Graduation Season!

I am so pleased to say that my graduation exploding box cards have, well, exploded this year!  I started getting orders in January, and have been getting them pretty consistently since about April.  Now that it's late May and graduation season is upon us, it is getting BUSY!  I am working on my 14th order of this year...that might not seem like a lot to a lot of people, but it's a lot to me!  The best thing is the incredible things that my customers have to say about my product. Just today, I sent photo proofs of a work in progress to a customer, and she responded "WOW!!!  This is just WONDERFUL!! LOVE IT!!!  Thank you so much. My daughter will just LOVE this!!!"    Well, that could not make me happier- I want, above all, for my customers to love what I do for them!

Last time I updated, I mentioned that since I got my Silhouette Cameo, I had made the process of making the graduation exploding boxes much more efficient, so I thought I would share some of the results from that:

I love how the layers now lay exactly diagonal from one another.  Before, the inside layer was only barely offset from the middle layer.  With my Silhouette software, I was able to create cut files to exact dimensions, and experimented until I got it right.  I love the result!  What an improvement- it looks so much better!

You might notice that a couple of these do not have school logos, like I usually include.  That is because for colleges, I will never use a logo if I am not authorized to do so.  I send an email to the college licensing office to ask for permission for all college jobs.  About half of the time, I never even hear back from them.  Sad to say, but they have better things to do than deal with a small request like mine.  I have never had one turn me down- if I do hear back, it is to give permission.  Anyway, two of the above photos show boxes that I had to make without the college logos, due to the fact that the university never responded to my request for permission to use the logo.  On the Sacred Heart one, the customer (the mom of the student) suggested that I just use the heart graphic.  On the one for the University of Illinois, I did actually (finally) hear back from someone, but it was too late- I had already completed the box and shipped it.  In that case, I simply used general graduation graphics found on the internet, and the customer was happy.  I do prefer to use the logos, but I think I am getting better at the ones where it is not possible.

I am so happy that my product has taken off this year- I have actually had to keep it unlisted at times so as not to get too overwhelmed with orders!  Most of all, I am happiest with the feedback from the buyers- I have been blessed with customers who are happy and thankful for what I have created for them, and that is all that a crafter like me can ask for.

In other news, I have transitioned out of my booth at the consignment store Top Drawer, and now just have my card rack there.  It will be interesting to see how it does!  I think I did ok for Mother's Day, so we'll see what happens after this month.  I still think I did the right thing giving up my booth, and will be happy as long as I can sell enough cards to make the rack fee worth it.