Pink Friday - Winter Whites

This week our theme for Pink Friday is "Winter Whites" and that's pretty appropriate considering all the ice and snow many have experienced lately. Perhaps you'll find the Winter White offerings from Mama's Pocketbook and from the other participating Boutiques at Make Mine Pink a bit more warm and inviting! I'm sure you will! 

So cozy up with a warm cup of coffe, tea or cocoa and browse all the beautiful items on special sale, today only, at your favorite online shops! There's no better way to start the weekend than wandering through the pages of these sites from the warmth of your home (or office ... we won't tell!) finding great deals on beautiful treasures, gifts, accessories, pillows, purses, fabrics, cards, and so much more.  As always we thank you for your patronage and hope you find just the perfect thing to bring a smile to your face and joy to your heart!  Enjoy!

Why Am I So Tired?

Help! I cannot keep up! I have two blogs, facebook, myspace, twitter, LinkedIn, and a bunch of Ning networks I try to keep up with! I have my Mama's Pocketbook website, my Little Pink Boutique, my Etsy shop, Art Fire, and heck fire, I cannot even remember what else I'm doing!  

I don't usually whine, but I think I do need to purge, share, list (rant) and maybe in doing so I'll see where I need to make changes. Or at least get an Amen, Sister!  I can't be the only one with this time and priority setting dilemma! 

I use my calendar and schedule my time. I do have my methods for keeping up, I keep a spreadsheet and production notes. I have ADHD so I use every coping mechanism I possibly can to streamline, organize and keep up with it all. But obviously even these tools are not enough . 

Don't get me wrong. I love having my own business and I would not trade a single day of it for any other way of making a living. (No WAY!) 

I love my memberships and I know I could not even think of doing this without some of them. Like MakeMinePink.com. I'm very active there. It is absolutely necessary to my business and my personal happiness. But there are the challenges therein of staying up to date with all the awesome things going on there and participating in the marketing boon afforded my business through the weekly events like Show and Tell Monday, Tuesday night marketing chats, and Pink Fridays. Linking, creating, sharing, learning - lots going on on that side of my life!

  

I also try to follow my favorite blogs and enjoy finding new ones and exchanging emails, making new friends and contacts. But I always end up after getting lost in blogland for hours (totally out of my control!) sitting here scratching my head wondering how on God's green earth these other women maintain topical, smart, funny blogs with professional looking new photos all the time showing off their hundreth new creation of the week all the while chatting about the adventures of their children who are also always photographed looking spotless and in the cutest clothes?. (I'm lucky if my son puts on pants and I'm pretty sure he does not own a shirt that is not camoflaged but still has visible stains!) 

But the bulk of my time needs to be spent creating product. Product involves designing, cutting, sewing, ironing, finishing, photographing, creating webpages and posting, creating ads and meeting deadlines, creating newsletters and sending, selling, communicating with customers, tagging, wrapping, and shipping and following up.

Mine is a one person operation (Yes, I can see that part of my answer is I need a helper!!) so besides all this fun stuff, I have the not as fun stuff... the inventory control (yeah right! LOL!) paying the bills, ordering supplies, trying not to be buried in avalanches of fabric, filing receipts so next years taxes don't take 168 hours to complete, keeping spreadsheets, production schedules, and um, I lost track again, but there are definitely a bunch more not so fun things involved!

I try. I really do try. But I have trouble knowing where to draw the lines so that I can budget my time efficiently. And that's just my work related time. I also have a family to tend to ... an 11 yr old son, a 14 yr old daughter, a (very patient and understanding) husband, 3 dogs, 2 geckos, and a house in various states of repair (disrepair), painting and decorating.

I need a television show that will come to my rescue! A combo show that brings in all the best help in a blended What Not To Wear (only with someone like Lena West coming in and clearing out my office and telling me What Not to Do), The Nanny, Extreme Makeover, Clean House, and at the end I'll write a book telling others how to do it and go on Oprah and tell my story, then retire to rake in the residuals while I blog about all the creative things I did this week!

There. I feel much better now. Back to work!

(P.S. I do hope everyone realizes this is (mostly) a tongue-in-cheek look at the stuff on my plate,  because we all have heaped up plates these days after all! Like I said, I wouldn't rather be doing anything else!)   :)

Romantic Roses

We are all about Romance and Roses at Make Mine Pink and at Mama's Pocketbook!

