A Creative Renaissance

So for years and years, I dreamt of making kids bedroom decor. I wanted to make things that weren't pastels and baby, but were fun and unique. I had 2 small kids and no time to sew (of course an affinity for fabric buying, though), and worked full time. How could I find the time?

Well years later, after a very difficult road with my recently diagnosed son with autism; I decided to leave work. NOW I also had the time for my dream. This was a year ago today, that my new journey began!

Oh how things come full circle. I found out quickly, I have become intolerant, and impatient to sewing. I did do some handpainted wall decor and boxes. I had also made cards for co-workers upon leaving, and thought I'd make some of those for my Etsy shop as well.

Well, as time started to tell, cards were selling ahndpainted items were not. I thought maybe that was the direction of my business. Over time, I learned the ropes on Etsy, and even opened a 2nd shop for candles, Lilac Ave.

Last Fall I had to go back to work due to financial issues, and still worked my 2 beloved Etsy shops, and even recently opened an Artfire shop. I thought this could work, working, and having these shops, and raising the kids, and supporting my military and consistently at sea husband, and take care of myself, and take care of the house...you get my point. IT DIDN'T WORK!

Well, here we are with the news of a move to Hawaii. A place about family, about dreams, and about living life a little slower! So as soon as I touch ground I am back to Family First, and living my dreams of being a creative business owner.

So now the balls are jiving I'm thinking of what do I want to do, what do I want these stores to say and represent? I think I decided I want to add some of those original dreams back to the mix. It will start with some handpainted items, and move on maybe to sewing, if I have recovered from sewing burnout of a fashion design major.

I guess the point is, the creativity is limitless!!! Why be just a card shop, or just a candle shop, when my creativity and ideas go beyond that? So I am going to live in the spirit of Hawaii, and just be laid back, and fulfill my dreams.

See the prototype mixed shop at (sorry no candles til we hit the island):

http://www.lilacave.artfire.com/

See the original shop...the one that started it all:

http://www.bubbarye.etsy.com/

Not to be forgotten, but closed for now:

http://www.lilacave.etsy.com/

Mahalo!

~Deb

ALOHA!

The Move
Well such is life in the Navy, staying one place too long is not natural. We have been in Virginia for 5 years, and now it is time to move on. We are moving to Hawaii! A couple of interesting thoughts for this move:

1. Our pack out date is EXACTLY 10 yrs from our last pack out day for Hawaii!

2. We are shipping our Honda Civic....guess what kind of car we shipped last time?? You got it a Honda Civic (and we actually have had different cars than a Honda Civic in that 10 yrs).

So here we are full circle. We moved to Hawaii a week after we got married, 1 car, no furniture, no money, nothing, but us! This time we move with a house full of furniture, 2 kids, a dog, a cat, a car, and for me 2 small businesses.

So What's the Plan Stan?

Unfortunately we cannot ship candles to Hawaii (the container in the summer time will melt the wax). So I am trying to sell off my inventory as much as I can, so I can feasibly ship the rest by air. I welcome you to take advantage of the sale.

Save $2 when you Buy $10 worth of items

Save $5 when you Buy $15 worth of items

Save $10 when you buy $25 worth of items

www.lilacave.etsy.com
This sale will continue until inventory is low enough to ship.

Paradise Means Candlemaking and Cardmaking Full Time

I am very thankful to say that I get to quit my day job when we get to Hawaii, and will be making candles and cards full time after we get settled. This is a dream of mine and I have a few years to get it off the ground.

Plus having a home business gives me an opprotunity to get my family settled in and really breathe in and enjoy life! Or maybe breathe in and enjoy the smell of a plumeria soy candle?!? LOL!

My Healthy Not Really Burritios, Not Really Enchiladas Dinner

Well if you are wondering.... the suggestion to blog the recipe happened after the fact, hence the empty dish from our scrumptious dinner!
So I make this chicken with salsa, that I LOVE, but thought....mmmmm burrito!!! Well, as is half of America, I am avoiding starchy carbs...so here are my burritos!
This was a best guess recipe made from my mind, wanting to combine that great chicken, and yum...GUACAMOLE!!! I am Texan, afterall!

