My New Tagline and the Winner!

Well, 3 days later I finally decided on a tag line. And I would like to finally announce who won!



For my new tag line:

Doll Baby Bowtique ... Handcrafted Creations for all the Guys and Gals in your life!

What do you think?


And the winner is Beverly! I think your suggestions was really the angle I was going for ... the only thing I changed was Dolls to Gals. Just trying to avoid the whole confusion with the doll thing.

I would like to thank everyone who gave suggestions for the tag line. I know many of you are just wonderful customers and friends and I am so very appreciative for all the love and support you give to me and my growing business. I hope to make everyone proud!

~Katrina (aka, the Bow Lady!)

Tag Line Contest/Giveaway EXTENDED!

The contest/giveaway has been extended to tonight at 8pm! See the post below for information about the Tag Line Contest/Giveaway!

I appreciate everyone's help!

I need a Tag Line! Giveaway!

Well, my tag line used to be "Handcrafted hair accessories for gals and dolls of all ages."

Then it was "Handcrafted hair accessories and sweet skirts!"

But in just the last few months what I do has evolved! I now have items for boys. I have more fabric creations than just skirts. I have Tie Shirts, infant caps, scarves, skirts, appliqued girls shirts, ruffle bottom onesies, capes, hair flowers and more. On top of all the different types and styles of bows I make! Everything is handcrafted still ... there is just a broader selection. And I have teenage girls and adult women wearing my hair accessories as well.

At one of the boutiques I did recently, a couple of people saw my name and thought that what I did was doll-sized stuff. That didn't make me so happy because that is not what I do and I think I lost a couple of sales because they thought that. Oh well to the sales, but that got me thinking, are other people thinking that too? My title is Doll Baby because that is what my mom called my sister and I and now calls my daughter.

So now I'm looking for just the right tag line. Some that can go on my business stuff ... cards, bow cards, etc. Leila at Elly Designs gave me a wonderfully fresh look and now I need a fresh "tag."

So here is the challenge: Help me come up with just the right one! The person that comes up with my new tag line will get a prize ... I really enjoyed making a surprise giveaway, so I think I will do that again!

Here are some key words to keep in mind: Handcrafted, hair accessories, fabric creations, boys, girls, women, children (or anything I mentioned above).

I need this soon because I am in desperate need of printing new business cards! So the contest starts NOW and will end on Monday at 8 PM PST.

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Been busy ...

Since July or August I have done 5 boutiques! 4 of which have happened since the end of October! Yikes! They have been a lot of fun and a lot of work. Some of them were unexpected, so my prep time for them was really short. I got it done and I'm not worse for the wear. It also gave me a crash course in what I need to do and know for next year! Start working in January ... haha!

This is the first year since I've opened Doll Baby Bowtique that I've been busy at Christmas time! It's been happy and frustrating all at the same time! I'm happy because that means my business has grown! I've become more well known and people like my products! I've gotten new customers and have had return customers! I look forward to it growing more and more!

It's also been frustrating because 1. My family and Christmas have taken a back seat to my work. I just don't like the guilt. However, they have been so supportive and have really allowed me to do what I love ... creating! Plus my son and daughter have loved all the extras for them that have been left over from the boutiques! 2. I have not been able to provide the customer service and turnaround that I like. There have been delays, there have been ignored emails (not on purpose) and I just don't care for that kind of service. I expect better for myself and I hope to provide better for my customers. There have even been a couple of lost packages in the mess, but they've all made it to their owners ... albiet a little late, but they got there. I hope these patient people can forgive this glich and it will NOT happen again if they return.

Needless to say there is always ups and downs with every new business and I've learned so much just in the past few months. I am so appreciative to everyone who has helped me in some way ... watching my kids, cutting ribbon, making post office drops, getting supplies for me while I worked away, the wonderful lady that helped give me a new look and my customers who have helped me keep on going. I'm hoping to make all of these people proud of me in the future!

I hope to keep on being busy, but I hope to manage the business better next year!

