Powell's Order II: DONE!

Okay, JUST finished with my ginormous Powell's wholesale order:

• 12 Birthday Cakes
• 12 Elephants
• 6 Tree-Themed Three Reasons Cards
• 6 Groovy Girl Three Reasons
• 12 Pop-Up Pigs
• 12 Giraffes
• 12 Elephants
• 12 Baby Carriage
• 12 Congrats to Your Beer Buddy
• 12 Flying Pigs
• 12 Rhinos
• 12 Winged Love
• 12 Drink a Toast Birthday
• 12 Noble Lions
• 12 Christmas Elves

Whoo hoo! I have to say that this involved MANY nights of work. I'm not even really sure if I'm making any money, given that my printer ink costs have SKYROCKETED with my new Epson printer (lovely prints, archival and water resistant, but totally guzzles very expensive ink). But I just really love that they are in the local bookstore and, apparently, selling well.

Packaging for retail involves a little extra something. A few of my cards require a little explanation. Even for the simple animal pop-ups, which are pretty self-explanatory, I need to put something on the front to let the casual browser know that there's something fun on the inside (otherwise I'm sure they'll just pass by the mostly simple fronts for something flashier).

Some of the labels and things below:

Powell's opens at nine this morning -- I'll drop these off then!

(and, with any luck, they'll make it out to the actual floor next week!)

I'm really excited to see how my holiday elves cards fare...

New holiday cards! Elf pop-up card!

Remember those elves in "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (the one we saw as kids on TV every year by Rankin & Bass)?

I love this elf for how he reminds me of someone that Hermey might have hung out with.

As the card is opened, the elf pops up from behind the presents (emerging from a slot in the card) to present you with "joy."

I struggled with this one for AGES, but I'm really happy with how it turned out at last!

Available at my etsy shop...

Jewelry Party/Craft Fair Warmup!

My friend Christine makes jewelry as ChristineMarieStudio. Christine's cousin-in-law was having a housewarming and she thought it would be fun to turn it into a showcase for Christine's work. Ever generous, Christine invited me and our friend Kathy, who have a lavender farm and has done the crafting circuit for years now, to join her as vendors.

Christine and Kathy did all the work in setting up a terrific display the night before (I had kid duty that night), borrowing props from Christine's mom, really pretty stuff. Here's my little card display:

(sorry for the blurriness -- I didn't want to disturb the guests with the flash)

The two main tables had Christine's jewelry stands interspersed with Kathy's lavender baskets and shorter things.

I think it looks so very inviting! That's Christine in the cashier's corner, above.

In the past, I've always had a policy that I'd rather gnaw off my left arm than attend a "party" where the sole purpose was to guilt my friends into buying products so that the hostess could have a nicer hostess gift, but this was actually fun! Christine's cousin had a loveliest house and the food was incredible! And the guests, who were mostly family, were very welcoming.

I made $44 just for showing up! Christine and Kathy did very well also. Kathy and I spent much of the evening sitting on the sofa while Christine worked the crowd -- our role was apparently completely ornamental.

This was sort of a warm-up for craft fairs. We have a little employee craft fair coming up later this month, which is quite low-key. After that, I'll be ready to take on something bigger!

Personalized wooden blocks

Check out this wonderful tutorial! You can transfer colorful images like the one above using an inkjet printer, elmer's glue and mod podge -- AMAZING!

Tutorial: http://matsutakeblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-transfer-inkjet-images-to-wood.html

Combine this idea with the plain wooden blocks you can purchase on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33409617&ref=sr_list_1&&ga_search_query=wood+blocks+plain&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=date_desc&includes[]=tags&includes[]=title

What a wonderful gift for a new baby -- personalized play blocks!

Superhero card saves the day!

One of my readers won the "Tell Her Three Reasons Why She's Your Superhero" card in a recent giveaway. When I notified him, he told me:

"I just had my 20th reunion and my wife (who didn't go to school with me) was instrumental in making the event a success. She is my Superhero!"

Nice, eh? I loved hearing that!

Today, I received a note from him:

"She got it today. I stayed home with our son and she substituted at school today. I put it in the mailbox with the other mail before she got home.

She came in with tears, she loved it! It was perfect since she had a rough day. She substitutes in the special needs room at the elementary school and this year's class is especially tough.

Thank you for having the contest and allowing me to touch the heart of my favorite person in the world. Being unemployed, I don't get that opportunity very often these days."

I'm a bit of a pushover for a sentimental story and I have to admit to tearing up when I read his note.

Thanks, Scott, for passing this on! You've made my day!

Because I'm so pleased with how much the three reasons series cards seem to touch the hearts of those who receive it, I'm lowering the price of all of them by a dollar.

Enjoy!

Powell's: Order Two!

Getting my first order at Powell's was pretty exciting. 54 cards seemed like a really big order!

Today, I heard back from them. The card buyer told me: "Your cards did very well. I am so pleased."

Hooray!

She's upping the quantities considerably, so now I'll be putting together an order of 156 cards.

Whoo hoo!

The timing is actually quite perfect as I've been gearing up for a couple of little crafty events, so I've been trying to increase my inventory anyway. At the end of the craft season, I should have some extra to get a really good start on this big order.

This also comes at a time when I've been making serious eyes at the iPod touch, which I've just learned can connect me to email and the internet when I'm away from home. Honestly, when I'm out and about, I go through serious etsy withdrawals and the thought of being able to stay connected is pretty thrilling to me. This big order might just be the excuse I need to make a fun little purchase...

Thanks for listening!

(P.S. The text on the marquee on that Powell's photo is photoshopped, of course!)

"Brown" Princess Invitations Done!

Here she is! The customer approved my comps for my new African-American princess invitations yesterday and I was able to pop these into the morning mail later that day.

She'd asked for soft green accents, which go so beautifully with the pink dress.

I LOVE these!

Now I need to find artwork for an Asian princess...