Tag Archives: houston

2013: A Year in Review

Happy Holidays! Whew! I apologize for my radio silence for the majority of this year. I promise 2014 will be back on track around here!

I think I had a pretty good excuse for my distraction. You see, in 2013, we had a little baby owlette! Being pregnant and having a newborn kept me pretty busy!

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baby girl hazel

Now, I know this isn’t meant to be a lifestyle blog, so I will keep my gripes about being preggo and gushing about our new little hazelnut to a minimum. I’m now running Lazy Owl Boutique (the business and the blog) as a full-time stay-at-home-mom of a 3-month old (that was a lot of hyphens).

Business aside, 2013 was a great year for Lazy Owl, and I hope it was a record year for your creative business as well. I’ve revisited my blog posts from the end of last year, Planning for Positivity and a Year in Reflection. The lessons from these articles can easily be re-applied to this year. First, let’s review what we’ve accomplished in 2013!

Positive notes for me and my creative venture in 2013:

  • Continued to generate new content for this blog over the first quarter of the year, gaining new followers and ever-increasing stats (even without updates, the hits keep coming! make a website yall!)
  • Maintained steady sales orders and revenue over on Etsy
  • Became a vendor at a new local shop in Houston for handcrafted goods, The Tinderbox
  • Sold for the first time at Pop Shop Houston, a handmade holiday market, and it was AMAZING!
  • Got a new camera, learned to (sort of) use it, and upped my listing photography skills
  • Continued to re-do my branding and imagery (I updated my banner, Facebook look, and business cards so far), and learned how to use Photoshop to do so on my own
  • Experimented with some new product line ideas, and figured out what did and did not work (like I am never going to be good at calligraphy haha)

That was the good stuff. Considering all that happened for me personally in 2013 (mostly baby stuff), I’m glad I was able to accomplish anything business-wise. I will admit that my sales did not increase nearly as much as I had hoped for this year, but the limiting factor in that equation was myself. I just did not have the time or energy to put as much effort into Lazy Owl as I had planned, and without constant effort, you’re not going to get the bigger payoff. However, I think that’s what’s so great about being a creative entrepreneur…you’re in charge of your destiny. The business is here when you need it, and if you need to step back for a while to focus on other things, you have the flexibility to do so.

I’m re-posting the same free printable I posted last year, but with a few new tweaks to really get you thinking about what you accomplished this year and ramp up your planning for the next. I added the “Personal” section, along with a capstone question – What did you learn this year about your business and yourself as an entrepreneur? If you had to sum up 2013 as one big lesson to lend toward your success next year, what would you say? For me, I’d say that in 2013 I learned that Lazy Owl can only be as successful as I’m willing to make it. I can only make so much money and generate a certain level of success by letting it (and myself) coast along. It really is important for me to do a little something to benefit my business everyday if I truly want to reach the goals I have in the near future.

Here’s the downloadable printable in all its glory. Click to download and dig deep into what you’ve accomplished this year. Even if you’re just starting out, it’s important to give yourself a pat on the back for what you’ve gotten done thus far!

free printable

SIDE NOTE! I just have to use this venue as my free plug for shopping Lazy Owl for the holidays. There’s still a few days left to order some fun handcrafted jewelry in time for Christmas! If you use code OWLBLOG you can get $5 off any order $15 or more!

wire-wrapped ring featuring raw pyrite nugget of fun, this year’s most popular Lazy Owl gift!

Up next, we’ll discuss planning for positivity and growth in 2014!

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Rescue Dog for Adoption: Home for the Holidays

Hi guys!

Slightly off-topic for today, we’re going to talk about animal rescue! Since moving to Houston, I’ve become painfully aware of the plight of abused, stray, and neglected animals. Hardly a day goes by where I don’t see a sad stray dog wandering through the busy streets of this city. There are many rescue organizations here trying desperately to make a difference, and they all rely on finding good homes for these defenseless animals.

Over the past three years, we have adopted two rescued dogs. They have truly changed our lives for the better. I honestly can’t imagine life without them at this point! Every time I look at our little doggies, I can’t imagine what could have happened for them to end up living on the street, and I can’t fathom how scared and alone they must have felt trying to survive. Adopting our mutts Leo and Penny is one of the best decisions my husband and I have made.

I’ve united with a local dog rescue organization, Pup Squad, as part of their Holiday Heroes program this December. We are trying to find homes for some of their long-term rescues, dogs who have been up for adoption for quite a while. These guys are ready to find homes for the holidays!

Today I’d like to tell you about Kaycee. I chose Kaycee because she reminds me a little bit of one of our dogs, Penny; she also sounds like an AMAZING dog because she’s very adoptable and easy-going!

