It’s not easy growing a company. I started blogging a year ago in July and just reached my 200th post on Monday. I hadn’t even realized that I had reached such a big milestone, because I was so focused on filling a huge wholesale order, getting things ready for the upcoming Market on Old Lake George sale, and scheduling blog content with Sam. There are so many aspects of running a company, but reaching this fun milestone reminds me that I’m making progress.
One area of progress I did not see myself getting into when I first started this company was wholesale orders. Several people had messaged me through Etsy asking for a few blank pillow covers in order to work on a project of their own. What I realized is that many customers have their own ideas for pillows, but lack the sewing skills to get started. I saw this as a need and a huge opportunity.
This is a part of my shop people might not know about.
You can go in and order as few as four blank pillow covers, or you can order up to 100 covers at a wholesale price. I could explain exactly where that is in my Etsy site, but all you have to do is search “wholesale” in my shop specifically, OldLakeGeorge, and all the options for wholesale pillow covers will show up. (or click here)
I love some of the things people have done with my blank pillow covers. For instance, one of my customers ordered 50 white, cotton covers, which she then painted a unique watercolor pattern on. This is her shop.
Another customer ordered 100 cotton canvas covers, which she sold in her own shop once she had put her own design on them. You can see her shop here:
Working on these wholesale orders gets my creative juices flowing. So right in the middle of sewing my 75th zipper today, I stopped to create something of my own.
Although what I made today seems to fit more in the Christmas season, it sure does fit nicely into my Fall decorating doesn’t it?
Now that I have satisfied my creativeness, because that’s a word, it’s time to get back to the sewing machine and complete that order.
As you know, Wade and I got home from the Haven Conference a week ago Sunday night. On Monday morning we got some news from our sister-in-law Mara. She called to say that Rian was nearing the end of his journey here on Earth. Wade took off right away hoping and praying that he would get there to say goodbye one last time.
He arrived at a house filled with friends, relatives and co-workers telling stories and sharing the wonderful memories they had with Rian. Sharing this time with his brother and those that were there was good for Wade. Rian passed away late Tuesday afternoon. He was only 54 years old and will be remembered as a loving father, brother, son and friend.
The kids and I drove to Chicago on Friday to be with family and attend Rian’s memorial service on Saturday. It was a very touching service with a comforting sermon detailing Rian’s life.
RIP Rian. You are loved and will be missed.
Adjusting back to a routine has been difficult, but I’ve learned that whenever a transition occurs in my life it helps me to get organized.
Because there was so little time between the Haven Conference and the memorial service, I hadn’t had time to put away all of the freebies I collected. Cue reorganization.
There was obviously a lot to do, but where to put it? I’ve needed to clean up space in the garage for awhile now, and today was the day.
This included more work than I had initially planned. I unpacked boxes that had been sitting in the garage since move in day (mind you that was two years ago), I cut the remaining birch branches into candle holders and then vacuumed up the pounds of sawdust I had created. The final step was adding a shelf next to the workbench, where the branches had been, to make room for the Haven freebies.
You know how much I love a good before and after:
Even after a successful reorganization session, I needed a little DIY therapy. I started the deconstruction process on the settee and found a pleasant surprise. Underneath the arms of this piece I removed fabric to find a knotted bamboo. My plan had been to reupholster every piece of fabric on the settee, but now I’m thinking I might leave that bamboo for a bit of texture.
Well, it’s been about a week since I last posted and so much has happened since then! Wade and I left last Thursday evening for Atlanta, Georgia to attend the Haven Conference for Bloggers.
The trip started out very smoothly and we were having so much fun spending time together, but that all came to screeeeeeching halt when we went to baggage claim in Atlanta.
No luggage for Wade.
My luggage made it, but he was stuck with the clothes on his back.
So Friday morning rolls around and the conference gets started with a Welcome Session led by Marian of Miss Mustard Seed along with Shaunna of Perfectly Imperfect. These two successful bloggers shared a few personal stories and got us all excited for the weekend. In total I would say about 400 women and… 5 men were in attendance including my Wade who was still wearing the same clothes as Thursday night.
The weekend consisted of educational and instructional classes taught by famous bloggers and experts in different fields. In between the classes there were opportunities to meet various vendors. These vendors ranged from Home Depot, to Ryobi tools, to Wagner, to Mod Podge plus so many more.
Wade and I got the brilliant idea to ask vendors how we could win a t-shirt from them so that he would have something clean to wear.
Another aspect of the Haven conference that I personally loved was the fact that they matched first time attendees with a seasoned blogger to create a “tribe”. These tribes of attendees met daily to bounce ideas off of each other and ask questions. My tribe, led by Shaunna West, included myself and Wade and eight others. The joke of the weekend was that our group had a “token” male.
Saturday night was the big celebration, “The Saturday Soirée”. This was such a fun event because we got to dress up and be pampered with great food, great music and great conversations.
