Reflections on this past year

I hope everyone is having some good eats and excellent holiday fun first and foremost.  As a new and naive business owner for my company this year, I wanted to reflect and maybe pass on some advice to new comers who are getting into this just as I am.   

When I started this back in January, I had no idea how to do taxes, sales taxes and all that jazz. I just knew I wanted to do what I love to do and make some money off of it.  So I attended some semiars provided by the local city for business owners, business counselors and learned about how complicated putting together a business plan to present to the bank was.  Which I have not yet done, because I'm still too scared of the rejection, lol.    I did have to learn the art of organization with my receipts all year, which I had to make a nice little folder for all my tax exempt receipts, sales reciepts, etc... Which at this point in the end of the year was very helpful, and I'm not scrambling trying to organize a years worth of paperwork. 

With the supplemental help of events and promotions, I was able to pay my bills all year by myself, which for anyone can be such a self fulfilling achievement.  Even now that I got a regular Joe Job, I felt more accomplished making my Eclectic Visions money than I do now at my normal job. 

Even if you are or aren't into the making clothes business, having shows (fashion shows, in my case) or craft shows to sell your products is the first step for introducing your items at a local level.  Not many craft shows this year were successful for me, at all. But I'm glad I did them, each one is a learning experience which is always good for you (the business owner) whether positive or negative.  I had 3 fashion shows this year, I met many amazing models, and networked with different photographers.  Another thing I learned this year is to make sure you have your business cards on you at all times, whether you're at a craft/fashion show, or just walking around the mall on your day off.  You'll never know when someone is looking for someone in your field of expertise and you don't have a card with you.  You'll feel quite foolish, I know I did. lol

Goals for the New Year
For 2011, I want to branch out. Hopefully do some huge out of town craft fairs within TX like Austin or Dallas, really get my name out.  I want to design new stuff, maybe even swim wear this year. I'm pretty sure there will be new fashion shows I'll get called back for this year, and I want to be ready when they do.  I also want to be aggressive on magazine submissions, I'm already on one collaboration on that for a sci-fi mag in January. So I'm excited to do that, just more photoshoots, fairs, and shows.   Write down your goals and meet them, nothing is unobtainable if you set your mind to it. 

Merry Christmas soon!

Things have been slow in the sewing department for me lately. I got a full time job at a call center, so I haven't been aggressively pursuing my sewing or trying to get orders.   And I apologize for everyone that has been waiting for my spats, I made some then realized I didn't have a camera anymore, and I'm not about to use my crappy camera phone for my etsy, so yea lol..   I'm really hoping to save up to get a better camera before the year is up (so it can be a tax write off, MUAAHAHAA!) so I can have better photos for you guys and the webstore.


I am in the process of collaborating with Robert Tibuni of VaboomStudios for a magazine submissions to Time of the Faeries by J. Corsentino.  We're meeting tomorrow at the fabric store, and I'm going to be sketching some ideas for the Cyber Faeries outfit.   I'm really excited for this project and I hope our submission proves successful.


I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and will have an awesome Christmas!

Ah yes the moment you've been waiting for

I styled this baby to perfection!!

I had my husband buy me some photos from the show. Hopefully as I get more money in my pockets I will buy the rest from that day. Until then. look at these babies!!!!!

Me(left), Melanie, Melissa

Fashion show is done! Now for pics and mayhem

Well a lot of things went wrong, didn't happen. I was a little disappointed as there was no live auction so I didn't get to make money and give some to the Susan G Komen Foundation. The shoes I borrowed from Dillards came, and everyone got their shoes in full except for me. I was missing a pair of heels and one of the shoes that I picked came in the wrong size, even though the day I picked them out I had all the correct sizes.
For the moment where I didn't have a headache was when my collection went down the runway, and may I say, I styled everyone to perfection!! My models were outstanding, and my outfit was rockin! Unfortunately I didn't make my dress, I bought it at Skin Graft when I was in LA recently. I need to buy the pro photos from when my stuff when down the runway, but! I do have the link to the proofs, and they are stunning!

http://www.digitalmilephotography.com 2010 Breast Cancer Fashion show album

My photos are 102-113 in the album of photos. I can't wait to see the video too! Now that all the mayhem is over, I can concentrate on making new accessories for my shop, and cleaning out inventory.

I made myself a pair of spats for the show, and I must say I'm becoming quite obsessed with these things, so I might as well share my love for them with all of you gals, and make them for my etsy shop. I'm just going to clean out my bins of fabric making these so in the next few weeks all spats on my shop will be ready to ship!

Everyone waiting for the show to start

As promised new items in all sizes!

From the tiniest size to the largest of BBW's, these new items are available to anyone!

Indian Goddess Gown
High Waist Office Skirt
Summer Dreams in Green dress
Turkish Delights capri set

Things are really getting a move on, I have hope!

