The Sewing Mom

Last year at this time, my sisters and I were preparing for our first craft/trade show. We spent month crafting tote bags and purses to sell, planning our budgets and pricing and making sure that we had all of the necessary supplies to make all of our hard work pay off. Besides having the tables, cases and supplies to show case our wares during the show, we also had to put thought into how customers could reach us after the show for possible future orders.

The best thing we did was to order personalized business cards and it turned out to be a great decision. I personalized my cards by choosing a design that has spools of thread and the background color matches the color of this blog. I was able to put quite a bit of information on the card, including my site address and email address which allows customers to contact me or even pass the card along to their friends.

Since having our show last July, I’ve continued to use my personalized business cards to promote my sewing. I carry some with me at all times and when people comment or ask me about the purse I carry, which I made, I can quickly give them my card so they can contact me if they’d like to order something. I also include 2-3 cards inside of every tote bag or purse that I sell so that the buyer can contact me for a future purchase and even pass a card along to a friend who might also be interested in buying something from me. Having my own business cards is an easy way for me to get my business information passed around.

As a bonus, I even got return address labels that coordinate with my business cards, they also have the spools of thread as the design, now I just need to get the design onto my blog theme and everything will be nicely coordinated!

Now that Destination Imagination is over for us for this season, I can finally get back to my sewing! I have several projects that sort of got left in the middle of being worked on and am anxious to get back to them.

While I haven’t been sewing over the past few weeks (except for embroidering the team shirts), I haven’t stopped thinking of ideas to promote my sewing business. A few weeks ago I ordered business cards and return address labels from Vistaprint.com. I am very pleased with what I got. I was able to design the business cards myself and I found a template on their website that was spools of thread, perfect for sewing! The cards and labels were delivered in less than a week, very quick service.

While I was ordering the business cards, I saw that they also offer refrigerator magnets which I could have made with the same design as my business cards. If I wanted something larger, the magnets come in different sizes and, no matter what the size, they make an excellent marketing tool. Right now I can get 25 small magnets free simply by using coupon code “Blog25FreeMag”.

I think what I like the most about VistaPrint.com is that I’m able to customize my own design and the speedy service. Feel free to use the coupon code to order your own magnets!

I’m anxiously waiting for the mailman, I’m hoping a particular package gets delivered today.

Last Sunday, I ordered my official business cards for “The Sewing Mom”, my newly created sewing/crafting business. It was fun to create my own card online at VistaPrint.com. I was able to pick out my own graphic and I chose spools of thread. Then I chose the background colors and font colors and type style. It was really so easy, I can’t wait to see what they look like in person. I received an email a few days ago that they had been shipped.

I noticed while I was at their website, that they sell many other things besides business cards. In fact, truth be told, I also ordered coordinating return address labels while I was there! I even considered business card size magnets and writing pens with The Sewing Mom printed on them, but decided to wait, it would have been very easy to get carried away!

Besides business tools, they also sell other items that I may be ordering this week and that’s birthday invitations. I promised my daughter that we’d sit down this weekend and make plans for her birthday which is less than a month away. We’re sort of thinking of doing a movie themed sleepover party. I think it would fun to mail out save the date announcements to her friends instead of a formal birthday invitation, it would be something different and unique. Plus, if I use the coupon code “BlogAnnounce10″ I can get 10 free announcements when I checkout.

So, that’s my plans for the weekend, planning a birthday party, waiting for the mailman, and sewing. Oh, I also promised my daughter I would teach her how to make a zipper bag this weekend! Looks like my daughter and I are going to be busy this weekend.