Countdown to 1000

After nearly 2 years, over 200 sales and countless hours playing in forums, I can actually visualize 1000 hearts in my little etsy store. For those of you not familiar with these hearts of which I speak, it is the system in which an etsy shopper can mark their favorite items or sellers. I've got about 60 left to get before this amazing milestone. Seriously, right now 942 people like my little shop enough to put me in their favorites list. I don't even know 100 people.

To commemorate the next month or so that it takes to get to that milestone number, I wanted to look back at my first customers, the items I used to make to see how far I've come. To make it all a little more fun, I'd like you, gentle reader, to join me. If you currently make stuff and sell at etsy, show me one of the first items you listed or sold and one of your most recent creations in the comments. I'll post the most amazing transformations here during the next few days or weeks, depending on how many takers I get.

The very first person to heart me was Crochetgirl on April 24th, 2006, followed by VerukaDollsLand that very same day. It felt so great to get attention so quickly and I began hearting all these wonderful sellers too. I want to thank them for their love...so visit their stores if you get a chance!

This is the first item I sold on etsy. It's a simple flower bracelet I made with thread I got on clearance. I sold it for a whopping $5. Even though I had little idea of what I was doing, it sold the very first day.

Here is one of more recent pieces. The Portrait of an Elegant Lady is one of my absolute favorites. I think the difference in the sheer difficulty of these pieces is staggering. I would never thought when I picked up my first tatting needle that I would ever create something like this.

Well I guess that's all for todays before and after, make sure to share yours!