Cyber Monday 2011 on Sweet Baby Sprinkles

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American fans! Hope you all eat lots of turkey and have fun with your loved ones. :)

Now, the details you've been waiting for!

Starting on Sunday, November 27, 2011 Sweet Baby Sprinkles is having a huge sale!

25% off your ENTIRE purchase PLUS FREE SHIPPING* to the US and Canada.

*Not including baskets.

All small baskets will have reduced shipping of just $5!

Our large basket will be just $10 to ship!

Use coupon code: CMS25
at checkout.

This sale will only run until 9pm PST on Monday and it can't be combined with any Heartsy vouchers.

Happy shopping!
http://www.sweetbabysprinkles.etsy.com

The Holidays are Almost Here!

With Thanksgiving just around the corner (literally next week!) we're all about to be super busy! Shopping for Christmas presents, attending holiday parties, and spending time with family you may only see once a year. It's definitely no different for our family... BUT we also have all of our birthdays in the next 2 months!

December 15th - My husband's birthday

December 23rd - My oldest son's birthday

January 3rd - My (Tara's) birthday

January 12th - My middle son's birthday

January 19th - My youngest son's birthday

Yup... we're going to be busy! 

With all that being said, please place your orders with plenty of time to spare. :) The lines at the post office are already getting long and pretty soon mail delivery will be slowing down with all the extra gifts being mailed.

We will always try to keep our 1-3 day production time on all made to order items, but no promises this holiday season! Always check the shop announcement on our store front... We always keep it updated with the latest turn around time and other important info.

Now onto something much more exciting...

Here at Sweet Baby Sprinkles we're planning on having a Cyber Monday sale!

(Monday, November 28th)

We very rarely have big sales going on... So I promise, you'll like this one!

More details to come next week.

We'll be posting the info here in our blog and also on our facebook page. Like our page to get all the latest updates. :)

Our Studio: New Hardwood Floor and Furniture!

I meant to post about this awhile ago, but better late than never!

Early last month our studio got another make-over. It's still not how we want our finished studio to look like, but it has greatly improved! We ripped out the carpet, installed new flooring and added a few new pieces of furniture. Really the only thing missing now is 2 pieces of furniture that we plan to buy in the next few months.

Here's some pictures of our progress last month:

Here is the before...

Clearing everything out of the room.

 Putting in the new flooring!

 Floors installed and all the furniture being moved back in... 

Including our new bookshelves we bought at IKEA!

Organizing the bookshelves. I LOVE seeing my fabric on the shelves!

All done!

For now anyway...

We still plan to install shelves, get a new corner desk

and add another bookcase to the other side of the room.

For now we're both loving our new look!

Our Studio: A Work in Progress

Several months ago my family (me, hubby and our 3 boys) moved into my parents house and started renting from them. So far it's been mutually beneficial for all of us. One of my favorite parts about moving (beside the fact that we all have more room) is that I finally have my very own craft space/sewing studio! (Of course I do have to share it with my mom though...)

Here's what it looked like on move in day:

Yeah... Not much to look at.

This room used to be my little brother's room before he moved out. So please ignore the ugly blue carpet and the awful teal accent wall. ;)

Our studio pretty much stayed like this until last month when I just couldn't handle it any more! There was hardly any room to walk. Everything was every where and absolutely nothing was organized! If you know me at all, you'd know that I like to be organized... No, LOVE to be organized. Clutter and mess make me anxious and I just don't feel very inspired to create when everything is out of order.

So here's what we did last month:

Please keep in mind that nothing is finished and it's all still a work in progress, but I'm feeling SO much better about creating your gifts in this space now. Eventually we'll be adding hardwood floors and painting that wall back to white. We also plan to add shelves and a built in unit. Someday...

I now have cutting table space and both of my sewing machines set up. No need to move things around to make room any more!

 The rolling cart I found at Joann's for only $24! (60% off PLUS used a 20% off coupon!) Holds some ribbon, shipping labels, stamps, paper, envelopes, pens, scissors, tape and business cards.

 Think we have enough scissors?!

Basket making supplies and my mom's work station.

 Of course, I also had to organize my baskets full of fabric! This isn't even half of it... the rest is sitting in the large storage containers under the table. Someday I'll find time to use all of it up! :)

Our newest addition to our studio was made yesterday. 

Here's what you get when you have a step dad who's a carpenter:

He custom made us a ribbon rack! We use a LOT of ribbon here at SBS and we definitely needed one of these. I love it. Best part? He said that he's willing to make more! We'll be offering a few for sale in our shop some time in the next month or two for any of you crafty mamas out there who need one. :)

So there you go... Our studio. 

