Monday - Not just for The Real Housewives anymore!

I am, actually, watching the Real Housewives of New York - not the same since Bethany moved on, I must say. However, this Monday's blog is going to be about finding the comfort in moving slowly. I know, its a tuffy!

Hello, loyal supporters, friends, and "lurkers"! Paper Dolls just celebrated its third sale on Etsy this weekend...cue the confetti. Honestly, we are genuinely excited and truly appreciate the support. I can't imagine a time when every sale that comes in doesn't result in a squeal of excitement and a round of text messages chock-full of exclamation points. However, there are other women in our Etsy group that have sold 750, 1000 and even multiple thousands of their crafts. I'd be lying if I said we weren't even the slightest bit jealous.

What I have to keep reminding myself is that while we have been crafting our whole lives, we just posted our first item on Etsy a couple of months ago. Furthermore, we just purchased our first showcase a little over a week ago. It seems to be working and we are going to keep trying different things: adding new items regularly, reposting items so they show up in searches, and continuing to blog, Pinterest and Facebook the heck out of our work.

At any time of day, I am bound to have at least one of the following phrases running through my head:

1. Take your time and do it right.
2. Just because something works for one person doesn't mean its the right way for us.
3. No one said it was going to be easy. Or quick!
4. Stay focused and work towards your dreams.
5. The moment you commit to something, the universe conspires to assist you. (Believe me, Universe, we're committed! Bring on the assisting.)

I know one day soon we will look back on this time and wish we could go back to the days when times were simpler and we were able to catch our breaths and had lives outside of Paper Dolls. If that is one year from now, or two, or even three - it will be a great day. In the mean time, I am relishing this period of learning and growth and exploration. Its our time right now. Everything for a reason and everything for good.

Have a great week!

Free at last, Free at last....

... Well, at least one of us is. And only partially. So, maybe that was not the most appropriate title after all. Hmmm.... will strive to improve my blog titling skills.

What was I referring to? Gracie's last day of school is tomorrow! She is free of fourth graders for 3 whole months. But, she still has to study for her National Boards exam so cross your fingers for her. Good luck Gracie - have a great last day tomorrow!

For the other two Paper Dolls, its business as usual. No 3 months off for us, suckers. But, there is still something about summer in Vegas that makes you feel free. And hot! So, its that time again -lets ramp up the sweat shop. The Harvest Festival is coming up in September and we would really like to participate. There is a lot of work involved in even registering - you have to have a photo or sketch of your display, descriptions of your product, photos of you making your crafts, oh, and a $500 fee. Sheesh! But, we're going to make it happen. We'd love to hear from any other crafters who have participated in the Harvest Festival - let us know how it went, any tips you might have, dos and donts, etc? If you don't make crafts yourself but have attended the event before, tell us what you love the most about it and what your favorite crafts to shop for are. Are you buying gifts for fall holidays or Christmas or are you just out shopping for things you love with your favorite friend?

Finally, a big thank you to all of our new followers! We appreciate you baring with us while we figure out the technical side of blogging. Have a great Thursday tomorrow, we know Gracie will. Keep crafting

Minding Our Business

Hi, soon to be loyal blog-reader-friends, I'm going to introduce you to another regular segment on our blog. It's going to deal with the steps we're taking and progress we're making in opening our own brick-and-mortar scrapbook supplies etc. shop. This highly anticipated event will hopefully take place a year from now and be appropriately and charmingly, if we do say so ourselves, called: Paper Dolls. This week, the progress we've made is in our blog. Now this is still definitely a work in progress; we're planning lots of changes and improvements. I don't think we'll continue to have Spanish captions for example, fine language though it is. So keep checking back with us and live vicariously through the many successes and failures we're bound to experience along the way to realizing one of our dreams. You are hereby given an invitation to share in our journey and a save-the-date card to our Grand Opening on July 1st, 2012. Talk to you soon and see you there!