New Fabric

Finally, I've updated the OSD 'Build Your Own' fabric choices. I've had several requests for new fabric over the past few months, so I spent quite a bit of OSD profits from November/December buying new fabric! Really, it's ridiculous how much I bought. You can see all the new choices here. A few of them are really aimed more at the Appliques I'll be rolling out for Owl Say Home, but I definitely bought dozens of new designs intended for Travel and Portfolio Clutches.  I also added solid colors which is requested pretty frequently, especially for someone looking for a travel wallet for a guy. Remember, I can always switch out the more feminine pearl snap for a metal snap which looks pretty 'manly' on an all black travel wallet. I replaced all the fabric that was marked as 'Discontinued' or 'Out of Stock' and even added about 2 dozen additional prints!  Below is just a sampling of some of the fabric. You can see the whole sha-bang by clicking here:

 

If you'd like to order a new Travel/Portfolio Clutch visit my shop!

Extended Lead Times

Lately, I've been driving my family crazy with nonstop work. When you are a one woman show and your office/studio also happens to be your dining room, it's hard to separate work from, well, everything else. Which brings me to self imposed lead times.

When I first started making Travel Clutches, I had the lead time set as 3-4 business days. That was pretty rational so long as I only had a couple to make a week. As their popularity grew and business picked up, I had to change the lead time to 5-7 days. By this time, I'd stream lined my process and could do 6 or 8 in that time frame without really pushing it.

Popularity for the Travel Clutches, thankfully, continues to grow. And now I have added Portfolio clutches to the mix. I also have 2 new product patterns I'm working on and have NO intention of promising introduction dates for those items. Over the past 6 weeks, I've noticed that I'm working all the time. Mornings, nap times, late at night while everyone else sleeps and worst of all, weekends just to meet the 5-7 day lead time I have published.

I have a muted type A personality (meaning, I'm not a jerk) so I'm very goal oriented. My husband would say, overly goal oriented. If it's on my list of 'To Do's', it's getting done that day come hell or high water. I notice this is annoying in other people, so, you know, I'm working on it.

While I was freaking out over these lead times, my husband reminded me that it's my business, I can change it anytime I see fit. So, I am. I'm extending the lead time for a made to order Travel or Portfolio Clutch to 7-10 business days. I consider Monday - Friday as business days.

My husband is usually my voice of calm and reason but I tried very hard to ignore him this time around. It wasn't until I looked up the swim lesson schedule at our local YMCA that I realized I had to adopt the new policy now! I'd been promising to take A to swim lessons this summer. Summer is more than halfway over and I have only 2 more sessions available to take him. So, that's what I'm doing. Taking my baby to swim lessons.

Sometimes it helps to put things into perspective. Why did I open OSD? Yes, I had great, marketable idea , but primarily, my desire to have my own business was to help relieve the financial burden from my husband.  Tying for first place, was my desire to ensure, at all costs, I DID NOT have to go back to work and leave my child to be cared for by someone other than his parents.

I'm not knocking 2 income parents AT ALL. When my 12 weeks of maternity leave were up, I had to go back to work too. I worked until A was 7mths old. We didn't have a choice. I was very, VERY, lucky in that my mother-in-law or sister-in-law could watch A at my house during the week. I mean, really, how spoiled could I have been? But not a day went by when I did not cry and pray and beg for God to provide a way for me quit my job and stay at home with my baby. I'm not being melodramatic, I just knew God had placed that desire in my heart. Prior to getting pregnant with A, I would never have considered staying at home. I just assumed that I would go back to work. When I saw his little face the day his was born, I knew I'd never be happy anywhere but home with him.  I also knew that if God placed that desire in my heart, He'd be faithful in providing a way for me to stay at home. It's a long story, but He did provide a way. And then He provided me an idea to supplement our income. And then He blessed that idea and has continued to bless it in ways unimaginable to me when I first started this business.

