Craft Show

We did our last craft show recently. It was a nice day and it was our last mainly because we are going to go pads only in our shop and pads sell great online but not well in small town MN. The big new thing though was that my little guy was selling his confetti at his first show. He even sold his first bag which was incredibly exciting! Below is a photo of our display. His confetti is on top of one of the center boxes.

Holiday Showcase: The Crazy Elephant

The holiday showcase is back for another year! I will be honest, I almost forgot all about it! I'm glad I didn't though because I will be featuring some awesome handmade shops to help you with your handmade holiday. As usual I am starting with me, especially since there have been so many changes this last year.

Where can we find you?

thecrazyelephantboutique.com
facebook.com/thecrazyelephant

What is life like in your studio?

Generally, I try to cut a series of pads, or what ever I am making that week, one afternoon a week. I get about 4 hours a week after little guy's bed time to do sewing, marathon style. I do my best to get about 20-25 listings up or restocked per week. I take care of my blog and online work to the sound of a 5 year old singing the Star Wars theme at the top of his lungs...very motivational!

What is your favorite giftable in your shop?

My favorite gift item in my shop this holiday is the penguin marble maze! They come in many prints but the one in the pic is my absolute favorite. They can go with you anywhere and they are a great quiet toy for the kids. Adults love them too and play with them as much as the kids!

Why is handmade important to you?

It is special! Handmade items hold meaning to people. A machine made plush is easily tossed out or forgotten, but something that has been made with love for someone with their own hands is just special. Plus it just feels good to have something that no one else can just run out and copy.

Share a handmade gift anyone can make.

Last year we made my in-laws a homemade pizza kit. We included a jar of pizza dough mix I made from scratch, a mini can of tomato sauce, and a package of pepperoni. It was a big hit and since it was consumable it did not take up space once it was used.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

We have grown and changed so much in the last year and I just have to say thank you to all my fantastic fans and customers! You guys are simply awesome!

Birthday Swag

I am happy to host a birthday giveaway for The Crazy Elephant! Granted, I am the woman behind the elephant. Enter to win a $10 gift certificate to thecrazyelephantboutique.com and make sure to follow on facebook to enter the daily trivia challenge to win yourself a 30% off coupon code. Happy 3rd birthday Crazy Elephant!

Visit thecrazyelephantboutique's ArtFire Shop

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Crazy Blog

The Crazy Elephant now has it's own blog! I will be using it to put out information about the shop and our items and will be putting up some tutorials for green products you can make for yourself too. I highly recommend checking it out. It is still small but will be updated often. I would love to see my followers section grow over there. Visit the new blog here: thecrazyelephantboutique.blogspot.com

May Crayon Roll of the Month

I realize that this is later than normal, but I still can't believe it isn't April any more. So, better late than never. This month's crayon roll is How Your Garden Grows and is great for spring gardening season, which is just getting started here in Minnesota.

Spring Cleaning Sale

We are having a huge spring cleaning sale at The Crazy Elephant and you are all invited! A lot of items have sold already but there is still a good variety left. All items in this section are $1.99-4.99. There are crayon rolls, pads, nursing pads, lunch bags, owie fixers, burp cloths, and pantiliner packs. I will be adding more this week, but they are going fast, so stock up before they are gone!

You can find the sale section at http://www.etsy.com/shop/thecrazyelephant?section_id=7772234

May Goals

It is a new month again and I can check off my goal from last month! So much happened last month and since I just let things happen naturally it wasn't bad.This month I am ready for a fresh set of goals. Here they are...

• We have made the decision to stay 100% on Etsy till we double in growth from where we are. So my goal is to do a minimum of 25 listings up a week. This way my available items go up along with traffic, they go hand in hand.
• This month we are going to finish up the school year for preschool. We have a couple of fun weeks coming up, including garden week and ice cream week. It should be fun and I look forward to a few months of lighter workload as we take our break...we will still be doing the All About Reading curriculum over the summer though so we don't have to start from the beginning in the fall.
• Most important is that we fix our roof. We have some unwelcome tenants (birds and squirrels) and we need to repair the damage they have caused. I am saving up the money to pay for it with my TCE sales but I have a lot more work to do before the roof is paid for.

