Tonight In The Studio

I am just loving taking pics with my iPod Touch! The filters and effects are so fun to play with.

 A very productive evenings in the studio. Lots of beautiful invitations going out in the mail tomorrow! I love it when everyone is quiet and I have time to just get down to business. Now I just need to stop ignoring my taxes and put some of my energy into that little task....

For What It's Worth

One of the hardest lessons I have had to learn in working for myself is to place a value on my time and skill, and then stick to it. It's not that I undervalue the work that I do, but more an issue of fear. Fear that if I tell customers this is how much it costs to buy my products, they might decide to go somewhere else. Fear that they will not believe in the value of my product, or in the value of me.

Combine that fear with my desire to please everyone and it's a recipe for, well, not a very successful business. In the beginning, when I was doing this in my spare time and I had a full-time job (and a full-time paycheck) it didn't seem as important to me. I was just starting out, getting my feet wet, learning the ropes and building a clientele. The brides I met, and worked with, were so sweet and sincere. Honest about their budgets and so I waved fees, changed prices, and essentially worked for free to give them the invitations of their dreams.

It was very generous of me, but I am running a business, not an invitation charity. Being honest with myself about that was hard to admit, because it meant looking at the fear I felt in my heart, staring right at it and saying 'Yes, I am worth it'.

I think that most creative professionals struggle with this concept at some point in their career. Putting a value on yourself is an exercise in self-awareness that makes most modest and humble people a little uncomfortable. But if I don't believe in my value, how can I expect my customers to? And if I change my prices or bend the rules to make my work more affordable for someone, what does that say about that belief? That it wavers? That it's not important?

All of this self-reflection has come at a price. It took feeling overwhelmed and frustrated to the point of having a good, therapeutic cry late one night last week. It took pushing me to my breaking point, knowing that I was spreading myself too thin and not doing a great job at any one particular facet of my life. My wonderfully supportive husband kindly pointed out the the source of my anxiety was probably the fact that I was doing too much work for free. That my time is precious and limited and I was feeling frustrated at not being paid what I know I am worth.

So this last week has been an exercise in sticking to my guns. Not doing more than I should without being paid, without requesting some sort of commitment on the side of the customer. Being honest about my prices and feeling confident about them. It was so freeing. I knew that every minute I spent working last week was worth it. It wasn't perfect, but I am getting there. I know I still have some other aspects of my business to refine and update to better align with my vision for Truly Noted, but it was a great start. I have a really good feeling about 2012.

Organizing with Style

 I love the minimalist look of this office space. If my desk is ever this clean I will be shocked.

With so many hats to juggle in my daily life I have come to realize that organization is key. The more organized I am the more efficiently I can work and the more stuff on my to-do list actually gets done. So I was super excited when I went to Staples this past weekend and found the newly launched Martha Stewart Office line.

I love Martha Stewart and I am not afraid to admit it. My friends and family often refer to me as 'Martha Stewart' and I can never really tell if it is a compliment or a snark, but in my opinion Martha is a genius. She teamed up with Avery (another brand I love) to create a whole line of tools to organize your home and business office. I had a hard time not buying absolutely everything, but I took a few minutes to evaluate each product and chose the things that I thought I would really, honestly use.

I ended up with the Dry Erase Weekly Planner which is an oversized weekly planner that sticks right onto your wall (or your fridge or wherever you want it). You can re-position it and it uses a dry-erase marker so you just wipe it off at the end of the week to start over. I love the idea of the monthly planners that go on the top of your desk but I don't have the desk space for it, so this is the perfect solution. I also got a blank Dry Erase decal with a pretty ornate frame that will be perfect for writing notes or inspirational quotes.

I also got two File Pockets that adhere to the wall as well. I have been wanting to get rid of my ugly, black plastic tiered filing tray for a while. It just gets cluttered up with junk I don't want to take the time to put away and then my bills and receipts pile up in a separate stack on top of my desk. I am hoping that by eliminating the tray and giving myself an out of the way place to stash those bills and receipts that I will be more motivated to keep the top of my desk clear of clutter.

