Giveaway Winners and Yet Another Milestone

Drum roll, please...

And the two winners from my gift tag giveaway are...

April, of

And Sydnei, of

Congrats to you ladies and I want to thank everyone who entered and gave their best business advice. I only wish I could have made everyone who entered a winner. But alas, I'm not a slave to my gift tags and making that many sets would have just about killed me.

I have another milestone to add to my belt (metaphorical, not literal. I don't actually wear a belt of great milestones, although I should, because it would probably look pretty cool. Unless it was made from actual stones. Then it would just be very heavy).

I am in the middle of adding original illustrations to my shop *deep breath, deep breath*

I'm an artist, right? I should have original illustrations in my shop. I've always thought this and on occasion, I will suck up my courage and add an illustration or two... but unless they are immediately snatched up (I've sold two originals on Etsy so far and that was very hard for me to do! I miss them a lot), I most likely remove them before they sit for longer than a few weeks.

You see, the idea of parting with my beloved originals scares the daylights out of me. I used to draw for my friends all the time. I put my heart and soul into each illustration I created and was always so happy to give them away to my friends, who loved telling me what they wanted me to draw for them.

I stopped giving my pictures away about 8 years ago, when I discovered one of my favorite pictures ever - this pen and ink horse that took me ages to draw - crumpled in the backseat of my former best friend's car, with her dirty sneakers on top. I didn't cry, but I wanted to.

Then, in early college, I began selling my original illustrations to families of the children who attended the elementary school I worked at. I made quite good money doing this, as the parents were more than happy to pay a fortune for the illustrations. But after the pictures were gone, and I knew I would never see them again, I just felt soooo sad.

So the milestone I reached yesterday is a big one for me.... I've finally reached the point where I can put my originals back in my shop without needing to tuck my head between my legs so I don't pass out. Yes, this is a slight exaggeration on my part... but only slight.

I'm really hoping that parting with my originals will get easier the more I do it... but I'm not so sure. I can't stop having nightmares that one day I'll stumble across one of my favorites sitting dejectedly in the corner of someone's garage sale. What an awful thought!

But in the meantime, my originals are there in the shop with their own special section titled "Original Illustrations." Clever, I know.

Enjoy!

xoxo,