Little QTies Blog!

piper and chloe

2009-05-15T14:35:00.002-06:00

piper and chloe was a lot of fun to set up for! and because the hosting party did all the work I was able to stay home and relax! oh how I wish it were true, I actually took the weekend and this whole week to get ready for the next show this Saturday at Wheeler farm at 10-3. I'm not limited to what products I can sell this time so come and see me, bring your QTies and have a good time!

2009-05-04T10:49:00.000-06:00

Well, I've been really busy the past month! I made a prom dress, hosted a baby shower, & I'm getting ready for the piper and chloe show case! The show case is this weekend & I'm nearly complete, down to the last moments of course! Then I have the May day festival on the 16th and a fun utah kids carnival in June! For these shows I'm mainly clearanceing out the old so I can make some new stuff. I created 3 new costumes for the piper and chloe show and created my first diaper cake for the baby shower. Make sure you attend the booths so you can save! ;)

Little QTies will be at the spring showcase...

2009-04-29T11:21:00.000-06:00

Come see Little QTies at the piper and chloe spring showcase! More info on vendors here!

New dress costume designs not posted on the web & save big on show specials!

Help small US businesses...

2009-01-08T16:32:00.001-07:00

Save Small Business From the CPSIA

A Proposal From the handmadetoyalliance. org:

In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys containing dangerously high lead content, unsafe small parts, and chemicals that made kids sick.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in children's products, mandates third party testing and certification, and requires manufacturers of all goods for children under the age of 12, to permanently label each item with a date and batch number.

All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational companies to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each item have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and updating their systems to include batch labels. Small businesses however, will likely be driven out of business by the costs of mandatory testing, to the tune of as much as $4,000 or more per item. And the few larger manufacturers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.

Anyone who produces or sells any of the following new or used items will be required to comply with the law: toys, books, clothing, art, educational supplies, materials for the learning disabled, bicycles, and more. Any uncertified item intended for children under the age of 12 will be considered contraband after February 10, 2009. It will be illegal to sell or give these items away to charities, and the government will require their destruction or permanent disposal, resulting in millions of tons of unnecessary waste, and placing an enormous strain on our landfills.

There is a clear disconnect between the sweeping nature of this law, and the narrow range of products that were problematic in 2007. The CPSIA applies standards that were put in place in reaction to the sale of toys contaminated with lead paint and toxic plastics. Rather than focus on these materials, this law places a guilty until proven innocent mentality on all children's product producers by imposing mandatory testing and certification, and in the process will kill an entire industry.

Thriving small businesses are crucial to the financial health of our nation. Let's amend the CPSIA so that all businesses large and small are able to comply and survive!

Please visit these links to help save small US businesses!

Sign our Petition
http://www. ipetitions. com/petition/handmadetoys/

Vote for our Idea to modify the CPSIA on change. org
http://www. change. org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

Write to your United States Congress Person and Senator to request changes in the CPSIA to save handmade toys. Use our sample letter or write your own-
http://www. handmadetoyalliance. org/how-you-can-help

Toymakers & Toy-related Businesses:
Join the Handmade Toy Alliance
http://www. handmadetoyalliance. org

Everyone:
Join our CPSIA information group
http://cpsia-central. ning. com/

Couple of negative product reviews...

2008-11-06T17:12:00.001-07:00

First the new polmolive ego+ we bought it and we thought our dish washer had broken it was so bad, huge residue all over! Went out and bought cascade complete before we decided we needed a new dishwasher and wha la! beautiful sparkly clean dishes!

Second... I bought some feather wings off ebay, the shipping was outrages 3 times the actual cost, but I thought the wings were beautiful and be worth the cost, I bought two because I'm doing a costume photoshoot with my tutu's and I received them, they were HORRIBLE!! one halos that came with them was way to small to fit on anyones head and the other broke, you could see the inside cardboard everywhere, feathers missing and when you bent them to shape the cardboard ripped. The day I got them I looked at the return policy and there wasn't one in place, so I very kindly left a message asking for a refund. He denied me a refund a said he would exchange them. Well I bought two and both were in the same condition. So I left negative feedback, which I felt was factual and I didn't slander him as a seller, his response to my negative feedback is: "Seller Beware. After used Buyer wanted refunds. watch out."

and this: "All sales are final. They are good quality.Unreanable buyer. DON"T BUY AGAIN"

I don't know maybe I'm acting like a baby but he totally lied and I paid $50 for two pair of really crappy wings! THE EXACT WINGS I found later at savers for only $8 that was a smack in the face! So here's my revenge: Don't buy from ebay seller socoboa, they charge outrageous shipping charges and the product was very poor quality, not to mention him lying about me as a buyer.

