Wednesday, January 23, 2013

SOLD



My favorite part of this week so far?  I SOLD my first item in my ETSY store - Dream Weaver Prints!  I can’t tell you how exciting it was to get the alert on my phone, and to see the fun image that popped up in my email congratulating me!  I was ecstatic and I was thrilled to be able to tell my husband, my kids and my family.  So, I thought I would share with YOU as well!  I SOLD SOMETHING I CREATED!  That’s a heady feeling! And, much to my surprise, it wasn’t to someone I knew, or even a friend of a friend!  It was a legit Etsy customer who saw my stuff, liked it, and PAID ME MONEY for it!  WOW!

The first item I sold was a baby boy birth announcement subway art print fashioned like the one I made for my son Jake.  In my policies, I make the file, and then I send it out to the customer offering the first set of changes for free.  I was very nervous about her feedback, and almost rightfully so!  The first email I got back from her, I could tell she was disappointed.  Her son’s name is Paul Joseph, but they are going to call him PJ, so she wanted his initial nickname on the sign somewhere.  I had never done this before, so I knew it would be hard to make it just right for her.  So, after her initial dissatisfaction, I reworked 3 more versions to help find her the perfect fit!  OF COURSE, she liked the fourth (and LAST) one I made for her!  But, I was happy to do it because now I know where to put initials next time!  PJ is now one month old and lives in Portland Maine and he has a BDub Writes original!  Makes me smile!

In other news, life is just carrying us on its wave!  Dance practice; basketball practice and games; Odyssey of the Mind workshop, rehearsals, and projects; March for Babies committee work, March of Dimes committee work, ΑΔΠ work… WHEW!  Not to mention, Jake will be SIX on Friday!  WOWza!  Time sure flies!  Finn passed his vision check up and doesn’t have to go back for 2 more years, and he has a hearing screening tomorrow.  Preemies sure keep you on your toes as far as appointments go!  He also finally transitioned from the bottle to sippy cups!  He can do a straw cup and a traditional sippy cup now!  YAY, FINN!  The big kids are all doing excellent in school – Emma and Lara both brought home straight A’s on their report cards, and Jake declared he was the smartest kid in his class at dinner the other night.  The only “bad” mark he got on his report card was in PE – poor kid can’t skip.  I don’t think that will keep him from becoming President. LOL!

On the horizon for Britt and I (and Finn) are a couple of BALTO week events with Edmond North High School.  ENHS has an annual fundraiser called BALTO, standing for "Bring a Light to Others." It is a fundraising effort that lasts several months ending in February. In years past, BALTO has raised over $250,000 for their chosen non-profit. This year BALTO has chosen the March of Dimes NICU Family Support program as the 2012-2013 recipients! At this time, Mercy Hospital (where Finn was born) has the only NICU Family Support program in Oklahoma. With the funds being raised by BALTO, they are hoping to expand this program to other NICUs in Oklahoma as well as improve the program at Mercy Hospital. The March of Dimes feels blessed to be BALTO's recipient this year and are very excited to do even more for the NICU families in Oklahoma with this extremely generous donation.  The first event is this Saturday when The BALTO Carnival will serve as the 2013 Mercy NICU Family Reunion. There will be food and games for the entire family.  This event is open to the public and the game tickets are $0.50 each.  Come out and bring the family!



Next Monday, the 28th, Britt, Finn and I will go to ENHS to speak (inspire and encourage) the student body at one of their morning assemblies getting the word out about the upcoming finale of BALTO week.  We are very excited to be able to share Finn and out story with these amazing kids!  The final assembly is slated for February 15, and that is when they will announce the total amount of money raised!  We can’t wait for that day and to see how March of Dimes NICU Family Support uses those funds to touch lives!

The next event is something my runner friends may be interested in!  February 2 - BALTO 5K @ 9:00 am and 1 Mile Fun Run @ 10:00 am @ Mitch Park. $20 until January 25 and afterwards $25. Includes a T-shirt. All preemies and mothers of premature babies will be given a purple ribbon to wear. We would love a lot of participation in this event! When registering please indicate you are on the March of Dimes team. (registration available on the BALTO week website)

If you are interested in making a donation to BALTO week, you may do so through the BALTO website www.baltoweek.org or through the March of Dimes Oklahoma Chapter website.  We would like to help BALTO reach their goal of $225,000 in order to help even more NICU families in Oklahoma!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Grasping at Straws


I am pretty sure I have never been more happy with one of my children accomplishing a simple task than I was last night!  HE GOT IT!  He really got it!  We have been grasping at straws – literally – for over 3 months to get Finn to transition from the bottle to a sippy cup as recommended by our pediatrician.  He hates sippy cups. HATES them!  This kid is strong, and opinionated, and he was having nothing of this sippy cup business.  So, friends suggested straws.  I know for a fact Emma and Lara got straw cups by about 7-8 months, and Jake by 10 months.  Finn just wants to bite down on the straw as hard as he possibly can!  Then pull it out of the cup!  UGH!   We even had one straw cup (highly recommended) by Playtex that you could squeeze to help get the flow started.  HE HATED IT!  You see where this is going, yes?

