6 years

February 1, 2016 Elizabeth Smillie

Today our little Etsy shop celebrated 6 years of business! 6 years of following a “path less traveled”, taking twists and turns that we didn’t expect {but that have been a wonderful blessing} as we “live creatively & celebrate every day”. 6 years!

6 years ago we were living in a little {uh, yes …quite little…not our littlest ever, but still, quite little} apartment, living from one slim paycheck to the next with an almost 1-year-old {and another baby due that summer} and gratefully taking advantage of any opportunities to earn an extra dollar that we could. We had opened a shop on another selling platform the year before {you can read a bit about that story here and here} and, as pennies were getting pinched tighter, the time had come to mix things up a bit and see if something else would work better – and lo, our Etsy shop was born. Our first sale came over 2 months after opening our virtual doors – and it was a welcome one! 6 years later, our shop bears very little resemblance to what it was in early 2010: we are in a different city, different state, we have a house {with an actual yard!}, our family has grown to 4 precious little ones, John is the one mainly running the business now {there’s a good chance he’ll be the one answering your emails} and I have taken more of a back seat while I homeschool the littles, we have 3{!} employees and every single item in the shop right now was birthed sometime in the last 5 years.
A few things are still very much the same – every single thing that we sell is hand made right here in our home, we still make sure that each new product fits within “live creatively & celebrate every day”, and we do everything we can to make your visions come to life. The custom orders that we fill are always a fun challenge!

We are so, so immensely blessed. This “path less traveled” is not the easiest thing, but it is well worth the rewards. {Our 3 year old cannot remember a time when her Daddy wasn’t home every day – he may be busy, but he is home, and it is wonderful. :D} You – each and every one of you – are a huge part of where we are today. Without you and others like you, our shop {and lives!} would look very different! Your orders and feedback are always, always deeply appreciated. Our second hire celebrates her 1 year anniversary with us tomorrow, so we rolled both events into one and celebrated with a lunch – and cake {of course!}! It was a fun time to take a few moments to mark the occasion, to celebrate how far we’ve come – plus, a great excuse to have cake. :D