As a retailer my expectation was the there would be no questions asked, I've accepted returns on a couple items, because I want to retain my customers. so now what was $50 to him might have just lost him thousands of dollars because of one very unhappy customer. Now I encourage you to pass it on! :)

Delivery of products...

2008-10-28T09:05:00.001-06:00

I've recently have been dealing with some issues regarding delivery of a costume... Remember the beautiful pink and brown fairy costume with custom made wings? Well the buyer never received it. And instead of contacting me directly she did a paypal reversal. Because there was proof of delivery the payment wasn't reversed. Now they're trying a bank reversal, and because I took care of everything on my end with paypal they are taking care of everything and in the end will pay for it if needed... THANK YOU PAYPAL for protecting both ends. (maybe all those fees I pay are paying off)

Now with that being said. I strive to do the best when providing customer service, I like to think I go above and beyond with most of you. If she would have contacted me we could have worked something out. Maybe she had the wrong address listed with paypal? She could have checked with that address. Or maybe I could have made her another costume at my cost. I am always willing to work with you if something went wrong even if it's not my fault. So from now on anything over $50 will be sent out with a signature required. $50 may not sound like much to some of you, but for a little company that is only making enough to pay for the credit card bills it incurred and uses extra money to buy more products it's a lot to have someone do a card reversal because they didn't receive it.

Delivery of products...

2008-10-28T09:05:00.000-06:00

weird...

2008-10-27T11:39:00.001-06:00

Isn't it weird that my sidebar is at the bottom of the page? I'm clueless as to how to fix it!!

Well it's been awhile since I posted. As if I wasn't busy enough with kids, the business, and school, I added a part-time weekend job on top of all that. The business is doing pretty well for being in business for less then a year. But I still only make enough to pay the business bills. But it should all pay off in the end... right? I get nothing but compliments on how much they love my products so I'm sure through a little advertising and word of mouth I'll start getting so busy that I wont be able to work the part time weekend job :) Which by the way is Michaels! I thought before I started that the employee discount would be 40% since they have the weekly coupons but it's only 25% and you don't get a discount on sales so I guess I'll just shop like any other customers looking for a great deal!

Some of you may know that my tutu's are pageant winning! Well now they're 2 time pageant winning!! Sweet little Emmi entered another pageant and won first in STATE! Of course she was wearing the witch tutu that I posted earlier last month I'm sure her doll face and personality helped too! Yay Emmi, congrats on your win!! Here are a few pictures of her first win and the second win... THANKS Jen for sharing, and look forward to making more in the future!

I've been making a couple Halloween costumes for me and a friend and Matthew Thain with Matthew Thain photography is giving me the opportunity to model my own costumes with a friend. I'm super excited and as soon as the shoot is done I'll be posting pics! In the mean time visit his website or myspace page!

Halloween YAY!!

2008-10-01T17:51:00.001-06:00

I love Hallween! I'm starting to get busy with costumes and tutu's and I'm lovin' every bit of it!!

I may be doing a booth in Tooele on the 11th so that means I will be VERY busy with such late notice.

Little QTies is going international! :) I recently had a store owner in mexico contact me about wholesale and place her first order. I thought it was pretty cool that my stuff has been shipped all over the states and now Mexico. Yay me!

Mention BLOG at check out and get 20% off your first order!

Here are a couple costumes I've been working on:

People want to sell my stuff! :)

2008-09-14T09:59:00.000-06:00

You read it right! Just recently I've had three retail stores place a small order to see if they would like to carry my line! Yay! This is exciting for me. My hard work is paying off. And I'm LOVING it.

CUSTOM CUSTOM!

