I LOVE blended iced coffees. They are my major weakness, and I know this is completely random, but right now I am totally bummed because I drove through one of my favorite coffee shops after I shipped out my last sale and whoever made my coffee completely messed up. I mean it tasted like i was drinking the flavor syrup right out of the container.

Of course I didn't take a drink until I was halfway home, and I hate hate hate confrontation so I wasn't about to go back and ask them to fix it. Instead I did what I always do, I tried to fix it myself when I got home (thank goodness I was on my way home).

It definitely tastes better, but it still isn't very good, and I'm super bummed.

So there's my random rant for the day.

Another Sale - Finally!

I made another sale - yay! Its so exciting, I never get tired of making a sale, and after a slump I was super excited to make another one.

I was in the forums over at Etsy the other day and someone had asked if sellers who have hundreds of sales still get excited. I thought it was a great question, because I'm still a newbie so every sale is exciting to me, but aomeone who had over a thousand sales said that she still gets excited at each one, and that gave me a little more hope.

I guess if I ever don't get that giddy feeling when I make a sale then that shows me that it is time to try something new.

Right now I appreciate my buyers so much, I am amazed and humbled by every sale because it means that other people, people that I have never even met like my work enough to pay for it. That i've done something right.

I'm off to the fair!

It's time for our local county fair, and I have dusted off my boots! I will be spending the next week helping with 4H events and working in concession stands, so my posts will be few and far between, but only for a week.

I am especially looking forward to making the fair work for my business. This is the perfect place to promote Obsessively Organized, as it is the one place where I will see everyone that I know. The fair is a big deal aroound here, even those who have moved away tend to come back for the county fair, so this will be a great opportunity for me to use the best marketing tool known to man - word of mouth. I will also be handing out business cards (but not in an obnoxious way). I am looking forward to seeing everyone that I have not seen since the fair last year, and I am excited to tell them about all of the work that I've been doing (however, if they would just read the blog then I wouldn't have to tell them!).

While I'm away having fun (and working too!) take some time to check out http://buggabugs.etsy.com/ they have an adorable pattern for County Fair Treats made from felt. Also take a look at http://yeehaw.etsy.com/ where you will find some hilarious letterpress signs, including one advertising "mule sniffing" and "squirrel tossing" at the county fair.

Other Projects

After working my little butt off all week I had to make some time to work on some of my other projects. Our County Fair is next week and I had a ton of entries to finish so I made some time to work on them yesterday and I had to share a couple of them with the world.

Here is my handmade birthday card and envelope. How cute!

I am also entering a decorated journal cover, handmade jewelry ( a gorgeous necklace that I hope does really well because I absolutely love it), a decorated picture frame, and a handmade welcome sign.

The other project that I had to finish was a baby quilt. Every year I work with a 4H club that makes quilts to donate to different organizations, this year we are donating our quilts to the neonatal unit at the local children's hospital. The quilts were so little and quick that I made two, one to donate and one for a friend (I still have to finish the one for my friend). here's how my hard work turned out:

It was great to be able to take time to finish these projects, but I sure have been running around all day trying to make up for the time that I lost yesterday. I have listed the wedding book that I was working on a few days ago on my Etsy site (http://obsessivelyorganized.etsy.com) be sure to stop by and check it out, it looks gorgeous! Ok, now I'm off to take care of some binding issues!

Business Cards!

I have been working on my business cards for weeks, and I have printed at least 4 different styles, but I think I finally got it right! They are simple, but still cute, and they have a picture so that everyone can see exactly what I do.

I am so proud of them because I did them myself, but I would love to hear what you think, and please be honest!

All About Me!

Who am I? That's a great question, and I could give you a generic answer that doesn't really tell you a lot about who I really am, but seeing as this blog is about my experiences as a new business owner, it helps for you to know a little about me. The more that you know about me, the more you will understand what I have to say. I'm Erin. I graduated from college in December, and I was ecstatic to be offered a full-time position as a preschool teacher right away. Unfortunately, at the end of the school year the school was forced to downsize, and I was suddenly out of a job, which is a pretty familiar story right now.

I understood that there was a possibility that I could be looking for a job for quite some time, so in the meantime I needed something that would keep me busy, and hopefully bring in a little money. I have always thought that it would be wonderful to work for myself, and I know that I may never have this opportunity again, so faced with a whole bunch of free time and some creative inspiration, along with that little voice in the back of my head that keeps saying "you can do this", I've started my own small business.

I run Obsessively Organized (a name that describes me pretty well), a paper goods organization which produces weekly planners, academic organizers, wedding plan books, journals, and teacher lesson plan books. At least, that's all that I make right now, who knows what my business will grow into (I hope it grows into something!). All of my layouts are completely original, I've designed them all myself, and I've used many of them in my own personal calendars and planners when I was in college.

As if my own business wasn't enough to keep me busy all summer, I have spent a huge amount of my time volunteering for my favorite youth development organization. Some people think that I have spent my summer being a lazy bum without a job, but you can tell that those people don't know me too well. The word "lazy" is not a part of my vocabulary. I've learned a lot in the month since I started Obsessively Organized, but I know that I have just barely grazed the surface of the knowledge that I will accumulate as my business grows. So follow along through all of my ups and downs. I can assure you that it will be entertaining, i'm generally good for the occasional laugh, especially at my own expense. And don't forget to check out my shop at http://obsessivelyorganized.etsy.com/ !