jcaroline's blog

On A Bender

Okay, it's the last week of the Carnival of Savings, but I'm late getting specials updated so I'm extending it to May 5.  The website upgrade is 90% finished, and quite frankly, it may stay at the percentage for a few days.  I'm dreaming in html...<span style="crazy">Know what I mean</span>?

So I went crazy this week on putting things on sale. (That's what I meant by a bender, what did you think?)   For example, 

We now carry patterns from Sandi Henderson, Patty Young and Heather Bailey, with more to come. Just for fun, I put them all on sale this week- at least 30% off.

Organic cottons are about 30% off this week as well. Super soft and well, organic. This week only.

Paula Prass's Flights of Fancy is on sale for $6 a yard, while supplies last.

Kid's Silhouette Collection is marked down to $5 a yard, while supplies last.

We've also have a ton of odds and ends on sale , most for $6 a yard or less. Choose from Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party, lots of Michael Miller, Alexander Henry, twills and vinyls at great prices!

Plus, we are still offering free gifts with purchase and are giving away another Martha Stewart's Craft Encyclopedia.  Just sign up when you purchase and we'll draw from the orders for the week. Congrats to Sue in Illinois who won last week's book.

Upgrade Complete! (kind of)

 

The jcaroline creative! website is up and running!  Not every page looks really nice, but I'm working on that.  Most importantly, shopping and checking out works!  Most of the how-tos pages don't work yet, but should by Monday.

The new site will look virtually identical to what we had, so why did you upgrade, you may ask?  Well, let me give you a visual-  see that Osbourne computer from 1981 on the left?  That's what we had.  See that Dell laptop on the right?  That's what we have now.  It is pretty much that big of a difference.  Fortunately, I was able to hide the Osbourne under a veneer of pretty pictures and graphics, so you didn't notice that it was a big, clunky, outdated piece of equipment-- most of the time.

On a historical note, when I was in high school, my father bought an Osbourne, so I learned word processing on that computer pictured right up there.  24.5 pounds of raw computing power.  Awesome.

So enjoy the new sleek website, but don't panic if it looks wonky in places for a few days.  And if any wonkiness isn't gone by Tuesday, feel free to drop me an email- I may have missed some spots!

Website Upgrade Friday

I've avoided it as long as I can- I must upgrade the jcaroline creative! website.  I hate to do it because I"m scared.  But the new version will run faster and better--- so I'm going for it! 

So why should you care?  Well, for two reasons.  We are doing this Friday at 1:00 p.m.central time, which means the store will be inaccessible for a couple of hours.  It also means if you create a shopping cart and don't check out before then, it will be gone.  Like forever.  And when the website comes back up, hopefully by 4:00 p.m. that same day, it may have some glitches.  Like all the images may not be there, etc. etc.  And if it really doesn't go well, I may run away from home.

Also, our rewards/points program is going to be modified to accommodate the new version and on Friday, your points may not be moved over yet.  But we will definitely update you when they are available and any changes to the program.

Photo from IBM Archives and it has some great ones.  Remember punch card readers?  They've got pics of those too.

I think you DO care what I had for lunch

Yesterday, my husband's cousin's husband (did you get that?) made us a paella that was to die for.  He has relocated from North Carolina to Houston- his family is to follow in a few weeks.  So, yesterday he made us some of his award-winning paella with a South Texas flair- crawfish, blue crabs, jumbo shrimp and deer sausage.  It was incredible.  He moved in his car with all the essentials:  his paella pan, a Laz-y-boy recliner, a TV and two cases of wine.  Thank goodness he brought the pan and the wine!

Now back to business.  Congratulations to Colleen of Missouri who won the Betz White Sewing Green book giveaway.  And Jessica of New Jersey is the proud winner of Anna Maria Horner's Seams to Me book that we gave away last week.  This week we are giving away Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts book.  Sorry, I tried to get a signed one, but I haven't had any luck.  Apparently, the people at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia didn't recognize my name! ;-)  [Oops, I didn't mention how to enter to win.  When you purchase something this week or next, you'll see a checkbox at checkout to register to win the book.]