150 Fan Giveaway!

150 Fan Giveaway going on right now on Doll Baby Bowtique's page on FB!

I'm giving away 2 $30 credits to www.dollbabybowtique.com

To enter, just go to my page, click on the Discussion tab at the top. There are 2 Topics, "Boy Gifts" and "Girl Gifts," just answer the questions and it enters you into the drawing. I will pick a number randomly for each post.

Giveaway ends tomorrow (Wednesday) at midnight PST.

One entry per person, per topic. You may enter under both topics, but you can only win once!

Each $30 credit may be redeemed for either boy stuff or girl stuff at Doll Baby Bowtique!

Good Luck!

Brother-Sister Matching!

I've finally done it! I'm working on some items for matching Brother Tie Shirts and Sister Skirts.
To kick of this newest creation, I have one set available. It's our last Autumn Twilight skirt and now there is a coordinating boy's Tie Shirt! Only 1 available. You pick the size.

For set, add $10 for shirt to price of skirt. Color of shirt dependent on availability but WILL match skirt.

Skirts: Infant (3m-12m), $10; Toddler (18m-5T), $15; Girl (6-12), $20

Black Friday Sale

Black Friday sale is coming! Next Friday and Saturday get 25% off your order.

Get some great Christmas gifts and even some Christmas bows and skirts for your Doll Baby to wear throughout the season! Dollbabybowtique.com will be updated with all the latest goodies this weekend!

Congratulations Karen!

Congratulations to Karen Batista on winning our Halloween Giveaway!

She has won a Thanksgiving and a Christmas bow.

Thank you to all who participated in the giveaway. Please check back for more giveaways and sales!

Remember ... once we reach 150 fans on Facebook AND 30 followers here on my blog, I will be doing a big ol' giveaway! So tell everyone you know ... if we reach these goals in time, what great Christmas gifts it will make :)

Happy Halloween Giveaway!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

To celebrate, let's have a Giveaway!

Post here or on Facebook what your kiddos are going as for Halloween! Your post enters you into the giveaway.

The prize? A Thanksgiving and Christmas bow of your choice!

Good luck to everyone!

Fan Giveaway Coming Soon!

We will do a super duper giveaway for something fabulous when we reach 150 fans on Facebook!

We will also do a second super duper giveaway for something fabulous when we reach 30 followers on this DBB Blog!

So tell everyone you know and lets get some fabulous fans and followers!

Harvest Baby Sale!

It's that time of year again! Time to celebrate MY Doll Baby's birthday and those of her Harvest Baby friends (a cool group of kids all born in October!).

To honor this special time, I am having a sale!

October 4: 30% off (ends midnight pacific time)

October 5-8: 18% off

Come on by and take a look at all of our wonderful new items. This is a great time to stock up for the holidays! These make great gifts for birthdays, holidays, new babies or just because.

Meet the Boutique - MTB: Meet Katrina Leung

Meet the Boutique - MTB: Meet Katrina Leung: "Here's to Dolly Baby Bowtique...behind it all is Katrina Leung!!! Making bows is her MAIN HOBBY, then of course sewing, reading, scrapbooki..."

Congratulations Audra Clanton!

Congratulations to Audra Clanton! You won our Fall is Here Sweet Skirt giveaway!

Thank you to all the wonderful ladies who participated. We will be having more giveaways this fall, so stay tuned and play again :)

Fall is Here! One day sale AND Giveaway!

Hooray! Fall is Here!

In honor of my favorite season, I am having a one day sale ... 20% ... on all orders placed today, September 22.

AND

I am doing a giveaway for my Fall Frolic skirt. Super cute itty bitty woodland critters on an ivory background with an olive green w/ brown polka dots trim.

I will post a picture as soon as I get back from taking my Doll Baby to see the doc.

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is post a comment here or on Facebook saying what your favorite thing about Autumn is!

Good luck and enjoy the sale!

Fall ... Ahhhh :)

Fall is my favorite time of year. Not too hot, not too cold. Beautiful colors ... yes even here in SoCal ... they don't call CA the Golden State for nothing ... amidst the green and brown, you can often see a sea of gold (leaves, grass, you name it). Then the kick off to all the fun holidays. Nothing beats Fall!

