DIY: Fabric Teaches Gratitude

I don't sew.  I'm afraid of the sewing machine.  It looks like a high tech monster. But I have the amazing ability to accumulate fabric, yarn, lace, and the stuff you sew to the bottom of clothing (I think it's called hem?) It's been collecting in my 'art' room for years.

Recently, while in a yoga class (I go about twice a year), I noticed my thoughts wandering to the windows.  Usually I would try to refocus on the pain of the pose that I was in, but I had discovered the COOLEST window curtains/coverings... prayer cloths! This discovery ruined any benefits I knew the class would give me.  All I wanted was the class to be over so I could examine these prayer cloths.  They were handmade, and I needed to see how they were put together.

Of course they were sewn together... which made me feel defeated.  But then I realized that I could do what I always do when I have to "sew" something, use HOT GLUE!!!  My defeat turned into exhilaration and I went home to make these window coverings.  

Once home, all the 'sewing' stuff came out. I decided to use any lace/ hem/ shoelace to hang the fabric off of. I got my fabric and glue gun out, and was set to go.  I cut 2" x 3" squares of fabric making piles by like material.  Then I started noticing that much of the fabric I was using was coming from old clothes and  table cloths that I wanted to repurpose.  With each square I cut, a memory would arise.  I saw my daughter's first step as I cut a dress she wore when she was one.  I remembered the feeling of being impatient on Christmas Eve as I cut the tablecloth my Grandma always used for that holiday, and I recalled the stupid (yet wonderful) jokes my husband told me on our first date, as I cut up his old shirt.  

Honestly, I wanted to create a prayer cloth window hanging for its coolness factor. But, it turned out that it did what it was intended for.  As I put the prayer cloth together, I got to mediate on a lot of great moments in my life. By the time I finished, I was calm, feeling refreshed and grateful for my family, friends, and the beautiful city I was born and raised in, Oakland.  

What are you grateful for?

Getting to Know Local Businesses: From Garden To Jar

I LOVE LOCAL!  I’ve met many amazing artists, crafters, food artisans, and small businesses doing fairs in the Bay Area.  I thought it would be fun to get to know them better.  Today, Judy Cardiff, custom food preservationist extraordinaire, shares her story and love for all things local! (By the way, I’m in LOVE with her Carrot Cake Jam!)

Who are you and what is your business about?

I spent 20 years in corporate America and gave up my career for my "calling" (motherhood) when my son arrived 3 months early back in 2007.

A big part of embracing the roll of a homemaker after two decades as a ladder climber and ceiling breaker was reigning in our budget. We are HUGE proponents of organic and local...so much so that we grow almost all of our own produce during the summer. I come from a family of canners. My grandmother and her sisters would "Put up" and divide their respective harvests every year. So putting up our harvests was a no brainer. After having a friend join me to can tomatoes one summer, it was suggested that we offer a class for my son's preschool auction. It was a great success and we developed a few canners from that class, but I also had a few women tell me that for as much as they loved the tomatoes we did, they didn't see themselves ever doing all that work on their own.

All this time I'd been working for a friend's home based business. I had start up experience and we'd done some great things to grow his business. But, adages about working for friends being true, that relationship didn't last and last September I found myself trying to figure out what to do with myself when a neighbor asked for ideas on what to do with the passion fruit that was taking of their yard. I offered to make jam and split the yield. She used her share for gifts and mentioned to me "I'd LOVE to have all home canned stuff in my kitchen...especially with all that's growing in our yard, but I don't have the time."

So my business is actually custom food preservation. You grow it or source it, and I'll preserve it for you. I do canned produce, frozen produce, dried produce...I'll make jams, jellies, salsas, pickles and I'll re-create old family recipes. I also do lessons. This year I decided to do some jams to bring to craft fairs to introduce myself and my abilities and much to my surprise, I sold out of everything each time. So now I offer a few seasonal jams and jellies year round. Soon they'll be available on my website (www.fromgardentojar.com) and (hopefully!) at a small venue near you!

What are some random facts about you?

1) I was a competitive figure skater for 10 years -Early in my career I traveled internationally quite a bit. So much that I flew 200,000 miles in 6 months!

2) I hate grocery stores!

What’s your favorite part of Oakland?

My favorite part of Oakland is Fairyland! This little, unassuming playground was the impetus for Disneyland. And that kinda sums up Oakland to me...unassuming, full of charm, and a place where big dreams are launched.

Thanks Judy!  You can find out more about her at www.fromgardentojar.com and www.facebook.com/FromGardenToJar. 

And remember, From Garden to Jar is Oakland!

Being Schooled in Selling Wholesale Part 2: Making a Soap Catalog

I need a soap catalog?  I learned it the hard way (or the quick way depending on how you look at it.)  I finally got the email that I had been hoping and waiting for…  “I would love to carry your soap in my shop, can you please send me your catalog?”  My response: “Well, of course I can!”  But inside my head I thought, “Oh crap…. I needed to make one, quick!” At that moment, I had to thank god there’s the Internet because I googled ‘soap product catalogs’ and I was led to many soapers with great catalogs and order forms  (see for yourself: Freckles Soap)  but this is what I learned:

Cover page:  You need to have your logo, contact info… and your story…  Again, I’m learning so much that not only is your business about your soap, it's about you:

Product Listing:  Like on your website, pictures of your products, descriptions, and suggested retail price in contrast to wholesale price. And finally… the most important: 

Order Page and Form: Try to have it easy for them to fill out.  Honestly, my first catalog didn’t ever have an order form, and I was wondering why I wasn’t getting a response back.  I only got a response after I emailed the business…  'Can I help you place an order?' I got a response within hours…  I need a clear order form… Duh!!! 