Just to show you how custom my products are: I recently filled an order for 300 gerber flowers but instead of the hair clip I put a broach clip on the back. These were given away free at a special fall extravaganza. I'm also working on samples for a wedding. Her colors are hot pink, white, and black. She wants the stems left on. I went fabric shopping for some different centers, and wala! Beautiful fun and funky wedding flowers!! Shown below... Couldn't find my digital camera so i had to take them with my phone!

Craziness...

2008-09-08T08:53:00.006-06:00

This is actually two tutu's stacked on each other

Witch tutu

Wow it's been crazy fun! My first class ended last month and I'm taking two online classes, VERY CONVENIENT! This week has been keeping me busy! I made 7 tutu's, a nursing cover, a few flower clips, and my daughters birthday dress just this week. I was freaking out, there was no procrastination allowed, especially if I'm going to keep up with my classes.

NEW TIEING METHOD: I'm now using a new tieing method for the tutu's (well actually back to how I use to tie them) It allowes me to add more tulle and it makes for a fuller poofier tutu. The Pre-made tutu's still have the old method.

TUTU CARE: I've been experimenting on the best method to care for your tutu's and tutu dresses. I was using the steam setting on my iron but the water makes it pretty flat. Now I use a blow dryer and comb my fingers throught the layers of tulle. It releases the wrinkles in no time. Please continue to hand wash and hang dry.

HALLOWEEN: is just around the corner, so if your interested in a beautiful custom tutu dress costume reserve it now! i'm only one person and I've called for back up but we still may get to busy to get all the costumes done in time. I can take a 50% deposit so you don't have to pay all at once. I also dyed some gerber daisy flowers and peony flowers black for halloween, I haven't had a chance to post them to the website yet because I'm in the process of trying to find some orange centers for them. The peony's have the original swarvorski crystal in the center. There are limited quantities so reserve yours now!

EBAY: hasn't been doing as well as regular online orders, which is exactly how I want it to be. Apparently by me describing my tutu dress as a couture tutu dress I was infringing on someone's trademark so they deleted my posting. It's so frustrating sometimes all the rules that need to be followed yet I really don't have time to do all the research to make sure I'm not breaking laws or silly rules! I have school, family, and my business to keep up with. So now I need to find a saavy way of describing my tutu dress and tutu's with the word couture in it so I can show up on searches. What does Couture mean? Highly fashionable manufactured clothing accessories. I can't even say it right, but I feel special when I use it... :D

Look for listings from me username littleqties to get a steal!

I was blown away the other day, I now rank #1 on google search when you type in waffle headband, and #2 when you type poofy tutu. That's awesome accomplishment for a little business like mine!

Well back to work!

Fruity tutu's and a ladybug...

2008-08-07T20:46:00.000-06:00

It will probably be awhile before we get the photo's back from Saturday's shoot but one mom took a couple pics to hold us over till the good ones come in! We also had 3 fairies, a devil, and an angel.These make great Halloween Costumes! I can make just about any costume in the tutu's and dresses, so if you don't see something you want, please contact me!

Just Fabulous!

2008-08-01T15:10:00.000-06:00

Jen Gibson has finished the pictures four weeks early, Whoo Hoo!! Aren't they lovely?

Disney Princess Photo Shoot

2008-07-31T08:25:00.003-06:00

1500 yards of tulle and $450 of free product was used for our Little QT Disney Princess photo shoot yesterday. It was a blast watching the little princesses dance and play around in their wonderfully poofy dresses! The good pictures wont be available for about a month but I took a few random candid pics of everyone getting ready, and playing!

What have I been up to...

2008-07-24T09:43:00.001-06:00

So.. what have I been up to for the past two months? Well, I noticed a lot of inquiries on my tutu couture dresses, but no purchases. I mean really who would want to purchase a dress that they can't see right? I don't blame them!

So me and my friend Jen with Jen Gibson Photography have teamed up with a handful of girls, 24 to be exact, to create a beautiful professional product photo shoot. So far we have only done the formal gowns. Disney princesses are next, Whoo hoo!

Here are a few pics from the tween formals, the girls had a blast! Doesn't Jen do a fantastic job? Jen has been taking photo's for us for almost 3 years now and I am always happy with the results. Visit her website or her blog to see more of Jen's work.

