Swan Lake Giveaway!

To celebrate Izzy B Designs (finally) reaching 1000 likers on my Facebook page, I wanted to give something back to my lovely likers. 

I have some absolutely wonderful customers and friends who have been there with since the beginning when I was based in Port Hedland. Over the last year and a half, the friends have gradually grown and since moving to the South West of Australia Izzy B has definitely grown and evolved. I am extremely proud of my wee creations, where we have come from and where we are going.

This is also to say "adieu" as I go on an extended leave for rest, recuperation and precious family time as of May 31st, back in time for summer. 

So here are the details...

This is a "Swan Lake" Gift Pack:

2 hard headbands:

Black Swan - is positioned to fit a woman, a gorgeous black hackle feather, with a lovely rhinestone feature attached to a satin wrapped headband.

White Swan - is positioned to fit a child or could still fit an adult, but is positioned slightly higher than the other feather.  It features a stunning white hackle feather, with a vintage inspired pearl and rhinestone feature attached to a satin wrapped headband.

And...

Black Cabochon bobby pin set - vintage inspired silver bobby pins.

And to remind you what these look like on, remember this stunning photo taken by Nicole Yardley Photography, here is Miss Izzy B wearing the first one created....

(c) Nicole Yardley Photography 2011


Rules of the Giveaway

To enter:

• Giveaway ballot opens Friday 18th May and closes at 7pm WA time on Thursday 31st May. The winning ballot will be drawn at 8pm WA time on Thursday 31st May!
• To be eligible, you need to be a liker of www.facebook.com/IzzyBDesignsAustralia  
• If you aren't already a "liker", please like the page first:)
• You need to enter on this blog under this entry (NOT on Facebook) by posting a comment. You do not need a google account to comment on this blog and can comment as anonymous, but make sure you leave your name if you don't have an account so I know who to notify!
• As this is being run as a giveaway, I am running the giveaway totally via my blog rather than on Facebook so as to not break any Facebook rules as I understand they are getting pretty strict again.
• Open to Australian residents only.

• Winners will need to contact me within 24hrs to claim their prize and where I can post their prize. Normal postage costs are included with the prize (registered post will cost $3.00 to be paid by winner if requested) prior to shipping.
• If I haven't heard from the winner within 24hrs, I will redraw the prize (sorry no exceptions) and will be announced here at 8pm (WA time) on Friday 1st June

So now, go forth, and enter!!!

*Acknowledgment that this promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You are providing information to Izzy B Designs Australia and not Facebook

Hello my name is Sarah, and I have been guilty of not keeping ANY of my new year's resolutions LOL! I do love to blog, but have become a facebook addict and it has taken over my life, well just a little, so I think that I will have to devote some more time and energy to my lovely blog.

The first thing I want to do, is to have a bit of a giveaway to celebrate reaching 1000 likers on my facebook page. I will be launching that this week. It will be fun as I haven't done a giveaway for ages and I am going on a bit of a break over the winter while I hibernate, practice and get new skills and... watch Masterchef too (children going to bed on time too of course!!!)

Well, this is the first blog in nearly 5 months so feeling proud of myself. I have also given the blog a bit of a spruce up with my lovely new branding. I am in LOVE with it. Done by the talented D of The Photo Spot.

Off to feed my lovely family.

New year's resolution

Gosh - it has been 6 months since I blogged last and I am feeling a mite guilty as I just had to go through a rigmarole to remember and reset my password... not good.



My new year resolution is to blog more regularly in 2012. I will try and do some tutorials and fun stuff and generally get a bit of creative fun on!

Well now that this blog has been resurrected, I think it is time to go and finish off some orders:)

Winner, winner, winner!

Thanks to all of you lovely ladies for taking part in the giveaway! I really appreciate your support. We had an anonymous comment with no email address at number 3 so that means that the lucky winner is...Natalie!!!   I have sent you an email, so please let me know what you would from the range asap as my lovely husband has sold my sewing table and the boxes are piling up as we speak for our relocation to Leschenault in the South West! Luckily we still have a dining room table so I can still sew and create on that.

To everyone else, please keep up to date with what we are doing with Izzy B as I have some wonderful ideas for creations once I have access to more fabrics and delights. Thanks to the wonderful people of Hedland for getting started on this creative journey. It has been a blast so far, and I just love making things!

Celebration giveaway!!!

Well as promised, I am going to do a giveaway to celebrate hitting 300 likers on Facebook. I had thought that it would take a bit longer and I would be settled into my new home by the time I hit that number so I have had to think on my feet. But I am not going to complain, this is wonderful news!!

