Sunday, December 30, 2012

Wishing EVERYONE a VERY Happy New Year!!

Hey there everybody!! Are you all surviving all of the holiday happenings!? I know that my family certainly had a busy but VERY fun and enjoyable Christmas!! We had our get together with my side of the family the weekend before Christmas which was a blast! Kind of quiet compared to years past but it was just as much fun as it always is and hey the people that came are the people that you want around in your life right!? The people that were TOO busy to make time or what not... well your loss!! We had a BLAST!

This was the first year that we have been home for Christmas eve, in hopes of starting some of our own family holiday traditions!! We went out for a family dinner and came home to relax and of course SANTA had to come visit our little peanut! That was the highlight of the holiday for me, seeing her come out Christmas morning to presents under the tree and getting so excited! 

We also then went to my husband's sides Christmas get together. From my understanding it was the first time in quite some time that they had got together on his dad's side for the holiday so that was pretty cool to see and a fun time! Unfortunately by the time we went to that, I think we were all feeling pretty darn tired!!  That's the problem with the holiday season, all the rush rush rush before, the getting ready, shopping, cooking, parties wears you out but still it is SO very enjoyable to spend time with family!

Now on to the New Year!! I know personally I have a few resolutions that I would like to stick to... I got a Zumba game for the Xbox for Christmas so I know that I would like to have a resolution to work out at least 3 times a week for a little bit each time, as well as I am going to try to cut back on POP!!! I drink way way way too much pop (pepsi to be exact!) Several years ago I made it my resolution to cut pop out entirely after a few weeks of WICKED headaches and feeling pretty darn crappy I was down to drinking none, I don't know that I'm going quite to that extreme this time, but I am definitely going to try to cut down on it!  

Mama Made Gifts is also making a resolution... to keep you guys updated more often, make more blog posts, update my shop more often and keep products new and fresh!

Speaking of which, now that we have officially hit the winter solstice (do the days seem any longer to you!?!) I am going to start adding some new knit items to my shop that don't seem quite so wintery! That's not to say you can't still order hats, mittens, scarves, what have you but I just think it's time to add some more light weight things as well. My lacy infinity scarf was the start of this. You can view it in my shop here:

I also plan on making baby blankets as well as several other ideas that I have found patterns for, please keep checking back for updates!  I plan to bring back more graphic design items as well!! I have kind of been on a little break from the graphic items due to a lack of creativity as well as really wanting to knit, but now the itch to do some design work on the computer is starting to come back so expect to see some new graphic items as well!!

Well I think I have blabbed on enough here, the main point to this post was to a.) update you since I hadn't made a post since the beginning of December and b.) to wish you all a VERY Happy New Year!! Please have fun and celebrate but be careful and be responsible!! Keep checking back for more updates, new items and a CLEAN look to my shop!!

Until next post!

Mama

Monday, December 3, 2012

Blogging blank-out!

Hey everyone!! I know it has been quite some time since I posted, I kept saying that I would post and then just never got to it, plus although I have had a lot going on, I just haven't really had anything to blog to you guys about!!

I hope everyone is having a GREAT holiday season!! I know that Thanksgiving at our house was a lot of fun! Lots of great company and good food!! Lets just say that I won't feel the need to eat turkey for quite some time now! Yikes!! I love having our families over to our house for Thanksgiving but oh my goodness I get tired of the leftovers in just a very few days!! There are only so many meals you can eat turkey in a row!

With that said, onward to Christmas!! The weekend after Thanksgiving we got our Christmas decorations out! I absolutely LOVE decorating for Christmas!! The tree is up and looks so pretty, lights spread around here and there stockings hung, and my fabulous husband even put lights up outside this year!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I did a holiday craft show with my mom! She too has an Etsy shop W&W Crafts! My dad cuts out the wood crafts and my mom paints them
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SMW1953
Anyway like I was saying, we did a holiday craft show together which went pretty well short of us almost freezing to death (they had the air on!!) My mom sold quite a few crafts which was exciting and I found out that my knit headbands are a big hit!! I also sold my first ruffle scarf which was exciting!


Well for now, I have several orders that I need to get off to the post office and seeing how it's a decent day here today temperature wise I think I will head out and get something accomplished!! I will try to post again soon with some product and shop updates!! 

Talk with you all soon!
-Mama

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Ideas for having an absolutely SPOOKTACULAR Halloween Party!!





