Clutch-Me.Com

Learn. Make. Sell. All about clutches.

Facebook fanpage new album

Check out the new album of clutches.  As usual, I will be promoting these on Twitter @PurseFrames as well.

One quick note:  Valentine’s Day is fast approaching.  I am targeting the male audience for clutch makers via the Facebook fanpage and Twitter.  (The majority of readers of my blog are female so I’ve got to spread the love and get some guys to look at clutches as an option for gift giving to the lucky girls!)  So post your clutches or sales aimed at Valentine’s Day at the fan page.  Think reds and pinks!

A selection of well-crafted handmade clutches from various sellers. Available NOW for purchase.

I am trying a new image capture in order to garner you more viewers for your clutches at your shop.  By cropping in your photos, I am able to give a better view of your clutches at the same tantalizing the viewer to see more by clicking on the photo.  The hyperlink will take them to the home page of your Etsy shop where they can take a look at ALL your shop’s offerings!

I hope you will see increased views of your Etsy shop from my efforts.  Each bag will be promoted individually via Twitter.  I am really focusing on well-crafted clutches (and clutch wallets and Reversible Patchwork bags, too).

Be back soon!

~Winn

January 15, 2012 Posted by | WhileBabyNaps General Updates | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Selling your handmade clutches, wallet clutch, and reversible bag

Guess what I just read?  This just confirmed what I wrote last year in January!

So we all know about social media and many of you participate in several platforms such as Facebook fanpages, Twitter feeds, or your own blog.   Some of you have heeded my encouragement through many posts and have been selling your clutches at arts and crafts fairs.

So take a look at this:

Did you get that? It will explode!

Some things (e.g. your own app for your online shop) are neither cost effective for you nor will allow you to get your investment back given the small nature of your business.  However, Square via Squareup.com has a fast setup and offers you a free reader and a free app.  I do not get paid to promote this, by the way.  So what’s the catch?  As with any banking system, they get a percentage of what you get.  They get 2.75% of each transaction.  As you know, systems such as Paypal also take a transaction fee.  But the good news is Squareup.com has lifted the $500/month limit on the amount of money you can swipe and accept.  So this makes it worth your time to get this.  Those of you who will offer this at the craft/art booth will be ahead of those only accepting checks or cash.  Research has also shown that people spend more when using a credit card than they do when using cash.  In fact, one way that is recommended to cut back on spending is by using cash to pay instead of credit cards!  But with Square, you will give your customers much needed convenience.

Read this post I wrote last March about Business Tips for Clutch Makers talking about Jack Dorsey, founder of both Squareup and Twitter.

I’ve already gotten good feedback last year from those who used Square.  If you try it out at Spring craft shows, please let me know how it goes.  Be sure to put up the sign at your booth noting the acceptance of “Credit Cards”.

Have a great weekend!

~Winn

January 14, 2012 Posted by | Helpful Tips | , , , , , , | 2 Comments

New PDF – Reversible Patchwork bag – NOW available for sale at Etsy!

It’s late on a Friday night here for me, which means it’s early Friday for you.  I’m exactly 12 hours ahead of the Eastern Standard Time in the US.  My friend Lisa teased that I live “in the future” since I’m ahead by 12 hours.  After a hard New Year’s Eve, she asked me the next day “You are in the future.  How does 2012 look for me?”  I replied “The future is bright.  And you are hungover.”  🙂  (She’s a teacher.  I’ll toast to her anytime!)

So as promised, the new Reversible Patchwork bag is now available for sale at Etsy!

Here’s a snap:

The listing is up! PDF only for now. Hard copies (for those without desktop printers or who don't want to waste their ink) will be available soon!

Thanks again for your enthusiasm.  I am very excited for you to learn this new skill and add a new bag in your line of products to make, give, or sell!

~Winn

January 13, 2012 Posted by | WhileBabyNaps General Updates | , , | Leave a comment

THANK YOU for your excitement!

