A new cartridge for my cricut

And it is so cool! I'm sure that Wild Card has been out for awhile, most blogs have had Tutorials and info on this cartridge since 2009, but let me tell you, there is nothing better than getting something NEW TO YOU! I bought this cute little cricut cartridge set today from my local Wal-Mart. It was marked down on clearance and was $45. I'm sure I could have ebayed and gotten in cheaper and some point... but hey I didn't have to pay shipping or wait LOL.

So, I found some really cool blogs that told me all the things I could do with the cartridge and I've been playing ever since. I've come to realize I can make so much.. and there are so many more fun things I want to get to dress up my cards! New toys are the best. And I used this one to make a birthday card for a good friend, and I'm going to use it to make really cool thank you cards for my Scentsy customers. I've also got great plans for an upcoming babyshower LOL. Now I can add this to my card making arsenal and add to that my cuttlebug there isn't much I'm missing now.

Ok.. I lie... I need a Stampin' Up Idea book and I need to order a CTMH idea book and some toys from both of them. Then I'm sure I'll be happy for at least a month!

I also saw the cutest tutorial for making a baby dress out of dish towels. Much like a pillowcase dress, but with a bit of embroidery and some cute ribbon this can be the cutest thing! So, when I get breathing room, I'll post pictures of all of my attempts!

If anyone is a SU demonstrator and would like to send me a catty ;) just send me a message!

Have a great crafty day everyone!

Mother's Day Inspirations

I've spent the last week making handmade Mother's Day cards. I have been really inspired here lately by some magazines, friends' artwork, and the basic desire to create something Hallmark didn't make! My hope is that the recipients will know that even though it's only a card, it was a card that was made uniquely for each individual. Most of the Mom's in my life received their own handmade card with a special note inside, and Scentsy warmers with Scents. I even made an embroidered apron with a unique logo for my Mom's business. Hopefully to let her know how proud I am and how special I think she is. Of course I got her some great perfume to go with that LOL.

What did you do for Mother's Day gifts? Did you buy or create? I have seen great project ideas, and I really can't wait to get bogged down in creativity with my sewing, embroidery, and all my fun other little crafting tools. I will try and post some pictures of my works later.

On another note, my husband has started spoiling me this evening. For Mother's Day he gave me a beautiful gift set of a watch, earrings, and matching necklace. And for dinner he has made me a chicken fettuccine with french bread, steamed broccoli, and Italian Red Wine. SO GOOD!

Have a wonderful Mother's Day everyone!

Shop Til You Drop - Alexandria, LA

Well, my aunt and I tried our luck at my first vendor show for Scentsy. I wasn't impressed with the crowd, but we made out okay. Other vendors didn't do as well and I was sorry for them. I did make some great new friends though and for me that was the best part of all!

I know that when everyone does shows they are looking at putting money in to hopefully make a profit and for every person that spends money at the booth next door that is less money they will spend at yours. I am happy to say though that we were with a group of great ladies and gentlemen who even if they didn't do as well were kind and great people to talk to.

I have great advice for vendor shows that I picked up from the good people who do these on a regular basis and I wanted to share with you:

* Try at least each show 1 time to see if its right for you
* Pay attention to whether you will need electricity or not
* HAVE A WAY TO ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS- I can't say enough about this one! We had a lady who wanted to order a lot but only had a small amount of cash, when I explained to her we took cards, her order was over $75
* Be kind and considerate to those around you, learn about their products and get to know them as people... you'll meet wonderful people who won't mind giving you tips!
* Have an idea of how you want to set up and bring the materials you will need.
* Make sure you have enough linens on hand to cover your booth up each night
* DO NOT just sit on a chair in your booth and watch customers walk by! - Smile and engage them in conversation and ask them if they've seen anything like your product, give them the benefits of your product etc.
* Dress appropriately. I'm not saying high heels and business suits, but make sure your appearance is neat, clean, and pressed. We wore matching t-shirts with matching aprons so people could visually see we were a team.
* SMILE SMILE SMILE

I'd love to know if anyone else has any tips. I am looking to add more shows to my route! It was a lot of fun and I think I'd like to do about one a month. The money was great for this show. I wish everyone blessings on their shows!

Updates and Great Deals!

