From bottom to top, these are the best things about business in 2011.

10. Being in Mollie Makes 

Mollie Makes is, if you don’t know, a super adorable, really well designed, totally awesome magazine for us crafty pyrex bowl loving types. And in the beginning of 2010 they featured my happy place hoop in one of their first issues. That was pretty great!

9. The time there was a bat in my apartment

Oh sorry, never mind that was neither awesome nor business related.

8. Having enough money to do things

I treated myself to something sort of awesome at the end of 2010 2011 – a new computer! It was pretty cool to know I had enough money to afford something like that.

7. Reaching my Etsy “before Christmas” sales goal 38 days early

You know when you set goals and you don’t really know if you should get too excited about it or get too confident that you will achieve said goal? Yeah, that was me and this goal of 500 sales by Christmas goal that I set in the beginning of 2010. But oh-heck-yeah I got there and then some by Christmas! I was 38 days early on reaching my goal and then went over by more than 200 sales by the end of the year! So psyched,

6. Teaching at Etsy Labs

So awesome and so fun and I so don’t know if all the craft nights book up to max capacity but I was pleased that mine had a wait list. :)

5. Pulling an all nighter to accomplish the results of not-yet-stated-moment-number-one

It had been a long time since I saw 5:00am, or even 6:30am…. I saw ALLLL the usually unseen AMs… it was awesome though. And I felt so very accomplished when I went to bed at 7am.

4.  Crafty Biz Meet Up

Warning: this might make you really jealous.

Every month I get together with a group of local crafty biz owners like myself (also we could call them friends because they are) and “talk shop” so to say. It’s awesome. Everyone there is so talented and so willing to help and/or learn and it’s been such a valuable experience. You know how sometimes you are talking to your friends about your business things and their eyes just sort of glaze over and they have no idea what you are talking about? This is the total opposite of that. I know, I told you you might be jealous. I’m so lucky to have these awesome people to learn from and get together with every month.

3. Crafty Bastards

I loved it, even though it rained and it was freezing and my feet were cold all day. Such a fun show, tons of traffic, awesome people. So totally applying again next year! Road Tripppp!!

2. Being featured in Better Homes and Gardens

This was so awesome and so much fun!! I am shocked, still, that my little necklaces got so much attention this year! I love making them and I love sending them all over the place!! Thank you to the people at Etsy and BHG who brought my shop to glossy-pages-awesomeness. This was especially awesome because of how it happened and the fact that I know people, lots of people, who actually subscribe to and read this magazine.

1. Being featured on the Today Show.

This is definitely big old number one. Because… umm… dead? Yeah. Dead. on 12/13/11 my embroidered pendant initial necklaces were featured on the Today Show (yes, really the one with Matt Lauer)  thanks to Cool Mom Picks.com. My necklaces were approximately 4 inches away from Ann Curry. WHAT THE WHAT?!  This feature brought about such a splendid sales day it was amazing. Best business day yet!!