It's Pink October!

PINK OCTOBER is here! I have been planning and working toward this month all year long.

I'm excited that starting today and all through the month, we will be working to contribute and highlight all kinds of Pink October activities. I'm working diligently to launch my new designs for the 2007-2008 Pink October Bags. I will have one debut today and the second one will be revealed in a few days.

There have been quite a lot of things not going as planned over the past two weeks that seemd destined to throw a wrench into the works for me, but I'm determined to push through and get on track. My hubby says plans are what you do when nothing else happens!

So even though we have fabrics on back order, some strangeness going on with some of my recent shipments, and I'm in the middle of moving my studio and office out of two rooms (on separate floors no less!) and into one much more spacious and organized room ... I will be getting into gear with my Pink October projects all throughout this first week of October.

I have quite the Fall lineup in progress - here's what to watch for!

My annual Pink October bags! I will reveal one of the bags today (Monday) right here on the forum and on my website, Mama's Pocketbook. The other will be ready to be revealed mid-week. These bags are really great, made from the softest, most gorgeous Amy Butler fabrics and this year instead of creating a limited edition, I've decided to make the bags available year round, from Oct 2007 to Sept. 2008, when I will reveal totally new designs for the next year. Mama's Pocketbook will donate quarterly, 20% of the profits from the sales of these Pink October bags, to Susan G. Koman For The Cure.

And speaking of Amy Butler, I'm thrilled to announce that I have just completed my very own, exclusive, up to the minute interview with Amy Butler! Amy's interview is being featured in the October edition of MakeMinePink.com's "Women Who Inspire" column. You must read this and get to know one of today's hottest designers. Amy has great advice for all of us on how to manage a booming business and balance it with a busy family and personal life. Amy is also generously sending me some great patterns and kits to offer as giveaways to our readers of the "Women Who Inspire" column! It's going to get pretty exciting around here ... with more to come practically everyday!

My site is also featured this entire month on the front page of MakeMinePink.com in the center kiosk! Very cool!

There are also more beautiful carpet bags in development under my new "DHD" label (Dianne Hadaway Designs). So please sign up for the newsletter if you haven't already, and stay tuned for the reveals!

Lots of my MMP Pink Sisters are participating in Pink October with special sales, donations, and many other great activities and projects planned for the entire month of October.

So, Have a very PINK day and help us all do all we can to give to the various charities and participate in the various events for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

XOXO ~ Dianne

Pink Carpetbag Bliss!

UPDATE: The New DHD Elegance Carpet Bag is Now Available For Ordering on My Website

This is pure PINK inspiration at it's best. Even I am drooling over my latest creation! It all started just a couple of days ago, when I saw a really cool, huge carpet bag at Horchow, with a really huge price tag to match ($1,000.00)! Ok, so the fabric on that Horchow bag was hand embroidered and it's from a German designer, but I live in the real world and that's quite a chunk of change.

But ... I was inspired and I had already decided a while back that I'd like to add a larger "carpetbag" style to my line, so after some lively discussion with my Pink Sisters over at Make Mine Pink, I was really feeling the creative energy build.

Of course everyone agreed a pink carpetbag would be ideal, and I had just the fabric for it! I bought this damask a while back and it was a major splurge, but that little fabric buying junkie that sits on my shoulder and whispers in my ear actually shouted at me to buy it, so I did. I didn't know what I'd do with it, which is oftentimes the case when I buy fabric, but I digress...

So, ok, I was thinking, yeah, this is good! This is exciting! I'll create a carpetbag as soon as I finish my current orders and as soon as I get my new Pink October bags ready to launch on Oct. 1st. But this bag would not be put aside. Oh no, it is far too special! The universe shifted when I locked onto this idea of the Pink Carpetbag and it took over and viola ... manifested overnight!

Further inspiration came in the form of an opportunity to bid on an MMP spotlight ad that came available at the last minute.Seriously. I bid late yesterday on it, and THEN decided, hey... I'll make that Pink Carpetbag just in case I win the spot! I'm telling ya, the stars were aligned on this one. I went into the "zone" yesterday and with scissors snipping and fibers flying, and leaving an aftermath of brown paper trimmings, various buckles, buttons and threads lying about along with several Diet Coke cans, coffee cups and empty packets of 100 Calorie Lorna Doone snacks, I worked until the wee hours of the morning.

Somewhere around 2 AM, after executing a particularly tricky seam just right ... or so I thought, I discovered my bobbin thread had run out. I took that as a sign and went to bed, remembering that my wee kiddos still needed me to get up in the wee hours and take them to school. I figured I'd grab a nap when I got back home, right after Coffee Chat at MMP.

Oh was I wrong! I guess somewhere along the way I figured someone surely had outbid me on the ad, but it was good to get that bag started anyway. Then the announcement. I WON THE BID. Holy cow. You know how they say be careful what you wish for. They are not kidding. At least be ready for getting what you wish for!

