Handmade Silver Pinecone Necklace

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This June, our subscribers received a lovely dainty handmade silver pinecone necklace from Song Yee Designs.

Shall we open it up?  Let’s begin with the shipping envelope (A little Did You Know for those of you who aren’t current subscribers: Every surprise comes from a different artist each month, so the way they are shipped and packaged is always different!  That’s why we always show the shipping box/baggie, so you can see how even the way it arrives is a surprise!):

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Song Yee’s info card reads:

“Hello! My name is Song Yee and I started making jewelry for myself just for fun, but I enjoyed it so much that I decided to open my online shop in April 2013.  Song Yee Designs is based out of Costa Mesa, CA and features a handmade collection of minimalist and gemstone jewelry.”

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Cute natural gift wrapping

Cute natural gift wrapping - Fair Ivy

Natural gift packaging from Fair Ivy

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Handmade Silver Pinecone Necklace

Handmade Silver Pinecone Necklace

Handmade Silver Pinecone Necklace

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We absolutely adored this addition to the Fair Ivy surprise jewelry collection and heard from a lot of you (and bloggers!) that you guys did too!  And we loved how the packaging even resembled the nature-inspired design! So rest assured—you’ll be seeing a lot more of Song Yee’s wonderful designs in our surprises in the future!

Have a wonderful surprise-filled week!

– the Fair Ivy team

Butter Toki : Handmade Bath Goodies

Handmade bath goodies

There was a time back in Fair Ivy’s history where we sent a new bath product every month.  Since then, we’ve gone a bit more of a variety route, but in May we decided it was time to revisit some handmade bath goodies with a lovely set from Butter Toki.

Let’s dive in and open ‘er up!

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We absolutely loved the colors of the branding as well as the wrapping inside.  Very fun and upbeat!

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The first product we found was a Black Raspberry Vanilla Body Butter.  It smells absolutely amazing and is a really sizable amount!

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The second goodie we discovered was a Juicy Cherry lip balm.  Somehow this managed to smell even more divine than the first item, and had a wonderful rich pinky color.

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Handmade Bath Goodies

Here at Fair Ivy we are suckers for coconuts. Give us a whole coconut and a hammer and we’ll spend all afternoon monkeying around trying to get into it.  Luckily we can get our quick fix now with this Coconut Lip Scrubbie.  It’s great to smooth out rough lips….plus it’s 100% edible, so can double as an afternoon snack.

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This semi-mysterious “Jojoba Cube”  has a lovely scent of Enchanting Garden (soft Apricot Blossom, Blue Iris, and Lily of the Valley), and it uses Golden Jojoba Oil as the main active ingredient, making it a wonderful anti inflammatory, anti bacterial, and extra moisturizing agent. Plus—inside the cube there are also tons of jojoba beads for gentle skin exfoliation. 

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The artist’s info card reads:

Butter Toki was opened on January 2014 after a long 5 year journey of experimenting and working with the best ingredients suited for the skin.  We truly focus on the art of handmaking products, putting attention to detail on every product made.  Each day, we work hard to complete orders and work on new and exciting items for the Butter Toki customer.  We make sure we truly love every aspect of the products before putting them out in the shop.  We love working with fun and quirky scents while keeping those extra nourishing ingredients as our main focus in all our products, from perfumes to whipped soap and everything in between.

Handmade Bath Goodies

We loved this bath product set from Butter Toki from start to finish and hope you did too!  If you missed out on it and would like to swing by her shop to grab some of her lovely products, head on over here!

Small Business Marketing on a Budget

Small Business Marketing on a Budget

If you’re looking to grow your small business but don’t have the money to throw at marketing (I wouldn’t recommend the throwing part even if you do), you’re not alone.  It’s tough starting a business, and reading up on some tips is a great way to start.

Owning a handmade subscription company, I spend a lot of my time talking to handmade artists about their products and businesses. As a result, I’ve learned a lot about how to do small business marketing on a budget, and I thought it was time to share a couple of tips here—I hope they can benefit you as well.