Hey guys,

WOW!  You guys are lightning fast.  Emails are coming in fast and furious (well, not literally furious)  about the last post that popped up via the email subscription.  I just wanted to clarify that this is not related to the current PDF.  Those using your password will not be able to access it.  This is a brand new and completely different bag.  It will be available for purchase tomorrow.

My sister Y, in Florida, made a bag several months ago and got compliments on it at EVERY outing.  So I encouraged her to make a PDF so that others can learn and make to sell them as well.  It can be made using scrap fabric that I know you all have left over from making clutches and other projects.  When new PDFs are made, I have a Beta area where we upload it and test it to make sure that we can download it and it works.  We are in that stage right now.  🙂

So, as the title of the post says “Beta: Future Place to download the Reversible Patchwork Bag – Not yet available for sale! Stay tuned ….”

This is very timely because my next step is to let you know about this new exciting bag that you can add to your line of products in your shops or craft booth!  It’s very easy to do.

*As with my other PDFs, you guys know I cannot sew with a traditional (e.g. Butterick’s, McCall’s) pattern.  Like my middle child, I am a visual learner and linear thinker!  (Autism buzzwords that you might be familiar with!)

*So …there is one step per page with an accompanying picture.  It takes you step-by-step.  We have some steps just to explain and set up for the next step and require little to do!

*The PDF has also been formatted to be cut and stapled resulting in a mini instructional booklet allowing you to do one step per page.  It’s formatted so that it’s in a small size that will not take too much room on your sewing area.  You can do each step at a time and flip the page to get to the next step.  The entire PDF can be printed out on regular 8.5×11 paper on your desktop printer.

*The materials cost is minimal:  you can use beloved scrap fabric left-over from previous projects!  PDF will be priced at $8 similar to our other PDFs.

So with little money spent on materials, you can start your own craft booth and make some side income.  This project can even be hand-sewn if you don’t own a sewing machine.  (There are many who are struggling in this economy and have to pinch pennies.)  We strive to teach you a new skill that is a low-cost way to start your own business.  Just so “NO!” to quick-rich money-making scams that are on the Internet.  This is a PDF that will teach you skills to create meaningful, useful, functional and beautiful items that you can sell at your local church bazaar, school fundraiser or local crafts fair … or Etsy shop.

So here’s a look.  The listing for the PDF will be up tomorrow:  the hard copies are being formatted and will be sent to our trusty professional printer to print.  That listing will be up after we get the printed copies back from the printer.  Thy has to hand-cut and hand-assemble each book before we can ship them out.

New Reversible Patchwork Bag PDF - on sale tomorrow Jan. 13!

So stay tuned.  Once it’s listed, I’ll be back with a quick post to alert you.

THANK YOU for your interest and excitement!

~Winn and Y

January 12, 2012 Posted by | WhileBabyNaps General Updates | , , | Leave a comment

Protected: PDF Order – Reversible Patchwork Bag

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January 12, 2012 Posted by | PDF ORDER | Enter your password to view comments.

Back in Stock: 12 x 3.5

Hi!!!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years!  🙂  We’ve had our first Christmas here in Vietnam and my 9-year old said that it was “the best Christmas EVER”.   We brought along our trusty Christmas tree from Costco (and all of our other furniture and furnishings) and put up stockings on our electric fireplace mantel.  It worked to preserve and continue our Christmas traditions.  The kids were worried Santa wouldn’t know where they lived in Vietnam (they assumed New Jersey was well-known by Santa and his elves) and the fact that we have no chimney for Santa … but thanks to Norad, Elf the movie, and some great books to help explain it all.  Oh, the magic of Christmas!

My kids on Christmas Eve.

During the holidays, International schools here let kids out for three weeks in order for expat families to return back to their home countries.  And since the kids and I only got here in July, we stayed here during the holidays.  After celebrating 30+years of snowy and cold Christmases in the Midwest and NJ, it felt really weird not having the cold weather for Christmas!  I’m sure that is nothing new to those in the warm climates though.

Here’s my family holiday card to you all.  E-card this year via Smilebox!

Hope your holidays brought you many smiles. Smiling's my favorite! Name that movie (super easy...).