They have a limited selection of the new line on the Staples website, but supposedly there will be more available online soon.

The other amazingly gorgeous organizational tool I bought for myself is the Emily Ley Simplified Planner. I have tried other planners before and was never good at keeping up with it, but I also never really had to use one. With the amount of things I find myself forgetting lately (the brain can only hold so much info) I really need to start doing something. I follow Emily's blog and when she debuted her new planner last week I was practically swooning. Since Emily is a mother and small-business owner herself it promises to be engineered for women just like me. I love the personalized monogram on the front and I, of course, got the teal one.

I am actually giddy with anticipation for it to arrive!

Operation 'Organize' is going on all this week and I plan on posting pics when everything is complete! How are you organizing your new year?

Dreamin' and Hopin' and Wishin' and Doin'

Mountain sunrise photo from here

As 2011 comes to a close I have been doing a lot thinking, brainstorming, planning - as in my brain actually hurts and you might find me staring blankly off into space at any given moment. There is so much in my heart right now just trying to bust out and I have been working on figuring out how to make that happen. Because, as it turns out, just because you are on fire about something doesn't make it easier to obtain.

This past year has been full of change for me. I decided to leave my job to stay at home with Eli and pursue Truly Noted full time. There have been so many ups and downs since then, including an anxiety inducing August and September with virtually no sales, and I think I learned a lot. I have always subscribed to the idea that as long as you learn something, every trial is worth it. Throughout all of it, though I have tried my hardest to keep my thoughts on the reason for it all. The awesome rewards of being able to be with my son and experience every little milestone along with him. To give him all of the nurturing, love and attention he deserves.

So what if that means I had to give up cable, a fancy cell phone and going out to dinner? Who has time for that stuff anyway? Especially when you are working your little behind off trying to grow your business into something awesome. Something greater than you ever thought it could be. Something to give me pride, joy, fulfillment and a decent paycheck.

And I really did work my behind off and I did make progress. I did have more sales than 2010. More sales than I ever have had before. I created new designs. I launched a new website. I forged new friendships and partnerships. It wasn't perfect, but it was in the right direction. And I learned so much.

I was also inspired by some pretty amazing people. Other women who intimidated me at first. Who made me want to go back to bed, crawl into a ball and cry about how lame I was. But I wouldn't let myself. Sure, I might have had a pang in my heart of jealousy towards their awesomeness, but then I let it inspire me. I let it fuel the fire inside of my soul that wants to achieve all of my dreams. And then some. I read what they believe, what they do, who they are and I tried to learn from them.

Then I reminded myself that they were once where I am now. They didn't start out ridiculously successful and awesome. Once upon a time they were just girls sitting at a computer with an idea and $2 to their name just like me. They had jobs that they risked leaving to pursue their dreams just like me. They had fears and made mistakes and questioned themselves just like me. But they pushed on and worked hard and eventually made it through to the other side. Just like I am going to do.

So, 2012, I have a lot in store for you. A lot of goals. Some of them might sound crazy and unachievable, but if you shoot for the moon and miss at least you end up in the stars. In the next year I hope to accomplish some amazing things, such as:

• Get Truly Noted set up as an LLC
• Trademark the Truly Noted name
• Sign at least two wholesale accounts in Vermont to carry my invitations
• Forge a relationship with area venues to carry my event stationery line
• Attend at least one seminar or conference geared towards stationery or wedding professionals
• Get to the point where I can pay myself a regular paycheck each month
• Expand the Truly Noted product line
• Teach DIY Invitation classes in my area
• Be able to afford to send Eli to daycare two days a week (I really need this!)
• Blog at least twice a week
• Tweet at least once a day
• Update Facebook at least once a day
• Hit 500 sales in my Etsy store

So there you have it. My goals for the new year. There are a few other, personal goals I have as well just to spice it up. I used to think, when I first started out on this business owning journey, that my goal was just to be able to afford staying home with my kids. If I could make just enough to pay the bills and stay home that would be enough. I didn't want to push it, to try and have my cake and eat it too. But now I realize that I am capable of doing so much more than that and I shouldn't try to limit my expectations of myself. I am looking to the new year like the sunrise in the picture at the top of this post. Beautiful, breathtaking and amazingly large.

