My Fave Online Fabric Sources

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I pretty much exclusively buy my fabric online.  I use mostly quilting cottons, and living in the land of chain stores, there just aren’t a lot of local sources.  Plus it is so much easier for me to order fabric online than to pack up two kids with sufficient store-safe entertainment and make it to a fabric store and back. My UPS guy even knows not to ring the doorbell during naptime (I know you feel me, Hannah).

 

 

My first recommendation comes with a bit of a warning – their customer service can be a little lacking, and don’t count on everything you order actually being in stock.  But Fabric.com really does have some great sales and you can score some serious deals, like quilting cotton for $4 a yard.  I would recommend signing up for their emails.  There are a lot, but their super-cheap fabrics go fast and you’ll want to shop quickly.

 

 

Next up is Quilt Home.  I admit, the website is a little confusing, but there are also cheap fabrics to be found here.  On the right side of the home page are links to both a coupon code and the sale section – pretty often I can find fabrics in the sale section that I can use the coupon on.  They also send coupon emails weekly, so it’s another email worth clogging up your inbox with.

 

 

Fat Quarter Shop is great for current, beautiful fabrics.  I usually turn here when I need something specific and haven’t been able to find it in my bargain sources.  They also have an extensive sale section that is totally worth perusing.  I confess, as a branding nerd, I am drawn to this website because it’s so pretty and clean.

 

 

I just recently ordered from Above All Fabric, and I was so happy with her customer service and her gorgeous fabric choices.  Since I’ve started my own business, I’ve realized supporting smaller businesses is often worth paying just a tiny bit more.  And Melanie’s fabric is by no means expensive – she also has a great sale section (which, as you can see, is important to me) and a rewards program for frequent shoppers.

 

 

I occasionally order from Etsy, too, especially when I need something extra-special.  I love ordering from the Fabric Shoppe.  As an added bonus, if you follow Jody on twitter (she’s @fabricshoppe) she announces great deals to the first one who nabs them.

 

I do frequent my local Jo-Ann Fabrics, especially for basics like terry cloth (I finally started buying it by the bolt with a 50% off coupon) and fleece.  I also buy notions there, including velcro and thread (I’m a thread snob and only use Gutermann) because it often goes on sale for cheaper than I can buy online.

 

 

One last tip – if you haven’t started following True Up, what are you waiting for?  The weekly sale posts are worth their weight in fabric!

 

Any good sources you’d like to share with the class?  I love a good bargain!

Help Me Pick a New Product (and a Sale!)

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During my kid-free Saturday I made a huge pile of Little Blankies and finished the rest of the Changing Pad Clutches.  I also cut out and started stitching this giant stack of burp cloths, which should be done in the next few days.

 

 

 

 

So I’ve decided I’ve earned a reward – I’m going to make something brand new for the shop!  Making new stuff is my favorite part of running this business.  Truthfully, sometimes making stacks and stacks of the same thing gets a little old and I need something different to spice things up a bit.

 

I have something in mind that’s a sweet little baby toy, but I’ve also been tossing around the idea of a new personalized room decoration that works for both a nursery and a big kid’s room.  Also, my friend Shan suggested making some crowns for little boys after I begged for opinions on Facebook.

 

 

 

 

 

Since I’m bringing in some new things soon, I’m retiring a few products from my Etsy shop.  I’m going to set up a sale section this weekend with all of the prints and Barrette Organizers – once they’re gone, they’re sadly not coming back.  The prints are goners since they don’t fit in with my product mix.  The Barrette Organizers just haven’t been popular enough to keep around.

 

So what do you think the new product (or products!) should be?  Any other suggestions?  I’ve got all that new fabric to play with and I’m antsy to get sewing!

Stats Tracking with Free Downloadable Spreadsheet!

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This past Monday the subject of the weekly Crafterminds chat was stats.  There are a lot of schools of thought on stats – follow them closely, don’t look at them at all, look at them occasionally… it seems like everyone has a different view on the subject.

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I will admit to checking my shop stats more often than really necessary (darn you, Craftopolis!).  Blogger also makes it entirely too easy to view blog stats, so maybe I swing on over to that Stats tab here and there.  But I promise, the serious number crunching only happens once a month!

I made an Excel spreadsheet a few months back to keep track of all of those numbers generated by running your own online business and blog, including blog stats, social networking numbers, and the fees and views associated with selling online and at fairs.  After that chat on Monday I thought maybe I should just share it with you guys!


