Keeping busy…

   I put way too much on my plate in the month of November. It has spilled into the month of December. Two major lessons were learned: from experience to stronger emotional being. I was also taking two classes about how to communicate through emotions and self-management. Thank goodness for those classes! I am an awkward person. Especially when it comes to talking. I can type my thoughts out, but talking is a whole different story.

   I am changing up my Etsy shop (sorry for so many changes in the last month). I originally got on there to sell custom Paintings…

   Until my little ones are older or if I had my own "craft" room, this was more trouble than I had bargained for. So, digital was my solution to tight spaces… right? 

   I spent roughly 8 hours. I did save it in almost 5 different formats. Including one of her face so that I could add it for maybe a future Paper Doll. That sounds like a good birthday gift! To think I still have to do Jake's Illustration. Where did this year go? I am going to do one of him as a Pirate and one as a Biker. It's going to be so much fun! 

   Anyway, the listing got almost zero views or repins from Pinterest. This month, I took it down. I'm hoping to put it back up (maybe with added shading or few additions) after I invest into a WACOM tablet of some sort. 

   So, there I began sharing my templates in PSD forms. That's where I am making my huge change in the Etsy shop. I had several buy and then inform me afterwards that they did not own Photoshop nor have a printer. I had to say No Refunds. I was very grateful and may have said THANK YOU from being overly excited when someone messaged me BEFORE purchasing to ask what programs she needed and what to do if she didn't have the fonts that were shown in the example. That's when I did a custom JPEG so that she could print anywhere needed be. Lesson number one learned.

    Now, I am focusing more on custom products. This includes for businesses AND clients. Custom logos, invitations, and other files will arrive in DIGITAL files in PNG, PDF, and JPEG form. If needed be, I would love to work with brochures, letterheads, and business cards. I also have options for custom printed products from WHCC, Millers Lab, and South Central Printing depending on the product. Needless to say, no more PSD files for a while.

   I will note that I am going to have to be harder on myself. I had a friend order cards, the day after they were being shipped to her house, she realized that the address was wrong. I chose to pay to get the package intercepted. Sadly, during this transaction: the package got lost! It took almost a week for UPS to confirm or deny if they had lost the package. Now, I'm reordering the cards. From now on, I'm having cards sent to my address, than I will personally ship it. *sigh* Lesson number two learned.

When I say I filled up my plate, I volunteered to paint a prop for a Christmas play. View the prop HERE! The original date of the play was canceled due to the weather, same as my son's first birthday party. We will be combining Ember and Jake's birthday parties this year. Due to the changes of date with the play, they were short handed. My husband and I were able to fill in as Mary and Joseph in the stable with baby Jesus and an Angel sitting above us. Layers of clothing and praying that God would watch over us, we were truly blessed! We even found a last minute baby sitter for the kids. I am hoping next year we will be able to help and volunteer more often.