Awesome Shopping

I have done some pretty awesome shopping lately, for a woman who does very little of it. I have to share because I couldn't not!

First up is What's in the Bible. I have already given a rave review of the entire old testament set, but we recently got the Why Do We Call it Christmas DVD and Everyday Emmanuel Advent book. I am as impressed as ever! The DVD answers pretty much every question a person could have about the Christmas season. It is very fun and informative and will likely be watched over and over till I pack it away with the other Christmas movies in January. Everyday Emmanuel is an e-book. I printed the entire thing,  which is somewhere around 90 pages, because I didn't want to read it all on the computer. I cannot wait to use it. It includes instructions to make a very easy and inexpensive pocket countdown calendar. It includes prayers, songs, and devotions for advent Sundays  There are big question days that include videos that can be found online if you have purchased the book. There are lots of activities like baking cookies and activity sheets. We are very excited to make ours and it will be great to use every year! You can save 20% at this link: http://whatsinthebible.extole.com/a/clk/2pWM73


Exciting shopping #2 is Zulily. They have a $10 credit waiting for anyone who is a new member and it can be used till the 27th. As of posting this they have magazine subscriptions with no shipping. I was able to get little guy a 1 year subscription to Ranger Rick Jr for FREE! That is right in my price range! You can find Zulily here: http://www.zulily.com/invite/mmorgan5791

What's in Your Lunch?

Pirate pack collection



School starts today for the public schools in our town. Many kids will bring their lunch boxes for that first lunch of the school year. So what is inside? I bet there will be a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit snacks, chips and crackers. There is one main thing that will be in most of those lunches, garbage! A lot of it too. When I grew up each thing I ate came packaged in some kind of plastic that ended up in the trash when I was done eating. It is one of the main reasons that I designed the lunch packs. Since we don't go to school, we use our for picnics and long car trips. Here is a clip from our listings:



"Pack your lunch box with flair with our complete lunch pack. Not only will lunch time be fun, it will also be environmentally friendly. Your set includes 1 sandwich sized bag, 1 snack size bag, and 1 coordinating napkin for complete lunch time packaging that is entirely reusable. The bags close and open easily with the traditional sandwich bag closure. The outside of each bag is 100% cotton and the interior is nylon. The napkin is 2 sided cotton. All 3 pieces are machine washable. Do not wash or dry any warmer than warm. Hot water or dryer air can melt the nylon and that’s just no good. They can also be brushed out or wiped out and reused between washings."



Halloween pack collection

 School may have started, but it is not too late to make your child's lunch the coolest, and greenest, in school. So stop by the shop and see what is available, and feel free to ask what other colors we have that are not listed yet!

thecrazyelephantboutique.com

Halloween Goodies

Complete lunch set

Halloween is nearly here! Now is the time to stock up on all the Halloween goodies that everyone has to offer. I thought I would share what we have this year.

Send you kiddos off to school with a Halloween lunch set. The Halloween lunch packs are Jayne's new favorites. The set includes 1 sandwich sized bag, 1 snack size bag, and 1 coordinating napkin for complete lunch time packaging that is entirely reusable. The bags close and open easily with the traditional sandwich bag closure. The outside of each bag is 100% cotton and the interior is nylon. The napkin is 2 sided cotton. All 3 pieces are machine washable. Do not wash or dry any warmer than warm. Hot water or dryer air can melt the nylon and that’s just no good. They can also be brushed out or wiped out and reused between washings. This Halloween set is the last of it's kinds, so grab it up before it is gone!

Owie Fixer

Hot off the sewing machine are the black cat owie fixers. This one is a limited edition as well. The case closes like a fold over sandwich bag so you never have to worry about buttons or snaps falling off. 2 layers of flannel encase the ice and cool your child without the stinging cold. This owie fixer has a festive Halloween theme outside and orange on the inside. This print is also available in burp cloth form. Jayne will be using his Halloween burp cloths for fun themed napkins this fall. After 4 years of use, they look like the day I made them.

Tiger hat

We also have some awesome hand knit hats. Adam's hats are quite unique and designed by him. We have the black cat, tiger, and pumpkin hats up right now. They can be custom ordered in any size, but you will want to order them soon if you want to get them in time for Halloween!

Check out everything we have to offer at http://thecrazyelephantboutique.com!

