Adventures of 2012!

2012 was quite the year! Here is a highlight of my favorite adventures of the past year.

~ Chattanooga trips ~

We took two climbing trips to Chattanooga this year. We stayed at the Crash Pad and did our climbing at LRC (or Little Rock City). The LRC boulder field is actually located on a golf course property. You pay the clubhouse for entrance to LRC and right to climb on their property. It was our first experience climbing outside and we are truly hooked! Also, we ate some amazing food in Chattanooga, including a feast at the Meeting Place and mounds of inch-tall pancakes at Aretha Frankenstein's. 

~ Corey's high school reunion ~

Our age finally caught up to us! It was time for Corey's 10 year high school reunion. It was a great night catching up with over 100 River Ridge alums.

~ Starting my Etsy shop ~

Even though I technically started my Etsy shop adventure in 2011, this year was definitely the year it began to thrive. I'm ending this year with over 400 sales.

~ Six year wedding anniversary ~

We explored St. Pete this year for our wedding anniversary, the weekend before tropical storm Debbie hit. This made for a rainy, windy weekend getaway that we made the most of.

~ My first visit to Fenway ~

We were lucky enough to have been gifted tickets to a Red Sox game by some wonderful friends and I attended my first game at Fenway!

~ Sailing ~

An impulse purchase on Living Social became a wonderful evening adventure.

~ Welcoming Reagan! ~

Our biggest adventure came at the end of the year. Our family of two became a family of three in 2012!

Baby Wolloff Nursery is Completed!

After months of brainstorming, collecting, and shopping, our newest addition's room is finally completed. With my due date only four days away, we are ready to bring this little lady home!

 

Nursery purchases: Graco Lauren Convertible Crib from Target; Mamas and Papas mobile from Babies 'R' US; Hopen dresser from Ikea; pink metal frames from Michaels (with original Shel Silverstein poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends); glider discontinued from Babies 'R' Us; small pillow on glider from Etsy, artist unknown; Eivor bird curtains from Ikea.

Homemade and family finds: Tom Thumb and Snow Drop EPs (passed down from my husband's family; 3 cardboard animals and lighting bolt (handmade props from our interns at our previous youth ministry); Baby Girl banner (handmade from my mom from my baby shower); blanket on glider (handmade from friend).

Etsy Shop Feedback

As the first quarter of the month comes to a close this month, I’m looking for a bit of feedback on my Etsy shop so I can assess goals for next quarter. 

So, I’ve put together this brief survey. I’m looking for different perspectives about my shop, your opinions and what your eyes notice. 

If you will, please copy and paste this survey and send it to andrea.wolloff@gmail.com. It’s only six questions (and three of them are multiple choice!). I would appreciate it ever so much!

If you are a friend, family member, or neighbor and you are reading this, thanks already for how you helped and supported me. 

(Pssst… There’s even a give-away involved. See below the survey.)

P.S. Even if you are not interested in the freebies ( i.e. you are a boy) I would still really like hearing the feedback. 

P.S.S. The feedback will allow me to shape my goals for the next quarter and I would really appreciate it.

COPY AND PASTE BELOW INTO AN EMAIL (SEND TO andrea.wolloff@gmail.com).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

o   Go to this link www.todayisasunnyday.etsy.com and click on the first thing that caught your eye. Paste the link below.

o  The first thing I noticed about Today is a Sunny Day was:

// The shop banner

// The favorites section

// The images

// The prices

// The personal photo

o   My favorite image from the shop was: (Paste the link below.)

o   I found this background more appealing and eye-catching:

// White background

// Wood grain

o   If I were given anything from Today is a Sunny Day as a gift, I would want:

// Gift tags

// I love you because dry erase board

// Page corner bookmarks

// Paper cutouts

// I’m too manly for this, sorry (Totally an appropriate option! I understand.)

  

 o   True or False, I think people will find it weird that there are bird feathers for sale.

o   Quick! Off the top of your head! – The first word that comes to mind to describe the products is: ___________.

The first 20 replies will get their choice of the following: 

o   2-pack of gift tags, choose from the photo below. 
o   2-packs of recycled, choose from anchors, bows, or bird cutouts. 
o   25% Off any “Because I Love You…” dry erase board 
o   20% Off any custom order of favor tags or sparkler tags

Best of all, everyone wins!

Every participant will get a 10% off Etsy coupon code.

Family Profile - Twitch

Since my parrot, Twitch, has been racking up the sales in my Etsy shop, Today is a Sunny Day, I thought it would be fun to highlight him on my blog.

Parrots molt every six months, resulting in his beautifully colored tail and wing feathers falling out. I have a variety of feathers up for sale in my shop. They are perfect for jewelry, hair extensions, and other crafts. I even had a co-worker design me some earrings with my favorite petite wing feathers.

So, here’s Twitch!

Name: Twitch

Nickname: Twitcher, Squeaker, Wittle Bird

Age: Almost 4 (hatched May 2008)

Height: 5 inches

Favorite food: Cheese, pasta, apples, yogurt bird treats, and seeds

Favorite movie: Rio

Close friends: Blackie, Maryanna and Andy (bird grandparents!), Trish, Dan, Bridget, Pat, Joe, and Jessica

Favorite activities: Cuddling with his piñata toy, taking baths, dancing, attacking feet

Scary things: Paper, large birds, things that are higher than him

Favorite words:  “Squeaker,” “Do poop,” and “Gimme kiss”

My Etsy Shop - Business Cards

I created a business card for Today is a Sunny Day.

So proud that I wanted to share!