Well I took a quick look at my blog today and realized I haven't written in ages, but PLEASE EXCUSE ME! Finals are coming up! But just so you know... I'm streamlining pretty good and I've lost 15 pounds! And I'm ramping up my ideas for my own small brick and mortar store. Well, me and my Mom are doing a small brick and mortar. We've actually already got the building on the property and the first thing we are doing is a massive garage sale to get rid of LOTS of junk. Then we are going to stock the cutest handmade items and a mix of country and antique. My Mom wants to call it:

Ladybug's Butterfly
Boutique and Resale Gift Shop

I don't know how I feel about the resale part because so much will be handmade, but I want to use a lot of recycled materials, and of course there will be antiques, and did I mention chicks, farm fresh eggs, and whatever else is going to be my Mom's pet project?

I'll get some pictures posted soon of our building and the little things we will be doing to get ourselves all decorated in theme. We are pretty excited, but getting up and running will be the hardest part. I have a lot of things to make and won't have much time to begin that until around May and into the summer.

As for my good deals though, here it is so far:

1 - OH My Crafts had a killer sale, and I was able to purchase a Your Story and a Cuttlebug at killer discounts plus FREE shipping! I also snagged some things for both items out of their clearance section and that made for one happy Momma today when they were delivered. I can't wait to play! OMC always has such great deals I'm always on the lookout when my budget permits.

2 - The makers of Scrapbook Trends Magazine also have several other magazines namely Cards, Simply Handmade, and Bead Trends. Oh My Crafts sent me a great coupon so that I can get a digital subscription to ALL of these magazines for only $1 the first month and $9.99 a month thereafter. The best thing about digital with this company was that I can save the subscriptions on my computer, print anything I want, bookmark pages digitally, and access them anytime from the web no matter where I am. Another great feature the online digital version has is the ability to search key words and projects within each subscription to find the exact company's products you are looking for, the project you want to try, or whatever it is you are looking for! Translation: cheaper than news stand prices, won't clutter my office, easy to find materials, bookmarks, and transportable! I'm in heaven!

3 - Close to My Heart is going digital in a major way! They are launching Studio J which translates into digital scrapbooking online. CTMH prints what you've built and mails them to you for a fee of course, but the best part is ALL of there great papers are there for you to choose from including easy layouts that you can add embellishments to, journaling, and of course your own great pictures. I don't have a CTMH website up, but you can definitely order anything CTMH through me, just contact me and let me know what you'd like!

4 - Scentsy's new scent of the month is Red Hot Candy Apple and it is out of this world! My sales for this new scent have been insane! And of course in April is 10% offer so that made it so much "hotter" for my customers. Teacher appreciation is coming up to and Scentsy has a beautiful teacher mid size teacher warmer for its warmer of the month. So for only $22.50 great teachers can have a beautiful gift that shows their passion for their profession. I have one myself for my future classroom. Hard to believe in only one year I will be teaching! I'm so excited!

Those are the best deals around right now... unless of course you consider that my East Texas Wal-Mart has milk on sale for $1.78 per gallon. My good friend just called and told me. I will be shopping tomorrow!

Have a blessed time everyone, and until next time... pray for me and I'll pray for you!

New Year... Lots of New Goals!

Well I think its safe to say Christmas was pretty darn fantastic. Add to that my first day of the new year was spent with my brothers and sisters dining at Olive Garden. It was the first time we'd all been together in the same spot in 9 years! I took so many pictures and have such great memories.

Now with a New Year ahead of me, I've really had to think a lot and pray about what I'd like that New Year to be like. I thought about my family, my personal goals, business, and my home. And I started.

1. I'm overweight right now. Seems I don't spend enough time on me and more on everything else, so I joined weight watchers and in 2010 I'm learning to eat right and take time out to exercise. I also hope to shed some weight and be healthier.

2. My house has been chaotic since we moved in over a year ago. We moved in 2 weeks before my youngest was born and it seems we haven't gotten caught up. This year is going to be about organizing and cleaning out and cleaning up. So far we've worked on our laundry room and installed a new closet system for me and rearranged so that it's more open and we are knocking out all of the laundry. Next we are going to completely redo my office to make it more efficient for my use and able to hold more than what I've got...

