Multiply Mega Sale!

Here is a deal for my Multiply friends Only! You won't see this offered anywhere else! Just email me prior to purchase at any of the stores listed, and you STEAL the DEAL!

From now until July 30th, Multiply users and friends get a buy one get one free offer at Mommy Tyme Bath and gifts (the only exclusions are scarves and jewelry)! however, gift baskets, sale items, etc. are all included! Just drop me a line prior to purchase, tell me you saw the deal on Multiply- and you will receive an adjusted invoice!

Not ready to buy? That's ok, too! Just send me a note, and let's link as friends. This will keep you updated on all future sales, new items, and more!

Not sure what to choose? How about a sampler? I offer 3 free soap samples for FREE to new customers! These are random samples, but give you the chance to check out new soaps, new blends, and more! You only pay for shipping! Freebies are listed on my Bonanzle at :
http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/MommyTyme

See these other great deals:

Kitchen Scrubby set-
http://www.MommyTyme.etsy.com

Great for pots, pans, kitchen cleaning. Made from durable cotton blend. Machine wash/flat dry! Use over and over again.










The perfect ruffled scarflette! Soft, and thick! Great accessory from the casual workplace to a night on the town! perfect with all wardrobes! The only limitations are your fashion and personal style! Check this one out at http://www.MommyTyme.etsy.com


Don't forget the super 3 for 5.00 Bath bar sale for the Month of July only! Perfect for you to try new blends, new fragrances, and more. These are 2-4 ounce bars in a variety of scents! You choose! Made with organic, high grade ingredients like cocoa butter, shea butter, lanolin and much much more! Each is a unique blend you can only get at Mommy Tyme! Tagged and boxed, perfect for giving to someone you love! See this deal at http://fuzzb.com/MommyTyme



Sweet and sensual Patchouli! 3.5 ounces in a beautiful victorian mold. Did you know patchouli is a known aphrodisiac?












Kudzu! If you haven't tried it, you have to! This invasive floral was imported into the southern states. It is taking over, but so beautiful and fragrant! Here is a great way to use it! Powerful floral but fruity scent! Try it today!






Visit Mommy Tyme Bath and Gifts at the following locations:

http://www.MommyTyme.etsy.com
http://www.MommyTyme.winkelf.com
http://fuzzb.com/MommyTyme

Find Mommy Tyme Bath and gifts on Made it Myself and on Artistry Arts under the Stores Tab!

Mommy’s gone overboard, AGAIN

In my attempt to market my products and advertise my items, I started spending endless hours scouring the web, free website submission services, joining social networks, etc. What has now happened is I have joined so many groups and signed up for hundreds of free web surfing sites that I actually spend about 2 ½ hours each morning just trying to catch up with my obligations to the groups I have joined. I then found Twitter. Wow! I thought this is a fantastic opportunity to advertise my items and my sales to thousands of people. That, of course, led to face book, my space and more….

 

So, what I have run into is about 240 emails each morning when I wake up that need answered. After that I have to check all of my stores (which I also went overboard on, and opened one in several marketplaces), then my pay pal account, and finally, as time allows, I get the chance to update my own website, blog, and add items to my store. This is crazy! I have put myself out there in so many places that I am spending more time on the web then I am on creating the projects I love.

 

So, this week I have decided to review, reduce, and downsize my outlets and marketing attempts. The reality is, that when you spread yourself so thin, the work you are doing is quantity and not quality. Just putting a badge or banner up on a social network page and showing a few pictures, really isn't what social networking is about. The idea behind the social networking groups is to show yourself to others, make friends (thus the word social), learn new techniques, ideas, share thoughts and more. Your social networks should not just be networks that you think you can sell yourself at, or that you think you can market from. Social networks are not designed for that purpose unless that is in the name and description of the network. Rather, the social network is designed to meet new people, make friends, and find similar interests with others that you can share. Somehow I have missed some great friendship opportunities on these networks because I am so busy trying to catch up with every network.

 

Another mistake is joining several free web submission services that require you earn credits by surfing pages. Joining one or two of these sites is truthfully all one person can handle if they only have 1-2 hours on the internet a day. If you are not familiar with these programs, the idea is that you surf and review other's people's web sites. You earn credits for each site reviewed. You can then spend these credits by having your website posted for others to review in the same program. This does bring traffic to your site; however, it is not the right traffic. That is the key. You want traffic to your site and stores of people who are interested in purchasing or shopping for your line of items. That is the mistake so many of us make. We think that the odds are in our favor if we get enough individuals browsing our sites, but reality is these individuals are viewing your sites for the same reason you are viewing theirs. Not because you are interested, but because you need credits. So, if you agree to these programs, make sure the program is one which allows you to choose your interests for the sites you will be viewing, and that allows you to plug your site into certain categories that a viewer can choose to look at. So, you would not want to list your site under web development if you are selling jewelry. Otherwise the people who are searching web development may look at your site, but they are not interested.

