Display Cabinet - A Work in Progress Part II

OK, so I discovered that if I was going to remove the shelves and try to paint them a different color I should have done that BEFORE I put 2-3 coats of primer on it. The shelves would unscrew, but wouldn't budge otherwise. I put the screws back in and decided that the shelves didn't need to be a different color after all.
I also decided to forgo the stencil idea. Great idea, wrong "artist." After talking to my mom, who IS the artist in the family I decided that I do NOT have the patience to do the stencil idea. Instead I am going to print out my avatar / logo and and put that in the windows of the cabinet doors. Those will be full of stock eventually anyway so I don't want people to see my back stock (read mess).
When I get it placed and all nicely stocked I will post a final picture, but for now this is the ALMOST finished product.

Display Cabinet - A Work in Progress!

Literately this IS a work in progress. As of right now I am only 1/3 finished so I decided to blog about it while I let the paint dry.
So, last week at Gingerly Dressed I was talking to my friend Ginger and asked her why one of her vendors did SO well while the rest of us are along the mediocre lines. Her response was enlightening and so I thought I'd share it with everyone.

First, she said Molly has all her own displays, they are similar in color scheme and design no matter what shop you go in, people KNOW its a *Molly Said* product.

Second, she told me Molly's philosophy about keeping things stocked. I've been SO used to the internet way of only stocking things one at a time that I wasn't showing full stock there. It looked like slim pickings and who wants to purchase a product when there isn't a large variety? Ginger tells me that Molly's stocking philosophy is let them decide "which one do I want?", not "do I want one?" Ah HA! So, as you can tell, Molly is the one who is making all the profits while I am making sales, but not lots.

So here is the beginnings of the cabinet, how I found it and the current status of it:

Yesterday, before going to the Foothills Fall Festival (where incidentally Molly's booth is packed with product AND customers) we stopped by a garage sale on my road. I walked up to them and said I know exactly what I need BUT have no idea what it is! They looked at me a little strange, but once I explained the dilemma of needing a display cabinet and not knowing if I need a wall hanging shelf unit, a free standing unit, or what they pointed me toward the other side of the driveway where the furniture is.

TA DA! It was like a beam of light came down from the heavens and shown right on this old stereo cabinet! It had been marked 50% off already and she went down even more. For $22 I got a wood cabinet that was going to get a coat of paint and be ready to go... or so I thought.
It started this dark mahogany wood color (as pictured on the still unpainted door), I picked up a can of kilz (paint primer) and a long handled yet narrow roller. I knew this was going to not be a spray paint job as the shelves were too narrow to spray paint so with Maddie's "help" we started the fist coat of paint.
After I took her to visit with her grandparents I did a second coat thinking "OK, that should do it." And now I've put three coats of KILZ primer on and am thinking that I need to go get some semi-gloss white to put over the primer.

I plan to do the cabinet doors in the same shade green that "Mommy's" shirt is in my logo and put something to block the windows out (maybe a large print pic from each logo on the back of the glass) and keep the doors closed with that area as back stock.

So, after the third coat I was sitting on my bum looking up and noticed that the shelves were screwed in and could have / make that CAN be removed. I am now thinking of removing those shelves (when the third coat is dry) and painting them the same green as the cabinet doors to make it more interesting. Also, I plan to ATTEMPT to stencil the shop name "Mommy's Little Helper" on the sides of the entire unit. Did I mention that I am very creative, but NOT so artistic? We'll see how this goes and I will post the final pictures of it when its complete as well as the ones of it in the shop and fully stocked. For now, back to it!

The Bee's Knees

Just ONE of my lip balm flavors I'm introducing. The Bee's Knees is Honey flavored lip balm. It is made with Bee's Wax, Honey (both from a local apiary), Coconut Oil, Almond Oil, and Coco Butter all Organic. The other flavors will be introduced one at a time. For now, please welcome "The Bee's Knees"!

I have sent out several samples to some of my recent customers and you are welcome to leave comments. Thanks!