Everything wrapped up on Sunday with a few morning sessions, and then Closing Ceremonies featuring the Keynote speakers John and Sherry Petersik of Young House Love. From there Wade and I headed home. The entire trip back we chatted about what we had learned and how much fun we had. We both agreed that the number one takeaway from the conference was “Slow and steady wins the race”. A great reminder of this came when we found a giant sand turtle on our beach the next morning. Our neighbors spent the weekend on the beach and left us this adorable turtle named Tank.
I’m so excited to share with you all the ideas I came up with over this past weekend!
-Wendy
P.S. Please forgive my poor iPhone photos. With so much excitement, I forgot to take out my good camera. Silly Wendy.
If you follow several different blogs, you are going to be seeing a lot of posts soon about Haven Conference. What is the Haven Conference you may ask?
A DIY & decorating professional blogging conference which takes place August 5-7, 2016 in Atlanta, GA. Our conference brings 400 pro-bloggers together with over 100 sponsor representatives for a 3 day event. Sessions focus on improving skills in blogging, decorating, home improvement, photography, writing, social media, brand relationships, book writing, and more!
Wade and I are flying out tomorrow afternoon to Atlanta to join this group of over 400 people. 98% of the participants are female so it will be an interesting four days for Wade. 🙂
I am sending him to all of the serious classes. Things like, “Becoming your Blog CEO” and “Product Launching”. In the meantime, I get to go to the fun sessions: “Vintage Wood Mercantile” and “Getting Creative with DIY Concrete Projects by Quikrete”
I look forward to putting to use all of the notes that Wade will take and showing you all of the cool things I get to make.
Jump on over to OldLakeGeorge on Instagram to catch glimpses of our adventure.
“Roll out the barrel, we’ll have a barrel of fun…Roll out the barrel, we’ve got the blues on the run!”
Thank you Bobby Vinton for writing this festive song, The Beer Barrel Polka. 🙂
Although this isn’t a barrel of beer, it has probably supplied a lot of fun for a lot of people.
When Jack found this pristine original Jim Beam barrel advertised on Facebook at a local store, he rushed downstairs and told me that his Dad NEEDED this.
Wade is a lover of Jim Beam. His end-of-the-work-week celebration is always a fishing pole in one hand, and a cocktail glass in the other.
He always puts three ice cubes…..hold on, can I stop here for a minute? Thank you. I am not exaggerating when I say that he literally always puts three ice cubes in a glass. Not four, not two but three ice cubes in his glass every time and then he pours Jim Beam over them. Just enough to cover the ice, and not one drop more.
But here’s the thing, when we go to a nice restaurant he asks for a glass of Jim Beam with three ice cubes too.
And I always think “What if their ice cube maker makes larger cubes?” “What if they only have crushed ice?” “What if…” but then I just smile and listen to him order Jim Beam with three ice cubes. Gotta let him do whatever makes him happy. 🙂
Moving on.
Jack drove to the store, somehow loaded this beast in and brought it home. I tried to help him bring it into the house, but this thing is H.E.A.V.Y.
We ended up rolling it from the garage to Wade’s office and placed it between his two black club chairs.
Then we waited.
We waited seven long hours for him to get home from work. His routine is as follows: come in the door, put his keys on the key hook, take off his shoes and then walk to his office and drop off his briefcase. This man is a creature of habit **cough cough** three ice cubes **cough cough**
When we heard the garage door go up, Jack bolted downstairs and plopped himself on the couch. I was already strategically stationed at the dining table.
Again, we waited for what seemed like seven more hours as Wade came in the door, put his keys on the key hook, took off his shoes and walked into the office.
I was worried that he wouldn’t notice right away. That may seem farfetched, but this is a man who never noticed that I wallpapered this wall:
Or this painted dresser:
Until I pointed it out.
But he walked into his office and loudly said, “What is this???” Jack and I busted out laughing and explained to him that it was from us for his upcoming birthday.
He reminded us that his birthday wasn’t for two more months.
Ummm, yeah, we know, but have you ever tried to hide a barrel of bourbon, even if it is empty? 🙂
Wade is the strong and silent type, but from the look in his eyes, you could tell that he was jumping with joy!
That was our exciting start to the holiday weekend, and I hope everyone else has a safe and happy Fourth of July.
I use to have some form of direction when I started writing a post. But 9 times out of 10 the way the post ended up didn’t resemble the way I intended when I started.
For example this post. Here are my first three attempts at writing the first line.
1)Sometimes life gives me lemons, sometimes it gives me lemonade.
2)When I woke up today….
3)Happy Saturday everyone!
All rejects.
There was nowhere to go with that opening sentence because my heart is heavy.
Trying to stay upbeat and positive all of the time can be exhausting. Now hold on, I am not complaining or whining. Believe me, I am very good at those things but that’s not my point.
My point is, is that last weekend we drove to Chicago to say “Goodbye” to my brother-in-law who is losing a well fought battle with cancer.
I know, I know, this blog isn’t about my personal life. But on this sunny and hot Saturday I want to say this out loud.
We love you Uncle Rian.
I wish we all could’ve grown old together and finally had the time to spend with each other. But God has decided that you get to go to Heaven first and make sure everything is set and ready for us when we arrive.
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