New This Week (week of April 25)

I had a nice pace this week- not too crazy- I got a decent amount of sleep every night and did fun things with my kids. And I made something new every day, which keeps me happy and charged up and still loving what I'm doing. Here are the highlights. You can find all of this week's new items here under my "New This Week" category, but these are my favorites from the week

Black and white felt daisy clip and headband. I love how these fluffy felt flowers look. I now have them in several different colors, and each one makes me happy. :) More new colors are coming soon. :)

I got in a bunch of new felt colors for "Emma" felt flower clips and headbands- I especially liked this golden yellow. :)

I had a custom request this week for a navy and white flower, and was really excited to use some of the custom-made fabric button centers I ordered months ago. I love the subtle pattern of the flower in the middle of the posy. :) I have several more of that button, so I decided to list this flower in my shop because I like it so much. :)

I got some new ribbon colors for "Hailey" and "Hannah" headbands, and love the weaving together of black, brown, gold, purple, pink, and charcoal in this really fun flower that I just love for moms!

I made a lot of new butterflies this week- it's the "season" for them- but I think my favorites are the "Summer Love" butterflies I made in clips and a headband.

Or, maybe it was the Cute Cowgirl large butterfly I made today... I really can't decide. :)

That's it. :) Stay tuned for giveaway announcement on Monday- it'll be a quick one, wrapping up on Tuesday instead of Wednesday because we leave town on Wednesday. But it's for something good, so you don't want to miss it. :)

And now I'm off to have my toenails painted with this little sweetie. :) Happy weekend!

WINNER Announced! Choice of "Emma" clip or headband

Congratulations to Steph Gostisha, winner of this week's giveaway! You win your choice "Emma" felt flower clip or headband! Send me an email at mylittlepixiesbowtique@gmail.com with your address, style, and color choices! You also receive a coupon code for free shipping on anything else you want included in the package with your prize!

"Emma" style flowers come in white, cream, taupe, brown, black, strawberry red, red, baby pink, cotton candy pink, fuchsia, buttery yellow, pistachio green, turquoise, baby blue, plum purple, and hydrangea purple. You can find an easy place to order clips here and headbands here.

And on a personal note, thank you all for participating this week in memory of sweet baby Emma, and for all your kind comments. I know it means a lot to her mom (and dad) that little Emma was remembered this week. With their blessing and permission, I share a picture of baby Emma with you, and thank you for your prayers for this precious family.

Monday Giveaways: "Emma" Felt Flower Clip or Headband

This week's giveaway is for YOUR choice of:

"Emma" felt flower clip- OR- 

"Emma" felt flower skinny headband!

The flowers are available in a wide variety of colors, including white, cream, taupe, brown, black, baby pink, cotton candy pink, fuchsia, buttery yellow, pistachio green, baby blue, hydrangea purple and plum purple.

I've always loved these flowers, and when I was trying to decide on a name for them, they just seemed to belong with the name "Emma." Emma is a special name to me because it is the name of a very special person I have never met, but cannot wait to meet. I named this collection of items after the daughter of a close friend, who was tragically taken from this world much too soon, two years ago, after my friend suffered a placental abruption and sweet baby Emma was born stillborn. This week is Emma's birthday week (her birthday is April 28), and so with her mother's blessing, I am running this week's giveaway in honor of precious Emma.

So here's how you enter:

1. Leave me a COMMENT, either here or on my Facebook page.

2. SHARE about the giveaway, and http://www.mylittlepixies.com with friends- by Twitter, Facebook, blogs, email, whatever- for an EXTRA entry.

3. Be (or become) an official FOLLOWER of this blog (leave in your comment that you're a follower) for another EXTRA entry.

4. Check back Wednesday morning when I'll post the results and contact the winner.

As a special incentive for lots of fun, the winner will also receive a private coupon code for free shipping on any order she wishes to have sent at the same time as her prize!

Many thanks to Nessa Hendriksen Photography for the fabulous pictures! :)

New This Week

Each week, I make dozens of new items- it's what keeps me from getting burnt out! For example, this week, I made:

The "Wild Child" butterfly bow.

Red felt poppies.

Turquoise and pink Hannah headband.

Lots of new fruit clips and other felt applique clips.

Several styles of Nora Bows.

It has been an interesting challenge figuring out how to find my place now that I'm sort of in between Etsy and MyLittlePixies.com. I'm realizing how much Etsy's internal marketing mechanisms really helped me to reach people! I have a great Facebook community with lots of people I genuinely enjoy connecting with- but recent changes to Newsfeed have hidden a lot of my posts from people (even people who haven't deliberately "hidden" me!) It doesn't really matter how cute and fun something is if you can't share it with an audience!

