{2010, a recap of the year}

Highlights from 2010 ~

In January, Zack and I rang in the new year being residents of Minnesota. We had moved from Michigan just months before but were actually in Michigan for the New Year. I had bought my ticket to Blissdom and was realllllly excited about going to my 1st blog conference. I had added a shop with Big Cartel (but was still selling through Etsy) and couldn’t even come close to predicting with the following months would bring Zack and I // Gussy.

February came and I celebrated by writing my first tutorial post. I had painted my nails for Blissdom and left for Nashville soon after. The next day revealed a HUGE project I sewed for (in)courage. I blogged about the awesome-ness Blissdom brought my way and just a few days later was featuring Where Women Create on my blog. Little did i know I’d be working with WWC on their first conference/handmade market later this year :] I wrote about discussing analytics. This was the start of sharing blog/biz 411 posts.

sadly we must skip through march as all posts have been lost from my switch to WordPress from Blogger {tear}, but I did find this post on when I moved over to WordPress.

April is such a memorable month ♥. I had a “first” with sewing ruffles on notecards. I also wrote my first most-popular to-date post on Etsy vs. Big Cartel {so fun to see the community form through this!!!}. I added a new print to my line of Gussy totes and later wrote a 3-part series on having a handmade business: part 1 {organizing}, part 2 {business tips}, part 3 {Q&A}. A few days later I received this amazing email from a customer. Wristlets were added to the shop, and then — I made MY BIG ANNOUNCEMENT about quitting my day job to sew full time ♥.

In May I met Allison with OMyFamily for cupcakes and we’ve been friends ever since :] Allison’s son, OBaby, was caught inside a Gussy tote bag. The maintenance lady at our apartment complex saw Zack nekkid {hilarious}. The month of May also meant I was getting ready for my first day as a full-time Gussy girl — May 17th is my first day self-employed. {I also wrote about it here and here} The celebratory day **finally** came and I was no longer working for someone else. Zack and I celebrated by a weekend “away” — here’s all the fun stuff we did. May continued to be a big month as I wrote a detailed post on how I quit my day job. I hosted my very first Gussy/Minneapolis meet-up, and was preparing for The Creative Connection here in Minneapolis later this year.

June finally brought warm weather to Minnesota, so Zack and I went on our first of many bike rides. One month had already passed since quitting my day job and I was finding old sewing posters to giggle over. I wrote a post on 3 of my favorite handmade accessories and was on my way to becoming good friends with Lisa Leonard & Jessica of Allora Handmade. I wrote another Q&A post…

July is my birthday month! :] On July 5th I celebrated my 25th birthday, so to have fun I posted my favorite things: part 1, part 2, and part 3. These three posts were leading up to a super fun birthday giveaway that I posted here. My parents surprised me {as did Zack for planning it all!} by visiting us for the weekend — yay, happy birthday to me! I received some lovely gifts and wrote another tutorial post. Zack and I had a summer adventure with a trip to Michigan. My favorite bloggy friends guest posted for me while we were away visiting family.

Yay — August! I created my first ever limited-edition headband {it turned out to be super popular — I should have un-named it “limited edition”, haha}. I wrote another biz series, but this time on budgeting: part 1a, part 1b, part 2a, part 2b. The bloggers at LoveFeast hosted a MN meet-up — of course I had to go :] One year had passed since moving to Minnesota from Michigan, and Zack & I **finally** found a new place to live {a few pics are found here}.

September I introduced a new product line for little girls >> Gussy Girl purses and headbands. Gussy Sews had our first booth at a The Creative Connection’s handmade market and I spent a few days with these fabulous business owners/bloggers :] It’s so amazing to see that earlier this year, in May, I had just quit my day job to sew on Gussy full time and was *ironically* available to meet and help plan the team putting on The Creative Connection {conference & handmade market}. God is so good! I ended the month with the official tour of our Minneapolis home.

October brought a photo of my Gussy ruffles & Ree Drummond along with new Vacay totes. And, I met Heather Bailey {and she knew who I was!} I blogged about beings pals with social media and receiving a gorgeous 1916 Singer sewing machine ♥. Pregnancy & Newborn magazine featured Gussy again. Zack and I talked about adopting a dog, and then we found Bauer and added him to our family :] I fell in love with the hair salon in our neighborhood {tell me you understand this dilemma for us curly-haired gals}, and Bauer made his first vlog ;] I went to Relevant {Christian womens blog conference} in Pennsylvania and…

then in November introduced yet another new Gussy product ~ Christmas stockings! The Gussy Sews blog hosted a holiday gift guide {day 1, day 2, day 3} and we revealed our ruffled holiday product line. Red Letter Words created THE MOST FUN ever GUSSY print for my studio. Every day Bauer steals our hearts a bit more {sigh}. I found an Etsy Success email and turned it into a community blog post, went to another blog meet-up event {at Aveda}, and shared pics of our new Gussy tags. I started a fun new series called Remembering Memories and blogged about yet another brick & mortar shop that I love. Bauer recorded another vlog and is really loving the winter snow outside. We decorated for Christmas early since we would be in Michigan over the holiday, and Gussy Sews had their first ad in OK! Magazine. {umm, amazing}

December ~ I started out by sharing how I stay [more] organized with my Gussy folder. I also shared {thanks to my friend, Stephanie} some simple tips to improve your business cards since I’m getting ready to go to Blissdom {again} in January {SO EXCITED!} I made plans to host a Gussy // Grand Rapids, MI meet-up and I wrote a stream of consciousness about my sewing machine. Gussy Sews had their “first” Christmas and shipped 148 packages *just* for the holiday season. Creating Community turned out to be a very successful post idea {click over and read about the community of the Gussy Sews blog & find a friend to connect with.} The Gussy // Grand Rapids, MI meet-up was super fun and we talked for over 2 hours :] We finished with a final Sponsor Feature post which includes a feature/giveaway on our sponsors, as well as posting our 28th Featured Artist for the year.

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Putting this recap together has been a lovely reminder of the places I’ve gone, where I’m at now and where I want to go. Our Press page is something I couldn’t have ever dreamed ~ thank you for giving the press something to write about. Praying for a healthy, successful, fun year for 2011. xoxo