 

There are 3 pages with a different set of numbers on each.  The first page is information on sales and fees.  I’ve set this page up with a section for two separate online shops (I have an abandoned Cargoh shop, which is another blog post) plus a general craft shows section.  The purpose of this page is to see what percentage of your sales is being spent on fees (there’s a formula already in the spreadsheet to calculate the percentage).





The second page tracks shop views, visits, and item information, again for two separate shops.  I get most of this info from Google Analytics.  I also have a formula in there to track the average views per item.





The last page is mostly social networking stats, plus a column for newsletter subscribers.  No formulas here, just a bunch of good ol’ numbers that I gather from a bunch of sources, including Google Analytics, my Facebook page, and Mail Chimp. 

I’ve filled in six months of stats with some made-up numbers so you can see how everything works.  Also, there’s space on each page to make notes on events that may have affected stats, like a giveaway or a bad craft fair. 

Want to try it out?  Download it here!



Make sure you come on back and let me know if you like it!

One Hundreds!

Tweet Yesterday was just a crazy day.  Evidently 100 was my lucky number, ‘cause it was all over the place!




I got my 100th (and then some!) sale in my Etsy shop!






I passed 100 rss feed and Google Friend Connect subscribers to the blog!





And I have 100 (actually, it’s now 102) bobaloo! facebook fans!

Whew, I’m tired just writing it!  I have been working hard the past week on promotion and it’s obviously paying off.  The Etsy sales are probably due to renewing twice a day last week, plus I listed a bunch of new stuff Sunday and Monday.  The jump in subscribers and Facebook fans probably came from the same two sources – the (very popular) post on making a Facebook landing page, plus the Crafterminds chat about Facebook yesterday.  Plus I shamelessly begged for Facebook fan #100 just so I could make it.

It’s really, really exciting, guys.  Seriously.  It feels like some serious validation - people like what I make and like reading about it.  I try really hard not to focus on numbers and just put out the best product I can, but it’s hard to not get excited about all those triple digits.



So it’s pretty fitting that I can send you all over to a giveaway!  Head on over to Another Day in Paradise where Larissa’s giving away a sweet bobaloo! goodie for either your little man or sweet princess!

THANK YOU, all of you, for being such great supporters and making starting my own little business worthwhile!

Advertising My Etsy Shop on A Blog

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As I mentioned before, I decided to finally buy some ad space on a blog for my Etsy shop.  I had a few criteria.  The blog needed to be:

• one I read already so I’m familiar with the content
• about design somehow, since my products are all about strong patterns and vibrant color
• supportive of handmade
• not a how-to craft blog (not because I don’t love them – I read a ton – but I don’t think that’s what my target market reads)

So after digging through my Google Reader a little I decided on one of my fave blogs, In Honor of Design.  Anna’s a graphic designer and a jewelry artist and is super supportive of handmade businesses.  Make sure you check out both her blog and her gorgeous jewelry, mmmkay?



The ad went up on February 9th, so it’s been up for two weeks now and I feel like I can give you a feel on how it’s going for me.  I did a little digging on Google Analytics to check my numbers and see if the ad is helping drive some traffic to the shop.

Of all the traffic to my shop, IHOD is the #4 source of traffic to my shop with 8.31%.  In fact, it’s only behind direct traffic, Google searches, and my Facebook page.  It’s even ahead of my blog!  That means it’s my #2 referring site, sending just a few less visitors to my blog than my Facebook page.




It’s great traffic too. The bounce rate for traffic from IHOD is about 48%, which means most of the people who visit are hanging around for a bit.  Visitors average 2.5 pageviews and stick around the shop for a few minutes.

I’ve had a noticeable rise in shop hearts and traffic over the past few weeks.  The ad is not the only contributing factor – I’ve been renewing twice a day thanks to the Statsy Clockbot – but it’s certainly helping things along.  Although I wouldn’t say I’ve been overwhelmed with sales by any means, I am starting to see the results of my efforts.



So is it worth it?  In my opinion, absolutely!  Lots of great bloggers offer super-reasonable rates that make it easy to get into advertising.  Don’t hesitate to contact your favorite blogger for advertising information because you may be surprised at how well it fits into your business budget.  Also, you’re supporting another small business owner, so it’s a win-win!

I know we’ve chatted about advertising before, but I’d love to hear more from you guys!  Let me know if you have an ad somewhere and how it’s working out for you, good or bad.  And if you don’t advertise now, are you considering it?