Good afternoon everyone! Let me just first start off by saying that I LOVE Halloween!! In fact, I really love the Fall season!! Don't get me wrong, I am definitely a Summer person as I don't like being cold, and don't enjoy driving in the Winter months, but at the same time I don't enjoy being overly hot either (call me picky lol) and I LOVE the cool crisp air that comes with fall, the gorgeous colors of the leaves on the trees and 2 of my favorite holidays happen in the Fall months!

With that being said, back to Halloween! It is such a fun cooky holiday! I love carving pumpkins, especially now that we have a little girl of our own to help carve them and she gets such a kick out of things like that. I love all the creepy fun decorations and costumes, all in all it's just such a fun crazy holiday to get into! And a trip to target with my mom recently proved that stores are trying to get as many Halloween decorations out and make as big of a deal over this holiday as they do over Christmas!

That's one reason why when the Handmade Circle team of Etsy decided to have a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween sale I jumped all over it! That's right, through this Sunday,  October 7, the Handmade Circle Team is celebrating Halloween with our HMC Spooktacular Sale. Just use coupon code HMCSPOOKY for discounts from 5% to 30% in any of the participating shops!

Another part of celebrating Halloween for us other than carving pumpkins and taking our little girl out trick-or-treating is going to a Halloween party with a bunch of friends! It has always been a good time! We all bring tasty snacks to share, dress up and just act goofy. Of course there is a costume contest which can get quite competitive! This year however the couple that normally hosts the party are not, so I'm not entirely sure what the plan for Halloween party going will be. And if we weren't having a bonfire just a few weeks before I would consider hosting the party ourselves!! Even if we aren't hosting the party I love planning parties and all the great ideas, fun foods and such that go along with it so I went in search of some different fun ideas for Halloween party themes, activities, decorations and snacks and the following is what I found!

Such a cute creative idea for guests drinks!

Yum!! Halloween Themed Cake Pops!
No get together with our friends and family is complete without a game of beanbag toss, Halloween bags are prefect!
 I also checked in with the lovely ladies of the Handmade Circle team for ideas for parties and here are some of the ideas that they came up with!!


 
Holly Burke Westmoreland of Holly's Homemade Goodies had several great suggestions!
Where do I begin...
1. Purchase cheap candles from the dollar store (any color) and wrap decorative Halloween paper (found at Michael's or Hobby Lobby) around them securing with glue. You can dress up with ribbon, sequins, or prefabricated spider webs.
2. Decorate your food table with cheap orange, black or purple fabric purchased from a fabric store. Put you Christmas lights underneath to add ambiance to your table.
3. Instead of giving out candy, I purchase, through out the year, discounted stickers, pencils, small crafts, and what not from craft stores. I make up small bags with these goodies to give out. You can also use this same idea for goody bags to give the children at your Halloween party.
4.Take surgical gloves and fill with the Halloween punch you will be serving and freeze. Once frozen, peel off gloves and put your frozen hands in your punch bowl. Kids love them!
Sharon Morgan of ArtisticSoul Designs had a fun idea for little hands!
Something that's always a hit with kids is a mystery box. Put something gooey, slimy or just baffling inside and have everyone guess what it is. Cooked spaghetti noodles tossed with oil or peeled grapes are especially creepy!
Kate Brooks of Pieces of Home Mosaics also had several great ideas for little Halloween party guests!
I host a Preschool Halloween party every year because of my preschool! We all dress up in our custumes and head outside. Our games are so much fun! Pumpkin bowling, a feely tub filled with black and white rice with toy bugs & halloween rings. We get out the parachute. We have another feely tub with black beans, white beans, glitter and halloween toys. We bring the hippty hop balls, tunnel, jumping sacks, & balls. We also have a bean bag toss game & dancing streamers. The parents bring treats, I read a halloween book to the kids. And the grand end of our party is picking our own pumpkin from the pumpkin patch!
 Ashley Noelle Mabe of Brenny's Bibbies had a fun game idea that would be great for kids but could be just as fun for adults as well!
One game that kids seem to love is pumpkin bowling. Take six (or the full ten) empty two liter bottles and decorate them with monster/witch/ghosts faces. Place a few rocks or sand in the bottom of the bottles to give them a little bit of weight. Use a plastic pumpkin or even an orange ball with a jack o' lantern face drawn on to bowl over the pins. We've done this at fall festivals and craft fairs, the kids love it.
Jessica Grauert Croft of The Prismatic Peacock suggested adding some incentive to your costume parties!
Costume parties are so much fun, and there is more incentive to dress up when you offer prizes for different categories such as: best couple, scariest, funniest, most original, etc. We attend a Halloween party with the same group of friends every year, and it's always such a good time. People take the costume contest very seriously and we have had some very creative and hilarious winners! Make sure you have your camera charged before the party!
Shannon Rose of A Moment in Paradise had a unique Halloween party theme idea!
I thought this sounded like a fun themed Halloween party: Hellidays. This is such a fun adult Halloween party idea! If you can think of a holiday, you can spook it up. Dead Easter bunnies, evil Santas, cannibal Thanksgiving dinners.. it would be fun to see what your guests came up with

So I just wanted to say thanks to all of you HMC girls for the GREAT ideas for a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween Party!