NOTE this is NOT vegan since it includes Honey and Bee's Wax, sorry.

Help an Angel in Need Please!

WE NEED YOUR HELP! PLEASE READ!
Someone was rude enough to leave antifreeze in water dishes and food bowls at our facility on September 23, 2008. Antifreeze was also placed in our feeding areas located in our forest preserve.



AWBAR- Abandoned Wild Babies Animal Rescue has already lost one raccoon to antifreeze poisoning. Also wild raccoons are coming back dying in our driveway and yard.

So far 2 of them have been poisoned and 4 others are showing signs of poisoning. Every day they receive 1000 cc of lactated ringer solution (LRS bags) which is a Sub Q IV that is placed under the skin to help flush out the poisons. Also they are receiving shots of antibiotics to help fight any illness since they are so weak.


AWBAR needs your help, our vet bill has already reached to almost $500.00. By making a purchase off our etsy shop www.awbar.etsy.com 100% will go to the vet bills and help the babies get better.

A group of AWBAR volunteers have posted Reward signs in our area leading to the capture and arrest of the individual(s) that have done this to our shelter.


If you click on one of the photos, you will see all of them in a slide show. In the photos, George the raccoon is one of the raccoons that have been poisoned.
http://foowahu.deviantart.com/art/AWBAR-George-goes-to-the-vet-99070852

Thanks everyone for your continued support through this tough time.

Remember 100% of all sales from our AWBAR shop will help pay for the vet bills, and help us raise and release wildlife!

Amanda

www.awbar.com
www.awbar.etsy.com Posted at 12:04 pm, September 30 2008 EST -

SO, LEAVE A COMMENT IF YOU'D LIKE, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY PLEASE GO TO THEIR WEBSITE AND SUPPORT THEM BY PURCHASING PRODUCTS!

GRAND OPENING OF AMERICA'S HANDMADE HOMEFRONT

America's Handmade Homefront is a "Congo" of shops on Hyena Cart! We are having our grand opening today at 3:00 pm. Many of the shops will have SSC's or Special Stocking Codes which can be found in our respective etsy shops and redeemed in the Hyena Cart "Congo." Please take some time and check out Maddie & ME as there are some dresses listed in AHH that are not available elsewhere, and Mommy's Little Helper who has more bulk listings available on AHH. Also, please take some time and visit our website, America's Handmade Homefront and be sure to mark us as a favorite! You can click on any of the links embedded in this message OR simply click on Betsy Ross on the top left corner of my blog!

Come see us and wish us luck!

Product Review

Dunkelberg Designs

Deb Dunk as we call her on the Homefront noticed that I mentioned I was having problems with my pictures. The models looked great, the rest of the photo quality was not comparable to my shop standards. She offered her Professional Photo Editing Service and I couldn't be happier. She is worth every penny for sure! Here are some of the things she's done; before and after shots.

I highly recommend Deb for any Graphic Artistry Work! Consider this a personal and business reference! Thank a million Deb, you gave me my time back at the sewing room doing what I love most. Creating fun new clothing for kids.

Children's Book Review... of a Sort

So this is a bit different than the book reviews that I have been doing. We went to a Children's Yoga Story Time presented by Yoga Instructor Kristina Scott and our local Library. It was SO neat and I was so pleased to see how well my high energy child responded to the calmer side of Yoga.

Kristina started them out by doing lots of wiggling and shaking. This helped most of the Preschoolers to get all the wiggles out before the real Yoga and Story Started.

Then the Story, Rooster's Off to See The World started. The story had many animal characters in it. Every time she read an animal all the kids would act out how that animal would act. This kept them very actively involved in the story.

Rooster, Cat, Toad, Turtle, Fish... they got to act them all out one by one. The basic story line is that Rooster went off to see the world and as he traveled he met each of the animals who joined his journey. In the end each one decided that home really was where they wanted to be.

Kristina, then had the kids all calm back down and end the story on a quasi meditative note.

I was more than impressed with this and can't wait for the next one she does in October.