Proof & Parchment Year in Review

The past week I have taken time to reflect on the start of Proof & Parchment and review the previous year’s progress. I do not have a complete year under my belt yet but with the start of 2018 I feel it is a good time to look back on the beginning in order to plan for the new year. First off is a fun snapshot graphic of the past year. Below that I highlight and go into more details of the first few months at Proof and Parchment. So without further ado here is the Proof & Parchment Year in Review.

Proof & Parchment Highlights

Website

I designed the brand new Proof & Parchment website. It was a lot of fun for me to create something for my own business. I’ve been designing for others for so long and have done some other WordPress websites from start to finish, but being able to do my own was super rewarding. Of course there were some challenges too, especially not having a developer to check with before making custom edits, but I was able to figure everything else on my own without breaking the site and am happy with the current solution!

Etsy

I launched my Etsy shop! PHEW! This was a big initial goal for me and I’m glad I was able to set it up early on. I started the shop with my 2017 holiday watercolor calligraphy digital prints and have since added additional holiday designs, custom prints, and invitation designs.

Holiday Bazaar

I attended my first holiday bazaar where I set up a Proof & Parchment table. I was able to sell holiday cards, holiday prints, and envelope calligraphy services. This was a great learning experience especially at the start of my business plus I was able to get my name out in the community a little bit more.

Email Newsletter

I know a lot of people have a love/hate relationship with email and that our inboxes can be super overwhelming. But I wanted another way outside of social media to be able to connect with people. Especially when exposure on social media can be very temperamental. In 2017 I started with a monthly newsletter to hopefully bring a little extra joy to others. It’s also a way for me to let my subscribers know first when something new is happening with Proof & Parchment. If you haven’t subscribed yet be sure to sign up here (plus you’ll get a fun freebie calendar to help you organize your 2018 plans)!

Design Work

Over the past few months outside of the “business” side of setting up Proof & Parchment I’ve also had a lot of fun doing what I love: DESIGNING!

• Created a variety of custom designs for my Etsy shop
• Worked with fun clients on branding projects
• Designed commissioned prints for holiday presents

A lot of these projects can be found on my portfolio page and I’m sure I will add more blog posts on real life projects as I complete them.