MIA

2008-05-14T14:30:00.003-06:00

Hello everyone!

I've been missing for awhile because I've been so busy getting ready for my very first booth! Although it wasn't as successful as I would have liked it to have been, I sold a little bit of everything. There are a few things I sold at my booth that isn't up on the website yet but I'll be working hard to make sure I get it all up by the end of the weekend! Here are a few pictures of my booth!
I've also been learnin how to make the following:

* Crochet visor hats
* Boutique Diaper bags
* Petti skirts
* Covered diaper wipe case

Let me know if you are interested in these things before I get a chance to post them.

Baby Expo

2008-03-29T09:44:00.005-06:00

I went to the baby expo yesterday! So many fabulous things! Squeaking shoes, socks with shoes printed on them, and BabyLegs! This week I officially became an authorized retailer of BabyLegs as per a request of one of my wonderful customers, thanks Monica!I also applied to become a Trumpette dealer(shoe printed socks) and a wee squeaks shoe retailer! So much fun!! I love cute things! Hey, I can't make it all right?

While I was there I was able to pass my own card out to several people because of my sweet little model! She was wearing the beanie cap with the peony flower attached. Everyone goes crazy over them!

I've been busy!

2008-03-20T13:18:00.004-06:00

I've been busy and it's great! Having two little ones and starting a business is a lot of work! Things get pushed to the end of the list and cleaning doesn't get done! I've opened a store on ebay to start getting more traffic to my site, they charge 8.75% plus a listing fee to list there... wow! So far I've sold two tutu's, a nursing cover, and two peony flower clips, So that's exciting!

My Friends sister is having a baby and works at a salon, she wants me to leave a nursing cover there to help me promote my business! There's so many great people out there. Thanks KT!

Special thanks to my wonderful friend Jen Gibson with Jen Gibson Photography! She took my daughters 6 month pictures last Saturday! I've only seen a few pics, and I can't wait to see the rest of them! Please visit her blog at http://www.zachandjennie.com/ or her website... jengibsonphotography.com She is so talented and such a fun sweet person! All the pic's you see w/ JBP are all Jen's! Isn't she fantastic?

Web Hosting...

2008-03-10T23:05:00.002-06:00

I'm still having problems with my site and I'm getting no customer service, so I'm in the process of transferring all my info to a new server. It's a lot of work that has already been done and it kinda sucks to have to do it all over again, but in the end it will be worth it! The site will basically be the same familiar site with a more ease of ordering, a guest book and an option to buy gift certificates! Great for monogrammed burp cloths if you don't know the name of the baby, or if you want the mom to pick her own nursing cover.

The downfall of switching servers is that when the site is ready to be switched my site could be down a full 72 hours. So, if you would like to place an order please contact me: rebecka@littleqties.com

Moving Forward

2008-03-03T09:03:00.002-07:00

Yeah, Most all my supplies are in and organized! Ebay here I come!!

I made wonderful changes to the nursing cover. It now has a satin neck for your comfort and a stretch cord for the button holder. 5 more trendy modern color choices soon to be added.

I got the embroidery/sewing machine in and it's wonderful!! Wish I had gotten in forever ago. It sews so nice. Check out my first burp cloths in my pictures.

Infant hats are in! Took Keira out this weekend and everyone stopped to see where I got it. (My cute little advertisement.)

Peony flowers are in, lots of them!! Three different materials. These are great for all ages and sooo cute on the newborns for their first photo shoot debut.

For now all bows are going to be made to order until my business is all up and running. Nursing covers, and burp cloths need to be made, Flowers attached to clips, better product descriptions and smaller pictures need to be added to the website.

Keira's turning 6 months and to celebrate, my friend with Jenny G. Photography is coming over to take pictures of her in all the stuff I make! And for you... 20% off your total order till the 10th. Just enter code 204U during check out.

I hope your liking all the new products

I QUIT!!!

2008-02-24T00:21:00.002-07:00

I did it! I quit my job!! It was a hard decision, but I couldn't handle the stress any longer. I feel like a huge bolder has been lifted off my shoulders. Now I can focus on building a routine for my children and making my business grow.