Summer Flies By

Ice Cream Social Birthday Party Invite

It seems like just yesterday Spring was just starting to unravel it's fragile fingers and then suddenly August was halfway over. Time seems to fly by fast each year and this Summer went in record time. Now all I see on TV are ads for Back To School sales and previews for this Falls new sitcoms.

Summer is Wedding Season and this was by far my best yet. Of course I contribute a lot of that to the fact that I was working at building my business full-time and devoting all of my spare moments to designing, marketing, printing, cutting...etc. I learned a lot, my business grew and I am finally feeling settled into this new routine.

There is still a lot to do and finding the time proves harder than 'before baby', but I wouldn't change a thing. I recently designed the invitations for Eli's 1st birthday party, a mere month away. I am in shock that it came so soon and yet it seems like light years ago that I was pregnant, waddling around my house hoping and wishing that today would be the day our little boy would make his appearance. Now he is close to walking, eats spaghetti and is obsessed with climbing stairs. I was warned and yet so unprepared!

Balloon and Banner Birthday Invitation

Planning his birthday party has sparked a few new invitation designs which I am happy to add to my Baby and Kids section. I am hoping this is just the beginning of many children themed stationery items I will add to my shop in the coming months. Now that I hired a dear friend to help me with the website re-design I am feeling more confident (and less stressed!) that it will get done sometime this year.

Jammin'

Wedding season is in full swing which means there are not enough hours in the day! My office has been jammin' the last few weeks with invitation orders and some other fun stuff, like these darling jam labels.

Of course all work and no play makes for a boring Summer, so I have been doing a lot of traveling to show off my little (or not so little!) bundle of cuteness who has suddenly morphed into more of a little boy! It breaks my heart a little to see him grow up so fast, but watching him grow is awesome and oh so rewarding.

Some exciting things going on and coming up:

Check out my article in the newest issue of Vermont Bride Magazine! I will be contributing a little something in each issue to help with all of your invitation questions and quandaries.

Truly Noted just signed on to be a part of the 2nd Annual Vermont Bride Gala. I am so excited to be a part of this event! It is going to be at Boyden Farm and the theme this year is Alice In Wonderland. Unlike other wedding shows, this one involves each vendor to help bring the theme to life. I have been dreaming up all kinds of fun Wonderland inspired stationery items!

Hopefully coming soon- a new website for Truly Noted! In between invitation mock-ups I have been plugging away at a new web layout that will feature a cleaner, more streamlined look. And of course some new invitation designs! I have tweaked the Truly Noted logo a bit, too, which is going live on my Facebook today!

Hope you are all enjoying this fabulous Summer weather and maybe when the season starts to wind down I might find a little more time to do some blogging! ;-)

Oh, hello there!

Despite my lack of blogging lately, I am indeed still here. Not only am I here, I am officially working my butt off. I figured being a work-at-home-mom would be a big job, but I never figured on working harder than I ever have in my whole life. And yet, I love every single moment of it!

Each day whizzes by and each morning comes too soon. Some days it is a struggle to get down to my office and do much more than stay barely on top of the projects I have already. Then there is the occasional afternoon where inspiration strikes just right and I manage to whip up a few more designs for the Etsy shop.

My goal was to have 50 things for sale in my Etsy store, and I am excited to say that as of today I have a total of 60! Now I have the goal of going through and getting rid of some old designs that no one seems interested in and reviving others. Gotta keep it fresh!

Here is a sampling of some of the new stuff in the Truly Noted shop.

