Good Day Blog World,
I have been home the last past two days with my foot propped up. Why? Because I slipped and fell at work and landed flat on the floor. How did this happen? I really don’t know because it happened so quickly, but what I do know is this.
I was walking from my boss’ office back to my desk. I was about 10 feet from reaching my destination when all of a sudden my upper body was moving but my feet were not. Now here is what I call a freak accident, my sneakers became stuck to the carpet. More like when you wear a new pair of sneakers (mine are really old by the way) and the friction from the sole of the shoe comes in contact with a clean surface and become stuck to the surface. Well my experience was much like this but my sneakers are very worn and the carpet is extremely worn.
Was there a lesson to be learned from it? Seems to me there is always a message in everything that happens, it is up to the individual to see it for what it is. This experience opened my eyes to a few things
(1) To avoid putting anyone on blasts, I will say this, you really see people for who they are in a time of need.
(2) I really needed the rest as I have been in overdrive for the last month and a half getting Karess Krafters new look on the rise.
(3) To always rebuke the enemy in Jesus Name (I already knew this). I say this because I am prepping to do my first house party on the Saturday before Mother’s Day. When the call came in to do the party I was very reluctant. Not because of the person who asked that I do it, but because of my fear of public speaking. I can sit and chat with someone one on one all day about nearly anything. But to stand before someone and have all eyes and attention on me is another story. This is an area I had been asking God to help me with and when the opportunity came I agreed to it and of course I am continuing to ask God for his strength.
Now my fall in my opinion was suppose the be the golden opportunity for me to back out of doing the party, but I refuse to let my broken toes hold me back. I will execute what I have been asking for and my Lord will see me through. Till next time, stay prayerful, strong and faithful. God Bless
Friday, April 30, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Etsy Milestone
We have hit a milestone with our shop on Etsy and are proud to say that we have reached our goal of 500 sales by 12/31/10 in April. We’re not even half way into the year and we are celebrating our victory. We are too excited about this and would like to share with you the DO NOTs about Etsy.
First, don’t make the mistake we made. We opened our Etsy shop in 2006 and did noting and I do mean nothing with it. It just sat there hoping to be recognized. Unfortunately, the same ole same ole NOTHING happen in 2007 and part of 2008. It was not until late 2008 when we finally decided to do something with our Etsy shop after being asked countless times “Are you on Etsy?”.
Second, don’t just promote one avenue of shopping for your items online. We were extremely focused on promoting our webstore to the point that we ignored venues like Etsy. We have learned the more places such as Facebook you promote your products/services, the more likely you’ll be seen in Cyber world. .
Third, don’t forget to add your Etsy url to all your marketing items, brochures, catalogs, business cards, etc. Etsy is extremely popular and is becoming more recognized with each day. Therefore, you may have customers who shop Etsy exclusively and if you’re not informing your customers of all the avenues they can find your products then you may be missing out on sales, relationships, networking opportunities, etc. You never know who your customer(s) may refer your product to.
Fourth, don’t be intimidated by the Etsy forums. Get in there and make yourself known, join groups, street teams, network, work out trades, promote, have specials, etc. Remember I said Etsy is getting more and more popular by the day so you never know who is lurking around, it could be your lucky day.
Finally, don’t forget to have fun and to be respectful while doing so. Your business is a reflection of you and in today’s world we can find a great deal of information about a person with the click of a button. So please remember while taking part in online discussions not to forget you are representing your business.
I hope these don’ts will help someone in one way or another. It took us a while to catch on, but once we did we saw light at the end of the tunnel.
First, don’t make the mistake we made. We opened our Etsy shop in 2006 and did noting and I do mean nothing with it. It just sat there hoping to be recognized. Unfortunately, the same ole same ole NOTHING happen in 2007 and part of 2008. It was not until late 2008 when we finally decided to do something with our Etsy shop after being asked countless times “Are you on Etsy?”.
Second, don’t just promote one avenue of shopping for your items online. We were extremely focused on promoting our webstore to the point that we ignored venues like Etsy. We have learned the more places such as Facebook you promote your products/services, the more likely you’ll be seen in Cyber world. .
Third, don’t forget to add your Etsy url to all your marketing items, brochures, catalogs, business cards, etc. Etsy is extremely popular and is becoming more recognized with each day. Therefore, you may have customers who shop Etsy exclusively and if you’re not informing your customers of all the avenues they can find your products then you may be missing out on sales, relationships, networking opportunities, etc. You never know who your customer(s) may refer your product to.