This week's sale items include some colors of 1-1/4" heavy duty cotton webbing and our new bulk packs of tortoise thick belt buckles.  We also have some great gifts with purchase, but I'm not doing all the work- you'll have to click over here to see what those are.

Have a great week!  I'll try to update more frequently this week.

[Yawn] More Accounting Anyone?

Yes, I'm over there again, spreading my wisdom on how to keep you accounting house in order.  Stimulating, I know.  And necessary for some.  Enjoy.  I'll just stay over here and do something fun!  I really need to sew something, don't I?

What happened to the week?

I don't know what happened last week.  Suddenly it was Friday and then Easter and now it's Monday again!  And no posts throughout. 

Our Easter egg hunt was held indoors due to rain.  For those keeping track at home, I did not make her Easter dress (the Gap) or the Easter basket (Sam's club).  We did, however, dye our own eggs.  We then made egg salad with expired mayonnaise.  Fortunately (for me, anyway) only my husband ate it yesterday and he soon discovered there was a problem.  Apparently it doesn't last two years beyond the expiration date.  Who knew?

It's week two of our Spring Carnival of Savings, this week featuring ribbon.  Our book giveaway this week is Anna Maria Horner's Seams to Me.  You are entered once for every order and Anna Maria will personalize it to you!  Also, great free gifts with purchase!

Spring Carnival of Savings

For the next four weeks, we'll be running specials on jcaroline creative!, including discounts on certain items, gifts with purchases and a crafting book giveaway.  The specials, gifts and book will change each week, so be sure to check back each Monday to find out what's new!  We'll let you know the weekly special on our Spring Carnival of Savings page, which you can always get to by clicking on the new button on the left side of this blog.

Part of the savings during the Spring Carnival will be the new Amusement Park from Jessica Jones.  For the next four weeks, we'll be offering a $2 per yard discount ($10.95) on this new fabric.  All the prints are 54" wide 100% cotton canvas.

It is luscious!  The new Spa colorway is my current favorite- blues, teals and deep greens on an ivory background.

The Earth colorway is a mix of brown, tan, gray-brown and rust-brown on an unbleached canvas background.

The Candy colorway is pink, orange, red, and gold on a light beige background.  You've seen the far left (Calliope) and far right (Fireworks) prints before.  Stacks and Beads are the two new prints.

Of course, we'll be offering this fabric through jcaroline creative!, but it is being distributed by Braemore fabrics, so you should see it popping up around the country at various home decor fabric stores.  We'll keep you posted of any sightings!

I'll also start working on some fun projects with the fabrics over the next few weeks, which of course, I'll share!

Just Selling a little Web Real Estate

I've added a new service to my site-- okay, it's advertising, but it's a service if you find something you like, yes? Anyway, I met the founders of YouData at the Mom2.0Summit in February.  YouData is an advertising network on the web, but in this particular network, you, the viewer, gets paid for clicking on the ads.  You set up a MeFile which provides the advertisers with some information about your age, interests, where you live (but nothing connected to your name) and asks you what Paypal account you want your earnings deposited in.  (You can also donate your earnings to charity, if you prefer.)  Then they show you ads in your browser based on what you say you like.  And every time you view one, you earn $.10 to $.25.  Okay, you're not going to get rich, but it's better than nothing, right?  And I have found some websites through the ads that I really like that I had never seen before and I earned about $5 in two weeks.  (Of course, I won't link you to them here because I don't want to deny you your earnings!)

So, on the right side of my blog (where you see the top of the woman's head on the right)  is a place to set up your MeFile and start earning money.

And if you have a business, you might be interested in advertising on their network.  The ads are targeted to only the demographics you specify and you can budget how much you want to spend to keep the costs under control.

An interesting concept in advertising- now I'm going to try to get television advertisers to pay me!

Retirement Planning Information

I'm at it again over at Modish Biz Tips, this time talking about retirement planning.  Let's just say the article is informative more than uplifting.  But it is necessary.  Sigh.  Okay, read with a glass of wine.