Buying Fabric Wholesale

Tweet I’ve been tossing around the idea of signing up for some wholesale fabric accounts.  There’s no doubt about it, it would be cheaper – wholesale fabric is about half the cost.  But man, is it a lot of fabric to buy at once!



I’ve been doing some research, and it seems like to open a new account you typically have to buy somewhere around $500 to $750 of fabric.  Each bolt usually contains 15 yards, and the smallest amount of any one print you can buy is a bolt.  Sounds great in theory (I can go through Mezzanine and Nicey Jane pretty darn quickly) but I just can’t come to a decision.

Right now, I obsessively follow fabric sales and buy in bulk.  For instance, this morning I got an email that fabric.com is having a $3.95 cotton prints sale.  I looked through all 8 pages of sale items, found five I liked that fit in with the overall color scheme in my shop, and ordered 3 yards of each.  I had a 15% off coupon, so my total for 15 yards was right around $50, which is only $3.35 a yard (less than wholesale).  Truthfully this good of a deal doesn’t happen all that often, and I’m always at the mercy of what’s available in the sale section.



I do buy at retail price occasionally if I need something specific or if someone requests a print.  During the holidays I had a couple of special orders where the customer requested that I make something from a fabric they saw in the store, but I didn’t have any more on hand.  In those cases I had to suck it up and pay full price, which cuts into my profits.

My husband suggested making a good ol’ pros and cons list of buying wholesale, so here you go:

Pros

• Fabric is CHEAP – usually half the retail price
• I wouldn’t have to spend so much time hunting down sales
• I’d have plenty of fabric on hand
• I could make more multiples of items, cutting down on the time I spend taking pictures and writing listings
• I’d have rows of beautiful fabric in my house, like having my very own fabric store!

Cons

• I’ll have less variety in fabric prints.  I make pretty small things, so it will take me a while to go through 15 yards.
• I’d be limited to just one or two manufacturers.  I am trying really hard to only spend money when I make money, so I just can’t afford to open very many accounts.
• I’d probably still have to buy other fabrics here and there
• I’m afraid my Etsy shop would look boring with less variety in fabrics
• You’ve seen my sewing room – where would I store it all?!

Another option occurred to me last week – I can open a fabric shop on Etsy to sell off my excess fabric inventory.  I really don’t know if I want to tackle running another Etsy store, but it is tempting to have license to buy a LOT of fabric.

I’d love some objective opinions on this whole thing.  I go back and forth on it and I really just need to make a decision and go for it.

Where do you guys buy supplies?  Do you just buy what you need when you need it, or do you stock up when you find a good price? 

New Product: the Director’s Cut

Tweet The original bobaloo got an American Girl doll for Christmas.  I’m not gonna lie, I was excited about this.  How fun is making doll clothes?  You get to use little bits of fabric, they go quick, and the doll never outgrows them.  It was inevitable that I would end up with a new product for the shop thanks to that doll.





So Christmas day, I’m talking to my sister about doll clothes, and somehow one of us mentions little aprons.  Kate said I should make matching doll and girl aprons and my mind was off and running.

First, I was thinking I could make them out of Alexander Henry’s 2D Zoo, which is available in a regular size print and another that is the same print, only significantly smaller.  As much as I love that fabric I didn’t want that to be my only option.  I emailed my favorite fabric stores to see if any other manufacturers made the same print in two sizes.  No luck.

Now I know I could have just used the same fabric for both aprons, but I’m a stickler for the details.  Bridget got a matching doll and girl pajama set with her doll and I love the fact that the doll outfit is a miniature version of the girl outfit, right down to the pattern scale.



 

A lightbulb went off – Spoonflower!  I could design my own fabric for the aprons!  Photoshop and I spent some quality time together and before I knew it, I had four different apron set designs printed and shipped right to my door.  I sewed them up and I just have to say, the first two sets turned out ADORABLE!





The pink Glamour Girl set and the Green and Yellow Leaves set are both available in my Etsy store now.  I have a super-cute pink set with an elephant detail and a very French set coming in the next week or so.

I bribe Bridget with suckers to model for my little girl products.  I thought you guys might enjoy a few outtakes from the apron set photo shoot - my personal favorite is the bottom left.





It’s sad how many of my billions of ideas never see the light of day.  What triggers new ideas for you?  How many of your ideas actually get made?  Do share!

