Prom clutches!
This is such a fun, fun post to do! Prom time and if you are in need of a clutch, I hope these will give you great ideas. They are all made by Sellers and you can see what’s all available in their individual shops! These clutches will either go with gowns such as these shown, or they are reminiscent of some of the gowns based on the color or style. Enjoy!
Clutches by http://www.exyarnette.etsy.com and http://www.holdfasthandbags.etsy.com
Clutches by http://www.bymytouch.etsy.com and http://www.morobridal.com
Clutches by http://www.fabbycab.etsy.com and http://www.jandem.etsy.com
Clutches by http://www.nancyellenstudios.etsy.com and http://www.clutchchic.etsy.com
Clutches by http://www.pennyroyalty.etsy.com and http://www.simplyclutch.etsy.com
Clutches by http://www.bellejoujou.etsy.com and http://www.zaum.com
Clutches by http://www.lellarae2.etsy.com and http://www.paperflora.etsy.com
Clutches by http://www.bagsbystacey.etsy.com and http://www.jcarterhandmade.etsy.com
Clutches by http://www.madebypoppet.etsy.com and http://www.monasbox.etsy.com
Who will be the winner of the 10,000th item on Etsy?
We are getting close! A couple weeks ago, I wrote about our huge milestone coming up, and now we are on the cusp of having a winner. Currently, at 9942 items sold, we should have a winner within the next week, unless my crystal ball is not working. 🙂
Can I start the countdown?
Whoever’s (whomever’s?)cart contains the 10,000th item sold, will get that item and the entire cart free, up to $100.00! I’m curious to see if it will be a brand new customer, a woman who is trying out a new skill for the first time who will make a clutch for her friends, or if it will be a woman who runs her own business and needs to get some more frames to make clutches getting ready for Mother’s Day sales. Not to slight my few but wonderful male customers, it could be one of them needing some more Gutermann glue to their clutches, too. We will have to wait and see!
New Antique Brass purse chain!
Well, I’m officially back at work and my deck is full of to-do’s. Love it! 🙂
I wanted to alert you all about the new 45″ antique brass purse chain. We designed a bigger lobster claw and we think you are going to like it. It looks good, ladies. Check these out.
She’s a beauty!
They are up for sale at the shop! I hope you like them!
Winn 🙂
Why I’ve muddied up my photos…
Thank you to the few who have kindly contacted me alerting me of stolen photos of my shop. You’ve got my back and I surely appreciate it! In today’s digital age, a screen snapshot is all that is needed to steal someone’s intellectual property. There are even reports about a rising number of ID theft of Facebook identities. It makes me think twice about having an FB account. I will surely monitor my kids’ social media when they are of age and are asking to have their own accounts.
So apparently some countries and their countrymen do not honor International Trademarks and Copyrights. Unlawful, stolen photos of my very distinct frames and photos have popped up on various non-US-based websites wrongfully giving potential buyers the impression that they will be getting the frames (my trademarked and copyrighted frames and photos) as seen in the pictures. There is no doubt that when buyers receive their orders (if they receive anything at all), they will be sorry to get poor quality, damaged, and untested frames. I have resisted putting watermarks on my photos for 3 years. I reasoned that given the very distinct branding of my shop and photos of the frames, surely no one would copy/paste the very same photos. That would be like stealing from my kids! Well, they’ve done just that. They’ve “borrowed” my photos to set up their virtual shops promising unsuspecting buyers the very same frames when that is not possible. They’ve stolen all my hard work and stolen from my kids and nephews. My sister and I do this while we raise our kids. We are not a big company. It’s me and her and 5 kids between us.
This has left me with many sleepless nights cursing at humanity. And, truth be told, I’ve had a few more than my share of wine! So what to do?
I’ve had to muddy up all my photos with watermarks.
No, this will not prevent future photo theft or misrepresentation from others. To you, the buyer, I can only say clearly that: All these frames and tutorials are proprietary, copyrighted and trademarked to Khuong LLC (c) 2013 & only sold at WhileBabyNaps.Etsy.com and WhileBabyNaps.com.
*I do not resell these to anybody. I design them based on my research and specifications and it comes from me to you directly: no intermediaries.
*There is no one representing me, my frames, or my shop. My designs are proprietary and copyrighted and trademarked. My trade secrets are just that: trade secrets that no one knows, just like Colonel Sander’s chicken recipe.
*Anyone is possession of my photos, whether in the US or otherwise, are in violation of intellectual property. This is fraudulent.
*Whether or not the photos were watermarked before is immaterial to the violation of use. All rights are reserved on my copyrights and trademarks and that includes the photos.
*Anyone who represents themselves with my photos alleging that they can produce the same product in the photos is misrepresenting themselves.
*Anyone who represents themselves as making these frames for me are also misrepresenting themselves. I have binding contracts with my business partners and they’ve been my trusted and valued business partners for years.
I design these frames based on years of research. I have been and continue the #1 US seller of purse frames because I value my customers, provide them with a skill and business opportunities, and I make fine frames. I stand by the quality of my frames and will make it right for you if anything escapes on my watch. I am in it for the long haul. And while I may miss a few sales from unsuspecting customers who fall prey to these fraudulent hucksters, I would hope that my good deeds will be my karma.
