by MissMalaprop on September 8, 2010
This picture has nothing to do with this post, but it came up when I searched "surprise" on Flickr. I like it. Courtesy of tennessee-mary on Flickr
For those of you who subscribe to my monthly email newsletter or follow me on Facebook, you’ve already seen this, but I just wanted to mention it here as well….
I’ve been doing an inventory, and trying to get my shop in shape for the holidays. I’ve got a random assortment of some great handmade bath & body goods that I’m offering up to you at my wholesale cost! There are 2 different options, both worth more than $50 but you get them for half the cost! I originally only had enough surprise packs for 6 people, but I’ve already sold 2, so there are only 4 left! More details on what’s included and a link to purchase are here.
In other (and possibly way more dramatic, at least to me) news…. I recently put in my resignation at the museum where I work full-time. I wish I could say it’s because I’ll be going full-time with my own business, but it is one step closer to that. I had asked last fall at the museum if it would be possible to work part-time there instead of full-time, but it’s civil service, etc, etc, and the answer was no. Working a full-time day job and trying to juggle all of this was, well, just not working. So I talked to my old boss at Trashy Diva, Candice, about coming back there to work on a part-time basis, so that I have more time to focus on my own business. So that is what I’m doing. This month I’ll be sort of juggling all 3 jobs (museum, Trashy Diva, and my own business), as I transition… my last day at the museum is the 24th.
It’s very exciting but a little nerve-wracking too. Am I crazy? Quitting my stable state government job with all the benefits in the middle of a recession… (Seriously, the last two years since I’ve worked there full-time is the only time in my life I’ve had health insurance. Hello, America.) I grew up with parents and grandparents that always owned their own businesses though. It’s in my blood. I think working at Trashy Diva again (in Candice’s quickly expanding empire…) will be a good environment for me to be in. And of course I’ll have more time each week now to focus on developing my own business empire.
Go big, or go home, right? Here I go…
by MissMalaprop on August 26, 2010
Abita Lovers Recycled Denim & Lace Fabric Flower Barrette
Last night was a very successful Katrina 5.0 event at my day job, the Louisiana State Museum. I stayed busy live tweeting from my own Twitter account and from @LaStateMuseum, and had the chance to finally meet some of my favorite Twitter peeps in person last night and see some others I already knew: @CallMeAlva, @champsuperstar, @geekandahalf, @YatPundit, @lunanola and of course my pal (and fellow @nola_craftmafia member) @artbymags.
I got into a discussion with YatPundit which I can’t stop thinking about. (P.S. thanks to YatPundit for the shoutout on his blog) He told me I should promote myself more. Which is maybe a little funny to me, because in some ways I feel like all I’ve done for the last 4+ years with this blog and my other projects is to promote myself. But I guess what I’ve REALLY been doing is promoting others, and along the way building connections, community, etc, which I hope to benefit me in the long run. But maybe I SHOULD be explicitly promoting myself a bit more? I don’t know, what do you think?
Here’s the thing: I think I’ve ALWAYS been better at promoting others than promoting myself. That’s part of why I’ve built my blog, and my shop, around supporting and promoting other artists, designers, and companies that I believe are doing good work. Even when I was little, I wanted to do something to change the world. I believe that this can be my contribution – by sharing a handmade, more sustainable alternative with my customers and readers, I think that bit by bit I can help change the way that people think about their purchases. Buy less cheaply made crap, created under possibly deplorable working conditions and environmental standards, and when you do buy, make it something that will last, and that means something to you. Just like people are starting to realize that we should know where our food comes from, so too should we know where the other things in our lives come from, and how they were made.
It’s been a slow, long, hard climb so far, I’m not going to lie. I see some people and success seems to come so easily to them. Maybe to some of you it seems like all of this has come easily to me. Believe me, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, but I’ve also worked my ass off to get to where I am now. And I still feel like I have a loonnnnng way to go. (And I try to remind myself that those people with easy-seeming success work their asses off too. Appearances can be deceiving you know.)
