Mother’s Day clutches
Check out my latest album. This one honors the mom on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13th. Other than this one special day to celebrate mom, we often hear “Hi, MOM!” when TV cameras hone in on someone who’s on TV for the first time. Why is it that our first instinct when caught in the big lights of TV cameras is to wave and scream “Hi, Mom?” I’d like to think that the excitement of the deer-in-the-headlights feeling takes us to our core, to what’s important, and in many cases it’s the mom. 🙂 Why don’t we say “Hi dad?” We do, but just in the minority. The majority amongst us have the most contact with their mothers and feel closest to despite dad’s increased involvement in child rearing.
So you all know I support and honor women. Whether you are a mom yourself, or yet to be, or are perfectly content with being aunty, this album’s for you! I’m sure you’ll find several clutches in here for your shopping list.
Mother’s Day clutches album.
As for me, I’ve got a busy week ahead with my husband on yet another business trip. My oldest is turning 10 (egad!) on Friday and another birthday party to attend… then Mother’s Day. My wish is to wiggle my nose so that all my bills are paid, my piles of papers magically fly into the right folders in the filing cabinet, and I have time to get a leg wax and pedicure. I’m looking kinda like a … sasquatch. TMI? 😉 Well, one of those wishes will come true!
Have a great week and Happy Mother’s Day this weekend to all the moms out there!
~Winn
Clutches from my travels
Since moving temporarily to Viet Nam, my family and I have done a bit of traveling. And every time I go somewhere, I see clutches. They are tremendously popular in Asia and the styles run the gamut and can range from $5 to hundreds of dollars. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of every clutch that I saw. Sometimes I would forget my camera, or my camera ran out of batteries. Many shops do not allow cameras so I couldn’t sneak a snapshot in many times. In every Asian country I’ve been to, all the shop girls stick by you like that Pretty Woman scene where Julia Robert’s character is in the shop and the girl is thisclose to her. I also lost a trove of photos from our Hong Kong trip, but here are a few snaps of clutches from my travels. I hope this variety will inspire you if you are ever in a creative rut.
**This just added. I forgot these lovely mini leather clutches sold at the Emperor’s Palace gift shop in Tokyo, Japan.**
Coin clutches in Hong Kong. These were made with faux leather and appliques. They were quite good but I didn't like the small kisslock balls. Hard to open.
Evening clutch in Tokyo, Japan. This was quite expensive and handmade. It was in the boutique's main showcase.
Evening clutches from another shop in Tokyo, Japan. These were priced around $100 USD. Really nice variety for evening wear.
Coin clutches in Tokyo, Japan. Made from sequined fabric. I love the bead trim. Priced around $15-20 USD.
I hit the motherlode in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This specialty store sold evening wear and clutches. I was able to sneak in one photo before being hollered at. "NO cameras!" These were quite pricey and didn't look like there were many sold since these are special occasion clutches. The delicacy of the crystals and fabric and the bulkiness of some made them not very functional to me.
A flamingo clutch at The Bird Park gift shop in KL, Malaysia. The inventiveness of this clutch was quite evident.
I really quite liked the symmetry and shape of this one. It's cute and functional.
Did I mention that the panda is my favorite animal? I checked one thing off my list: I got to see real pandas (in Hong Kong) for the first time. This lovely panda clutch was well done, but again, the small kisslock made it awkward to open. There's a cute lion one behind it as well.
On the cheap end was this coin clutch. It was poorly made and quite stiff. Not functional at all. Shame, really. I liked the look of it though.
This was a nice mid-range price clutch. The strap was a bit long but the silk-like fabric had lovely pale pink blooms. Clutch in Malaysia.
Cups and Clutches – 2012 ACM Awards
I just did an album on the Facebook fanpage featuring some clutches that I paired with some of the best-dressed looks at the 2012 ACM Awards. Some of you may know that I lived in Oklahoma City for a short time. I loved my time there and still say “y’all” and “all y’all”. 🙂 Anywho, out of the six lovely ladies on the list, three are either from or live in Oklahoma. Biased? No, it just happens that many in country music have their roots or homes in Oklahoma: Vince Gill, Woody Guthrie, Garth Brooks, Ronnie Dunn, Roy Clark, Blake Shelton, Toby Keith (I loved the Red Solo Cup performance). Of course there are the ladies: Carrie Underwood, Reba McIntire, Miranda Lambert, Trisha Yearwood and a whole lot more.
