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I was in college when I first became aware of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). I never became involved, but I flitted on the outskirts of the world so many of many friends created for themselves in the fantasy of Renaissance life. Along the years I have attended my fair share of Renaissance festivals in many states. I have enjoyed the benefit of having friends who have closets full of enchanting costumes and practiced mannerisms that nearly sweep one back in time.

It’s not like you can just walk into your local Galleria and find the bodices, bloomers, and surcotes you need to fully realize a believable character. A lot of my friends sewed their own costumes, or had other friends make them. Most of them, though, would locate the proverbial needle in a haystack and track down a retailer that sold the right costuming elements.

I went to college before the internet was a full-fledged phenomenon, so finding the costume retailers was a feat. Now, you can just logon and find sites like The Renaissance Store. It’s like a dream come true if you are planning a costume for a RenFest or the like. And, I finally found a believable pirate costume for my nephew that we can use for next year’s Pirate and Princess Party at Disney.

It was sometime last fall that I became aware of a company called JacarandaStyle. I had actually seen them in one of the magazines to which I subscribe, Food and Wine, and I decided to check out their website. I became an instant fan.

Before I go on, here’s a link so you can see for yourself: www.JacarandaStyle.com - Unique Home Accents & Fine Gifts

It’s not just about the merchandise they carry, even though the ceramics and ostrich egg art are some of the most amazing decorate and gifty type items I have ever seen in my entire life. No, it was the purpose behind this handmade South African crafts company that initially set my heart aflutter.

JacarandaStyle actually sets out to create jobs for artists in the world market, and they donate a part of each sale to the Ethembeni School for Disabled Youth, in South Africa. The school “serves 300 physically disabled and visually impaired children from all over Kwazulu -Natal, Kingdom of the Zulu.” There is a real feeling of “full circle” in this process.

One of my favorite parts of the JacarandaStyle website has always been all of the photos of the artists creating the crafts. I’m absolutely not talking about assembly-line stuff here. Each piece is hand crafted and often times even unique in the way it is turned out of decorated.

I’ve mentioned this particular piece of ceramic on my blog before, but I want to put it in the spotlight again, because I am still in love with it. Let’s just say it is on my ultimate wish list for next Christmas. It’s the hand painted Jazz Bowl, a bold design incorporating piano keys.

Check out their website when you have a minute. It is absolutely worth your time.

I have a website that offers free hair bow instructions. I also have an accompanying mailing list with over 1600 members. The members swap bow-making tips, information on starting a small business, and ideas for marketing their products. One company that I frequently see mentioned on the list is Vista Print. The ladies use the printing company for their business cards, bow display cards, and marketing postcards. They all agree that the product quality is superior and consistent. Plus, they LOVE the fact that Vista Print is forever offering promo codes for free products, discounts, and new product specials. When a new code comes out there is generally a flurry of excitement on the mailing list.

Personally, I have used Vista Print for business cards, Christmas cards, photo calendars (the favorite gift I gave to family members this past Christmas), and even for graduation invitations. I could use a local printer, but the online processes just quicker, simpler, and more affordable. I know from experience.

Believe me, when you have a small business that you run out of your home, you want to do everything you can to promote it for as little cash out of pocket as humanly possible. But, you don’t want to sacrifice quality. I am all for people who print their own business cards at home on their color printers, but unless you have a good quality laser printer and professional grade glossy paper, you are simply wasting an opportunity to present yourself in the most professional way you can.

I have a website that offers free hair bow instructions. I also have an associated mailing list with about 1500 people on it, most of them small business owners. One of the tips that you hear over and over when it comes to displaying and selling your finished hair bows is that you should attach the bows to an attractively designed and printed postcard that will also serve as an advertisement for your company.

Not only will the postcard hold the hair bow and allow for attractive display, but you can also make sure your business name, address, website and phone number are on the card so that customers know who to contact for future hair bow orders. You might even put a little line on the post card asking the customer to pass the postcard along to a friend.

Although some people make their own bow cards, most bow makers agree that Vista Print is a great choice when it comes to having cheap postcards printed. Not only do they deliver professional looking results time after time, they often offer coupons that allow you to order free product. For example, use coupon code “BlogPostcards100” and you will get 100 free postcards.

I’ve ordered from Vista Print several times myself and have always been satisfied with both the print quality and the delivery time. Go ahead and choose a slower shipping method to save money, because generally the company gets their products out into the mail quickly anyway.

I have found a wonderful tool that I want to introduce to all of my readers, especially those who have found me through my Girly Things Free Hair Bow Instructions web site. I run a mailing list that has about 1500 members, most of them looking for a way to make a small business out of crafting.