Still needs a lot of work, but I'm loving this set up a lot more than what I've had to work with in the past.If you follow any of my pins on pinterest you know that I have a ton of images pinned to my board called Craft Room Inspiration. Someday I hope to have a craft room that is Pinterest worthy. :)

Build Your Own Baby Shower Gift Basket

We're introducing a new product at Sweet Baby Sprinkles!

Build Your Own Baby Shower Gift Baskets

These adorable gift sets are filled with all the goodies you find in our shop and placed in a large, laundry sized wicker basket. All the items can be mixed and matched to create the perfect gift set for a special mom-to-be! Choose from any of the fabric choices* we have listed in our shop or tell us boy/girl/gender neutral and let us choose for you!

*Substitutions may occur depending on availability. Message us if you really need a specific fabric choice. We'll do everything we can to get the fabric you want!

Build Your Own Baby Shower Gift Basket includes the following:

•  Your choice of 1 Ultra Fluffy Stroller Blanket
• Your choice of 3 boutique style terry cloth bibs
• Your choice of 4 boutique burp cloths
• Boy/Girl/Gender Neutral boxed set of washcloth cupcakes (8 baby washcloths per boxed set)
• One laundry sized basket
• 4 newborn size disposable diapers

These baskets will be $125 plus shipping.

Each basket will be wrapped in cellophane and a large ribbon depending on the selected gender.

Be sure to order these with plenty of time to spare! We'll need at least 1-2 weeks for production time, plus shipping.

Be on the lookout for the new listing in our Etsy store!

We'll only be listing these one at a time... So if you don't see it listed we're probably working on one for a customer. Feel free to message us for the current wait times.

Our Heartsy Promotion

Yesterday we were featured on Heartsy.me! We received such a great response from everyone. Thanks to those who bought vouchers! We were sold out within an hour and a half. We then agreed to offer 50 more and that sold out (again!) several hours later. It was a crazy day yesterday of answering emails/convos, sending out invoices, processing orders and buying more supplies! By 8pm last night I was EXHAUSTED! 

This morning I'm still answering all convos sent my way and my mom is busy packing orders. As of right now we have about 50+ orders to fill! Luckily most are ready to ship, but there are a few that need to be sewn. (This is going to be a busy week!)

We hope to have ALL orders (including custom orders) shipped out no later than Thursday (5/19). I'm just crossing my fingers that we get our fabric shipped to us in time! Everyone seems to love our cupcake stuff. :)

More of this fabric is on its way! If you missed out on these yesterday don't worry, we'll be relisting them soon. :) We also have lots of NEW goodies to be added too. I just need to find the time to sew it all.

Bibs, Blankets and Burpcloths!

We know not everyone needs baby shower gifts, but if you're a mom you'll definitely be using lots of bibs, burp cloths and blankets.

Have you seen our new items? Lots of boutique style bibs, burpies and stroller sized baby blankets in our shop right now... with many more fabric choices to come! Using premium fabrics from great artists like Alexander Henry, Michael Miller, Heidi Grace, Studio E, Debbie Mumm, Riley Blake, Amy Butler and more.

Sweet Baby Sprinkles

http://www.sweetbabysprinkles.etsy.com

Babyhawk Giveaway!

Since I've been doing all sorts of promoting of our Etsy shop the past couple of weeks I've come across TONS of great blogs, lots of giveaways and have met a bunch on great people.

This morning I came aross this blog:

 

Right now she's doing a Babyhawk giveaway! Anyone can enter, just go to this link: http://www.theclothspring.com/2011/04/babyhawk-review-and-giveaway.html

If you don't know what a Babyhawk is you can check out their website here:

www.babyhawk.com

I used this baby carrier when my oldest son was just 3 months old. It was my very first real carrier and I used it ALL.THE.TIME!

____________________________

Speaking of giveaways... We'll be sponsoring our own next month starting on May 11th! One lucky winner will have the chance to win a stroller blanket from our shop. Check out Dang Gina Gives (find the button on the right.) for more info. I'll be posting more info on May 11th!

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

And hopefully we don't have to wait too much longer for our first sale. :)

In the world of online shopping, buyer & seller feedback scores/ratings are everything. They give you a pretty good idea of whether or not you can trust that person to do what they say. If a shopkeeper has a 100% positive feedback score, chances are that their products are good quality, their shipping is quick and their customer service is great.

So what do you do if you don't have any feedback?

Well... we're sending one of our products to a blogger to be reviewed AND offering a giveaway to one of her lucky readers. We're hoping that with her review we'll gain some online shopper trust and finally get over that first sale hump. :)

It's all happening mid May so be on the lookout for more info!

