And The Winner Is..... Mama's Pocketbook!

I have been sitting on this long enough I guess. Well, not really sitting on it because I have told an awful lot of people about it, but I haven't posted it officially ... so now I am!

Mama's Pocketbook has been awarded the Grand Prize in the Finance category of the MSN Business Breakthrough Challenge II! Seriously! This is a for real prize ... we are not talking leg lamps here! We are talking $10,000 worth of custom business solutions just for my business! Major business makeover!

The official word came exactly a month ago, on June 8th, but I've been waiting to see when MSN would put up the info on their website. Well.... still waiting on that, and I figured there were cobwebs growing in here so I better write something new and this is the best something new I've got!

The contest/competition is really pretty cool. I found it one Saturday in March while I was searching for information on how to get help from the SBA. I just stumbled onto the MSN Business Breakthrough website, read about the contest and since it was one of those rare Saturday's where I didn't have anything major going on, I sat down and wrote an essay about my business, how I started it last year, some of the really great steps I've taken (joining MMP!) and some of the setbacks I've run into (financial, due to my husband's back issues and his surgery) and what my plans are for growing the company and how we have managed to stay on top of things and keep it going. Apparently my essay was compelling enough ... the essays are judged three times, based on four levels of criteria. The first go round determines the top 20 out of all entrants, the those are judged again and the top 10 are picked, then a third judging is done to pick the winner.

That would be me or rather, my company, Mama's Pocketbook. Which is pretty much ... ME!

Ok, I do all the sewing and designing, and packaging and shipping, and website building, and ordering, and every other hands on management of my business, but I'm not alone... I have the most fabulous support network anyone could ask for. I have my awesome family. My brilliant hubby, Steve, who has his own exciting entrepreneurial stuff going on (on top of his teaching job and while recovering from major back surgery) , is forever encouraging me, supporting me, believing in me and basically treating me like a Queen. He helps take care of the house and the kids and animals and yard and all the domestic stuff. He's a keeper for sure!

And then I have my Pink Sisters at MMP, who are unbelievably talented, sweet, wise, resourceful, and marvelous in every way. I could not face the day without my coffee club check in at MMP! And of course without this great network I would not be sewing my fingers to the bone (that is when I'm not trying to chop them off with a food processor blade.... but that's another story!). Thanks to my MMP ads, as you've seen below, I've been completely overwhelmed with orders for the past two months! But that's not a complaint ... no, not at all. It's been just the blessing we have needed.

I can't leave out my single parent forum friends. They keep me grounded. They know way too much about me! But they are always supportive and really only want to see me succeed. And they want me to take them with me when I'm on Oprah! LOL!

I'm excited about my prize from MSN. Things should start happening now, I have my financial advisor and we are working on my plan, and my proposal (wish list) for what I need MSN to provide to push Mama's Pocketbook to the next level. Maybe get some help for the construction process of my items, get some cool inventory, fabrics... I can't wait to get my Amy Butler fabrics and purses to add to her pattern line that I carry already... and hopefully, even get me some walls for my studio. That would be sweet!

OK, so there, now I feel better. I'll update as the excitement builds and I start seeing the real effects of winning this thing!

Sew Much Excitement Going On!

I've been neglecting my blog! Poor blog :( Time to feed her! Things have been super -and I mean crazy-super - busy this past month! First of all the awesome MakeMinePink.com ad came out in the May/June issue of Mary Englebreit's Home Companion magazine which featured my Peachy Pink Carrie Purse and I have been completely overwhelmed with the orders coming in daily for it! I'm running a one-woman sweat-shop for real now! But it is just too much fun! I'm loving the feedback I'm getting and the new customers. I've even made some great new friends. I'll have to tell y'all about my new friend J-Lo in another post very soon!

Here's the ad in Home Companion magazine!

Enjoy A Slide Show of Mama's Pocketbook Products!

New Totes - Annie & Daisy

These new totes were fun to make. I love Moda fabrics, they are a dream to sew and the colors are gorgeous. I hope you will like these new totes.