A Night to Dream

This week I was blessed with the opportunity to showcase my business, Today is a Sunny Day, at the Girl’s Night Out event “Resolve,” put on by For the Girls International. The night was full of encouragement and dreaming. I had a wonderful time meeting new people and catching up with old friends. 

Here are some photos of the event, along with my booth display. 

Tracey Metzger delivered a great message with practical steps to keep dreaming. My personal favorite was to be fearless... or do it afraid! (That last bit was compliments Joyce Meyer)

All the women who attended. (I'm in the way back, so don't bother looking for me. Ha!)

My set up featuring my favorite props! Lace fabric scraps I found in the AS IS section of Ikea for $2, my family's vintage, fully-functioning Westinghouse fan, and my family's green vintage sewing box in the background.

I love my new page corner bookmarks!

Recycled confetti. See the listing here.

Learn more about For the Girls International and their upcoming events by clicking here.

"I Love You Because..." Dry Erase Message Board

Excited to put this in the mail today!

 

See it on Etsy here!

Handmade Gift Giving

With the start up of my Etsy shop, Today is a Sunny Day, I created two goals for my gift giving. I want to mostly give gifts that are handmade and that are useful. Here are a few things I purchased for friends and family last holiday season.

Onesies
 

For the new additions to our extended family I bought two onesies from Brown Owl Designs. A close friend saw them for sale at a market in Orlando and passed on the contact info to me. The joys of word-of-month advertising!

Desk Calendar

I love this desk calendar from Shannon Blue Photography. There were lots of 2012 calendars to choose from online, but I choose this one because of the neat stand that can be used for display purposes once 2012 is history. The photographs are all taken by the seller I purchased it from.

Soap

This soap was purchased from one of my favorite Etsy shops, Rocky Top Soap Shop. Handmade soaps from a gentleman from the Northeast with a kickin’ beard. I got a variety pack through him and made sure to save one for myself. I got the rooibos tea shampoo and it’s fantastic!

Coasters

Ignore my “fat baby” in the picture. The coasters in the foreground are handmade from Geek Details and inspire by the BBC’s Doctor Who.

Address Labels

I purchased adorable address labels from Moxie Paperie for a present for my mom. I love adding beautiful details to life and stylish address labels definitely dress up a letter and make bill paying glamorous.

Tea

When visiting USF for a random event, I sampled roasted almond tea made by the Kaleisia Tea Lounge. To those of you local to the Tampa Bay area, it’s a tucked away tea lounge on Fletcher Ave. by the Brass Mug. For those of you not from the Bay Area, you can check out and order their selection online at www.thetealounge.com.

What is your favorite homemade, handmade, or locally-made gift?

Ready, aim, aim, aim, aim, aim . . .

For the past few years, I haven’t put pressure on myself to come up with resolutions. But there’s something different about this year.

While I don’t think we should set ourselves up for failure with resolutions we aren’t motivated to accomplish, I do think there is empowerment in setting goals and defining HOW to accomplish them.

It’s nice to have a goal to get out of debt for example, but unless you look at your monthly bills and watch how many times you visit Starbucks in one month, it’s simply a pipe dream.


So here are my goals for this year. I hope to inspire you not only to dream up some goals, but figure out exactly what it will take to accomplish them.

1) Be (almost) halfway done with my Masters in Biblical Counseling by Dec. 2012.

I have about 2 dozen of classes, plus observation hours, that I need to complete to graduate with my Masters in Biblical Counseling from West Coast Bible College and Seminary. I’m very excited about taking these courses. I actually do not want to become a counselor; I’m simply interested in learning and I believe this knowledge will help me in future opportunities.

I’m planning to tackle at least 10 classes in 2012. I’ll start out with one class a month and for the months I take vacation or there are holidays, I will give myself a break.

2) Read a book a month. Since I’ll be reading a lot of ministry-heavy books for school, I’m planning to even it out with “fun” books for me. Leftovers on this list include: “You Lost Me.” by David Kinnaman, “Entreleadership” by Dave Ramsey, “SuperFreakonomics” by Levitt and Dubner, and “The Visible Man” by Chuck Klosterman. I’m planning to read during my lunch breaks at work to complete this goal.

I own this bills calendar. Super cute and very sturdy.

3) Pay off our credit card and car debt by June 2012. We are crawling out of some of the most financially difficult years of our lives and we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Last month, my husband and I sat down and hashed out where every last dollar will go until June 2012. Luckily, December was a three pay check month so we “saved” that paycheck to pad out budget for food, entertainment, and other unexpected expenses along the way.

My anchor cutouts on kraft paper.

4) Finally I have a slew of Etsy goals for this year. I already have very specific goals for the first quarter of 2012. I will spare you the details, but my goals include improving my shop photos, increase sales, experiment with Etsy’s Ad Search, increase my product line, and communicate my store’s purpose.


I would love to hear about your goals for 2012! Feel free to comment below.

'Tis the Season

Hoping you all had a Merry Christmas!

I am looking forward to the adventures that 2012 will bring!

Handmade Holiday

Check out my Etsy shop to see more of my holiday tags. Great for adding a handmade touch to your gift giving this season!

Operation Christmas Child

I had my Etsy shop and my family combine efforts and finances to support Operation Christmas Child. Through the the non-profit organization Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child collects shoe boxes full of holiday treats to distribute worldwide to children. I am so excited about this organization and plan on making it a holiday tradition for my household. I'll be donating these to my church this weekend. They are setting a goal of 4,000 boxes this year! I'm glad I was able to contribute.

The last image is the contributions from my Etsy sales that were donated.

SHOP www.todayisasunnyday.etsy.com
BLOG www.today-is-a-sunny-day.blogspot.com
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