Look What's New in April!

We've been working hard the past couple of days!

This week we've decided to add some new products to our Etsy shop. First item we've added to our product line are individual handmade baby blankets. These cute blankets measure approximately 21" x 35", making them perfect for stroller rides, car rides, play mats or even emergency changing pads.

The front of them are made using high quality 100% cotton prints. The back of them are made using the most buttery soft minky fabric you could imagine. (Seriously, they're soooooo soft!) All stroller blankets are sewn by me (Tara). Yup, that's me in the picture above...

The other item we've added to our product line are custom made baby burp cloths that you can buy in individual sets. They're made using premium 6-ply pre-fold cloth diapers. Why use a plain burp cloth when you can clean up those dribbles, drips and spit up in style?! ;)

So far we only have a few of each listed, but we plan to get more up as soon as we can!

To see all of our in stock fabric options check out our facebook page and click on our photos. We'd be happy to do a custom order for you!

But wait... there's more!

We're also working on something even better... I don't want to give anything away, but we have a completely original idea in the works. I'm hoping to be able to post pictures soon! Stay tuned!

Working Hard, or Hardly Working?

That's a tough one... I think it's a little of both. :) Between entertaining/feeding my 3 month old, splitting up fights between my 4 and 2 year old and keeping my household in order I'm not getting as much done as I'd like.

Just know that new items ARE coming to our shop! I'm just hoping that I'll be able to get them all done by this week.

Tomorrow I'll be going to the studio (aka Mom's house!) to get some work done... because goodness knows that I'm getting nothing done while at home.

Here's a sneak peak at what's coming!

Our *very* Humble Beginnings

My mom and I have great dreams of how our future studio will look... Hardwood floors, tables along the walls, shelves, cabinets and drawers galore, a work space for each of us... It'll be in the biggest room of my mom's four bedroom house. At the moment (and for probably at least the next 6 months or so) it's being occupied.

For the time being we're working out of her current office/guest room. Not ideal, but it works for now!

Notice the Home Depot box? Yeah... That's part of the backdrop in our pictures.

 All made up a no where to go. :) For now.

They all managed to fit up in these cabinets. It's the perfect place where little hands can't reach! Plus they won't get dusty.

Our supplies... ribbons, tape and cupcake boxes, oh my!

All covered up nicely...

Just waiting for their new homes!

It All Started with a Text

One morning an idea suddenly popped into my head. At 7:36 am on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 I sent my mom this text:

"So I had this crazy idea... We should go into business together. I'll tell you about it in person. Don't worry, you'll like it! It'll be fun!"

I think she was worried because she had no idea what I was talking about. She didn't think she had any skills that could possible help out a home-based business. Boy, was she wrong!

Within a couple days we had a name and a plan... Sweet Baby Sprinkles was born! Another week later and we had all of our supplies bought, gift baskets put together and pictures were taken. (Who knew a $5 white sheet from Walmart would make such a great back drop?!)

So far we've created 21 different sweet baby shower gift sets. We haven't sold any to date, but it hasn't even been a whole week yet. We're hoping for our first sale by the end of the month... Crossing our fingers! :)

Welcome!

The hardest part about writing a blog... especially one that is being based on our Etsy Store... is actually writing it. The content. What the heck am I going to write about? At the moment I'm not sure.

I suppose I'll take a moment to introduce ourselves.

Sweet Baby Sprinkles is a mother/daughter team who are dedicated to bringing you nothing but the sweetest baby shower gifts.

Together they shop for and create these beautiful gift sets for new moms and their babies. Each one bringing something different to the table.

Rose (Mother) has a background in interior design and loves putting together great color combinations. Mother to 3 grown children and Nana to 5 grandchildren. Loves having her grandkids come over to Nana & Papa's house. She shops for and creates sweet treats to put in the gift baskets, does the paper work and organizes our studio.

Tara (daughter) is a lover of all things crafty. Always coming up with new ideas and different ways of doing things. Does all the sewing and takes our pictures. Mother to 3 small boys all under the age of 5 with the youngest born this past January. She creates baby items, is the "voice" behind the Etsy, blog & facebook pages (Hello!), helps to put together the gift sets and takes the pictures of each product made. Tara is also the owner of CamBray Creations on Etsy!

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So far we've been open for less than a week on Etsy and we're still waiting on our first sale. I think the hardest part is just getting your name out there. We're working on it. :)

Hopefully (with the help of this blog) we'll be able to take you on our journey as we navigate our way through online sales, sewing with us, our shopping adventures, craft fairs and building our studio.

If you haven't already, "like" us on facebook: www.facebook.com/sweetbabysprinkles

More to come!