So with 3 kids home, you can imagine what little work I’ve got done.  But thank goodness for my sisters, Thy and Y who have been working quite hard.  Thy missed Christmas altogether due to illness!  She’s on the mend but her little one who’s only 4, is just recovering from another bout of something!  I miss the cold but I do not miss cold & flu season.

Oh, I’m a couple weeks late and giving you the news but I just want to let you all know that the 12×3.5 nickel-free frames are back in stock.  This one is a bit hard to manufacture and carry since it’s our costliest frame with all the iron and the large surface making a superb finish harder to achieve.  But with winter here and winter bags, this large, heavy and sturdy frame is ideal for the big bags.  This frame has been used to make the bigger carry-all bag.  It can support leather, vinyl, upholstery-weight and other heavier fabrics.   I designed a wide u-channel to accommodate both the heavier, thicker fabrics and the fusible interface/fleece.  The walls of the u-channel were also designed to be higher.  Check them out!

12x3.5 nickel-free purse frame

My internet connection has also been very frustratingly troublesome.  I get very slow service and when I do, I get disconnected frequently.  I have a fiber line but it gets throttled due to the servers here.  😦  Makes for long hours and a low productivity rate.  Alas, I will be back to sewing once I clear out a few things off my desk!

So since the kids went back to school today (yay, thank you teachers!), I will be able to work more (yay, my sanity returns!).  Love my kids, but I miss working.  Miss you all!  Thanks for your messages!!

Hoping you all are healthy for 2012!

~Winn

January 9, 2012 Posted by | WhileBabyNaps General Updates | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

If you are near, check these craft shops out!

Just read a quick article in USA Today’s Travel section.  Thought you might like to check these excellent craft shops out.

As you can see, these craft shops are trending up so if you are near, go take a look!  See what crafts are displayed.  If the store’s aesthetics fit, inquire about having them display several of your handmade, one-of-a-kind clutches!  It would be a great coup!

Check out the list of the top 10 places to shop for crafts by clicking on the pic below:

10-great-places-to-shop-at-crafts-galleries

Have a great weekend everybody!

~Winn

December 9, 2011 Posted by | WhileBabyNaps General Updates | , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

20% off your entire cart SALE – Raincheck

WOW!  I can’t thank you guys enough for all the wonderful and heartfelt “welcome back” notes in via the convos and “Message to Seller” in your check outs.  Thank you, again, for the thoughts and prayers for our Grandma.  And thank you, for your loyalty during our shop closure to tend to our family.

Oh, thought you might like this pic of my son Ethan showing his Great Gram pictures of family on the iPad.  She was like “This thing takes pictures?  This records videos, too?  It must be really expensive.”  When I told her how much the iPad was, she said “I can buy a lot of land with that!”  🙂

Amazing to think what she has witnessed in nearly a century!

Many of you have asked about our 20% OFF total purchase sale and specifically taking rainchecks for items currently out of stock or sold out.  I wanted to clarify it for those still unclear.  Just like any brick-and-mortar retailer, I also offer a raincheck.  What does this mean for you?

*A “raincheck” is when you pay at a sale price for item(s) that are not currently in stock or are sold out due to the sale.  In other words, if the shop had those items, you’d be able to cart it out with you to the minivan (or insert cool ride you have here).  What, I’m the only with a minivan??  🙂  I digress … but since they don’t have said item(s) (not your fault) you still qualify for the sale price, but you’ll just get those items when they come back into stock.

*Sale ends at midnight EST on November 20, 2011.

*… BUT with Etsy’s convo system and the nature of the back-and-forth communication of custom orders, I am allowing for convos asking for a custom listing with details on what you want sent in by that deadline to qualify for the 20% off sale.  Even if we do not nail down 100% what you want, you will qualify as that was submitted before the deadline.  It’s as if you’re at the store and there are long lines and only 2 registers open, and you’re the 8th person in line with a cart full of things and the shop will close in 10 minutes.  But once your Custom Listing is up, you must pay within 48 hours or your order will be cancelled.  (We convo you with a link to let you know that your custom listing is up.)

I miss Target. I miss Costco, too!