Be sure to stop by and check out all the participating shops!! Use coupon code HMCSPOOKY for the sale discount!

Augie and Lola Baby Boutique www.etsy.com/shop/augieandlola
Monday's Child Primitaves www.etsy.com/shop/MondaysChildPrims


 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

It's Been A While!





Hey everyone! Thought it was about time that I checked in with everyone again! It's been quite a while since my last blog post! Not only have I had sort of a blogger's block but we have had some busy weekends and happenings going on lately! Not to mention I have been working my little butt off starting to add some knitted items to my shop!

That's right! Mama Made Gifts is branching out in another direction to add more items to my shop! My mom had purchased me a knitting loom quite a while ago and I had started knitting a scarf on it, but knitting being more of a fall or winter hobby to me I had put it away and not thought about it for a while. Well as we all know, the cooler weather is fast approaching and one morning while I was sitting in the living room enjoying the crisp air filtering through our windows and sipping on an amazing cup of coffee I decided to get that loom out and finish the scarf that I had started earlier in the summer months! After I finished that, I decided to check out some other patterns that could be completed on the knitting looms and was quite surprised that you can create nearly anything!!

This led to me creating my 1st hat for my daughter!! I was bold and took on a pattern with earflaps and drawstrings it went really well! I was even feeling confident enough to add some ornamentation by adding a pom-pom on top and an I-cord bow! I absolutely adore how it turned out and our daughter has gotten quite a few compliments on it!

My success in this hat was enough encouragement to create a small ear flap hat with bear ears listed here in my shop
https://www.etsy.com/listing/110380313/hand-knitted-newborn-to-3-month-soft
also available in this listing for toddlers and in brighter colors
https://www.etsy.com/listing/111109064/hand-knitted-infant-toddler-bear-hat
My cousin is expecting in December and has choose not to find out the gender so I wanted to make a hat for her little one that would be fitting for a little boy or girl!

After that hat I went on to making myself a scarf cowl, I haven't yet decided if I actually like it yet, which is why I haven't listed one on etsy yet. I think it may need some perfecting before I list it.
After that it was gloves, I have created fingerless gloves with a covered thumb or fingerless gloves without a covered thumb, as well as infant mittens!

So as you can tell I am on a knitting kick!! I will be adding a listing for the infant mittens as well as the fingerless uncovered thumb gloves! Of course I still have all my graphic listings, just thought I would add more to my shop to have a variety of items!

I really enjoy knitting, A LOT to the point that it is actually really kind of relaxing for me! Plus as I stated before the cooler weather is coming quickly and who doesn't want to be prepared with a nice warm fuzzy hat, scarf, gloves or more!!

All my hats can be made in a range of sizes! From newborn to adult!

Check back later today for my Handmade Circle Spooktacular Halloween Sale Blog Post about ideas for hosting a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween Party!!

-Mama



Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Ugh! Sick...Sick...Sick!!


Hey everyone!! Thank goodness that I am not having to make a speech to you guys or actually use my voice because quite honestly I don't have much of one!! This past weekend, my little family had a GREAT labor day weekend up at my parent's place on the lake but unfortunately we've all ended up with a cold!!! And OH MY GOSH apparently it has been a while since I had a cold because this one is certainly kicking my BUTT! Anyway enough with my complaining, and on to my post!!

I hope everyone else had a wonderful labor day weekend! It was so good to have a long weekend with the fam but labor day to me always means the end of summer. I am such a summer person... let me rephrase that... I absolutely LOVE fall too, I just dread what comes after the fall!! I hate winter! I dislike being cold more than anything and I hate driving in snow, I am a big baby and turn into somewhat of a grandma when I have to drive in winter conditions!

