DuhBe.com

Sometime I detour.  Because it’s really about the journey and not the destination.

This week I played with dolls made of paper & fabric.

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There are so many nifty items on Etsy.  I went searching for Circus and Carnival themes and found so many goodies, I made a treasury out of them.  Check it out!

‘Some old tyme fun!’ by BallyhooBath

Vintage Circus and Carnivals, in honor of my upcoming trip to the Circus Museum!

Cheri Always Wanted to … YesterdaysTras… $35.00	Late Night Carnival Mer… AFunnyFaceFibe… $37.00	Chelsea y Beatriz Senor… solocosmo $3.00
Chang and Eng circus hi… memmori $10.00	Peaseblossom bustle ski… TheMeasure $49.00	primitive folk art doll… amberleilani $85.00
5 large gift tags circu… flirtdeux $6.00	Romantic Carnival Glass… TheEccentricLa… $35.00	Carnival Earrings with … decoratethediv… $18.00
Nut the Circus Squirrel… amberalexander $18.00	COTTON CANDY- Pink Moul… olgaitaly $175.00	Print – Accordion Music Roadside $15.00
Vintage Circus Elephant… missusfrenchie $26.00	Life is a Carnival IngaZeitlin $25.00	CARNIVAL Merino handspu… wildethyme $24.00
NEW-Drink Me Carnival S… pinkcherrymama $12.50

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

After much designing of products and packaging, I finally opened my re-branded bath & body shop on Etsy last week.  It opened on May 1st to be exact, because that is the day when Circus season begins.

At least now I’ll have time to go back and read blogs, but I still have much more work to do like…getting into retail stores, and promoting the business, and continuing to formulate new products.  I don’t even have a shop banner for Etsy yet, I’m still waiting for the right banner to thwack! me in the face.

But for today, I’m finally getting a day off for the first time in over a month.

Feel Free to check out Ballyhoo Bath on Etsy.  Make sure to conjure up some of your own good carnival & circus memories while you look around.

I just wanted to take a minute and publicly laugh at myself after looking at my Wonderland Bath Etsy shop.  I’ve let things go to heck while working on the rebranding, so my shop is an good example of how NOT to do it on Etsy.  Maybe laughing at my own shop will help others fix any problems in their shops?

Come and have a laugh with me, at my own expense.  But hurry because the crappiness won’t last long.  I will be fixing my problems very soon.  If the banner says Ballyhoo when you get there, then you missed the Wonderland Carnage.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/wonderlandbath

OK, so my photos are not as sharp and crisp as I would like on some products but that’s not the worst of it.  Look how many different styles of pictures there are!  And the photoshopped conditioners floating in thin air are ridiculous alongside the other photos.  Obviously this chick (that is me) couldn’t make up her mind what she was doing here.

For that matter, my style of making soap is not consistent either.  Are they square or textured?  Swirled or solid?  My new soaps will have a more consistent look and feel.  Having products that look like they are related can make a big difference on Etsy.  It kinda looks like I hadn’t figured out my soaping style yet – because I hadn’t.  Customer’s don’t like the undefined artist.  It’s too confusing.

Does that banner match the look and feel of the products?  I think not.  It could be great with a little re-work.

And oh, those pesky product descriptions.  Who reads multiple paragraphs about soap?  Very few people.

I should be ashamed of myself operating such a messy online storefront.  I know the RIGHT way to do it, I just haven’t.  I’ll do better next time.  REally, I wiLL. And my DuhBe fiber arts shop is not much better, but I really need to wind that business down this year.  (Heads up to the rose buyers!!)

We all have excuses about why our Etsy shop is not a great as it could be.  We know HOW to make it better, but we don’t always take the TIME to apply that knowledge.  There’s always the “I would, but….”

There’s a good Etsylabs video on the subject called “Let’s get off our buts” which has great info and the presenter is very funny.   (that’s “but” and not “butt” because we always have excuses, but…)

And of course you could always go into Etsy labs or forums and ask for a shop critique.  They sting – but it’s worth it to see how others view your shop.

• If you have an Etsy shop – what do you KNOW you should be doing differently and what is stopping you from fixing it?

• If you’re an Etsy shopper – what seller practices really turn you off?

Just curious to hear what others think.

The first time I saw a handmade soap stamped with the maker’s logo – I knew I wanted that for my own soaps.   I had planned on spending $30 – $100 to have a custom stamp made for me.  But I decided to try the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) route first.  AND it worked!

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THAT will be the new name of my bath & body biz.  Ballyhoo.

Nope, this is not an April Fools joke.  Nice timing on the naming announcement, don’t you think? Read more…

Finding a business name can be super easy, or it can be one of the most challenging parts of starting a business.  Sometimes the perfect name falls in your lap, and sometimes it eludes you for months.

I appreciate all the suggestions in the last post.  Even if I don’t like a name, that helps me narrow things down to what I like or not.  Here are some words I’m playing with, but my direction could change on a dime!

