We Did It!

The last bin of Pre-holiday orders! Whew! 

600 items sold
299 orders
2 cases bubble mailers
1 pound activated charcoal
8 gallons olive oil

= A tired and grateful me!

The last month has been beyond my wildest expectations as holiday buying season on etsy was in full swing. I approached what is generally considered "rush time" with a healthy dose of scepticism, because I don't consider my items terribly "giftable" and being my first real holiday season on etsy; I didn't want to get my hopes (and my supply stock) up and then end up disappointed.

So, I stocked up, but not overly so; I prepared by buying a fresh case of bubble mailers and bubble wrap; and then I prepared to have my hopes dashed. Well, the hope dashing was not to be! On Black Friday alone; I had over 50 sales; and in the last 30 days have averaged 20 sales per day. WOW! I had a few memorable days over the Thanksgiving weekend where I did nothing but stare at my screen in amazement as the sales count rose; and click "renew sold" 24 hours a day.

The last month has been a blur as I made my unexpected smash hit, Blacksmith shaving soap in my dinky new crockpot. There were days where I made batches and batches of the stuff and ended the day looking like I was about to break into "Chim-chiminee, chim-chiminee, chim chim, cheree; a sweep is as lucky as lucky can be.....".

Every day I raced around filling orders all day; and had late into the night labeling/packing sessions with my husband; who spent his evenings in my workshop (formerly the garage), which, although insulated, was so cold he could see his breath! Fortunately; he worked tirelessly; requesting only that I keep him in imported beer and Pandora radio! Often at 3am, I had to beg him to go to bed, and then he'd be up at 6; dressing the boys for school and letting me sleep. I'm completely serious when I say that without him keeping me grounded, I would have run away to Bermuda when the pressure was on!

We ate a lot of pizza; some fast food (I tried to mix in a veg or two or the occasional home cooked meal to avoid the "Worst Mother in the World" award). I stopped wearing makeup (no time!); wore yoga pants 24/7, drank endless rounds of espresso, finally buying this machine to save money (or something) Ok, ok; I bought it because it was cool. But presumably I will end up visiting the coffee shop less with this....

$1.00 per coffee! And it makes a mean cappuccino.....yum!

So now that all my blacksmith soaps are blacksmithed, and the last order has been packed and shipped, frantically at 3pm on Saturday; I have spent a glorious Sunday sleeping in, eating brunch (late), milling around on the internet, cuddling with my boys and husband, and generally becoming bored out of my mind.....so 2012; bring it on, I'm ready for ya!