“All dressed up and ready to grow”

“Use smart, cost-effective promotional techniques that will arrest the eye, tug at the heart, and convey what is unique and special about your business or service.”

Ah, this is one aspect of Jenn Maruska Design that really needed to be tackled.
In an effort to figure out just what my business is all about and to save money in the meantime, Josh and I have been our own marketing team. We’ve been creating fabric labels, using printable fabric sheets bought online. We’ve printed business cards here on our home printer. And I’ve been addressing bubble mailers at night while we watch tv.

These are adequate, low-cost methods to begin creating a “brand” for the business, and I recommend using these techniques when you’re just starting out or are considering a change in direction.

For me, the time has come to commit and upgrade. My first step was to work with a label maker to create new fabric labels for the items that I create. Unfortunately, after 2+ months of negotiations, $500 and much frustration – I still have no labels. We’ve now contacted two new label makers to begin the process again – hopefully with better results this time around. I will be blogging about the experience in the future, and I intend to let you know more details, but I am waiting to do this, so that I will be able to recommend a good label maker. *If you are about to invest in professional grade labels for your own business – feel free to email me.

Josh spent alot of time this weekend making changes to my current logo and creating variations for labels, business cards, avatars, banners, stamps, etc.

Did I ever show you this paper mache lemon that I have in my studio?

It says “Life….make lemonade” on it.

Sometimes, you just never know when an unfortunate experience can be hiding a tiny grain of goodness. Take my frustrating label experience, for example. I was in tears the day I realized that all the time, effort and money I had invested in that endeavor was for nothing. But now, months later, I am smiling because Josh’s new design for my labels is better than what we had, and I like them so much more. That unfortunate experience forced me to step back and wait, and ultimately, Josh created an even better design.

Yesterday we contacted a local printer and I have an order in for 1500 new business cards. (This will save alot of time for Josh, who’s been printing my cards for me, and will also save wear and tear on the printer.)

We also went to a local rubber stamp maker and ordered a return address stamp and a “to” address stamp – both incorporating my flower logo image. This was super easy – we were in the shop for less than 10 minutes! We chose to use a local stamp maker, but you can also find custom stamp makers on Etsy. Sweet Paperie is one that iSew recommends. Not having to hand write my return address on each of my out going packages will be a big time saver for me!

I also ordered a book of Moo stickers, featuring images of my embroidery work.
Creating the Moo promotional products is very easy. If you aren’t a “computer person”, never fear! I was amazed at how quick and easy it was to order my stickers – the most difficult part was deciding what images I wanted to use.

In keeping with my New Year’s business resolutions, I’ve joined another online selling venue called iCraft. So far I have just one item in my shop there, but I expect to be adding more as the year goes on. I’ll keep you posted on any new additions there.

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Thank you Josh, for helping me with my logo design.

I am very excited about these changes and I can’t wait to share them with you.
As new things arrive, I’ll be sure to show them here and pass along recommendations.

I hope you all have a happy and creative day : )

Now – it’s back to the studio for me!

Is anyone wondering…. or have you all given up on me?

Well, for the last couple weeks Josh and I have been trading a cold back and forth – it seems like just about the time one of us thinks they’re feeling better, we get hit again. Combine that with a change in diet (no carbs, red meat, sugar, caffeine or alcohol) and hormones gone wonky and I have felt like I’ve been wading through molasses for the last couple weeks.

I’m happy to say that it appears (crossing fingers!) that the colds may be almost over. The diet now includes small amounts of meat and caffeine (thank the Lord!). And the hormones…. well, I will never understand nor have control over them… I’ll just have to roll with the punches on that one!

I can tell that I’m feeling better – since for the first time in weeks
I’ve opened up a notebook and made a fresh new To-Do List!

That’s not to say that I didn’t do anything productive while I was feeling sluggish.
One thing that I did was re-read The Martha Rules.

Have you read this book?

Well, if you’ve got your own business (or are thinking of starting one), I highly recommend it. Martha, of course, has so much experience and wisdom to share. In this book she speaks in a matter-of-fact way, including examples and ideas. She is very approachable in this book and I found myself thinking of her as my own personal mentor.

I first read this book when I had initially created Jenn Maruska Design. Now that I’ve had my business for a few years I related to this book in a whole new way. I am so glad that I re-read it. I really got alot out of it: ideas for packaging my items, blog design, conducting my business in a business-like way, and so much more! I even took notes while reading, and jotted down my own ideas along the margins. I would love to offer to share this book with you, but it has already been promised to Ginny over at iSew – she and I are doing a business book swap soon.

And speaking of Ginny….. guess who’s getting married tomorrow?!?
If you haven’t already, do swing by her blog and wish her well!

All the best to you Ginny & Nick! : D

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I’m off now to tackle that To-Do List of mine!
It feels so nice to have some energy again.
Good bye molasses!

Please stop by here again, as I am back on track now
and will be sewing and blog posting regularly once again : )

Cheers!

It’s starting to become a routine, that on “box day” I spend the afternoon in the kitchen. And I am really enjoying it.

This week’s box included one lonely pomegranate.
What on earth do you do with one pomegranate??
Well, I got on the computer and went to the Food Network
and found a recipe for Pomegranate Cosmos (sounds yummy!).
And it just so happens to be a recipe from one of my favorite cooks: Ina Garten.

But the recipe calls for pomegranate juice.
(As I glance over at my whole pomegranate,
with it’s delicious little seeds all hidden in the rind).
Hmmmmm. What to do?

Fortunately, some clever person has figured out an easy way to extract the juice.
And I will share the technique with you.

First: cut off the top of the fruit (this is the pointy end, that resembles a crown).
Then use a knife to cut slashes down the sides (maybe 5 times, don’t be afraid to cut into the fruit – you’ll barely hit the seeds).

Second: put on a pair of kitchen gloves (this is to protect your hands from any random sharp parts but more importantly to keep your hands from being stained by the juice) and immerse the fruit in a medium bowl filled with water.
Gently pull the fruit apart and separate the seeds from the pith.

Here’s the cool part: the pith and the skin all float and the seeds sink to the bottom!

Lastly: throw out everything that floats and put the seeds in a blender. Blend them up, and pour onto a cheesecloth lined strainer over a bowl. In a short amount of time, you’ll have your juice. And, the instructions that I followed stated that one pomegranate will yield about 1/2 cup of juice. I got that amount exactly.

And here is the end result – yum! *

(* I found this cosmo to be good, but pretty strong… I would almost double the amount of pomegranate juice. I guess Ina likes to party alittle harder than I do ; )

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I also made cakey chocolate chip cookies from Martha’s Special Cookie Issue 2005. I’ve made these before… they are fool proof.

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And last but not least – to go with pan seared cod for dinner, I made basil pesto from Jamie Oliver’s cookbook: Jamie’s Dinners.