Featured Shop: Kinder Kouture

 

This weeks featured shop is Kinder Kouture. This shop is full of custom clothing for your little girl. These gorgeous clothes are made with fantastic fabric combinations that will make you swoon!

The sweet shop owner has this to say about herself:

"My name is Jeannine.  I am married to wonderful southern gentleman, and we have two lovely children - a boy and a girl. We currently live in Northwest Florida, and enjoy the sunny blue skies and the rich aqua colored beaches (I promise the sand is really white, and the water is turquoise). I am German, and up until 10 years ago spent most of life living in Germany. Thus the reason behind the name of my shop,  Kinderkouture. I began sewing twenty years ago, and concentrated mostly on designing things for the house, and myself. Once my children were born, I started looking for some bright, cheerful clothing, and was never really satisfied with what retail had to offer. I immediately signed up for local sewing classes, and started sewing children's clothing. Four years later, I decided to open Kinderkouture and offer a unique, and fun line of kids clothing. I take great pride in choosing good fabric to make quality handmade products that will last. I am happy to say that I have never regretted making this decision, and I have loved every minute of this journey. Kinderkouture represents my goal to offer a stylish alternative to everyday children's clothing and to make life a little prettier."

Jeannine also loves to blog on the Kinder Kouture blog. She keeps up with at least 200 blogs every week!

We have a lot in common. For starters we both collect fabric and love sweets (while I adore Oreos among other chocolate delights, Jeannine prefers cupcakes!)

Jeannine has a giveaway for Noodles & Milk readers. She is generously giving away a $30 gift certificate to her shop to one reader.

You can enter the contest by the following (in separate comments please):

• Visit the Kinder Kouture shop and come back here to leave a comment with your favorite item.= 1 entry
• Post a link to this giveaway on your Facebook page and leave a comment telling that you did.= 1 entry
• Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment telling that you did.= 1 entry

In addition to the giveaway, Jeannine has shared a coupon code for Noodles & Milk readers. Enter the code "Noodles&Milk" for orders through October 31st for 10% off your entire order.

Keep up with Kinder Kouture on facebook here and at the blog here.

The giveaway ends Friday, October 22nd at midnight. Good Luck!

One of these is not like the other

Tomorrow afternoon I am speaking at a conference. Yes, you heard me right. I am speaking. In front of people. At a business conference.

You see, earlier this summer I was asked by a friends mom if I would be interested in speaking at a conference. She explained that she was impressed with me and my business and would love for me to talk about my experience to the group that she chairs. I was seriously caught off guard and flattered so I agreed. I obviously did not know what I was getting into.

She followed up with me in late August and made sure that I was still interested. She gave me the date and time information as well as the title of my segment. "Career & Motherhood Challenge: Internet Entrepreneur Solution" is the title of my segment. Sounds pretty simple, right? I mean, basically I am just going to tell my story and then give some practical application on how to go about starting your own business.

I began to put my thoughts together on paper and started thinking about what images I wanted to use with my speech. About a week ago I was emailed the entire program. That is when I started to panic.

The conference is a one-day event and has 5 speakers including myself. As I read over the program, I noticed it. The other four speakers are all doctors! As is they have Phd at the end of their name! Panic set it. There is a professor from 4 major universities. And then there is me.

Now, don't get me wrong. I have a Master's degree. But let's be honest, it is no phd. And I am not a professor so I don't speak all day for a living. So, needless to say I am feeling seriously out of my league. What I thought was going to be a casual speaking engagement has turned into a pretty big deal and I am freaking out.

Oh, and did I mention that my time slot is 45 minutes! Yeah, that is a seriously long time. Please pray for me.

Fun Etsy Finds: Calendars and Organization

This weeks fun etsy finds were inspired by yesterday's scheduling post. There are tons of organizational goodies on etsy that can help you get your business (or household) in order. Check out this weeks finds:

Busy Chix: Love this idea! This personalized bag holds 3 laminated cards to help you organize your week.

Get Sassed: This folder is gorgeous. Carry your life around town with you in style.

Joojoo: Desktop calendar. This shop also has beautiful giclee art.

Little Brown Pen: This is a gorgeous photography calendar. This shop is based in Paris and full of beautiful photography pieces that would work in any home or office.

Mod 86 Designery: Isn't this planner pretty? This shop is full of pretty ones.

Modern Emotive: I love this to do list!

My Handbound Books: This 2011 planner is so classic and would make a great Christmas gift.

Odds & Blobs: Another precious 2011 planner. Sure beats the designs you find at Target.

Ollie Graphic: Isn't this chore chart precious?

Paper Party Design Co: Organize your child's closet with these clothing dividers.

Lisa Samartino Atelier: Another beautifully designed calendar. This one is a printable pdf!

Ruff House Art: 2011 desktop calendar

Simple Shapes: This wall decal calendar is dry erase!

Slim Digm: Personalized clipboard. This is a stylish way to organize an office space.

The Happy Crocheter: Printable daily organization forms. These will definitely come in handy when organizing your business.



Tips for Etsy Success: Creating a Schedule

Every standard 40 hour a week job has a schedule; a routine, a daily list of goals and a pace that your day is set to. A successful etsy business should have the same. To run a successful business from home it is important to set a schedule just as you would in an office. If you have an etsy shop in addition to a full-time job, it is even more important to make sure that you have your day organized.