I am still working on regaining control over my shop and adding more of the digital file listings to it but so far I have had 3 orders that were printable/digital orders and I have to say that I love doing those!! I have absolutely NO problem doing orders that I have to print and ship but it is so so so nice to be able to spend a bit of time personalizing or making a custom order and not having to worry about printing it and shipping it, plus I love that the customer gets their order almost immediately!!


I just "shipped" a print it yourself order for baby shower games and diaper raffle tickets that were a custom order she wanted to have made to match her already purchased invitations here is what I came up with and I'm pretty proud of them!!

I also made the first of more to come Halloween Party invitations! I am going to be part of the Handmade Circle Halloween Spooktacular sale coming up so I am trying to add some fall and holiday items!!
I absolutely love it myself!! I am going to create more Halloween critters and more products so stay tuned!! Also check back in for more details on the upcoming sale!!

Well if I intend on beating this darn cold that I have acquired I better get some rest! I am going to work on updating my shop some more I think and will check back in soon!! Oh and did I mention tomorrow is already Wednesday!!! Happy mid-week to all!!!
-Mama

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Cha cha cha changes!!...

Hey everyone I know it has been quite a little while since I posted last time been a little busy with other things as well as just plain not really being in a blogging mood! But hopefully some changes I am planning on making to my shop will help get my motivation back!
Anyway... After seeing the title of this post and me mentioning shop changes you may by now be wondering what kind of changes is she talking about... Well I will answer you!
Mama made gifts will be turning into more of a digital file print it yourself type of shop. I enjoy making printed products it has just gotten too costly what with the price of ink and other materials so I have decided in order to keep my shop open I am going to try my hand at offering mainly digital files! Now does this mean I won't take print orders and ship them still?... Absolutely not! I am still more than happy to take printed order requests they will just be slightly higher in price as opposed to the digital file orders. I will also be changing my turn around time on such printed orders being that I am not always able to get items printed and shipped in under 2 days!
So my plan for today as I can between playing with our peanut and trying to do some housework is to try to get my shop updated and everything back in order and under control!
In other non shop related news we had a great time on vacation the race was a blast and it was a great time with family! So hard to leave our peanut for that time though! Now we are looking forward to a fun family labor day weekend at the lake! Oh did I mention that it's HOT!! Holy cow!!! We had some almost fall like weather the past few weeks which was nice and now mother nature has snapped back the other way and is hot!! Phew! I worked up a sweat just walking to the mailbox!!
Well I am off to try to regain order of my shop! Check Facebook for more news and updates and I will be sure to post again soon!!
- Mama

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

More HMC in July promotion!

Happy Wednesday to everyone!! We made it through the day and we can nearly see the weekend!! Phew!! First of all I would just like to share how excited I am about the recent sales that I've had!! :) I've had several sales in a row *knock on wood* I am absolutely LOVING the sales fairy visiting my shop!! Also I had my first over seas sale!! That's pretty exciting too!! My sale that I got from Australia was a custom order for a baby shower game and she asked for a pirate theme, I had thought about creating pirate themed items and just hadn't done it yet so this order pushed me to do it and I'm glad that I did!! I have a great new image option for future orders!!

This is the final product! A personalized pirate themed baby shower game!!

The pirate ship!


 Okay on to the HMC Christmas in July sale promotion! I said in my post yesterday that in my upcoming posts I will be picking 5 shops each post to feature so here we go for today!





Paper Pastiche

There you have it!! My choices of 5 shops to promote today and of course as always please visit my shop as well at
www.etsy.com/shops/mamamadegifts

I am off to update and try to organize my shop! Until tomorrow!! And don't forget, tomorrow is Thank-You THURSDAY at Mama Made Gifts!! Place an order tomorrow and get a gift certificate for 5 dollars off of your next purchase!

-Mama

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Oh my goodness it's been a while!

Let me start off first by saying OH MY GOODNESS has it ever been a while since I have gotten on here and posted!! I will try my best to do better about posting updates more often! This past month got hectic in a BIG old hurry!! It started off at the end of last month, my husband and I had our actual wedding last fall, but we wanted a summer wedding reception bonfire get together so the last weekend in June we had that.  The weeks before the reception were NUTS! My mom and I made all the decorations and every other little aspect of the reception so needless to say it was a little crazy and I certainly didn't really have time to be posting on here or tending to my etsy shop really at all!  From there we went directly into 4th of July and recovering from the reception!! Shortly after that we had some family drama that resulted in me not really feeling like getting online to do much of anything. Now finally things seem to be settling down enough that I have been able to get some orders done and will be shipping them off and now I really need to tend to getting my etsy shop back in order updating this site more often and getting back into the swing of things!