Wow, so this month is starting to pick up in work. I don't know if fall has anything to do with it, but I'm very happy right with how things are going. I just got signed on for another fashion show in Oct for a Breast Cancer Fundraiser, I just finished up a fashion show this past weekend which went great. I have some photos from that in this blog post.

People locally are starting to take more interest in my work, my name came out in the paper which would make anyone smile. I just think damn, if I had quit back when nobody bought my stuff I wouldn't be having all these opportunities I have now. So yea August has been an amazing month, and September-Oct looks to be full of awesomeness too!

El Minya Fashion Show

Some ideas for growth and development

Well I put off the mini mall space rental, I 've actually have been attending small business seminars on loans n stuff first, before I try to get the space. I have some appointments next week through the Small Business Association, to learn how to do my taxes and book keeping free! I never knew how much free help there is for people to learn how to run a small business. You can find more information on small businesses at:
The IRS site
Business Grants
Small Business Association (google it for your state)

Also I really want to expand my business locally too, not just through the web but here in the EP/Las Cruces area to get more clientele. My husband brought up a great idea to get my name out more, and since I've done a few charity fashion shows so far I thought it was a good thing. He was suggesting I offer my services to make pretty dresses/clothes to Candlelighters, for the children suffering from cancer. Something to maybe cheer them up? So thats going to be in the works soon, after another charity fashion show August 21st for The El Maida Shrine.


For that particular show I made a bunch of new designs that will be up in my Etsy shop shortly. I made 3 designs aimed toward my plus sized ladies (sz 18-20), so if those go well, I probably will make a more unique designs for plus sizes. I mean I do have some now, but the new designs will be made to flatter larger pear/hourglass/apple shapes. I have my consultant (my best friend of 20 yrs lol) to let me know what works on these shapes and what doesn't, which I was not aware of LOL.

You can read more about my business trials and tribulations through my facebook.

I am also now selling my items at The Velvet Garden-Gothic Marketplace under my username egyptmachine915

Craft Market spoils for today

And by spoil,I mean my lack of sales, but I got photos!! :P Yea I'm being a bit negative, which I shouldn't, but! I might actually rent a space for a mini store inside the "mini-mall" and have a physical shop! So it actually worked out, I'm kinda excited. I'm going to call on Monday to get more details on the space.

I love(ed) The Golden Girls. RIP ladies!!

Well we still have our kick ass Betty White to show us that you can be "it" at any age, and keep on working into our golden years.

I have loved The Golden Girls since I was a little girl, memories of watching it with my grandparents and with my mom just bring back so much happiness to me. I think its awesome that a show about a fun loving slut, a dumb blonde, a tough ol gal, and a opinionated italian momma in their senior years was able to keep a 6 year old girl entertained for years and beyond.

RIP Rue M.

RIP Estelle G.

RIP Bea A.

I made a treasury!!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c060a2fc3196d914d590621/stuck-in-the-past

Ah, it pains me to make this I can't afford any of the items in my treasury. But a girl can dream can't I? LOL

It was a great show

The Fashion show was a success! I did have a few bumps, I had 2 models cancl within 2 days of the show, which I was reall upset with, but anyways.... I was the 4th out, there was some awesome entertainment in between each designer and my outfit was rockin! The main designer had some pretty dresses and bikinis with crystals, great great show. Here are some photos from that night.

I'm very proud of my latest alchemy project

http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=27441505

I turned her old white wedding dress into a blue and super cute cocktail dress!

New stuff for the shop and preview for the show!

I've been working hard making new stuff for the show, my shop and other customer orders. The model problem is finally getting better, so no more fears for me thinking I should pull out. I met with a few of the models last weekend, and they were so cool, I'm really excited! Here are of the current things I've made/working on/brainstorming.
Kristin will be wearing this steampunk esq outfit, and I'm going to be making little wings for her out of faux owl feathers, and I gotta finish up that belt.

Perla is going to be wearing this tight faux ostrich pleather dress, with spikes on the one shoulder strap, I'm definitely adding more rows of spikes on it tonight.


Nitalia is going to be wearing my riding coat thats currently in my shop. I didn't have to fit her as it already was to her size! How nice :)































Melissa's going to be wearing another item from my shop, my cheetah wrap dress







































Claudette is going to be wearing a satin baseball jacket (that I haven't made yet) with a dragon patch on the back and this shirt, its going to be mad 80's


















and I still need models for these outfits :(

Whats new with me?

Well I turned 24 on Monday, things are finally looking up in the model search thing and I got some money so I'm hoping to have 12 looks for the show. They bumped our time slot from 3 minutes to an 8 max.

I'm still trying to get a make up artist, hopefully I can make a few more alchemy sales to maybe afford one. Also now that I'm going to be making more items, I need to find a new song thats longer than 3 minutes.

