Getting ready for the craft show

The Altrusa Club has a craft show around August - right in time for "Back to School" spirit. Since I don't have many people to sell to (no school), I am using this time to stock up on my bows. So I will have plenty when the craft show comes around and plenty to sell.

I'm glad I got the paw print ribbon in...those will be a hit I think.

Have you ever noticed that some sites were a racket? I signed up for Classmates.com and they want me to upgrade to see who signs my guestbook. Shouldn't I be allowed to see it for free?!?

Smaller Bows

Some people around here aren't into the bigger bows like I've been making, so I have had to start making smaller bows. These bows are about4" in width. I really hope that these bows go over just as good.

I gave a little girl bow to the lady at the convenience store. There is a method to my madness though. She said that she probably would not put bows on her baby once it is born for the first 6 months or so...I wanted to show her how cute her baby would look in bows and she would call me for some more. I guess I also have a soft spot for anyone that is having a baby girl...I have two of them (baby girls) and I want all baby girls to be very cute!

If you will notice, I updated my price list to include small bows and small korkers.

More bow orders

Last night I got 5 more bows ordered and I'm supposed to go and pick up some shirts today to match...7 of them. Then my mom ordered 5 bows from me this last weekend. We are looking at a busy week...

• 3 korker bows
• 2 matching bows
• 5 bows in different styles for girl next door
• 7 bows to match uniform tops
• build up stock for a lady to look at Friday and another mom to look at next week

This is going to be a busy bow week...I hurt myself twice last night making bows. Stupid wire pierced the skin on two fingers. One on each hand...

Now that I know...

Now that I know what sells, I am getting ready to order more bottle caps from my lady on Ebay. I didn't have the bottle caps for a full day and I sold 6 of them. Tomorrow I am going to deliver two Dallas bows I made. I'm thinking I should have done something more to them...I might tear the clip off the back and add another layer to them.

For some reason, "Daddy's girl" bows sell the most. I for sure ordered more of those bottle caps.

Bow dilemma

A lady ordered 4 bows from me and I am supposed to deliver them Friday night. Only problem...I couldn't find my black 1.5" grosgrain (found out its pronounced "grow-grain"). My lady in Oklahoma can't get it here before Friday. I looked online and did not see it in any of the Amarillo stores. HUGE DILEMMA!

I called one of the stores today. They had ONE roll left. *biting nails* Thankfully they were willing to hold it back for me. So tonight I have to make a ribbon run to Amarillo to get the grosgrain so that I can make a single bow (but a very important one to this lady that ordered the bows).

Today I'm going to make some more cute bows with the bottle caps that I finally got in the mail! I'm so hyped about that...

Oh - they have mentioned the Altrusa craft show more than once to me. They say that my bows will go over really good at the craft show and it would help get my name out there. I'm trying to call and find out about it now.

I thought I forgot how to crochet

I am remembering how to crochet. I bought this fuzzy yarn and am having to crochet it to make it look right around the flip flops. This is a pair ordered for a 5 year old by another mom at my daughter's school. She also ordered a pair for her and I promised them to her this weekend. My poor fingers will never forgive me!

Diversifying...

I am finding out all sorts of stuff I can make now that I can make bows...this morning, I "decorated" my daughter's flip flops...look!

Yay for cheerleaders!

I have a friend that has a daughter that is a cheerleader next school year. Her daughter keeps saying I need to hook her up with some of my bows. This morning, I made 2 korky bows to see if that is the kind of bow that the daughter wanted. They live right around the corner from me, so I took them over to ask. They bought them on the spot! *grin* Plus they ordered 6 more! *big grin* PLUS they want 2 bows specially made for the daughter. *Cheshire grin*

Things are starting to look up with the bows. The other day, I gave the other bows I had previously bought away. The person I gave them to said my bows were better. My bows are looking more precise every day!

SCORE!

Last night I was looking for something to go in my bows. Something that would show they are handmade. I found some bottle caps that are so cute! I even talked to the lady selling them and she is going to make me a set of NFL bottle caps to go in my bows. Instead of having to buy each team individually, she will combine the 32 teams into sets of 4. I bought some college ones too. As well as some princess ones and some that jokes about Daddy doing a little girl's hair. I totally think that Daddies are the better parent some times, but let's face it - some Dads are hair-do challenged.