One of the things I love most about doing this is creating new things- trying new ideas and reworking old ones- and whenever I create something I always want to share it with the world! Maybe that's silly, or maybe it's a sign of my deep-seated insecurity (but let's not talk about that... :))- but it's true! It really isn't even about sales for me- I just want to share how much I love this stuff with others! So I've been brainstorming ways to connect with people on what's new in my world. And I came up with the idea of creating a new category on my website where I will put all the "new stuff" each week. Check out the category- "New This Week"- under which will be subcategories for 4 weeks' worth of new items. The new website system allows me to categorize the same item in multiple sections, so all the listings are also in the categories they "belong" in as well.

Each Friday I plan on "sharing" the link- and maybe also doing a little blog post like this just to keep folks up to date. It really hasn't ever been about money for me; it's about doing what I love. And one of the things I love most is creating in the context of community. Y'all are my community. Thanks for being so great! See ya Monday for the next giveaway!

WINNER Announced: Set of Two Tropical Punch Posh Posies

Congratulations to Ang Alford, this week's winner of the set of two small tropical punch Posh Posies! Ang, get in touch with me at mylittlepixiesbowtique@gmail.com with your address and I will send them on their way! Thanks, everyone for participating! It's so much fun to connect with you through these little giveaways! :)

If anyone else is interested in this set, it is specially priced for TODAY ONLY on my new site at this link.

Monday Giveaways: Pair of Small Tropical Punch Posh Posies

These little posies are some of my absolute favorites this year! I love all the bright colors available for girls' spring and summer clothes!

The set is a great option because you can use the two posies for cute, slightly mismatched pigtails, or use just one at a time. I would wear them myself or share them with my daughter. :) Great for big girls, little girls, baby girls, whatever!

FYI, if you should win but already have this set, I will most gladly allow you to exchange your prize for a different set of small posh posies. :)

If you want a chance to win your own pair of tropical punch posh posies, here's how:
1.  Leave me a COMMENT, either here or on my Facebook page- it helps if you leave your email address so I can contact you if you win!
2. SHARE with friends about My Little Pixies on Facebook, MyLittlePixies.com, and this giveaway, for an extra entry (via email, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, whatever)- and tell me that you did!

Wednesday morning, the winner will be announced! Good luck!

Winner Announced: Pair of Small Butterfly Bows

*Due to an entry I missed, I had to recalculate the winner- so this week there will be TWO winners. Congratulations to Stephanie Grams (the first winner), AND Sherry Rigell (the second winner after I added in the extra entries)! Ladies, contact me at mylittlepixiesbowtique@gmail.com with your color choices for your bitty butterfly bows!

If you didn't win but still want to try these guys out, check out this link to view the "small butterflies" category on my new website. I'm trying something new this week, since the new website makes it SO much easier for me to run specials, and for TODAY ONLY, the featured item is available at the special price of only $7.50 per pair or $3.75 per single (regular $8/pair, $4/single)! No need for a coupon; the special price is already loaded into the listings. :) Perfect chance to try them out. :)

*Please do note that processing times are running at about a week unless you give me special instructions for a rush order; I'm still working through all my opening week orders!*

Monday Giveaways: Pair of Small Butterfly Bows

After a couple weeks' hiatus for me to get www.mylittlepixies.com up and running, I'm delighted to return to our usual Monday Giveaways! :) This week, it is for one of the "staples" of my shop and a year-round best seller. :) These small butterfly bows are so versatile, pretty, and available in so many different colors! The winner of the giveaway will receive his/her choice of a pair of bitty butterfly bows! 

Choose simple solid.

Or polka dot.

Or solid with a multicolored braided center.

Or one of several patterns, including a new fun one for summer- orange and yellow paisley! 

These bows look great on pigtails.

Or by themselves- even on newborns!

If you want a chance to win your own pair, here's how you do it:

1. Leave me a COMMENT, either here or on my Facebook page! Tell me what color you'd choose! :)

2. SHARE with friends to earn an extra entry (be sure to tell me that you did)- you can share via email, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, whatever- tell your friends about http://www.mylittlepixies.com and this giveaway!

3. Check back on WEDNESDAY  morning when I'll announce the winner! It's helpful to me if you leave your email address so I can contact you if you win! :)

Good luck!

Special thanks to Daffodil Photography, POSH Photography, and Andrea Mackey Photography for the fabulous pictures!

Ready to Roll

I'm a excited and a little verbose this morning, so if you want me to just get to the point without having to read all that writing below- use the coupon code "grandopening" at my new website at http://www.mylittlepixies.com for FREE SHIPPING on ANY order! Coupon code is good through Wednesday night at 10pm EST.

