Affordable Luxuries!

I was browsing through some news articles the other day and saw something about the Hershey Company showing sales growth over last year. Intrigued as to why, I watched the news video. They attributed the growth to efficiencies (most likely layoffs), a price increase (something I know about all too well and probably something the customer barely noticed), and the fact that a candy bar has become an affordable luxury. Meaning that in tough economic times, it is easy to "treat" yourself to something sweet for around a dollar and it won't necessarily break the bank. I also think there is a little emotional eating involved here too but that could just be my years of Weight Watchers talking. This news story got me thinking. As a handmade seller I often worry that the economy will hurt my small business and to be honest, January sales have not been as high as usual...BUT I have not lost hope. When I look at the items in my shop they are in my opinion...affordable luxuries! A way to treat yourself to something cute or new to wear that is under $10. I am going to take some time to figure a way to market this new found knowledge! But if you are one of the people keeping Hershey's in business. If you save some of those dollars you are spending on candy bars, you can buy yourself a great new headband, guaranteed to brighten up your day when it comes to you in the mail! Not only will I thank you, but your waistline will too!

I Can Knit!!!

I would say about a year ago I decided that I wanted to learn how to knit. I must have been watching my mom do it and was intrigued by it. I was with my mom at Michael's before we flew to Miami in November and saw this beautiful red yarn and asked her if she would teach me how to knit on the plane. That is where I got my lesson, it was pretty cool because on the plane I was in the middle seat, my mom was teaching me to knit and was on my right and my grandmom was micro-managing my mother's teaching on my left. 3 Generations of women talking about knitting...pretty amazing I think! When I got back from my trip to Miami I kept at it, I was knitting a scarf which is the typical first knitting project. Let's fast forward to New Years Eve! Yes I was STILL working on the scarf at that point! I had gotten pretty far BUT, somehow I had managed to pick up some extra stitches and since I was only doing a knit stitch, I didn't like the way it was looking. On New Year's Eve my grandmom had me, my mom, and Bella over for dinner. I brought my scarf and yarn and asked my mom to teach me a different stitch and remind me how to cast on! After dinner, my mom taught me how to purl, once I had practiced on my scarf or what could have been a mini blanket, we painfully pulled it apart so I could start over. My grandmother thought it was hilarious that I was still working on the same project since Nov. She said that I better hurry up and finish the scarf so that I could wear it while it was still winter! So I started over, cutting down the number of stitches and doing knit 2 purl 2. I was so excited after I did a couple of rows and saw how it was looking!! Thus my new addiction was born. Pretty much every night, I would put on a movie and work on my scarf. Knitting is so peaceful and relaxing, I seriously LOVE it. Here is a photo of my finished scarf!



My mom was impressed by how well it looked and said for a first project it looked awesome. She said I always was quick study! I have already started another knitting project...can you guess what it is??? Headbands!!! I bought some very pretty yarns and am almost done the first prototype! So stay tuned! I definitely have a long way to go in terms of learning more about knitting but I am excited about all of the possibilities this can bring to my Etsy shop! And now I have something else I can make for everyone next Christmas!

The Pursuit of Happiknits!!!

When I woke up this morning and saw the white sky I knew without even looking that it was snowing. Ugh...I do not like snow or the cold unless I am at a ski resort! Despite my dislike of the cold, I do like shopping for fun and trendy accessories for keeping me warm! I have a few pairs of gloves and many scarves but I did not have a hat. Ok that is not true, I have hats but they are mostly used for when I run and not something I would wear out shopping! The first place I decided to look was Etsy in an attempt to find a cute knitted hat to match my off white scarf and gloves. One seller in particular popped into my head immediately, Becca of Happiknits! This seller is a fellow member of my EtsyNJ Street Team and the creator of the most amazing hand knitted accessories I have ever seen. Her items and photos are so beautiful that whenever I am able to snag an etsy treasury I always work one of her pieces in. Since I have recently learned how to knit, I appreciate her work even more! I had the opportunity to meet her in the spring of last year and not only is she an amazing seller but she is a fabulous person! I didn't see any hats listed in her shop that were what I was looking for, so I reached out and asked for a custom hat order. She was more than happy to work on it for me and without me even giving her a picture of what I wanted, she created the EXACT hat I was looking for! I was like a kid waiting for it to arrive in the mailbox. The items was packaged in green and white tissue paper and tied together with a piece of yarn! So cute! When I saw the hat in person I was in awe. The stitching is perfect and the quality of the yarn is top notch! And this morning when I put the hat on to take my daughter to school, it kept my head super warm! Here is a pic of took of me wearing the hat as a customer appreciation photo for her!

If you think this hat is cool, it is nothing compared to the rest of the items in her shop. She has scarfs, cowls, shrugs, caplets, hats, and fingerless gloves in pretty much every color you can think of. Each are handmade and knitted so beautifully using high quality yarns. So if you are in the market for some fabulous accessories to keep you warm as the temperatures are dropping across the country, look no further than Happiknits, you may actually want the weather to stay cold so you can wear your accessory from her all of the time!
You can get to her Etsy Shop by clicking the links in the blog or the link below! Happy Shopping and stay warm!
Happiknits.etsy.com

New Year...New Items!!!

Right around the holidays I made a trip to one of my favorite fabric shops, The Little Shop in Haddonfield NJ. It is a cute quilt shop in one of my favorite towns in NJ and it is always filled with great fabrics! I like to go when I have time to shop because you can't be rushed while shopping for fabric! The main reason I went was because I needed more of the Michael Miller White Fairies fabric. My mom bought be a fat 1/8th of it during a sale and that fabric is my best selling kids headband. See below!


While I was there I was browsing the new Amy Butler Daisy Chain line. Wow, she really does just make the most beautiful fabric. I wanted to buy a yard of everything!!! But in my opinion not every fabric makes a good headband. So I sorted through and picked out a few pretty prints from the line and applied a little restraint! I could have bought WAY more fabric then I did! The holidays got in the way and I was unable to create with the new fabric until last week! And below you will see the fruits of my labor, the first new set of headbands for 2009! Like usual I have more supplies up in my craft room that are patiently waiting to be made into great accessories. If I my say from the looks of this new line, I think I am off to a very fabulous start to a year of great new items at Purplelicious!

Happy Blog-iversary to Me!

I can't believe it has been one year since I have created this blog! Time really flies! I feel like I have been much better with keeping up this blog lately than I was when I first created it. I also hope that my readers are enjoying it! I am very glad to see 2008 go away. There were definitely some great parts of the year for me but also a lot of not so good parts. But I guess most years can be categorized like that. As for my big New Year's Eve plans, I had dinner at my grandmom's and then watched Deal or No Deal with her! I am not a big fan of New Year's Eve, mostly because I can't really look back on one that wasn't a bad night for me in some way. So a chill evening at my grandmom's, eating her sauce and meatballs, hanging with my mom and Bella seemed to work for me. I will say this though...this marks the 3rd year in a row that I have kissed only Bella on New Year's Eve, next year I hope that changes! I realized when I was eating dinner that last night there were 4 generations together at the table. It was pretty cool, if I brought my camera I would have taken a picture to capture that moment. I am looking forward to 2009 but am entering it with cautious expectations. I think over the past 2 years I went into them thinking they would be amazing and maybe that is why they fell short of my expectations. So it seems you will just have to stay tuned to this blog to see how this approach works out!

Happy New Year Everyone! Here's to Managed Expectations in 2009!