It's All Greek To Me...Part 2!

In this case I am using the phrase both ways. When I first went over to my mom's and looked at her embroidery machine, the enter process WAS Greek to me! She has not used it in a while so the two of us sat for a few hours to figure out how to work it! After a few attempts we were successful and I was overjoyed! It was very exciting for me to see my greek letters when we were testing out the font. I brought over some fabric and we tested out two different organizations. Of course Tri Sigma was going to be one of them, but I wanted to show that I could make them for any sorority. When I left my mom's I could not wait to make the embroidered strips into headbands and did just that first thing this morning!


I am so happy with how they came out! I still plan to experiment with the embroidery machine and maybe some other greek fonts but for now, I am extremely pleased with this product! Next step: Embroidered Keychains! Stay tuned!

Always Learning

Yesterday, my dad asked me to attend a class he was teaching that was part class for people trying to start their own business. My Dad was responsible for teaching the Marketing piece of a business plan. I walked into the room prepared to sit and review his presentation, but I did not expect that I would learn so much. For starters, my dad introduced me to someone in the class. He told her that I have an online store on Etsy. She asked me what i sold, so I gave her a description. Then she said, well show me. That is when my dad stepped in and said, I told her she should always wear a headband. And I thought to myself, wow, I really should and I don't really do it. Then I looked my keys and realized that I never use one of my keychains. Finally, I thought I could give her a business card and I didn't have any with me. All very bad, I should be a walking advertisement for my products and should ALWAYS have business cards on me. There were 5 people in the class that were interested in what I sold including the sorority headbands and I had no cards to give them. Major lesson learned there! Then I broke out into one of the small groups and we were discussing customer expectations and I got some news ideas from that too! I walked away from the class with a list of things I can work on for Purplelicious. That is the beauty of having your own business and life in general, there is always room to grow and ALWAYS something to learn! Now onto that list!

Fabric Shopping with the Pros

That was what my Facebook status read pretty much all day yesterday! Who do I consider Fabric Shopping Pros? I will get to that in a minute.

It is no secret that my mom is the person who inspires me to create. I am very lucky to have parents with unique talents that help me create and grow my business. My mom is a talented sewer, baker, and is very creative and my dad is filled with business knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit. This combination is why Purplelicious is here and is successful!

My mom has been sewing since she was a kid. She even sewed her own wedding gown, which was gorgeous by the way and one of my prom dresses! Now she is into quilting and makes the most amazing quilts. I wish I had some pictures to post here so you could see her work. Through her quilting adventures she became friends with some great women. A few years back my sister had a craft night at her house where she invited myself, my mom, and her quilting friends. I was not sewing at the time, but I remember my sister made us all favors for the party and she gave my mom and her friends tshirts that said "Fabric Acquisition Team"! Mostly because the three of them have very large collections of fabric. The three of them love to go to local quilt shops to get ideas for their next quilts and of course to buy new fabrics!

I wanted to go to Joann's yesterday because they were having a huge sale and all of the items that I need to make accessories for my upcoming craft show were on sale. When I called my mom to ask her to go with me, she said she had made plans with one of her friends to go to Joann's and our favorite quilt shop, The Little Shop in Haddonfield. I was very excited to go shopping with "The Pros". It was such a fun day. They both have so much experience with sewing it is fun to see them select different fabrics. They also talk you into any fabric that you want to buy, even if you don't know what you want to do with it! I didn't get home until after 11pm because we hung out a little and chatted, but it was the best day! I ended up buying so much stuff (see photo), but I am so excited to start playing with it all! I have also decided that it is time for me to have a craft night at my house, where the 4 of us can sit around my table, share tips, sew, and create together! I still have a lot to learn before I can become a Fabric Shopping Pro but from the looks of my fabric collection I think I have been taught well and am on my way!

It's All Greek To Me!