Now I would like to mention a GREAT sale event that I am involved in along with so many other great etsy shops! Handmade Circle's Christmas In July sales event!! With this sales event you can save anywhere from 10-35% off just by using the universal coupon code HMCJULY, the discounts vary from shop to shop!! Over the next few posts I will be featuring 5 of the shops involved in the sale to help promote everyone!! 

Round 1 of Handmade Circle Christmas In July Sales Event Shops!






There are my shop promotions for the day! We are half way through the week and I know personally I CAN'T wait for the weekend!! It has been so very very warm here, I guess it's supposed to cool down tomorrow and Thursday and then be hot again so I'm hoping for the chance to go for a family trip to the beach again!! We went last weekend and our little peanut absolutely LOVED the water and daddy helping her build sand castles! It was an absolute blast!


Well I think I will head off to try to update and organize Mama Made's facebook page as well as my shop! I will post again tomorrow with more shops from the sales event!! Until then!

-Mama!

 

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Time for Updates Tuesday!

Hey everyone! I hope everyone survived Monday and is having a GREAT start to their week! Tuesdays at Mama Made Gifts are now "Time for Updates Tuesdays" that means you get updated on what happened in my world over the weekend, updates on new products, specials, and other information about stuff going on with the shop!

First of all this past weekend was HOT HOT HOT!!! Oh my goodness, our air conditioner in our house is old and by old I mean approximately 24 years old (PHEW ancient I know lol) makes me feel like a dinosaur but that probably is pretty old for an A.C. unit, anyway what that means is it doesn't hold the charge that it needs to actually cool for long anymore, leaving our house feeling like an OVEN this past weekend! Luckily we managed to survive with the use of 5 fans and a little help from our peanut's pool! Hubby had to work Saturday so that left this weekend feeling not only HOT but extremely short!! Still, it was a good weekend, we got to spend some time with friends Friday and spent the rest of it relaxing trying to stay cool and beat the heat! This weekend is not only father's day, but it's hubby's birthday so it will be a fun busy weekend! 

NEW PRODUCT UPDATE

I received a message on etsy recently asking me if I could make a bumble bee theme baby shower game. Of course I said I could, and I am glad she suggested this idea because I absolutely adore how the bee turned out and love how the game sheet looks as well! Sadly I haven't heard back from her yet as to if she likes it and wants to order or not, but I guess at least it resulted in me having a new critter and new product for the shop!
 Here it is! Like I said I am pretty much in love with how it turned out and it can obviously work for either a boy or girl just by switching the blue lettering and boxes with pink! I plan on working on thank-you cards and invitations with the bee theme! My creativity seems to be coming back to me for a while, hopefully it stays!!

The fact that the woman that asked me to do this hasn't responded brings me to my next topic of today's blog post. I am a very trusting person I guess when it comes to my work and sending out proofs of products and such, which unfortunately has brought the fact I could be getting "ripped off" so to speak to my attention. People may very well like my products and not want to pay for them, so now I will be implementing the use of WATERMARKS. It will take me a while to get all of the photos watermarked, but in the near future when you look at my shop all products will have watermarks on them of course when a customer purchases an item the watermark will be removed, but I have come to the realization that I have to protect my work!

Don't forget about THANK-YOU THURSDAY this week! Place an order on Thursday and receive a $ 5.00 gift certificate in your package with your order.
Also in honor of Father's Day this weekend use the coupon code DAD12 for 15% off your total order!

Well I'm off to work on making some more new products and get to putting watermarks on my products and update the shop! I will be checking back in soon!!

-Mama

Thursday, June 7, 2012

NEW POST! Nearly a month later, I'm posting!

To all of my followers, sorry that I haven't posted in a while but May was a BUSY BUSY month and June is shaping up to be just as busy!

