Caitlin's Closet: Month 3 & 4

I promise I am still doing this challenge, even if I am terrible at updating this blog. But dang, it sounded much easier in theory. My shop has been blowing up lately. Which is great, but it has been keeping me pretty busy. We are also in the process of house hunting (well, condo hunting), and the real estate game here in Seattle is hard and exhausting. So, I guess those are my excuses for being bad at updating this challenge. Here are my notable outfits from April & May. I really want to start bringing in some DIY and upcycle projects soon!!! Hopefully, next month!

Alright, now onto the good stuff.

New Digital Prints!

From Mid-February to Mid-March, I took a short break from my Etsy shop to recoup from the holiday rush. I worked on some household projects (aka laundry) and did a bunch of sketching! I added over 40 of the new designs I sketched to my shop last month! 

Caitlin's Closet: Month 2

Here is month 2 of my clothing challenge. If you have read about my challenge yet, you can check out the introduction here and month 1 here.

Cookbook Challenge

For the past couple months I have been cooking my way through the newest SkinnyTaste cookbook "SkinnyTaste: Fast and Slow". I kind of made up my own challenge to make every recipe in the entire book. I thought it would be cool to check in along the way and update you guys on how it is going.

Caitlin's Closet: Month 1

I am finally getting around to writing this update post on my new series Caitlin's Closet. I know you all have been waiting on the edge of your seat. If you haven't read my original post, please go check it out to understand the context around this update.

I really didn't mean to put if off for so long. I was originally planning on doing an update post every 10 days or so. But, you know, life happens. And, I think it worked out for the best having the month summed up into one post.

Caitlin's Closet

Welcome to the new series on my blog!

The Challenge
Wear every item of clothing I own in one year.
If I do not wear it, I can throw it away, donate it, or make it into something I will use.

Most Popular State in 2016 Goes to....

So I am one of those rare breeds (and no, I'm not talking about being a ginger). I enjoy being creative, but I also enjoy order amongst the chaos (even though my giant laundry pile would say otherwise). Some people refer to this as being both left-and-right-brained.  I tallied up a bunch of facts about my orders. I do this in hopes to recognize trends within my products, and how I can take that knowledge to become a better seller to my customers.

My New Year Started In February

On January 1st, I was getting so jealous of everyone's posts about their resolutions and goals for the new year. I was still buried in etsy orders from the holiday season for the entire month of January. As of last week, I am DONE with holiday orders. I am very excited to talk about my super fun plans for 2017. But, before we do that, let's review the highlights of 2016.

"What Do You Do While You Sew?"

Hello Friends!

Something a little different on the blog today. No DIY or Etsy stuff.

One of my most asked "etsy questions" (which could be whole a post in it self) is "Wow, you hand embroider those. That must take a long time. What do you do while you are sewing?"

There are 3 things I like to do while sewing:

• Listing to movie scores

• Watching light-hearted television

• Watching YouTube

Today, we are talking about YouTube. But let me know if in the future you would like to see a list of my favorite movie scores or tv shows. 

Let's just jump right in.

Remember when I'm supposed to be blogging?

I talked about in my goals post how I wanted to be doing a blog post 3 times a month. I thought this was a challenging goal, yet achievable with some effort. Little did I know the next several months would be my most successful (read: busy) for my Etsy Shop and I would have zero minutes to spare. Or at least that's how it felt.

New Designs and My Inspiration

I have 23 new printable art listings! Yay!

New Things! ...Well, sort of

I ordered some new things this week, and posted some new listings. I also get to check a few things off my shop goals list, yay!

CaiterbugCoast2Coast: What did I do? What did I draw?

Hey Guys! I'm back from my trip!

Gosh. Two weeks is long time to be away from home. At least for me. I love my day-to-day life in Seattle.  I missed my husband, my puppy, my friends, and my business.  However, I did get to see some pretty great people while I was gone, so that made it worthwhile. 

Scripture Prints: Request List

In the near future, I will be going on a 2 week long trip to the East Coast. I am super optimistic that I can use this time away from the shop to my advantage. One of my 2016 goals is to double my inventory of printable art. This means I have about 70 prints to make.  I think this time away (with a lot of plane rides) is the perfect time to get a large chunk of my sketching done. 

A video posted by Caitlin Christine (@mrscaiterbugshop) on Feb 18, 2016 at 3:41pm PST

A Print for Bri

You may have seen my posts on Facebook several weeks ago when I found out my friend Brittany was in a paragliding accident. It happened while she was vacationing in South Africa with her two best friends, Lauren and Ashley. 

2016 Shop Goals and Personal Goals

Hello all! It's been a while. I feel like last time I wrote a real post was when I had just listed some of my first Etsy products. One year and 288 sales later, we have some catching up to do. MrsCaiterBug's Etsy Shop has gotten more business than I ever expected. Now that I have some e-commerce experience, I really want to push my shop even further and create goals for the next year. 

My 2016 Planner!

I'm writing this post for 3 reasons:

1. It has forced my to put my goals into words, and therefore they are more thought out.
2. Sharing my goals with you all will keep my accountable.
3. It fulfills one of my goals of blogging more - Is that cheating? haha.

What am I doing with my life?

Great question.  

I've been searching for an answer for almost two years now.

Most of you know I don't have a "real job" out here in Seattle. I've been pretty hard core with the job search for a little over a year now. I've sent out countless applications, had some great feedback, been on several interviews, but nothing has come out positive. I've tried to be pretty "whatever, that's life" about the whole thing, but it has been hard on me. I have times where I'll get down on myself for thinking I am a waste of my (2) college degree(s).

I celebrated my 24th birthday this month. Which reminded me that the window is closing between now ----> and when Tom and I want to start a family in a year or two or three.  Maybe a job in my field isn't in the cards for me, and I am okay with that. My conversations about this with God go something like, "That's fine. I don't need a real job. But, if that's not what I am supposed to do, what is? Give me something I can pour 100% into."

He is answering me in a way I wasn't expecting. (Isn't that always how it goes?)

I have a lot to be thankful for, and lately God has been reminding me of people he has placed in life to help me through this weird time. 

Custom Embroidered State Pillows: Examples

Here you can view detailed photos of the Custom Embroidered State pillows.

Visit my Etsy shop and start a conversation with my for any questions. I'd love to chat!

Coming Soon: Embroidered State Items

I wanted to give you all a little preview of what some of my upcoming Etsy items will be, and hopefully get some feedback before I take them public on my shop.

I love sewing. I especially love embroidery. And, that got me thinking, "Why don't I have embroidered items on my shop?" I would love to spend more time hand sewing, but I am running out of things to embroider for myself (so I need to be able to give it to other people, haha).

ThrowBack Thursday

Tom and I went to California this past November to celebrate Thanksgiving with my Grandparents and extended family that live in San Jose. When visiting my grandparents, it is a tradition to look through old photos from our visits over the years and from my mom's childhood.