thank you to everyone who has helped us. Starting a new business, and trying to make it successful is a lot more work than we had anticipated, and we couldn't have done it without everyone's help.

a baby mayor

Ella: Mom, on T.V. I saw a baby wearing a tall black hat, and just a diaper. Guess what the funniest part is.
Me: I have no clue.
Ella: The baby was a mayor. Ha ha ha!
Me: Do you know what a mayor is?
Ella: no, that's what makes it so funny!

Lily Scoots

I was sad when Ella brought home a flyer from school saying there was
going to be a free "skate night" while I was gone. I really wanted to
take the girls. Luckily for them, my mom & Trisha decided to take
them. Lily tried out a scooter for the first time.

The Show

Tyler making a sale to a shop owner from Singapore. He has a bit of
his dads salesmanship in him.

Happy Birthday Tyler

Here's a picture of Tyler emailing customers back, while sitting in
our hotel room. He works harder than anyone I know. Happy Birthday!

No Car

Tyler & I have been sharing a car for the past year and a half. I try not to have a bad attitude about it, but sometimes it's hard. Like today. I was supposed to leave 20 minutes ago. Lily is crying at the door to leave, but I don't have a car, and it's snowing outside. Or when Ella's school (a mile & 1/2 away) calls me to come pick Ella up early... but again, I have a 2 year old & no car. By the time we walk up there, school will be over anyhow.
Or the time I had to take a family of 9 a warm meal in another neighborhood, on a stormy night by 6pm, but again, I had 2 hungry tired kids who I'd have to walk with & a huge meal. I could hardly carry that large of a meal let alone 2 kids.
Anyhow, who thinks I should take some of the money I've saved from not having a car this month and buy this decor for my new home? I think it would really help my attitude. Don't you? Some sleep would probably help my attitude as well, but who has time for that?

A barf chart

*WARNING* The following post is not intended for people with weak stomachs.

Poor Ella got sick today. Tyler cleaned Ella up after she threw up all over herself, while I took her friends home. He mentioned to her that, sometimes, bigger kids throw up in the toilet so that they don't have to take a bath each time. A little while later, I saw/heard her in the bathroom. I was so proud of her for running to the bathroom instead of throwing up on the couch where she was sitting. She was quite proud of herself as well.

Ella: Mom, are you proud of me?
Me: Yes! Nice job Ella.
Ella: Can we make a throw up chart and put a smiley face on it every time I throw up and it's in the toilet?
Me: What if we just put a smiley face on your everyday chart?
Ella: No, I want a throw up chart.

Lily's favorite part of church

You might think that Lily's favorite part of church is the music that she loves to dance & sing to... but it isn't. Her favorite part, by far, happens to be the sustainings. She couldn't be happier raising her hand and looking around to see that everyone else is also raising their hands. The only thing that would make her happier is if everyone shouted “me” as they raised their hands.

Floor Plan

Here's our floor plan. It's not to scale, just a quick drawing I did from Memory. There's a small Bonus room upstairs.

Benefits of working at home

Sometimes it's hard to remember the benefits of working at home. Especially when you have equipment, exact-o knives, & glue everywhere. These types of things don't mix well with kids.

We have products, promotional materials, boxes, postcards, & business cards on every table, fireplace mantel, & flat surface.

Below is our dining room... yes our table is unusable & on it's side.

Our hallway (below) isn't usually this bad... but those of you who've been over to visit us in this house have probably seen similar scenes in our entry way. We usually try to keep it clear on a daily basis... but it always seems to collect boxes.

As you can see below, we are running out of room in our basement & garage for all our boxes, products & packaging. We don't like to stack the boxes on top of each other because we need to be able to get to them easily to “pick” our products on a routine basis.

Our business has officially taken over our entire house including our master bedroom (which is way too filled and embarrassing to show on a blog post.)
Ella & Lily's room are currently “business free.” However, they have not been spared from the effects of having a home business. Their bedrooms are where I send them and their friends to play when I'm afraid someone is going to knock over a display wall, run on top of some vinyl, destroy products, or cut themselves with an exact-o knife... Their rooms are possibly more of a mess than the rest of our house.

We are looking forward to our new house, where there will be a very large designated space just for our business.

Lunch with Tonya

My friend Tonya invited Emily and I over for a Picnic at her new house today. The kids loved her playroom which had a 2-story castle. They were also very excited to play with their friends that they hadn't seen since preschool ended last year. Ella hasn't stopped talking about her girls all afternoon. Emily and I enjoyed touring Tonya's beautiful house. We are completely jealous of her adorable craft room. Her entire house was decorated so lovely. We had such a great time visiting with Tonya. She's so nice, creative, & fun! Thanks Tonya.