In my ever growing  love of the Internet and all things social media, I am lucky enough to find very resourceful pages to follow on Facebook.  Some of my favorites that I follow that deal with prematurity and the NICU are It's a Preemie ThingPeek-a-Boo ICU and Life After NICU.  Around Christmas time, someone posted about the “Mr. Juice Bear” from Beyond Play on the It's a Preemie Thing page.  I was very interested in it, but wasn’t ready to purchase it just yet. My mind changed about a week later after more unsuccessful attempts at sippy cups and straws. The special squeeze bear and tubing straws arrived Thursday night last week.  My mom tried it with him on Friday, but he just wanted to play with the cute bear!  I mean, he is cute…  (And yes, this is a honey bear bottle and basic tubing, but it works!)  But when I tried it Saturday at dinner, HE DID IT!  I had been squeezing the bear to prime it get the milk into his mouth, and suddenly one time he actually closed his lips and sucked the milk on his own!  And then he did it several more times!  



He has been using it, as well as the Playtex cup mentioned above, successfully all day!  He still tries to bite the straw more than he should, but he can do it!  He can close his lips and suck!  YAYAYAYAY!  So proud of him!

And in other news, we had Finn's 15 month / "I SHOULD BE ONE" photo shoot this week!  I am so impressed with Shawna Meyer and Touch of Wonder Photography!  We had a GREAT time in the mini-session we won back in the fall with her contest!  The hat and scarf he is sporting were the props I won from Shutterfly Prop Shop in the same contest.  This is the image Shawna posted as a sneak peek!  I can't wait to see the rest!

Finn Ricker - 15 months

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Betsey on Etsy



Have you ever had a wild hare?  Then actually ACTED on it?  I don’t know if it is the stress I am under, or too much Diet Coke, or maybe I took two Zoloft today or something, but I went out on a limb.  I opened a little shop on Etsy.  If you are not familiar with it STOP!  Stop right now and head over there and look around.  I would go broke over there!  I have bought a few nursery and clothing things for Finn, decals for computers, a blanket for Finn, presents for others, etc.  I love just looking for inspiration, but I also find things I *think* I cannot live without.  My wallet can live without them, though, so I leave them there for other treasure seekers…

This “Subway Art” fad is all over the place.  I have seen several cute little birth announcement type things styled with that, and I even pinned a few on Pinterest.  I was looking at them again the other day, and I decided, “I CAN DO THAT!”  So, I did a little internet searching, some font downloading (I love DaFont.com), and started playing around!  Here is what I came up with!  This is about the 4th or 5th “version” of these, but it is the one I settled on (click on the image to make it larger):



So, I showed them to my hubby, saying I wanted to print them on canvas when Canvas People have one of their sales, so I can have all four of them for our house.  You can also just print them on photo paper (I love mpix for this!), or there are tons of tutorials on the internet about how to put them on wood and make them look distressed.  Like I said I just want them on canvas. He agreed that they were very cool and was impressed with my work.

But somewhere along the way while working on them, I decided I could sell mine, too!  Other people do it!  They range in price from about $7.00 all the way up to like $20 on Etsy!  Granted some of them are the actual print or a framed print, and I am just interested in making digital files to self-print (for now), but still!  I need Sonic Run money!  So, I did it!  I bit the bullet!  I made a shop banner, and listed my subway art birth announcements!  SQUEEEEEEEEE!  In the listing I also mention weddings and graduations and other special event dates.  I need to get some examples up of those, but this is a good start!

So, why don't you click on the banner and check out my shop:


All Feedback is welcome!


*****UPDATE*****
January 16, 2013

I added a product to my store!

I had said I could do wedding signs,  but I had yet to actually create one... Until now!  They always say, work with what you know, so I did! And here is the wedding announcement I made for Britt and I:


Click on the image above or this link to my Etsy store to see this listing, and many others!  Thanks for taking a peek!  Use the code LOVE14 now through Valentine's day for 14% off your total order!  What a great time to stock up on gifts!  I can't wait to fill YOUR order!