Five Dot Design: One down, one to go- now let's play catch up.

This week has been a busy one between getting out my first wholesale order, meeting up with friends to ensure that we indeed still like each other and enjoy each other's company and getting ready for my first craft shows of the year. And then Britney's new album came out to top it all off. The printer is hummin' away, so I've got some QT to spend with my Mac... even though I might just have to eat my words on not cursing my printer. She's acting up and it's making my print time much much longer than normal. Alright, let's get to it.

My work holds a Bizarre Bazaar every year and if you've been around for awhile, I mentioned it last year about this time. Last year I managed to exceed my goal and I did it again this year! It was definitely slower, but I had a better selection and a broader range of pricing. I was really happy with how my set up turned out and with the reaction it got from everyone. The calendars were a hit (I sold out of wall calendars) and the Christmas cards went over really well with people, too. (Excuse the photos- I was using my little Nikon Coolpix to take some quick shots.)

Tomorrow morning I hit up the last craft fair I'll be doing this year. Yup, I did a whopping 2 craft shows and I'm tired. I know this time of year is the time to make good money at fairs/shows, but I don't want the stress and franticness that comes with it (I'm not a planner when it comes to these things. I second guess quantities, pricing, product, etc. and I always predict the wrong thing that I think will sell... therefore, it's always a crap shoot. I know that's true with everyone, but I don't like feeling unprepared.)

Once I finish up the craft show tomorrow, I have some custom work to finish up for some family and friends and then I just allow my Etsy shop to work for me. Being that it's our first Christmas with Charlotte, I don't want to spend my nites cutting cardstock and folding cards and then spending my weekends sitting behind a card table for the majority of the day. I'll leave that for when Five Dot because my sole source of income and the economy's can allow people to hand over their dolla dolla bills without second thought. Besides, I'd rather scope out the scene and put my time and effort into the ones that are right for me. Everything's been flowing at a very comfortable rate which has allowed me to take over the house only every so often.

In unrelated work news...

I participated in an ornament hosted by Modern Eve this month as well and I have to admit, it was pretty fun! Here are the ornaments I received from Katie- they're perfect for this year! Thanks Katie!! (P.S. check out her etsy shop. I wish I could pull off super cute head gear, but I'm not meant to be super cute like that for whatever STUPID reason.) I digress... here are the super cute ornaments hanging on our tree!

And I have to tell you how excited I am about my little gift to myself that FunnyErnie created for me. I had been looking for someone to do simple illustrations of my dogs- nothing fancy and intricate. Just something that captured them. And then I found Amy. Her style was perfect for it. Normally, I would have done something like this myself, but I'm more of a "draw-er" than an illustrator. I get fixated on details and then lose the whole point of what I'm doing. Amy gladly whipped up some concepts for me to look over and I'm really excited to frame the final product. Merry Christmas to me!

Here are the pooches for comparison

So now as I type and wait for 9 more calendars to print, hubs is in the front room cutting away- I swear that man can be talked in to anything as long as a movie and/or a good list of DVR'd shows are playing. There are many times (our wedding especially) when I thanked the Lord for television (yes, he hand-assembled all of our wedding invitations! He wove ribbon, used the tape gun and stuffed all 120. Yes. I said 120. And no, we're not famous or wildly popular... I just come from a very big family- 47 grandchildren on one side... ONE SIDE!) Check out his handy work!