I'd like to say I've been busy but that would depend on one's definition of busy. February has been a busy month for me though. My birthday was on the 12Th, my youngest daughter and the youngest turned 16 on the 21st and rounding out the month is my second oldest daughter whose birthday is the 26Th.

Less not forget Black History Month, Valentine's Day and my license plates expire this month. Where I live there is such a thing of emissions testing and a safety inspection one's car has to go through before renewing plates. It passed the emissions but nothing's perfect, it had to fail somewhere. I need to repair the sway bar and replace a broken turn signal lens before it passes. The light works but they want the lens replaced, oh well.

Now in the midst of working 24 BP's (auditing mystery shops) as an independent contractor, something I do to feed my yarn fettish, I have found time to create. I've been holding onto this skirt pattern for over two years now and I finally got around to it this month. Never could decide on what color it would look good in and a color I would enjoy working with.

How did I find the time to work it, I decided to get my hair braided and felt like since I had to sit still for hours, couldn't watch TV or play on the internet, my head would be held at just the right angles for knitting. I think this red did it some justice. Something I wish I had thought about sooner, perfect for Valentine's Day as a gift and after all February is also Women's Heart Health Month.

We always set aside a month and or a day for celebrating or creating an awareness. Ladies every month is our month, heart health, breast cancer and any other health issues. SO ladies stay on top of your health, preventive and maintenance.

Tell me what you think of my new creation. I still crochet but I love the look of knitting. It takes much longer, it took two days to get my hair braided and the rest of the week to complete the skirt. I'm happy with the results and plan on doing more of them.

Talk to you later.

The Weekend

The weekend was great. I could hardly sleep, the anticipation of passing out my marketing materials laid heavy on my mind. I was up at 7 a.m., checking email and waking kids. Only to my surprise there was only one home, the youngest but the tallest.

I was unable to get the fliers I wanted, the price wasn’t right and I didn’t have enough ink to print my own.

That was okay though, I went with my bookmarks. I had to shop for school uniforms, so that gave me the opportunity to stop a three libraries going to and fro. I asked permission to leave
my bookmarks on the counter, it wasn’t a problem. I also took the liberty to browse a bit and leave some in books. We have to be creative in our marketing techniques.

Now to see what happens. Everything takes time. Put in the energy and eventually it pays off. I'm in the market for a house, I during a viewing, I found myself talking to the owner about my business and how the space could be used to help me work better. when I told them about Etsy, they got excited. They were interested in handmade. I actually made a pitch not just for myself, for all of us that use Etsy as our store front.

I designed and printed the bookmarks myself with a program called PrintMaster. It can easily be found and installed onto your computer and you can import your own artwork. This I like very much. I found my copy at Wal Mart and it also can be purchased online from Broderbund. I have 3 copies. They offer it online without a disc, it’s a download stream. The disc is best, just in case your computer does what mine does. It’s notorious for viruses. I take it out, have it cleaned, request my data be saved and somehow or another it disappears.

Notice the rose, it’s my brand. I carry it throughout all my projects, labels, hang tags, etc. A brand should be recognizable where it's seen, like the design on the Coke can. When people see it they know it's you.

What did you do this weekend to promote your shop?

Breast Cancer Awareness month is fast approaching, so I decided to pull out all my pink to start my Awareness projects. Seriously thinking of just making ‘All That is Pink’ a part of my shop. As with all health concerns it takes more than a month, it’s a daily battle.

As always, comment. Better yet 'Communicate'.
Sherryl