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Valley Oak Paper

I’m Cecilia Huster and I design greeting cards.

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A Yeti Christmas

I’m now designing for Spellbinders. If you’ve followed me on Instagram or here on the blog, you know I love their products. So it’s a great fit for me! Super happy!

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Kat Scrappiness Influencer Team

About a month ago I applied to join the Kat Scrappiness Influencer Team. I’m super happy to report that I was accepted! I’ve even submitted my first order with my influencer discount. I’m looking forward to receiving it and getting stuck in!

Blog posts for Influencer Team projects will be clearly labeled as such. In those, only Kat Scrappiness products will be named and linked. Normally I link all products, including those that I don’t have affiliate links for.

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Post-Tax Season Business Update

This was my first tax season as a small business owner. Unfortunately I came to the conclusion that I need to get a paying job. So I’ve spent a lot of time updating my resume and portfolio site. My timing isn’t great, so it may be a while before I find something. The San Jose Mercury seems to have articles about more Silicon Valley layoffs a couple of times per week.

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Sales tax time

I made a little more than $1,000 from selling my cards last year. That’s actually more than I thought. It’s still not enough to pay even one monthly mortgage. 😭

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Halloween Makes for Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Saturday October 7th, I’ll be at the De Anza Flea Market in booth O45. I hope to see you there! For this market I’ve changed my pricing structure to hopefully sell more. I’ll report back if it worked.

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Crafty Business Update

Silicon Valley in-person shopping

  • Unique Boutique is open 10.30 to 2.30 Monday through Friday at the Sunnyvale Senior Center

  • De Anza Flea Market: October 7th, next and probably final day.

  • Unique Boutique Craft Fair: November 3rd - 4th, Sunnyvale Senior Center

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Catching Up

Top of mind, for obvious reasons, is my surgery that is scheduled for 11.30 Pacific tomorrow. Any positive vibes or prayers would be appreciated!

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August Priorities

Now that I’ve done the early August flea market, it’s time to look at my priorities for the rest of the month. The next De Anza Flea Market is on September 2nd.

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Cupertino Caturday

This week I’ve been busy preparing for the De Anza Flea Market on Saturday. Attendance should be better than last month, because it’s not a holiday weekend and it’ll be less hot. I’ll be in the same location as last month, O45.

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Unique Boutique & Mica Sprays

The Unique Boutique is actively looking for new vendors. They jury new products on the second Wednesday of every month, except of October and April. So right now is a great time to apply!

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Preparing for the Big Day

As expected, pretty much everything is about preparing for my first flea market day right now. The big day is Saturday July 1. There’s a lot riding on how well I do there. If it’s profitable and sustainable, I’m going to buy a six-month pass. The six-month pass doesn’t give you a discount, but you’re assigned a booth for the duration. That’s going to be more important in the run-up to the holidays.

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Selling IRL

I’m looking for offline venues for selling my cards. Here’s what I’ve found so far. If you’re aware of other low-barrier-to-entry options, please let me know.

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Affiliate Programs

The way affiliate programs work is that if you as a shopper click on an affiliate link, your browser saves a cookie. If you buy anything from the affiliate site within the referral window, the affiliate (blogger) gets a percentage of the sale as commission. The length of the referral window differs from merchant to merchant, but 1-3 months is common.

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