So here we go:

My top 2 tips for Small Business Marketing on a Budget

Tip 1: Get a review….or ten

Regardless of how wonderful a product you have, it is highly unlikely that the world will ever hear about it unless you can get other people to start talking about it too.

The best first step in my opinion is to get an independent source to review your product, online.  If you are selling a physical product, figure out your target demographic and do a web search for blogs that have the same target market.  For example, if you create a cool handmade baby product—find a mom blogger with a baby and contact her, letting her know about your product and asking if she’d like to check it out for free.

How to choose a blog & write the email:

  • Choosing a blog: Don’t aim too high.
    This may sound like the opposite advice your mother used to give you, but take heed.  If you try and aim too high your email will likely not be read at all.  Depending on the stage your shop and product is in, you want to choose a blog of an appropriate readership size.If you’re quite a new business, with just a so-so website/shop and product photos, find a blogger that has a nice blog and a decent amount of readers (you can get an idea of that by the number of comments on each post or use one of these analytics sites here).   A blog that gets only 2 or 3 comments on each post is a good start if you’re really new to the game.  That being said, if you already have a bit of online traction and have stellar product photos, you can shoot for a blog that is a bit more well-read.
  • Be personal: Connect with the blogger
    When addressing the email (“Dear xyz”), make sure you use the blogger’s actual name. Most personal bloggers use their real names online, and if you haven’t taken the time to look around their site and figure out what it is they may write you off.Comment on something (positive) about their blog.  Make sure you actually take time to explore their blog and read some articles, so you know a bit about the blogger you’re talking to.  Blogs are usually personal spaces, and bloggers like to interact with people who truly read their articles. A good example would be “I really enjoyed your article on your favorite books to read to babies—I used to read the same ones to my little one!”.
  • Be polite: Ask for their opinion
    Instead of outright asking them to help you market your product—let them know that you value their opinion in the relevant marketplace, and that you would love feedback on your new product.  Don’t mention that you are trying to do small business marketing on a budget —it will sound like you are asking them to work for free so you don’t have to spend any money.  Instead, simply offer to send them a sample free of charge, in exchange for an honest review.

Tip 2: Make the most of your current fans

Even if your current customers/fans consist exclusively of your family and friends, make sure you utilize them as a resource.  You are a single voice, so get a few other voices working in your favor. 

How to make the most of your current fans:

  • Make a Newsletter….and use it!
    MailChimp & small business marketing on a budgetThis actually took me awhile to get the hang of, because it seems like it would be a pain in the butt.  But now that we do it at Fair Ivy, I can’t stress enough how much of a difference this makes to sales.
    My advice is to get a free account over at MailChimp, and start with one of their signup forms (for your website) and email templates. It’s as simple as slotting in your own text and a couple of images, and the newsletter looks pretty professional. A good idea is to start with some simple news, such as new products or links to new product reviews, and see what generates the most response (MailChimp includes analytics so you can see what people are doing with your newsletter emails).  Try sending new newsletters once a month at first, and then twice a month.  Once you feel like you have a good grasp on the newsletter system, try out some new ideas, like small giveaways, or asking for customer feedback or reviews on your shop.  Regardless of the newsletter content, make sure you always include links to your shop!
  • Reward fans for their loyalty
    Your best customers are the customers you’ve already acquired.  Studies show it takes a lot less effort to get a new conversion from a previous customer than it does to generate an entirely new customer—so make sure you keep those previous customers happy and coming back for more!
    There are great ways to do this without spending any money—it just depends on what you’re selling. A great thing to give away is knowledge.  If you are an expert on a particular topic, write a blog post about it and share the content with your loyal fans first. If you do graphic design, create a badge or graphic that your previous customers can download and use for free on their own websites!  Here’s a great example below from the lovely Wedding Chicks:Small business marketing on a budget
    If you don’t have the ability to distribute things like free printables, sometimes the best way to reward customers is to simply write them a personal email and let them know how much you appreciate their business. It’s surprising, but I haven’t received many of these—but whenever I do, I feel really touched and connected with the small business or artist who sent the message.  Suddenly they feel more like a friend than a faceless internet being—and the next time they message me, I pay more attention.