3. Even though the holidays are over, business is still booming. The great companies I am an Ind. Consultant for have pulled out all the stops for January. Double hostess bonuses, 40% off sales, and new products. That means I've had customers contacting me to order! My goal is to do more parties though this year. I hope to hold at least 1 Tupperware Party and 1 Scentsy Party a month. I really hope for more of the Scentsy parties... ok.. the basket parties :). I'm also going to map out several craft shows to participate in to get my name out there and get some hair bow business going.

4. I'm going to spend extra time with my kids doing fun, educational things. Whether its a museum visit, trip to a small town to see a Civil War reinactment, it doesn't matter. But we are going to get out of this house and do stuff.

I think Organization for 2010 is my key theme. Organization of home, time, and business. If I'm better organized I'll be able to help out more and do more things for our church, family, and community. I'm not calling it New Year Resolutions, I'm calling it my New Life Goals that just happen to begin at the onset of a New Year.

Have a blessed day!

Fabulous Fundraiser

The Scentsy Party turned out pretty fantastic, although I was REALLY worried to begin with. All the commissions I made from the party are going to be used for food for Food Baskets my church is doing.

I came up with the idea to do a ministry outreach just for my family. Something I wanted my kids to get involved in and help with so that they could see how kind works they could do would make an impact in the community. Every holiday season people think about coats for the cold weather, Toys for kids without, and food for families. I thought Food would be a great outreach because there are so many people in our community who have lost their jobs in the oil business and many households have 2 parents without work.

SO, when I was considering my launch party and how to get people to come, I thought wow, what a wonderful thing I could do! I could take all the commission I make and use that to forward our ministry for this holiday season.

So, I advertised in my area with flyers that I made, sent emails, facebooked about it, let people in my shopping group know, and I even got commitments from lots of folks who said they couldn't wait to come....

And as party tradition would have it, they didn't come. People I had invited at the last minute, they came! And a friend who lived in another town got some outside orders from me, and I offered her a special incentive so she came through.

All together I was able to raise $60 for the food baskets, and for some that do not think that is a lot, I can buy A LOT of food with $60.

I was even able to get my name out there to folks who didn't know that I sell Scentsy, and I'm hoping to get some basket parties from the folks that wanted to come but couldn't make it. My "attack" method will be to call my first candidate who works at a school and ask would she like me to bring the basket scents up so that she and her friends can smell it since they weren't able to make the party, and then I'm going to offer her hostess credit for doing so.

I plan to leave the basket and some brochures with them for about a week and see what happens. Then I'll hit the next school, and the next place of business, and go from there!

I really love Scentsy and all my customers are head over heals. I've even had a few approach me from the party to let me know that they will be placing December orders for Christmas presents.

If you'd like to learn more about Scentsy, or check out what it is, just visit my site:

SHANNON'S SCENTSY SITE

Business has been picking up!

Up and up and up, and that is a great thing. I wish I could tell you what to attribute it all to, but I really can't!

I've done a set of cheer bows for a squad, I've done a set of monogrammed hair bows for a great consignment shop that I LOVE to shop with.

I've done a Tupperware party.

I'm getting ready to do a Scentsy party next weekend.

And I'm getting a lot of requests for embroidery work.

The embroidery work really excites me because I love using my machine. My husband purchased me a Janome 350e and I'm in love with embroidery! I'm self teaching myself which probably isn't the smartest way to go about it, I've made plenty of mistakes... the upside is that when a pattern isn't sewing just right, I can usually pinpoint the problem real easily... although I will say once I almost went to the dealer to find out what the heck I was doing wrong!

I love my machine. There are people out there who equally love it's competitor and counterpart the Brother PE 700 II. I'll be honest, that really was the machine I was after, but they had sold out. And I'm kind of glad they did. After reading the differences in my machine and it, I think I got the better end of the deal! Consumer reviews have said that the Brother is loud, and VERY picky about the thread you can put in it (Brother only). I've found a great thread that isn't so expensive and my machine loves it. The other thing I read was that particular Brother model had to have the computer attached straight to it to add designs from the internet whereas I only need to plug in a flash drive into mine. Very convenient. The only downfall I've found personally is my machine is very picky about the tension. It has to be just right. But, that may be the case for all machines, I don't know, this is my first one.