 

The same concept applies to your twitter messages. You don't want just any followers, you want the right followers. The same applies when you are searching twitter for people to follow. If you are interested in free web submission, and you type that in, that is what you will get. You can follow these individuals, but it may lead to you getting followers who are interested in free web submission services- not the true items you are marketing. So, at least once or twice a week you should look for twitter's that has key words relative to your items. Examples would be, "shop for jewelry", "green gem stones", etc. Or if you have bath and body products, "lotions on sale", "buy handmade soap", etc. Once you find the twitter's with these key phrases, follow them. Even if they are a seller, too, you may gain some of their followers by the follow list posted to the side. Make sure you tweet some general interest items once in a while, too. People want to get to know the seller, and short brief phrases allow some insight into your personality.

 

So, learning from my mistakes the past few months, my agenda is now to downsize some of my outlets. I am going to review all the social networks I belong to and reduce my participation to those that I really enjoy, those that I have made friends on, and those that have similar interests to my own. I have listed a few great sites below, and hope if you have time you will check them out! Second, I am going to withdraw my site surfing programs to only two. The two that I choose will allow the viewer to choose categories of sites they want to view, and categories for which they can list their own sites. Finally, I am going to review my twitter follow list and reduce to those that I actually want to read and follow. Hopefully, this will free up at least half of the time I currently spend on the internet and allow me to get back to Creating! I haven't been in the kitchen for a week to make a batch of lotion, soap, or melts. I have barely picked up my crochet hook! Without my time for those interests, I feel empty and lost.

 

I hope this helps someone else out there who find themselves being sucked into a variety of outlets, and unsure which ones to let go and which ones to pursue. There are only so many hours in the day, and the majority of those hours should be spent doing what you love. If you love marketing on the web, then you are fine, but if you love creating with your hands, you may want to consider downsizing.

 

 

 

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Send a note to Sydney

Everyone:

Please take a moment and read the page listed below. Take a moment from your day today and send this wonderful child a card, note, blog hello or whatever you can! Simple acts of kindness, thoughts of hope, and prayers can change the world, one person at a time!

http://livelaughandlovetoshop.ning.com/profiles/blogs/well-wishes-for-sydney-please?xgs=1

The Club No One Wants to Belong To

Usually I reserve this blog for the craziness that is my life. Today I just really wanted to share a little more of me with you...

A few nights ago I watched “Obsessed” on A&E. One o f the women they were profiling had a miscarriage several years ago. She kept the fetus in her freezer, wrapped up. I heard people at work talking about how weird this is, what a “nut” this woman must be. And I just think, they have no clue as to the pain she has.

At age 34 I was told I could not have children after 10 years of trying every possible way to have children. It killed me. I gave up and wallowed in my own self pity for 3 years. (I will talk about addiction and depression in a future blog). I had lost a child when I was 21 years old. April 21, 1991. I can’t ever forget that moment, and it is with me every day. I can’t remember one single day that has passed that I haven’t thought of what my son would have been like, how old he would be now, would he have just graduated high school? Would he be on his way to college? What kind of mom would I have been?

I was 8 months pregnant when I went into a hard labor. No one told me my child had died days before. No one told me there wasn’t going to be a happy ending at the end of 26 hours of pain. I just lay there, trying, anxious and waiting. Then they told me.

I remember the first few months after my loss. I remember people saying stupid things like, “Maybe it’s for the best”, “How did you think you were going to take care of a baby?”, “There was probably something wrong with the child, and this is God’s way”. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t believe people really believed this. Did they have any idea how much I hurt? How much I wanted this child? How empty I was? But, that is what people say. That is what people still say.

Unfortunately when you lose a child you become a private member in a secret club. Membership isn’t optional, and it isn’t open to anyone who hasn’t suffered your pain. And your pain doesn’t go away- Ever. We build up dreams and expectations around a child. And now that child is gone. No one can understand how that feels. It is an empty pit not only in your stomach, but in your feelings, in your interactions with others, in your faith in the world.

I am sharing this blog because I think that people, who don’t have a membership in the group of women who have lost a child, cannot possibly conceive the pain. We don’t want pity, we don’t want you to show us the silver lining, and we just want you to understand. Regardless of the circumstances, regardless of our place in life, society, the economic status, that child grows and becomes us. It is like phantom limb pain. When a person loses an arm, for years they still feel pain in the arm, they still think the arm is there, they forget the arm is long gone. That is how a lost child feels.

