It's that time of the year!

Hello lovelies!

It's officially that time of year to start your holiday shopping! It seems that people are already lining up outside of stores to be first in line for the big sales. If you're like me, and you like to sleep in instead of waking up at dawn, I've got a special treat for you that you can enjoy from the comfort of your own couch!

All this weekend, starting today (11/23) thru Cyber Monday (11/28), we will be offering a 10% discount on everything in our Etsy shop and on our website! We know a lot of brides out there are planning their Spring weddings, and this is the perfect opportunity to get your accessories at a fantastic price! This is the first sale we've ever run, and you don't want to miss out!

The discount is already on our website, so just click the "buy now" button and you're done! If you're shopping on our Etsy site, please enter in the code "BLACKFRIDAY10" in all caps into the discount code box during checkout.

We hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving, and happy shopping!! :)

The website is finished!! Finally!!!

Hi Lovelies!

So, it's official. The website that I have been working on f.o.r.e.v.e.r. has finally been completed! As of about 2 o'clock this morning, the new website is up and available for your viewing pleasure! I'm sure that I'll still be working out some things over the next few days, but I'd love it if you guys could check it out and let me know what you think!! We're so unbelievably excited that it's finally finished! We've worked really hard to make it prettier, and easier to use. Here are some things that we've changed:

- Our logo. Yay!
- The design and layout. We've updated to something a little more sophisticated.
- The image galleries. We've made them easier to scroll through, and we've added pop out galleries so that you can really see the details of each sash.
- We've updated our F.A.Q.'s sections of the website to include our new international shipping rates!
- We've added links to our blog, our twitter account, our facebook page, and our etsy shop.
- We've added a contact page on the website so it's easier for you to get in touch with us.

We hope that all of these changes make it easier for you to shop on our site! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think! :)

Choosing a new Logo Design

I guess I shouldn't say "new" logo design, when I don't really have one in the first place. What I'm currently using is a pretty text, simply with our business name written out. This is used on our website, on our labels, and on our packaging. But now that we have the new line ready, and the website is being overhauled, it just seemed like the right time for a change.

The first thing I did was try to design one myself. I'm like a one woman show anyway, and I studied one year of graphic design in college (before thankfully switching over to fashion), so I thought it might be easy. I was wrong. I'm usually really good at being able to see something and then replicate it. Whether it's an outfit, a drawing, a design, etc etc. But when it comes to logo design, I'm completely lost (it would have been nice if they had covered this during my stint as an aspiring graphic designer). I see beautiful logos and have no idea how their created. Which brings me to what I did next.

In the quest for the perfect logo design, a few other options came to mind. The first being that there are several design firms right here in Houston that are wonderful that I could use. The cost of this is pretty high, so I quickly decided against that. Then I looked into Vistaprint, which is where I had my first round of business cards printed. But their designs were so generic and clipart-ish, and not at all what I wanted. The next option I stumbled upon by accident. I was looking up some advertising things on Etsy, and saw a small blurb about custom made banners. After clicking on that, I discovered a whole world of designers on Etsy with entire shops filled with wonderful designs. I didn't even realize that there were shops like this until about three days ago. Am I behind the times or what?

I came across the shop Ginger Studio and immediately fell in love. Her simple but utterly gorgeous designs are exactly what I had in mind. They are complete with all of the scrolly beautifulness that I have no idea how to do. They are pretty and whimsical without being complicated, and I think they could work for all kinds of businesses. The pricing is pretty great, and she is available for custom work as well. The hardest part was choosing a design that I liked more than the rest. With the help of a good friend, I narrowed down my choices and decided on the perfect fit! Now I simply can't wait to receive it and show it off! I think it's going to make a really great statement on the website, and I'm hoping to use it when I order new business cards (which I really need to do....). For now, here are some of Ginger Studio's other design's. Enjoy the loveliness :)

   

Website To-Do's

A great friend of mine, Sarah McKenzie, told me about www.showitfast.com, which is what she used to create her website. I downloaded the free trial, and was amazed at how easy it is to use, so I signed up (after playing with my site for two weeks, of course).

With the new line coming out soon, I wanted a fresher, cleaner look for the site, so I changed templates and started playing around. Then I changed templates again. What I've come up with, is what you see when you go to the site currently. I'm very happy with how it's turning out. I still have so many things to fine tune, so I thought I'd write them out here to help me wrap me head around it.

1) Add "add to cart" buttons, sync with the shopping cart page (hopefully paypal will work this time around)

2) Add pop out galleries for every sash (I did this once before, and am hoping I'll remember how to do it again)

3) Add pictures of new sashes

4) Create look book (print look book as well, but that has nothing to do with the website)

And I think that's it. Keep in mind, there are 20 new sashes for the Spring 2012 line. So it may not seem like a whole lot, but it is going to be pretty time consuming. If anyone has worked with Showit before and has any tips, I'm all ears!