And Today - Pink Friday - Our theme is ROMANTIC ROSES! It's bound to be the best one yet! You don't want to miss visiting each and every one of our boutiques as they are overflowing with the most gorgeous ROMANTIC ROSE items you've ever seen!  

I love nothing more than creating with beautiful rose floral fabrics! Please visit my website to shop today's Pink Friday specials - I plan to make this an all day event by adding even more new ROSE fabric items for you throughout the day... So keep coming back to see what's in store. The items are usually One-of-a-Kind so be sure to bookmark THIS PAGE and visit all day! 

Visit all the participating Pink Boutiques for ROMANTIC ROSES PINK FRIDAY!

Introducing My Newest Design "Claire"

I always love trying something new and this adorable wristlet clutch bag has turned out to be one of my favorite products to make! It's fun and looks great in all kinds of fabrics. I will be making quite an array of these I'm sure.

The "Claire" Wristlet is a great bag for date night, church, weekend events, parties, Easter, or anytime you want to carry a smaller bag.

On my prototypes I didn't include an inside pocket, but I've decided that adding a small interior pocket for necessary credit cards and your drivers license is all that's needed to make this the perfect essentials bag.

This bag is made from a gorgeous cut velvet tapestry in rich colors of chocolate, sage, dark gold and tan that I call "Fauna". The lining is a perfectly matched silk and cheneille textured horizontal stripe. The clutch features handmade piping, a magnetic closure and a sturdy wrist loop handle that can be tucked inside if you prefer to carry it clutch style.

The Fauna version is offered as a limited edition of 25 and each bag will be adorned with a vintage button, bead or brooch to give it a One-Of-A-Kind distinction. Click the image or title to be taken to my website for more details and ordering information.

Pink Friday Is Back - In With The New!

I'm in just under the wire for this week's Pink Friday Sale! I'm happy to be able to offer this beautiful New OOAK Emmaline Sunhat, Tote and Accessories Set in Pomegranate Red Floral! What a fun new Winter set. One lucky someone will enjoy using this new set to keep her head warm, protect her skin from the sun (or maybe the glare off the snow and ice?!!) and enjoy using her new matching tote and accessories too!

Can't wait to see who grabs it... Oh and it's over 25% discounted - Today Only!  Will it be yours??

 Check out all the details at my boutique at Pink Friday page at Mama's Pocketbook.

Don't forget to visit all the other participating shops at Make Mine Pink today too ... It's IN WITH THE NEW!!

The Feathered Nest

When I ran my drawing for the Amy Butler pattern, my winner was Dawn of The Feathered Nest. I was so happy to have a new visitor to my site sign up for my newsletter and leave a comment to enter the drawing. Little did I know that I would become such an enamoured fan or her blog, but I have fast become addicted to it! Dawn is extraordinarily talented, and that is an understatement for sure! Many of you are probably already aware of her art as it has been featured in Somerset Studio ... I am just way behind the curve here, but catching in quick!

Dawn made a very sweet post on her blog about the package she won in my drawing and I was just tickled to be even mentioned on such an amazing blog! I'm spending a lot of time there just enjoying all the eye candy and creativity and learning about Dawn and her work. I'm such a giddy new fan!

 I just had to share with anyone and everyone about her amazing creative works. I was posting a comment on her blog and just below the comment box her slideshow was going and I found myself mesmerized by all the gorgeous works of art she creates.  This image from her slideshow (you must go and look at the whole thing!) caught my eye because I have a platter just like that and I am just flabbergasted that she has this kind of vision to turn something pretty but ordinary into such a lovely piece of art.

 I know where I'll be going anytime I need to be inspired, motivated, and just happy!! Oh, and she has fantastic TUTORIALS... she shows those of us who are not as visionary as she is how to make gorgeous art for our own homes!  What could be better than that? Um, being able to buy her art maybe? She does have an Etsy shop . 

Oh My Gosh! Ok, I'm going to start sounding like a stalker here soon ... I just looked at Dawn's bio and found that she has another blog, The Feathered Nest, Too,  totally dedicated to featuring her favorite links! What a directory of beauty, talent, wonder, inspiration, and fun! I see some of my Pink Sister's sites listed on there too! YAY! 

 Hmmm,  maybe getting her to come and be a Pink Sister with us over at MakeMinePink would be better so we could have her creative mind and energy with us all the time!  Dawn, come and visit us on our MMP forum! You'll fall in love with us and our work as much as we will (are!) with you and your work!