Contest Winners

The winners have been chosen!  Congratulations to Clare C., Liz A., Karen T., Aimee D., Manue B., Marci P., Gillian T., and Jennifer O.!  I will be contacting you to get your mailing addresses.

Thanks to everyone who entered.  It was a lot of fun running this contest and I imagine I will do more in the future.

Giveaway!

I am finally on my way to making lotions to add to the Lip Glosserie line (they'll be debuting at the Austin Craft Riot show on Nov. 12 and 13 as well as on Etsy around the same time).  While going through the testing process, it looks like I'm going to end up with eight full 6-oz. bottles of lotion that I couldn't possibly use all on myself (I mean, a girl can only do so much moisturizing).  Instead, I'd like to give them to my friends!

You can enter by following the instructions on Facebook after liking the Lip Glosserie page, following Lip Glosserie on Twitter and sending out a tweet, or signing up for the Lip Glosserie Newsletter.  Here are the rules:

Facebook:

Like the Lip Glosserie page if you haven't already and go to the "Fun Stuff for Fans Only!" tab for more details.  Only one entry per person by this method is allowed.

Twitter:

Follow my Twitter if you haven't already and tweet the following message:  I'm trying to win a free lotion from @lipglosserie. http://bit.ly/vWXdrO

A maximum of two tweet entries per twitter user allowed per 24-hour day (12:00am-11:59pm CST).

Newsletter:

Sign up and complete registration for the Lip Glosserie News.  Only one entry per person by this method is allowed.  If you have already signed up and would like to be entered with this method, please send an email to lipglosserie@gmail.com and indicate that you would like to enter the giveaway and the email address you are subscribed under.

Contest Length:

Contest begins today (November 3, 2011) and runs until 11:59pm CST on November 12, 2011.

Additional Info:

No purchase is necessary.  International entries are allowed.  Entries are weighted equally.  Winners will be chosen at random and notified on November 16, 2011 at 12:00pm CST.  While an individual may submit multiple entries, they may not win more than one prize.  Each winner will receive one 6-oz. bottle of handmade lotion.  Each winner will be contacted (via the same form of communication used for the winning entry) for a mailing address (packages will be sent by 1st Class U.S. Mail, postage paid by Lip Glosserie).  If no response is received within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen and notified.  Please note that these are samples and may not have the same formula as lotions offered for sale by Lip Glosserie (but trust me, they're all lovely!).  While winners may be given a choice as to the scent they would like to receive, there is no guarantee that they will receive the scent requested.  If you have any further questions about this contest, you may email me at lipglosserie@gmail.com.

Special Trios

I've been selling a lot more on consignment lately around town and one of the places where I sell is really more of a gift shop.  And a really nice one at that.  It's called Sanctuary and the feeling in there is both relaxing and cute at the same time.

When I first visited, the nice owner there told me that I should really try bringing in more gift-y type stuff so I thought I would go ahead and make some special trio bags of lip balms (which I've done before so that's nothing new).  However, I really wanted to include my business info so that if someone did receive it as a gift, they would know where the lip balms came from and how to find me.

I had to think creatively because I don't have enough money to buy fancy hang tags or even to buy fancy cardstock to make my own.  Enter:  A Pair of Scissors and Waterproof Labels.

Here's the story - many months ago, I bought a ton of business cards at Vistaprint.  They're nice, but eventually I think I will switch permanently to Moo cards.  I also think in the future, I'll probably use the Moo minis as my hang tags.  But that's in the future, and I had to deliver these lip balm trios now.

So, I cut my business cards in half, hand cut rounded corners, printed out some info onto labels, used my handy dandy heart-shaped hole puncher, and voilà.  Homemade hang tags.

And here is the final product.

Follow Up

Just because I'm testing out the new Blogger app and because I'm sure you're so interested in seeing my bruises, I present to you . . .

my arm.

One Year Later

So, it's been a year since I last posted.  At the time, I was doing my first live in-person fair.  Well, here I am now, many, many live in-person fairs later, and there are no signs of stopping.

This past weekend marked a big event in addition to being the one-year anniversary of my first live in-person fair - this time, it was my first big out-of-town show (McKinney Oktoberfest).  That's right - I left the Austin area and traveled all the way to McKinney, a town just north of Dallas.  And, I did it all by myself.

It was fantastic.  A little slow on Friday, but Saturday more than made up for it.  I made lots of good connections and met some really nice people.  I really couldn't have asked for more.

But, the real reason for my post today is that I came back and found a great post by my friend over at This Creative Life (click to read) and it really hit home with me.

When I tell people that I'm a lawyer (oh yeah, I passed the TX bar exam - did I not mention that?), they're usually very impressed/surprised/mildly interested.  These are all normal responses.  But, what's really fascinating to me, is that if I tell them I also make and sell lip and skin care products, they have comments like, "Wow, that must be so relaxing" or "What an interesting hobby."

Look, it's more than a hobby.  And it's not relaxing.  Not even a little bit.

My business is tough.  Making the products is just a small part of the job.  There's labeling and packaging, keeping up with orders, figuring out the best way to market things, taking on big orders, scrambling to meet the deadlines from those big orders.  And, of course, keeping up my motivation to come up with new and interesting products.

After this wonderful weekend in McKinney, I am happy to have seen my business grow so much in the last few years, but I'd also like to share some other observations:

• I slept less than 10 hours over the course of 2 days.
• My face actually hurt from having to smile so much and talk to so many people (which I love, but trust me, it can start to wear you down).
• I luckily had friends bringing me food throughout the show, but I never got to eat it while it was still warm.  Never.  In fact, it took me over 3 hours to finish one soda.
• I have mysterious bruises all over my body and I have no memory of what could have caused them.
• Now I am faced with having to replace all the inventory I sold in order to get ready for the next show.
• I really don't get weekends anymore.  Instead, I just have free hours that are scattered throughout the week, usually at times when I don't even have anyone around to spend them with.

Still, I would do it all over again.   I really do love it that much.

So, next time someone tells you that they're doing a business that sounds like "fun" to you, try to think of all the things that come with it that aren't right there on the surface.  You never know, you might have a lot more respect and admiration for that person as a result.