Setting Goals for the New Year

Tweet This week has been a behind-the-scenes business kind of week.  I haven’t really done much on the product side – no sewing, no product photography, no listing and promoting.  Instead, I’ve been up to my eyeballs in paperwork and doing A LOT of planning.  I don’t really do the New Year’s Resolution thing, but I thought I’d share with you some of my plans so hopefully you’re inspired to put your goals in writing!



Etsy Shop Goals.  I set a goal of 50 sales for the first quarter of 2011.  I think this may be a little lofty, but I think it’s important to aim high.  I just stumbled across this great Etsy Goal Spreadsheet from Absolutely Small that I think I’ll start using for a little added motivation.



Blog Goals.  I’m planning on posting more often – look out for a new feature coming this Saturday!  Also, I tend to be a passive reader on other people’s blogs, so I’m going to try to come out of the woodwork a little more and make sure to interact with others by commenting on their blogs.  I love to hear from bobaloo! readers, so I know other bloggers feel the same way.

Along the same lines, I’ve installed DISQUS for comments (thanks to some advice from a Crafterminds tweet chat) so you guys will get an email when I respond to a comment here on bobaloo!  This is brand new to me, so if you have any trouble commenting let me know so I can look into it.  One thing I don’t like very much about Blogger is the inability to respond directly to readers’ comments, so hopefully this solves that problem.



Facebook and Twitter goals.  I know I’m not making the best use of either of these.  I don’t want to be one of those Twitter users that only tweets about products they’ve listed, but I know I can use Twitter to spread the word about my business.  I also feel like I underutilize Facebook – I post about new blog posts and occasionally product listings, but I know I can do more.  Anybody have any reading recommendations about Twitter or Facebook?



Local Sales Goals.  bobaloo! is carried in two local stores – the Irvington Iris Tea Room and the Little Green Bean Boutique.  I’d like to add one more store in the next three months.  Ideally I’d like to pick up a wholesale account, but I’m perfectly okay with consignment as well.  I’m going to ask all my mom buddies around my area if they know of any good kids’ shops and start calling buyers.

I have a few smaller goals, like finally setting up my Cargoh shop and reorganizing my sewing room yet again.  I’m planning on reviewing my goals every two weeks to keep myself on track.  This is my first time setting such specific goals, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

What about you guys?  Do you have any goals for your business or yourself?  Let’s have some inspiration!

Let’s Talk Shop

Tweet I’ve got shopping on the brain since I’m woefully behind on Christmas shopping, so today we’re gonna talk shop.



For you locals, you need to go check out the Little Green Bean Boutique right here on the East side of Indy.  I may be a little biased since she carries bobaloo! products, but I think Heather’s store is just awesome.  It’s a mix of children’s resale and items from local handmade artists.  Take a look around!



Had I been thinking ahead, I would have posted this earlier in the week because she hosted a wine-and-shopping ladies night event last night.  I was with the original bobaloo at the Nutcracker last night so I missed it, but a little birdie named Martha told me it was awesome.

It has come to my attention that a few of you lovely readers have shops of your own.  First up, my blog buddies Emily and Hannah have a great Etsy shop featuring bags, clutches, and totes, plus they run a blog.  Make sure you check out both!



Also, Patty has a brand spanking new Etsy shop with the coolest handmade stuff that would make great stocking stuffers.  Plaid Cupcake Design’s only been open a few weeks and Patty already has 11 sales!!  Holy moly girl, we all need lessons from you!  Do you have a blog to share your secrets yet?



Here are a few of my very favorite Etsy shops:

• Milk and Cookies – awesome paper goods!
• Lil’ Doodlers – adorable shaped crayons.  This girl has only had her shop open a few months, and she already has over 200 sales!  How great is that?!
• AN Original Jewelry – the cutest silver jewelry ever.  I want one of everything.
• My Paper Crane – I love love love Heidi Kenney’s stuff.  You should check out her blog, too.

I could go on and on, really.  I love to shop on Etsy.  Do you guys have any favorite places to buy handmade?  And do you have your own shop?  Let us all know in the comments!

By the Numbers

Tweet One thing I love about running my business through the internet is the MASSIVE amount of stats available.  I looooove numbers and I pretty much obsessively check Craftopolis, Google Analytics, and Blogger Stats. For some reason, this week I have reached some big numbers, so let’s have some sharing time!

Number of Blog Followers through Google Friend Connect – 21!  I love each and every one of you lovely ladies (and my husband, who was the first).

