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!

A Sweet New Bag + That Awesome Blanket

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Last week I took a break from the stock-the-inventory-closet sewing and made myself this sweet new bag!





The pattern is from V and Co. and is super simple and fun to make.  There aren’t even pattern pieces – you just cut it all out with your rotary cutter and it sews up in no time!





This is a serious bag, not a dainty purse.  On Sunday it happily held my usual purse stuff, two kiddo jackets, an American Girl doll, a folder full of paper, my big camera, and a box of Rice Krispie treats (it was a party, what can I say?).  It’s that handy size for when your kids are too old to require a diaper bag but you still end up hauling around half your house.

You should also head on over to Vanessa’s blog – it’s full of fun sewing projects and loads of inspiration.  It’s definitely one of my faves.





I’m not the only one getting something new around here.  Remember the awesome chenille blanket I mentioned in last weekend’s Weekend Links?  I started one for the little guy!  Poor thing – being a second child to a busy mom means he hardly has any handmade stuff, so I’m excited to finish this up for him.





I’m following the tutorial from Aesthetic Nest that was linked to on Living With Punks.  So far it’s going surprisingly quickly given that I’m not a great quilter and it is A LOT of quilting.  You better believe I’ll be showing pictures of this one when it’s done.

What are you guys up to?  Any new fun projects?  Want to tempt me with another project for myself?

Weekend Links, March 26th

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Read It

Keeping It All Organized from Team Eco Etsy (via the Etsy Success newsletter).  There’s some serious organizational eye candy going on in this post.  My husband decided we can sell the pool table that takes up most of my sewing room, so I’m in major redecorating mode.  I already ordered the comic book boards to help with fabric organization!





Make It

Scrap Paper Chandelier from Design Sponge.  A-MAZING.  Seriously.

Cozy Chenille Baby Blanket from Living With Punks.  I am 100% obsessed with this blanket.  My little guy is finally old enough to sleep with a blanket and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be one of these.





Bake It

No Nonsense Spiced Carrot Cake from Angry Chicken.  I like my carrot cake nice and plain, so this is right up my alley.  Plus, the kiddos and I are in a frozen-waffles-or-cereal breakfast rut and I think I can justify carrot cake for breakfast.

It’s (Craft) Show Time!

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The craft show season is upon us, ladies and gentleman, and my dance card is filling up nicely already!  Since this is my first spring/summer season in business I’m trying to do just a few great shows instead of just signing up for everything all willy-nilly.





In a few weeks (on April 16th, to be exact – go ahead and put it on your calendar) is Record Store Day at Luna Music in Broad Ripple.  This is another show put on by the lovely Martha, the brains behind Handmade Promenade.  There’s going to be great music and I’m hoping for good weather – it’s an outside show.

My crafty buddy Shan of Green Illuminations invited me to participate in an open house hosted at a friend’s house in May.  I’ve never done an open house, but I’m excited.  I think the more intimate setting will be great for getting to know some new customers.





I just found out Tuesday that I got accepted to the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange Summer Show.  This is SO AWESOME.  I’ve been to this show the past two years and am always so impressed by what’s sold there, so it just knocks me over that I’m going to be a part of it.

Although I haven’t managed to send in my application yet, I’m planning on being at the Rocky Ripple Festival again this year.  The 2010 show was my very first show so it’s going to be great to no longer be a rookie!

I’ll probably try to find one more show in July or August to finish up the bobaloo! Summer Tour.  If you’ve got any suggestions, let me know!

Are you a craft show shopper?  Any shows you try not to miss?

bobaloo! is one of Babble’s top 50!

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How awesome is that?!  If you’re already a Facebook fan you know all about it, but I wanted to share the big news here too!



Babble.com just listed my Etsy shop as one of the 2011 Top 50 Etsy Baby Shops!  I also made it to #9 in the Gear category.  Go check out the article – there are a ton of an awesome shops listed!

Thanks Jaime and babble.com for the awesome honor!

I Just Bought 100 Yards Of Fabric. Oh my.

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I know you guys are tired of hearing about it.  I’m tired of debating it, and my husband’s tired of looking at fabric swatches online.  So I finally did it.

I placed my first wholesale fabric order!  Yippee!



I’ve been doing research on this for quite a while now.  I whipped up a color story for 2011 to guide my fabric choices and looked through lines of fabric OVER and OVER.  For a couple of weeks now I’d been set on opening an account with Westminster/Free Spirit – I even have all my fabrics picked out.  Their opening order is $750 so my little business has been patiently saving money in hopes of getting there soon.

But I got antsy.  I started to look around again.  And I realized Riley Blake Designs has a TON of prints I like, in colors that fit my color story!  And they have a much lower starting minimum.  I’m sure you can guess how this turned out – I ordered 100 (yes, ONE HUNDRED) yards of fabric from Riley Blake!  Here are the five full bolts I bought:


Plus I bought a set of 3 yards of each of 8 fabrics from the Wheels line, which was on sale for WAY cheap (I think it’s out of print).  I’m now realizing I have no idea which of these fabrics I’ll get, so it will probably be all the blenders and not the cool bike and car prints, but that’s okay.





Looking at my choices made me realize I may have an affinity for polka dots.  This is reinforced by the fact that there is both a green dot and a brown dot fabric currently in my dryer.  I was trying to buy fabrics I’d use a bunch of, and dots go with everything, right?

I’m also excited about two upcoming Riley Blake lines that I’ll be able to order from – Happier and Farm Fresh.  Aren’t these two prints so stinkin’ cute? 




Hopefully in the next couple of months I’ll be opening that Free Spirit account, too, especially since I put so much work into picking my fabrics (and hello, bolts of Nicey Jane?  Awesome!).

Are there any supplies you buy in mass quantities?  Do you love having a big supply of the same thing, or do you like having small amounts of a variety?  Am I going to be so tired of these fabrics that I’ll never want to see them again?

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!