Saturday, September 17, 2011

BMDesign Shop is Now Open!

So, many of you will have seen on Facebook that I have finally opened my very own shop ... well, not a shop with real doors, cash register and fully stocked shelves, but nevertheless a shop - a little arty ETSY shop.

While in Denmark I came across these lovely whimsical witches and fell in love instantly - I brought one home with me, and had no expectations on how it would turn out once I started reproducing it. But as with the fondant, give me a piece of Polymer Clay and this is what happens ...

I have really enjoyed making these and I am very proud of them. They look amazing when they hang - and they look amazing when they stand. Jack, Anna & Maia all like them standing, but I must say I prefer them hanging - since they are on their broom they should be flying through the air.

I'm hoping I can get Bob to hang the branches from which they will be hanging today - and then I'll take a photo for you to see what that looks like!
  
 So the store is open  should you need a little witch or three, or more for Halloween - www.bmdesignshop.etsy.com

I have also had a chat with our new local Bakery "The Three Sisters" for them to display my witches after Thankgiving . They are very happy to, so hopefully I get to sell a few there too!

My plan is to expand this - I have Angels in my head for Christmas - and would love to get started on those but just need to spend this week mass producing witches and then hopefully next weekend I can spend some time on designing some cute Angels.
 
 
Other than that - I have Aunty Dom helping me doing a poster for my Gingerbread Houses and hope to sell a few of them too. Not through ETSY as there is no way those can be shipped, but I'm thinking a few Ottawa families would like a cute BMDesign Gingerbread House for Christmas.




So - I had promised myself that this year I would not "just" be a Mum but also find a way to get myself "out there" again, and the way this has come about is what I believe the word "Serendipity" is all about. The kids started school on September 6th and I came home feeling very blue, not knowing what to do with myself. Within the next few days I made a very difficult decision that I'd give my cakes one year to see where it would take me. I really do not want to do the cakes anymore - I feel it's just done but I also knew that this would be the easiest and best way for me to get something started really fast. I got my blog designer to start on a new blog for me - to put out my art and promote myself a bit more than I can do here.


I finished these witches and showed them to a wonderful online network of Danish Women. There were rave reviews and I was even asked if I would sell these ... and a little seed was planted in my head ... and from then on it has just snowballed ... and last night, just before midnight I finally opened my own store.
In that first week of going back to school I went from going back to being a Cake Designer to finishing witches, to designing new blog, to talking and networking - I even had one day where I was desperately trying to find craft fairs where I could sell these witches, angels and Gingerbread Houses (that idea is still floating around and hasn't quite been killed yet!) and now, after two weeks of school I will be spending the weekend making more witches for my first customers.

I'm sure to some of you it seems silly that opening my own shop should make me this happy - after all it is "just" a virtual store, but ever since we lived in Holland 13 years ago I have dreamt of opening a shop, but never knew quite how or what to sell. Most of you will know that I do all sorts of arts and crafts - and love doing it, but these witches ... it is the first time I feel I can actually sell what I've made with pride and a knowledge that they are as close to perfect as a flying witch should be. I feel they are so good, that if I was to walk into a store I would walk out having bought at least three of them - and THAT is high praise for me!


The new blog is still underway - I am working with the same designer as I used here, but she's a busy girl and it all takes time. I will update you with the info once I have it.

And now ... they are off .....