Hello guys!! 😀

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog here - most of my life updates are on my IG stories and also my new support-based membership platform (to replace Patreon) so this space is basically rendered useless opppps 😅 I usually do any updates over there, but since this is related to the webstore which is on my website…I decided it made sense to have it here! ✨

By now many of you would know that my significant other and I have recently moved out from a rented single room to a whole 3-room HDB flat (woohoo!! 😍). It was something that we’ve been wanting to do for almost a year, and when the opportunity presented itself, we jumped on it!

But a bigger space also means that our rent has increased significantly (from $585 to $2k oooof) and I’m also doing my part to contribute so it’s not so hard on my S.O.’s wallet. So with that in mind, I’ve been trying to figure out how I can earn a side income!

WEBSTORE BACKGROUND (feel free to skip)

Even though I call myself a miniature crafter, because I don’t have any design background, I decided to enforce illustration as part of my practice as a way to improve myself in that aspect. Hence, every month, I design a sticker pack for my patrons as my mail-of-the-month - a benefit that comes with the higher tiers.

I occasionally open pre-orders for them to public due to requests of purchasing them (THANK YOU 🥺) but whenever I do, it takes me 1-2 weeks to prepare the stickers as there are quite a lot of orders. This takes time off my main focus of Handxmade - which is to make miniatures.

Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy making the stickers and also love how everyone wants a piece of me(hurhur)/my designs! But it is very time consuming and I feel bad for my patrons who support me based on the idea that I’d be making more craft videos (hopefully haha). Can’t spend time on making stickers and not fulfilling that part of the deal now can I? 😅

However, I’ve been thinking that MAYBE it’s so difficult to maintain precisely because it’s a preorder and it all floods in at the same time. I started to wonder if I open my webstore all the time and the orders are spaced out evenly with additional help….maybe, maybe it would be okay. So here’s me trying to see if it will actually work out! 😀

Here’s a little snippet of what goes behind each sticker pack!

After I design the individual illustrations and the background on Procreate, I set the cutting marks and position of each sticker on my Silhouette Studio. Here’s how one of my files would look like!

I then get my stickers professionally printed externally to make sure that the quality is up to par and also consistent. When it arrives, they’re super A3 papers which I then have to cut it up myself into A4 to prepare for cutting!

Once that’s done, I can set up my Silhouette machine to cut the sticker packs! This process usually takes 11-15min for each A4 sized paper depending on how small/intricate the cuts are. My sticker packs are usually small af and I try to make each sticker pack as packed as possible bc I am THAT person, so yes this process takes longer than I sometimes hope hahaha.

My machine has its quirks and usually, it is also during this time I make MANY minor cutting mark adjustments. Usually the first piece I would definitely have duds and it’s like a “trial piece” 😅 This process can take up to at least 2-3 A4 sheet (1 hour+) before I am satisfied with the cutting marks and this is also when the quality checks happens!

In this screenshot you can see how the bottom right of the cutting marks are SIGNIFICANTLY “off” compared to the ones on the left - but when actually cutting, they would look okay. Weird af but if it works it works hahaha.

You may ask why don’t I “just get the printing company to do the sticker cutting as well?”. Well the thing is, most of my sticker ranges from 1-2cm maximum PER PIECE. I also tend to squeeze them as close as I can so I can add more sticker/fillers to make good use of allllll that space! And the sad thing is with cutting services, bigger stickers are just easier to cut and QC for cutting services and so they would say that my size and designs are too small etc. I’ve also heard of horror stories about the cutting lines are way off/cut through the design and yet the sticker company thinks that it’s ok and the artist would get 50-100 pcs of horribly cut stickers 😱

It makes sense that printing/cutting services wouldn’t want to cut my products for me and I would want to do quality checks myself anyway because everyone’s expectations are different and what they think is okay may not be for me. Hence I decided I’ll handle the cutting on my end - more work yes, but you definitely get a sticker pack that *I* am proud of. It’s corny af but it’s all made with love and care ok! 😤 hahaha

As you can see, even without the trial and error/QC part, it does take up a lot of time to prepare each sticker packs! So because of that, I don’t open preorders very often. This is also me losing potential income tbh but I guess I have to juggle my time properly y’know? 🤔

However, I’ve been playing with the idea of having my webstore open with in-stocks instead of pre-orders as I still occasionally get DMs about my sticker packs. So since I do want to have some sort of side hustle going on (even better if it’s my own stuff and not just looking for a random part time job), I’ve decided to give this a shot!

WHAT’S CHANGING FOR THE WEBSTORE

1. There will be no more preorders.

Instead of preorders, there will be stocks. YES. The webstore is open for good! 🎉 Now you can purchase sticker packs as and when you want to :’)

Since there are limited quantities, my patrons, as usual, will get first dibs when new designs are out.

2. Mailing day will be on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month!

Things may change down the road, but I figured that fixing a mailing date would help me pace everything better.

Above is an example of how it will work!

Any order made on the mailing day will be prorated to the next mailing day. (i.e. according to the example above, if you made an order on the 9th, it will only be mailed out on 23rd)

3. Price change

To make this work for me and my already busy schedule, the only way I can think of is to delegate admin work related to the sticker webstore to someone else. That means I will be hiring someone to help maintain and pack the sticker orders, or at least having another helping hand if things get busy!

Honestly, this is a really huge step for me (am a nervous wreck 😭) and additional cost on my end as well. (Am gonna make sure I provide reasonable pay!!! 😤) But I’ve thought long and hard and I do believe that the work it takes to make my sticker pack from start to end, plus the fact that I squeeze so many designs in one pack so it’s bang for the buck, having an increase in price wouldn’t be completely unreasonable.

I still want to make my sticker pack accessible and not break anyone’s bank though lol. As such, each sticker pack will only have a USD $1 increase, and each die-cut/laptop stickers will have a USD $0.40 increase (die-cut bundles $1-2 increase). Digital downloads will stay the same! ✨

I hope these changes to the webstore are not confusing and if anything, exciting news! I’ll definitely need time to juggle everything and make sure I don’t get overwhelmed, but I’m really looking forward to having a little side hustle with a helper while I focus on other things 🥺 Here’s hoping everything will go well *fingers crossed* 🤞🏻

Let me know if you have any questions regarding this webstore update! I’ll also be selling duds at a cheaper price when it happens probably via IG stories, so feel free to DM me over there as well! 🥰 Thank you for your support and love as usual - Handxmade wouldn’t be here without you! 💕

WEBSTORE CHANGES ANNOUNCEMENT (SPOILER: IN STOCKS‼️)