Speaking of red Solo cups, that company was just bought for $1 billion dollars. Niiiice! They make a lot more than those red cups, but that is impressive. And guess what made it through my move from NJ to Viet Nam?
Yes, Pax made the move, but you knew that. But look at what's on my kitchen counter? LOL! Look it!!! 🙂
We’ve been using the same batch that we bought at Costco for over 8 months now and they last a long, long time.
Head on over to the Facebook fanpage for a look of my top six looks. Enjoy!
If you like what you see, please "like" and feel free to share.
#1 on Google for “Clutch Sellers”!
Hope you all have had a great week! Some of you already know but I’ve just opened the shop to take orders.
Please note the shop announcement that Thy and her family will be back on the 25th and shipping will commence on the 26th. Thank you very much for your loyalty! I know there were many who waited until we opened the shop back up to place the order. We didn’t want you to wait too long for your order so we shut it down for the week so there wouldn’t have too much of a back log. She certainly needed the break with her family. There are several orders in already so thank you so much for your confidence in my fine frames for use in your craft and business!
As always, please let me know if you have any questions.
On my link exchange, I realized that you may want links to your shops or other web properties — not necessarily blogs. So if you want to do a link exchange with your shop or any web property, please leave a comment here, email me, or convo me.
Here, again, is my link info if you have a blog:
URL: http://clutch-me.com
Title: All about clutches.
If you don’t have a blog, a link on your shop would work (thanks, Nancy):
URL: http://whilebabynaps.etsy.com
Once you’ve put in my link, please contact me here and I’ll put your link in.
Though I have a niche market of clutches in the bags and purses category, I am the #1 US purse frames seller and I get inquiries on who to buy from. Check out my #1 Google search result for “clutch sellers”.
I work hard to get to #1 so that my Sellers can get more views.
So if they are looking for a seller who sells clutch handbags, they are coming to my little blog.
I know it would benefit my blog to do a link exchange, and I know it will benefit you as well. So I’m happy to add a link to your shop, blog, fanpage, blog store … I hope all of you currently on the Seller page will submit yours!
Thanks
Winn
Extra traffic to your blog
Anyone want to do some link exchanges? I just revamped my blog’s sidebars and will be adding links via my blog roll.
Direct link to your blog!
If you are interested, please send me a convo or leave your blog URL in the comments here and I’ll add it. Please give me your blog’s name and that’s how it will appear.
*Please use my blog info as follows to reciprocate and add to your blog roll:
URL: http://clutch-me.com
Blog name: All about clutches.
If you are a WordPress blogger, you can add blog links via “Links”, “Add New” on the main menu. For it to show up on your blog, you will need go to Appearance > Widgets, and drag and drop the “Links” widget onto your sidebar. You can watch a 2-minute video here.
By adding each other on the blog roll, I hope to drive more traffic to your blog and vice versa. 🙂
Be Green with envy! Handmade clutches for you!
Here is a new album on the WhileBabyNaps Facebook fanpage. It’s green for St. Patrick’s Day and would be great for a spring bag, too!
Check out my album!
All were made by Sellers using my fine purse frames. If you are a seller whose clutch has been featured, please “like” the album and feel free to share on your own Facebook fan pages!
I’ve also done the same on the WhileBabyNaps Pinterest board.
Please click the "Like" icon if you like what you see!
Each of these clutches were also promoted via their own tweets on my Twitter feed.
I used this for my Twitter wallpaper as well! Nice change from the red clutches from Valentine’s Day! 🙂
I get a lot of lookers from my Twitter feed who then go directly to either my blog or the clutch maker's shops.
I have found that promoting my Seller’s clutches at all 3 social media networks at the same time increases the exposure for my clutch makers. It takes longer for me to do it all across all 3 platforms at one time but it is more efficient to also get it all done at the same time.
So if you are a Seller and have had your clutch featured, please spread the word and share the Facebook album, Pinterest board, or retweet my Twitter tweets. Remember taste uncertainty and how research has shown that it helps you, the seller, to get more buyers when you are listed with other like-sellers more than if you are doing it alone. Please read that post on taste uncertainty to get more info.
Thanks and I will be doing another spread for Spring 2012 soon!
~Winn
Paypal is throwing down with Square — and YOU benefit!