Pageviews of the blog – just broke 5000!  That seems like such a huge number to me!  The tutorials I posted were both on One Pretty Thing, and that really boosted visits to the blog.  The Fancy Burp Cloth Tutorial is the most viewed page BY FAR on my blog.

Number of sales in my Etsy shop – 26!  I was excited to reach 20 on Monday, but then a had a few more sales Tuesday and Wednesday.  I’ve been listing new stuff like mad so I’m sure that has something to do with it.  I had my first repeat buyer this week, which is awesome! 

Pageviews in my Etsy shop – just over 12000!  Holy moly.  That makes my head spin.  Some big contributers to that number were being on the front page of Etsy in September and the giveaway going on at luvinthemommyhood (go over there and enter if you haven’t!).  Speaking of, if someone with a big blog offers to host a giveaway, DO IT.  Totally worth it for the number of people going through my shop this week!

Sweet Little Boys in my lap helping with my post – 1!  Isn’t he the cutest?  His big sister is at a sleepover, so it’s just the two of us this morning.  His doctor referred to him as a toddler yesterday.  He may be walking, but I am still insisting he’s a baby.

Have a great weekend!  I have a meeting tomorrow that will hopefully result in some good news – I’ll fill you in Tuesday.  Oh, and don’t forget about my gift card giveaway!

Finding My Stride

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Remember a while back I mentioned I was going to be linked to on a big blog?  Well Tuesday, a link to my Fancy Burp Cloth tutorial was on Sew, Mama, Sew!  If you’re not already a Sew, Mama, Sew devotee, get your booty over there and take a look.  The tutorial was part of a roundup by the lovely Shannon of luvinthemommyhood, another great blog.  If you sew, definitely take a look at all the wonderful projects on that post – I can’t wait to try some out.

I feel much less stressed about getting products ready for next weekend’s Irvington Halloween Festival than I did when preparing for my first fair.  Part of the reason I’m more relaxed is that I have all the first-time stuff done – signs, tags, sign up sheets, etc. – and I really just have to focus on sewing.  I also have a better idea of what selling at a craft fair is all about, so I don’t have that big fear of the unknown.

Most importantly, I’m finally finding a rhythm to working at home with two kiddos around.  I typically cut and pin fabric at the island in my kitchen, which is nice and big and high enough that I don’t have to stoop over.  This means I can set Bridget up with a craft project at the kitchen table, let Graham empty out the cabinets, and get a good amount of cutting ready.  That way, when they go down for their naps, I’m ready to sew like crazy.  I’ve also been trying to get in a good hour of sewing right after they go to bed at night.


The administrative and computer stuff is easier to squeeze in here and there.  I can usually work on my inventory spreadsheets and accounting stuff in short bits throughout the day when the kids are playing.  I’ve started writing blog posts at night and setting them to publish in the mornings.  This week, I got all of my Etsy listings ready on Sunday night – that way I have been able to list stuff twice a day with a couple of clicks.

(If you're an Etsy seller and don't know how to get your listings ready in advance, here's a great forum thread on how to do it!)

Luckily I have an amazing husband who is always up for entertaining the kids when he’s home.  Saturdays and Sundays (and some evenings) I work really hard in my sewing room.  I usually save photo shoots for those days, too, so I know I can get all the pictures done at once.

I’m not saying I’m great at time management – my kids probably watch more cartoons than they should, and the poor hubs probably forgets what I look like – but I am for sure improving.  One thing I’m really working on is shutting the computer and staying away from the fabric from about 5 pm until the kids go to bed.  We have always made it a point to sit down for dinner, so it just makes it less stressful if I’m not trying to squeeze in work at the same time.

What do you guys do to manage family time and business time?  Finish your listings in the shower?  Hand sew while vacuuming with your feet?  Do share!

Debating an Artfire Store... Hmmm.

Tweet Before I went on vacation, there was a decent amount of buzz about the deal Artfire was offering for a pro membership.  If you haven't seen it, Artfire is pretty much a direct competitor to Etsy.  However, it's pretty new so it doesn't have the traffic and recognition that Etsy does. 

The biggest benefit of Artfire?  It uses a monthly subscription fee, not fees to list or renew items, and no percentage of sales fees.  The deal that was running in September was $5.99 a month for a Pro membership (it's now $9.95/month).  Etsy's search function displays the most recently listed or renewed items first in the results, so sellers really have to constantly renew to get to the top of the searches (20 cents per renewal adds up fast).