So, drum roll.... I have decided to leave the choice of the final choice for the giveaway up to the winner!!! The prize is up to a value of $35 plus free postage.  The winner can choose from the current range of Izzy B Designs stock or request a custom item from available fabrics up to this value. This includes the Penny Skirt/appliqued tee sets, Caroline Dress, headbands and hairclips.The rules of the giveaway are as follows...

1. You must be a follower of Facebook to enter this competition. If you aren't already, just head to https://www.facebook.com/pages/Izzy-B-Designs/131104803589617 and hit the LIKE button.
2. Head back to the blog to confirm that you have LIKED our page, leave your email address so I can advise the successful person via email under this post. You don't need an account or be a follower of my blog to comment on my blog - you can comment with the Anonymous option in the drop down selection.
3. The competition is open until 8pm WA time Sunday June 26th.
4. The competition is open to international and Australian residents.
5. The winner will be selected using random.org and will be notified via email. If I have no response from the winner within 48hrs, I will have to redraw so that the prize doesn't go into cyberspace, never to be heard of again!

(Fine Print - By entering this competition the entrant acknowledges that Facebook is not connected in any way with this promotion and that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.
Any information provided in order to enter this competition is provided to the owners and administrators of Izzy B Designs and not to Facebook)

The Big Move

Well our family is down to our last few weeks in our wonderful town of Hedland and I am wondering if I have bitten off more than I can chew! Of course I have - that is just the way the cookie crumbles! But that is what makes life fun and exciting! We are preparing for a monumental move - to put it into context, the distance would be equivalent to that of moving from England to Spain, and that is pretty massive. Phil and I both arrived independently here of each other with not much to our name. We leave with a family and a household of "stuff" that we have managed to accumulate.  As the packing goes on, I am clinging onto my sewing and craft stuff till the last minute. Luckily I am able to keep this out as I have a legitimate claim - I am having my last market stall for a while at the wonderful West End Markets. I can't wait. I had such a wonderful time I decided to go for it and sew like crazy for one more. These are run by FORM who also run the Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery. They have been great for me personally. We had a wonderful course last time to help us with pricing and it has really helped me along the way (see my previous blog entry). 

Well I would love to go on, but I have been told to go to bed early as I had a late one last night sewing and pricing up for a wholesale order.  Things are ticking along nicely and I am grateful for each and every achievement.

just realised I had been remiss and not posted any of the WONDERFUL photos from the photoshoot we had last month.  Nicole Yardley from Nicole Yardley Photography took some amazing shots and they have helped to get my brand out to a larger audience because of the WOW factor her photography has given my products. Thanks so much Nicole - you ROCK!!! She will be launching her site soon - watch out for it. www.nicoleyardley.com 





 

Pricing and other thoughts

I have been reading some interesting articles in people's blogs lately about people under pricing their products lately and I have decided to put my two cents worth in.

I have struggled with the whole pricing concept. Each time I finish an item I have inner turmoil as to whether people will buy it or not, is it good enough, what should I charge etc. That is stupid because I have extremely high standards, I finish my products well, I don't sell anything that I wouldn't be happy receiving it. If they don't like it, it will come down to personal taste rather than quality.  Secondly, I believe that I have been guilty of underselling my items in the past, and even now from time to time.  However after attending a really useful workshop at our local Art Gallery in pricing stock for Markets, I have revised my pricing structure. They gave us an extremely useful formula, and I am sticking to it as much as possible. They pointed out that underpricing your stock can have a negative effect on your products.

I look on Facebook, Etsy and Madeit.com.au and notice that so many businesses seriously underprice their stock. They must barely be covering their costs, and definitely not making any profit whatsoever. Sure, making handmade stuff isn't about making huge profits, but you do want to make a little bit of money. Why would people pay what I am asking for? Well at the end of the day, I guess you have to believe in what you make. Now, finally I am starting to. You need to cover your costs - yes, you do it for the love, but DONT lose money. Your costs are never going to be as cheap as in mass produced shops so don't even try to worry about what they are charging. Yes, you need to be reasonable, but your time as a WAHM (which most of the people who are doing this type of stuff) is your most precious commodity and that should be factored somewhere into your pricing. You find yourself staying up till the late hours making your stuff but you still need to get up to the kids in the night and early mornings. They don't care what time you worked till!

At the end of the day, handmade clothing is special, unique. Even it's little flaws make it unique. That's what you pay for. You are supporting someone's dream to make something handmade, and you and your family are wearing wearable art be it clothing, hair accessories or something similar. It harks back to a time in the past where everyone's clothing was handmade and mass produced clothing was unheard of, and for me personally, that is something I love!