3 Day Birthday Sale

We are running a 3 day birthday sale! The sale runs from Friday the 19th through Sunday the 21st with the 20th being The Crazy Elephant's 2nd birthday. We got a great reaction last time, so we have decided to do a 50% off sale! The sale will run in both our shops this time. At thecrazyelephantboutique.com the prices will reflect the discount. On our etsy page you will need to use the coupon code HAPPY2TCE. So go browse and plan you weekend shopping trip!

P.S. Please bear with me when you stop at my artfire page, since my computer broke down I have not been able to make my new banner yet, Thanks.

A Launch and a Notice

Here it is, the mini crayon roll! It is a super fun add on to car trips and more, anywhere you want to pack light. Each crayon roll comes with 4 crayons but Jayne likes to stuff in 8 and they fit fine. These also have a flap on the top to help keep the crayons inside. I had planned on getting several listed in our shops today and that brings me to part 2 of the post...

My poor computer is sick from a month of high heat and humidity. I can't use the programs that I need to edit my pictures, let alone put the pictures on my computer. Since we do not have AC I may not be able to get back online for a while. In the meantime, Our shops will be closed online and I will not be able to post or anything till we get it worked out. You can still see us at the 3 shows (previous post) and the mini crayon rolls will be there and waiting for new homes. There will be a post on Friday, it is autoposting from earlier in the week and does not mean I am back online yet. When I am back, you will know.

Thanks for holding in there with us and please keep cool!

TCE August Preview

It is a big month for The Crazy Elephant Boutique! This month is our 2nd birthday. Today I am going to give you a preview of what the month has in store.

Our Line - I have created a new line and I will be launching it tomorrow! We have also done some price changes. I have done them already and for the items we have in our shops currently there was only one item that went up. The big deal though is the drop in the price of our lunch packs, perfect with back to school shopping under way.

Live Shows - We have 3 shows coming up this month. The details of each are below...

Rolling Stone Days

August 6th 9am-3pm

At the Park

Rolling Stone, MN

Rolling Stone Days

August 7th 11am-4pm

At the park

Rolling Stone, MN

Zumbrota Block Party

August 18th 5pm-8pm

On the main drag

Zumbrota, MN

Our shops will be closed online during the events, so plan accordingly.

Big Sale - Our actual birthday is on the 20th. We will be running a 3 day sale from roughly 8am on the 19th to 8am on the 22nd. I will give more info on that the day before the sale starts. It will be worth stopping by though!

I am so excited to share our TCE birthday with all of you! So, to start off the month, what is your favorite TCE item?

http://thecrazyelephantboutique.com

May Flowers Collection

May is here and we have had terribly cool weather here in MN. So I made a sweet little collection of flowers you can enjoy all year! Check them out : )

May Flowers

Curated By: thecrazyeleph...

ArtFire.com

Handmade Gifts

Sale at My Place...Stop on By!

This Friday and Saturday, I am hosting a garage sale to raise money for the American Diabetes Association. I will also have The Crazy Elephant and Michelle Morgan Original Art present and 10% of those sales will still go toward our ADA fundraising. If you are in the Stewartville, MN area on those days, you will find us on hwy 30 near St. John's and we will be open from (roughly) 8am - 5pm both days. In the meantime, check out the picks for a small sampling of what we will have. 10% of our online purchases are still going toward our ADA fundraising through the 14th so there is still time to make an order. Also you can make a tax deductible donation on their site here, http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/MinnesotaArea?px=6679453&pg=personal&fr_id=7583

http://thecrazyelephanboutique.com/

http://thecrazyelephant.etsy.com/

Making Goals

What a let down, and on my birthday too...But you know what they say, when life gives you lemons, turn them into hope and ambition!

That is what I am feeling right now and I have made a list of goals for myself to help me make The Crazy Elephant a hopping joint. I want to do well, and I know that means working as hard as I want to do well. I thought I would share my goals with all of you. It helps to get them out of my head and maybe it will help my fellow shop owners with ideas for their own shops.

*List/renew 1 item each day on at least 1 of my TCE sites

*List 1 new item per week on my art page

*Do 1 collection/treasury a week alternating between the 3 shops

*Blog at least 3 times per week (1 about treasury/collection, 1 for illustration friday, and 1 about whatever else is going on.)