Well, those are my big 3. They are totally doable if we set our minds to it. What are your goals for the month?

May Colors

We love doing custom orders! Here are the colors we currently have available for order.

Current colors:

Owls in the Garden, Craftaholic, Biking in Paris, Sky Clouds

Hoot Owl, Bird Cage, Kitty Cat Meow, Birds in the Trees

Clouds: Red, Magenta, Aqua, Blue, Lime, Tan, Sky

Dots: Pink, Blue Green

Advice to an Etsy Newbie

I have helped a number of people get their Esty start over the last year. I love helping people get started. It just feels good knowing that I am doing something for someone else. I had another contact today about getting help starting up and thought it was high time to do a post for everyone with some great starting out advise. Here are the answers to some of the questions I get the most...

How long does it take to get sales?

It depends, on a lot! Don't expect to take off right away. Some shops get going quickly and some are slow going for a while. It took me about 3 weeks to get my first sale and about 3 months before the first sale from someone I didn't know. My sales didn't truly take off till I stopped working to be a stay at home mom and they have grown quite a bit since. My advise for gaining sales is to work hard. You will get out of it what you put into it. If you aren't working you aren't selling. I was down and out with a cold for a week this month and my sales plummeted only to be regained when I came back full force. It takes a lot of work, so don't think you are signing up for the easy life.

How does one get the shipping price correct?

Serious trial and error. I have changed my shipping prices several times over the the nearly 3 years years ago. It depends on how the items are packaged,what they weigh, and where they are going. It is definitely worth making the effort to place international prices too. It is so much easier than you would think and it is just fun to ship all over the world.

How long did it take for you to feel that your etsy business was making a decent profit?
For me it was in January, this year, after 2 1/2 years of work. Something clicked for our shop and we are just keeping it going. Just make sure your items are priced competitively while still leaving a profit margin. This is another trial and error area.

How do you get traffic?

Well, if you are reading this, you know one way. I use my blog, Facebook, Twitter (linked to my FB), and pintrest to spread the word. I am also a member of a handful of fantastic teams. Treasuries are great too. This is where a good portion of the work comes in. Etsy is great for search, but being able to truly connect with your customers is wonderful. They will let you know what they like and what they want and they will be able to see the new things you have in stock and sales that you are running.

One last tip is about listings. Use all 5 of your photos if possible. Make sure your photos are amazing! They are what is going to sell your item. I just started using fotofuze.com to get that super white background and it helps so much. Make sure you have an interesting description and as many tags as you can think of. You can put 3 words in each tag and each of them will work separately in searches.

That is about all I can think of at the moment. I love to help, so feel free to ask more questions or share your own advise!

PoM Club is Here

The pad of the month club is here! You can join the fun here.

Here is the info...

The first week of each month we will ship a new pad to you. It will come in a mystery color or print so it will be very exciting to see what will come each month. At the end of th year you will have 3 panty liners, 3 medium short pads, 2 of each of our other pads, and 2 panty liner packs for when you are on the go.

 

Here is what you get and when:

Month 1 - Pantiliner with pack

Month 2 - Medium absorb short pad
Month 3 - Mediun absorb long pad
Month 4 - Heavy absorb short pad
Month 5 - Heavy absorb long pad
Month 6 - Pantiliner with pack
Month 7 - Medium absorb short pad
Month 8 - Mediun absorb long pad
Month 9 - Heavy absorb short pad
Month 10 - Heavy absorb long pad
Month 11 - Pantiliner
Month 12 - Medium absorb short pad

This is a fun way to either build or add to your stash. Plus who doesn't like a little surprise in the mail each month. Your first pad will come the month after you order (example: Order in May, first pad in June).

