First Sale on Etsy!

Dear friends,

What an exciting week for Letter Parade etsy shop which I opened with just three 'thank you' cards last Monday, December 13th. As a certified Etsyholic, it is not a surprise that a new seller would not make a sale in months as I've read in a lot of Etsy featured stories so I didn't think I'd make mine right away! And there I go pouring more time into adding more stuff to my shop, the printing, the packaging, the styling and product shots plus editing.... there is always something to do and learn or read about other sellers' mistakes to avoid. It can get overwhelming. The rewarding part was being featured in a treasury on my first day of opening! Then I got invited in a BNR circle that I can't even properly explain what the whole deal is about. Basically, it's a large circle of Etsy sellers who come together online for a set time, like last night we did a three to five hour BNR. A couple of newbies who never had a sale (like me) were included and we took a spot with one product on the board. One seller has to buy one item from our shop to kick me out of the board/spot so she can have a product featured there instead allowing her to promote her products and shop more until another seller takes her spot. I don't know who thought of this but it's pretty darn clever! I was invited by the curator of that BNR herself, seller MyWaterColorDReams. It was there that I made my first sale, a set of two of these to seller FlirtySanchezProject:

 

Being in a BNR like all teams and circles has its own perks, like learning new stuff from other members I would've never discovered on my own. Maybe if I read a ton of Etsy blogs but still, inside tips and tricks are something you can only get from the streets. The downside to a BNR is having to spend and buy off another seller's item just to get a spot. Of course, for my first I never got to do this because I got my hands tied up with excitement for my first sale and opening accounts to payment tools that sellers preferred to use that I only heard about last night. But of course, you pay for good advertising, right? So if you pay to be advertised and still get something awesome and handmade out of it, I think that's a pretty damn good deal! So starts my BNR addiction and there's one in just a few hours today, yay!

Oh, and another exciting thing when I woke up this morning, my pink roses 'thank you' card got featured in another treasury again! This time the treasury is called 'Innocence' put together by seller WaterlilyJewels.

So really quick, here are the newly added products at the shop:

Etched Flower Series note cards                                                 

 

 Bon Voyage French Note Card                                                    

 

 

 La Vie Est Belle Note Cards                                                         

 

 Paris Thank You Card                                                                 

 

Bonjour French Note Card                                                          

 

  

Mime Valentine's Card                                                                 

 These are now available at my shop. And as an exclusive treat to you my friends here at blogspot, I offer a 10% code "LParadeFRNDS10" (apply during check out) until December 31st, 2010, Friday 6:00 PM PST. Thank you for another wonderful year!

Happy writing!

Cindy Gonzales-Kujat

Letter Parade Opens Shop on Etsy!!

Hi friends!

I'm happy to announce that the Letter Parade online shop is finally open! You can visit it here. After unsuccessfully running GKkards with poor product shots that didn't do justice and just wasted posting fees, I vowed to do things differently with Letter Parade. It seems like with the coming new year, it's just a perfect timing to get this thing up and running!

So today, with a borrowed pro camera, I tried my hand on product styling using my "flower series" thank you cards and came up with these:

 

 

 

I must be doing things right that in just a few hours after uploading these and more photos to my online shop, another member featured one of my 'thank you' cards in her treasury! Thank you DoodleBugFramesEtc !

So come check out the shop! I will be filling it with more products and yes it's going to be all about letters, stationery, paper goods, postcards, etc. to get you corresponding in style! 

And maybe you have some ideas on designs that you'd like me to create for you? I can do that, too!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LetterParade

Happy writing and browsing/shopping!

Cindy Gonzales-Kujat

Happy Holidays!

Oh wow! 2010 felt like it took only a month and now we're gearing up for 2011! I hope your year has been better than the last and that next year will top it all off in terms of life, health, career, friendships... all the goodness that everyone deserves!

I will remember 2010 as the year that made me grow a stronger and better person whom I hoped to become some years back. Hooray for continuous growth! And the biggest highlight of the year is no doubt Dan's accident resulting to severe head trauma last October 9, it seems such a long time ago now and I'm happy that he's back to his old outgoing, funny, talented, active self. Read more about his accident here and check out the website, too! With caring and loving families, amazing friends and thoughtful, generous strangers coming forward and helping us in such a trying time of our lives, we have never felt more blessed! And these are all part of the many reasons why this Holiday season will be celebrated with much gusto!

Letter-wise, I also found many awesome pen friends around the world along with the (albeit late) discovery of http://www.postcrossing.com/ adding more colors to my 2010!

Not too sound too fruity, I definitely had some low times this year, too but why look back to this year and count the bad apples when you have the good ones that should be carried over to the new year? Besides, it can't hurt to be optimistic, right?

Of course, another exciting thing that I always look forward to with glee is designing our own Christmas greeting card. This time, to save on postage, postcard version will also be sent out to everyone on our list who have stayed and/or managed to touch our hearts in surprising ways!

 

 

Lastly, for 2011, write more letters! Listen to music twice as much as you ever did your entire life! Make more time for somebody dear to you! Be more creative and do what you do passionately and I guarantee it will make you sleep better at night!

Happy writing!

Cindy Gonzales-Kujat

Mail News Scoop

 

As if current USPS problems aren't enough, it only seems to be getting worse. I mean, seriously, USPS has had 640 health and safety violations in the past five years and have recently been fined $220,000 for unsafe conditions specifically at the Los Angeles area. No wonder their plea to increase postage fee for January 2011 was denied! 

Again and again, USPS scream for new management and total overhaul of its system is getting louder by the year. I would love to hear something positive for once. 

Just thought it would be appropriate to rant about it here.