By Bree, on September 3rd, 2010
I heard about this amazing little girl who seems to have a passion for giving inspired by her brother of special needs and I am sure an amazing mom. I am so impressed and only hope my daughter would be this passionate about giving. I hope you will take a moment to read her story and request. If you can vote once or daily in September for Calista I know it would mean a lot to this family.
My daughter started her own fundraising project when she was only 7 years old to help raise money for our local Special Olympics program. Her brother is a Special Olympics athlete and inspired her to make a difference. Last fall, after hitting her second fundraising goal for Special Olympics, she decided that she would also attempt to fund a wish through Make-A-Wish (her brother is once again her inspiration, since he is currently deciding on a wish of his own). Her fundraising consists of making and selling crafts, holding bake sales and lemonade stands and numerous raffles. She not only fundraises, but also volunteers for Special Olympics. She is a Unified Partner in Special Olympics bocce and swimming and has competed as a team with Special Olympics athletes at Sectionals in both sports. In addition to helping Special Olympics and Make-A-Wish, Calista has participated in Operation Christmas Child, Salvation Army Bell Ringing, food drives for local food pantries, making teddy bears to donate to the pediatric ward, Macy’s Believe! Campaign for Make-A-Wish, Pennies for Patients, Bike Hike to raise money for the Arc of Crawford County, trick-or-treat for UNICEF, Pizza Hut fundraiser night for the American Red Cross, Stuff the Jeep to send care packages to the soldiers, Relay for Life, Stuff the Bus to provide backpacks and school supplies to local children and she donated 15 inches of her hair to Locks of Love. She is planning another hair donation very soon!
If you can vote once or daily in September for Calista I know it would mean a lot to this family.
Discovery Girls: Calista
Vote HERE
~*~ Please help spread the word to help make Calista’s dream come true! ~*~
If you are an adult trying to register, please use your same email address for parent’s email. Some people had problems getting to the voting page. If that happens, try starting from the main page http://discoverygirls.com/ and clicking the link to the Discovery Girls Role Model Contest.
By Bree, on September 1st, 2010
 Have you checked your spam folder lately??? Like, 25 times a day someone from somewhere wants to split an inheritance with me , send me money to my bank account or my email was selected by the xyz lotto. Based on those emails I should be able to quit my job and kick back in the Keys…
How many people do you think really fall for those scams??? Some are really clever but grief some seem to use the same pitch over and over. Hello???? I end up in spam folders a lot..not sure why, I run a business from home and I never know if I was counted as spam or not. I wish true spammers would take a hike so others (ya’ know, the honest hard working ones) could get some work done  . Just sayin’.
So if you are reading this and sometime in the past you wondered why I didn’t respond, I did, just check your spam. I rarely forget to respond.
Okay…twitter party on Sunday at 9 p.m. not all the prizes are updated but it’ll be a blast!
If you have sec to enjoy some of my great ‘mom made’ shops I’d love it…they’d love it. I have some very talented people hanging around my site. Wait, that sounds funny…okay, I have some very talented people linked up in my site . When I get to 20 sites I’ll do another giveaway!
Also, if you buy anything from any of these Blogmania shops between now and Sept 14th you will gain 2 extra entries into my great items to giveaway. Take a peek here!
Thank you all….
By Bree, on September 1st, 2010
 Lunarra Star's prize ships WorldWide YAY…we are in the {easy to} count day phase. I don’t do counting well…some people begin to count down when it’s like 100 days away. Not me, but 15 days I can keep track of. I am sooooooo excited to show off my wonderful shops and to announce if you buy ANYTHING from one of my shops I will add in TWO extra entries (one per shop) on Sept 15/16th 48 hours Blogmania Blitz! Pick from HERE.
To enter my givaway on Sept 15th/16th all I will request is a comment…that’s it.
If you want to follow me you can for a second comment.
If you purchase anything from any shop I will add on your comments at the end and then take the total number of comments to pick a winner from random.org.
There are a few shops offering worldwide shipping so if someone from anywhere other than USA wins I will make sure you get those and the remaining items would go to winner #2 in the USA.
Current News:
Want to host your own amazing Blogmania giveaway AND receive many other great blog building opportunities with a neat group of bloggers? Click HERE for info and email me if any questions.
Need 9 months of your shop being promoted for $5…click HERE
By Bree, on August 31st, 2010
 You take a lot of care and interest in making a wonderful item. You select a shop name, you get your etsy or artfire or website up and running, you carefully consider your pricing, you post your pictures and then what happens???
