A Personal Leap

I had mentioned on this blog a few day before that I was learning so many things that lie silently behind the scene to only once in awhile to bare its face.

Oh, about a lifetime ago I worked in a flower shop. To say my creativeness 'bloomed' is an understatement. I was so happy working in the front where I dealt with flowers and people but then I got a chance to start working in the back. Ordering flowers and then actually going to the local suppliers to pick and choose which flowers I would need for the next few days was a real eye opening process. I could actually see a warehouse filled with every colour, every shape, every kind of flower imaginable...and then every cost to them!

After about 6 months of being on both sides of the table (or at least I had figured that was all there was to it) I was offered the opportunity to buy right out the whole flower shop. Now being in a very well established area and having an amazing clientele and that the owner had been the original and so the shop had a fantastic rating and profile. With this all being in mind, I did up my whole proposal, business plan along with financing requirements in order to go in for a loan. After that intense but successful exercise I ended up having an epiphany! There is so much more than what I knew to run a small business.

Off to school I go, granted in my 30's but still young enough to not take for granted the ability to learn. I ended up with my diploma in business management with an accounting background. Now I figured with all of the education I had enoug
h to arm myself to see if I was ready to go it alone.

And of course, after a 3 year program the little shop that I had wanted in the beginning and lead me to this point in life had been sold. Sigh.

Off onto another adventure. I ended up with 7 years of experience being in council chambers and working side by side with a mayor and SAO (senior administrative officer). This was the best job and life that I had up that point in my life.

With a few years in-between then and now, life has taken me down many paths with so my curves and one-way roads that I have now ended up here.

Where is here? Here is in my wee nursery working with faeries. I can't imagine doing anything else anymore (of course eventually I will want/need to get back into the workforce).

So after all that has been said and done one of the newest gifts that I have been able to learn from and on my own is graphic designing. Prior to now I have always resourced this part of the company to an amazing friend but then as life goes on, she moved away to another area that we could only talk to each other through the phone, email and messaging.

For now, this is the story behind where I came from and where I am now.

The Forgotten Addendum

As I am scrambling to update my 'Thought of the Day' postings that have been late this whole week, I have just noticed that on all of the ones I just posted today....that on the bottom left hand side, not only have I added my amazing logo (a more than massive thank you to Alyssa) but that I had put on an address that you could either visit, stay up-to-date on or to confirm that indeed I had created this graphic.

Now here lies the dilemma with this whole thing...when I had saved them I was at the time still had and was active on the company's Facebook page!

Arggggghhhh how embarrassing! As most of the ones that I still have waiting to showcase were made prior to the closing down of the said FB page they too will have that link on them. Unfortunately by the stage of them being ready for 'print' so to speak...the rest of the ones that I still have waiting were created in a PNG format and then saved as a JPEG format. Sighhhhhhh.......Arggggggg......

As I am in the process of creating the next few graphics, I promise that the link will be changed to go back to the website! Sighhhhhh......Argggggg......

Burning Up the Nursery?

I was trying to figure out how to make sure that my wee little doors and the trinket chests could be recognized as being done by me.

The Flower Petal Faeries were easy, on the very bottom petticoat layer, I have hand written in the nurseries initials, the year and the faerie's name.

All of the packaging was easy as I just ordered rubber stamps with the company full name and the logo. So everything paper gets stamped.

Now back to the wood products! My husband suggested looking into some type of branding iron?? Off to the good ole internet I went. I made contact with Brand New Industries Inc. and with the help of Alyssa, I approved a branding plate. It took a bit to figure out exactly which branding iron would suit my purposes the best (in case I ever wanted to get a plate made with the company name on it).

But here is the final product. A big thank you goes out to my husband who was kind enough to do all of the branding for me....that is 80 faerie doors and 60 trinket chests (yes, more on their way in the mail).

Where has the time gone?

It seems like forever since I have sat down to write a new blog posting!!

I have now posted all of my products on Etsy. Wow, what an ordeal that has been. Between deciding how to do the photos, to pricing, to shipping, to descriptions, to, to, to, to.....it never seemed like it would end.

But success :)  Everything is posted, well everything that I have made in stock is posted. Figured if I put everything up, it would give me that inspirational boost to get my butt in gear to get more made.

Before I forget, a massive THANK YOU shout goes out to me Mom and my sister Deb for getting me all of the teacups they have so far. Sometimes living in a remote area has its downfalls and unfortunately, shopping is a major one!

Alyssa has submitted the ad campaign to the 'Faerie Magazine' for it's fall printing. I am so proud of the work she has done :) Once the magazine is out, I will scan a shot of the page and post here for you to see.

New product and inventory are arriving daily. My poor husband thinks that Canada Post has even forgotten what his name is....well except he does get the bills in the mail, so technically he is still receiving mail :) Thank goodness he is a good sport about it all and not only does he carry everything in the house for me, but he helps me open it too!!

My display units have also been arriving in the mail. I now has 5 glass pedestals containers to show off the Teacup Nurseries. I can't wait to get these assembled as I will have two of them here in town and the other three will be scattered across Alberta.

The new rubber stamps with the logo look fantastic. Just waiting now for the branding iron so we can burn the logo onto the backs of the wooden doors and the bottom of the trinket chests.

Again....thank you to Alyssa for taking a concept and turning it into my logo.

Art in the Park

Well this will be my first official showing since deciding to go from a home crafter of Enchanted Pathways to making a go of it as an actual business.

With the new name change to The Enchanted Pathways Faerie Nursery (legal registered for GST purposes is still Enchanted Pathways); a brand new website; Facebook business page; Etsy store front; a Twitter account; banner and faerie and introducing my new icon.

This icon was a concept of mine that Alyssa brought to life. A true artistic blend of beauty, practicality and simplicity. Everything a memorable icon requires. This icon will become the symbol of the Faerie Nursery. It will be included on everything from business cards, labels, web buttons, letterhead all the way to banners.

As this icon is actually one of my Seed Pod Babies it only seemed appropriate that she represent me, represent the company as a whole. She is the beginning. She is what each faerie starts out as, a flower petal baby.

I hope you like her  :)