Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Week three!

We're halfway through week three of the new year and I've been busy making lots of designs for my CandiMaker Etsy shop. Since Friday, I've gotten at least one new design made and uploaded each day...and at least two designs a day since Monday. :) Right now I've been focused on a lot of love, Valentine, and even quite a few anti-Valentine's day designs. I have at least a few more of those designs I want to get uploaded and then I'll work on a couple St Patrick's Day and Easter designs. 

I also ordered some free Priority Mail envelopes and boxes because I'm going to start selling transfer prints of my designs as well and need to test out how I'm going to ship them. The 8 1/2x11 size prints are easy to mail in the envelopes but I'll have to see what I can do about shipping the 11x17 and 13x19 print sizes. My printer/ink/paper set-up puts out amazing color prints and they look great when pressed. I'm still working with substrates on my heat press to offer actual sublimated products. I have a certain spot where my pressed shirts aren't quite as sharp and detailed as the rest of the shirt. I ordered a larger pressing pillow to see if that will help. Otherwise, it might be the heat press itself. So we'll see how it goes. I really wish I would've saved up a bit more for a larger heat press. The 15x15 works for a lot of things, but it'd be nice to have a larger one for the bigger designs that I print as well. 

I also want to design and build a wall-to-wall desk/shelving unit for the office to make even better use of the space. I don't know when that will actually happen...but I've been daydreaming about it a lot. I still have to get the exact measurements of the room and lay it all out and come up with what I need and want. I do know I want to make it in a way that is versatile if things need to be rearranged around a bit if I get new equipment or anything like that. But...I want to focus on more designs right now before I take on that challenge. 

Johnny and I had doctor appointments on Monday for the refills of our prescriptions. I really love our family care doctor. I saw him as a teenager and then started seeing him again at the beginning of my pregnancy with Aubry when he moved to a small town nearby. And then a few years before we got married, Johnny started seeing him as well. He's just everything that you want in a primary care physician. He's very personable and never makes you feel rushed. We sat there and chatted about Covid, king-size beds, and dogs for much of our appointment. I never mind waiting to see the doctor, because I expect others are getting the same attentive and personable care that I appreciate so much. He also keeps track of ALL the many health issues that we've had over the years...which is really helpful when new things come up or anything changes in our health. I can't say enough good things about him. I've been having a lot of issues with my back lately...so he started me on a short course of steroids to hopefully calm down my sciatica. Plus despite the nasty bitter taste that I hate...they've been great for my energy and being productive! That first day I took them that evening after we picked them up at the pharmacy...I ended up not being able to get to sleep until 4:30am but I did get quite a lot of designs done! :P I take them in the morning now so that helps me a little more with getting to sleep at night. I go to bed at 2:30 instead of 4:30 so that's progress. ;) 

Now I'm going to get back to designing. :)