All of our pads are easy to care for, just toss them in the wash and wear them again. The edges are cut with a pinking shears and will fray. This leaves less bulk than sewing the edges under and makes them more comfortable as well as helping to conform to your body.

All our products are made in a smokeless home. Our fabrics are pre-washed before sewing.

Our absorbency levels:
Light - Panty liner for very light flow/spotting
Medium - pad for everyday/normal flow
Heavy - pad for heavier flow days

Looking for absorbency information? You can learn more at http://morganbubble.blogspot.com/2012/02/pad-absorbancy.html

Pad of the Month

This is my latest work in progress, the pad of the month club! What better way to perk up your period than a mystery pad in the mail every month? I will be listing this fun new monthly joy in my shops some time this week. Here is the set up I have planned, the first week of each month you will get a new pad. It will come in a mystery color or print so it will be very exciting to see what will come each month. Below I have listed what will come each of the 12 months (in order). At the end you will have 3 panty liners, 3 medium short pads, 2 of each of our outher pads, and 2 panty liner packs for when you are on the go.

• Panty liner with pack
• medium short pad
• medium long pad
• heavy short pad
• heavy long pad
• Panty liner with pack
• medium short pad
• medium long pad
• heavy short pad
• heavy long pad
• Panty liner
• medium short pad

You can find all of our pads at thecrazyelephantboutique.com

Owl Roll

It is a new month and that means it is crayon roll of the month time! April's roll hosts a fantastically cute owl. You can find our crayon rolls and so much more at thecrazyelephantboutique.com!

Neon green owl with cream face

Each roll has a little hooooo stitched above it, a sweet little touch.

Always filled with crayons and you get a set of coloring pages in your e-mail too!

Bowtacular!

The bows are here! It didn't take long for me to develop a passion for bows, but I did and now they are available for everyone! I am really excited about my new bow line. I am starting off with 2 styles of bow, each with a large and small version. They are made with eco-fi felt which means they are ultimately made of plastic bottles. Each one has a lined alligator clip on the back with heat sealed edges on the ribbon and a grip strip to keep the bow in your (or your little one's) hair.

The Alice bow is my personal favorite. I named it for Alice from alice in wonderland. The tails really make this one and it is super girly. It makes up the majority of my collection and I pretty much wear them everywhere. You can find the Alice bows here.

Style number 2 is the Junie bow. It is named for June Cleaver, some of you might know who that is. This bow is great for a suble touch of girliness. This is a good where anywhere bow. I use this one a lot when I am cleaning the house and want that girly feeling back. The Junie would also be great for girls who want a bow, but don't want to go as far as the Alice bow. Sometimes simple is just good. You can find the Junie bows here.

Currently we have pink, yellow, blue, and green. Latter this week and next I will have hot pink, neon green, light gray, and cotton candy pink available. You can find all of our bows, and so much more, at thecrazyelephantboutique.com.

Grand Opening

After 2 weeks of hard work, our new shop front is open for business! I will start off with the best for for my shoppers then go on to a tour of the new shop.

So, what is the best part? My blog followers can save 15% on purchases at the new store for a whole month! Go to thecrazyelephantboutique.com and use the coupon code GrandOpeningMB to start saving.

 Here is the home page. Each category has a lovely picture to give you an idea of what you are getting yourself into. A benefit of the new page is that each type of item gets it's own category, no more sharing like in the etsy shop. It makes it easy to go right to the item you are looking for.

 A few of the categories click right into a sub category. This way you can easily find the pad or bow you are looking for and don't have to sift through all the different types to find the heavy absorbency short pad you are looking for. As you can see, the bows are now available as well! You can only find our eco felt bows on the new site.

This is my favorite part, if I had to choose from all the different parts I like, is the color option. The cloud print flannels for instance have 6 color options in the cloud listing. It means only 1 listing worth of work for me and easy for my shoppers to get all the colors they want. So keep an eye out for the "many colors available" title to find lots of options. One last little perk you will find is that I have lowered the multiple item shipping fee for this site only. I am saving on listing fees and so I am extending that to my customers. I hope you all enjoy the new site and feel free to let me know what you think of it. I want it to be useful and easy to use for all of my fantastic shoppers!

