Thanksgiving Memories

Every Thanksgiving my brother and his family come to visit which my oldest child looks forward to all year. I was lucky enough to get some great family pictures this time around.

I love having a dependable camera that takes great pictures despite my lack of talent. I love this picture because it is the picture after the picture. No one knew I'd set the camera to take multiple shots. I caught their natural expressions.

I thought about my Grandma as I set the picture up. My Mom always talks about this picture of her we took in almost the same spot when she visited us one year. She loved this picture, she loved visiting, and we loved having her.

I also thought about my Dad as I was driving to work Thanksgiving morning. Maybe it was because my husband and I had been talking about these coins we wanted to give all of the kids. My Dad was big on collecting things. When he passed away I found a little treasure chest full of half dollars.

I couldn't help but think of him again when I went paint-balling on Friday, too. This was the very first time I'd gone. I wonder what he'd think of that. He loved guns, collected those, too.

Seems like the first holiday in a long time where I really did things I wanted to do. I did crafts with my kids. I shopped. I ate at the Golden Corral. I went to bed early one night. I shot guns at my family :) Best. Thanksgiving. Ever.

Give Back

I'm so excited about this months sales thus far.

I actually had to put my shop on vacation status over the weekend just to catch up!

Perhaps people have heard about my November goal. 

For every sale made by the end of this month I'll be giving $1 to a charitable organization.

A little more info on that here.

I'd love to hear about your plans for giving back this holiday season.

If you'd like to support my shop and give back, check it out here.

Giving Thanks

It's been weighing on my heart for quite some time to start sharing some of the blessings I've been given. Every month proves more successful than the last with my handmade business. Up until this point I've been hesitant to celebrate my success, not wanting to get my hopes up, and trying to be cautious in how I use this income. I've shared in previous posts about spending less time working my "real" jobs, and I'm very grateful to have been able to stop working Wednesdays. I think having that extra day is helping me be more efficient in my Etsy shop as well.

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There are many things that have miraculously come together over the last month. For one, I finally took the leap and started shipping items from home. This is saving me quite a bit of money both in the price of actual shipping, as well as the time and money it takes to make it to the post office. No more leaving the kids at daycare or making them "stand" in line with me at the post office. I kid you not, it took me 30 minutes a few weeks ago to mail 3 international first class packages at the post office. I'd been doing domestic first class from home but couldn't find a site to do international. Shortly after this incident I decided to try Etsy shipping and discovered I can do international first class from home, too! God is in the small stuff.

Yet another miracle was a wonderful, kind person's (we won't name without permission) discovery of online auctions. I know many of you are thinking, how on earth did this help you? Well, without knowing I needed one, she purchased a color laser printer and offered it to my husband Paul. I had been debating and stressing about buying one of these for months, and she up and gave it to us, randomly. I've tried it a few times already and it's super amazing. I'd really like to use it to add more recipe cards and art prints to my shop. I've also been having trouble printing on bags and sticker labels with my inkjet and I think the laser will be perfect for that. What do all these items have in common? They don't require any paper punching. I've been praying that God would provide a way for me to be successful in my shop without killing my hands and wrists. 

Buy these cards here

I'd like to acknowledge that I see every single sale as a miracle, too. 

And so, I pledge that for every sale I make during the month of November I will donate one dollar to a charitable organization. I am still debating which charity to support. In light of the recent events on the east coast I'm thinking about support an organization such as City Harvest. I checked out their website and it looks like one of my employers matches donations. 

Last month I had 63 orders. My goal for November with the Christmas holiday coming is 75 sales. If I can get that match, that will mean $150 dollars going towards a wonderful cause. That just makes my heart happy.

There's this song that has been playing over and over in my head recently, possibly because the fish (radio) has just about killed it. There's a line in it that sings, "Show me how to love like you have loved me. Break my heart for what breaks yours." Between that and watching my little Sparkies at church giving all their pennies to our missionaries, I just know God is working in me.

Buy these tags here

I realize that many of you who read this will be friends and family. If you are wondering how you can help, please share this blog post on your facebook pages. I'd be delighted if you would post an item from my Etsy shop to your Pinterest accounts, too. Anything you can do to get the word out would be greatly appreciated.

Click here to go to my Etsy shop

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Thank you as always for your love and support. I Hope you have a lovely start to the holiday season.