Ingredients:
2 Chicken Breasts
A jar of Salsa
2 Avacados
6 Corn Tortillas
Light Sour Cream
Lemon juice
Lime Juice
Garlic Salt
Shredded 2% Cheddar
Foil

1. Take the 2 Chicken Breasts, put it in oven safe dish, and cover with foil. Cook on 325degrees for 1 hour. After it is done, the chicken should pull apart when stabbed with a fork. Pull apart into chunks.
2. Make guacamole- I cut the avacados in half, pull out the pit, spoon out the green, and put it in a dish. Then add a teaspoon of lime juice, a teaspoon of lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt. Take a fork, and mash up the avacado and mixings. Keep doing this until in a slightly smooth, slightly clumpy consistency.
3. Heat up Corn tortilla (I microwave in a tortilla warmer slightly wet for 35 sec...you can do this in between 2 plates...top one turned upside down).
4. Now assemble. I had corn tortilla, with a layer of guacamole, a little daisy light sour cream, a little dusting of 2% cheddar cheese, and then some chicken with salsa spooned into the center.
5. Fold up and Eat it!

I also had some Snyders Multigrain Tortilla Chips with a spponful of guacamole. This could go great with a lime cactus Michelob Ultra. Not a perfect South Beach meal, but one that is healthy, tasty, and not deprived!!!

New Years Resolution- Business will be FUN!

So yesterday many things hit me about my shop(s). I opened Bubba & Rye in February, right after I left my job, and then Lilac Ave in July, in hopes of padding my family's finances, and hopefully building it enough so I could be self employed versus going back to work. Well by September I was pretty well aware that it was just not going to happen as fast as I needed to, and we really needed me to be working.

Since September that vision, and that ambition hadn't changed much. I was very driven to make a lot of product for holiday craft shows, and have as much inventory as possible, to see what the possibilities of the Christmas sales were. The craft shows did not got fantastic (but were fun), and sales were my best EVER in November and December.

So now the holidays are over. For the past couple of months I had been strategizing to diversify Lilac Ave and close Bubba and Rye (so I could have time to diversify Lilac Ave). I opened another store on 1000Markets. I had a plan to set in motion to grow.

Then yesterday a couple of things in my mind changed:

1. I actually still love making cards, I just can't make them at the pace I was making them, when I wasn't working. This is the main reason I was going to close Bubba & Rye. But then I asked myself, "Who says there needs to be "X" number of items in my store, or that I have to have "X" number of sales? ?Apparently my own ambition and pride. Wouldn't it be better to let those go, than this shop, that I love dearly, and still enjoy making cards for?

I do think the shop will be a little changed when it re-opens. I have some different ideas, and different thoughts on the product being put in there.

2. This should be fun! I've already established that my income issues were changed by going back to work. This isn't to say I am going to price myself as a hobbyist, etc....I still have a busines sense to me....but I have enough stress at work, and these business are for me, and I love them. I don't want to make them so stressful that I hate them. So from here on out, if it isn't fun, if it isn't enjoyable, I am not going to do it. Now this doesn't include listing items, which I find awful and monotonous, LOL! It does include when I am not feeling right about a business choice.

So this is my new business strategy.... "HAVE FUN"! That sounds more fun that "diversify" doesn't it?

1000 Markets Grand Opening!

So another handmade online market is http://www.1000markets.com/ . This is a fabulous site! Very pretty, very innovative, and a great place to find unusual handmade items.

I have opened a second outlet for Lilac Ave there ( http://www.lilacave.etsy.com/ and www.1000markets.com/users/lilacave ). This site offers rotation to the front page while Etsy depends on treasuries to pick their front page's. This gives me as fair a chance as anyone to get seen. They also offer free listing with a higher transaction fee (5.5% plus 50c) after the sale. I think this could save me money, versus the constant renewal fees (20c) to get my items seen, plus the 20c listing fee, and 3.5% transaction fee on Etsy. So I figured it was worth a shot. Believe it or not I do believe that Etsy is more established than 1000Markets, so that is the big challenge.

The way I see it, it costs nothing to try it, and it's more exposure. I did decide to keep seperate stock between the 2 shops, and I think it will take a lot of effort to promote them equally. But think of it this way. Target sells their items through Target.com and Amazon.com, is this much different...it broadens my customers.

There is a special addition, I will add here! As a grand opening opprotunity! My 1st Sale on http://www.1000markets.com/users/lilacave will receive a FREE glass votive with 2 tealights! So come take a look, and maybe you find something to fall in love with!

