April is going well!

So far April is going quite well, actually. It's actually going about as well as last month so far. The second week of April was slower than the end of March...but it's actually about the same as the first couple weeks of March...which was my best month so far. So...hopefully April continues along the same path! :) I didn't have any orders yesterday...but this morning I had 3 orders from Etsy and 1 from eBay all before noon. I've already got those orders printed, cut, and packaged. I've been working on some new stickers but I'm not sure I'll have them all done and photographed before the weekend. Since I worked last weekend, I'm planning to take a break from work this weekend. So we'll see how it goes. 

The kitties turned EIGHT this month! It's hard to believe it's been that long already. All three of them are still doing well. Milo still sleeps on the pillow above my head every night. The pillow is wrapped in a soft blanket that he kneads before he falls asleep. Leo is still the biggest kitty by far...and he's upstairs a lot more often now. When we first got Nova, he was too nervous to come up from the basement. The dogs individually do really well...but together they tend to get each other all worked up and the cats don't really like all the excitement. But the more the cats are up here, the more the dogs leave them alone. Angel still isn't coming upstairs unless the dogs are outside or in the bedroom with Johnny. She's tried to come up a few times when the dogs have been asleep in the living room...but she always makes little trilling noises that wake them up and they chase her back downstairs. If she'd come up here more regularly, they'd get used to her and leave her alone like they do with the other two cats...but she's making progress. Up until a few months ago, she wouldn't come upstairs at all. When she does come up now, she runs straight to lay in my lap and drools all over me. I didn't even know cats drool until I looked it up to make sure it wasn't something to be concerned about. :P Apparently they do it when they're really happy. lol. 

The dogs are doing pretty good. We bought the turkey version of the Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach food to see if Bozley would eat it better. He didn't...and it turns out that Nova is also allergic to turkey. :P She's had ground turkey before...they would get a little bit when I make chili. After browning it, I'd save a little bit of it for them before I mixed it with the rest of the chili ingredients. She never had a problem with the little amounts...but eating it daily turned out to be a problem. So we switched them back to salmon and have been giving her Benadryl. She's still kinda scratchy but her spots seem to be doing better. We need to get them back to the groomer AND we still need to get Bozley in to be fixed. :P 

The new AC is working wonderfully. It hasn't gone above 1 degree higher than the temperature that it's set at. The old AC had a hard time keeping up on the hottest days. So...even though it was a pain in the ass having it go out and then coming up with the money and getting it replaced...it turned out to be a good thing. 

Well...I'm gonna get back to working on stickers. :) 

And God said, let there be air conditioning!

We FINALLY have our new AC and furnace! We'd been without AC since March 10th. It took awhile going back and forth with the insurance company and the HVAC guy getting everything sorted out, scheduled, and paid. The insurance paid for all but the $1k deductible for the air conditioner and then we decided to go ahead and upgrade the furnace while they were here since they were going to have to replace the coil anyway. The new system is more energy efficient and I believe it's a larger AC unit that should be more efficient at keeping the house cool. The system we had was, like, 23 years old so it lasted a long time but it did have a hard time keeping up sometimes when it was super hot outside. I'm just glad we were able to get it installed before this weekend because it's supposed to be in the 80s and 90s. And now we don't have to have the windows open all the time...which was killing my allergies for the last several weeks. So...we're really happy to have that all taken care of and over with. 

April has started out kinda slow so far for CandiMaker. It was pretty slow last year, too. That's pretty standard in retail since it's tax time. BUT...in the first 10 days of April 2024, I already have more sales than I did in all of April 2023. :) 

I abandoned my "no work on the weekends" rule this past weekend. I had a big project I was trying to get done... opening my CandiMakerPlanners Etsy shop! Previously, it was my Etsy shop for sublimation transfers which I only used for a few months before I decided I no longer wanted to continue with sublimation. I decided I want my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop to focus on just my die-cut stickers and magnets...and move all my sticker sheets, gift tags, name labels, etc. over to CandiMakerPlanners. I worked over the weekend getting my existing sticker sheets transferred over. Monday I designed 14 new sticker sheets that are more specifically related to planners. I have twelve new 4x6 sheets that have tiny icons (.5" to 1" in size) where there are multiple stickers of the same image on the same sticker sheet. One example is tiny money bag images that say "payday" on them...there are 56 of them on one 4x6 sticker sheet and each sticker is about .6" tall. I have a few for payday/paying bills, several for pet care, and then a lot for cleaning/chores. Then I have two sticker sheets so far that are themed 4x6 sheets that have a bunch of different different images that vary in size. I printed and cut the new sticker sheets on Tuesday and then got all the listings uploaded on Wednesday. It'll take awhile to gain traction since I'm basically starting from scratch in the new shop...but hopefully it will do well. :) Eventually I also plan to start offering planner covers, planner pages, etc. but I don't know when I'll get around to that. 

But for now...I'm going to go enjoy the nice, cold bedroom. :) 

March was very good!

