Our Newest Pooch Patch Pup! Ms. Meika

OH MY, Can you get any cuter than that!! What a sweet heart and so cute in her Simply Sweet Dog Hair Bow!

Summer is Just Around the Corner..... Order your Patriotic Bows Early.

Ok, well maybe more like two months away but I wanted to give all my blog and FB friends a heads up about my planned summer schedule.

Starting around the second week of June, I will only be making Sweet Petite Baby Bows, Small 2 1/4" bows and Simply Sweet Dog Bows for the summer months. I am able to sew these bows at night and assemble them in the morning while still having a large portion of the day to spend with my kids who will be on summer vacation. Other than items that I don't have to make, the rest of the website will be closed for the summer and will not reopen until around the third week of August.

I also have some closing dates in which I will be completely closed, as you can see on the sidebar for July 4th and Labor Day holidays.
June 17, 2010 - July 11, 2010
August 29, 2010 - September 7, 2010

So this just means if you are thinking of ordering Patriotic Bows or Back to School larger bows, please plan to order them early.

If this still proves to be too heavy a load to keep up with while my kids are home, I will have to make further adjustments but right now feel this is the best solution.

Thank you to each and every one of you so much for your continued support of my fun home business A Crystal Garden.

Website is back open!

Store is back open and ready for business! The kids had a great time at their party tonight, my house is almost back to cleaned up and I am ready to start making bows again.

Oh...Say it ain't so!

Nature is truly working against me this week. MORE SNOW is coming! I had grand plans of heading to Costco tomorrow and loading up on food and party stuff. I wanted to clean on Friday and bake the cake as well as some brownies and cranberry bread. Saturday would be a day of touch up and some Wii playing with my kids. Saturday night all the party guests would arrive and my now 7 and soon to be 5 year olds would be enjoying their party.

BUT NO! It is supposed to snow tonight and all day tomorrow 6-12". I closed the store to prepare for a party that may be canceled, well at least pushed to next weekend. URG....... Parking is the true issue since we will be dug out by Friday night or early Saturday morning but can't really have guests over if there is no where to put their cars.

Ah.... the best made plans.......

I may be reopening sooner than planned. It does feel good to be almost completely caught up on making bows though. :)

Website Catch Up Closing....

I always hate to have to do this but I will be closing the website today in order to catch up on orders and everyday life! You all have blessed me with a large number of orders that stays at a pretty high level continually. I asked God to bless my business and WOW has he ever. My mom jokes with me to be careful what you wish for. LOL.

We are celebrating two birthdays this next Saturday and I need to get my house cleaned and in order and I also have a large pile of orders that need to be completed.

I will continue to work on all the current orders in house until they are all shipped. Ebay will not be affected by the closing and I will continue to fill Ebay orders as they come in.

Over the years I have been told to just increase my shipping times instead of closing the website. Problem I have with that is when orders come in I feel like I should be working on them. I try to play with my kids and enjoy their birthday weekend while in the back of my head the number of orders piling up makes me feel stressed and thinking I should be working. I suppose that is one of the downfalls of having an at home business, as in you are also always at work. :)

The End of the Newsletter.....

I have decided to end my service with YMLP which is the service I used to maintain my newsletter. After looking at the cost of $45/year and the amount that I actually use the newsletter, it made sense to save that money and use it in better ways.

I plan to offer some freebies and discounts to facebook fans in the summer months and possibly sooner depending on how things are going. All communication will now be done through FB and this blog.

Business has been nothing but Superb this year! Thanks to all of you!

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Happy Chinese New Year! So I am a day early but we will be celebrating tonight with local Chinese take out. I know it isn't "real" Chinese food but we still like it and can pretend we are sitting at our favorite restaurant in Nanchang. As many of you know our daughter was born in China so we like to celebrate events from her heritage and I have learned so many interesting things about a country that is truly magnificent. Look past all the "political" jargon and you will see a beautiful country full of culturally diverse people that are just like you and I.

For more information about the Chinese New Year, I found a great site: http://www.theholidayspot.com/chinese_new_year/

Gong Xi Fa Cai means wishing you to be prosperous in the coming year.