MOMpreneur Award of Excellence--Last Week!

We're in the home-stretch for the voting period in the contest.  Clicking on the picture below will take you to our nomination page:



It has been an interesting journey so far, and we stand a really good chance of being in the top 10 at the end of the voting period.  Up until a few weeks ago it appeared that our location on the site was moving around based on how we were doing in the contest, then everyone stopped moving.  The response from the contest organizers was that to keep things fair, no one should know who was in which position until after the voting was done.  Seems fair enough, though slightly confusing based on what had been happening earlier.

Anyway, after the voting period is done at midnight EST on January 31, we sit back with fingers crossed that the phone rings with an invitation to the conference in March--which is part of the Grand Prize--or that somethign equally wonderful arrives in the mail, indicating a secondary prize for us!

Things I am learning from this contest:

• I really need to learn more about how to use social media better,
• Should have joined the "twitterverse" much earlier in the game, though I am having a riot following some of my favourite people and seeing the inspiring pictures that some have posted,
• There are a lot more people who will come out of the woodwork as potential supporters (and hopefully future customers) when you're involved in something like this, if I haven't said Thank You to you directly:  THANK YOU!

Once everything is settled, I think I'm going to need to lock myself in the basement for a few days with my sewing machine and fabric stash.  New ideas keep popping into my head, and the random papers with them sketched need to be collected and organized.  Please send snacks...

~Dez

Creativity and the Life-Work Balance

I think I may have set a pretty lofty goal for myself with the title of this post.  Let me be clear, I don't proclaim to be an expert on life-work balance, or even to be the most creative person in the world.  However, I like to think I'm getting better at the balancing act and my sketch pad (read:  the random papers floating around my studio, my desk at work, and in my bookbag) would indicate that my creativity is still flowing.

The last few months have been a bit of a whirl-wind experience.  We moved into our beautiful new home, and it really did feel like home right from the beginning, and shortly after welcomed my brother and sister-in-law to live with us.  While I'm looking forward to reclaiming a larger studio space in a few short weeks, I know our "roomates" will be missed--especially by the mischievious toddler who smiles and calls after them every time they cross his path.  The lightbulb moment occured in the middle of the night a few days ago that I need to get producing more in my studio so that we can save up for a trip to visit the Land Down Under--preferably before Ian hits school age--to visit his favourite Uncle Derk and favourite Auntie Ksashar (see what I did there, still room for favourite Auntie Teaghan). 

I digress, and seem to be a bit off-topic...

New opportunities are always on the horizon, and we've been looking at how to market our products in the most effective way.  Looking at local shops and other vendors' markets.  Then I came across a few posts on Marketing Creativity that really got the gears turning on how to approach the new year, and how to Build a Better Creative Business:  http://www.marketyourcreativity.com/2013/01/build-a-better-business-give-away/#comment-2967

I hope this can be helpful to anyone else looking for ways to improve on their business.

~Dez

Welcome 2013

Happy New Year to everyone.  I hope you were able to enjoy time with friends and family over the last few weeks, and if you celebrate in Ukranian then "Z Rizdvom Khrystovym !"

2013 is shaping up to be a great year full of exciting challenges.  The first challenge is getting Balanced Needles Knitting & Quilting back in the Top 10 of the MOMpreneur Award of Excellence.  At the end of the voting period, January 31, the judges will decide this year's winner from the Top 10 finalists.  Please share the contest with everyone you know, and thank you in advance for your continued support.

I've been pondering over designs for awhile, and am almost ready to go from paper sketch to EQ7 pattern for the charity quilt I'm working on in support of the Huntington Society of Canada.  The initial quilt will be done using a custom fabric featuring the Hunting Society's amaryllis logo, and both the pattern and fabric will be available for sale once everything is finalized.  Proceeds from the pattern sales will go to the Huntington Society of Canada.

I've also been working on finishing up two mystery quilts.  Both were designed and organized by Heather Spence, and were organized in support of two worthy causes:  1) a family going through cancer treatments with one of their young sons, and 2) Gospel for Asia's sewing machine projects to provide a source of income for women in Asia and their families.  My thoughts on getting involved with both "I may not be able to change the world, but I can help impact the lives of a few people."

I'm still sorting through the bag of tartan remnants that arrived just before Christmas.  It's proving very interesting to see what I will have available for customers to choose from, though it is a bit of a daunting task to determine which tartan each of them is.