Setting up your own store on your website can be confusing and time consuming. And, selling online via auction sites can take a huge bite out of your profits, as well as really hinder the business tools you might have if you sold via a fully functional online store.

So, take a look at SilkFair, were you can buy and sell. You can set up your own free e-commerce site where you can list your items, keep track of your buyers, video marketing, one-step shopping cart check-out, point-and-click editing of listings, full use of PayPal and Google Checkout, create newsletters and forums for your customers, and more. You can even set up a blog about your products, business, customers, etc. The dashboard has all of the tools in one handy location:

You can completely customize your store. You can automate particular state tax information, shipping policies, automatic pricing profiles, and even the look and feel of your store. Adding a product is as easy as filling in the fields and uploading pictures and even videos. One cool feature is that when you upload images of your product, the system automatically recognizes the colors of the items and updates swatches.

Best of all, Silk Fair only charges a 3% final sales fee. That’s it, no other hidden listing fees and the like. In the end, you take home more of the profit than on auction sites and other hosted e-commerce solutions.

Everyone collects something. My dad collects Roy Rogers memorabilia. My sister collects Precious Moments. I used to collect David Winter Cottages, before the line was sold to Enesco. My daughter likes Cherished Teddies. The entire family likes to give Willow Tree figures to one another for important life events, like the birth of a baby or a child’s first day of school. We do not have unlimited room to keep acquiring little pretties, but it’s lovely to be able to have some of the things you adore sitting near you on a special shelf or curio cabinet.

The UK Gift Company has a very old tradition of providing high quality collectables. They began in 1858 as Church’s China and for the past several years, they have been online and able to serve an international clientele. I like to browse the Lilliput Lane pieces they have, because they remind me of old David Winter designs. For me, there is just something endlessly charming about tiny details and themes that hint at simpler days.

Of course, one of the things I like best about the things the UK Gift Company offer is that they make sure to stay on top of the trends that drive new collectable lines. While Lladro will always be a timeless classic in their inventory, they also have new lines like the surreal Speed Freaks collection by Terry Ross.

What do you collect? 

For all of you out the who make your own hair bows, don’t forget that when your girls are wearing your bows, they are walking advertisements! You need to make sure you are carrying your business card at all times, or at least something with your website on it. Of course, one of my favorite ways to let people know you make bows it to dress your little one is this cute shirt:

One of my favorite Christmas presents I gave out this past year was a calendar I designed individually for each person who received one. I made one for my mom, for example, with pictures and layouts featuring the grandkids. I used digital scrap booking elements to make adorable designs, uploaded the pictures to Vista Print and ordered the calendar. Despite everything else my mom received as gifts, this was her favorite. In fact, when I got hers in the mail I was so impressed that I designed one for myself. I get SO many compliments on it.

I used to use a local print shop to do small jobs for me, but lately I have been relying more and more on Vista Print. I can upload my designs from home and complete my order in minutes. Then, they final product is shipped to my house. It’s never very expensive, they are forever offering free promotions, and their quality is fantastic.

I know you probably see the promos for free business cards all of the time, but Vista Print actually does everything from rubber stamps and brochures, to calendars and event invitations. In fact, right now they are running a special where you can order 10 free invitations just by using the promotional code BlogInvite10 when you check out.

I have a daughter turning five this month. My nephew is halfway into his sixth year of life. You can imagine that I am up to my elbows in all of the toys of today’s culture, most of them being electronic, requiring batteries, or somehow involving a computer. I don’t mind a bit, either. I am just as fascinated as the kids.

The whole family started buying remote control cars and planes for my nephew as soon as he was born. He has amassed quite an impressive collection. He does not come to our house as often as we go there, quite simply because my daughter is obsessed with her cousin’s RC car collection. He is a patient tutor, too, so my daughter knows more than I ever did about the ins and outs of this hobby.

A lot of people, especially adults, take the RC Car hobby very seriously. I found an entire blog dedicated to RC car tips and tricks and the whole thing is written in laymen’s terms, which is a good thing for me, because I am not as naturally inclined to dreaming up adequate fixes for the issues we often encounter.

I love the articles. There are often pictures, the tips are easy to comprehend and follow, and the tricks are sometimes clever to the point of making me say AHA out loud. Take this article on using first-aid-gauze as a pre-filter or this one about using a paperclip as a drive pin. Good, solid nuggets of info. It functions as a great introduction to RC cars for beginners

If you are a RC enthusiast, you really should check out this blog.

I’ve written before about how I love niche social networking sites. There are social networking sites for crafters, horse lovers, college students, religious groups and just about anything else you can think of. It seems to me a more interesting way to go than just joining a catch-all social networking site.

Well pet lovers, there is a site for you, too!