I didn't mean to get on my soap box. But it really all boils down to, if God provided me a way to stay at home and nurture my family, but I have gotten caught up in the means of His providing and ignored my family, then what's the point? So I am going to take my munchkin to swim lessons, and watch TV with my husband after dinner, and play outside and help in the garden on Saturdays like I use to, and not rush everybody home from Church on Sundays so I can get orders completed. And I believe that God will continue to bless this business; this idea He gave me. I will be faithful to Him as He has been faithful to me. It's the least I can do.

Alright, soapbox time over. New lead time is 7-10 business days. It will probably be shorter. I can't help being an over achiever.


P.S. While typing this, I had the joy of watching a blond squirrel stare back at me through my dining room window while balancing on the fence. If I don't let myself think about the possibility of said squirrel getting in my attic and chewing through my electrical wires or taunting my basset hound to bark all night long, I can enjoy how cute she is.

My Travel Clutch Wallet

In the short time that I've had my Etsy shop, I have received several requests for some sort of all encompassing Travel Document Case. I ALWAYS appreciate the advice and suggestions of fans and customers, but I really didn't think it would be that popular, plus, I really didn't know how to make one.

Well, toward the end of last year, my little family and I were taking a short flight to San Antonio to visit my brother and sister-in-law. You know, just for fun. We were able to fly on Southwest cheaper then buying gas and I seriously hate car traveling for long periods of time, so fly it was.

We got to the airport about 2 hours before our flight left thinking that was plenty of time. OMG, we barely made it!! Due to the holiday traffic, Love Field was jam packed full of people! We stood in line FOREVER just to get our boarding passes, had to check the car seat and luggage and opted to gate check the stroller. It was such a hassle to get through security. I had to take Aiden out of the stroller, let them run that through the X-ray belt, take of my shoes and Aiden's shoes while my husband is basically undressing too and put all our possessions on the belt. By the time we got through the line, got redressed (with a VERY cranky Aiden) and got to our gate I realized I couldn't find our boarding passes.

Ok, so anyone who knows me, knows this is NOT typical Kelley! I am very organized and pre-fussy toddler days, would NEVER has lost something so important. Not only was it frustrating, it was embarrassing! Luckily, since we'd already passed through security, they were able to reprint our boarding passes. But what if we hadn't? What if I'd lost them BEFORE we went through security?

So, this was the event that started the gears in my brain. I now saw how much easier my life would be if I had ONE place to store this info. ONE place for car rental info, boarding passes, hotel reservation info, Frequent Flyer # cards, Passports, Foreign Money, etc. I started working on a design in my head and had 3 prototypes before I came up with a design I thought could work.

Thus the Owl Say Designs Travel Clutch. I don't mind telling you I love it. It's the perfect place to keep all your travel info.

My first prototype was fabric. Due to the cost of fabric and time involved in making them, I was afraid they would not be a good match for my store. I'm sort of committed to offering products that are super affordable. So I wanted to find a way to make them out of paper. After lots of research, I discovered that if I used a cold-press laminate machine I could cut the pieces to size and actually sew those as I would fabric. The pieces are slick, so it's a little tricky to sew them, but it works!

I tried one out as a wallet first. Carrying it around, taking it in and out of my purse in normal day-to-day stuff. I didn't feel as though I could confidently offer them if I wasn't sure of their durability. I was really surprised at how durable the laminated paper was. It holds up as well as the vinyl. Plus, I loved how smooth it felt in my hands. It was so easy to slip money and debit/credit cards in and out of the pockets.

I also have to say, I'm really proud of myself for creating a design from scratch. I purposely did not Google other patterns or designs so the one I created for Owl Say Designs would be unique. I created the idea based on my needs and requests from customers. Soon, I'll be adding the option for a zipper change pocket to the Fabric Travel Clutches as well as adding a listing to 'Build Your Own Travel Clutch'. Considering the ridiculous amount of fabric I have, I figure this is the best way to get to choose from multiple patterns.

I love the creative license my Travel Clutches gives me. I see all the paper I already had in a new light. I love that I'm able to use paper with bigger prints. Paper that would not normally look as good on a Passport Cover or Checkbook Cover is just perfect for the Travel Clutches!

So, please, check out my Travel Clutches, and tell me what you think!