Tomorrow is the first day of this Autumn season. I am thrilled and would like to share my joy with you! So, I'm thinking that tomorrow may be a good day for something fun ... a giveaway ... a sale ... both. Who knows? I'm not sure yet, but it will be worth your while!

So come on back. Check out the blog or our facebook page for further info and join in the fun!

Personal Shopping?

So recently a friend of mine ordered a couple of skirts. The fun part about her order was that they were custom skirts ... maybe a plaid one and I'll leave the rest up to you, she said! Oooo ... that was gonna be fun. I found an adorable black/pink/white plaid flannel. So soft, so adorable. Then I found this super cute black corduroy with flowers and butterflies all over. Very fall/winter and just as soft as the flannel. Finally, I was asked to get a lightweight cotton. And got a precious hot pink with butterflies on it.

Now the trick to finding the right fabric was that it needed to be something to go with tops and leggings that you can find in the store. The trick to this order was that I needed to be able to relay the colors to the friend who ordered it 2000 miles away. Yikes! Phones and cameras don't always pick up the right colors, and I would hate for the friend to receive them and it not be right? Why? Because I am quite particular about things "matching."

My solution? Personal shopping! I found the fabric for the skirts that I felt was the best choice for this person. Then I asked her exactly what she was looking for ... how many of each top and leggings. Then I went to town! Seeing as I was spending another person's money, I tried to keep everything very reasonable. I was able to find a total of 7 tops and 5 leggings, some of which she could mix and match with multiple skirts. The outfits are adorable and I can't wait for the recipient of this little wardrobe to see it! Now how is that for some fun!

So this got me thinking ... what if I offered personal shopping as part of my product? Would this be something people would like? Would this be something people take advantage of? There would have to be a charge because, even though I love love love shopping, the time and gas is a lot. How much would be reasonable?

I will be making the skirts and matching bows shortly and I will post pictures. So you let me know if the Personal Shopping is something you might like for me to offer!

Congratulations and Keep on Going!

Congratulations to Crystal Martin for being DBB's 100th fan on Facebook and Audrey Ensley for recommending DBB to her! You both have won a free Sweet Skirt and matching bow of your choice from any of our 3 lines.

BUT

The Giveaway isn't over yet ... the 10th person to follow the Doll Baby Bowtique Blog will also win. All you have to do it click on the "FOLLOW" button on the bottom right of the blog, then leave a message on this post or the Hello September Giveaway post to let me know. We're at 6 people, so lets keep it going!

Hello September Giveaway!

Can you believe it's September already? September is such a magical month! The weather changes, kids go back to school, Fall arrives and it's just that much closer to the Holidays!

To celebrate fall, I have decided to do a Giveaway!

There are a variety of ways to win and some of you may even have 2 chances to win! We are so close to 100 fans on Doll Baby Bowtique's facebook page ... so lets try to get there! AND, there are only 3 people following and 2 people subscribed to this blog! Lets get that number up! So ...

The rules:
Click the FOLLOW button on the lower right of this blog to follow. Then leave a comment on this post to let me know you did so. The 10th person to follow will win a skirt and matching bow from any of the 3 Sweet Skirt Lines!

AND

If you haven't "LIKED" Doll Baby Bowtique's page on Facebook already, do so NOW! Fan #100 will receive a skirt and matching bow from any of our 3 lines. Already a fan? Then suggest people to our facebook page. If you were the person to recommend fan #100 to us, YOU WILL ALSO WIN a skirt and bow!

Our facebook link: www.facebook.com/pages/Doll-Baby-Bowtique/112504805438862

Go ahead! Giveaway entry starts now!

First-Time Customer Discount

The Olivia Dress and the Twirly Skirt

Can you believe that Aitana wore each of these on 2 different days, all day long, and I didn't get a picture of her in either? What a mama!

So, my latest projects for Aitana were the "Olivia Dress" and the "Twirly Skirt." She is my favorite person to create for and I love that she is so appreciative every time she finds something new waiting for her in her bedroom when she wakes up! Yes, I do the majority of my work late at night!