Take a look at AnAmigo.com. It’s a community where you can actually make a custom profile for their pet and connect with other pet enthusiasts in the United States. Membership is free and signing up is quick and easy. I did it in about a minute and then the system sent me a confirmation e-mail. At that point I was able to go in and complete a profile. I was prompted to choose a profile style for myself, a dog, a cat, or a horse. I made a profile for my Maltese, Echo. Bless her little heart. When I have more time I will put up a profile for Chloe, the cat queen of the house.

You can add pictures, swap stories, comment, keep a blog, trade tips, and sit back and have fun connecting with other animal lovers. The site is super easy to use and family friendly. The folks at AnAmigo had a launch party at the Sundance Film Festival and celebs like Jack Black and Felicity Huffman stopped by. Cool.

AnAmigo, get it? Animal Amigo – Animal Friend.

I have been interested for a long time in the concept of home brewing beer. I have several friends who do it. Some produce excellent beer. Others should just pack it in and choose a new hobby. I was given a bunch of home brew supplies recently via my local Freecycle group and now I am going to give it a try. I have a few more supplies I need to acquire first.

It’s the era of the internet, so there is no need for me to trek about looking for local stores that sell Beer making equipment. Sites like Monster Brew have everything I need available online. And, if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times – I love being able to shop from the comfort of my bedroom while wearing only my underwear.

Sometimes I just happily stumble across a web site that’s fun to look at and also has cool elements. I’m having a blast right now with the menu buttons across the top of the Piano Man, Inc web site. Not only do they look like piano keys, they play notes when you click on them. They are even accurate, though the minor notes aren’t clickable. I know. I am easily assumed, but I really find this to be an ingenious way to design a web site that is all about selling pianos and organs.

It makes me wish I had been the one to think up that design. Very cool, indeed.

The Piano Man is a Boston area business that also does tuning, repairs, lessons, moving, cleaning, and other services related to pianos and organs. When you need to have services specific to your keyboard instrument, you absolutely need to make sure you are working with professionals who know their stuff. When we moved our family piano down here to Florida from my dad’s house up north, we hired a specialty piano company up there and down here to handle the loading and unloading of the piano. We also had someone come and tune the piano after the move. You have to know what you are doing or you can damage the instrument.

My nephew is already taking lessons and I am hoping that Gigi will be ready for lessons soon, too. She is actually allowed to practice on our church organ. My sister and I took lessons on the very piano we had moved down from dad’s and that now sites in my sister’s home. I was never terribly talented when it came to the piano, but my sister was a musical genius. Perhaps her son will take after her. Who knows, maybe my daughter will even take after my sister and not end up with fumble fingers. I enjoyed playing the piano when I was growing up, I just never advanced as far as my sister did.

Sing us a song, youre the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, were all in the mood for a melody
And youve got us feelin alright
–Billy Joel

Since I mentioned earlier today that I am putting together digital scrapbook pages in order to order calendars for my parents, I wanted to also give everyone the link I am using to order the calendars, since the calendars are free. Yep, free. What could be better than a free photo calendar? I’m doing the photos for the wall calendars, since you can use one picture for each month – plus a cover, which I forgot that I still need to design!

So, here is my link for the free photo calendar. I am ordering one tonight and my sister is order another. They should round out our gift lists quite well.

Here is one page. It would be a lot of trouble to post all 12 months, plus it might just annoy all of you anyway?

I never was much of a scrapbooker, mostly because I hated to see so much wasted space on a page in my photo album. So, I usually just put the pictures on the pages and added some pretty embellishments. I think I got through my daughter’s 7th month before I stopped. Things just got too hectic – and they have yet to calm down.

My sister suggested that we have calendars made for our parents with the kids’ pictures on the different months, but I thought straight pictures would be too ordinary. So, I started playing around in Photoshop, because I really am very good with Photoshop. ? Somehow I came across some digital scrapbooking freebies and I realized I was wasting my time doing my won graphics when there are thousands of high resolution, print quality frames and templates and embellishments out on the web for free.

So, I have been feverishly collecting things I like from various sites. I will eventually burn a disk for my own future use. It occurred to me that it might be nice to share with my readers one or two cool freebies I have found each week? Would you like that?

Here is my first. It’s Gina Maria’s Gingerbread Alphabet. Click the image for a link to her blog.

Hey, all you hair bow making moms and grandmas. I have a great idea for Christmas gifts. Take a look at these cute shirts that state:

• Mommy Makes My Bows
• Bow Making Mom
• Bow Making Grandma
• Grandma Makes My Bows

Take your pick. They all make a statement and answer that question you get asked every single time you take your little angel out in public wearing those cute boutique bows you have been making for her.