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. :)