To Makeover or Not to Makeover?

I've been thinking of giving Betty Bow Blue a mini-makeover. I was printing out my own business cards and packaging, but quite frankly cutting out each one got a little old. I ordered new business cards, with a new logo on them, and would like for everything (cards, packaging, Etsy shop, etc.) to be cohesive.

New business cards

I chose my original image because one of my sisters thought that everything should have a 40s vibe to it because she felt that my products evoked that feeling. The newer image is more modern. Which do you like better? Should I stick with the old one or welcome the new? (See poll on the right sidebar).

Etsy banners:

Old

New

Logo:

Old

New

Opinions?

New Headband Holder

I know that I haven't posted the survey results for the headband holders yet, but I wanted to share one that I made today. I wasn't really planning on starting these already, but I had received two requests through Facebook for one. Then I found out that there is an upcoming craft fair in town that I am trying to sign up for (waiting for the woman in charge to email me back). So I decided to make some of these earlier than planned in anticipation for the craft fair (on February 18th).

I prepared all of my materials the last night:

I had high aspirations of finishing two of these today.

And impatiently waited until naptime today to "whip" one up.

Here is the first one that I have made up (excluding my "mock-up" that was shared in the survey):

The blue fabric is for the next one.

This darn thing took me about TWO hours to finish! And that's not including the time that it took me to measure and cut the fabric and the batting the night before.

I'm not really sure if I like how this one turned out. The pom fringe doesn't really look how I had pictured it would, and I think it might be a little overkill once headbands and hair clips are added. There is a dark purple in the fabric, which coordinates with the ribbon and fringe, but it's a little difficult to see in this photo. There are two hair clip ribbons on this one (the consensus from the survey was to have two), and the padded lid removes for extra storage inside, for hairbrushes, combs, hair ties, etc.:

Tabs inside prevent it from falling inside the container.

I am still debating whether or not I want to try to track down some bases for these, as shown in the mock-up, using one of my votive bases:

What do you think, don't worry about a base, or definitely include one? Ditch the pom fringe, or keep it?

A Farewell to Bethany

It is with a heavy heart that I announce the loss of "Bethany", a beloved member of the Betty Bow Blue family.

You will be missed.

With one final snip of the scissors, Bethany was no more. She had a good run while it lasted, and was a favorite of many. Throughout her lifetime, Bethany was able to produce a pair of hair clips, two flower headbands, a flower pin, two pom pins, FOUR necklaces, and most recently, two pom rings. She was a bestseller.

If you are one of the unfortunate few who do not own a piece of Bethany, now's the time to act! One pom pin, and one pom ring (see photo below), are still available for purchase. Move quickly before she is gone completely!

For now, let's take a moment of silence to remember the best of Bethany:

And for the record, yes, I am fully aware that I am a dork. :-)

Ring Survey Results

33 people completed this survey:

1. Which size would you prefer?

• The 1 1/4" pom (tan)- 30.3% (10)
• The 1" pom (gold)- 60.6% (20)
• Neither- 9.1% (3)
• Other: "I prefer the smaller one, but like them both... very cute."

2. Which ring base would you prefer? (This question was added later, so there are only 19 responses)

• An adjustable metal base- 63.2% (12)
• Elastic- 15.8% (3)
• Either- 21.2% (4)

3. Which metal ring base would you prefer? (Select all the apply)

• Antique silver- 24.2% (8)
• Gold- 12.1% (4)
• Antique bronze- 27.3% (9)
• Silver- 30.3% (10)
• Any, depending on the color of the pom- 42.4% (14)

4. Solids or prints? Cool or warm colors? Etc.

• Answers for this question were pretty much all over the place, as was expected. There was a good mix of responses for just about all colors and prints/solids. A couple of people brought up some questions/suggestions in this section, which I will address later.

5.  Min/max price range that you would pay for this ring:

• The majority of the responders agreed with the $6-$8 price range that similar rings are being listed for on Etsy. (I say similar rings because I have yet to find any listings on Etsy for a fabric pom ring like this one. The closest that I can find are either cabochons or yarn poms). A few people suggested $5-$7, while others went as high as $10-$15! The lowest suggestion was $2! (Which I'm hoping was a typo, because that is less than it costs me to make these!). 