This Tree On A Hill design reminds me of the view out my front door. Majestic, yet somehow soft looking mountains on the horizon and a lush tree that makes you feel like there is a breeze even if there isn't one. The colors I picked are some of my favorites, but I think this would look dynamite in a few other Summer and Fall color combos as well.

I have done a few skyline invitations in the past and have wanted to add a line of them to my shop for a while. This is the first in a series of simple and classy cityscape designs I hope to introduce over the next month or so. I love the idea of a wedding in the big city, with the bustle and the grand buildings adding to the excitement and buzz in the air! Boston is a city I have visited many times and the old-fashioned banner illustration seems to fit the feeling there.

I have also been trying to add more Baby Shower invitations to the mix. Wedding season has been so busy that this area of my shop sort of sat on the back burner for a few weeks. But I want to really try and pump up this portion of the shop, as well as start adding in birthday party invitations to the mix. I just finished a few new baby shower designs and this Red Umbrella design is my favorite! I love umbrellas and I love the bright red and navy combination. It's modern and sweet with just a touch of humor. I think this design would also work for a bridal shower as well!

So that is what I have been up to the last few weeks. Hopefully I will have time to post some more new designs soon! Or you can just check out the shop. ;-)

Pretty as a Pastry

You may have noticed things look a little different today! I spent a couple of hours last night re-doing the blog with a little help from Powered by Pastries, which I just discovered the other day. I was so excited to stumble across this amazing collection of blogger design tips and free templates since it seems that Rainy Day Templates is not available right now (my original plan for sprucing up this little blog o' mine).

I downloaded the 'Strawberry Shortcake' template and made a couple of changes. Still working on some more design tweaks- probably play around with the header image and I want to add a nav bar underneath. But it is a start!

Risks & Rewards

I just read this in the latest edition of 'Quit Your Day Job' on Etsy...

"...what I really love is that the risks and the rewards are all ours. Not everything is going to be perfect, but the opportunities we discover and the challenges we face are because of decisions we make. Feeling that type of ownership over what you do each day is liberating." -Shauna, Etsy shop somethingshidinghere

This is exactly how I feel. And today marks the beginning as I just gave my two-week notice at work this morning. So I can't go back now!

The Best Laid Plans

Poster by Etsy seller KeepCalmPosters

I had so many plans, to-do lists, ideas, aspirations....but none of them could stand up to THE PLAUGE the horrible virus I just had. Six beautiful days off in a row, and most of them were spent on the couch. Or rocking a sick baby. Or caring for my equally ill husband.

As horrible as it was I am finding the positive in our plight. At least I already had the days off and I didn't have to stay home from work and lose any pay. At least I had the choice to stay home and care for my baby and I didn't have to drag him to daycare to infect all of the other little babes. And through my fever and pain many things became apparent to me.

1. I hate bringing my baby to daycare (already knew this to some extent) and allowing him to be exposed to heinous germs that make him sick more days than he is well.

2. Being sick for two weeks out of every month doesn't make my job seem very worth it. Especially once you deduct the expenses of doctor's visits and medicine, not to mention the emotional toll it took on both my husband and myself.

3. Having a baby that is always sick is sad. It makes me cry. And then when you get sick and have to care for the sick baby as well you realize what is important to you. And for me that is having a baby who is healthy and happy (at least more days than he is not).

4. I think that whole line about daycare and getting sick being 'good' for babies is totally blown out of context. Yes, exposing your baby to other people and germs is good for building their immune system. Much preferable to keeping him indoors all the time and never letting him see the light of day. Being horribly sick more days than not? Having ear infection after ear infection after ear infection? No, I don't believe that is good for a 5 month old baby. Or anyone, for that matter.

5. It's time for me to act on my heart and do what I know is best for my family.

So I didn't get to post 20 new designs in my Etsy store. Nor did I balance my business checking account and clean my office. My new contacts interested in having a Pampered Chef party did not get called and my house did not get cleaned. But I made a decision- a big one - and I am really excited to start the new chapter of my life.

