That Little Idea that Didn't go Away...

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.