*Your order will be shipped altogether in one shipment when they all come in. (4-6 weeks).  If you want to break the order up and ship them as they are available (same shipping options that Amazon allows), your shipping costs will go up accordingly.  Just let us know.  We will only charge what it costs to ship, not the time spent to ship multiple packages.

One more note, thank you for your loyalty and orders.  I want to reiterate clearly that this sale of this magnitude only happens once a year on the anniversary of my shop (11/11).  Under the legal guidelines, I cannot extend the sale to orders placed, paid or shipped prior to the sale, and it will not be extended past the end of the sale (barring the note about convos submitted by the deadline above).  If you have a Custom Listing that has been made per your request, please pay ASAP.  All custom listings not paid after the sale will be deleted.

Please keep in mind Christmas time and gift giving:  start making your clutches and have them ready to sell for Black Friday.  I would highly recommend planning your order and ordering what you need.   Remember that as long as they are unused and in same new condition as was shipped to you, if you have excess that you want to return or you simply changed your mind, I accept returns for any reason for 30 days.  You will get a full refund minus the shipping fees paid. Unfortunately, no exceptions can be made to the sale terms.  So please plan well and order OR convo us with what you need.

Now, once I get out from under this mountain of to-do’s, I will be shopping for fabric.  YAY!  Something to look forward to!  I will take pics.  I will sell the fabric.  I’ll get on it.  It’s on my list …  several of you have asked and I thank you for liking my taste!

~Talk soon!

Winn  🙂

November 18, 2011 Posted by | SALES and PROMOTIONS | , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Debuting new 3×1.5 nickel-free design

Once again, thank you for your kind and thoughtful emails and convos.  My sisters and I are very touched by your notes and feel very privileged to have your friendship, loyalty, and prayers.

We have also received all your convos requesting Custom Orders to take advantage of the 2nd year anniversary sale.   Please be patient as Thy just got back to the US after a long journey (it takes 20-24 hours) and she is quite exhausted.  She will be setting up the Custom Listings and you will be notified via the convo that you sent when it is up and ready to go!  The shop will re-open on November 17th as per my previous posts and shop announcements.

I wanted to let you know first about the new production of the 3×1.5 nickel-free coin purse frames.  A minor adjustment was made:  the new kisslock balls are now 9mm.  This is the same size balls as the wallet-sized 4.5×3 purse frames.  Many of you who have used this size for these years will know that I went from small to big, and now it’s in the middle.  Why the change?  My specs were not followed (why, why, why?!?!?)  and I did not want to re-do the entire the production which would cause extra time for production (I mean, you can’t snap them off and put new kisslocks on …) not to mention the costs of manufacturing in re-acquiring more metal, production time, and new plating.  But they match the 4.5×3 size and look so awesome and just like puppies, I fell in love and kept them.  Couldn’t turn them away…. I think you will like these little buggers as much as I do!  Take a look:

3x1.5 nickel-free purse frame

Hey, one day I'll grow up to be like my older brother! Here's me next to the 4.5x3!

Uh oh, here's BIG brother 8x3 strutting his stuff! Arggggg....

One last note, in order for me to make changes to the shop such as listings and for Thy to create Custom Listings … we have to re-open the shop to use the full functionality.  **Please note that orders will not ship until the 17th and orders put in will take 72 hours to inspect, package, and ship.**  That is, your Custom Listing, though they may be up prior to the 17th and if you’ve paid, the earliest Thy will ship is the 17th.

Thank you for your support.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Kindly,

~Winn

November 15, 2011 Posted by | WhileBabyNaps General Updates | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

11-11-11 2nd year Anniversary SALE on ETSY!

First, a BIG thank you to all who have written expressing your kind words about my grandmother during her recent bout of weakness.   She is still alive, by the grace of God, and has been able to meaningfully visit with relatives from the US who flew over to spend some time with her:  her daughter and son, her grandchildren.  She still has long moments of lucidity and her humor is in tact.  One time, she kidded with my male cousin who has a pot belly and said “When is he having the baby?”  🙂  These are great blessings and I am truly grateful that I get to spend the last chapter of her life with her.