The woman on “Obsessed” finally looked at her package in the freezer. She cried, she mourned, and she buried the child. Now, she thinks she can move on. And she will, but she will always hold that place in her for the child that never was.
God has blessed me with a four year old son who has come into my life through very unconventional methods. He is my heart, but I still cry every April for my first child, Caleb Joel. And I wonder about where he would be today at least once each and every day.

When does Passion become Obsession?

For those of you who know me from past blogs, or from the social networks, you know I fancy myself an entrepreneur, crafter, artisan, and a variety of other titles that are endearing. Well, it turns out, I can add a few more adjectives not quite so positive to my list!

I came home from my full time job last week, opened the door, only to be confronted by my husband with an exasperated look on his face. "We can't go on like this anymore! I just can't live like this"

"Like what?" I asked as I stepped over a huge tote of soap boxes blocking the hallway.

"Like this" he said waving his arm around the room to focus on the boxes, the mail packages, the 10 pound blocks of wax stacked up on the dining room table.

"Hmm..." I said as I entered my craft room. Just then my plastic organizer against the wall fell over, releasing about 50 skeins of yarn all over the floor.

"This is crazy! You are crazy! This is way too much!" my husband interjected.

I glanced around the room and took in the two tables stacked with all of my scrapbooks, supplies, my hundreds of skeins of yarn, my shelves packed with tiny buttons, beads, snaps, glittery little add ons, etc. I then proceeded to the dining room where I have set up my mailing station. Postal boxes, wrapping paper, tapes, soap boxes, and more are lined out all over the surface. I moseyed into the bedroom where my book shelves no longer hold books but are jam packed with patterns, books on beauty, herbs, oils, scraps of paper with crochet patterns and stitch instructions are pouring out, and piles of magazine articles with my "ideas" are stacked.

Ok, maybe he is on to something. But, I love to work with my hands. I think about it all day. I am constantly coming up with a new idea, a new way of doing things, and I hate to think I will forget any of it. It's not that everything is a "mess" per se, it is just overtaking every room of the house. I have a small craft room where I used to house my yarn, crochet needles, and a few pattern books. Then there is my workshop in the basement where I make soaps and candles. Somehow, when I wasn't looking these areas multiplied and took on scrapbooking, sewing, rug making, and more.

Then there is my guilt over garbage. I am so worried that there may be some way I can use that empty milk jug, that old coffee can, that jelly jar, that I have packed all of my kitchen cabinets with every left over packaging there is out there. Although my intentions are good, reality is, I don't have time to recycle every item that enters my house.

Besides my crafting, I am a full time Nursing Home Administrator which is a 50+ hour work week on it's own. I then have a husband and 4 year old son who are the top of my list. And I can't forget my studies. Last year I started work on my Master's in Child and Adolescent Development. Before my crafting, I already had a full load.

But, the crafting has always been there. It was just recently that I found there was a market for it. I am a junky to the thrill when I sell a piece or item, and get the feedback from someone who truly appreciated my time, effort, and talent with it. I am an addict to the need to touch things with my hands, to take something like a ball of yarn and create a cute headband that everyone comments on. I love the feel of yarn in my hands. I love the scent of herbs in my house. I can't wait to get home each day and custom blend the ingredients, cook, mold, create a bath bar that is unique and different.

That is not the problem. The problem, or "obsession" as my husband call it, is that I keep expanding. I keep pursuing new avenues, trying to learn new methods and modalities. Basically, I want to learn how to do everything! That is where the obsession lies.

So, I have come to terms this week that I can not possibly engage in every craft, art form, and creative outlet that I aspire to. Instead I need to regroup, think about which focuses I really enjoy, and direct my energies towards those. I have decided to limit myself to three outlets (for now, anyway). All of my other odds and ends I will relinquish (wow, that is going to be hard!) So, I started this morning at 5am, going through my craft room and separating the supplies that are needed for my 3 venues, and those that are not necessary.

This morning I presented my new plan to my husband. He was ecstatic. "You mean we might be able to eat at the dining room table again?" "Yes" I said! When he asked me what I was going to do today, I told him "I am going to take all of the items that I won't be using, get pictures, and start selling them on eBay!" I am actually very excited about this. Instead of being thrilled at my new found focus, he rolled his eyes at me and said, "Here we go again!" What? I thought.




Have you ever become obsessed with your crafting outlet? Your passion for your talents? Tell me about it! I would love to know that I am not the only one who goes overboard!




visit Mommy's Tyme at http://www.mommytyme.org for more articles, items, patterns, and ideas for women, mom's, parents, anyone....
Sign the guestbook and become eligible for a free drawing of Mommy Tyme Bath and Unique Gifts!

Calling all Artisans, writers, mom's, and anyone wanting to share!

