Friday, March 11, 2016

Watching CreativeLive - The Art of Selling What You Make with Tara Gentile

I heard that Kelly Brown was going to be on CreativeLive this morning, so I went to the website to RSVP for the course. She's not on yet, so I decided to check out some other classes. I ended up stumbling upon "The Art of Selling What You Make" with Tara Gentile. I like her :) Here are some points that I learned:
  • Cheap doesn't sell, value does.
  • Increase your self worth so you can increase your net worth.
  • Stop telling yourself that you're not worth it.
  • Tell yourself that you're worth it and that the work is worth it.
  • Don't price for the market you're in, price for the market you want to be in.
  • What you put your items next to can influence the price you can charge for your work.

  • What market do you want to be in?
  • Name 5 brand you'd like your product to be sold next to.
  • What factors have you been considering when you price your work?
  • Where, ideally, would you like your products to be sold?
  • Where is your customer going to shop to find products like yours?
  • What is your customer spending on comparable products?

  • Materials + Overhead  + Labor = Base
  • Base + Profit = Wholesale
  • Wholesale * 2 = Retail

The marketing puzzle
  1. Purpose: What does your product mean to you?
  2. People: No people, no business.
  3. Position: How are you positioned?
  4. Promotion: How do you get the word out?
Reality Check
  • How is your business currently perceived by others (family, community, customers)?
    • What do people think of when they think of your business? Do they think it's your hobby? Are they intimidated?
  • Who are the customers you're currently attracting?
I wasn't able to complete the course because it's Kelly time, but learned so much from this broadcast! Now time to put this to use.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

A Good Find: Free Crochet Baby Bonnet Pattern

I was roaming ravelry.com last night and decided to do a search for a free crochet bonnet pattern. A few results appeared, but one of them really stood out. I immediately got to work. I kept Roody up until 1:45 AM working on this little beauty, and I don't regret it.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

My New Favorite Thing: Chunky Newborn Hats!


I was on Facebook a couple days ago. One of my favorite newborn photographers in the whole entire world posted a beautiful photo (as usual) but I saw it differently. A prop that she used was so lovely, and she linked to the creator. It was a knitting page. BOOOOO!!! lol

Anyway, a lightbulb went off in my head--I originally started this "business" to create props for newborn photographers to use. Why did I stop?

I decided to continue about my day. I was on Instagram later and noticed the cutest little chunky hat. I almost bought the pattern for it, but then I looked closer. It was the shell stitch! I CAN DO THE SHELL STITCH! So I immediately got to work. This is what I came up with:


Remember The Shelly-Anne Hat Pattern that I wrote a couple weeks ago? Well, it's just that. Expect I used bulky yarn, made 22 rows for the ribbing and 32 sc for the top border. Then I did a progressive "decrease."

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Experimenting with Colors: Mixed Texture Striped Hat Pattern

I follow some amazing crochet/knitting pages on Instagram. Every time they post a cute hat, I get jealous. ESPECIALLY if it was knitted, because I know I can't make anything remotely close to that. So I've take it upon myself to become creative with my hats. The ones I've made so far are meh. I want something that looks really cool.



CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THE PATTERN!

Sunday, January 31, 2016

New Obsession: Hailey Headband by TinderBox!

Something amazing happened last night: I was going through Tinderbox's store and stumbled upon the Haily Headband. My friend suggested I make headbands a couple weeks ago, and I'd been looking for the perfect one. Well, ladies and gents, I found it!


Friday, January 29, 2016

In the making: Pepperoni Pizza Hat

My friend Jay texted me a couple weeks ago asking me if I could make her a pizza beanie. This girl is crazy. I searched all over the internet and couldn't find a pattern, so now I have to make one up! Here's the finished product.


CLICK HERE to purchase the pattern!


Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Modified Pattern: Stepping Texture Hat for Babies!

So I joined a group on Facebook called "Crochet Addict." Why on earth did I go and do that?? HAHA! Now I'm even more addicted to crocheting. But the good news is that these ladies have got my creative juices flowing. Their amazing work has got me wanting to create something. So guess what I did. I took this pattern from yarnspirations.com and turned it into this:


Materials:
Color A: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Yarn Taupe
Color B: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Yarn Grey Marble
Size 6mm crochet needle

Note: Jaden has a lot of hair, so the thick brim is perfect for him. For a thinner brim, chain less. Also, I did 60 rows because that fits his head perfectly. If you need to increase or decrease rows, do so in multiples of 10.






Saturday, January 23, 2016

In the Making: Stepping Texture Hat // Charisma Tweed

My vision for LarJ Crochets is to sell items that don't look like the average crocheted piece. I'm a huge fan of the patterns that yarnspirations.com provides and fell in love with this hat.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Stocking up!

Sooooo... the store is back in business! It's winter, after all, and that means that I need to keep myself busy. Even though I'm a full time mother, I can still find time to make some stuff. I've been working on a lot.





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