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 Unknown Progression

I find it truly amazing how the progression of my ideas have come to this point.

Back in 2010 I had only begun to think of making flower petal faeries. I was doing them to keep myself busy until I could find a full time job in our newly move to the Northwest Territories. Granted I have lived in the north for 14 years already but never in Fort Smith, never married and never for following someone up here (well okay, there was one time but I was only 7 months old, so I don't think that this is a true indication of the point that I am trying to get at).

My wee Enchanted Pathways company was registered in British Columbia and at that time I was just looking to try to make replica doors as shown in the *Hobbit movie. I thought they would be fun to make so there I was with a design in mind, a massive of amount of new tools and even a **Dremel. Alas, this idea never did come to fruition. I did have fun though!

In the process of this whole new experiment I did learn some very valuable information. Shopping, how to get the lowest price and value for the dollar. Shipping, how to get products from the USA without having to pay duty on them. Ideas, how to jot everything and I mean everything. Tools, how not to loose a finger or other appendages. Paperwork, how to document and file. Education, using all that you have learned in the past and trying to adapt it to what you need now. Friendship, the importance of having someone to bounce ideas off. Love, knowing that you are someone believes in you.

I have now gone from the original play of making Hobbit doors and then onto simple flower petal faeries to what my company is today.

1 - Generation 1 Flower Petal Faeries ~~ that have an average of 20 silk flower petals and stand approximately 7.6 cm (3") in height.

2 - Magical Wooden Faerie Doors ~~ these are now actual cutout wooden doors and no longer doll house doors.

3 - Teacup Nurseries ~~ using miniature trees, flowers and dollhouse items that have been made into a small garden area that faeries just might be found.

4 - Seed Pod Babies ~~ using the small roses that I used to take apart for the smallest petals when making the Generation 1 Faeries are now transformed into a full rose head with a curly wired tail and then placed into a tree pod with a bed of moss.

5 - Generation 2 Flower Petal Faeries ~~ using a wooden platform these faeries stand about 12.7 cm (5") and are numbered for collection status. This style is made up into full groups that are meant to be purchased as a full set.

So that is the product end of my company. Now onto the other end of the company!!

I am now quite proficient at the accounting end but still have a hired certified accountant to do the tax filing. I do all of the GST filing on my own currently.

Photography is now done completely be me. I am able to use my ***Photoshop program in order to clean up and adjust the photos as required for website usage. I have a complete shadowbox that allows me to take consistent photos.

Website has now been changed over to a ****Weebly program where I have full control over the pages. I still do have a tons of assistance from Shawn my In-House-Guru that helps me with absolutely everything when it comes to coding.

Extras are now designed by me for all printing purposes this includes cloth bags, sticky notes, magnets, rack cards, tri-fold cards, postcards, business cards, labels and rubber stamps.

Graphics have thankfully been done by both Alyssa and Shona for the icon and main stump photo.

Adverts are now done by myself as well. This is a part of the company that I never thought that I would teach myself to do (with help from Linda). It is amazing how I have been able to create a background and then put all of the company information on it. These adverts are now run in national magazines and local newspapers.

Additions include the new 'Thought of the Day' graphics along with quotes and now Instagram photos that have a wee stories with them.

Wow! Now that is progression!

Here is the advert that will be going into issue #28 of the Faerie Magazine. I am really happy with what I have been able to create and make my own.

On a final note, this all wouldn't have been possible without you!

* The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - WingNut Films
**Dremel Tools - Robert Bosh Tool Corporation
***Adobe Photoshop Elements 12 Editor
****Weebly website and blog site founded by David, Dan and Chris

The Ad, The Look, The Feel...The New

So....this is the ad that I submitted to Kim at the Faerie Magazine. She is the one that I originally wanted to advertise with but everything went haywire last year with her company after the sad passing of her mother. I have decided to spend my remaining advertising budget dollars with her in the hopes that she can get out a quality product. As this IS my target audience in the end I decided it is where I needed to be. I did look into advertising on-line with various newspapers across Alberta and BC but nothing just seemed to be working right. As well, I did look into advertising with a Canadian garden magazine but unfortunately they were all way out of my league as far as budgets go (1/8 b&w page ran over $5000.00!!!). 

I guess, I am asking everyone for their thoughts and opinions on the new look but in the end...the ad is already sent and the deadline has come and gone so I will be unable to make any further changes. I did make an arrangement with Kim for my second ad to be 50% off so if through suggestions, I can certainly change the look or feel come the next time around. The previous ad that Alyssa made for me was fantastic and showed everything that I made at the time which is how I needed people to know that I my company was out there. This new ad is more sleek, clean and hopefully mysterious enough that people will either scan the QR code or look up the website address due to the vagueness of the whole thing. 

