haeven

No, that's not me, that's a beauty painted by the great pin-up artists Elvgren... though it would be nice.

Now, here's a product launch I've been looking forward to! I finally released by Floor and Glass Cleaner to the wide world. I tested this on various and sundry glass and floor surfaces and am satisfied that you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

Now, this isn't for wood floors... that product will come later, but it will tidy up those bathroom and kitchen floors right nice, and what it does for glass... well if it can remove cocoa butter lotion from a bathroom mirror (I have a 4 year old, don't ask), well you just have to have it.


And check these cuties out. I've decided to give everyone a truly unique way to carry around their laundry washing powder... I've loaded up 32 loads of my powder into this great reusable lined drawstring, and you're off to the laundromat in style.

The bag is lined with repurposed plastic (finally found a good use for those grocery bags my un-enlightened husband and brother-in-law keeps bringing home), so they are water resistant. They're also washable -- though not dryer safe -- so you can change up scents easily.

Speaking of scents, I've expanded my line of washing powder scents. Now you can get:

lavender/chamomile
lavender
chamomile
black tea
sandalwood
asian citrus
sunflower
dark ginger
and the usual regular scent.

So, yes, very happy and very accomplished today. Now I have to decide whether I'm really going to be able to put together 300 samples for an event. It's a hard decision, because it's connected to a relatively prestigious company, but I don't want to half-a$$ it, you know.

I'll be back on Monday with my Artisans of the Day. I really miss sharing them with you; and now that I'm feeling more sociable, I should get back to sharing.

Y'all know what I'm talking about. Looks a little something like this


<----- And, yes, I'm talking about it now -- in August, three months before our actual Black Friday.

One wonders whether people will actually participate in Black Friday this years, with the economy sucking wind the way it is. One wonders whether people will even participate in Cyber Monday.

I think people will, despite themselves. The sales on Black Friday are almost too good to resist. I know my silly behind will stand in a line at you-know-where at 6:00am, just to get my shop on. I'll even hang out at my online haunts to see what's going on there as well. Hopefully my suppliers will jump on the wagon and give us crafters some supplies at some good prices.

I used to work in retail. As a cashier/CS Associate/whipping girl for ignorant customers, I hated BF. I actually disliked the entire Holiday Shopping Season, which, by the time I left the industry, started in October.

That said, I think that we online sellers need to gird our loins and get to gettin' ready to convince those poor folk who brave the hordes to take it easy and shop online. And I think we should do it earlier than the Brick & Mortar shops.

One of the reasons that Black Friday got its name was that it was considered the one day where most retailers when from being "in the red" (losing profit) to being "in the black" (gaining profit). Why can't the online handmade industry do the same?

Here's the idea:

I'm making plans to start a massive campaign, getting potential customers ready to storm Etsy and Artfire on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I say massive because I want to bring some of you along.

I'm thinking of maybe a coupon book of sorts, something we all can sell/promote in our shops, chock full of coupons, samples and savings that can be used during this awesome weekend. I'll be happy (read: crazy) enough to handle the fulfillment of the orders we all receive right out of my house -- I even have a place cleared out just for storage. So I don't get overwhelmed, I'm probably going to limit it to 50 people from each venue. I've even got a wonderful spot just cleared up in my room I can dedicate to this venture.

If you are at all interested in contributing either samples OR coupons, or even help with the shipping of the books/samples, go ahead and comment here or email me at ha.ven@live.com. I'm going to develop some guidelines over the weekending and have them ready by Monday.

I'm serious. I would hate for Wally-World to look like this

and for our shops to look like this