I know I have an amazing group of people behind me, who do believe in and support what I do. I get great feedback all of the time, especially when I do live events – people ask me if I have a shop (meaning a brick & mortar retail store). I tell them that’s the plan, but I’m not quite there yet. I want to get there. Really, really, really bad. Not just for me. But for all of the artists that I work with, and help to promote. And most of all for the customers. I would LOVE to introduce tourists and locals alike here in New Orleans to this amazing handmade community. People fall in love with this stuff when they see it in person.
I’ve got a great support network, but I’ve got plenty of naysayers too. Anti-visionaries. People who tell me how lucky I am to have a great steady job with benefits. People who tell me retail is dead, the economy is in decline, it’s the worst time to start a business. (Apparently these people don’t read the news, seeing as New Orleans is the new hotbed of entrepreneurship.)
Sometimes all you have to do is ask. Maybe I don’t ask enough? So here it is… If you like what I do, if you like any or all of the amazing artists that I work with, share it with the people you love. Send your friends and family a link to my shop or my blog. Tweet it, Facebook it, or sign up for my email newsletter. (Did you know that if you sign up, you’ll get a coupon code for free shipping in the confirmation email??) If you’re REALLY enthusiastic, you can ask me about joining my ambassador program. If you’re local, you can come to one of my events, or host a home shopping party or trunk show. (Which, might I add, I think would be great for sororities – anyone have sorority contacts in New Orleans?) And if you have constructive criticism for me, I’d love to hear that too. Seriously, I WANT to learn, and grow, and create an amazingly successful business, not just for me, but because I think it can help so many poeple, in so many ways. Help me achieve that goal. (And if I can help you achieve your goals, let me know that too – I’m always up for potential collaboration!)
by MissMalaprop on August 20, 2010
Next week at my day job, I’ll be helping out with one of our events, Katrina 5.0: A Symposium on Technology & Blogging. It’s sort of a blogger / Twitter / tech geek meetup with some guest speakers talking about how blogging and technology was used during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to disseminate information quickly. It should be pretty interesting, and it’s free to attend, so if you’re in New Orleans stop by – it’s next Wednesday, August 25 from 5:30 – 8pm at The Presbytère (the building on the right side of St. Louis Cathedral if you’re standing in Jackson Square).
We’ve also got another cool event coming up next month – the Friends of the Cabildo is one of the non-profit fund raising groups which supports the Louisiana State Museum. We’re partnering with them to do a cool behind-the-scenes tour of one of our collections facilities. (Aka the place where I get to work every day that houses stuff like 19th century medical equipment, antique guns, Mardi Gras costumes from way back when and much more.) You have to be a member of Friends of the Cabildo to come (a regular membership is only $35 a year), and you MUST make a reservation to attend. Apparently they’re almost booked to capacity, so if you want to attend, get in touch with FOC fast! (Email Rachel AT friendsofthecabildo.org) If this is popular, they’ll hopefully do it again, so let them know you’re interested.
I had a guest post up this week at the clothing menu. Kristen asked me “Who are some of your favorite independent designers and why?,” and while it was really tough to narrow it down, I went with 3 of my favorites from my own wardrobe.
I’ve posted about the cool halterneck hoodies by Dressed by Danni before, but now Danni has decided to close that part of her business to focus on her true passion – illustration! Check out her new site, doodlesbydanni and her online shop Stitch & Ink, where you can find her illustrations available for purchase on t-shirts and stickers.
Paper Treasure is a fun jewelry line I just learned about, created by hand by Jesseca McCloskey in Portland, Oregon. She combines vintage and antique bits and baubles with new chains to create unique and limited edition designs. Jesseca is fascinated by shipwrecks, as you’ll see if you visit her website, and each of her necklaces is named after an actual shipwreck and comes tagged with information about its namesake. Pretty cool, huh? I really like the way she does her product photography too.
Have a great weekend! I’m off to see Human Centipede at the Prytania tonight!
by MissMalaprop on August 18, 2010
I just added a new line of stationery and greeting cards to the shop, Dodeline Design, by Charleston, South Caroline based designer Sarah Early. Sarah’s work is so much fun – I hope you like it as much as I do! These pieces are so colorful and modern, but I love Sarah’s sense of humor as well. (And the Hey Y’all cards are perfect for Southerners like us!)