Exciting news! Paypal is going to introduce their own mobile paying device that will be similar to Square. Please note: SquareUp.com is the domain name that the company “Square Inc.” or “Square” uses. SquareUp, Square Up, Square up, and Square are all used through the media interchangeably. They really should just change their main domain to Square.com. I don’t know why they are doing the reverse and directing it all to SquareUp.com … anyways … just my humble opinion. 🙂
It is not yet known what features it will offer beyond those of Square, however, Paypal will have a lower transaction fee thereby undercutting what Square is currently charging.
Will Square answer back by lowering their transaction charge rate as well? It’s yet to be seen, but this is very good news for small business owners, mom and pop shops, and those of you selling your clutches at arts and crafts fairs and bazaars. It will be ubiquitous and your customers will be able to pay you with their credit cards. You will be able to accept credit cards easily without any start-up or ongoing maintenance costs!
Check out the article.
More companies offering mobile payment devices means lower charges you'll have to pay!
Since Paypal is the #1 online credit card payment processor in the world, this news is huge. The public trust is there with paying via Paypal’s secure encrypted network. So for Paypal to come out with this mobile paying device, the adoption rate will be high. It will probably link up with your existing Paypal accounts and you’ll have all your payments at one source. This is seriously going to effect Square and I anticipate them doing something to mitigate this.
If you haven’t used Square already – a free device – I would like to poke a hot poker and get you to try it out. Did I mention it’s free? 🙂 You can grow your business and craft fairs, school and church sales, home hostess parties ….
Oh, and it’s free.. 🙂
New URL for the blog.
I’ve gotten a new domain to try to make it short and sweet for my blog. Now, it will be known as clutch-me.com. Not to worry, if you type in the previous URL, it will redirect you to this domain, so it will not impact you negatively. One of the other reasons this one done was so that in the future, I can start running ads on the sidebars of my blog due to the increase in traffic volume. I spend a lot of time on the blog and I love it, but I would like to monetize it and have ads directly related to the content that I am writing about. This had occurred to me as I was reading other blogs and noticed relevant ads that I was interested in and clicked on. So I hope the ads will be of benefit to you as well.
I will also update the Sellers page. If you are an existing Seller and want a new screen snapshot of your shop, please rearrange your shop and convo me. I’ll take a snapshot and update it for you.
If you would like to be listed as a Seller, convo me and let me know. My promotions and marketing centers around the Sellers’ inventory of clutches made using my fine purse frames. I usually pick a theme and go “shopping”. 🙂 I then promote the clutches on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. All hyperlinks lead back to main shop page of the respective Etsy shop. I have found that doing in tandem on all social platforms greatly increases the number of redirects to my Sellers’ shops. More eyeballs means more potential sales. All this is free to clutch handbag makers who use my fine frames and honor my trademarks. If you are successful, then I will be successful. Simple as that. 🙂
Lastly, most of you have followed me and my family regarding my grandma’s health. I hadn’t mentioned it in a while because the grave illness had past, life happens, and the next thing you know it’s already March. Thank you keeping her in your thoughts and asking about her. I really believe that prayers and positive thinking pulled her through. We have been very blessed and she is in relatively good health for her old age. She can sit up to eat meals now and her keen mind is back. I still visit her once or twice a week and I bring the kids twice a month to visit her – their Great Gram. (It’s a bumpy hour-long trip and the carsickness has gotten worse for them! Roads are so bad here.) What I am most heartened about is how my kids mention her when they see something they think she would like. The relationship has deepened between my kids and their Great Gram and I am grateful for it.
Spanning the ages: 5, 98, 9, and 7.
With my winter clutch kits, I had been bringing the fabric and fusible fleece to trace the templates and cut while I’m visiting with her. Hey, you’ve got to grab time when you can! Her mattress is on the floor so I just plop right on the tile and cut. She rolls on her side and helps me by holding down the edges of the fabric so that the oscillating fan doesn’t blow it up! 🙂 I finally brought a finished clutch for her to see and she was very happy. She says I got skills! 🙂 I keep her involved on what’s going on so that she feels included, alive, and sharp.
I had also been busy painting her walls. They hadn’t been painted in over 7+ years.
This is the "after" shot of the same walls as shown in the previous photo. I chose a light green called pistachio to usher in spring and brighten up the room that has only one light.