*Keep my facebook pages updated

*Get more involved with each of my teams

We Broke 100!

This week we broke 100 sales! It is also my golden birthday on the 28th. To thank all of my wonderful readers and buyers, I am giving you this FANTASTIC deal! Till Mother's day, you can save 28% in both our shops! Just use this code: GOLDEN28MB

This special is for a limited time, so get in while you can! It is for listed items only!

Artfire: http://thecrazyelephantboutique.com

Etsy: http://thecrazyelephant.etsy.com

A Quick Update!

So much is going on lately and I may be able to get my illustration Friday post up later, but for now I wanted to give you all an update on what is happening lately.

*Today is the day they have to have the information in the mail to those that have been accepted into Thursdays on First. For those of you not from this area, it is a huge handmade focused show. We are talking food vendors, Live music, and roughly 15,000 attendees at every Thursday! It is huge and I have been waiting for 2 months to find out if I am in.

*I have started taking photos for pattern packs that will be the main focus in my shop if I do end up getting into Thursdays. I expect that I will be too busy sewing for that to be able to also keep my online shops filled with product. So, you will be able to buy the patterns and make it yourself, or purchase before the first Thursday, or wait till the fall. I will update on that when I find out if I got in!

*My birthday is coming up next week.

*We will be doing a garage sale fundraiser during the city wide garage sale for the American diabetes association and with it a Crazy Elephant open house, so if you are in the Stewartville, MN area keep an eye out for details on our facebook page (http://facebook.com/thecrazyelephant).

*I am also super excited about the social media boot camp they have been hosting on Artfire. I have gotten a lot of awesome info from it. This week is about blogging and guess who's blog was #4 on the list of interesting blogs? MINE! I have to say that I was really excited about making their list!

So it is a little crazy around here lately and as I mentioned before I am getting organized in my home and business. You can expect to see more posts as I plan on scheduling them out. Is there anything you, my lovely readers would like to see me blog about?

Easter Basket Fillers Without Sugar!

It is a good idea to have a little less sugar, and all these items will help fill up the easter baskets without all the sweets. There are items for every age!

Skip the Candy but Fill the Basket!

Curated By: thecrazyeleph...

ArtFire.com

Vintage Fashion

Organize!

I have spent 2 days on this and I finally have it complete. I wanted to get The Crazy Elephant organized, and this is working awesome! It is super easy to make. All you need is a ruler, a notebook, and something to write with. I have a page for each kind of product I sell. Let me walk you through the sections...

Sold - This is where I can mark off sold items during shows. It makes it easier to make sure I don't have listings online that have already been sold. It will also give me a visual of what items sell best and what colors are most popular.

Item Description - This is where I describe the color or item in general.

Qty - This is where I put the amount that I actually have made, not how many I have supplies for or have cut out.

On Artfire - This is where I mark how many I currently have listed on Artfire.

On Etsy - This is where I put the amount I have listed on Etsy for that item.

To Be Listed - This is where I mark how many of that Item I need to list and where.

Everything in my chart is written in pencil so I can change it as I get the listings put in or make a sale. I can add new items as I make them and mark them off as they get listed. It is going to be so much easier to keep track of everything and I will be putting my notebook in the Crazy Elephant section of my Homemakers Journal, which I may be doing a separate post on.

A Wierd 2 Weeks

With our show last Saturday and one coming this Saturday as well, our schedule has been thrown for a loop. I spent most of last week getting ready for the women's expo and this week we started training for the Tour de Cure and I have been restocking on a few items I sold last week. The Crazy Elephant will be closed Friday through Sunday for the show this weekend (St Pius X in Rochester from 9-3) and next week I should back to listing and blogging as normal. The women's expo went well and I hope this weekend is just as good or even better. Shown is a photo from my display last week. This was also the premiere of Adam's sign holder. It was SO easy! I love it and the braided ribbons I did on the side helped it to look very nice.

Spring is Peeking Out!

Spring shows are upon us and I have been busy stocking up for the occasion! They are right around the corner now and I am excited to be out with The Crazy Elephant again after so many long winter months without a show. So here are the details if you are looking for us. We have 2 shows coming up rather soon...

Stewartville Women's Expo
10a-3p March 26th
Stewartville civic center

Spring Bazaar and Expo
9a-3p April 2nd
St Pius X Church