I am not sure if I ever blogged about how I came up with the name Purplelicious for my Accessories business. So here you go! For starters, I love the color Purple. I actually always have, even as a kid. My love for the color grew even stronger when I joined my sorority Sigma Sigma Sigma. I was so happy that the sorority colors were royal purple and white! I was running and trying to think of names for my shop and a way to incorporate Purple, and the song Fergalicous came on my ipod, and the rest is history!

My years as an active sorority member were some of the best memories! It was such an amazing experience and I can't imagine what college would have been like with out those girls. I still keep in touch with most of them and even see a few a couple times a year. I love my Sigma girls!

As you are well aware, I have been trying to brainstorm about some ways to grow my business. And it came to me...Sorority accessories!! I know when I was an active member, I would buy anything with my letters on it. And some of the stuff was really bad, but I didn't care. I was so PROUD to wear my letters I needed to have them on everything. Today I finished the samples of one of the pieces of my new Greek Accessories Line! Of course the samples are tribute to my sorority, but the line is my fabric headbands and wristlet keychains, accented with rhinestone sorority letters! It is so simple to order! Find the listing in my shop and let me know the fabric you would like and your sorority! I will even offer a discounted price for large orders! I am so excited to launch this line and hope that you love it, whether you are an active member who can't get your hands on enough stuff with your letters or an alumnae trying to reminisce about your sorority days. Enjoy and Go Greek!

I Have a 5 Year Old...

Who seems to be 5 going on 16. My sister sent me a text on my daughter Bella's birthday that said, "Can you believe you are the mother of a 5 year old?". And I thought...YIKES! I can't! At first it made me feel old, but then I was overcome with this feeling of joy. I really don't know how I could have lived those 5 years without Bella in my life. She is everything to me and I don't think it is possible for me to love anyone or anything more than I love her. So of course all of this love deserves a 4 day birthday celebration! The celebration began on Sunday where Bella and I made her a cake to have after the SuperBowl. I actually let her decorate both cakes which she enjoyed and I have to say the one came out pretty awesome!

As for day 2. Her father and I decided a few months ago that instead of spending a couple hundred dollars on a party for a bunch of kids we don't know, that we would take her to NYC for the day and I wanted to take her to American Girl Place so she could pick out her first doll. I scoped out the place when I was in NYC with my friend in December. A couple weeks ago I gave Bella the catalog and she pretty much was reading it all of the time and picking out which doll/outfits she wanted. We had intended on taking her on her actual birthday but snow in the forecast changed those plans. So off to New York we went on Monday, we rode the Ferris Wheel at the Toys R Us in Times Square, Bella made a special M&M mix at the M&M store, and we went to American Girl Place. I think I have found the one trait that my daughter has that she did not get from me....Decisiveness. When we arrived at the store, she knew EXACTLY what she wanted. Once we found everything she had picked out before, she was done and ready to leave. She didn't want to shop around, she wanted to get her doll and move on. Honestly I don't even think her dad is that decisive because he wanted to stick around and look too. We headed down to the Disney store next and then walked all the way to FAO Schwartz to find it closed early for inventory...ugh! So Bella got a lot of presents that day and the greatest gift that I gave her in my opinion was not the American Girl doll but a day in NYC with her father, I don't think many divorced couples would be able to do that...but I did, solely as a birthday gift to my favorite little girl!

Her actual birthday was low key since she was with her dad in the morning. But I decorated the house with all of the Happy Birthday Banners I had from her other birthday parties, I made her favorite meal, spaghetti and meatballs, and her cake which she requested it to be a strawberry valentine's cake. My parents came over to have dinner and cake with us.

Then I was up late making birthday treats for Bella to bring to school. I decided to make chocolate chip cookie cups and topped them with chocolate buttercream icing and sprinkles. They came out so cute and were super delicious! This ended the 4 day Birthday Celebration for Bella!

I am exhausted, it has been a long week of birthday celebration and yesterday I had a job interview. I would love nothing more than to spend the rest of today in bed, but there is still job searching, headband making, and cleaning to be done. Ahh it never ends! Happy 5th Birthday to my amazing little princess Bella!

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!