Celebration!

I've been feeling pretty reflective lately and am counting my lucky stars!  This time last year I was in a bit of a rough spot.  2012 started off looking dismal.  Winter is usually a slow season for me after Christmas and I hold my breath until spring when  my craft shows start up again.  But as luck would have it last year I didn't have any money, with high rent and bills to pay.  Not a good combination.  Several things had contributed to this unfortunate mess and it was pretty yucky.  Long story short I decided that I would do as much as I could to get my Etsy shop rolling.  I studied other shops, educated myself about SEO (search engine optimization), scrambled my brain with trying to take good pics, and re-writing the descriptions for my listings many times, not to mention promoting and just plain hoping to hell that it would work.  I feel very fortunate to be able to say that it did.  Now I'm about to hit 400 sales on Etsy and I'm having a CELEBRATION!!!!  You in?  Who's bringing the Baby Duck?  <3

I'm having a GIVEAWAY, which will actually be hosted by a different blog.  I will post more details soon.  I will be giving away this skull bag:

Also to celebrate, the person who purchases the 400th item will receive FREE SHIPPING (refunded via Paypal after the purchase).  It's a small gesture, but I'm hoping that it will make someone's day nonetheless.  <3

In other news, it's DAMN cold here near Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  I take all my bag pics outside and the expression 'suffering for your art' comes to mind when I'm out there in a wind chill of -24C.  That's cold.  Actually now that I think of it, I do have something a LOT more exciting to mention than the weather.  Are you ready?  Read on...

I'm gearing up to open a NEW Etsy shop.  If one shop is AWESOME, does that mean that two shops would be AWESOMER?  Twice as awesome for sure!  The new shop is going to be called Train Wreck Clothing... I see a train theme here.  lol  It will offer clothing and accessories that I make using recycled materials only.  I will be launching it this month sometime and of course I will announce it here.  I'm really excited about it because I LOVE recycled products.  That's enough for now.... just enough to whet your whistle.  I'm such a tease!  ;)

Signing off!

Renee <3
www.thehobotrain.com (Etsy shop)