Until next time,
 Desirae

Merry Christmas to all!

Some may see this as coming a little late, while others a little early.  But since I know this time of year is very busy for everyone, I'm wishing you a Merry Christmas now, and will hopefully have the time to follow-up with a Happy New Year in a timely manner.

I've started my Christmas shopping.  It seems I'm a little behind the ball on it this year, maybe it's the boxes waiting to be unpacked in the garage (which we can finally park the car in), maybe I'm just a little slower this year.  Who knows?  What I do know is this:  I'm well on my way to reaching the goal of atleast 50% of my shopping supporting local businesses.  Whether this means supporting another local artist, or buying my son's boots at the local baby store.

Call it an early start to my New Year's resolutions to support local when possible. 

Merry Christmas,
Desirae

What an amazing week so far!

Arlene Dickinson recently said: "I don’t think there’s ever been a better opportunity to be an entrepreneur than right now... Innovative people who have different and new ideas and people who go to the market with a new value proposition do extremely well" and I couldn't agree with her more! 

This past weekend Balanced Needles Knitting & Quilting got a little boost with our MOMpreneur Award of Excellence nomination with a note in The Star Phoenix!  We're also very excited that the Martensville Messenger will be featuring us in an upcoming editorial.  The momentum is building, and it is definitely an exciting time to be an entrepreneur.

This morning, we broke the top 10!  As of 10:00 CST we're in 8th place overall, which means our nomination is on the first page of the gallery!

I'm still in the process of finding suppliers for some of the more unique items that get turned into quilts, bags, and home decor.  Yesterday I placed an order that I'm hoping arrives much sooner than the expected delivery date of December 26.  Then again, I'm the one who decided that placing an overseas order during Christmas would be a smart idea.  But, those looking for RAF, Armstrong, Munro and a few other tartans are in luck--I'll be doing up a few samples for you soon!  I'll post pictures here and on the Balanced Needles Knitting & Quilting fanpage when they are ready.

Until next time,
Desirae

Exciting Times--Busy Times

Between trying to keep up with Christmas sewing, finding suppliers for some of my upcoming projects, voting for and promoting the MOMpreneur Award of Excellence, it has been a very busy few weeks. 

As if I don't have enough on my plate, I have been accepted to instruct a 2-day Bargello Quilting class at the Saskatoon Quilters' Guild Spring Retreat in May!  Which means that I need to start prepping my samples now, because we all know that if I wait until after the New Year it will be May 1st and I'll be scrambling to get everything put together.  Word of caution to all friends and family members, if your Christmas present is not exactly "finished" and comes with a "return for completion" tag on it, you might not get it back until after the Retreat.  Sorry, but the best way to teach a technique is to show it in various stages :)

While in Canada we celebrated Thanksgiving last month, our American neighbours will be celebrating this week.  While I am very thankful for being Canadian, and while our culture can sometimes be best described as "Not American," there are sometimes I wish we celebrated in a similar way.  I learned a new thing this year as a result of American Thanksgiving called "Small Business Saturday."  It's the Saturday after "Black Friday" but before "Cyber Monday."  The aim is to support local small businesses, which can often be left out of the big shopping rush of that weekend.  This year it falls on Saturday, November 24.  Conveniently, around Saskatoon atleast, there are a few show options that I'm aware of:

Martensville--First Annual Shopping Extravaganza 9am-5pm at the Martensville High School

Saskatoon--Wilson's Greenhouse 11th Annual Christmas Craft and Tradeshow (Friday-Sunday, hours vary)

I'm sure there are others going on, but I'll be at the Martensville one and a good friend will be at Wilson's.

So, whether you're looking to help Santa out with his gifts, or checking your own list twice, remember to support local!  It's well worth the effort.

Mompreneur Award of Excellence 2013 - Please Vote

I have some very exciting news and need your help to spread the word:  I went out an a limb and entered the Mompreneur Award of Excellence 2013 competition.  Please follow the link by clicking on the image below, register and vote for me, then tell everyone you know to do the same. 


It feels a little awkward to have to promote it this way, but the competition is based on whoever gets the most votes.  And since Saskatchewan has a history of doing well with these kinds of things (Tommy Douglas - Greatest Canadian, Sheepdogs - Rolling Stone), we can see some great successs.

Thank you in advance for your support. 

Desirae