It's been a long, long time...

Well it's actually only been a couple of months, but it feels like years since I last posted! There have been some exciting changes going on for me both personally and professionally and I am so happy to finally be back to blogging.

Of course the biggest (and best) change has been the introduction of my little man, Elijah. He made his appearance on September 13th after what seemed like the longest pregnancy EVER. Here is his birth announcement that I designed (before I actually gave birth- always good to plan ahead!).


Aside from all things baby I have also just finished designing the new Truly Noted website! I am so excited to finally have this project up and running. There are lots of new signature invitation designs that you can purchase straight off of the website. I also added a new Baby & Kids section where you can find fun items like the Owl Birth Announcement I did for Eli.

Now that I have my new website, new baby, and my Etsy store back up and running I am super excited to see what the future holds!

Welcome 2010

Ah! A new year! A clean slate! I love starting off fresh and I hope that this year is going to be full of changes- all good- and getting stuff done. Here are some of the things I have lined up so far in my New Year To Do List:

1. Revamp the Truly Noted website, including new design and adding the ability to buy invitations and goodies right off my site! (this is my number one goal this year).

2. Get a new design for the Truly Noted blog- I am looking at designs by Rainy Day Templates. Particularly this one!

3. A super secret surprise that is blowing my mind right now, and I can't wait to share with everyone!

4. Get a hold on keeping tabs on my business expenses and what-not. This is something I struggle with A LOT. I just want to do the fun part of owning a business, not keep track of sales and consumables!

5. This is a biggie. I want to be able to drop down to part-time at my 'real job' by the end of the year and focus on Truly Noted being more of an income and less of a hobby. Which might have a little something to do with #3! ;-)

So that's it- my very ambitious to-do list. Here's to 2010 and all of the great things that are in store for us.

Oh, and by the way, check out the cool free Twitter backgrounds by illustrator Nate Williams! Which reminds me, I might have to add 'Twitter more often than once a month' to my to-do list...

I am still here, promise.

Has it really been nearly a month since my last blog post? Wow, it certainly hasn't felt like that long to me! I have been busy, to say the least. Lots of people inquiring about wedding invitations, which is awesome! Lots of last minute projects at work to get done before the new year, not so awesome. And of course getting geared up for Christmas! (my personal favorite holiday)

So, hopefully as the holidays wind down I will find myself with lots of spare time to blog away. With the temps getting down into the single digits here already, I won't want to spend much time running around outside anyway.

In the meantime check out a shout-out to all the Vermont Etsy artisans on All Things Simple. Lots of great shops to bookmark!

My Favorite Part Might Have Been The Chocolate Fountain

This thing of beauty is what I got to gaze at all last night at the Burlington Evening Bridal Show. The smell permeated the entire floor I was on and it was all I could do to not abandon my table and go scarf down some Rice Krispie Treats covered with warm chocolate.

But seriously, I couldn't have asked for a better neighbor than the 'Chocolate Fountain Girl', as I liked to call her. She was incredibly generous and offered up all of the left-overs after the brides had filtered out to the prize drawing on the first floor. Yum.

I had a fabulous time at my first real wedding show and I felt like my table turned out better than I had hoped and I didn't feel out of place amongst the more seasoned professionals around me. I also got to see Echo for the first time and I was really impressed by the space! We were on the third, or top floor, of the building and right next to the outdoor terrace.



Here is the main part of my display with my fabulous new banner I just had made! My table came with a white tablecloth but I also brought a chocolate brown cloth to put over the top to create some interest and depth of color. I think it worked out great!



Here are my inspiration boards- unfortunately one of the easels I brought was missing some key parts and wasn't usable, but Dorothy, my awesome Mother-In-Law, came up with this stool-covered-with-an-extra-table-cloth and it worked out great!