*giggle*

Everyone is a potential sale...

I remember growing up and when Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses would knock at our door, we would hide and not answer the door. We didn't want to listen to them. Now I realize that they are people too. They are just doing what they think that He wants them to do.

Last night we were coming home from t-ball practice and saw two Mormons at the end of the street. I knew that they would probably come knocking at my door. They did. I answered the door and they were very polite and we talked about moms giving things up for their children. Then I mentioned my bows. Asked if they knew anyone who might be interested in the bows. One of the gentlemen has sisters and he said that when he came back in the next couple of days, that he might buy one. He has never met anyone that made bows at home before.

They also say that they know people in the church who might be interested in buying some bows. I may not agree with how some people worship Him, but as long as they worship Him, I am not going to split hairs. Everyone has their own way of worshiping Him...why do you think there are so many religions out there. Who is to say that one religion is right and the other is wrong?

But the point of this post is to remind people that are just starting out in a business that everyone is a potential customer. You have to sell yourself in order to get sales. Big businesses don't care about religion, color, nationality...as long as someone is willing to spend their money in a certain store, they don't care. In a way I wish that we, as a country, were like big businesses. We don't care about the "little things"...we just accept people for who they are.

As petty as I want to be

This makes me sound horrible. It seriously does.

Through no doing of my own, there seems to be a bow war going on. I started making bows because the girl making bows was not really making any colors that matched what clothes the girls have. I learned how to make bows through the Internet. I am getting better everyday.

This other 'mom' that makes bows walks into the school toting her bow case and a certain clique of moms grab it as soon as she walks in. This clique of moms has started treating me as an outcast. I guess because I don't buy the other "mom's" bows anymore. I don't care.

Well, anyway - I went into the hair salon where I get my eyebrows waxed and was talking to the owner (a fellow pre-K mom) and told her that I was making bows and stuff. She asked why I didn't put them in her shop. I looked around and guess who has already put bows in her shop?!? THE OTHER MOM! I am not going to get into a full fledged bow war with this other mom, so what I did was I made a bow strip to hang in there. If you buy lots of bows, you are going to need a bow-strip, right?!? That way the bows that you spend your hard earned money on don't get messed up. The other mom is not selling bow-strips and, being the catty person I can be at times, I wonder how long it will take her to start making those...

What's really funny is that the hair stylist that owns this shop said that she didn't like the "mom" that hung her bows in there...the "mom" was really rude to her. She is like that every day at school when I take my daughter up there. I have started not even taking my daughter "in" and just letting her go in by herself just so I can avoid them. That is kind of chicken, huh?

But when I go in to this other shop, I look at the bows and start picking them apart. That's petty. The other "mom" doesn't even heat seal her bows! So you could spend money on a bow and have it fray...wasting your money.

Trying zebra stripe...

I'm going to try what my friend showed me the other day. I'm going to "zebra stripe" one of my bow-strip letters. Wish me luck because I'm going to need it...I'll let you know how it goes *wink*

So excited

I am so excited! We just got back from our obligatory daily trip to Wal~Mart and I ran into a girl that I had in Vacation Bible School and her mom. I gave her a business card and she asked for a few more to give her friends. Then I showed her my ladybug bow and she bought it ON THE SPOT! I am thinking I need to reprint my business cards with my email address instead of my physical address. That and the site where I have my pictures of my bows.

At Wal~Mart, I did give 2 other people my business card. Both say they have granddaughters. Grandparents are the best ones to give cards to in my opinion because they love to spoil their granddaughters. Now I need to get to work making more bows. Better bows. I am learning more and more every day about making bows. I love making bows...

Introducing Princess J's Bow~tique

I have started to make bows in order to make some money while I stay at home taking care of my 2 beautiful princesses. Plus, making bows is so much cheaper than buying them. The only problem is that I have ribbon left and what better thing to do than make more and see if others like them too?

This blog will be about my trials and triumphs when it comes to the bow making process...