On Saturday, we spent the day at the 3rd annual Herbert School Craft Sale.  Throughout most of the week, the sun was shining and things were seeming down-right spring-y: a good omen for the sale.  Saturday morning was a little shivery but it was still sunshine-y and it seemed like it was going to be a lovely day.  However, sometime during the day the sun disappeared and by the time we were ready to pack up and head home, the wind was bitingly cold and it seemed less strange that there hadn't been a huge amount of craft sale visitors.  Thank you to all those who did brave the fickle Saskatchewan weather and attended the sale.  Despite the small turnout, our sales turned out pretty well and that, combined with the fact that we were both but a 15 minute drive home when the day was done, succeeded in making the day a New Leaf success!

This is late (our birthday was YESTERDAY)  and will be short -it's been a busy birthday week for me!  To add more to the mix, my family is heading off early next week to visit my mom, which will be super fun, but does require a bit of getting ready and getting things done around here.  

I can hardly believe it's been a whole year of New Leaf already!  And at the same time, it sort of feels like I've been doing this forever.  I so love to make things and having the opportunity (and motivation!) to do it every day is such a gift!  New Leaf has grown quite a bit over the past months: we started three Etsy shops, attended lots of trade shows, met for some awesome staff meeting over some tasty food... Before starting this business, I had NO experience with anything business-related (and still have days where I wonder what on earth I am doing...), so I've learned a lot and make some great connections with other business owners and of course, our most excellent customers.  I have really loved the personal side of owning a small business, how I get to manage each transaction and make sure things get to people quickly and in good condition, changing things to suit me and New Leaf and our customers...  And I have to say, hearing your feedback has probably been the best part.  It not only makes me happy to provide people with beautiful products that they love, but it also reassures me that I am on the right track!  
Thanks so much to you all!  I hope our Birthday Sale lets you know how much we appreciate you!

Cheers to an awesome first year in business and to what I hope will be many more years of New Leaf!
-Maria

New Leaf Handmade Goods turns One-year-old on March 16th and we are celebrating with a huge sale!  Enter the code HAPPYME during checkout at any of our three Etsy shops, and receive 20% off your entire purchase (not including shipping) and receive a free gift too!

Our sale runs Sunday, March 13th (12:00amCST) until Saturday, March 19th (11:59pmCST).  

FREE GIFT
The free gift is a pocket-size notebook and a sweet little flower/leaf magnet.  Designs vary and will be chosen at random.

It's March!  This morning I woke up to sunshine that looked strangely like the light that shines through your windows on a rainy summer morning.  It wasn't, of course, a rainy summer morning, and upon opening the blinds I was struck by the, instead, wintery-ness of the light.  But it WAS a nice way to awaken. 
March marks the birth of my first child (and I think I'm almost done making her birthday presents...a refinished table and chairs, a cloth book, and some felt food) as well as the birth of New Leaf.  I can't believe that my baby is turning 2 and that New Leaf is already a year old as well.  When Maria came up with the idea of starting the business, I gladly joined in but I'm not sure we'd be anywhere without her vision, her drive, and her enthusiasm.  In fact, I'm not sure I really believed we would actually make a go of this business-idea last March.  I often wonder how much I really bring to this business and whether Maria really needs me...but I am grateful to be a part of something that I believe is greater than it seems at first sight.  So, Happy Birthday New Leaf! and thanks Maria for letting me in on something exciting!
-celia

Throughout school and university, and into my work life as a teacher, I always dreaded deadlines, stressing about getting assignments and lessons completed long before the due date, yet putting things off until the last minute despite the stress that ensued.  I would have thought that working for myself would rid the need for deadlines.  Over the past year I haven't really bothered with them much, except for occasionally rushing to get some things completed for a big trade show or completing a custom order.  However, last month I noticed that there were stacks and stacks of notebooks in various stages of assembly, all strewn across my workspace.  After working here and there on these notebooks, I finally decided to set myself a due date for which to complete the half-notebooks that were cluttering my space.  I gave myself a week to accomplish this, and found that instead of being sidetracked by Facebook, or thinking up some new idea of something I'd like to create, I would actually work on the notebooks whenever I had a chance, knowing that I had a clear time limit.  By Friday, I had completed all I had set out to do and was able to tidy up my workspace and think of which project I wanted to start next.  I've given myself a new project for this week, with another Friday deadline.  After learning how to make awesome envelopes, I've sort gone overboard and made hundreds.  Inspired by the designs, I've been creating matching notecards and putting them into sets with mailing stickers and a self-designed wrap-around label.  Friday will hopefully arrive with neat stacks of packaged envelope/notecard/label sets... Now to get off the computer and get to WORK!
-Maria