Just a quick note before I buzz out for the holiday weekend. First, how about a coupon? 15% off using coupon code "THANKS" through November 30.
Plus we've gotten in a ton of new fabrics, namely Flower Bucket from Genevieve Gail, Meadowsweet from Sandi Henderson and Woodland Delight from Paula Prass. Enjoy!
So have a great weekend and I'll see you back here next week!
First, let me warn you that you will find much better Quilt Market Recaps elsewhere. I forgot to take pictures of most booths and didn't really "work" the show very hard. I hit the usual suspects, but I by no means saw most of the booths. But I did take pictures of the things I made for Quilt Market.
Above is Sandi Henderson and her husband, Dustin, in her booth. As usual, they did a great job with her booth and she won Best Merchandising Award. She had wanted chair covers and sent me 1/3-yard cuts of a bunch of her new Meadowsweet fabric and told me to do whatever I wanted. That made me nervous, but fortunately, she loved the results.
I basically created a "trellis" patchwork by inserting natural canvas between 5" Meadowsweet squares. I definitely wanted a solid in there, but when I used a color, it didn't show off the fabric as well as I would like. The natural really helped showcase the fabric, in my humble opinion.
Here they are again so I can admire them a bit more. Sandi loved them (sigh of relief) so I sent them home with her. Everyday she can study her fabric designs as she eats her meals.
Paula Prass was showcasing her new fabric Woodland Delight and her sometime-in-the-near-future pattern release.
That is a little girl's tunic made out fabrics from her pink and gray colorway. It has a pleat down the front with a cowl-neck collar (I don't know if that's what the neckline is really called, but you get the idea).
Her booth was also very cute and her fabrics looked great. For whatever reason, I completely forgot to take pictures of Pillow & Maxfield's, Patty Young's and the main portion of Michael Miller's booths. They were all very cute. Fortunately, Jona and her husband, Joey, of Fabritopia picked up my slack and got some good shots of those booths. I'm not very good at this recap thing.
Don't I look awesome? I can't believe they made me look that good!! Here, let's get a closeup...
Oh, you didn't think I was the blonde, did you? No, no. JCaroline Home is featured in the Glamour giveaway section this month and that little orange button on the front tells you all that. Okay, not really. But Page 46 does...
And there is nothing that says you can't enter too! The contest starts September 8, so I'll post a link for you then!
Updated: The link is up. Enter the Glamour Giveaway here!
On Sunday, j. caroline designs turns eight years old. So let's celebrate! First, to reward you awesome customers, use coupon code EIGHT at checkout and get 15% off your entire order on jcaroline creative! Oh heck, let's do it on the new jcaroline home! site as well! (Through August 17 on both sites.)
And next week, I promise to regale you with snippets of jcaroline history, including "vintage" photos! Yes, I have photos of every fabric we've ever carried and every purse we ever made.
I also plan to do a giveaway every day next week of something I find in my ginormous stash. I don't even know what it will be yet, I just know I need to clean out. So everyday I'll post a picture of the found treasures on the blog and instructions on how to enter.
I'll keep the giveaways open until the 17th and then choose the winners based upon whatever parameters I come up with. I should probably limit it to one giveaway per person, so if you happen to win two, I'll contact you and let you pick which one you want.
So let the party begin!
I am loving the recaps of Blogher '09 I'm finding on the web. Let's just say we all had different experiences. I missed virtually all of the drama because I wasn't invited to any of the private "swag-heavy" parties. And those that were open to the public had lines that were too long, so I passed. I just want some free drinks and food and I'm good to go!
I met up with some people I would not have met sitting in my office. Unless they made a special trip to see me, which is not likely.
Tonya from Currently Crafting greeted me as a long lost friend. I was so flattered. But I felt a little slighted when Jessica of How About Orange showed up on the scene- I think Tonya squealed a bit louder over her. I'm trying to get over it...
I met Erin of Schlosser Designs and FreshNestDesign. She used to be a Texas girl, but is now in Chicago. I've talked to her on Twitter and now I've talked to her in real life. She's an interior designer by trade and a crafter. Loved her FreshNestDesign business card, which was on a paint chip. Lowes may never let her in the store again, but the cards were darling. She also handed out these darling notecards based on her stamps:
Alma of Loveland Miscellany is a graphic designer in Utah and between she and her husband, teach Illustrator and Photoshop classes. (Don't think I'm not going to abuse that contact!) Her calling card was a memory game with cards of several of her graphic designs. Super cool.
