An Adventure of a Lifetime

I love New Years resolutions and out with the old and in with the new.  Last week was filled with contemplating these things.  How to improve?  What did we do last year that we really should not have done?  What did we do that was successful?  What new ideas do we have for this year?

I really think our Etsy Store is not only a good idea, but a potential money maker.  The Etsy site has proven to be a wealth of knowledge on small business.  This year the Etsy store needs to be pampered more.  We need more influx of new items.  More time needs to be spent at the store, learning from the many articles and fellow Etsians.  The big seller on Etsy last year was handkerchiefs.  Who would have thought?  We did sell a variety of things but the hankies were the big seller.  27 items were sold last year.  This year the goal is to double last year for 54 items (and hopefully more).

The Nereids and Junkanoos have been there for us, but somehow we need to show our wares/wears to more krewes.

Another goal is to get more businesses with their logos on shirts and bags.

Thank goodness for friends who stepped up and said that our product smelled like cigarettes.  We have not allowed smoking in this house for the past 3 months and do not ever plan to allow smoking in here again.  Hopefully, we did not lose sales due to this, but you never know.  That's one mistake we will not make again.

This year will bring in lots of bling via the Mylar embroidery.  A sequin attachment was considered but was simply out of our price range.  As the Mylar digitizing progresses, I'm convinced the Mylar is as blingy, if not moreso, than the sequins.  Additional bling will be in the form of rhinestones.

The designer pockets are becoming more and more interesting.  As I was making some with Mylar, I realized that they look exactly like those fancy sequin appliques that many use to adorn their krewe jackets or wedding dresses.  The real beauty is that the Mylar embroidery can be washed and dried -- but not dry cleaned.

There are several embroidery techniques that I want to try out and/or perfect.  Puff embroidery was fun and interesting.  I'd like to do more with the puff embroidery.  I'm curious about trapunto embroidery.  There is also a type of embroidery where you can make fringe.  So,  I hope to explore more of these techniques this year.  I'm also interested in combining techniques, i.e., embroidery and rhinestones/beads, embroidery and fabric paint.

We now have many more vendors.  The satin jackets and terrycloth robes are no longer a mystery.

All in all this looks like it will be a very exciting year -- an adventure of a lifetime.  Stay tuned:>)