So there you go!  Those two tips for small business marketing on a budget should hopefully get you on the right track.  

Keep your eyes on the blog, because I will soon be posting more tips for small businesses (especially handmade businesses), such as the importance of good product photography (I bet at least one of your friends knows how to take great photos—ask around!) and how to price your products.

Handmade Gold Nugget Necklace

Handmade gold nugget necklace

In May (our last month before our big hiatus), subscribers received this handmade gold nugget necklace from Polished Podge as one of their unique handmade surprises!  We adored it, and heard wonderful things back from our customers as well.

Let’s dive right in to opening one!

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We love the branding on this little package—from the ribbon, flower to even the branded sticker and little insert!  Plus, who doesn’t love to know exactly where things are made?

Goody—we get to open a second box!

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Handmade gold nugget necklace

Handmade gold nugget necklace

The big reveal:  this gold nugget necklace was so shiny and exciting, unwrapping the box felt like opening a treasure chest!

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The little artist’s info card reads:

This surprise gift has been handmade and delivered to you by Natalie Peters of Polished Podge.  Natalie began her adventures in creating jewelry as a child.  Much later in life with her home overflowing with jewels and findings, Natalie opened up the Polished Podge shop on Etsy in 2012.  She is delighted to be a featured artist with Fair Ivy.

This handmade simple gold necklace was created especially for you.  These golden nuggets hang delicately from a 14k gold filled chain.  Simple and elegant, this necklace adds a touch of sparkle to your everyday wear.  Natalie hopes you enjoy wearing this piece as much as she enjoyed its creation!

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Handmade gold nugget necklace

We hope you enjoyed your jewelry surprise in May, and if you didn’t get a chance to get one—head on over to Polished Podge’s Etsy site to pick one up now!

 

 

Handmade Stationery – Watercolor Designs

Handmade Stationery - Watercolor Designs

We just love a good, handmade stationery set….so of course we scheduled some as early as possible this year!  And we love watercolor designs, so it was a no brainer to choose this handmade watercolor stationery set, put together by Rachelle Levingston just for Fair Ivy. It included a wonderful collection, including a watercolor owl, watercolor sunflower, watercolor rabbit, watercolor hummingbird, and watercolor robin.

Let’s delve right in!

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Opening a fair ivy package

What’s inside?  It’s always a big surprise to our monthly subscribers—who don’t know if it’s going to be jewelry, bath products, something edible….who knows!

Watercolor stationery

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Fair Ivy information card

Outside of every Fair Ivy surprise there is a little note from us, explaining what Fair Ivy is and the fact that this is, in fact, one of the surprises.  Since each surprise is sent from a different artist, with different packaging from a different place around the country, it could be rather hard to tell otherwise, ya know?

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Aren’t these handmade stationery watercolor designs fabulous?  It’s hard to choose, but I think my favorite is either the watercolor owl or the watercolor rabbit.  But the watercolor sunflower and watercolor hummingbird is so lovely too!

Handmade Stationery - Watercolor Owl, watercolor sunflower

Handmade Stationery - Watercolor Owl

Handmade Stationery - Watercolor Rabbit

Watercolor Hummingbird Stationery

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The full artist’s info card reads:

“Although I was college educated in art and received additional training with masterful teachers, I am largely self-taught.  When I first started painting, I thought all my watercolor marks had to be smooth and perfect.  Now I purposely let the paints dictate the outcome.  

Watercolors are an interesting medium where the ratio of water to paint as well as the timing of when you add them to the paper can yield unexpected results.  The artists I admire have lost edges and areas that are undeveloped.  I think this is a great metaphor for life…not everything has to be perfect, defined, controlled and neat.  

