Everyone likes a little competition - right?

I came across this great competeion at the fun Girl Indie Blog and thought I'd pass on the details as it sounds like some fun and another great way to get our handmade goods seen - It is the 1st Annual 2008 Designer Chick Contest brought to you by those chicks at Girl Indie (whew that is a mouthful!).

"The contest will be set up in 4 categories: For Mom, Baby Gear, Children's Accessories and Children's Clothing. You can submit your product in one category only. To enter, just send an email to lisa@izabegraphicdesign.com with one web-resolution photo of your product, category, your full name, your business name, website address (if applicable) and email address. Please put "Designer Chick" in the subject line. :) Anyone can participate! All we ask is that the item MUST be handmade by you. This can also include embellishing existing items. Photos should not be any larger than 475 pixels wide and can contain no watermark (ie. business logo, co name, etc).

The deadline for submission is June 30th, any entries sent in after that date will be discarded. We will post all of the submissions on July 14th and our readers (you guys) will have one week to vote on them. Each person will be allowed to vote ONE time in each category. Once the voting is tallied the winners for the categories will be announced on July 23rd. We will then take those 4 winners and put them together for voting on the Grand Prize Winner. Again, they will be posted on the blog and everyone will have a week to vote. The Grand Prize Winner will be announced on August 1st."

There is some pretty fabulous prizes to win including free custom web site bits and pieces, add space, interveiws, business cards and lots more!!! check out all the details HERE and GOOD LUCK!

Giggleberry's first Feature!!

How very exciting and what a compliment!!
A HUGE Thank You to Sally of Polka Dot Market for doing a feature on her blog Polka Dot Mom about Giggleberry! It looks great and is a great way to see how others see Giggleberry's products.
I was lucky enough to come across her blog by accident a little while ago and found my self reading al of it, and even ading some of the items to the memory bank for future gift ideas so I subscribed to it and now get email notice of all the new and fun bits and pieces that are out there and I didn't know about!! Now I have been included in the fun! Thanks again Sally!

Lots of ordering ready for lots of making!

It's Saturday afternoon here on a cold winters day and my husband and two girls are all asleep in various rooms of the house trying to recover from the flu! I've got a husband in bed, one daughter asleep under her quilt on the couch and the other daughter wrapped up and tucked into her cot. So with the house being so quiet - a rare and beatiful thing - I'm in the back room of the house with the laptop, quietly ordering and therefore spending madly online.
I have just ordered some great blue, aqua and brown Micheal Miller fabrics from a fellow Estian (fabricsupplies) and from another (ravenlp) 90, yes 90, yards of ribbon in various colours.
It might take a few days to get to me but it looks like I've got a few full weeks ahead with my sewing machine...... as long as I can continue to avoid the flu...

Giggleberry has gone designer..... sweetie!

Being 3 months young as an online business I have been looking and asking for feedback, critiques, suggestions, comments and criticisms from anyone who comes within listening (or typing) distance. I hope to continue to improve my shop and most importantly the products in it as I go along, and who better to ask about that than possible shoppers??
One of the stand out comments I received from a fellow mum was to try using some 'designer' fabrics for some sets of flags and see how I go..... So I have done just that!
Drum roll please....Introducing Giggleberry's first lot of designer pennant strings.
I had so much fun looking around for fabrics and decided on Amy Butler's 'Lotus' collection for my first few sets. I think they turned out pretty nice too, if I do say so myself.
Now the search starts fresh for the next designer lot...... hmmmmmm decisions, decisions........

Oooohhhh - How exciting, my stationary arrived!

I heard to post man come past around the same time as every day and eventually got out to the letter box to see what bill we had now - to my delight Giggleberry's stationary had arrived! and in perfect time to be added to a few parcels. What do you think?

Sale No.3 - and it's going international!

WooHoo! Giggleberry is going halfway around the world!

Earlier this week I had a custom order placed for a set of flags in the primary colours that match a spotty fabric I had listed in my shop.... all made and ready for it's big trip! Yay! fingers crossed the two extra business cards thrown into the parcel are useful....... stay tuned!

Giggleberry's First Custom Sale!

What a start to my experience with Etsy!

I opened my store - Giggleberry Creations - in April 2008 and was so very proud of myself.... I had a banner being built, had spreadsheets on file ready for sales records, had sent all my facebook 'friends' and email contacts my link and just couldn't wait to get started!

I just stared at my shop on my PC screen half the night tweaking and changing things every two seconds. I sat there waiting....... waiting......... waiting........ for that first sale to pop up. But as the saying goes 'a watch pot never boils' and when I saw the time on the clock I forced myself away from the computer for the sake of my brain to be working enough for my 6mth old first thing in the morning and went to bed to dream about the endless sales I would wake up to.

When I woke up I had come back down to earth and new I, of course, won't have a sale within the first 24hrs of my Grand Opening but checked my emails as normal anyway........... Drum roll please!! I had a 'conversation' from a fellow shop owner on Etsy telling me how excited she was to 'pounce' on my store and would I be interested in a custom order?

WOULD I??? ABSOLUTELY!!!

How exciting! I replied straight away and forgot all about breakfast!!!

My first customer was Patti Flynn who not only has an Etsy store but also sells her wonderful handmade soaps at craft markets and was wanting three sets of bunting/pennant strings to make her stall stand out from the rest! Great.... I had my first project and through 'convos' we decided on colour and lengths and I was sorted, almost.

I then realized with all the enthusiasm and excitement I actually had no idea how to list a custom order.....Whoops! What do I do now??

I poked around Etsy for a little while, starting to worry I would lose Giggleberry's 1st sale, then decided to go back to my customer and ask for help. This is where I must say a huge THANK YOU to Patti. She told me exactly what to do and even pointed me in the direction of Etsy's forums and teams for further help.

In no time the flags were done and in the mail to Patti for her stall...... Thanks again for both the sale and the help.... Giggleberry Creations was now under way!