I survived Black Friday and other business

I survived working at the mall on Black Friday! And I'm exhausted. We weren't nearly as busy as I expected or as busy as we were last year, but busy none the less. I think I have three more days of work and then I'm off on Tuesday. Maybe. I have to look at the schedule better.

I'm done with making for all things Handmade Promenade. Well kinda...I dropped off everything I'd finished up on Wednesday, but decided I wanted to make a few more things to drop off some time next week maybe.

Now it's on to the sale I'm having this holiday weekend. The plan was to just have a sale on Saturday for Small Business Saturday, but then it just made more sense to have a sale all weekend long. I mean heck, why not.

So I started the sale yesterday and have extended it to Monday. I'll probably be adding a few more things to the shop through the weekend. I need to work on being better prepared for these things. So if you're interested in one of my lovely cowls or maybe a bear hat or a dinosaur hat you can save 20% off your order by using the code: SBS20. I love to do custom orders, so shoot me an email: issa[.]ino [at] gmail.com if you've got an idea for something or having any questions.


Next on my make list is the 100 Valentine cards for Indie Gift Box. As well as a dinosaur hat for a handmade giveaway. And then after that more product for my shop AND a small craft bizarre on December 15. I need to throw in a little bit of sewing as well for a gift exchange I'm hosting with a friend on my personal blog. I'm definitely keeping busy.

 I can't wait to get back to sewing again. It feels like it's been awhile since I've done any sewing for myself. It makes me sad. But soon I'll be back. I hope you all are doing well and that you all had a great holiday weekend. I'm ready for a two day nap.

slow going progress

Thanksgiving is next week. My Handmade Promenade deadline is next week. How did that happen? How did it come up so quick. Oi!

Between the sale I had last week and not staying as busy as I should have been. Well...I'm not as far along as I'd like to be. For the most part I got all my sale orders out the door save for one. It's complete, but it's also a care package as well. I didn't see the point in sending my friend several packages when I could send her just one complete package.

a bear hat for Chicago Bears fans...see what I did there

And now I set a goal to sell 25 bear hats by Sunday evening. Just for fun. No real reason. I just want to sell that many bear hats. I only have one order so far, but the rest can come flooding in at any time and then I'll be working on my HP deadline and bear hat orders. I'm a crazy crocheting machine, I am. I think I just like to stay busy and well I'm thinking about quitting my job and just running issa.ino:handmade full time.

I think the sewing portion of my HP goal should go fast. I've got most everything cut, just need to do the sewing part, greeting cards are also easy to throw together.. It's all the crocheting I'm doing that takes up a lot of time. And I have added a new item to my list (a bunny hat, but just for the kids). Here's the progress on my list so far:

• short cowls: 1.5
• fingerless gloves: 3
• dinosaur beanies: adult - 0, child - 0, newborn - 0
• bear beanies: adult - 2, child - 2, newborn - 4
• bunny beanies: newborn - 0
• small zipper wallets: 0
• hair bow headbands: 0
• bow ties: child - 0
• holiday greeting cards: 0
• miscellaneous greeting cards: 0
• valentine cards for IGB: 0 (I really don't need to working on these until after I finish HP items)

A lot of big fat goose eggs in that list and then add all the bear hats that I expect to sell this week. I feel like a glutton for punishment right now. But oh well, it makes me happy to be crafting. I just need to get rid of the distractions of my computer, my phone, books and the tv. I might have to go hang out at the library or something to get some work done. Anywho, the tutorial I promised probably won't go live at least until after I get the HP items out the door. Wish me luck that I get it all done. I've got a little over a week to finish it all.

success - a handful

Yay! My 3 day sale was successful. I didn't sell a whole lot, but I made enough that I am able to pick up some supplies for my Handmade Promenade items and for Indie Gift Box as well. I have a few more items I'll need to order and I think I'll be good to go. I might need to order some more business cards as well. I can't believe I've gone through so many.

I was also able to get a few items made this weekend. Not a lot, but enough to say I was productive. I got distracted by YouTube at one point on Saturday and probably sat for about two hours watching video after video. But, I'm almost ready to mark fingerless gloves off my to do list. *does yarn dance*

I work two half days this week so I expect to get A LOT done. Crocheting in front of the tv and assembly line on the card making. I just need to sketch out my ideas to make the cards go faster. I have a couple of ideas already. Since they'll be Valentine cards there will be a lot of hearts.

I also need to come up with an idea for a small bit of swag for opening day. I was thinking about making a little fabric drawstring bag and filling it with I don't know. The last swag bag I got had a piece of fabric covering a lollipop with a business tag attached. I like that idea too. It'd probably be the quickest and easiest idea. I guess we'll see. I've still got a couple of weeks. Any ideas you all have would be appreciated.

Alright, it's time for me to get back to work. Hopefully I'll be able to share some pictures of some of my progress. The sun goes down earlier now, so it'll be all about finding good light.

And if you get the chance visit these blogs this week:

Nov 6
       Gertie from Quilting for England
       Christa from Christa Quilts
      

Nov 8
        Pat from Color Me Quilty
        Cathy from Cut it Straight

NANOCRAFTED - a crafty challenge

A friend posted on FB asking if anyone wanted to join her for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month - a writing challenge). I'm not big on writing (of the novel/story variety) but told her if there was a crafty version I'd be down because I have 100+ greeting cards to make plus a full line for Handmade Promenade. That's how NaNoCraftEd was born.

Yeah, so Handmade Promenade and Indie Gift Box will be keeping me super busy this month. That means nothing on my 100 Day Hustle will probably get done. I don't know why, but I kinda saw that happening. I did get one thing done on my list though. I finally got my Aunt's cards and card holders finished and sent off to her. Too bad it took me A LOT longer than it should have.

So here is my NaNoCraftEd to do list. I'm going to try my best to check in AT LEAST once a week with my progress. The majority of this list needs to be finished by November 21. The rest of it (valentine cards) doesn't need to be done until the first week of December. The only problem I see right now is running out of supplies. I'm running out of yarn and because I won't get paid until items sell I don't have any extra cash on hand to buy yarn. Which is part of the reason why I'm having a sale in my shop right now.

Having a sale will earn me some extra cash for supplies and help make up for the fact that my hours are being cut at work AGAIN! So, all weekend long everything in my shop is 20% off. This includes custom orders as well. All items are already discounted so you don't need a special code.

All this holiday/vending crafting should most definitely help get me out of my crafting funk. Wish me luck!