Sneak Peek

With my growth of sales we (Adam and I) have decided it is time to take the leap to a non etsy website. There are a huge number of benefits for all. First there is a straight up monthly fee, no more paying transaction and listing fees wich are getting higher and higher as we grow. There is the freedom to design a shop that fits our store. Plus we are able to organize all of our items to make it as easy as possible for everyone to find the items they are looking for! Check out this pic for a sneak peek of what you will see when you hit the new shop. We are planning the grand oopening for March 21st!

Our new home page!

Heavy Absorb Pads

The trial run of the heavy absorbency pads are all but sold out and I have already taken custom orders for them. The line was asked for by some of my heavier flow customers and has really taken off, and a lot faster than I expected at that. With a new line comes another installment of pad info for all those who have questions about them.

The heavy absorbency pads are made with 2 layers of flannel, 1 layer of Zorb, and a layer of fleece. The fleece is super soft on your body, comes in very fun prints or neutrals, and is absorbent. The soft zorb is super absorbent. The fleece backing on the heavy pad is brown, making it easy to tell the difference between your medium absorbency pads and heavy pads. They come in both the short length (roughly 10 inches long, 3.5 inches across at the widest point and 2.75 inches across the narrowest point) and long length (roughly 12 inches long, 3.75 inches across at the widest point and 3 inches across the narrowest point).

The new heavy pads are a little bulkier than the original or medium absorb pads. They still feel very soft an cozy though and are not a distraction at all. The only other difference is that the heavy pads can hold twice as much fluid. This makes them great for heavy days.

You can expect to see more heavy pads available soon and feel free to contact me for custom orders. Let me know if you have any questions and I will make sure to answer them!

Find all of our pads at thecrazyelephantboutique.com

Marble Mazes

We have new mazes in our shop! For spring I have designed 3 new mazes...

The egg shape is just in time for easter and is a little more difficult, acording to our 4 year old.

The mini maze is extra portable and great for the littlest hands.

The regular rectangle mazes now have a new layout so you can add maze variety.

March Roll

It is march and that means it is time for the crayon roll of the month! This one is "bow"rific and the color shown is only available once! That is a one of a kind there. You can find all of my crayon rolls at thecrazyelephantboutique.com!

Made with eco felt so your kiddos can play and keep the earth clean!

I have been going bow crazy and I think it worked out great.

March Goals

Happy leap day! Today only comes once every 4 years. I will spend this extra special day sharing my March goals. I normally take a look back at how the goals from the previous month went. That won't be happening this month. We'll just sum up with, not so well. I am not going to dwell on how poorly February went though. I am going to go into the next month with optimism and resolve!

• Exercise - It went way down last month and I am going to stick with the goal of 120 minutes a week. It worked well before and I can do it again.
• The Crazy Elephant has been growing, a lot! Adam is giving me Wednesdays as a "work" day and evenings as computer time and it is working very well. The goal is to list at least 25 items per week with a long term goal of having a steady 250 items in shop by the end of the year.
• March is also the soft start of spring cleaning! I am going to be doing a kind of prep cleaning before the big clean in April. I am also going to be posting a weekly spring cleaning post on the Moms in Step blog. Feel free to follow it if you want to spring clean with me!

I hope everyone has a great March and feel free to share some of your goals in the comments section. You never know when you might inspire someone.

Mini Tags

I got these super cute mini tags from Paper Creations by Deb on Etsy. I came up with a great tool for restocking my pads with it...

Here is how it works...
Each card is for one fabric and lists the pad sizes. When one sells I mark it with a clip. When sewing day comes around I have all the items marked that need to be sewn and relisted. Plus I can keep reusing them instead of trying to organize a pile of sticky note. Cool, huh?