So I panicked for about 10 minutes then whatever dominant writer/creator gene it is that I possess kicked in (writers are notorious for working best under pressure) and I shifted into overdrive. I just barely beat the clock, but I got this gorgeous bag to the photo finish line just in time for the ad deadline. Whew. Now I can rest. Think I'll post my handiwork on the MMP forum and then maybe grab a catnap.

Well, I'll be darned if my good friend, the most illustrious BLOG QUEEN, Sharon of C'est Chouette didn't snag my first Pink Carpetbag right out of the gate! She's a go-getter that Sharon. You have to stay on your toes around her. So, this first one is her's and it'll be heading out on the midnight plane to Dallas tomorrow to be waiting for her when she arrives at the fabulous Hilton Anatole Hotel where the lucky lady is going to be enjoying the most exciting event in years ... The Victoria BLISS 2007 Event!

I wanted to go to that sooooo much. Victoria is my all time favorite magazine (and I'm a confirmed magazineaholic, so that is a strong statement) So just to know that Sharon will be there representing MMP and that she'll be toteing around my newest creation, the PINK CARPETBAG, well that is pure enough Bliss for me.

I'm really beginning to see how things come full circle sometimes when I listen to that voice that whispers in my ear!

Thank you to all for the wonderful comments!!

Make Mine Pink For A Cure

Mama's Pocketbook is gearing up for "Pink October" and so is Make Mine Pink! Visit the Make Mine Pink For A Cure store to find all kinds of pink items and $2.00 from every Make Mine PINK for a cure product will be donated to breast cancer research.

I'll be unveiling my two new Mama's Pocketbook Pink October bags
on October 1st!

I had hoped to do pre-sales, but it turns out that time is not on my side for that. I will be sending out a newsletter on Thurs. Sept. 27th to remind everyone on my newsletter list about all the Pink October activities, including a very special interview I'll have in the MMP "Women Who Inspire" column, with a very special designer for Pink October.

Please sign up for my newsletter if you have not done so! (there's a link here on the blog, in the right side menu!) Thanks!

The Last Fall Tea Party Prizes

I'm late to my own party. Story of my life! Time just really got away from me yesterday and today I was running errands all day long (ok, and shopping and garage saleing!!)

So, to catch up and finish up with the final Fall Tea Party celebrations and giveaways, I will have to be a little creative.

Let's see ... I started the giveaway with a drawing from Wednesday's comments and Michele of Rose Petals and Blooms won a lavendar sachet warmer

Then I backed up and decided to giveaway two more of those sachets in a drawing of those who had commented on Monday & Tuesday. Those winners were Anne F from Momma's Place and Debbie from Cozy Cottage!

So that brings me to needing Winners for Thurs and Fri. and I promised to give away a new design of mine... a lovely floral wristlet bag... On Thurs. I had 7 comments and on Friday I had only 1 commentor... so here's the random number the generator at Random.com picked for Thursday's winner:
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:1
Timestamp: 2007-09-16 03:56:55 IST

That means Lynn of The Vintage Nest is Thursday's winner

and my one and only commentor on Friday was Vicki Palmer of All Bliss Be Thine so she automatically wins for Friday.

Thank you to all my commentors I appreciate each and every one who visited and who took the time to post to me about my tea. This was a lot of fun!

Lynn & Vicki, I will contact the two of you regarding your prizes!

OK, to wrap up the week of tea parties. I promised a final drawing by putting all the posters in a hat. To do this right I had to check each tea related thread for the week and put all the comments into a list in order that they were received. Some of you posted more than once or on more than one day so to give each an equal shot, I assigned your number for your first comment and put your name in the hat only once. That brought me to a total of 24 commentors with the randon winner for Saturday's prize being:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:24
Timestamp: 2007-09-16 04:30:18 IST

Tina from Garden Goose is my final prize winner... and the prize since I put all the comments in a hat, is ... A Sunhat! Tina I'll contact you to get you info so I can send you a Sun Hat from Mama's Pocketbook.

This has been a lot of fun, I've met so many nice people and found some amazing blogs. How will I ever keep up with them all! THANKS again to all who visited me this week! Please come back again real soon. XOXO ~ Dianne

Silly Me! More Prizes...

See this is what happens when you try something new and don't really know what you are doing! LOL! It just went back and looked at all my wonderful comments and realized that the people who visited and posted comments on Monday and Tuesday should have a chance to win a lovely lavender sachet warmer too! Silly me! I was the one late to the tea party, so those who came to see me on those days should get a chance to win a pretty too.

In fact since there are two days there of comments, I'll give away TWO sachets!

Ok, I'm rolling my trusty little random number generator.... for numbers 1 - 9 and the two winners are:

Here are your random numbers:
8
9
Timestamp: 2007-09-14 03:45:54 IST

Which means my lucky winners are: Anne F from Momma's Place and Debbie from Cozy Cottage!

Congrats ladies, I will email you to let you know you've won, and I am completely tuckered out so I promise to post photos of the lavendar sachets tomorrow. I'm going to add these to my site too! They smell sooooooo wonderful! I mix high grade lavender buds with white rice so that you can warm your sachet in the microwave for one minute and use it to soothe tired eyes, headaches and muscle aches ... they are great on the back of the neck!.

Enjoy!