Many of you know that in my “day job,” I’m a full-time school librarian. I also teach art and library research classes for the middle school where I work.

This has been a good paying job, helping me and my husband (who also works full time) to pay for our children’s college educations, and generally keeping the bills paid in our little manufactured home with some farm land.

However, in the spring of 2025, I’m scheduled to retire. So in the past year, I’ve looked at new ways to earn income through ChellyWood LLC, the small business that revolves around the ChellyWood.com website.

Last year at tax time, I did a “full disclosure” announcement, and for the year 2022, I had kept all of my ledgers in a tiny little notebook like you see in the image above.

Well, when I took that tiny scribbly scrawl to our tax preparer at H&R Block, she wasn’t thrilled by my scribbly scrawls… So for 2024, my husband created a digital ledger for me, using Microsoft Excel. Also, our tax preparer asked me to itemize my expenses in a way that made more sense to her.

Just below this paragraph is my “key” (for lack of a better word) that explains the itemization on expenses for our tax preparer. It also explains the code for various income sources for ChellyWood LLC.

I didn’t start earning anything from my website’s donation button until later in 2023, but I think you’ll see those amounts in the ledger later in this blog post.

I’m deeply grateful to everyone who bought something from me this year and/or donated to the website. Every little bit helps!

To clarify my notes from the “key” up above, TpT or Teacher Synergy is income generated through my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Royalties come from the classes that I teach on the Creative Spark Online Learning platform.

Okay, so let’s look at the funds generated by these income sources in Quarter 1, vs. the expenditures…

I bought five vintage patterns on eBay in the first quarter, which was a little crazy, I must admit. It’s tough to not buy up all the vintage patterns I see when I’m creating affiliate marketing links and I stumble across a rare doll clothes pattern!

But thankfully, by the time we got to the third quarter, I had backed off the vintage pattern craze… mostly.

In brief, my total net profit in Quarter 1 was $383.47, with most of that income generated by the ads on my website and YouTube tutorials.

I had a couple of big expenses in Quarter 2, purchasing office supplies (mailers, stamps, postage for packages I was mailing), plus my Canva Pro account, which helps me create all these lovely graphics that you see on my website.

However the royalties from the people who signed up to take my online classes helped a lot with these expenses! So thank you to everyone who took one of my classes in 2023. Hopefully you’re still enjoying the coursework and/or you’re enjoying the knowledge you gained from those classes!

In total, I earned $201.57 during Quarter 2 in 2023.

Moving on to Quarter 3… I paid for my PO Box, which was a big expense, but all other expenses this quarter were pretty nominal.

Also, during Quarter 3, I added my donation button. Had it not been for that donation button, I think it would have been a close shave during Quarter 3 to bring in a profit. So again, thank you to everyone who donated!

Quarter 3 brought in a net profit of $281.94.

By quarter 4, it occurred to me that I was not going to earn enough money to top $1000.00 for the year, so I slowed my spending down considerably.

The $250 internet fee on the “Expenses” side was the payment for the videography software that I use to make my tutorial videos. That was a big one, but the income came in from more than just a couple of sources, making it lucrative enough to earn a total of $482.67 in profits.

Again, those donations, the sale of Evelyn’s doll hats, the royalties from people who took my online classes, and every little purchase of items in my Etsy store and my Teachers Pay Teachers store… all of these saw me through the fourth quarter without losing money. YAY!

For the entire year of 2023, ChellyWood LLC saw a profit of $1,349.65. It’s not bad for a supplemental income to a working librarian…

However, when I retire, I’m not sure it will be enough to supplement my retirement pension. Again, that isn’t until the spring of 2025, though, so this coming year, I really need to expand my income sources. I’m thinking hard about that, and I’m up for ideas.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

And every year I donate 10% of my income from this small business, to a charitable cause.

I have an older sister who lives in Portland, Oregon. We didn’t grow up together, and I have to say that we don’t know each other as well as we should.

However I love my sister!

And when I heard that her youngest child had dropped out of college to take a job because funds ran out, I contacted them. I offered to give my 10% donation to this family member, but… Well, let me just say that my sister has raised her kids right.

“I don’t want to take the money right now,” they said. “I’m just working until I can raise enough money to go back to college. I’m afraid that if you send me the money now, I’ll spend it on rent or something.”

Doesn’t that just warm your heart? Such an honest soul!

Ten percent of $1,349.65 is only $135, but that hundred and thirty five bucks will be sitting in the Mason jar, on my desk, until the time comes.

And when they’re ready, the money will go to my sister’s youngest child’s college education. It will go to someone who is a generous and good soul (and someone who clearly deserves the money).

Thank you, again, to everyone who made it possible to earn a profit this year, on a website where all the doll clothes sewing patterns are free! Blessings and good wishes to all of you!

If you enjoyed this blog post, and you’d like to see my videos, you might want to navigate over to my YouTube channel, ChellyWood1 to look through my playlists.

If you would like to make a donation to this free doll clothes pattern website, please click here. There’s also a “Donate” button in the main menu.

For anyone who would like to expand their dolls’ wardrobes, you should really check out my “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” course and my “Design Your Own Doll Pants Patterns from Scratch” classes on the Creative Spark online learning platform. Here’s my bio page on their website, where you can learn more.

For any class on Creative Spark, you don’t have to follow a schedule. Just sign up when you’re ready.

It’s a one-time fee for the course, and there’s no specific time limit to finish your course. You can just take your time and learn at the pace that suits you. So go check out my paid courses on Creative Spark, using this link.

As always, feel free to pin, like, or tweet about my free patterns and tutorials.

To read more about my free sewing patterns and tutorials, please visit the “Helpful Tips” page.

Disclaimer/Credit/Affiliate Marketing Link:

*Please note: when you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include Amazon, JoAnn Fabric, Etsy, and the eBay Partner Network. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about how my website uses affiliate marketing, please visit the website’s Privacy Policy page.

Chelly Wood and the ChellyWood.com website are not affiliated with any of the doll or toy companies mentioned in this blog post, but Chelly enjoys designing her doll clothes to fit a variety of dolls. To learn more about the doll companies mentioned in today’s post, please visit the doll or toy company’s website.