Also I will keep you posted on the challenges and successes of creating this new shop. So far it's been open 6 days. I had my first sale on Etsy after 11 days, so I will remain hopeful!

Who knew!?!?!?

So who would've thought my 2 shops would be coming up on milestones, right up next to one another??

Bubba and Rye, which has recently changed from a card shop to a destash and supply shop (until all the supplies are gone), is just 4 sales shy of 200 sales! I am running a prize promotion that the 200th sale will get a FREE Card and Candle (a value of $10). Either buy your way there, or watch patiently! http://www.bubbarye.etsy.com/

At the same time, my Soy candle Shop is just at the cusp of 100 sales!!! Not bad, seeing as it opened July 11th of this year, and just passed the 5 month anniversary. In this shop I will be awarding a $10 gift certificate for Lilac Ave to the 100th sale's buyer. http://www.lilacave.etsy.com

These are exciting milestones that should be celebrated. I met my 1st 100 sales in Bubba and Rye after 6 months (store opened February 19th, 2008). I remember being so excited...like it was a sign that I had made it!

If you are wondering. I opened Bubba and Rye when I stopped working to stay hope. While home, I also launched Lilac Ave. Life's circumstances changed, as they do, and I had to go back to work in September. I have been struggling to find the time to make cards, candles, manage both shops, 2 kids, a military husband, etc. Now that the season's craft fairs are over, I had to make some choices and let go. As many card makers know, it can be time consuming, and a workplace and time has to be set aside. So after long thought and heartbreak I decided I needed to close Bubba and Rye. So Bubba, is now in phase 2 of close down, which is to become a destash and supply shop, as I have more than I could ever use in personal card making. So what was that, long story, long?!?!

So keep looking, keep shopping, and try to win something FREE!!

Hampton Roads Artisans Street Team presents Holiday Handmade Market

Back in July, Mary from JKCreative Designs http://www.jkcreativedesigns.etsy.com/ , decided to create a local team for those of us Etsy obsessed in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia (Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News). I have been part of this team from the beginning. What started out as us, talking about having a home show with our little team, turned into us needing to find a venue for approximately 20 vendors.

Another wonderful team member, Jodie, from Gappy Girl, http://www.gappygirl.etsy.com/ , found us a place, in her church and preschool at Messiah United Methodist Church in Chesapeake. We worked hard to get all the factors to work together. Kristen from Fly Leaf Studios http://www.flyleafbooksstudio.etsy.com/ , was in charge of marketing this event.

I have to say I was so surprised at how beautiful the venue was, and how great the set up was. We had a really good, diverse, set of crafters, Jewelry makers, candle makers, book makers, wood work, quilting, hand bag designers, knitters, jelly makers, artists, even doggy bone wreath makers!

This was the 1st event ever for us, in a venue that had never held a craft show, with a brand new team. Oh yeah, and with only a $50 marketing budget. With that, I can honestly say it was a pretty good show! Now remember I have had 2 craft show experiences. One at a church back in March, where I literally did not sell one thing (and this before the admittal of a recession). The next was the Indian River Craft show a few weeks ago, that although made $220 in sales, was not really worth the 2 days of time, and effort, and $100 booth fee.

This show earned me $48 in sales, and costs $30 to enter into. Considering all the factors above not too bad. I would expect a 50-100% lift at our next event, just due to the experience, lessons learned, return customers, and hopefully a more optimistic economy.

I found most of my sales (like Indian River) veered towards the tarts and tealights that are $1. These are not my best sellers on Etsy, likely because it is so inexepensive, that the shipping overwhelms the sale.

Regardless of any money made, I finished my Christmas shopping, buying a wonderful blanket from Gappy Girl, for my niece (previously purchased a purse and belt for my daughter for Christmas). I also got some Jelly, from the Jelly maker. In addition, got some wonderful items (picture frame and thank you notes) from my friend at The Second Pea, who has not yet opened her Etsy shop, but it is to come!

I also really truly had a good time talking and being with other crafters and teammates. It was really fun, and felt so comfortable to be in a smaller venue with team mates. We are already brainstorming the next show in Spring. I am already excited!

To keep up to date with our team, and to see the members, please visit us at http://www.hamptonroadsartisans.com/