My Annie Tote is pure fun, a casual, medium size tote with retro flowers, a scalloped edge top that folds over to reveal the other side, nice & big lined pockets inside and out ... and polka-dots! The strap cleverly slips through buttonholes on either side and is knotted in place, oh and the tote is fully reversible!

My Daisy Tote is a shopper's dream! Filled with pockets, big ones, medium ones, cell phone pocket... you can carry everything and be organized. You could even tote your laptop! I used velcro for the closures so you don't have to worry about magnets messing up your computer! This tote is so versatile, and so pretty! The peachy pink Moda fabric on front has bright red flowers and smaller white, pink and blue ones too. On back I used a Moda coordinate with cheery berry and vine designs. Inside is a luxurious quilted white lining with red polka dot trimmed pockets. Finished off with a vintage red button on the tab closure and a ultra comfy quilted and sturdy shoulder strap!

Enjoy!

Tag - I'm IT... Twice In One Week!

Wow, things have been super busy lately and I'm just going to take a "fun" break!

Two of my dear sweet Pink Sisters, Trisha from My2Roses and Kimberly from MyPinkBoutique both tagged me this week for a fun game - and it's my first time being tagged so I'm excited to be thought of and to play!

Here's how it works ... each player starts with 7 random weird facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

So, I only have to name 7 things right, not 14 because I was tagged twice! I'm sure I could find 14, but I'll stick with 7! I read the other lists weirdness and thought them pretty normal so I must be really weird! Hmmm, ok, here's my top 7 weird things I'm willing to share ...

1. My husband and I are psychic with each other. We say the same things at the same time, even when we are in different rooms. The kids are used to it now, but it still even causes us to look at each other and shake our heads. We think things to each other when we are apart and somehow the other one hears it. It's pretty weird, but very real and has been happening for over 6 years now.
2. I have no hair on my legs. None. It doesn't grow, I never have to shave my legs. I'm not making this up! I don't know why or what causes it ... but I'm glad I have it!
3. I have a photographic memory for color. I can match up colors perfectly without having a sample with me of what I'm matching to.
4. My eyes are very very green. People think I wear colored contacts to make them look so green, but in fact my contacts are a very pale blue that doesn't seem to tone down the green. My husbands eyes are also green, and green is our favorite color.
5. I am a magazine-aholic. I love decorating magazines like candy and I cannot throw them away. I get ideas and refer to them over and over again. I from the oldest ones just so I'll have room for the new ones each month, but I still have hundreds of them on hand, everywhere. I organize them by type and season so at any given time of the year I can find all the ones that I need for inspiration. I have kept every single copy I ever got of Victoria magazine because it was my fav and I could never bear to cut them up! (It's being published again later this year... YAY!) I would be rich if I had all the money back that I've spent just on magazines.
6. I never finish a diet coke. I always have one with me, it's a kind of liquid security blanket. I notoriously leave half full cans or bottles everywhere. If I were ever lost, I could be found by the CSI guys by just following a trail of half full bottles of diet coke. I buy it in the plastic bottles so I can seal them and rotate them in and out of the fridge and actually end up drinking the whole thing. At any given time there are 2 or 3 half bottles in the fridge.
7. I have a split personalitywhen it comes to orderliness. I am obsessed with the idea of being organized and decluttering my environment. I want to be a clean freak, I have the organizational skills, and I would love to live in a serene, simplified manner, but I also have ADHD and I am a creative soul and those two traits battle for power over the organized part of me. I control the ADHD with meds and compensating skills, but when I am creating I am in another universe and fabric, threads, paper, notions and trims fly about the room like the toys swirling about in Poltergiest and when I'm done I cannot believe the mess I've made while creating something totally beautiful! LOL! I'm possessed during the creative process, then my clean persona comes out and has to clean it all up before I start the next project.

Whew, now you all know a little more of my weirdness than you suspected! My turn to pick 7 others to tag... have fun my friends and I can't wait to read your weirdnesses!

I am tagging:

1. Amy at The Cottage Gate
2. Deb at Barberry Field
3. Lyndsay at The Shabby Suite
4. Dawn at My Hydrangea Home
5. Karen at Sweet Necessi-Teas
6. Lori at Katies Rose Cottage

I hope I tagged you all before someone else did. Please let me know when you post your list!