Bella Carta Intro + Updates

It's been almost 9 months since I launched Bella Carta on Etsy, and to call it a whirlwind would be a huge understatement. I wouldn't change the last 9 months for anything, because all those growing pains were absolutely necessary to help me better understand my business, my customers, and what my goals were for the future.

For those of you who are new here, Bella Carta Boutique officially began with my own wedding, almost 4 years ago. Before that, I had designed a handful of wedding invitations and baby announcements on the side, but dreaming up and executing my own wedding brought out a joy in me I didn't know existed. I poured through magazines for inspiration, tearing out pages for my wedding binder (oh what I would have given for Pinterest back then!), trying to craft each and every element perfectly. I was elated to see it all come together on our wedding day, and knew I didn't want the journey to and there.

I officially launched our business in early 2010, without a website, and back then almost all of my orders came through word of mouth and from family and friends. Last summer, after many many months of procrastination, I had a "now or never" moment, and worked night and day for months to be ready for an August launch. You can see that post here.

So much has changed since that very-late night in August, and all for the better.

I'll be candid and say that launching on Etsy, two months before the holiday-card-madness began, was overwhelming. I wasn't prepared for the amount of orders I would get consecutively, and unfortunately, learned the hard way about doing too much, too fast. Combined with a unreliable printer, it was pretty much a recipe for disaster. None of my clients would ever know what happened behind the scenes: my husband and I spent a lot of late nights fixing problems, packing up orders and designing the next batch of cards. Everyone I heard back from was thrilled with the final result, so when the quiet of January rolled around, I knew I had to implement some changes, quickly.

Orders on Etsy, and privately, have been consistent since our launch, and I feel much more comfortable with the every-day operations. It is still a struggle some days to find time to do it all... be a mom and a wife, work full-time and on Bella Carta, write this blog, find time for myself... find time to sleep... but the overwhelming feeling of pride and accomplishment I feel when I complete and order and a customer is elated, is beyond words. It keeps me going, and pushes me to work harder and dream bigger than I ever have before.

While I can't share all the details, there is a lot of exciting stuff happening for our business right now. A new website is in the works, a partnership that I'm thrilled about, and an entire re-branding strategy that makes my heart happy every time I look at it.

So while I continue to work behind the scenes, I thought I'd share a soon-to-be listing, and my experiment in photographing our projects for listings. I'd love to know what you think!

Really & truly, I am always open to feedback on Etsy, whether you are a customer or not. Are there specific designs or products you would like to see? Are the listings clear & concise? Would you be more drawn to the shop if we listed digital-pricing, only?

You can visit Bella Carta's Etsy Shop here ....
... and see some other posts (and a super sweet feature!) here, here and here!

Thank you friends, for your constant support & enthusiasm about my business. As Emily said to me this week: it's amazing how God puts certain people in your life at just the right time. That is exactly what this crazy blog community has done for me, and I'm so so grateful for all you!

Linking up with Kelly for SUYL!