Anyway, May like I said was incredibly busy! First we had Mother's day weekend, I got treated to going to the zoo with hubby and daughter and on Mother's day we had both moms down for a grill out! My first mother's day was GREAT! Good food, and good times spent with GREAT family!
The weekend after that was our daughter's 1st birthday! I absolutely can't believe that a year has flown by already but anyway as you can imagine I was crazy busy preparing for that! Cupcakes, sandwich trays, sides, decorations, cleaning busy busy busy preparation time for this mommy!
Then we moved on to Memorial Day weekend, which was filled with friends, family and fun up at my parents lake! I even got to lay out and get some color while we were up there and hubby got to do some fishing!
So needless to say, May was packed full of activities and not much time to be online blogging  or updating my shop or anything! Not that I'm complaining at ALL I had a blast every weekend of last month and it's nice to get a break from working on orders!
While I was enjoying my break from orders however and taking a small etsy break, I got several orders including one HUGE one!! I will tell you now it is a great feeling to get orders and have people want your products but this last order has been kicking my butt! I just got it done and in the mail! PHEW!! 50 invitations, 50 diaper raffles, and 30 thank-you cards and it was a completely custom animal and design love how it turned out but I was glad to see it go into the mail! So very worth it though and I hope the customer loves it!! And now thanks to her order, I have a new critter to add to the gang!
Meet the Pink Leopard!
Isn't she cute!? I adore how she turned out and love how she looks on the invites and thank-yous!
Anyway, as I said June is going to be a pretty BUSY month as well so if you don't hear from me please don't think I am just not into keeping up with my customers or anything! It is my hubby's birthday weekend after this as well as father's day and our wedding reception is at the end of the month!
Please check out my shop on etsy 
www.etsy.com/shop/mamamadegifts

I will be updating and adding products back to it!
Thanks so much for checking in!!
Family trip to a mopar car show recently!
Hope that everyone has a GREAT weekend!!
-Mama

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Blog Neglect!! Sorry!

I realize that I haven't posted on the website in quite some time!! Mainly because I have just been kind of taking a step back from my shop for a few weeks enjoying time with my family and duties as a full time stay at home mommy and wife!! The other reason I will admit is because I wasn't really getting many views on my etsy shop, no more sales, couldn't sell any items on ebay and I was just feeling so very discouraged and was considering removing my shop and just calling it quits on selling my products all together. I know that sounds pretty childish of me, but I was incredibly frustrated!! Anyway for whatever reason *don't know why but I hope it continues* my shop has been getting more views and I have had 6 sales within that past 2 days! It's AMAZING and gives you a great feeling to know that your hard work is actually paying off!!

Yep the sales fairy visited Mama Made Gifts!! Hopefully I don't jinx myself! I would love for it to continue like this, it's perfect just enough work and income to keep me busy and bring in a little bit of extra money but it doesn't interfere with mommy duties and spending time with my family!

As well as having sales in my etsy shop, I have taken some of my items to a children's consignment shop around where my parents live! That's pretty exciting hopefully they will grab attention and sell! It seems like it would be the perfect environment for my products so hopefully I'm right!

And this June I am going to a baby fair! I don't know if I had mentioned that in a previous post or not, but like selling items in a children's consignment shop I feel like the baby fair will be more my target market than the average craft show goer! Hopefully that turns out well!!

Well anyway, just wanted to pop in and post seeing how I hadn't in quite some time, let ya'll know that I'm still around haha and now I have new ambition and I am actually excited about my etsy shop and creating products again! Lets hope that the good luck in sales and such continues!!

Talk to everyone again soon and thanks for reading!!
-Kari

www.etsy.com/shop/mamamadegifts 

Monday, April 23, 2012

Oh good grief!.......

OH GOOD GRIEF!!! I haven't posted on here since last Monday!! Goodness, I'm falling behind a bit on my blogging! I had been pretty busy this past week trying to get things ready for the craft show that I was in on Sunday. Even though I worked on getting stuff ready all week, it still seemed as if the majority of the work came down to Saturday all day and into a good chunk of the night! Why is that?!? You work so hard at not having a million things to do last minute yet you're still running around like a chicken with your head cut off come the day before! I didn't go to bed until sometime after 3 in the morning and had to be up by a little after 6 so that didn't leave much time for sleeping!! Holy crap was I ever tired after we got back yesterday and apparently I was still catching up today!
Anyway, the craft show... ugh where to start... the traffic as far as customers goes was quite a bit better than the first show that we went to, it seemed like there was normally a pretty steady flow most of the time but it still resulted in absolutely NO sales!! People walk by look at the stuff, pick it up, say how cute it is or that it's such a good idea and put it down and walk away or worse yet ask questions say they will be back and disappear never to be seen again. Now I know that sounds whiney of me, like I'm complaining but it is really quite frustrating when you stay up late into the night (my own fault I know) the night before get up at the butt crack of dawn and sit on your kaboose all day and have noooooo sales. Another learning experience you say... I suppose yes, a good way to at least get your company's name around... yes quite a few people did come by and take a card, BUT frustrating, tiring, and it makes a person begin to wonder if what they're selling is even marketable. While sitting with my mom at the show all day, we have come to the conclusion that my products certainly appeal to a very specific crowd and just don't go over that well with your average craft show going group! 60 something year old ladies don't need baby shower items or children's party invitations. Which has led me to 2 thoughts. First there is a baby fair at a highschool in June that I am now going to be attending, hopefully that will be the PERFECT target market for me and sales will go better! *cross our fingers* Secondly, Mama Made Gifts is expanding the product line. I am going to start to make things that include adult event invitations, wedding items, adult party invitation, bachelorette party items, things like that, maybe it will add to my market and gain me some more sales. The little kid and baby items will ALWAYS be first to me and will continue to be what I have the most of being that my little princess is the whole inspiration behind my shop and doing this, but if I add some other items hopefully it will gain new viewers and SHOPPERS!!
 This is me at the craft show looking all busy! LOL For those of you that have seen a picture of me before I had a bit longer than shoulder length hair so... notice the new "do" :) I decided it was time for a change of looks!! I am hopefully getting it highlighted sometime soon too this mama deserves to look good!
Well, craft show is over *PHEW* next up is my daughter's birthday and then on to our summer wedding reception! Hubby and I got married last fall but wanted our reception in the summer so here it is sneaking up on us!! So now I will get to work on some new items, promoting myself on etsy (which I am still trying to get used to, I don't like the whole self plugging thing) Keep checking back for new items, and be sure to check the etsy shop!
www.etsy.com/shops/mamamadegifts