That is the hope.
~Warmly,
Winn
The Cutest Coin Clutches
Just in time for the holiday gift giving. As seen as a featured seller before, Wendy continues her exemplary work. Her stand-out clutches are perfect gifts!
Hand embroidered button on this darling coin clutch!
Red linen and crystal coin clutch.
A little “I Love You” reminder.
Great for Brits and anglophiles! How adorable is this Union Jack coin clutch?
Go check out Wendy’s shop. She currently has 25% until Dec. 31! Enjoy your holiday shopping. 🙂
The videos show my gray!
Well, the videos are taking quite a bit longer than I thought. I have more on the blooper reel than I do actual videos! I’ve never had media training and I get so nervous on camera. I talk super-fast and have had to force myself to slow down. My kids think I wear too much make-up. They are just used to me in my yoga pants, pony tail, no make-up on, getting ready to go to Pilates.
At least I’m getting a lot of work done. Speaking of which, I just got to doing the About page on the Etsy shop website. Check it out!
You all know about me by now. But in case you didn’t know how I came up with the name … 🙂
I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween. I sure miss Autumn. I’ll be back with some Halloween photos! My daughter insisted that she is going as a baby butterfly, and that I go as a Mommy butterfly. How sweet! Are you dressing up? What’s your costume? Send me a pic!
Mobile checkout is hitting the masses
While on my whirlwind trip to NJ, WI, IN, and IL — all in 2 weeks — visiting family and friends, I ran across an article about mobile point of service devices being adopted by a major retailer.
Following up on my earlier posts on mobile point of service devices, such as Square, I mentioned that you can expect that the adoption of POS devices to ramp up quickly. With fall arts and crafts fairs around the corner, you still have time to try out the free POS devices available for small business owners. More and more customers will understand and have trust in the use of these POS devices. Just this week, there was an article regarding Nordstrom’s and JcPenney’s using mobile POS devices. They will still have registers for cash transactions, but you know that if Penney’s is going with POS devices, in this case the iPad to check out and phasing out most registers by 2014, then you also know that America’s checkout behaviors will change as well.
Click to go to the full article.
If you haven’t explored showing your clutches at Arts and Crafts Fairs, please check this post. Check your local and regional listings for Arts and Crafts Fairs now in order to save by pre-registering. Many have had great success showing their clutches at juried and non-juried shows. It’s great exposure and you can use the photos to market your items. One of my favorite recent photos of booths featured these beautiful bright and modern clutches. Linda at Mi Casa Bella had lots of interest and sales at her booth. I love the display and color layout here. Linda has such a singular vision in her creative aesthetics. If you have any photos of your clutches shown at a fair, market or boutique, send them to me and I would be happy to post them.
Mi Casa Bella has also been featured in several magazines. Head over to Linda’s shop and check out her renowned pillows and clutches.
Hope your summer is going great! One more week and my kids are back to school. THANK YOU teachers!!! 🙂
Clutches everywhere … ?
Maybe it’s selective perception but I seem to be seeing clutches everywhere. Granted, I am a bit obsessed with clutches. My trusty camera finally died *wah wah* so I just started taking pics with my other not-so-new camera. However, batteries are dead, wouldn’t you know it, so….. I will post pics of the clutches in a future post! Promise!
But check this out ladies. I was just reading an article about how Gwenyth Paltrow is coming out with a Goop collection.
T-shirt for $90. Not in my budget … 😦
It was interesting because I’m always reading many many many things, never knowing where it’ll lead me. On this occasion, it led me to her website goop.com, and I noticed that they recently updated the site. Guess what they have for the shopping or “get” tab? A clutch as the icon!
How awesome is that? It kinda looks like a clutch made using my 4.5×3 inch nickel-free frame, doesn’t it? 🙂
My clutch tutorial was also recently reviewed and featured in another blog. This time it was Jen over at BettyCrockerAss. With that name, you know I’d like her anyway! 🙂 You should check her out. She is a quilter extraordinaire!
You can check out her review of my tutorial. Jen brought up an excellent point: the corners were too pointy making the clutch more of an “A” shape. As you know on pg. 13 of the tutorial, you can make the clutch fuller by cutting more off the ends. You can square it off more to change the silhouette. However, Jen did an ingenious alteration with the use of buttons. I’ve since updated the tutorial with new measurements to make the clutch fuller and the update is up. Go to this post and enter the same password that you received when you bought the PDF in order to get the update. You have 2 options for getting the update this time: just page 13 where the changes were made OR the entire updated tutorial.
Jen reviewed by purse frame clutch tutorial as part of Sara’s Purse Palooza 2012 at Sew Sweetness. I was really honored that Jen reviewed my tutorial and added to it, and that Sara started this whole thing. You should go and check out all the great reviews and free tutorials at Sara’s blog.
I will be back late this week with another quick post about the updated tutorial. But in the meantime, for you early readers, you can grab your update now!
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.
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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#1 US Seller of Purse Frames
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