I wanted to share some personal photos of the these times with you.

My Gram's first embrace with my aunt - her only surviving daughter.

Me and my Gram. She sleeps on a mattress right on the floor. This is where and how I am during my visits: lying right next to her! 🙂

Me, my daughter Hayley, and her Great Gram! The lighting is bad in the pic because there is actually bad lighting in her house. One light source for the entire room via a bare linear flourescent bulb.

Me and Thy visiting.

Gram with 3 grandkids, 1 daughter. There's still a lot of laughter to be had.

Gram with 3 grandkids: me (formerly NJ), Thy (OH), and cousin Sean from Portland, OR.

Hanging with the matriarch. Holding her hand. I am so blessed to have this time with her.

She is still full of life!

So for all of you who have stuck by me through the temporary closing of the shop, through the kind convos and emails, I want to say thank you so much.

The shops, WhileBabyNaps and PurseFramesOutlet, will tentatively re-open as planned on Nov. 17th.  But before then, you may recall that “11” is my favorite number.  On last year’s anniversary, I gave my largest sale to celebrate my anniversary on 10/11/10.  And I mentioned that I would do the same for this year’s anniversary.

…But I am going to do better than last year as a thank you for your support, loyalty and patience through this year’s unforeseen store closing:  I am offering a 20% ALL items in the store.  20% OFF your total purchase.  Yes, this includes frames, kits, PDFs, Gutermann glue.

Here are the Legal terms:

*Due to shops’ temporary closing, the sale will run upon our re-opening.  Sale valid from November 17, 2011 – November 20, 2011 midnight EST.

*No extensions of this yearly sale will be made for payments/orders received after the closing deadline of November 20, 2011 midnight EST.  Get your orders in!

*Good until inventory runs out!  First in, first out.  If I run out prior to the end of the sale, you will be contacted and you can keep your order with the raincheck (see below) until a new production is done, or you can cancel the order.  Your anniversary sale discount will be honored at the SALE price at which you bought it regardless of price fluctuations in the raw metal prices.

*This sale is not retroactive on any previous sales or for any pending sales.

*You must enter code “2ndsale” at check out and you will get 20% OFF your total purchase immediately.

*Items will be shipped within 72 hours of receiving your payment.  We normally ship 99% of items within 24 hours, but due to historical demand during the sale, please allow us 72 hours to inspect, package, and ship your order.  If we will be later than that, we will let you know, but this window will give us time.

*For Custom Listings, just convo and a custom listing will be done for you with 20% OFF and the correct shipping applied.

*If you don’t see a quantity or size listed, it means someone has just ordered it and it has not yet been relisted.  You can wait until it gets re-listed, order it at my webstore or convo me and I can make custom listing for you.

*Sale applicable to frames out of stock but under production as raincheck items (see below).

Raincheck items:

*I just started another new production of frames in various sizes and finishes.  The list is quite big, but if the frames that you want are not in stock but is currently in production, we will extend the 20% sale price if you pay in full by the deadline as stated below.

*Rainchecks will be shipped when your entire order comes in unless you convo us otherwise.  (Items can be shipped as they come in but you will charged shipping each time.)

*Due to the back-n-forth nature of convos, convos requesting custom listings must be sent in before the sale deadline of November 20, 2011 midnight EST.  If we have your convo with a request for a custom listing with items needed and quantity in before that deadline, you qualify for the 20% OFF total purchase.  ALL payments for custom listings must be paid within 48 hours of the Custom Listing going up on Etsy.

My list of to-dos is long and I’m a good 4 weeks behind what I need to get done … but I will never regret not visiting my great Gram.  The work will always be there upon my return!  I will start bringing my sewing machine to my Gram’s house during my visits so I can still sit with her and sew during her naps.  🙂

I thank you, wholeheartedly, for your loyalty and support.

~Winn

One of my favorite pics! Gram with Thy. 2 pretty girls! 🙂

November 11, 2011 Posted by | SALES and PROMOTIONS | 2 Comments

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