 

Monday, April 16, 2012

Productive Day and it's a Monday... WHAT!?!

That's right!! Today is Monday *ugh* yet I actually had a very productive day!! My little peanut and I had to drive up to a staples store to get some more sticker paper for my 2nd order that I have gotten! Mama Made Gifts had its 2nd sale this weekend and she ordered two items! You can only imagine how excited I was! Now lets just hope that the sales continue!! After getting the sticker paper it was off to Wal-mart to buy some other needed items, we nearly froze to death in this awesome April weather we are having here (not!) I am not okay with the cloudy, blustery, cool weather that we're having! Anyway that's enough complaining... I got the order done and it will be on it's way to the customer first thing tomorrow morning! I hope she likes them!
Now I need to concentrate on the upcoming craft show this weekend, some how it has once again crept up on me and I don't have half of what I need to have done finished yet. Oh well, it will all fall in to place, I just hope not to be scrambling the night before like I was for the first craft show we went to!
Mama Made Gifts has a great promotion going on right now that everyone should know about, it's Thank-You Thursdays!! On Thank-You Thursdays, if you order something you will get a $5.00 gift certificate in your order shipment to use on a future order or to give as a gift! 
Well this post is going to be short because I am feeling slightly lazy now that we have all of our running around for the day done, and I have acquired a headache that will NOT go away for whatever reason! UGH 
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and that the start to the week is going well for you! I will post again soon!!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Unmotivated lazy day!!

Blah, I don't know if it's just that kind of day for everyone that I have talked to or what, it's not that I'm having a bad day, in fact I am having a really great day! It's just that I feel so totally and completely unmotivated it's not even funny! I have tons of laundry to do and I swear it seems like there is literally a ton of it, ugh isn't that a never ending feat! Dishes that need to be taken out of the dishwasher and reloaded, and other cleaning that needs to be done but I just have no urge to do any of it! I know that makes me sound like a lazy putz but I just don't. Maybe it has something to do with the weather here the fact that it was so nice and warm and now we've snapped back into cool weather just drains me. Lol now I'm just making excuses! 

Like I said, I don't mean I'm having a bad day though, I'm actually having a really good day other than trying to get past this little bit of a cold that I've had... this morning I came out and after feeding our little peanut I hopped on my computer to find my FIRST sale on Etsy! So exciting!! I think I scared the crap out of hubby I was so excited! So I made that custom order and will head to the post office tomorrow to mail it! :) 

I also had a wonderful trip to Target with my little princess it's always fun to go shopping with her, she gets such a kick out of it even if she doesn't get anything exciting! Mommy daughter bonding time is the best!

Now unfortunately I'm lacking on creative juices!! I was going to try to sit down and make some new items to list on Etsy and when I did I just can't think! I think that goes back to me feeling so unmotivated today!

Well, I think I'm off to try to come up with some new products to add to my etsy shop! Wish me luck, and check in again soon!!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Website Overhaul!