Fourth, don’t be intimidated by the Etsy forums. Get in there and make yourself known, join groups, street teams, network, work out trades, promote, have specials, etc. Remember I said Etsy is getting more and more popular by the day so you never know who is lurking around, it could be your lucky day.
Finally, don’t forget to have fun and to be respectful while doing so. Your business is a reflection of you and in today’s world we can find a great deal of information about a person with the click of a button. So please remember while taking part in online discussions not to forget you are representing your business.
I hope these don’ts will help someone in one way or another. It took us a while to catch on, but once we did we saw light at the end of the tunnel.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Happy Earth Day
What is Earth Day?
Earth Day according to Wikipedia is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment and this year marks its 40th Anniversary.
In honor of Earth Day, we have decided to promote 3 items that were inspired by nature from the creation to the final packaging.
First up is our Cucumber & Aloe Soap by CCrafters
Soothe and heal your skin from the harsh environmental elements with our pure Cucumber & Aloe handmade soap. This 100% natural soap is true to the plant. It is made with organic cucumber puree grown here in the fertile soil of North Carolina, Organic Aloe Vera Juice, quality vegetable oils, exotic butters and premium plant-based essential oils. This bar is sure to give your skin all the attention it deserves and will do the body good! This bar is packaged in deli paper with a label made from recycled material.
Second Up Ginger Juice & Berries Hairdress by Lavida Given by Nature
This hair care product is defintely true to nature. It is formulated with many hair loving herbs, such as Alma and Brahmi along with vegetabls oils and waxes and plant-based essential oils. It is designed to coat and protect the hair all while nourishing and strenghting at the same time, now who doesn't need that. It is not heavy, doesn’t leave build-up and it smells nice and earthy. It comes packaged in a recyclabel clear jar with a nice silver label and matching lid.
Third Up Recycled Envelope Paper Necklace by Hippie Kingdom
According to Hippie Kingdom, the Eco Friendly necklace made of paper beads from Colorful Telephone Bill Envelopes was carefully handcrafted. The paper beads are strung on natural hemp and are connected in an interesting pattern to form a rectangular pendant. It will even arrive at your front door packaged in recycable mailing material. Now this is certainly a nice upcycled item. Very creative
Earth Day according to Wikipedia is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment and this year marks its 40th Anniversary.
In honor of Earth Day, we have decided to promote 3 items that were inspired by nature from the creation to the final packaging.
First up is our Cucumber & Aloe Soap by CCrafters
Soothe and heal your skin from the harsh environmental elements with our pure Cucumber & Aloe handmade soap. This 100% natural soap is true to the plant. It is made with organic cucumber puree grown here in the fertile soil of North Carolina, Organic Aloe Vera Juice, quality vegetable oils, exotic butters and premium plant-based essential oils. This bar is sure to give your skin all the attention it deserves and will do the body good! This bar is packaged in deli paper with a label made from recycled material.
Second Up Ginger Juice & Berries Hairdress by Lavida Given by Nature
This hair care product is defintely true to nature. It is formulated with many hair loving herbs, such as Alma and Brahmi along with vegetabls oils and waxes and plant-based essential oils. It is designed to coat and protect the hair all while nourishing and strenghting at the same time, now who doesn't need that. It is not heavy, doesn’t leave build-up and it smells nice and earthy. It comes packaged in a recyclabel clear jar with a nice silver label and matching lid.Third Up Recycled Envelope Paper Necklace by Hippie Kingdom
According to Hippie Kingdom, the Eco Friendly necklace made of paper beads from Colorful Telephone Bill Envelopes was carefully handcrafted. The paper beads are strung on natural hemp and are connected in an interesting pattern to form a rectangular pendant. It will even arrive at your front door packaged in recycable mailing material. Now this is certainly a nice upcycled item. Very creative
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Facebook Fans
We have become addicted to FACEBOOK. The more we chat, post, network, etc. on FACEBOOK the more addicted we become. We are so addicted to it that we have ordered new business cards with our FACEBOOK link on them.
Anyway, we are looking for more FACEBOOK fans and would like your help. Help spread the word about our fan page. We have a goal of getting 250 fans by mid-May and the 250th person will receive a FREE bar of our Pink Ginger Milk soap. We will also send our Hello Sunshine soap to the person who informs the most people about our FACEBOOK fan page. So start spreading the word. Happy Facebooking.
Anyway, we are looking for more FACEBOOK fans and would like your help. Help spread the word about our fan page. We have a goal of getting 250 fans by mid-May and the 250th person will receive a FREE bar of our Pink Ginger Milk soap. We will also send our Hello Sunshine soap to the person who informs the most people about our FACEBOOK fan page. So start spreading the word. Happy Facebooking.
Revamp in progress......