So here are examples of mine…  They’re not perfect, but I figure that whatever I create in my life is like fine wine; it always gets better with time! 

Celebrating the Super Bowl!!!!

Just a little fun on Super bowl Sunday!  And I think this served as a therapy session for my husband!!! He's a 49er's fan....

Being Schooled in Selling Wholesale! Part 1: Reaching Out

The Dream: To walk into a store and see a Handbrewed Soaps display!! 

This dream is also my growth area… Because honestly, I’m terrified of making a cold call, it completely stresses me out!!!  I’m always wondering: How do I make a pitch to a brick and mortar store to sell my product?  What do I say? What if they say no? Do I have to make a cold call?  Should I go into the store and just introduce myself? I’ve looked at every blog I could find for help. They mostly say the same thing, ‘Make a cold call’ and ‘get an appointment with the owner or manager’.  That seems terrifying to me.  After I milled these approaches around for a couple of weeks, I decided that’s not me right now, I need to start at my comfort level, I need to be myself!

For me, I want my soap to speak for itself, that’s why I have a hand washing station in my vendor booth at festivals.  It’s a great way to introduce the soap.  “Hey, would you like to try washing your hands with beer soap?”  So I need a similar approach to working for wholesale sales.  In a sense, I give away soap to try at my booth, so I probably need to do the same thing in this situation. I need to give samples away to a targeted audience (homebrew supply stores). What better way to find this target audience than at a beer festival I was a vendor at!

My booth was “homebrew alley,” a great location for my product. After booths were set up, and people were settled in for the day, I went from booth to booth that met my target audience, giving a bar of soap and my card to those representing the store!  With my heart in my throat I said,  “ Hi, I’m Alyson.  I make soap out of homebrewed beer! I wanted to give you a sample of our soap. Please come our booth and met the brewer later today!”  What I noticed from that intro was that because we had a common interest (beer), a great conversation quickly developed and cards were exchanged!

I got interest, now what???? Well, I sent a follow-up email a week later.  Something like:  Hi, We met at the beer festival, and I gave you a bar of beer soap.  I would love to hear your feedback on it.   Please feel free to contact me if you would like to buy some!  If you are interested it caring it at your store, I can send you our wholesale prices.  (Ok, obviously it was an amateur ask … but at least I did it!) So…

Days went by, weeks went by, and then all of a sudden… a response…. 

 “We like your soap, can you please send me your Product Catalog.” SCORE!!!!!!  Now I have a new amazing problem, a Product Catalog (I will blog just on Product Catalogs), but lets just say that I 'gotter' done in a day, and sent it off.   Then, there was another wait.  Fear arose for me as I obsessed on: Will an order be placed?  Did I do something I wasn’t suppose to?  Finally, I realized that businesses are busy.  The order is probably on the bottom of their to-do list.  I should be wondering, how I can help them better, maybe my catalog was not as clear as I thought.  So, I sent another email:  “Can I help you with placing your order?”  And sure enough…  I got a reply within a few hours… and the order was out the door!

Lessons learned:  Be yourself… and approach how you feel comfortable…  For me, I was able to make connections at the beer festival.  I know that I’ll become more confident as time goes on.  I will be able to make the cold call, or walk into the store in the future.  Lesson two:  Follow up.  Businesses are very busy and may not get back to you as soon as you hope. Don’t take in personally, just reach out.  Lesson three:  Have a clear order process… and revise policies immediately to make the ordering process easier.  

I hope to have an additional blog titled:  Launching Wholesale:  The Cold Call soon…  (Keeping my fingers crossed!) until then…  how do you approach wholesale?

Beer Mug Shaped Birthday Cake!!

What better way to celebrate a 40-year old home-brewer, than with a beer mug shaped birthday cake???  It may not be the prettiest, but it was a lot of fun to make.

Ingredients used for a "I need a quick beer mug cake NOW!!!":
3 boxes of cake mix
4 tubs of vanilla frosting
yellow food coloring
whipped cream
candles
Card stock (for handle)
toothpicks

Baking:  Divide the batter into round cake pans.  I only had two cake pans, so I made one box at a time.  Three boxes with get you 6 round cakes.  After they have cooled, stack them!!

Frosting:  Dump the pre-made frosting into a large bowl and add yellow food coloring as needed.  I recommend buying 5 tubs if you want to frost in between each layer.  I didn't because of the following variables : cranky-kids + family arriving in 45 minutes = it's good enough!  Then, smear the frosting on the side until you are happy with it.  Add the whipped cream before you serve it!

Candles:  Get the tall candles.  I got the regular candles that you find in any store and they were to short.  So, we didn't have candles, but we sure had a laugh!!

Handle:  I eye-balled the handle (it's a little out of proportion!)  I cut the letter C and taped toothpicks to the ends. You can kinda see it in the first picture. I stuck it into the cake after I add the whipped cream.

Result:  One happy 40 year old home-brewer!!

Freshly Cut Grass Beer Soap

Imagine this:  It's a hot day (which it has been in Oakland, surprisingly!)  You've just mowed the lawn, and all that quenches your thirst in a nice cold beer... along the lines of a PBR!

Inspired by this vision, I have created the Cut Grass Bar!  Made with a PBR (not my hubbies home brew this time!), and fragranced with Freshly Cut Grass.

Though winter is approaching.. this bar will remind you of the summer.  So why not have a little summertime in your winter?