Today's my big "launch" day! http://www.mylittlepixies.com is ready to roll! I'm a little nervous about it- couldn't sleep last night thinking about it. Will enough people follow the new site? I mean, I love it, but what if people are just more comfortable with Etsy than they are with an external site? Or, what will I do if TOO many people join me on the new site?! This is a huge milestone for my business and I'm simultaneously thrilled and terrified! But overall, I think the "thrilled" wins out. I'm just excited to be doing what I'm doing and sharing with the world. My parents always instilled an appreciation for excellence in me growing up, and even still, I take great pride in making whatever I am doing the very best it can be. The new website is a fantastic representation of that endeavor because it truly is excellent in every sense of the word. I can say that without avarice because I didn't do the majority of the footwork in making is as brilliant as it is- I paid a wonderful company to design it for me, so I just get to enjoy the fruit of their labor and bask in the reflected glow of their excellence.

However, that's not to deny the MANY hours I have spent over the past week or so painstakingly entering hundreds of listings into the new format. It has been a huge time investment for me, but one that I sincerely hope will pay off in the future because now that it's done- it's really DONE! And if it actually works the way I hope it will, I will be freed from the constant companionship of my computer because I will no longer have to monitor listings to make sure they're not sold out (as I had to do on Etsy). I will just be able to focus on my real life, and on making the pretty things I truly love making.

So here's to a new journey! Welcome, mylittlepixies.com! I'm so excited to see you!! :)

Grand Opening Special

It's almost here! The grand opening of http://www.MyLittlePixies.com is coming up on MONDAY! Eek! I hope I'm ready in time! I will be working feverishly on getting all my listings up and ready to go in time for the grand opening. But I wanted to tell you all a few things about the new site that really make me excited for the change. So without further ado, here are my Top Ten favorite things about mylittlepixies.com

1. FLEXIBLE listings that allow for input from YOU! Most categories now have a “Your Choice” listing that enables you to put in your selection for color, headband size or clip style, and more! Check out this listing for a great example:http://www.mylittlepixies.com/item_44/Bella-Headband-in-YOUR-Design.htm
2. It’s MINE! Which means that I can entirely control the content and style of the site. :) This enables me to make the site exactly what works for me and for my clients. I love being personally connected with my clients, and having my own site facilitates that. I am sure I will learn a lot the first few weeks of being on my own site, and it will continue to become an even better place to shop!
3. Fabulous CUSTOM Request tool. I have had a special tool custom-designed for my website to enable clients to input their custom requests. It’s a user-friendly way to give me all the information I need to start on your custom order. You can see the link for “Custom Orders” at the top of my site, or check it out here:http://www.mylittlepixies.com/pages/custom-hair-accessories.htm
4. No more quantity limitations! You can now purchase as many of each item as you like (though in the case of limited edition items, I will only have the number available that I am able to make) and it is as simple as inputting the quantity desired into the “cart."
5. Gift Registry option! When you browse through the site, you will have the opportunity to add your favorite items into a “gift registry” which you can share with others. This is so perfect for moms-to-be! You can add the styles you like best to your registry so your baby shower guests know what to get for you!
6. Seasonal categories. I can now put a listing into more than one category- so in the “Seasonal” section, you’ll find my favorite listings for whatever holiday is coming up. For example, you can see selections for “Easter” here:http://www.mylittlepixies.com/category_56/Easter.htm
7. Flat Rate Shipping! Because I will no longer have to pay Etsy’s per-transaction and per-listing fees, I will now be able to offer flat rate shipping at $2.50 per order, regardless of size. :) I’ve always wanted my shipping charge to be in line with how much it actually costs to ship something, so this will be a nice way of doing that. :)
8. Gift Certificates will soon be available! I’m still working the kinks out of the system, but it’s coming. A great gift idea for the person who has everything. :)
9. Payment is easy, breezy, and made securely without ever having to expose your personal information, or any need to create yet another website sign-on. Paypal facilitates the payment system, but you still do not have to have a Paypal account to pay. I have tested the system myself this week and paid with no trouble with a credit card without signing in to Paypal. 
10. Professional, user-friendly interface with much easier shopping and browsing than I had on Etsy. You will find my shop divided into similar categories for the main styles (Bows, Pixie Posies, Headbands, etc)- but beneath each main heading will be several sub-headings for the individual styles available, each with an example picture of that style, so you can locate what you’re looking for within seconds.

Oh, and don't forget to input the coupon code grandopening into your shopping cart starting on Monday morning through Wednesday at 10pm EST for FREE SHIPPING on any order! 

(note, if I end up with the type of response that is possible given my past experiences with running specials, processing times will likely be a bit longer than normal).