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Thank you for visiting! :-)

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

My Sweet Swapper Sabine

swap package

Ladipo of Structured Chaos, organized a fun Swap, Shop 'n Blog event and I decided to participate. My swap partner is Sabine from Southwest France. She has two shops, La Marquise des Anges and her most recent shop, Vintage Marquise. Both of her shops are gorgeous, sophisticated and elegant.

stamps on swap package

Look at all of the pretty French postage stamps and the leaves Sabine drew on the package.

Here is some of what she shared with me about herself.

She is 34 years old and married to a very patient and supportive husband. She is the owner of two naughty cats and one loving dog. Before embarking on her Etsy business, she worked in International Trade and later in Tourism Industry Studies. The work she did was exciting, but left little time for a private life. Sabine loves to read, cook, dance, craft, laugh.... :-)

swap package wrappings

Here's what I saw when I first opened the package, "Made with love for you dear swap partner"

Sabine has an addiction for all things "crafty and creative" and has had this creative appetite since she was a little girl. She embellishes, adorns, sews, creates all the time. First she made things for herself, then her folks and then requests from friends and friends of friends, etc. People in her life continued to encourage Sabine to being her own boutique, especially her husband. She says, "One day I woke up and told myself, 'let's start this new adventure.'"

swap package contents

On the back of the flower card she wrote me a little note. Isn't it pretty?

Her plans are to grow her business while continuing to achieve providing the best personlized service possible. Furthermore, she wishes to continue to network, make ne connections. She adds that, "being able to put food on the table while doing something you love is such a blessing..."

swap package note

Here's the sweet note that she wrote.

Not only does she feel "alive" when creating, she also feels "alive" in the midst of running her own business. Even when things are stressful and moments aren't "heaven on earth," she feels excited and motivated. She relishes how she feels/senses each cell in her body and the fact that she's not "stuck" in an office all day long. She enjoys making her very own decisions and above all she loves to be in contact with so many great people.

swap package contents

Here's the contents of my swap package.

One of her favorite shops is, Lilly Ella. Visiting her shop makes her happy and she says that she's lucky enough to own one of her gorgeous pieces of jewelry. She loves it.

swap package contents

e-mail: lmdamoail@gmail.com

etsy shops: www.lamarquisedesanges.etsy.com

www.etsy.com/shop/vintagemarquise

Sabine's beautiful blog: http://lamarquisedesanges.blogspot.com

towel

A beautiful towel from her shop. I'm afraid to use it, I don't want to get it dirty.

swap package contents

Some "homemade" lavendar and a pretty flower.

Thank you Sabine for a pretty package! :-)

Check out Sabine's blog and see what I sent to her in France.


Here's a little French lesson provided by Sabine:

à bientôt (with the accents) : means see you later, see you soon.

a marquise des anges .
marquise means "marchioness" , it is a noblewoman ranking above a countess and below a duchess
and ange means ... angel.
la marquise des anges could translated as the machioness of angels.
it comes from an old movie, a little old fashioned and "passé" but it is related to one of my very very favorite childhood memory ...when I was sitting on a decades old sofa, in between my beloved grand father and grandmother...watching this movie (it is a serie of movies) which was my grandfather's favorite ..; each year we used to had this little.
when I close my eyes and remember this lovely moment, I can feel my grand mother 's hand on my knee with tenderness, I can smell her fragrance, a combination of lavender and hoemade apple pie, as weel as the sweet blend of my grand father's tobacco pipe ...

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

A Bright Idea for Biz Cards!

frog pin

I made and printed the pin cards (shown above) on my computer for my first craft show earlier this year. They worked out fine to merchandise my items. However, they became a bit tedious, especially since I had to cut out each and every card. After some brainstorming, I thought of using business cards as my cards to display both my pins and magnets. The business cards ended up being the perfect size for my work. Plus, I did not have to print them off on my computer or cut out each of them. Another bonus is that the business card cardstock is thicker than any of the cardstock I could find to use on my printer. Thus, I surfed my way online to Vistaprint and ordered my first set of merchandiser cards.

card making supplies

I found a cute, colorful, and simple template design to use for my merchandiser cards. I wanted the center of the card "blank" since this is the area where my pin or magnet would be attached to. All I added to the card design was my business name and slogan at the top. And then I added my By Hand profile address at the bottom of the cards.

cutting slot in card

The first set of cards I ordered were vertical. After attaching some of my pins/magnets to the cards, I realized that I needed some horizontally designed cards. I was very happy with how well the business cards worked out for what I needed. All I need to do when I want to attach a pin is punch a couple of holes in the card and then cut a slot between them to slide my pins on the cards. I love them. Plus, they don't cost a lot to use, approx $10 for 250 cards.

frog pin on card

My froggy pin on merchandiser cards.

frog and bunny

My frog and bunny pins posing on horizontal design.

frog, angel and bee pins

This is how my pins look on the new cards.