The Olivia Dress
So, weeks and weeks ago I came across these adorable fat quarters of material ... black with giant ivory polka dots. I never see that combo, so I grabbed some, but decided to open up one of the fat quarters to check out the rest of the patter before I bought it. If you don't know what a fat quarter is ... it's the little squares of fabric you see at the fabric store, or even Michael's and Walmart ... they are about 18"x21or22". It is a quarter of a yard, but just cut into a big fat rectanglish square (like that ... so much for having an English degree). And yes, you must always check the full pattern before buying because you never know what is hiding in the middle of the fabric!

Anyway, I opened it up and low and behold it was the most adorable Olivia (as in the pig) pattern I'd seen! Not too cartoon-y at all. Very simple. So, yes, I bought enough to make a little dress. And Miss A asked me for weeks and weeks to make it for it. I finally did! She wore it to a cousin's birthday party and it was just adorable ... big bow, red converse shoes ... too cute! But then I washed it and the pattern on the ribbon I used as straps came off. Ugh. I fixed it though with some cute red double ruffle ribbon and we finally had the perfect "Olivia Dress." What a project! Picture to come!

On to the Twirly Skirt!
To preface this, if you ever find a pattern that you can't live without, but don't like the entire pattern, you can improvise and just do the part you like! I've yet to use a whole pattern for anything.

So I found this pattern for a Twirly Dress. It's cute, but I don't really care for the entire dress ... but what I loved was the idea of a Twirly Skirt! So after weeks of waiting and contemplating and getting up the courage to make something new ... yes, sometimes it takes courage ... I made an adorable purple with white polka-dots Twirly Skirt! But, it was not as simple as I had hoped ... doing the hem and altering the pattern to make the casing for the elastic was not "easy." But I did it and after it all, I figured out a different way to do both of those parts of the skirt.

Aitana woke up the next morning to find her skirt waiting for her! I was excited because she actually has shirts to match it! Woo hoo! Got her dressed, skirt and all, only to find out the dang thing is too big! The waistband fit, but the skirt was too long and the extra length caused the skirt to be too heavy and slip from her waist. Ugh. I quickly realized that in changing the pattern from a dress to a skirt, I did not need the extra length or skirt circumference. I made Aitana a "size 4" but it would have been more suitable for someone who is a size 6 or 7 maybe. I needed to use the "size 2" pattern to fit her better. Lesson Learned.

Soon I will make her a new Twirly Skirt in the new size and I'm hoping it works much better. But still she loves the skirt and did not want to take it off! Picture to come!

Sewing is a lot of trial and error and I'm still learning so much. One sewing class at 10 years old doesn't teach you everything! And that's why it takes me so long to try these new things! But I'm getting better each time and soon Aitana's closet will be full of handmade fabric creations!

And the Winner ...

... of our "Last Week of July Giveaway" is: Melissa Nelson!

Congratulations Melissa! You have won 4 lace bows and 10% off your next purchase!

I'll send you a message in a bit :)

Last Week of July Giveaway!

This week's giveaway I am 4 lace bows! It can either be one in each color ... pink, brown, white and ivory ... OR 1 pair each of 2 colors (ex: 2 pink, 2 ivory, etc.). AND, 10% off your next purchase.

These bows look super cute whether your Doll Baby is dressing up OR dressing down. Lace always makes them feel like a princess!

All you have to do to enter the Giveaway is to subscribe to my blog and let me know you have done so either by leaving a comment on this blog post or on Doll Baby Bowtique's page on Facebook. Giveaway entry ends Wednesday at 11:59pm.

Winner of DBB's First GIVEAWAY!

And the winner is ... after doing the random number generator on 3 different sites ... #3, Lisa Metcalf! Congrats Lisa! I'll send you a message in a bit!

Find us on Facebook

Find us on Facebook! I just found out about Facebook's Promotions and Giveaways rules and unless I figure out how to do it on facebook directly, all I can do is direct you here for some fun giveaways!

So, after the first SWEET SKIRTS giveaway I'm doing on my Doll Baby Bowtique page of Facebook (note the appropriate wording allowed by Facebook), we will be doing giveaways here on the blog once I redesign this place! It's been a long long time since I've used it, so it'll be nice to get reaquainted :)

So, for now, stay tuned and I'll be announcing the winner of the first giveaway shortly!