I flirted with buying my machine online because I found that I could get a great deal from a particular store and a huge start up of thread and optional hoops for VERY inexpensive. But, since I have never owned an embroidery machine, I was thinking it may be smart to hit a dealers shop local to me to learn a little bit first. It turned out my trip payed off. I was able to snag a machine that retails for about $700 more than the original one I was looking at for about the same price as the original one. I got a KILLER deal. My Janome retails for right around $1600. A gigahoop set retails for around $400 (Gigahoop is a software and hooping program for doing much larger designs that a normal hoop wouldn't support on my machine.) So, this is my scoop. A lady had purchased the machine and the software at full price. Then, she decided it was too difficult for her to use and brought it back. The dealer purchased the machine back from her. Instead of reselling it to me, they sold it to me at a "used" price. A brand new machine! Still in the box, still in the packaging, all the parts, and even the gigahoop program and hoop! For $950. YEP.. I got $2000 worth of machine and software for $950. Is that a steal or what!

Even better... my dealer offers free classes since I bought my machine from them! Yep, if I want a class on my machine all I have to do is call, schedule, bring my machine, and they will teach me how to use it! The dealer even services all types of machines, and they know exactly who I am, what my favorite projects are to do, and what I'm looking for when I walk in the door. As a caveat, I can say I supported a local small business in my area. That gives me a great feeling all around. Now don't you think that everything I've received is much better than purchasing the machine over the internet?

In my mind I've only really begun to play around with what this beauty can do. I started with words, monograms, and have done some more sophisticated designs. I've embellished purses, bags, towels, aprons, blankets, clothes, hair bows, and I have a million more projects lined up. Time Time Time... that is the only thing I'm lacking! Isn't it usually though?

My next project to learn is quilting. There is a great lady at my church who has the passion for quilts and is going to teach me all she knows for Free! She took classes to learn what she did... and paid for those classes. I in exchange am going to do some embroidery for her for a quilt she is making her daughter as a Xmas present.

I love to craft! I love the business of it on the side! I hope I've helped some of you in a future decision regarding a machine. Oh... and my dealer also sells, sewing machines, sergers, and quilting machines! When my sewing machine needs and upgrade, you know where I am going!

Have a fantastic day everyone!

Slow and Steady Wins The Race

At least that is what I'm going to keep telling myself. In the midst of doing more market research, more business planning, and more dreaming of course, I was able to add a few items to my website today.

I find the hardest problem I have isn't making product, but taking pictures to put them online!

1) It's time consuming
2) I'm not artistic in the photography genre
3) I don't have all the fancy programs to fix my mess ups!

So that essentially means I have a lot of great stuff that many people don't get to see LOL.

But, the slow and steady win the race. I've essentially had to make a pact with myself that I would just work a little each day. Pick an item, accomplish it, and move to the next thing. I'm not talking 100 photos here, or 100 bows, bands, or whatever I'm making that day... I'm talking let's accomplish 1 to 5. I figure by the time I get off work, do some housework, cook dinner, entertain 5 children, and get on the computer... that I've accomplished alot!

At this pace will I be a millionaire? No LOL. But I will get to do what I love and eventually it will get out that I put 100% into what I make and people will know its true.

On the flip side, in the direct sales area of my life I am trying to get back on track with all my companies. That for the most part means doing a lot of training on the things I have forgotten, training on the things that have changed, and reaching out to let people know that I'm available.

So far:

I have 3 potential Tupperware parties. (3 people who say they are interested)

I have a strong Avon customer base (I hope to grow this even more!)

I have a plan for Usborne Books (This involves college and teaching)

I'm thinking of scaling back Homemade Gourmet (not because I don't love it, but the economy isn't quite right for it)

Looking into Scentsy (At the beckoning and begging of my Aunt... I must be crazy... spend a fortune on the products, might as well get a discount!)

Looking at bringing my bath and body products back online (for those who want a more organic and personal touch)

Oh, and I'm back out a the flea market, selling a bit of all of it to drum up some customers and whatever else I can get my hands on.

And in two weeks I start back to school full time, go to working part time, and creating in between!

What are you doing? Are you motivated?