HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My oldest son.

The beginning of a New Year always seems to fill us with new hopes and new dreams. I often wonder why is it wait until a new year to have new hopes and dreams. To me everyday is a new beginning. I celebrate life and smile at some of the things that use to anger me.

I guess at almost 59 yrs of age, I've learned that anger is a waste of time and energy. I now take that anger and turn it into creativity. A week ago I was handed a $1400 estimate for work that needs to be done on my car, after a solemn look, I smile and walked away with a smile and a prayer and I'll take care of it when I can. I remember things I would have been all bent out shape. Now I know that stuff really does happen.

It's not the big things we often treasure, but the small ones. My older children dropped by to see me if only for a few minutes. The kids that are away at school calls to say 'Hi' or 'Mom I have a problem'. The family gathers to celebrate on holidays. The long drives to pick up the two that are away at school and being happy that I can still tackle the highway. I'm happy for having the ability to get along with my kids friends, they enter my home with a big 'Hello, Ms. Day' or 'Mama Day'.

Last October a Marine Recruiter came to home, this young man a long ways from home has found a home in my home, with me and my kids. He came over while I was alone one Saturday, surprised me, no warning, just showed up. He saw I wasn't in the Christmas mood and before I knew he had gathered my tree, lights and decorations and began to work. He decorated the inside and out. He spent Christmas Eve and Day with us. These are the things I'm thankful for.

My recruiter and his girlfriend

My recruiter's (my other son, as he refers to himself)outside handy work.
When I think of all the kids that come through my life with hugs and kisses, I feel truly blessed.

So you see, the other things in life, like mechanic problems can't override the feelings I get from the calls or visits from my stepson and daughter or their friends.

My stepdaughter and her new beau passing through on their way to visit her mom in KS

Great Gifts - Handmade - Season for Giving

There are so many great gift ideas at Etsy, that it is a little hard to stick to choices every other day, I see now I must do this thing at least once a day. So starting today, I will be posting new finds at midnight, every night. Any special request let me know.

See anything of interest just click the pic and you will be swept off to that shop. Remember these are just a few of things I like for both men, women and children.

144 Days to Christmas

For those of us that make and ship items for sale, we have less time to prepare. I would give us about 134 days to Christmas.

Considering the time it takes to ship and the time it takes to make we need to get busy and start thinking ahead for this year and next. Some of the big box stores in other countries have already started their holiday season, toys, gifts and decorations are already at hand.

I realize that some of us are dealing with triple digit heat, but the holidays are right around the corner. Years ago, my mom and I use to start shopping in January, that’s right, January. Of course that was when lay-a-ways were in abundance and stores knew how to turn a buck.

I appreciate a good lay-a-way. Sure it ties up inventory but that inventory will and can sell with a reasonable lay-a-way policy.
What is a reasonable lay-a-way policy, don’t expect a $300 item to be purchased within a 30 day period, if that was the case it wouldn’t have been laid away in the first place.

So far in the first three blogs of ‘Ready for the Holidays’, we covered:

1. Update your product catalog and inventory.

I’ve gone through my products and I see a need for additions and improvements,so
I'm working on it.

2. Make it easy for your customers to shop for gifts.

I’ve made a list of items I feel would be great for gifts and also added categories to the list.

3. Give your site that ‘Holiday’ flair.

I’ve had the same banner for the past three years and I feel a real need for a change, so I’ve been working on a new.

So, what have you been up to? Have you started readying your shop for the holiday? How’s it going?

Next week we’ll talk about some more issues we can pursue in order to ready ourselves for the upcoming holiday season.

Ready For the Holidays? Pt.2

Ready For the Holidays?

With the gift-giver in mind, is your website ready? Is it easy to maneuver? If I came to your site would I find a jumble of merchandise or find your merchandise broken into down categories? If your site shows a mixture of items on a page, categories are a good idea. Navigation is important, so walk through your website to find any potential changes you can make.

Visitors that are looking for gifts will be shopping by categories, etc. gifts for mother, father, and brother and so on. So you would want your navigation to suggest pages like “Gifts for her” or “Gifts for Dad”. Keeping the budget shopper in mind, it wouldn’t hurt to have a gift price range if your sight set-up allows (e.g., “less than $50”, “$50 - $100).

Even though it’s July, almost August it’s time to get cracking on your Holiday ideas, merchandise and website setups. Grab that note pad and start brainstorming.

Ready For the Holidays?

Are You Ready For the Holiday?



It’s the middle of July and it’s time to start thinking about the holidays. I’ve personally noticed that the decorations for the fall celebrations are beginning to come out with school supplies. What’s the rush? Its simple some of us like to shop early, get a head start, not feel the rush so we can enjoy more. With the state of our economy starting early allows us to stagger our purchases and see a silver lining before the dreaded rush that some people enjoy sets in.

Now is the time to start looking at inventory on hand and thinking of future inventory for the month of August starting and running as close to the holiday as possible. What do you have available for the holidays. What do you have on hand that would make great gifts or what do you need to add. What do you have to fulfill a need or what do you need to add to it. School starts in August in most places and so does the holiday shopping season for a lot of people.

If you have any inventoried items you were waiting for the right time to place in your shop either online or not, now are the time to get them out and stocked, ready for the holiday. Beef up that inventory; give your shoppers a selection of the best you have to choose from. Determine which items you have that are your most popular, best-selling items. Make them available. Add new products to your store.

Good product information is important; update your descriptions if you haven’t done so in a while. Use past customer feedback for items already sold, this is a useful tool. People love to read reviews. Highlight these compliments to help enhance your sells.