2014 In Review

Well we are already at another new year which means new goals and new resolutions. But before we make new goals and new resolutions why don't we review the goals we made at the beginning of 2014.

Here are the goals I posted earlier this year or better yet at the end of 2013:

2014 Goals for KraftieKidz
- Double what I made in 2013   2013 ended with 86 sales and $437.81 in revenue, and 2014 ended with 64 sales and $668.59. That's not exactly doubling but that's still pretty good.
- Write my about page 
- Have about 240 items listed by my birthday (April 21) and 300 or more listed by the end of the year.  I am far from that.
- Have a bigger inventory birthday, mother's day, father's day, christmas, valentines day, and graduation cards, than I did in 2013.   I made more in birthday and graduation, but didn't get around to listing all of them. I made more Christmas as well, but didn't  get to list them all; I sold most of them locally. I also had a bigger inventory for back to school.
- Add wedding and baby cards.   I added baby cards.
- Add more colors and themes to die cut sets.    Done.
- Add gift card holders, magnets, clothes pins, and paper clips.    I added a few gift cards.


Other Goals
- Make and list jewelry in our other shop.
- Learn how to sew simple items.   I have learned how to sew. Now I plan to start helping mama with sewing the simple skirts very soon.
- Make birthday cards for all the little kids in church.   I started with the 1-3 year olds. 
- Blog more.    I did blog more this year than in 2013, but not by much.



Other goals that I achieved that are not listed:
- Opening an instagram account
- Opening a pintrest account
- Selling in a local boutique shop
- Selling at local craft markets


I'm a little bummed that I didn't accomplish more but looking at the whole list I did achieve a good bit. I'll just work even harder next year.

My next post I will share my goals for 2015. (All of these goals will roll over into next year.)

But before I do, I will leave you with some pictures taken throughout the year.

Happy New Year!

Our Experience With Selling In A Local Boutique Shop

Sorry it's been several weeks since I posted. But here's that post I promised you in my last post. 

Since we started selling the girls skirts in the shop the experience has been great. Shelly Jordan, the owner of Shoppes on Trade has been very helpful. Every time we go in we're always coming out with a list of items she would like us to work on. 

The Shoppes on Trade is a gift shop with a boutique feel that has a variety of handmade gifts from vendors around the Greenville SC area

Working with Shelly has been awesome. She has wonderful ideas and dreams for the shop itself and for all the vendors. One of the things she has been doing is craft shows. She has started taking Shoppes on Trade on the road to different craft shows around our area and has dreams to include more and more craft shows in the future.

If you are ever in the Greenville area why don't you stop in for a visit. We would love to see you!

KraftieKidz & CreationsbyJessi's Very First Craft Show

Sorry it's been so long since I have posted. I have been super duper busy since my last post.
 I'll briefly bring you up to date.

In September we found a local craft show that looked interesting; so we went and checked it out. (We have been looking for a local craft show that wasn't too expensive for a booth.) And we met a lady who owns a local gift shop filled with handmade or repurposed items from different vendors. (I'll write a post on that later) When we told her that mom (Teresa) makes girls skirts and dresses, and that I (Jessica) makes cards and other paper items, and that my brother, Daniel does photography. She wanted us to come in and see her shop. We find out later that she has been looking for another vendor who makes girls clothes since the vendor who has been making the clothes is leaving her.

So in October we started selling our skirts and dresses in Shoppes on Trade. And so far it has been a wonderful experience. We have had quite a few custom orders through the shop. Shelly, the owner of the gift shop, has even sent a customer my way who was needing a custom birthday banner.



Ok, now for something more recent.

This past weekend we had our first craft show. (technically this was our second show but the first wasn't much of a craft show so I am calling this our first.) And it was so much fun! We may have only sold three items (one skirt, and two cards) but we got to mingle and fellowship with some of the other vendors.

Here are some pictures we took.

I had forgotten the banner I made for our booth so I had to have mama bring it with her when she came back.

Here's our booth with the banner on it.

 It was so cold after the sun went down that they brought out barrels and chopped up wood pallets to make a fire. And if you didn't have customers at your booth you could go warm up at the fire. (Sorry this wasn't a very good picture.)

Overall our experience with the weekend show was great. We learned valuable lessons and got wonderful ideas for our booth display and what we thought might would sell better at the next show. We even gleaned information from customers who stopped by to ask if we had certain cards in a set or if we had a different color in a certain card design. My brother even had a lady tell him he should offer his color penciled cards in a set not just individualy. I loved it that the customers weren't bashful to ask if we had something, because it lets us know what customers are looking for.



Next time I will post more about Shoppes on Trade and our experience with it.

