Reaching Goals!

"Amor Eterno, Paper Mache Wall Hanging" ~Sold~

This weekend was quite eventful for me, I reached a personal goal for Illustrated Ink that I once hoped for, but didn't know was possible! I reached 1000 sales on Etsy (confetti here, please)! My first year on Etsy (also my first year of Illustrated Ink), I had less than 50 sales. I was mainly selling and focusing on eBay, and still had so much to learn about having an online business (I'm still learning everyday). Then I decided to pay more attention to Etsy, I loved that it was for artists, and it seemed to be more conducive to selling art than eBay. In the last year and a half, my little Etsy shop has grown and I've now reached my first big milestone!

I feel so very, very blessed and grateful to my collectors and supporters, without you, there would be no Illustrated Ink. Before I gave my business a chance, I sat behind a desk at various jobs as a receptionist, answering phones and greeting people. I smiled all day, but inside I felt so unfulfilled. I used to just doodle on scraps of paper behind the desk, people would see them and say "Hey, that's good - you can really draw!" That would just make me sadder, because I wanted to spend my days creating art, but was afraid to follow it and didn't even know how to get there. One day though, I just couldn't stand it anymore and my day job dues had come to an end. From there, I started my long journey to this point, and I can't wait to see what lies down the road ahead. I live my dream of creating art everyday, and I will never take that for granted. This is my cheesy, inspirational story - and I say if you want it, go for it! It will be so hard at times, and a lot of work, and you may fail...but you owe it to yourself to at least try!

I leave you with a happy shot of Lucas (his Mom, Nydia, won my blog giveaway for this frame). Isn't he cute? ;)