Under the suggestions of all of us, Larry, Matthew and Brandi the stump island photo was developed (well, Matthew disagreed with the whole stump idea as he noted that I am not in the business of selling stumps...I commented back with...well not yet!!). The look we were hoping to achieve was one that showed a faerie door and perhaps if you looked you might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a faerie in amongst the flowers and grasses. I think Schonee did an amazing job of capturing a mystical playground for the faeries. 

With the company ever evolving and changing, this ad will allow me to add and subtract products without changing the look and feel of the new backgrounds. The stump island photo is now on every banner for all 6 of my e-commerce sites as well as the website, Facebook and my blog page. All printed material is in the process of being changed over as well. We stayed with the original company colours of eggplant purple and green which means none of my packaging products will need to be changed which helped with expenses. 

Thanks for reading and please respond if you have any suggestions...

Faerie Amma (Emmanuelle)   :)

The Little Tweaks Make All The Difference

Shawn did a few extra tweaks to my blog site for me. We now have a link to all of my other cyberspace  places where I share what is happening with the Faerie Nursery and ME!

We also included a link to the Faery World Magazine. Even though I have only advertised with them once, they did include a full biography and pictures of me and mentioned me on their Facebook page a few times. To me, they went over and beyond what a magazine company usually does for their advertising client. So if you get a chance please check out their page link on the bottom right-hand side of my blog.

The Check List!

My Check List for this weekend seems to have gone POOF. And not POOF in a necessarily good way!!

Besides the basic household chores that need to be done on the weekend (might I add here, that I got all of them finished) but the company ones that you just really don't want to start on a week night when you only have those few precious hours.

1. paint trinket chest....hmmmm well, I now 12 lined up on the painting table :) That's a start right?? And hey, two of those actually have the hardware taken off of them ;)

2. hang new flowers/vines from the rafters.....hmmmm well, after fighting and almost stabbing myself in the eye by numerous wayward flying staples from the staple gun, I am happy to announce that this chore got DONE. So while standing tip top on top of the chair, I also hung the rest of the second order of crocheted humming birds that I ordered from Stefanie at Fayard Hand-made Crafts on Etsy. These little critters are so cute.....she puts wire in their wings so they look like they are in flight. I have them hanging everywhere from the flowers and green vines. I have another 20 on order somewhere on their way here in the mail.

3. put new mini's away.....DONE. Took another trip to the local Field's store to buy more little snap lid containers but my work table is once again cleaned off and ready for production to start.

4. other stuff.....

a) set up the new iMac....I think this stage now completed for the most part. My son is still tweaking        with the little things.

b) hang the birthday card I got from my boss...DONE This has got to be one of the most beautiful cards I have ever seen. Made by Reuben McHugh and titled: Dusty Blue Delphinium. This is a French Joyeux Anniversaire card that has a purple faerie kneeling on a pedestal covered in sparkly purple/blue delphiniums. And with the nursery being done in purples....how perfect could this card be. I was able to find his personal website but unfortunately he does not have my little card listed under his portfolio. If you care to do a search though, you can find her under images and looking for Fairies of Venice (I do not want to infringe on his copyright, so I will leave the search to you). His website is: The Fairies of Venice

c. finished off another good portion of the graphics that I needed Alyssa to complete. Now just to get them all printed.

d. brag about the new ad in the Faerie World Magazine :)  I was able to be chosen for a full page portfolio as well and they have been showing my ad through their Facebook page. Pretty cool to see you name live!


And that's about it for this weekend. Sure wanted to get a whole lot more done but oh well :)

Advertising....

Well this list should round out what is in the works over the next month or so for advertising.

Faery World Magazine – inside front page, page listing and biography with photos. This magazine hit the news stands today and might I ad, it is a bit scary seeing yourself in print! Faery World Magazine

Faerie Magazine – ½ page advertisement. Will be out the beginning of October. Faerie Magazine

The Magical Times – Crafters’ Corner. Will be out next week. The Magical Times

Northern Journal – 1/8 page and service directory ads. Starting mid October. The Northern Journal

Etsy - I have started running the blitz of internal adversing here as well. Faerie Nursery Shop Front Etsy

My oh my, now I guess it is just a waiting game to see if what I have to offer is what YOU, yes YOU, are interested in :)

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.