Holiday Gift Card Holders

I finally made some gift card holders!!
It took me awhile to find a design I liked without it looking like I copied someone else. But I finally found it.

I found the design in the book I posted awhile back called The Joy of Cardmaking.

Now to my knowledge these cards are not gift card holders, but when I saw them I knew they would be perfect!

I hope to get these listed in KraftieKidz next week. And I can't wait to make more!

September Resolution

I know, I know, you hear resolution and you think New Year. But really we should have resolutions more than just once a year. One of the the definitions of the word is a decision or a determination. And I am determined to get back to being busy like I was at the beginning of the year.



So here are my goals for the month:

- Make one item everyday except Sunday

- List one item everyday except Sunday

- Practice on my coloring




Speaking of coloring here is something new. I got a new stamp set from Sweet Stamp Shop and I have been practicing with them. I'm hoping I can add them to projects soon.

Hedgehog Kiss Stamp Set

And here's something extra. I made this for a friend who moved to Maryland before school started. She gets to play on the school volleyball team and it's her first time.

A Few of my Summer Projects

Well, I'm sure most of you thought I fell off the end of the earth. I apologize for disappearing for so long. Life has been hectic since my last post. From the school year finishing - my Grandpa passing away in May - our computer going haywire - the crazy summer life. You get the picture.

Ok, enough talking about my crazy life!

Thankfully through all of this I've still had some sales; not as many as I had before, and definitely not as many as I would have liked, but I've still done pretty good considering everything that was going on.

I'll show some of what I worked on.

I found this adorable baby bear stamp on the clearance isle at Hobby Lobby and colored it in with coloring pencils. I added them to KraftieKidz as baby shower thank you cards.

I'm starting to get ready for the big Christmas season. Again I colored in the stamped images with coloring pencils.

I found this book on the clearance isle at Hobby Lobby and I love it! There's a ton of ideas I can't wait to work on. I'm hoping to post some of them very soon.

So now you've seen some of the projects I have worked on. I'm hoping to get some more up soon and to get back into blogging again. 

Oh and one more thing before I go.

 You can now find KraftieKidz on instagram!

2014 Goal Update

Since it is the end if April I thought it would be a good time to give you an update on my goals for 2014.
 To see the original 2014 goal post click here

2014 Goals for KarftieKidz

- Double what I made in 2013 ------ I have made a little over half than what I did last year.

- Write my about page ------ Still need to do that.

- Have about 220 items listed by my birthday (April 21) and 300 or more by the end of the year ------ Well my birthday as come and gone I still do not have 220 items in my shop. I have listed new items but have also sold a lot of items. (That's a good thing) I will aim for 300 by the end of the year though.

- Have a bigger inventory of birthday, mother's day, father's day, graduation, Christmas, and valentines day cards ------ I haven't really done a whole lot in this area. I've already missed valentines day, and mother's day is very close. I still have some time for graduation and father's day but they may be slim as well. I am aiming to have a bigger selection of Christmas this year.

- Add wedding and baby cards ------ Again I haven't done much in this area.

- Add more colors and themes to die cut sets ------ I have done this and will do more.

- Add gift card holders, magnets, decorative clothespins and paper clips ------ Haven't done this yet but I am thinking of gift card holders.

Other Goals

- Make and list jewelry in other shop ------ Hoping to work on this during the summer.

- Learn how to sew simple items ------ I haven't sewed simple items yet but I am working on crocheting a ruffle scarf.

- Make birthday cards for all the little kids in church ------ I have been doing this since the first of the year.

- Blog more ------ Still working on this.


One thing I didn't add to my goal list was baby banners. I have made and sold baby banners in different themes. So far I have 5 or 6 different themed banners)


Here some pictures of some of the projects I am working on.

The ruffle scarf I was talking about

I am going to shade in the stamped images with colored pencils.
Like this

New Baby Banners and Toddler Dresses

I know you have already heard me say this but sorry it's been so long since I blogged. I have been super busy since last month. I've missed blogging weekly and I haven't been able to make and list items as much as I would have liked either. 

Now just because I am busy doesn't mean my shop is lacking. Though looking at my shop inventory it doesn't look it but March was a big month for me. I ended the month with 10 most of which were baby banners and over $100 in revenue. That's 4 sales more than March 2013 and $84 more in revenue.

Here is some new items. 

Purple Polka Dot Butterfly Banner

It's A Girl Banner

Both banners were custom but the Butterfly banner was a customer's creation. ( I personally would not have used that much purple but that was what she wanted and was quite pleased with the finished product. )

Here's some new items from creationsbyjessi

(Except for the extra pink, this was also a customer's creation.)

Well that is all; hopefully I can get back to listing more items. 

Have a great rest of the week!