Hello Blog World!
It has been a whirl wind at the Karess Krafters shop. We have been working hard to revamp our image (new website look, new catalogs, new label design, etc.) and we are sure you’ll like the new look.
Our first order of business was to streamline our product line to offer the goodies that ALL of you have come to love. This was a hard decision since we LOVE all of our products. We will only carry Handmade Soaps, Herbal Salve, Shea Monoi, Whipped Cocoa Butter, Hemp Lip Balms, Shampoo Bars and our Foot Care Line. We will be adding once ALL testing and FEEDBACK is taken into consideration our Honey-Hemp Deep Hair Conditioner.
Prices have been slashed on our Perfume Oils and many of our fragrant soaps. We will soon be adding more essential oil scented soaps once they leave the curing rack. We will be back tomorrow to show off our new catalog that was designed by RAS Artworks on Etsy.
It has been a whirl wind at the Karess Krafters shop. We have been working hard to revamp our image (new website look, new catalogs, new label design, etc.) and we are sure you’ll like the new look.
Our first order of business was to streamline our product line to offer the goodies that ALL of you have come to love. This was a hard decision since we LOVE all of our products. We will only carry Handmade Soaps, Herbal Salve, Shea Monoi, Whipped Cocoa Butter, Hemp Lip Balms, Shampoo Bars and our Foot Care Line. We will be adding once ALL testing and FEEDBACK is taken into consideration our Honey-Hemp Deep Hair Conditioner.
Prices have been slashed on our Perfume Oils and many of our fragrant soaps. We will soon be adding more essential oil scented soaps once they leave the curing rack. We will be back tomorrow to show off our new catalog that was designed by RAS Artworks on Etsy.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Soap Packing dilemma again.....
Well we are still at a cross road with selecting the perfect “eco-friendly” soap packaging. Right now we use a band much like the Dan’s bands for our soaps with a recycled cigar band style label. This packaging has worked well for us. It allows the customer to see the beauty of the bar, breathe in its captivating aroma, protect the bar without slippage or getting soap residue on the packaging and we’re able to give details about the bar and how to get more on the label. In addition we can fit up to 8 bars in a flat rate envelope which saves on shipping.
Since we are trying to be as “green” as possible we have been experimenting with different ways to package our soaps. We did the wrapping with tissue paper and affixing a label and ribbon, but as the demand for our soaps go up this can be too time consuming. We even tried the corrugated wrap with band and weren’t pleased with this style either. We’ve also tried the small flat merchandise Kraft bags with label but it just didn’t cut it for us…too much wiggle room as was the same case with boxes. We also cut strips of card stock paper that coordinated in color with the soap and printed a cigar style band on clear vellum paper. This look was nice and certainly eco-friendly but we were still not satisfied. So at the present time we are back to our Dan’s style bands with recycled label. The only thing we’ve done differently is we had a graphic designer on Etsy design a label for us that we will use for all of our products. This way all of our labels are consistent and the branding process will begin.
Here is a picture of the way we packaged the soaps with the card stock and vellum label and a picture of how we packaged our soaps with the Dan’s band sans the new label.
Since we are trying to be as “green” as possible we have been experimenting with different ways to package our soaps. We did the wrapping with tissue paper and affixing a label and ribbon, but as the demand for our soaps go up this can be too time consuming. We even tried the corrugated wrap with band and weren’t pleased with this style either. We’ve also tried the small flat merchandise Kraft bags with label but it just didn’t cut it for us…too much wiggle room as was the same case with boxes. We also cut strips of card stock paper that coordinated in color with the soap and printed a cigar style band on clear vellum paper. This look was nice and certainly eco-friendly but we were still not satisfied. So at the present time we are back to our Dan’s style bands with recycled label. The only thing we’ve done differently is we had a graphic designer on Etsy design a label for us that we will use for all of our products. This way all of our labels are consistent and the branding process will begin.
Here is a picture of the way we packaged the soaps with the card stock and vellum label and a picture of how we packaged our soaps with the Dan’s band sans the new label.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
March 30 Promo Item
The promo item in our Etsy shop today is our Pink Ginger Milk handmade soap. We bathed with this bar the other day and the bubbles are fabulous. It left my skin feeling so soft that hubby was oohing and aahing. The softness it added to my skin is derived from the loads of coconut milk in this bar. We even added a little Pink Kaolin clay to give the bar a little slip and let us not forget the beautiful aroma derived from plant-based essential oils. This bar will be a pleaser for males and females and it has been added to my favorite soap bar list.
Pink Ginger Milk is on sale in our Etsy shop today for just $2.75. Get your bar while supplies last
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