Here is a close up of the table. I had originally thought I was getting a six foot table but it ended up being five, but even if it had been a six I think I would have had enough stuff to fill it. There were several invitations that I wasn't able to display. And to think I was afraid I didn't have enough stuff?! Pshaw! You can also see the great roses that she picked up at Costco to brighten up the display. I can't even tell you how many people asked us if we did flowers! They were so amazed when we told them we got them at Costco! (Hopefully the florist set up diagonal from us didn't mind)



This was another one of our vendor neighbors- The Spirit of Ethan Allen Cruise. They had some pretty tasty treats to give out, but I didn't get a chance to sample much.



Right next to us was Fiori Bridal, my favorite wedding gown shop of all time! They also had some models walking around with different gowns on- a sort of walking fashion show. They were all gorgeous! I kept thinking, what a fun job to wear amazing wedding dresses all night- how do you get that gig?



Down on the first floor was my friend Calais with Stowe Mountain Resort! It was great to see some familiar faces. Her display had these great hurricane glasses filled with some dark grains and white candles.



This was a jeweler on the second floor. Her stuff was really pretty, but I didn't have much time to look at everyone elses stuff.



These cupcakes were on display on the table next to Calais. I was so tempted to take one before the show even started! But I was good and left them for the brides.



Last, but certainly not least, is this little cutie pie who was hanging out at the DJ's table. He is a Sheltie and was born blind and deaf, but he was the sweatest little thing. He hung out on the table during the whole show with these headphones around his neck! He was a definite hit with the ladies and everyone that went by had to stop and pet him. I am thinking this might be a good marketing tactic, perhaps I should bring my dog Nova to my next show? Ha!



Here is the view from the terrace on the third floor. This is part of the space that you can rent at Echo and a lot of people have their ceremony out there. It was a gorgeous view and I imagine on a clear day at sunset it's just magnificent!

So there you have it, my first wedding show! It is still a little early to know if it was a success or not, but I handed out more than half of my info cards and I got three full sheets of email addresses from brides. I also had someone make an appointment with me right there on the spot! Since most of the brides were planning for Summer 2010 weddings I am not sure how soon they will be looking to purchase invitations, but hopefully I will have the opportunity to do some more shows to really get my name out there.

Now I am super tired after staying up to finish a rush invitation order so I am going to bed!

Sneak Peak

Things are getting a little crazy over here, and I don't think I have ever seen my office so messy, but I wanted to give you a little sneak peak of what I am preparing for my booth at the show tomorrow. It's getting down to the wire! Thankfully I have gotten 99% of all the things I wanted to get done, done. Now I just hope I can actually get some sleep tonight!

In case you want more info on the show, check out their website here. Tickets are only $6 at the door and there are going to be some great door prizes! (Especially the ones that I am bringing-ha!) Depending on how exhausted I am after the show tomorrow night I might find the time to share pics of the show on Friday, if not than Saturday for sure!

Deep Breaths and Happy Places

Do you ever have so many things in your head that you can't think straight? So many things on your to-do list that you don't even know where to start? And for some reason it seems like the more stuff you have to do the less you want to do anything? That is about where I am right now. With 4 days left until The Show I have been scrambling all weekend to get myself in order. Of course, I am willing to admit that my type A personality and constant need for perfection is probably adding to the stress level.

I have a vision in my mind of what I want my table to look like, but having never done a wedding show before I really am at a loss for how to prepare. Thankfully I will most likely be so exhausted by Thursday that I won't care if things don't work out exactly how I planned them. (But I will be doing several dry runs at home with my kitchen table.)

So last night as I laid in bed I just couldn't shut my brain off. There were a million things streaming through my consciousness, like Twitter on crack, and it was making my head hurt. When I get like that the only way I can get to sleep is with breathing and visualization exercises. I start by controlling my breath- deep in, long out - then I focus on each individual part of my body starting with my feet, letting them relax before moving on.

When I was in high school I used to sleep over at my friend Leanne's house a lot and she had this sleep CD that we would listen to. There was a soft female voice that would command us to 'relax your arms, let them go limp, feel the stress and energy release from them', while new-age music played in the background. It sounds kind of hokey, but it honestly worked! By the time you got to your head your whole body would be in a state of relaxation and peace. It is amazing what your mind is capable of if you focus.