I also found out that this show will be professionally taped this year, which hopefully I can buy the taping from the man doing it (as I know him). I've been really busy and I hope this show will be my break through.

OMG this fashion show is makin me nervous

So I went to a model meeting today for the fashion show I've been raving about for awhile. I was invited to go by the lead designer A. Hidalgo, who happend to be the neighbor of my friend. So she told him about me, long story short he invited me to todays meeting to take to him about getting sponsorships (which I know nothing about). While he's talking about Allure Magazine being there, he also said there will be celebrities and E! network there!!! I'm soooo nervous now I want to throw up, lol. I doubt I'll even get a background cameo somewhere but this could be great exposure for me, and I totally have to up my game now. Somebody pray for me or send me good vibes.

I know you need new clothes, and more this weekend!

Etsy Buy Handmade EclecticVisions

Spring Break is coming to an end

So in light of that, I thought I'd share some of my old gift guides and how to vid for a Sally Jupiter costume from last year.

Sunday's Art Market

Well The Art Market was a flop :( Hardly anybody showed up and a lot of us artists were out the money we shelled out to rent the space. Which sucked because some of the people had very awesome and amazing items, and didn't sell a thing. I glad I was lucky enough to break even, the owner of the place (who is a photographer) saw my Coke Can corset, and bought it for use in a photoshoot.


Here are some more pictures of my booth and the event.








I don;t know if I'll do it again next week, but I did pass out my business cards and get a few inquiries in there. Wish me luck!

TGIF

So its been about a week I've been living in my new house. I just 2 new orders this week, which I'm excited because my husband thinks I can't make money with this business :(

Oh well, the heck with him, lol. I have some t-shirt recons this weekend, plus a Tudor style nightgown. Had the first meeting for the fashion show in April, I'm confirmed and most of my stuff is already ready!! I just now need to find some quality models and badass accessories to go with each look.

I also bought some more stuff for my YuDu machine, since I messed up and wasted an emulsion sheet the first time. So once all that stuff comes in I can make and list my screen print designs. For just a teaser I will say that they are biology and chemistry centered because, well I'm a nerd like that. lol

The time has come

Well no sales yet as of today, but! I did get an accepted alchemy bid yesterday, yay! My first etsy sale, plus I'm going to cold call local boutiques tomorrow to see abot wholesale-ing my items. I have about 7 stores right now, so hopefully I'll get one bite tomorrow.

Plus I'm going to be doing a local art market every sunday starting in March. Plus! The Art of Fashion show II in Apr coming up. I'm really excited this year, as I think my stuff is waaaay better than last year. Here's a little youtube vid of last years show.
The OP presents: The Art of Fashion

Le shoppe is now open!!!

Eclectic Visions on Etsy is now ready for business! I will be posting more and more each week!

www.EclecticVisions.etsy.com

Here are some sample photos:

I'm ready to post!

Well hopefully tomorrow I can post most of my things. I still have like 3 things I need to finish but I really need to post now. I have the wrap dresses, riding coat, 50's style dress, and a few other dresses. I am also going to be offering t-shirt reconstructions at $25 a pop. So you can look foward to getting your old bands shirts turned into new pieces of clothing!


Stay tuned for tomorrow!

Just an update

So today we were supposed to have the walkthrough with the realtor and builder but I guess they were too booked so we rescheduled for next week. :(

Anyways last night I almost finished my Citrus dress (with some fab Alexander Henry fabric), but realized I didn't have enough to complete the skirt, it wasn't wide enough so eh. Now I have to go back to JoAnns to see if they ordered anymore.

I also went down and bought a dragon patch for my baseball jacket. So after the Citrus dress I can start working on the jacket too. Here's photos of everything I have so far, finished and almost finished.

More Progress!

Yay, I got featured in a blog today (under my old store name):http://simplyinvitingcards.com/blog/?p=645

I have begun making the samples for my line, and I will have some of the same made to order items from my current shop like my Vanilla Dream line, as just can't retire those yet, lol.

I'm going to have soon:
A Victorian steampunk style riding coat
A baseball jacket inspired by The Last Dragon
Wrap dresses
Sexy Pleather dresses
n more....

I will offer sizes 0-20 in most items, as I can't forget about mah curvy ladies!

First Post!

So I thought I'd be a cool kid and make a blog here. :P

But in all seriousness, I'm going to be using this for blogging, store updates, sales, etc. I have a few annoucements for my company already.
I am confirmed for this years 2nd annual OP Fashion show here in El Paso,TX. I hope to get more exposure this year as opposed to last year.

I am hoping to get my etsy store up and running with a few things at least by next month. It'll only feature Made to Order items, and everything will be new designs for the year, and if you're local to can buy my old designs from last year at the flea market (I'll post the location later).

-Sara