About a year ago, almost to the day, I decided to see if anything would come of my little idea that wouldn’t go away, photo cards. I made up a little website and posted a couple designs. Amazingly, people actually paid me to design photo cards for them.Looking back, I am truly amazed at how far I have come and what I have learned in the process.
I am finally (mostly) happy with my website. I have hundreds of designs posted on my site, making most orders faster to complete. I am amazed what I have learned and taught myself in the past year. I started knowing next to nothing about graphic design, photo shop, etc. Now I feel really proficient and able to make my ideas reality. I would still like to learn more about actual photo editing, but I'm getting there.
Amazingly, I’ve completed nearly 400 orders already. I’ve had customers all over Canada, and the USA (California, New York, Illinois, New York, Georgia, South and North Carolina, etc). In the beginning almost all my orders were digital, whereas now it’s almost half and half. I’ve enjoyed getting into the wedding side of things as well. Now wedding related cards are almost half of the orders I get. I've loved designing wedding invitations. There is something so great about wrapping up a set of pretty invitations and mailing them off. Whenever I get an order I feel honored that someone choose me for their special event. I still get a little thrill every time I see that an order has gone through.
The whole thing has been wonderful and challenging at the same time. I've learned through mistakes and worked out some kinks along the way. I’m thrilled with how far I’ve come so far. It always makes me chuckle when people email me about having my "company" create their invitations, etc. However, I feel satisfied about the image that I've portrayed (that I'm not just a mom working in my basement). I'm still easily able to complete orders during nap time and/ or the evening, which has been great. September 1 will be the one year anniversary of my website, just 3 months away! I'm trying to think of fun ways to celebrate and/ or givewaways that I could have on my Facebook page. Any ideas???
My favourite kinds of cards to create are wedding thank you cards, since I love working with the wedding photos. As well as birth announcements, fresh new little babies, what could be better!?!
Where do I go from here? Well, who knows. For now I plan to just keep doing what I'm doing. Since my website it more established I am able to sit back a little more and complete orders without having to always work on extra stuff. We've been able to notice the extra income which has been wonderful! I would still like to grow a little more, however this takes time. I feel like I'm in a really good place with everything. I've really enjoyed being able to have a little something on the side, it's helped keep me sharp and well rounded.
What about teaching? This is the question that many have asked my lately. Well, I love teaching and plan on going back, I just don't know when. I would like to be at home while are kids are young and I have no idea where we'll be living in the next few years. I'll cross that bridge when the time comes. For now this is working for me.
This morning we headed out to Crystal Beach (along lake Erie). It's only 30 minutes from where we live, but it was the first time that we've been. We've had amazing weather here since we got back from BC. It's been about 28 degrees every day. Yesterday and today we had a little breeze which was was a welcome break from the hot sun. We're in full summer mode over here. Both Sarah and I have tan lines already...crazy! It's not even June yet. Makes me wonder what kind of summer we're going to have. I'm also curious how dark Sarah will be by the end of summer, even with spf 45 sunscreen on daily.
We also drove a couple minutes away to the boat launch area where there was an amazing playground and beautiful view of the lake.
On our last Sunday afternoon/ evening in BC we had a wiener roast at cousin Steve's new place. His backyard is the perfect place for a fire pit. It was great to spend some last minute time with family, even though these days there seems to be more chasing around the little kids than actually visiting,
Drew, Sarah and Ethan
Drew was all about getting a little crazy for the camera. This boy has tons of energy and enthusiasm. I think the property will be a great fit for him and the rest of the Ediger/ Klassen family. Drew seems to have found his happy place here.
Sarah got a kite for her birthday from the Alfred's. Later in the day we met up with Andy and Sharalee. Andy had thought it would be fun to get a kite to fly with the girls. What a funny coincidence that Sarah had got a kite that very same day!
Sharalee holding the babies. Kiara is hiding under the blanket.
Mr. Owen playing on the playground equipment. It is not an easy task to get a great pic of this little man, even though he's incredibly cute and probably the smartest little three year old out there!
While in BC, David hosted a Tutored Wine Tasting in my mom's social room. I always enjoy listening to him talk about wine, he's so passionate!
Little Calvin woke up half way through and wouldn't settle, so he ended up joining the party.