Sometimes it helps to see words like that, but it hasn’t worked for me yet.  Neither has the thesaurus, rhyming dictionaries, name generators, or a dozen other methods I’ve used to spark the name genie.  I’m waiting for the name that reaches down from the sky and just smacks me upside the head!  DuhBe did that, and so did Wonderland.  (But I don’t want to use DuhBe because everybody pronounces it Doobie and it sounds like a named my biz after smoking pot.  You were pronouncing it that way too, weren’t cha?? )

Why is it so difficult to rename this biz?

I think because I’ve read about branding a business and as Kate alluded in the last comments – the name is tantamount to the success or failure of your product.  Not only should the name be easy to remember, but there is a subliminal message sent in your business name that can make or break you.  Knowing that can change the whole game.

So I know I don’t want my name in the business name.  It’s too personal.  I know I don’t want words like luscious or lather or moist – because (this is crazy) those words have pornographic connotations for many people.  (told you it was crazy!)

I also don’t want too much of a “down home” kind of feel, because I want my items to be sold in boutiques and salons where that “I made this in my kitchen” kind of message is not well received.  (BTW-I don’t make things in my kitchen)  But I still want something that says – “this is a micro-business.”  And I would really like something that says “this is a secret company and only the smartest customers discover us”

Bubble, Bubble, toil and trouble…This name thing has been kicking my ass for too long now.  Soon it will be time to cut and run.  It might be time to start putting words in a hat. 

And now I shuffle off, looking for a good hat…

I’m looking for a new name for my bath & body business.  Wonderland Bath is going away.  At least the name part.  Yep, that’s right.  It’s sort of an “off with his head!” kind of deal.

And since there are many creative people who read my blog, Brenda suggested I ask over here to see if there are any ideas.  Got some?  Lurkers are welcome to make suggestions too!

Why change the name?  Because it looks like the pending trademark will be tied up for a really long time.  So rather than fight it or wait years for an outcome, it’s in my best interest to change the name now while it’s still cheap and uncomplicated.

I’m not even going to tell you about names I’m leaning towards, or who my target market is, or anything like that.  Because all of YOU are a potential target market so I would like to hear YOUR thoughts on this matter.

What types of names do you like to see for Bath & Body?

What does the photo make you think of?

Knowing my personality through this blog – what names should I stay away from?

What names do you suggest?  Anything goes!

Oh.  And of course I would be willing to turn this into some kind of contest, where a winning name would get free products.  But I haven’t worked out those details.  Let’s just say I would be really grateful to the point of shipping some stuff to a winning idea.

Just a quick note… I’ve had to disable hotlinks to all the images on my blog.  So if anybody was using my images and my bandwidth (which I pay for) in order to put my images on their own blog or website, It will be broken now.  (As a reminder – it is common blog courtesy to ask permission before using images, then download them and host them on your own site.)  My webhost has been coming after me due to high usage, so hopefully turning off the hotlinks will help bring my usage statistics back down.  I never, ever dreamed my blog would have traffic high enough to ever make this a problem.  But I guess lots of people like to make fabric roses and I think that’s awesome.

Sorry I’ve been hiding under a rock lately.  Too many things going on with the Bath & Body side of things.  There’s not even time to read my favorite blogs, much less update my own.  But I’ll try, when I get more pretty pictures to share, I’ll post something again.  Hopefully very soon.

I spent all last evening playing with my toys – the Sillhouette cutter and the laser printer.  Husband and daughter needed teacher gifts, so they chose soaps and lotions and lip balms from Wonderland Bath and I made some coordinating gift bags and boxes to wrap everything up and make it look nice.

I really like how they turned out.  It was easy, but time consuming.  Honestly though, most of my time was spent shopping for the digital paper and which package shapes to use.  It took less than 2 hours to cut and peice 13 gifts.

It was also cheap.  Considering the cost of cardstock and laser toner, these packages cost between 10 and 30 cents each.  (Of course the equipment cost a bit more and I paid a few dollars for the digital files which can be used over and over.  I’m only considering the cost of consumables.)

Since I know at least one of you (Hi Jenny!) is also playing with a new Silhouette cutter, here are the steps I took to make these gift bags and boxes.

1. Download digital scrapbook papers and print them onto white or cream cardstock.  (I used Christmas Promise by Karen Lewis)
2. Select your bag and box files.  I used the Silhouette pillow box purse (only available through silhouette software) and also the Bigger Bags from MyScrapChick.com which use 2 pieces of 8.5×11 cardstock for each package.
3. Modify files if necessary.  Since the Bigger Bags were created with no fold lines, I added perforations to the file to make all the folding easier.  (this is a big deal!  Look for scoring if you’re shopping for a cutter)
4. Cut out the bag and box shapes on the electronic cutter.
5. Fold and tape the bags together.  I used double-sided scotch tape.
6. Add gift tag tied with string or ribbon and you’re all done.  You can also make coordinating tags.
7. Don’t forget to recycle your paper scraps when you’re done.

I know I’m a great big enabler – trying to entice the rest of you into getting a cutter.  But for gadget geeks with a creative side, this thing is so much fun to play around with.  If you are shopping for an electronic cutter this holiday season, let me direct you to the comparison chart that helped me immensely.  Electronic Cutter Comparison Chart