Testing the Waters

For several years, I have been promising myself that I would open an online store. Originally I thought it would be an Etsy shop, and that may still happen. At Christmas time I showed my Facebook friends a cushion I had created using my own art. I planned to order one but it was through Fine Art America and between the exchange rates and shipping it added up to more than I was willing to pay...and that would have been at my wholesale price. Apparently, nobody else wanted one either, not that I did any actual marketing. 

I have since located two Canadian companies that also print items on demand. I sent one of them a photo of a piece of art I created to see how it would look on their products. I am quite pleased but, as there are what some of you might consider flaws in my artwork, I wanted to see if they spoiled the effect once printed bigger than the actual art. I have ordered two products in vastly different materials so that I can see how these things look in person. That will also give me a clear idea if I should change the routine thread colour, and whether I want more than just my name on the labels. 

The company I'm testing first is highly attentive.  I have had an email each day explaining various aspects of their website, how things work, and how to get my patterns adjusted on the products more in line with what I had in mind. They also tell me what steps to take to create my shop online or in person.  I even got a quick reply when I sent an email asking a question.  So far,  I am quite impressed. 

 

As everything is printed, cut, and sewn only after either you or I order it, it will take a couple of weeks to arrive.  If all goes well, I will add designs and open the shop.  The other company I found prints completely different things in a more simplified way. I might test a few of their products out too.  And Etsy? Well, if I get perfectly good test products I decide I don't want to keep, maybe I will try selling them there.  At least I have finally started to test the waters on this long-awaited project.

Thanking my Lucky Stars!

Some people are lucky, and some people are not. I spent the majority of my life never winning anything. Well, that's not quite true as I did win a record album from a radio station once when I was a teenager. That got me all excited, but I never did get it. I expected it to arrive in the mail, but perhaps I was supposed to somehow make my way across the city to fetch it. No such luck. I ended up more disappointed than if I had never won it at all.

My youngest son won a Mickey Mouse phone from an Ottawa TV show when he was about 8, and he managed to win a couple of summer camp trips too. I thought he had way more luck than I'd ever had. Perhaps it had just skipped a generation or something.

Things changed for me about 5 years ago when I suddenly had a winning streak. I enter contests on line and was doing rather well.  Then it petered out again and I was actually having bad luck for a while.

This year has been extremely lucky for me so far, though I expect that luck just has to run out any day now.

In February I told you about winning a big basket of goods from the merchants of Almonte. Since then the BzzAgent people sent me an Oral B Genius 8000 electric toothbrush to test. The thing is amazing as it works with my phone's blue tooth and actually teaches me how to do a better job of brushing while it gets my teeth dentist clean. It was worth about $200 but all I had to do was write a review.  I did that but it was nothing compared to the extensive review on electric toothbrushes I later discovered posted on https://www.reviews.com/

 

Of course I managed to score a box of goodies from Sample Source too. That also takes luck and timing. I always count myself lucky when I manage to get one.

Then recently I went to the Shop Local Showcase in Kemptville and, as usual, filled out slips for various draws I found there. I was present when I won one of the hourly prizes. I got a $25 gift card for Hard Stones Grill. Later in the week I got a phone call and found out I had also another basket full of stuff from the Royal LePage realestate booth.  That's almost embarrassing as that's the booth I went to first, when I was trying to discover who had called my name. And before I could even get into Kemptville to pick that up, a new friend, Gary Blake,  presented me with a lovely painting he had done out of appreciation for some little thing that required no reward. Lucky is one thing, but who can believe there would ever be so much of it all at once! It's been an amazing week!

I picked up the basket this past weekend, and it contained two bottles of Wayne Gretsky wine (one red, one white), four jars of Mrs McGarrigle's mustard, a $50 gift card for Heather's Healthy Harvest, another $50 gift certificate for the Brigadoon, and also one for a car wash. The rest of the stuff in the basket had to do with rolling your own sushi. That's not something that is likely to happen in this house, but I'll find someone who will appreciate it.  Maybe it's even you, if you tell me a story about how you do such things at your house or what on earth got you started.  I've had such great luck lately, I think it's time I gave something away.  You deserve a reward for reading this far, or for answering my question on Facebook. Only a couple of my facebook friends have done that so far, so this is your chance to see how I actually win things. I pick contests like this, where the odds are really good as there won't be a huge number entering. I'll pick the winner on June 5, 2017.  I'm sorry, but you will have to be living in Canada to win though I'd love to hear stories from the rest of you too..