It looks like Artfire also does a much better job of getting its shop listings at the top of Google Shopping results.  Considering my recent obsession with SEO, this totally appeals to me.  More views means more sales, which means happy me.  And I hear their seller support is amazing - they have people that actually answer phone calls, for heavens sake!

However, I LOVE the look of Etsy and I'm certainly not closing my shop there anytime soon.  I think it's clean and polished, while Artfire kinda seems like a cheap imitator.  Also, people have heard of Etsy, which counts for a lot.  At the Rocky Ripple Festival I had tons of people ask me if I have an Etsy shop.  The fees stink, no doubt about it, but with my pricing structure I can absorb some fees (and Etsy has to make money somehow).  It's just REALLY tempting to try out a cheaper option.

My sticking point is the time I'd have to devote to maintaining two shops.  Luckily Artfire has an importing tool that allows sellers to import all of their Etsy listings.  Evidently you do have to change up your titles and listings a little bit because Google Search will ignore duplicate listings, making both listings disappear from Google search results.

I'm leaning toward trying it out through the holidays.  My marketing budget is super tight, so the $30 I'm going to have to shell out really chips in to some of the things I've been planning on buying (like a pop-up tent for shows and and a stronger sewing machine- look, isn't this one pretty?).

Here are some good forum posts if you want some more opinions.

• Etsy vs Artfire Post (via Etsy Forums)
• Etsy vs Artfire Post (via Artfire Forums)
• My Etsy Post

Generally, I think Artfire shops are getting the traffic, but not necessarily the sales.  Etsy is getting less traffic per shop, but more sales.  I think Artfire is at a turning point now - it could potentially grow quickly due to all the sellers who want to minimize fees, but if there aren't enough buyers, it's just going to fizzle.

Any opinions?  I go back and forth on this by the hour!  Artfire does have a free membership, but it doesn't include the Etsy importer - should I just retype all those listings to try Artfire for free?  Am I devoting too much brain power to this when I should be baking cookies or something?

Changing up the Shop for SEO

Tweet Thanks to all that SEO research last week, I made some changes to my Etsy listings on Friday.  First, I added the line "bobaloo! unique handmade gifts for kids and baby" to the beginning of each item description.  Then, I added "handmade" as a tag on every item except for the prints.  I also tried to add more keywords to the item titles which I think looks a little awkward.  If the new titles bring in more traffic, I guess I'm going to have to learn to like oddly long comma-filled titles.

I also rearranged some item descriptions so the most relevant descriptive terms come first.  For example, instead of the Diaper Clutch description starting with "The Diaper Clutch is a stylish accessory for every mama on the go", it now starts with "This listing is for a Diaper Clutch in a 2D Zoo print by Alexander Henry, lined with a cocoa circle print".  I don't think I changed them all, but that's definitely something I need to be conscious of for future listings.  I gotta tell you, changing all that stuff was monotonous.  I had 37 items to go through - I can't imagine what changing 100 items would be like!

I think it's a little early to tell, but I think it may be working.  Here's a screenshot from Craftopolis of this month's views.  The number over the little purple guys is unique visitors, the number below that is pageviews.  See how much higher yesterday (Monday the 20th) was the than previous two Mondays?  I'll give you guys an update later this week.

This screenshot also illustrates the wonder that is making it to Etsy's front page.  See September 1st?  That's the day I was on the front page.  My views stayed up for DAYS.  On Friday the 10th there was a link to one of my products on Prudent Baby, so that's why there's a healthy spike in pageviews there.

I got a fun new toy last week - a little Zyron sticker maker.  I bought it with a coupon at Michael's on a whim since it was less than $15.  I made some cute stickers to hand out to kids at the Rocky Ripple Festival this weekend.  Hopefully I have enough left - my daughter has been sticking them all over herself and her brother all week.  I think I may make labels for my packages with it, too.  I read somewhere recently that the scrapbooking craze is grown women reliving their Lisa Frank and Mello Smello obsessions of childhood - maybe that's why having a sticker maker is so much fun? 

I have a blog housekeeping question for you guys.  Do you prefer I respond to comments right in the comment section, or email you directly?  I like the idea of responding in the comments section, but I know I forget to subscribe to new comments via email when I comment on other blogs all the time.  Plus I like everyone being able to see the conversation.  On the other hand, I don't know how often people come back after commenting to look for a response.  Any opinions?