I also had the chance to meet Rachael of Ordinarily Urbane and Ruffian Swap yesterday evening, and we were brainstorming some potentially amazing partnership ideas. If you’re in NOLA and free on Saturday, August 28, I recommend checking out the first ever Ruffian Swap – it’s a cool new clothing concept that I haven’t seen done here in New Orleans yet. I’d love to go to the first one, but that’s David’s birthday, so I’ll have to wait til next time!
Also, inspired by Jess LC’s ambassador program, I’ve recently launched my own. It’s a little different than Jess’s program though – basically if you like what I do and want to refer your friends to my online shop, I can give you a special coupon code for you to give out. That way I can track the orders you send to my shop – in return for spreading the word, you’ll get 10% of the total sales you send my way in the form of a gift certificate / store credit. If you’re interested in being an ambassador, you can email me (mallory [AT] missmalaprop.com) or comment here and I’ll email you the details.
by MissMalaprop on August 12, 2010
Today is the 4th birthday of Miss Malaprop! This is the post where it all began, and that image above is from my first “real” post, about pet accessories by Lindsay Designs (now Pattern & Paw).
When I started this blog, four years ago today on August 12, 2006, I had already been designing and selling my handmade goods under the name dismantled designs since 2004, but I’d made the decision that I wanted to expand and move in a new direction. Even at the time I started Miss Malaprop in 2006, I already envisioned plans of an online retail store (like the one I just launched this spring!) and a brick & mortar retail store (hopefully one day soon!). I recently found old notes I wrote around that time for a business plan which included these same ideas. It’s exciting to think back and realize all that I’ve accomplished in the last four years. Just in the last week I’ve received some fantastic press that confirms that. (The Times-Picayune featured me as a “powerhouse artisan” in their WISH fashion insert last Friday, and my shop is included in an article on Venus Zine’s website!)
In August 2006, I had just come back from one of the best vacations ever – Dave and I had flown to Las Vegas, where we rented a motorcycle and took an amazing 1,600 mile journey through Nevada and California to see the MotoGP races at the Laguna Seca speedway near Monterey, California. All this less than a year after Katrina – it was definitely a dose of fresh air and inspiration that we needed at that time. While we’ve been through a lot of personal doubts and emotional struggles in those five years since the storm & federal levee failures, living in this city as it rebuilds, my trips to places outside of NOLA have helped remind me that people elsewhere do care about what happens here, and they also help to remind me what a great network of friends I have here and what an amazing city this is, and why it’s worth fighting for.
In January 2007 I was inspired to enter Etsy’s Upcycling Contest, and I crafted an outfit out of some FEMA blue tarp. I won 3rd place, which meant some amazing press and a big spike in traffic for my blog. It also meant I had a chance to go to San Francisco later that year to participate in the Bazaar Bizarre at Maker Faire. (My mom was wonderful and came along for the ride and we got to explore San Francisco together!) Looking back now, that feels like just the beginning… here are a few other highlights from the past 4 years:
I’m probably leaving out a ton of things that I can’t remember right now too… I’ve met SO MANY fantastic people through my blog, both online and in real life, and it’s such an honor to have met all of you. For all of you who read my blog, have bought something from me, or have supported me in any other way over the last few years, believe me, I am forever indebted to you. Many of the incredible things that I’ve achieved never would have happened without this blog, as silly as that sounds. It’s given me a space to meet people and express myself. Seriously, THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you! I feel blessed.
by MissMalaprop on August 10, 2010
I added some really cute new jewelry to the shop over the weekend, plus I’ve now got some delicious smelling candles that I added a week or so ago. (Seriously, between these fleur-de-lis candles and Emily’s soaps, my office smells divine!) You can find all the new stuff on my new arrivals page, plus some of the jewelry seen below also prompted me to add a new gift category, just for pet lovers!
And… after a bit of polling on my Facebook page and on various forums, I decided to switch back to flat rate shipping for the shop. It seems that most of you prefer flat rate shipping, and I want to make my customers happy, so I’ve now got a flat shipping rate of $5.25 for U.S. orders under $50 (U.S. orders over $50 get free shipping!), and a couple of flat rate shipping options for international customers. Check out the details on my shipping page and let me know what you think? Love it, hate it? I want to know!
How’s your week going so far?