Maybe you begin to question the value of your item or even of etsy? Just look at this: Etsy has 30 categories, in the children category alone there are about 397 thousand items listed…there is not even a bow category…which I have seen some amazing bows. So if you don’t pick the right descriptive word you may get buried. In Jewelry there are over 1 MILLION items listed! WOW…
All of those forums are great for hosting your items but what ends up happening is unless someone stumbles upon your item you may not get seen for a while. Maybe you host a giveaway to spread the word, maybe that works maybe it doesn’t. It does put your name out there but it may not equate to a sale for 6+months or ever.
Here is another thing to consider. You are good at your craft…be it what you make, sell, design, etc., but that doesn’t mean you know how to market or sale. You can read a ton of books, you can learn every catch phrase in the book and you can bore yourself to tears trying to learn marketing…when all along all you want to do is SELL your items so you can MAKE MORE!
I have heard of a few people mention their items are not selling or decided to move their product on their own. Nothing wrong with that but consider your progress and if you need some promotional assistance! Sometimes a little help can go a long way. That is why Blogmania has been so great (which predominately features ‘small’ shops), the dream team or my mom made link up.
This is where I come in (and Parker PR Online). I enjoy being online, I enjoy social media and I enjoy talking about people (giving and helping) so it makes sense I can use my ‘mouth’ to talk and promote. My mind is always thinking of ways to promote someone or something. I am adjusting and working and considering and staring at the ceiling at 5 a.m. thinking how can I help studioahimsa sell her items or how can I help the innovative life get those cute teacups moving and selling…really y’all I am.
So, my point, if you can take the leap and allow someone else to work FOR YOU, in turn you can be more productive and less stressed. My mom made link is $5 for 9 months of PR! I will run giveaways where the winner spends their winnings in any linked up shop and I will do shout outs, etc. between now and after mom’s day 2011~
If you have any questions let me know (bree at breebee dot com) and I hope you can enjoy my final day of a giveaway for one of my ‘mom’ made shops: Ends 8/31
Oh, here is a nice article on the difference (pro/cons) of artfire verses etsy if you are interested: RESOURCES.
By the way, some of my information of sales has come from my father in law . the Salesman of all Salesmen (Anderson Sales Advantage).
By Bree, on August 29th, 2010
Yes, I support all the small business/etsy shops out there because I know it’s not easy moving your valued product. I enjoy promoting your business and hearing about sales/traffic increases…
I too make things. Not too much anymore and it took me three weeks to get these pacifier keepers (or binkie bling) made but, I got ‘er done! There is a cute gift shop up the road in West Jefferson Oh (the Abbey) that allows some consignors and I have appreciated having my items in there for nearly a year now. I do enjoy social media and promoting businesses online, but I also enjoy making things when I have time.
Here are a few that I finally got to her on Saturday…
{don’t forget to enter the giveaway into one of these great mom made shops, it ends soon!}
If you click on that cute button (made my Wacky Jacqui designs) you’ll see a BIG prize for voting for that little lady.
oh, I did no photo editing on these except shrink them to a web size. sorry!
 
By Bree, on August 27th, 2010
Have you had one of those weeks where you blink and it’s Friday? Your feet hurt but you don’t remember why? Your list of to-do’s keeps progressing but not getting shorter?
We had fun, full week….
We had our 1st movie on Saturday, we had our 1st day (back) to dance class and I found a new way to make pancakes to ‘redeem the time’!
I had not taken my 4 year old to the movies because I wasn’t sure if she’d sit through it. But she did…amazingly still and loved it.
She loved her 1st day back to class in her new tutu and her ‘tappity tap’ shoes. (My son on the other hand wanted so badly to get in the class I felt like I wrestled for 30 minutes…)
And with the pancakes…no more cutting. I serve and he eats…
{i have no idea how to fix my photos and get everything all lined up pretty..sorry all.}
~~~
Also, I have a great giveaway to one of my mom made feature shop: hope you will visit this LINK and enter. Ends in a few days!
By Bree, on August 26th, 2010
This is a blogmania spotlight on one of my sponsors. I am amazed with how much can be done with paper products and a great imagination! Her work is classy, distinguished yet very personal! You can completely tell she captured the request of her customers.
Each Party I have thrown for my kids I labor over taking a picture, editing it, finding the perfect fit on my (not to great) photo program or on an online system like WalGreens or WalMart. Then I fiddle with the type/fonts and get frustrated because I can’t say what I want to say (space constraints). I am learning that sometimes it’s okay to delegate out projects. I don’t have oodles of excess money to pour out into some things but I have to determine where my time is best spent verses the money I think I may save.
So, here are my two cents for making your next party easier- yet beautiful!
Let me introduce you to Sparkling Events & Designs…Their Site. Their Facebook Page (which houses many great photos!). Their blog.
Here are only a few amazing photos….
(stop back in on Sept 15/16th for an easy entry to win her and many other prizes!)
  
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