I updated my spreadsheets this morning and CandiMakerStickers is going very well so far this year. :) My previous record for orders in one month was 60 in February 2024...and I had 82 orders for March 2024 (which includes orders from Etsy, eBay, offsite, etc)! On Etsy, I hit 550 sales (individual listings sold) on March 1, 600 sales on March 19th, and as of today I am already at 640 sales. (ETA: I hit 650 sales on April 2!). I'm 4 away from 200 sales so far for the year...and it took me until August 20th to reach 200 sales last year (my first year selling stickers). My Etsy revenue for the first three months of 2024 is already more than half of what it was for all of 2023. 

My eBay sales are increasing too. I first started listing some stickers there in December 2023 and had gotten 2 orders (one order was 9 stickers!). I only had one order in January 2024, but then I had 7 orders in February and 11 orders in March. It's funny to see which stickers sell on eBay and which sell on Etsy. I've had orders on eBay for quite a few designs that I haven't sold any of yet on Etsy. 

I still haven't gotten all my die-cut stickers listed on eBay yet...so I need to finish doing that. I did list quite a few new designs in my Etsy shop, though. On March 29th, I listed 3 animal stickers and 8 new chronic illness stickers. I've already gotten views and favorites on several of them so that's always encouraging to see. 

Our air conditioner still isn't fixed yet. :( We've been without AC since March 10th. BUT...we should be able to get it replaced soon. The insurance guy still has to talk to the HVAC guy to get specs about the replacement so hopefully that can all be hashed out soon so we can have AC again. Luckily the weather hasn't been too bad...but it's been pretty miserable since yesterday. The humidity has been just...UGH. Yesterday it was hot and humid...today it's a little bit cooler but more humid. I ended up having to get a dehumidifier for my office because the paper curls pretty quick after I remove it from the plastic. I got a cheap one since the humidity is hopefully just a temporary problem. 

Well...gonna get back to work! 

Breaking records!

March is continuing to go well for CandiMakerStickers! :) On Monday, March 18th, I hit 600 sales in my Etsy shop. I broke my previous record of 5 orders in one day...I had 6 orders on Tuesday! And then today, I had another 6 orders in my Etsy shop PLUS one order from eBay. I've already had 21 orders this week, so I'm hoping to break my previous record of orders in one week (31 orders in the last week of February/first week of March). My previous record for the number of orders in one month was 60 orders last month in February. As of March 21st, I already have 63 orders this month...and the month isn't even over yet! :) Today I also hit 500 orders in my Etsy shop. I hope the upward trend continues! :) 

When I'm not busy packing orders, I've been working on adding my existing sticker designs to my listings on eBay. So far I've uploaded 71 listings on eBay...so I still have a long way to go. :P But...progress! I've been working on a few new sticker designs off and on as well. I have a document of SO many quotes that I want to make into stickers...it's 29 pages long, so there's a lot of ideas. ;) 

In other news... our AC has to be replaced. :P The electricity had gone out on March 10th. Later, it was pretty hot in the house...and I realized the AC unit outside wasn't actually running. We figured out that it was tripping the breaker every time we'd turn it on. So this week we had an HVAC guy come out and diagnose the problem. As it turns out, the condenser AND the motor went out at the same time because of a power surge. So, we're going through our home owners insurance to get the situation taken care of. Luckily it's in March and not July or August when it's disgustingly hot outside. It's been getting a little warm in the late afternoon into the evening...but it hasn't been too unbearable. Hopefully we can get it all taken care of soon. 

Well I suppose I'll get a little more work done before I go to bed. :) 

Mid-March is going well!

The upward momentum in my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop is continuing. :) I'm still getting orders from eBay as well. I had 35 total orders in January and 60 orders in February. From the February 1st to 6th, I had 22 orders. From the beginning of March through today, I've already had 45 orders. I love watching my numbers go up...being able to see actual progress from all my hard work. :) 

I'm glad I've started taking a break on the weekends. I tend to spend all my free time focused on my business and I've noticed that after the weekend...I do feel more productive and energized to get back at it on Monday. I did work today for a couple hours. I generally have at least one of each design and size for stickers, but I mostly just print and cut magnets as I get orders. I had four magnets that I needed to send out Monday so I got that done today and packaged the other two orders I had from Etsy and eBay so Aubry can drop them all off on her way to work in the morning. 

But other than that, I played Sims 4 a lot this weekend. I built an awesome house on there that I really love. It's like...if/when Johnny and I build a house in the future, I'd love to build this house that I designed on my Sims game. LOL. It's all one story except for a basement...because I think in the future, it'll probably be best for me to have as few stairs as possible. I already have a hard time with stairs sometimes due to my hEDS...so I imagine that will just get worse as I get older. I also have the washer and dryer in the walk-in closet of the master bedroom because that's such a huge convenience. And then I have a large room for crafting which would be amazing. And Johnny has talked before about wanting a floorplan that isn't as open...so the living room, kitchen, and dining room are all separate. So...our Sim house is awesome. ;) 

I also got my Grandma's taxes done over the weekend, did some chores around the house, and relaxed with Johnny. Our AC is currently not working...so Johnny worked on that a little bit. We're waiting for a part to be delivered...hopefully that'll solve the problem. If not, I'll probably have to call someone to come out and diagnose the problem. I'm just glad it happened now when the weather is nice rather than in the middle of summer.