Sometimes my artwork comes together magically, each brushstroke complimenting the piece.  Other times it takes scrubbing, lifting, scratching or redrawing to get successful results. My paintings evolve in many ways…a walk to sketch birds, a hike to paint a landscape, or just playing with colors.  When an idea strikes, I’m impatient to get it to paper.  A single detail may drive the painting and then appear effortlessly  from my brush.  And now I am venturing to acrylics.  I am humbled.  I get to do what I love.  Painting is purse indulgence for me and sharing it with others makes it even more amazing.  Please let me know if your art arrived safely and if there are any problems.  Thanks so much for choosing my art to go in your home.”

Handmade Stationery - Watercolor Rabbit, Watercolor Sunflower

The full stationery set included prints of 5 different original watercolor paintings (2 of each print).

Missed out on this gorgeous surprise stationery gift in April but still want to purchase some? Head on over to Rachelle Levingston’s Etsy page to pick up a set, or buy individual prints like just the watercolor owl or just the watercolor rabbit!

Want to sign up to receive monthly surprises from Fair Ivy, just like this lovely handmade stationery set?

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Handmade silver tube bracelet

Handmade silver tube bracelet

This past wonderful month of April brought a rarity to the Fair Ivy jewelry scene—a handmade bracelet (we usually focus on necklaces and earrings, but we’ve had so many requests for a bracelet we had to comply)!

This handmade silver tube bracelet was made just for Fair Ivy subscribers by Little Things Happen.  This is her first Fair Ivy feature, and we really enjoyed having her on board!

Fair Ivy sends unique handmade packages in the mail every month!

Fair Ivy sends unique handmade packages in the mail every month!

Her shipping box packaging is probably the most lovingly created we’ve ever come across—we’ve had really lovely gift wrapping INSIDE the shipping box, but this is a new frontier in cute gift wrapping and adorable packages in the mail.  Let’s open it up and see if the trend continues…

Handmade letter opener (Fair Ivy)

Handmade letter opener (Fair Ivy)

….yes, we do have a handmade letter opener with Fair Ivy inscribed on it.  It was a gift (awhile ago), and we love it!  We use it on all our letters and packages.

LIttle Things Happen - Handmade gift from fair ivy

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Upcycled packaging style

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Little Things Happen did not disappoint with the wonderful gift wrap on the inside of the handmade silver tube bracelet package.  Every piece of the packaging was upcycled/recycled, so it was a very eco-friendly gift to receive.  Who would have thought that simple yarn would look so darn cute?

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Yarn as ribbon for gift wrap

Cute wrapped box

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Handmade silver tube bracelet

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We absolutely loved this bracelet, since it works so well for an everyday outfit or for an evening on the town. It was wonderfully delicate and reflects the light so nicely off the silver tube!  The tube itself is made from gorgeous german silver, and even the chain and findings are all silver filled—so the shine will last!

We also loved how Little Things Happen took care of every single detail of the entire surprise gift package experience, down to the cardstock polka dots on the back of the bracelet card.

And here’s a closer look at the Artist’s Card from Little Things Happen:

Artist's Card Little Things Happen Artist's Card Little Things Happen

The text reads:

“Little Things Happen is a small jewelry and accessory business based out of Torrance, CA.  Each lovely item is designed and hand-crafted with love by the do-it-all owner, Loren Harada!

Beautiful button earrings, lovely gemstone necklaces, wire wrapped bracelets, handmade hair clips and more are all craftily wrapped and packaged throughout the world year round!  With a huge range of materials and styles, there’s something special for everyone! “

Popular blogger Ilene from Much Love, Illy also receive one of Little Things Happen’s bracelets and took some lovely photos:

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Want to snag one of these lovely handmade silver tube bracelets for yourself?  Head on over to Little Things Happen’s shop on Etsy!