a look back at 2012: one day in december

Welcome to the 2nd annual ONE DAY IN DECEMBER which is a blog chain where 10 of us TWIPS will be blogging about our 2012 look backs - sharing great insight, strength, creativity, huge business success, and any personal struggles that have bonded us together. Who are all of us? Well we are Wedding Businesses from around the world who are run by inspirational people always willing to help, support and educate. We all met on the TWIPS site and it grew from there, regularly visiting each other blogs to offer encouragement, support and friendship. It's a refreshing change to find such a positive collective of people from all over the world looking to do their level best to create a supportive network of friendship and education. We only have 10 lovely ladies this year, since most of the TWIPS are super crazy busy!! Many thanks to Cris Stone who designed this years logo!  Click here to go to Cris' blog: www.kissmytulle.com

2012 was an amazing year full of weddings, styled shoots, learning experiences and tears.  I booked over 100 weddings (ohmygosh you guys are amazing!!), worked on a number of styled shoots (we'll talk about those in a bit) and I've formed incredible friendships with some of my brides (I'm looking at you, Tracy!).  This past year has been a humbling experience filled with love and laughter.  I've learned so much about myself in the process.

1.  I've been challenged.

So many of my brides this year have challenged me to create something so unique and so "outside the box".  I've worked in a lot of new mediums this year -- I had my first letterpress order in 2012! -- and I'm loving the change and challenge.  It makes me fall in love with my job all over again.  It reminds me why I worked so hard to quit my day-job.  Why I worked so hard to be able to run a business while being a stay at home mom.  It's oh-so-worth-it. 

2.  I've learned how to say no.
One of my biggest lessons in 2012 was learning how to say "no".  I want to be able to give you my all -- and in order to do that, I decided to only take on a limited number of custom projects per month.  This was huge for me -- HUGE -- because I'm a Say Yes kind of person and it was a tough pill to swallow when I realized that I couldn't actually do it all. My "no's" meant a Saturday afternoon with my family, a date night with my husband, and extra snuggles with my little peanut. 

3.  I've expanded my storefront.
In the past twelve months, I've had numerous new products to my shop that I'm so completely excited about.  Rubber stamps, personalized plates, custom iPhone cases and tote bags, just to name a few.  I've also been selling printed invitations and accessories in addition to printables.  Wait until you see what 2013 has in store!  

4.  Photoshoots are so much fun!
This past year, I've worked on so many photo shoots... and oh my goodness, are they so much fun!  I've worked with some of the most incredible vendors, formed friendships and vendor relationships, and seen my work featured on some of the best wedding blogs around.

as seen on Wedding Chicks

as seen on Style Unveiled

as seen on Green Wedding Shoes

as seen on Tori Spellings EdiTORIal
adorable tutorial by Jenny of Craft That Party

4.  Started a series of monthly downloadable posters
I teamed up with Alexandra of HeartLoveWeddings to design printable love quotes, that we call Quotables! 

5.  Became a Bee
If you didn't already know, I'm Mrs. Jump Rope on HelloBee -- my favorite parenting blog.

6.  Hired a Caregiver
This one ties into Numbers 2 & 3 -- Not only did I have to learn to say no, but I had to manage an online storefront, blogging (see #5), but I had to be a mama while simultaneously running a household.  In other words, I was a major zombie running on next to no sleep.  The biggest (and I think the best) decision my husband and I made in 2012 was to hire a caregiver.  Our nanny comes to our house twice a week during the day.  I get so much accomplished during the day & am able to meet my clients needs... while still being able to get the laundry done and dinner on the table.  I've had a lot of fellow mama designers ask me about this and my answer is YES, it is absolutely worth hiring someone to help. 

To re-cap, 2012 was a year of change.  I'm hoping 2013 will be a year of growth (both personally and professionally).

Next up is Adrienne of Ruffles & Tweed!