Now I just need to apply that same idea of focus to actually finish all of the things on my to-do list.

Oh Baby!

Here is a little peak of what I have been working on lately. One of my friends recently gave birth to this bundle of joy and asked if I would do her birth announcements. I was thrilled! Especially since I have been wanting to branch out into doing stuff that is not wedding related.


These are just a few of the mock-ups I sent her. Ruby has an 'Under The Sea' nursery theme so I tried to incorporate that into some of the designs.


I can't wait to get them up on my Etsy store! Eventually I would love to do birthday invitations too. I need to work on some more Baby Shower invite designs too. So many ideas and so little time!

New Items!

I was a total slacker about my Etsy store during the month of June- what with a vacation, a wedding, and a very important one year birthday party. So I am determined to get some new stuff up there during this month. I really need to get cracking on this thing if it is going to get anywhere, that I am well aware of....


So this week I managed to put up some new custom address labels! So far I have two designs up there, but I have lots more waiting in the wings. (Been trying to spread out posting the new stuff so I have something new every day or so.)


These are really simple but make a nice clean and crisp alternative to just scribbling the address onto the front of the envelope. I especially love the wrap around feature, so that the return address is on the back. I can even print these on paper that matches the envelope so that it blends in, or on a contrasting color so it sticks out- the choices are endless!


I am also working on some birth announcement and baby shower invite designs that I am really excited about! Hopefully I can share next week!

My New Toy

When I first decided to start a business making invitations I knew I would have to get a high-quality printer. Print quality was going to make or break me- no matter how great the graphic is, if it doesn't print well, it won't look good. After talking to one sales guy at Small Dog (I still love them though) I hastily plunked down $600 for a Brother Color Laser All-In-One.

It wasn't until well past the 30 day Return period that I actually started printing on it regularly and I immediately started to notice some flaws. Mainly, it curls the paper (a lot) and the quality wasn't what I was really expected. I mean, it was nice, just not the professional quality I was going for.

Then a couple of days ago it started to leave little specs all over my prints. After spending an hour plus cleaning the drums and something called the corona wire (and, no, it has nothing to do with crisp, refreshing beer best served with a slice of lemon) I threw in the towel. I went to Staples and bought a new INK JET printer.

This time around I did a lot of research before I decided on what I wanted which ended up being an Epson Stylus Photo 1400 with Claria HD Ink. It seemed the best quality without going over $500) I won't lie- it hurt plunking down another few hundred dollars on a printer, but it will ultimately be worth it. I will chalk it up as one of those 'rookie' mistakes with a lesson well learned. Do your research before you buy large equipment!

I have alredy printed an entire invitation order on it and I am giddy with how stress-free it was. And no need to flatten everything under a stack of phone books!

Happy New Year

Truly Noted was born in 2008, but I believe that 2009 will really see its growth and potential. Starting your own business, while working full-time, is a long and arduous task. There are many steps to be taken, paperwork to be filed, groundwork to be laid, and I finally feel like I am getting somewhere.

In the last six months Truly Noted has become a legitimate business registered with the State of Vermont, launched a website, become an authorized Envelopments dealer, put together advertising, and attended one wedding show. I have made contacts with wedding planners and even received inquiries that were from people I did not previously know! The rewards have been amazing and I hope that the new year brings only more progress.

For my New Years Resolutions I plan to post more regularly to this blog (hopefully because there are lots of things to update!) and to launch my Etsy shop to sell my original designed stationery, note cards and invitations. This year will be a big one and I hope one of the most momentous on my journey to fulfil my dream of quitting my full-time job and working entirely for myself.

I hope that 2009 also brings all of you closer to your goals and dreams and that you find the courage and faith to pursue them. Because no matter what the risks are, the feeling of occomplishment is worth it.