Christy Nelson of ChristyNelson.net was another crafty gal I met there. She gave out the cutest friendship bracelets as her business card. She is famous for her Craft Challenges, in which she sells very reasonably priced craft kits (like $5!) and you can then submit your finished project to her challenge and win prizes! Clever!
I met tons of other people, unfortunately, many only briefly. But the people I talked to were all polite and interesting. I guess the rude ones were at the parties fighting each other for swag!
I did bring home some swag. The Mr. Potato Head was my favorite. I wanted to keep it, but I did give it to my daughter. The FTC is considering regulations regarding disclosure of paid product placements in blogs, so I in an effort to comply, here is what I received in free product:
Total Swag: $57.76
You might love this video put together by TellingDad, who wasn't even at BlogHer '09, but assimilated all the stories whirling on the web.
* Apologies to my Coca-Cola bottling ancestors, but Coke didn't sponsor! And Diet Coke still tastes WAY better. But I love IZZE, which is also owned by Pepsico.
If you read many blogs, you will find lots of posts on Blogher '09. Apparently, there is always controversy of some sort and this year was no exception. However, I heard rumors about these going-ons, but I was never in the middle of the hub-bub, so I don't have anything to add. It seems that some people are not very polite when free things are involved. (Let's face it-- some people aren't very polite regardless of what's involved, yes?) I'll let you do your own searching on that and you'll find plenty to read.
I happened into the "Leadership session", just because it sounded more intriguing than the other offerings. I am so glad-- it was by far the BEST of the entire conference.
The session was run by Catherine Orenstein, who is involved in the OpEd Project (www.theopedproject.org). In short, the OpEd project is about getting women's voices out into the mainstream of debate, since most debate in newspaper's OpEd (Opinion/Editorial) pages, on television and in our government is dominated by men (about 80%). So the OpEd Project was started to teach woman how to get their voice out there on whatever they are passionate about. It is obvious how this would apply to a woman who is passionate about a political cause, like health care, for example. But what intrigued me is how applicable this is to anyone who has something important to say and wants to be heard by a larger audience. (Of course, important is in the eye of the beholder, but that is part of the lesson as well-- how you make it important to other people.)
The phrases that came up that really stuck with me included:
"thought leadership"
"gateway to public conversation"
"no one owes us their attention"
"starting a conversation instead of ending one"
"evidence-based short form argument versus rhetoric"
"the difference between being right and being effective"
The first session focused on what gives a person credibility (you know, that stuff they scroll under the pundit on CNN). The attendees all came up with the obvious: degrees, high-powered positions, being published. The most overlooked component was personal experience. And think about how powerful personal experience is. (And we all have it, yes?)
The second session focused on how you would write a piece that would appeal to a forum that reaches people. Catherine was careful to explain that this is not specific to newspapers, it applies to any forum that has readers-- blogs and webzines as well as traditional media. And what intrigued me is not just how this applies to media outlets, but how it applies to writing in general. If I wasn't so old, I might just go get a journalism degree!
Those two sessions were just a glimpse of what is offered in the OpEd Project seminars, offered around the country. All of the points covered in the seminars are also listed under Resources on their website. It will make you think, about all sorts of things.
And you can read the transcript of the entire session on Blogher, if you would like.
Next post on BlogHer '09, I might make a little lighter.
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.
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.
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!
Not watching the red carpet this evening because I just plain don't care. Spent Friday and Saturday at the Mom 2.0 Summit here in Houston. A friend who reads the internet from beginning to end emailed me about it Tuesday and I'm glad I went. It was a great opportunity to hear from and talk to people about marketing and this series of tubes we call the web. I also had not thought about the buying power of mothers (and woman in general) and why marketers are so interested in us. As one marketer pointed out, "that [Insert Product Name Here] did not WALK into my house."
I found it so helpful to step out of my little corner of the web for two days and get a much bigger picture of what is going on and what it means to ecommerce businesses, bloggers, and social networks. Discovered some interesting sites and concepts, which I'll share with you over the next week or so.
My take of the two days:
Hope you had a good weekend.