Kaycee was found as a puppy wandering the rough streets of Houston near an apartment complex. She looks like some sort of shepherd mix, weights about 45 pounds, and is about one year old. Kaycee is already crate-trained, lease-trained, and housebroken! That is like, the miracle of miracles people (take it from someone who has had to pottytrain a 3 month old puppy)! She loves to play with other dogs and gets along well with all dogs and humans. She is already spayed and fully vaccinated.

how can you resist that face?!

You can read more about Kaycee here.

Kaycee would make a great addition to any home. She is already all trained and ready to go! Will you consider giving this sweet dog a home for the holidays? If you’re interested, please email Kathy at Pup Squad: KathyPupSquad@aol.com

Even if you aren’t ready to adopt a dog right now, please consider sharing, liking, emailing, or tweeting this post (check out the little buttons below!). The more we can share Kaycee’s story, the more likely we can find her a loving home!

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Bridal Jewelry Trunk Show

Come visit me next Saturday in Katy at a local bridal jewelry trunk show hosted by The Loken Group.  Only a select handful of local jewelry artists will be present, including Lazy Owl Boutique.  This is a great time to browse and order customized jewelry for your big day or for your bridal party.

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FREE Bridal Jewelry Trunk Show Nov 10 from 2 to 4 featuring local custom and fashion jewelers, raffle prizes, wine & snacks. Brides, bring your mom, mom-in-law to be, sisters, friends – as many as you like!
Register (FREE) & get more info:
Hope to see you there!

Introducing Roundtable Goods

So, I know I keep alluding to this new shop in Houston I’ve been a part of lately.  It’s time I finally formally introduce you to Roundtable Goods, Houston’s new 100% handcrafted 100% local artisan marketplace in a homey little neighborhood we call the Houston Heights.

It all started when I was at a slightly less-than-fun craft fair in late April.  Some random woman from Etsy named Juanita came and found me while I was quietly manning my lonesome booth (located in a primo spot across from the men’s bathroom of course).  I had briefly traded a few messages with Juanita through Etsy over the past few weeks, but didn’t really expect anything to come of it. Maybe I have an underlying belief that everyone that sells things on Etsy is slightly crazy (including myself?), so when a very normal, happy-looking woman introduced herself as Juanita I was pleasantly surprised she had taken the time to seek me out at the show.

Juanita started talking about craft shows, Houston, new groups, and even the possibility of opening some sort of storefront.  Then, she said the magic words, “19th street“, and I think that’s when I fell in love.  To me, W. 19th Street is the perfect little Main Street USA of Houston.  One of the only spots in this ginormous city where, for a few lovely blocks, pedestrian shopping is still practiced.  Not only that, but there’s not a single national chain or department store to be found.  Smack dab in the center of a neighborhood that clings tooth and nail to its roots and history, it’s a small mish mash of funky and eclectic, trendy and modern, vintage and antique small local businesses.  And Juanita had her eye on a space for lease right on this very street!  I had never even really dreamed of selling Lazy Owl products in a storefront, let alone being part of one, but when I got the opportunity to be part of this I knew I couldn’t pass it up.

This is the Lazy Owl Boutique area at Roundtable

I can’t exactly describe what followed.  Somehow, in the space of just two months, we went from a group of eager strangers with a totally raw, unfinished space to a collaboration of artists with a painted, fully-stocked handcrafted boutique open to the public.

Lazy Owl bunting necklaces

Juanita found a group of local artists with all sorts of talents.  We fine-tuned our business pitch and met with these ladies in late May, hoping that 2 or 3 would be willing to come on this adventure with us; I was totally astounded when over 13 of them jumped on board!  Our leased space was formerly a storage room for antiques – unpainted, old ceilings, concrete floors…the list goes on.  But with a lot of elbow grease (and only a small amount of yelling) we turned that space around in a matter of weeks.

Just a small selection of all the amazing goodies we have in the shop

We are a team of artists from very different backgrounds and even different cultures, some of us work full-time day jobs, some of us have children, and something different drives us all.  But our passion for our creative art and our drive to offer Houston something new and different really motivated us to bring this vision to life.  We are starting out slow – only open on the weekends for now – but we definitely have big plans and big dreams!

I am so proud of what we have all accomplished together!  I hope if you are ever in Houston you stop by Roundtable Goods on W. 19th Street.  You might even see me working behind the counter; regardless, you will see some wonderfully unique heartfelt and handcrafted treasures.

Spring Craft Show Display

As I mentioned (not sure if I did actually, let’s pretend), I did a craft show last month in Katy, Texas.  Setup was all day the Friday before the show started.  My craft show adventure weekend started out pretty stressful.  It was a really busy week at my day job, and my husband ended up having to work late on Friday (and all day Saturday) so I was flying solo nearly all weekend.  I left work as quickly as I could to go home to grab my tables and inventory and head out on the 45 minute drive out to Katy, during rush hour AND during a terrible thunderstorm.  Of course when I finally got home, my puppy had peed all over her crate.

