Many Happy Milestones and a Giveaway to Celebrate

I have been in a euphoric state lately. When I started Elegant Snobbery seven months ago, I had no expectations of success. I like my pictures and I enjoy drawing, but I had never before given myself a chance to become successful as an artist, and frankly, I was scared stiff! If it wasn't for the encouragement I got from my blog readers back in December, Elegant Snobbery would never have opened. But I did it. I took the plunge, I sucked up my courage and opened my shop.

A few weeks ago, I hit my first 100 sales and am still glowing! And if that wasn't enough, I discovered my Captain Monkeybones print on the Etsy Front Page (thank you Amanda aka This Old Hen House for the screen shot!) (and thank you Holly aka Winklepots for creating such a beautiful treasury and featuring my illustration!!). And if that wasn't enough, Tootsie and Grace hit its first 100 hearts.

Getting my shop seen and getting my work out there hasn't been a just sit back and relax kinda deal. I have been working hard for the last seven months, to promote my shops. I am an active member of two street teams (actually three, but I just joined the Trunkt Team this week), the Fabulous Artistic Moms and the Interior Design Team. I post in the Etsy forums, actively participate in the blogging community, sucked up my courage and sent my portofio over to Trunkt, have Project Wonderful ads on blogs far and wide, renew items in my shop frequently (which was a super smart tip from KJ aka The Dreamy Giraffe), and make sure to absorb every bit of business advice that the Etsy forums and Storque have to offer. And my new favorite Storque articles are the Quit Your Day Job features which are so inspiring.

I don't plan on quitting my day job, because being an at-home-mom means I get to be there to watch my girls grow and learn and I love them to bits if you can't already tell by the millions of blog posts devoted entirely to their cuteness. But I definitely strive to reach the level of success that will allow me to give the girls as many learning experiences as I possibly can, through a great preschool, travel and the ability to take them places like the zoo and museums whenever we want.

I officially feel like I've got my leg in the door, and if I continue to create and promote, I might just make it where I want to be. It feels fabulous!!


To celebrate my many happy milestones so far and the success that I know is in my future (I'm not talking psychic abilities here, I just feel it in my heart) I'm having a gift tag giveaway! My gift tags, which measure 3 x 3 and have a black satin ribbon tie in the corner, feature my illustrations and are rather adorable if I do say so myself. I'm giving away a set of 8 gift tags to two different winners (you read that right folks, there will be two winners this time) with the winner's choice of images - from either or both of my shops.

Entering this giveaway is easy. You only have to leave a comment on this blog post declaring your best piece of business advice. It could be something that has worked for your own indie business, or something that has worked for someone you know. Just be sure to shout it out for all to see! The winner will be announced on Friday the 15th of August, which is one week from today.

Please make sure I have a way to contact you!

Enjoy!
xoxo,