Adventures of a SAHM and owner of AKC Art

Spring...time for change

2012-03-21T20:08:00.002-07:00

Yay its spring! Time for change and my most favorite thing...opening up my windows! I love the fresh air blowing through my house. My son loves it because we have a big back deck and a back door that stays open so he can go outside as much as he wants. We have a locked gate at the stairs so he can't get off the porch. Unfortunately its been raining hard for four days around here...I love the rain but its starting to get dreary and depressing around here.

Well I've decided to revamp my shop and my business I've went in too many directions and I'm trying to thin out things and start over I guess. I found this awesome site topperhatter.com. You can auction off your items live and answer questions that buyers have. I've had some luck with it so far. I'm thinking and experimenting with some things right now but I'm trying to focus more on the art part. I'm going to be doing a little bit of sewing projects as well. We'll just see how it goes. Part of a business is taking chances and that is what I'm going to do.

As an added bonus to reading my rantings I'm offering a promo to those that have read this. Put in AKCBLOG and receive 50% off in my shop until April 22nd . http://www.etsy.com/shop/ACarter85?ref=si_shop

Priorities

2012-03-11T22:54:00.000-07:00

Really haven't kept up with this lately have I? Well my goal is to write in this blog at least once a week from now on. Things have been pretty busy with the 2 year old and the business. Mostly with the 2 year old. My husband and I had a discussion the other day about priorities. He noticed that my business has been third on my list. My son and him come first and second and my business third. It is not easy to balance getting items made and listed and also take care of the 2 year old. I'm still working on the balance of things.

I understand that the business is pretty important, but I don't want to miss out on anything in my sons first years. I'll have plenty of time to work on my business more when he's in school, right now it is more important to stop what I'm doing and play with him. Soon enough he's not going to want to sit on the couch and snuggle while watching a TV show with mommy, or bring me a pencil and paper to draw him a picture of Thomas the Tank Engine. Even if I don't reach that goal of getting an item done at a certain time, that's okay because I'm making memories with my kid and that is what is most important to me right now.

Besides I have since found that going to my parents sometimes helps with getting things done if I really need it done. I have extra eyes on my son and he also has more people to interact over there with. That has helped out a lot. I'm working a little more on my sewing, sometimes I have failures and sometimes I have successes but either way I'm having fun.

Halloween Sale!

2011-10-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

All Halloween items have been reduced by $5.00 in my shop. Hurry to get them before Hallween!

Here are just a few of the items.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/80995905/vampire-x-ing-wall-plaque-sale-was-1299
http://www.etsy.com/listing/79972793/ceramic-tile-coasters-for-halloween-8
http://www.etsy.com/listing/80873532/spider-skull-wood-coffin-box-w-evil
http://www.etsy.com/listing/80873021/rip-coffin-box-sale-was-895-now-395
All Halloween items for sale on on the top of the first page of my shop.

THIS WEEKEND ONLY!!

2011-10-01T12:09:00.000-07:00

25% off all items in my shop if you use the code OCT11 until midnight sunday night. http://www.etsy.com/shop/ACarter85

Promo

2011-09-23T00:29:00.000-07:00

I'm running a promo in my shop until October 31st in honor of my favorite season coming up...Fall!Everything is 10% off if you use the code FALL2011 when checking out at my shop.

2011-09-08T16:59:00.000-07:00

I'm experimenting with different things right now to add to my shop. I like to try new projects so that I do not get too bored or burnt out with just one thing. Right now I'm attempting wine charms and I'm debating upon jewelry. I've just posted one item because my camera decided to not work, but I've got at least 3 more items made. Here is the link to my new wine charm listing (bride and groom wine charms). I figured I would try to do some stuff for weddings so here is my attempt at a bride and groom wine glass charm for the toast.

In throughout all of this I've lost quite a few beads in the process, I have a 2 year old that is stealing my beads and I am now finding them in different places. He's always interested in whatever I am doing and I am always attempting to get him as involved as possible. Even if that means that my beads now become part of his train set as items to haul in the cars lol!

Beginnings

2011-09-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

As I have said in my about me, I am a 25 year old married woman and mother to a 2 year old boy. It has took me 7 years to get to where I am today but it has made me grow stronger in the long run. I started my business only about 2 months ago but it has been an ongoing thing for almost a year. I am still in the developing stage but I am learning as I go so I suppose that is the important thing.

My business started right after I got out of college. I got my degree online because at the time I was taking care of my brother in laws 6 kid's while he and his wife worked and he went to school as well. I decided that since I had nothing else going on and I wanted to get a college education for a long time so I thought I would go for it. Well it is funny the way fate works because 2 days before I started my first day of school I found out I was pregnant with my now 2 year old. Upon further discussions with my husband on the subject, we decided that I would go ahead and continue my plan and we would figure out things as we went along. All I can say was it was a hard 2 years, but not many people can say that they were doing homework 2 hours after giving birth though ;-). The hardest part about it was that I felt like it did rob me of the first year of my son's life. I had to focus on my school work everyday and with going to an online school I did not have any breaks at all.

After I had graduated with my Associates of Arts in Psychology I had begun to realize that I did not want to go back. While it was nice to be able to look back and say I did that and I am thankful for the knowledge that I now possess I realized that it was not the path for me. I thought long and hard about it and realized that the only thing that I had always come back to was art. I enjoyed making and creating things that was my calling in life. Well with student loans going to be coming due I decided that I would do what I had wanted to do since I was little, and that was to sell my arts and crafts. My husband was always supportive of whatever I did so that did not change when I came up to him and told him about my plans. So after about 6 months of researching and creating things I finally opened up my shop on etsy.com. For the time being I am just focusing on selling things on there but I eventually want to expand and go to crafts shows and maybe one of these days opening up my own brick and mortar shop.

So with my business being at home it gives me an opportunity to be able to spend time with my son, I have a choice on when I want to work and I can always stop and spend time with him. I do not have any deadlines because I am going at my own pace. I am finally in a happy place in my life, busy, but happy :-).

I am looking forward to writing on my blog and sharing what I am working on currently and the antics of my son (and boy are there a lot!). If you want to visit my shop the link is....http://www.etsy.com/shop/ACarter85 Thanks for reading!