I purchased service quality burp cloths last week, and my embroidery machine should be getting in some time mid week. I'm so excited. I'm going to be practicing on the lower quality burp cloths so if you would like I'll make you one and sell them to you for $1.50 each.

Wish me luck!!

xoxo

So Exciting!

2008-02-21T13:56:00.003-07:00

I purchased a super cool embroidery machine and it's on it's way! So I'll be able to monogram just about anything, including bows, but I mainly got it for the burp cloths and possibly baby bloomers and onesies.

Today I'm working on my first decorated burp cloth! (I'll post a picture but bare with me it is my first one and I noticed i didn't get a seam streight) I'm going to be making gift sets with a nursing cover, pacifier holder, and two burp cloths. Personalized with the baby's name, letter, or both!

I've placed an order for more swavorski crystals, waffle beanies, and the peony flowers that are so in right now. I'm expecting my tulle order and fabric order to be in next week also. I just know it's all going to show up at the same time!

I'm also thinking about purchasing an ebay store so I can get more traffic to my site. Just one more task on my to do list. Meaning I should either quit my job entirely or just cut back my hours. But, working at the daycare does get us out of the house and gives my son playtime with his peers. However, Hanging out with friends & their kids is much more fun!

There's so much going on in my brain I just need to carry a notepad with me at all times! Please feel free to give me any input about my site or products I need all the help I can get!

Until next time...

Here's the burp cloth! I didn't finish the bear but you get the idea, good thing I bought an embroidery machine to do the work for me! I bought a bunch of these burp cloths but I'm not happy with the quality I'd rather pay an extra $1 for the quality and get return customers then saving a $1 to bad I prewashed 72 of them! I probably could have returned them. Oh well lesson learned!

first burp cloth

Getting there!

2008-02-11T19:17:00.002-07:00

Well, I thought today was progress until I highlighted all the text I just wrote to change the color and my son hit a key and deleted it all... lol

This week I became an official business account holder. Pretty soon I'll have checks and debit/credit cards with Little QTies name on it! Can't get more official then that right?

This weekend we worked on cleaning out our guest room so it can be dedicated to my business. No more messes on the kitchen table!

Today we placed an initial order w/ a fabric company for our nursing covers! 5 more designs coming your way. I also placed an order for the ever popular double ruffle ribbon, a 4-6 week lead time! So I might just pay the retail price till I get it in, and ordered tulle for the wonderfully fluffy tutu's. Now if only the ribbon supplier will call me back so I can start making made 2 match bows. For now I'll just start making bows with what I have and hope you like them!

Now all I need is time... It scares me to think about quitting my job at the day care, but it's the whole reason I started my business. I have to take a leap of faith and go for it! it's the only way I can be successful. So as soon all my inventory gets in and my ebay store is set up and ready to start making millions (optimism! lol) I'm going to quit. My goal is to quit in two months. Wow did I just say that?

Slowly moving forward

2008-02-01T12:31:00.004-07:00

The site is up and running but it's still not up to my standards. There is so much to do from making the product to sell, to creating tags on the website so you can find me in a search engine. Right now my priority is making the product to sell. There's so much involved. making the product taking the picture, uploading, pricing, and descriptions. I know the pictures are to big and I need to resize them and edit them so they look professional, but for now if you click on enlarge image view it at 25% and you'll be able to see the entire picture. I purchased a new laptop and adobe elements 6.0 but now I need to learn how to use the program. So bare with me on the photo's as soon as my website is complete w/ descriptions and all my products are uploaded I will begin to learn how to edit the pictures. I will upload more ribbon color choices soon, just know that if there's a color your wanting I will get it for you! ;)
Some products on my list to add to the website are:
Baby bloomers- ruffle butt underwear to put under those cute tutu's
Burp Clothes- Gerber burp clothes made to match the nursing covers.
Fabric covered magnets, push pins, bobby pins.
Personalized Ice cube lamp

Soon there will be time...

2008-01-25T17:32:00.002-07:00

I have so much to blog about but no time to do it! Once my website is complete and I'm able to quit my part-time daycare job I'll be able to tell you all the things I've been so excited about! in the mean time please enjoy some cute pictures of some of my work!