Free advertising on www.mommytyme.org on the front page!  Just for submitting a relevant article to be used on the site.  Topics for July include:
marriage, keeping romance in marriage after children, simple crafts kids can do, how to relax and de stress tips for busy mom's, how to dress when you return to work, hot new hairstyles, new fashion tips, funny stores about kids, etc.
Submit article to Mommytyme70@yahoo.com If I use your article on the site, I will give you one month free advertising on the front page of the site.  I will also enter you in the July drawing for a sampler box!

Email articles to Mommytyme70@yahoo.com

Mishaps of A Mommy Prenuer

Hi! This is a new blog for me to share my mistakes, blunders, and "not so good ideas" with my fellow Mommy 'Prenuer's out there! We are all trying to find ways that we can stay home and still bring in the income, but that is not as easy as some of the advertisements out there lead you to believe!

I started my own business from home: Mommy Tyme Bath and Unique Gifts. I have always created things- if you have junk, I will make into something. I then began an obsession with skin care, good for your skin and body ingredients, custom blending, and creating all kinds of great bar soaps, bubble baths, lotions and more. This led me to think I could sell my products wide scale and bring in some income, eventually quitting my full time job. The dream has always been to open my own little boutique or store somewhere, do consignment items and my bath and gift items. I really thought this might be just a year or so away... I just needed to hit the marketing and promotion hard!

So, I have done that. Recently I have begun to sell at venues like flea markets and "Indoor Garage Sales". Reason I have done that is because locally there are not a lot of "craft sales" in the Decatur area. We are a very blue collar area with high unemployment rates, and flea markets, garage sales, indoor rummage sales, etc are a big event. I thought I could sell a little, pass out my card, get some addresses for my marketing letters, etc.

So, these next few blogs outline the recent flea market experiences for me and what I have learned....

You can visit my former blog: http:mommytymeswordsofwisdom.blogspot.com for my last flea market experience!

Saturday I was scheduled to participate in the flea market/indoor rummage sale at our local civic center. Set up times were 5-7pm on the Friday night before, or 6-7am on Saturday with doors opening at 8am! I was pumped. New ideas from my last flea market led me to gathering up several baskets, dividing my soaps into categories and setting "deals" for each of these categories! So in one basket I had herbal blend soaps, then fragrance soaps, then my extra large bath bars. I was selling them at 2.50 per bar, 2 for 4.00, 3 for 5.00 etc. I thought, "Hell that has got to sell". So, I stayed up until midnight on Friday prepping everything, organizing, decorating baskets and boxes....

Saturday morning the alarm goes off... I get up and shut it off! I had it set for 4 am so I had plenty of time to load the truck and get myself looking "HOT". When selling beauty products, skin care, hair care, etc. I thought that I am my own walking promotion and I should look good if I want others to believe my products work! (which they do). Well, at 6am my husband says "Hey you getting up?". I looked at the clock and almost cried. I jumped out of bed, got in the tub, hurried up and threw on some clothes, and loaded the truck. I tried to put on make up while I was driving, but the air in my husbands truck wasn't working and it was close to 92 degrees. So, I was melting, my hair wasn't drying, I looked a "Hot mess!"

When I arrived, I was asked to park in the parking lot across the street. Now, understand I have 5 totes. Each tote weighing in at about 80 pounds! So, in high heel black shoes, I carried each tote across the street one by one. So, at this point I have sweat rings under my arms, my hair is flat! and my make up has ran! I was just about ready to give up!

I set my table up and muddled through the day. Dead tired, hot, and looking my worst. I did sell a few here and a few there, but my heart was not in it. I had basically took on the attitude "Everything has gone wrong, so this is not going to be any better" and I was right. I came home and cried, then I took a shower and a nap!

Now, what I have learned after looking back on this mess of a day is:
1. Don't stay up until midnight the night before. Don't wait until the last minute to get your items ready. As a mother and full time worker, that is hard to do at times, but 30 minutes every night is better in the long run than 4 hours the night before.
2. Get up early enough to get ready so you feel good and are on top of your game!

3. Even if everything has gone wrong, put a smile on, buck up, and sell. You never know when you are going to get that one big sale that makes the difference. If you just sit there with a bad attitude, who wants to approach you?

So, I am not giving up! I also had a stroke of brilliance the other day! I thought a great idea would be to set up a table of samples that customers can actually try the products like the sugar scrubs, the lotions, the lip balms (with disposable cotton swabs), and a few soaps that they can touch and smell. As the seller, I need to stand at the end of my booth and ask people if they would like to try it...Not just sit and wait for someone to approach me...

So, I have another selling venture coming soon! I will tell you all about that next time!


Visit my site Mommy's Tyme at http://www.mommytyme.org

Visit my shops at:

http://www.MommyTyme.etsy.com
http://www.MommyTyme.winkelf.com
http://BFuzz.com/MommyTyme

I would love to hear your ideas and ventures, too! Please comment