By the time I made it out to Katy, I had about an hour to set up as much of my booth as I could all by my lonesome.  After check-in I found out my booth was not actually IN the main arena, but in a hallway…directly outside the MEN’S restroom!  The show director promised me this would be a preemo (primo? premo? is it even a word?) spot, so I decided to put a smile on my face and make the best of it.

Anyway, it wasn’t a super wonderful show, but it was my best yet (out of 3, still a craft show newbie here), and a great experience.  I met some other wonderful vendors, made some good sales, and handed out almost all my business cards.

Plus, I got to debut my new and improved show display (see past discussions of my display here and here)!  I graduated from 2 to 3 tables, with the addition of my vintage china plate tiered displays (that’s a mouthful!), and all my new titanium post earrings.  I also made a handful of colorful yarn wreaths to sell.  AND I got to try out my new VistaPrint banner!

One side of my display
Oh hello, men’s restroom!
Antique shutters, antique plates, yarn wreaths…
Handmade earring card display for my plated stud collection
Birdhouse display and antique printer’s tray display

Check out my tutorial for how to make my DIY ring box display here, and also an explanation for how I built my DIY earring card display here.

I’ll be setting up my display again May 19 at the Friendswood Fine Arts Institute’s Art in the Park!

Preparing for my very first craft show

Ahhhhhhhhhh.  Saturday I’m vending in my very first craft show/fair/festival/whatevs.  I’m pretty scared.  I’m a pretty socially awkward/shy person, so I’m also pretty anxious about just putting myself out there and interacting with *strangers*! Haha.

As you may know, I’m an avid researcher and reader for any topic I’m unfamiliar with.  Thus, I’ve been scouring the blogosphere and Etsy forums and reading all about how to prepare for a craft show.  Other than just general nerves, I feel like I’m as prepared as I can be.  I’ve had the tables set up in my living room for about 2 weeks now.  I’ve set up my Square account and practiced swiping credit cards.  I’ve got $100 in cash change.  I’ve got receipt books, an inventory spreadsheet and a clip board, handheld mirrors, a vending apron, table risers…probably more stuff than I’ll ever really need.

The past month I’ve taken my inventory from about 45 items to 240 items (wowzers!).  I’ve also been diligently working on creating displays and a table setup as cheaply as possible.

You’ll notice the keyword here is “cheap”. Since I’m just starting out with the craft show circuit, I’m not ready to invest a bunch of money in my displays just yet. I’m looking for inexpensive ways to build a nice-looking setup. Here’s my practice setup thus far (I haven’t ironed the table cloth yet so please ignore the wrinkles!). 

Here’s a summary: I’ve got a 4 foot table on the left with a printer’s tray that my helpful husband spray painted white and screwed in tons of little half inch brass hooks.  I hung crystal earrings of various sizes on the hooks.  On that table, I also have a little metal file folder holder and an old little shutter, both used as earrings displays.

The table cloths are just cheap full size bed sheets I found in a neutral tone.  I bought a little cheap lace tablecloth to spice up the crystal earrings table.

My main 6 foot table has all my stud earrings on the right (hopefully I’ll be listing some of these in my Etsy shop soon).  I bought the frames on this table from Goodwill for cheap and spraypainted them per my color scheme.  The one in the center is actually a memo board that I re-covered with some neutral beige fabric.

You can see the ring box I discussed making in this post in the center of my table.

The memo board displays all of my bunting necklaces, and the blue frame on the left has hooks on the top to hold my other necklaces (again, installed by my handy husband).

earring holder craft showI’m hoping the unique printer’s tray earring display will catch customers’ attention. 

earring card display
For my earring cards, I used a thin, spray-painted frame and hung rows of heavy twine across the back. I stapled the twine and used mini clothes pints to hold up the earring cards. I’m pretty happy about how this one came out! I used a wooden spice rack to display extra cards on the table top as well.

 

I found the little wire ferris wheel at Goodwill and used it to hang my charm earrings.

For the pricing signs, I got tiny-sized canvases from Hobby Lobby, spray painted them brown, and hand painted pricing info in lime.  It was quite difficult grouping over 200 items into just a few price ranges, but I really did not want to price each item individually as I thought it’d just be too time-consuming.

Editing to add: I got my frames and memo board to stand up by using those metal picture frame holders you can get at Hobby Lobby or any craft store. They are generally sturdy enough to support these light-weight frames.

What do you think?  Give me your feedback!  My biggest worry is that I do not have a SHOP NAME anywhere on my table! I mean, I have my business cards out, and I had bought a large canvas to paint Lazy Owl Boutique on, but there’s just no room to put it out on the table so I gave up….hopefully it’s not too big of a deal.  I’m thinking if this whole craft fair venture is successful, I’ll order some sort of professional banner with my name and logo and everything.

Wish me luck yall!