First of all, set a daily schedule. Allow a certain time of day for all of your business activities: responding to convos, creating products, shipping, blogging, etc. If you know that every morning you respond to convos, then pack and ship products and then craft for 2 hours, you will get so much more accomplished then if the tasks are scattered. Not much gets done when you are back and forth between emails and packaging all day.

When you create your daily and weekly schedule, make sure to leave some holes in it. Life happens and things get delayed or new priorities come up. Having holes in your schedule allows you to tackle these things without your entire day or week getting pushed back.

If the items in your shop are all custom orders, make sure to set a reasonable lead time for them. My shop used to be all custom work. I thought that I had to have a short lead time in order to make customers happy and get a lot of orders. Well, the orders were pouring in and I could not physically handle the work. I hesitantly changed my lead time to 2 weeks and that did not stop the orders at all. Orders kept piling up so I changed it again to 3 weeks. What I found was that as long as you are up front with customers on your lead time and you offer them the option to rush an order (for a charge of course) then they are happy. I was shocked at how many orders I was still getting with a 3 week lead time. It was nice because my business kept growing and I kept my sanity.

Working from home can be tricky since you feel like you are always at the office. Your crafts are surrounding you and it can feel like there is always something pressing to do. It is really important to allow yourself time off. Make sure to schedule down time and vacations. The great thing about etsy is that you can simply “close shop” or you can put a note in your shop announcements that informs shoppers when you will be closed. Whether it is a certain day of the week, certain hours in the day or a week every quarter, it is imperative that you allow yourself some vacation time.

Don’t forget to schedule your paycheck. Accepting payments in paypal can be tricky and many times the funds get washed away when purchasing new supplies and postage. It is really important that you make sure to pay yourself so that you can feel the benefit of your business. For my shop, I give myself a paycheck every Sunday.

Along with setting a daily schedule, it is important to set monthly and annual priorities and goals for your business. This will ensure that you are working to grow your business or try new ideas. The most successful etsy shops are those that are continually trying new things and modifying their products. Think about where you want your business to take you and what financial goals you have for it.

Don’t forget to plan ahead for craft fairs and holidays. It is inevitable. You know they are coming, you can see them on the calendar. Don’t put off getting ready for the big days. Personally, I have found that Christmas orders start coming right after Halloween. This means that you need to start preparing in August (at the latest). If your shop sells pre-made items, start making extras in January. Make a few extras each week and set them aside so that you are stocked come holiday season. If your shop is all custom work, as mine was, purchase extra supplies early and make sure to set a cutoff date for orders. It seems crazy, but I always set the first week of December as my cutoff order date. This allowed me to sew like crazy until the week before Christmas. The week before Christmas I shipped out the last of the orders and was able to enjoy the holidays with my family.

Don’t forget to read up on the past etsy success posts below:

Tip No 1- Branding
Tip No 2- Photography
Tip No 3- Getting your first sale
Tip No 4- Pricing
Tip No 5- Tagging
Tip No 6- Customer Service
Tip No 7- Advertising
Tip No. 8- Etsy wants to help 

 

Featured Shop: Ragadoodle

 

This weeks featured shop is Ragadoodle. This shop is new to etsy and has lots of cute appliqued stuff to offer including shirts, totes and towels.

Personalized bath or pool towel- Perfect for the family so everyone can have their own

Personalized camo tote- this would be a perfect library bag!

Personalized cheer or dance towel.

Your daughter would be the envy of her team with one of these.

Here is a little of what shop owner, Paula has to say about herself: 

"I love all things creative. I'm a photographer, who loves to sew, paint, draw...you name it. I have two beautiful girls. When I'm not chasing them with my camera, I'm sewing up little outfits, aprons, shirts or bags for them".

Aren't her daughters precious? Paula made their outfits! 

"I've been sewing since college, when I bought a cabinet sewing machine for $20. I've enjoyed sewing ever since. Now that my oldest has started kindergarten, it seems as though her name needs to be on everything. Being the crafty one that I am, I refuse to use a sharpie. :) Over the summer, I discovered my love for applique. I so enjoy spicing up totes, towels and tees, and my daughters love seeing their names on everything. After a fun summer of making personalized creations for my girls, then for friends, my Etsy store was born".

Paula has generously offered to giveaway a $20 gift certificate to 1 Noodles & Milk reader. The winner can use it for anything from the shop!

Here is how to enter (in separate comments please):

-Visit Ragadoodle and come back here with a comment on your favorite item. =1 entry

-Become a fan of Ragadoodle on Facebook. Come back here with a comment. =1 entry

This giveaway ends Thursday, October 14th at midnight.

 

Stitcheroos Giveaway Winner

The winner of the Stitcheroos giveaway is....

Lizziewho said...Love the BLOOMERS Lollipops and Gumdrops. Thanks to all who participated! Have a super weekend! 

My little ballerina

One of my sponsors, Ragadoodle, generously offered to make something for my daughter. Emerson is almost 3 and started dance class this year. She needed something to carry her dance stuff in and this bag is just perfect. To say that she loves it would be a serious understatement.

The heart on the bag is sparkly!

 It is the perfect size to throw her dance shoes and a snack into.

 You can't tell from the pictures, but the other side of the bag is personalized with her name!

She doesn't look happy in this picture (she was tired of the camera) but I promise you that she loves it. She shows her dance bag to everyone that comes over.

If you like this bag, you are in for a treat. Ragadoodle is having a giveaway here next week. Stay tuned!