Someone mentioned to me that they would have liked to have seen an "Additional Comments" on the surveys, which I agree would have been great, however, I was limited to a certain number of questions, and that included the photos. Fortunately, a few responders took advantage of the "other" answer options, or the places where you could type in your response, and used that to voice a few concerns and suggestions.

A couple of responders mentioned "full" vs. "less full" poms. The poms that I intend to make for these rings will be fuller than the two shown. I just whipped up those two in a hurry so I could have photos for the surveys. Another responder wanted to know how I would keep the rings from fraying, which is a legitimate concern. The poms will be sealed around the edges to help prevent fraying, I just didn't waste the time to do that with my sample rings. A third person suggested that I make fabric button rings, using leftover buttons from the bracelets. While this is a great suggestion, if I do make some, then I will probably limit them to craft fairs, as the fabric button rings are everywhere on Etsy!

My bases for the rings arrived last week, so I will probably get started making some soon. I am delighted to say that I have already received an order for a ring! Someone saw a similar ring on a television show recently, fell in love with it, and has asked me to make her one. I will be picking up the fabric on Saturday, (as she has requested a color that I didn't have on hand), and will let you all know how it turns out! (Thanks again, L!)

Feel free to contact me (via email or Facebook) if you would also like to put in a request for a custom order, or if you have any other questions about them. I am headed to the fabric store on Saturday to restock a few supplies, so if anyone wants one in a color that I don't have, I will have to pick it up then. (I don't get to the store often, so I have to get everything at once).

Thank you again to everyone who responded to the survey! All feedback was appreciated.

First Custom Order

Recently one of my sisters asked me to make a REAL custom order, (as opposed to asking me to make a duplicate of an item that I've already made). She wanted hair clips to match a dress that she bought as a Christmas gift for two sisters. Here is what the dress looks like:

From JCPenney

I was actually pretty excited about doing this, and I love how the matching hair clips turned out. The sisters are 5 and 2, so I made two different sized poms for the clips, (a little difficult to tell in this photo).

The greens matched better in real life, the blue ended up being a little off from the actual blue in the dress, but I blame that on the photo from JCPenney, since they appear to be the same on my screen. :-) My sister also asked me for two headbands for each girl, which proved to be a little more challenging than one might think, but only because the girls have red hair, so I had to make sure I made something that would look well with red. I already had a couple of headbands on hand, but also came up with two new headbands:

Rumor has it that the girls loved the headbands, and one of them HAD to wear hers the rest of the day. That's what I like to hear!

I have created two tutorials while I was making these items, so I'll be sharing those some time later.

Shop Update

My Etsy shop is up and running again after some price revamping for that market, but don't balk at those prices just yet! Yes, they are higher, but remember that those prices are going to be different than my local/craft fair prices (which have also had a slight price adjustment to reflect time and materials). Anyone who placed a custom order with me prior to this price change will still be charged the old price. Also, contacting and buying from me directly, (not through Etsy) will result in a discounted price (from the Etsy prices), as explained in my earlier pricing post. No more losing money for me!

Here's a look at things to come in the next month or two.

Rings: I am awaiting a shipment of ring bases to begin working on those. (Survey results coming soon). You can expect to see some of those in my shop by the end of the month. Update: Ring bases arrived yesterday!

Bracelets: I am getting ready to place my order for bracelet bases and as soon as I receive all of the supplies for these, I should be able to start on those right away and have those in my shop by the end of January or beginning of February.Update: Supplies for bracelets were purchased today!

Headband holders: I will probably start making these in February (unless you contact me earlier for a custom order), as I have already had some interest in them. Canisters are being collected and the kinks are being worked out now. I don't know that I will be listing these in my Etsy shop, or just offering them through Facebook and personal sales.