Hey everyone! I hope you all are having a good start to the week, heck we're already to Wednesday! Hopefully the rest of the week will continue to cruise by. Being a stay at home mom, it's not like I have any grueling 9-5 job that I just dread going to during the week (thank goodness I love my job <3) but I still get anxious for the weekend! Plus I have a pretty fun Saturday night to look forward to! 

Anyway... We survived Easter, haha maybe survived isn't the way to put it, it's not like we had a bunch of family things to go to or anything, we had a very relaxing holiday at home I'm just glad I didn't burn the first ham I've cooked and that everything turned out pretty good! Plus our little princess absolutely loved looking for little treasures around the living room even though she doesn't understand the whole Easter bunny thing yet.

As some of you may have noticed (I hope you all have noticed it was a pretty major change) the website has had somewhat of an overhaul! I changed the background to something a bit more fitting and crafty, overall I just think it looks better than it did before, also I added more pages to my site so be sure to check them out! The product showcase page is still a work in progress so bare with me while I get that finished!

I just took new pictures of my pink giraffe baby shower party set, I think it looks much better now!




 Well, I think that's all for tonight! Check back in soon!!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone!!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful day spending time with family, having fun and celebrating!

As I sit here waiting for the ham to get out of the oven I thought that I would jump on quickly and make a post! Cross your fingers, this is the first year of us staying home for Easter just my hubs daughter and myself and I have never cooked a big ham before so HOPEFULLY it turns out okay and tastes good! It's starting to smell good anyway!

The Easter bunny made it's first trip to our house this morning and though our little one is really too young to understand the whole concept of the Easter bunny she thought it was great fun crawling around the living room looking for treats!

Today my baby's 1st Easter print has been featured in a great BNS on Etsy. Lindsay also known as cakeordeath5 to fellow Etsians, always has such great boards and lovely items in the treasury! If you get a chance or are just plain curious you should check it out!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/ODAwNjQ3N3wyNjk5ODg2NDM1/open-cakes-fun-bns-328-sales-total-this 

Also I have created a new set of birthday party invitations! The western themed cow invitations! These are a little more universal being that they don't have a specific age on them though I can personalize them with your child's name and age if you like or just one or the other!
Just like my other birthday invitations this is a set of 10 and includes the envelops for $9.00 plus shipping and tax

Don't forget please check out my shop at www.etsy.com/shops/mamamadegifts

I hope you all have a lovely Easter and a great day!!
~ Kari 
 

Friday, April 6, 2012

Happy Friday and Happy Easter Weekend to all!!

Happy Friday!

We have once again made it to the WEEKEND! You wouldn't think that would be such a huge deal for a stay at home mom, but for me the weekend means I get to relax with my little one and husband! Not to mention he got stuck working Saturday last weekend so it felt like we didn't have much of a weekend at all... anyway this weekend is of course as you all know Easter weekend!! Can't wait for the Easter bunny to visit our little one and to have ham and scalloped potatoes and green bean casserole! YUM! 

Yesterday, a fellow Etsian and friend made at my first craft show recommended that my Etsy shop be part of a promotion showcase. A huge thank-you to Christa at Makin' it mama, though no sales have been a result of this yet it got my shop tons of views and lots of love! I am remaining positive and hopeful that I will start to get sales sometime soon it would certainly make me feel better and know that what I'm doing is going to pay off. As my mom pointed out it is hard to look at something you make and think hmm does someone else like it because if I made it, that obviously means I like it, doesn't mean that others will love it for sure. That's why I am trying to come up with new products and always thinking of other things to make. As I said in my last post, I have created monthly onsie stickers for new babies. A friend suggested them to me and I think they are a great idea! I have sets for girls and boys and for the first 2 years of baby's life. Each set is $12.00 plus shipping and tax. I also made a set of mommy to be belly bump stickers that are week to week, a great way to create a photo memory of your ever growing bump! They are $8.00 for a set

The little bit of time that I spent on the computer today was spent revamping my Etsy shop, this is a constant on going project but I retook pictures of my thank-you cards and spruced them up and updated my shop. Now I'm down to just a few product images that I need to fix still. My shop is on the list in the Handmade Circle team to get some constructive opinions. Hopefully that will help give me an idea as to why everyone looks but nobody has bought yet!

Well it is getting late and tomorrow will be an earlier day and possibly a bit of a crafty shopping trip so I better be off. I will update you again soon! For now here are some update pictures for you to look at!
Please come look at my Etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shops/mamamadegifts or visit my facebook page at www.facebook.com/mamamadegifts

2nd year month-month photo prop onsie stickers




NEW members of the creature choice group! A boy blue giraffe and a girl pink lion!