Here in Vietnam, there is no such thing as a Home Depot or Ace Hardware. It is either your profession (painter, carpenter, etc…) or you hire them. So imagine the looks and comments I got when I went to get the painting supplies. (I had left all my brushes, rollers, extenders, etc… in storage in New Jersey. I had started an interior painting business in late 2010 in New Jersey – two weeks before finding we are moving to Viet Nam.) So the condescension was palpable “look, little lady …” LOL.
Sample of my work. I used a 20-ft. metal ladder to paint up high! Don't look down!
She was very happy after my cousins and I finished. She said it was like she got a new house. It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint will do to your moods.
So thank you for your very warm and kind wishes for my grandmother. If I’m not working on the business, I’m usually sitting on my grandma’s mattress talking to her. I don’t know how many days she has left (none of us know how many days we have left ourselves) so I don’t take anything for granted. If anything, my spending time with her only affirms what blessings I have in my life and how I want to spend that time.
Blessings to you and yours!
~Winn
Etsy shop banner redesigned
I just redid my Etsy shop banner to match my web store. I like this color scheme. It works for me. (I am going to miss those little munchkins that were on my banner shop previously though.) What do you think of this new banner?
More changes are coming in store for the listings. Some have been made but there’s much work to be done. I wish there were other ways on Etsy to list my catalog of purse frames that makes it easier for you to navigate. I will be working on them for the next couple of weeks. I hope to streamline a lot of the listings since I have so many SKUs. I hope that it will help you find what you need to make your clutches: purse frames, Gutermann glue, or complete kits.
Cleaner, crisper WhileBabyNaps.com shop for your orders
I’ve finally got my web store redesigned. Come take a look!
With this new re-design, I’ve been able to incorporate a direct link to clutch handbag makers on my Sellers list. This will allow me to drive more traffic to handbag makers who have clutches – ready for sale – that are made using my fine purse frames. Many visit my web store and love the idea of making a clutch, but many more just want instant gratification and to buy one. And I haven’t made them to sell for years so I’m happy to pass on my referrals. It’s a “win-win”: I keep my visitors happy and my clutch makers can get a sale! If you are interested in becoming a seller, convo me and I’ll walk you through the process.
I hope you will find this layout and theme much more appealing and easier to navigate. Please note that most of what I sell at my Etsy shop is also sold here; however, as I’ve had this shop first for professional handbag makers, I sell up to 500 of any single frame. I have added DIY clutch kits since I also get Google hits on this website from the general public as well.
Kits are sold based on geography due to the shipping restrictions for Gutermann glue.
As you will see, the volume discounts are the exact same at both shops and I only sell at wholesale pricing. The floor price is the highest discount given for that particular size or style. So whether a customer buys 500 or 1000 frames, they get the same per unit discount since the floor price is the 500 level. Floor price for Gutermann glue is for 6 tubes. There is no middle man.
42% is the highest discount given for this frame.
Lastly, I combine ship. When you buy 2+items, I will combine the shipping and refund you any excess shipping charge over $1. Shipping for items over 200 will be more economical for you using UPS Ground. That will take longer than USPS Priority Mail, but it will be a lot less cheaper. I have used customers’ business shipping accounts to ship with FedEx and DHL, too, and that’s not a problem at all.
Please take a look and if you catch any edits, let me know. I do all the writing and coding and I might not have caught them all behind the scenes … 🙂
About
I am the #1 US seller of purse frames and I’ve been incorporated since 2001. This blog is mainly aimed at my audience of clutch handbag makers. I have a very small niche that is comprised of 99.9% women. I am loyal and promote handbag makers who are loyal to me by using my fine purse frames. When they are successful, then I am successful.
The two businesses that I own are:
*purse supplies, Gutermann glue, and DIY clutch kits at whilebabynaps.etsy.com, whilebabynaps.com
*up-cycled purse supplies PurseFramesOutlet.etsy.com
To find clutches made using my fine metal purse frames, LOOK to see “Trademarks of WhileBabyNaps.com and H&D LLC” and you’ll know the clutches are made using the finest metal purse frames that are tested for lead and that have a protective coating to lengthen the life of the clutch. You can go to any of the sellers on the Sellers page.
****NOTE: If you want someone to make a clutch for you, please contact any of my sellers and inquire. They will gladly make custom orders!****
Interested in reaching my audience? Advertise. Contact me here.
Thank you for stopping by for a look.
Warmly,
Thy Khuong
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My Etsy shop
#1 US Seller of Purse Frames
My Main shop
Wholesale purse frames for clutches
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