Headbands: I have had several questions about headbands for infants, so I am now going to start offering crochet head wraps along with the elastic and fabric-wrapped headbands. These will be available for fabric flowers, 3" poms, and the "coming-soon" felt flowers. The fabric-wrapped plastic headbands that I usually use are starting to get a little difficult to find in different colors. This may mean that they are on their way out and will need to be replaced by something else, (another reason why I now sell my fabric flowers by themselves).

Felt Flowers: I really love the one I made, so I will be making these within the next month or so too. They will be available as pins, clips, and headbands. Flower designs will include dahlias and sunflowers, with the possibility of others.

I think that may be it for updates right now. Starting next week, I will be working two days a week (baby-sitting on Tuesdays and subbing on Fridays), so that will help move things along, I hope.

Earring Survey Results

30 people responded to the earring survey, (and one silly goose who inadvertently skipped it).

Photo/Project Credit: Happy Together

1. Who do you think that earrings like these would be more appropriately targeted toward (Select all that apply)

• Women- 30%- (9)
• Teens- 50%- (15)
• Young girls- 50% (15)
• Other (6): "i would think high school, college, young adults would wear there, very cute!"; "tweens"; "Seniors, too."; "Young women-early 20's"; "Depending on the fabric color it could be for young girls too."; "While I think they would be most appropriate looking on younger girls, they also might not hold up on them."

2. If you were to wear these, or buy them for someone else, would you prefer solid, prints, pearls, beads, cool, warm, or neutrals? (FYI, I had to use this format for the question because I was only allowed to have 10 questions per survey and this one was part of the bracelet survey).

• Answers for this question were all over the place, but the general consensus was that anything would go. Winner of the best feedback response was: "both solid and prints would work for me. again, if it is something like this that is a little out of the box for earrings-i think the women that would wear these would like fun colors and prints rather than neutrals. Pearls are beautiful, but if you had a sparkly tiny button that would be gorgeous too! Love sparkles."

3. The average min/max price range that people said that they would pay for these is $7.50-$10.30. $5 was the lowest price suggested and $15 the highest. Three people claimed that they would not buy them at all.

My MPW suggested the following: wholesale price- $6.54; "safe" price- $11.54; retail price: $13.08, which seems to have underestimated a bit? Originally, I was thinking of pricing these for a craft fair at $4.00 a pair! Seems as though I was underestimating what people would pay, too!

I would like to reply to a couple of feedback comments/concerns that I received regarding these earrings. Actually, I think it's only one comment. One responder who said that they would not buy these, explained, "The fabric looks [like] it will fray, and they look a little gaudy." To which my response is, to each his own. I would personally never wear these either, as I prefer my earrings to dangle a bit, but I know that there are some women out there who would.

The main reason that I was considering making these earrings when I came across them was because there were so many women at my last craft fair who were excited about my pom hair clips, thinking that they were actually earrings. They were disappointed to find out that they were in fact hair clips. I couldn't help thinking first, that the poms were much too large to be mistaken for earrings, (they are 1.5"-2" in diameter!) and secondly, how gaudy that would look, but again, to each his own. But then I started thinking, well what about a smaller version of the pom....

As far as fraying goes, I think that the natural fraying of the earrings in the photo from Happy Together, actually added to the charm of them, except maybe that long bit hanging out on the left side of the photo:

Photo/Project Credit: Happy Together

 However, I believe in selling a product that is going to hold up and not fall apart on my customer, so I was planning to seal the edges of the fabric before constructing the earrings. Which I did, with the second pair that I made:

I actually wasn't very crazy about how these turned out, nor was I satisfied with the whole process in general. Hand-sewing the tiny fabric pieces together was a pain in my tushy, and I am too much of a perfectionist to have them appear sporadically arranged and messy as they did in the original tutorial, (as seen in the blue earring on the far right):

Photo/Project Credit: Happy Together

So, all things considered, I concluded that I will not be making these earrings. I didn't really enjoy doing it, nor did I like the end result enough to want to make more. If I'm going to spend valuable time on an item, then I want to be able to be proud of it, regardless of whether or not I would wear it myself.

Thank you again to everyone for the wonderful feedback! Expect to see the ring and headband holder survey results within the next week, and if you haven't checked out the results for the bracelets yet, check them out here.