The Million $ Question: Will I ever be able to buy Dainty Button Again?

If you're reading this blog and have no idea what I'm talking about, chances are you did not read this blog. As of January 1st, 2013, we are closing our doors of business. This was a very hard decision to make but one that was very much needed, as I'm taking time to pursue personal goals in my life and start a new chapter. A new chapter where, unfortunately, my little business will not be able to be a character. A few questions I've received pertaining the closing of the business that I wanted to cover.

Will I ever be able to buy Dainty Button again?

Yes and no. I'm dissolving the LLC aspect of Dainty Button where it runs as a fully functional California licensed business, HOWEVER, you will not be able to purchase on a regular basis and ONLY SELECT ITEMS. Here are possible times you can purchase, but not guaranteed. Times I will offer small select items will entirely depend upon my schedule and what I have time for.

1. My etsy shop will be open the first weekend of the month to purchase small, select items, HOWEVER, it will be a limited supply of inventory.

2. I will have a FB POP UP SALE occasionally. This allows me to still enjoy the crafting aspect of it, not tie myself down to working 12-14 hours a day, the stressful burden of being married to a business, while still offering others my talents.

4. Occasional seasonal times (but not guaranteed).

3. Occasionally at conferences/markets when time permits.

What will happen to social media? Facebook? Twitter? Instagram?

We're not going anywhere. We will obtain the name Dainty Button as this was the name before it became an official LLC business in 2010. I'm keeping all social media outlets live and active for the following purposes.

1. Blogging, DIY's, social interaction with fans and clientele, etc.

2. POP UP SALES

I started Dainty Button off as a means to extra cash and for the pure enjoyment of an outlet to exercise my crafting talents. That's it. I still want to offer these items to fans and clientele but unfortunately I cannot offer these on a full time basis, not even part time basis, which is why I will offer select items occasionally, mentioned above. 

PLEASE NOTE: The only items I will offer as mentioned above will be accessory items, NOT clothing. 

The advantage of this...

Because I will only be offering items occasionally, ALL ITEMS will be READY TO SHIP and no longer MADE TO ORDER. Items will be shipped within 48 hours of purchase! Now, that's something to be happy about!

I hope questions were answered and although this is very bittersweet, I'm very excited about the future! I would take advantage between now and January 1st to stock up as you will not be able to after the first of the year. Here are events that you might find to your liking...

xoxo

Charity

Dainty Button Bids Adieu

I thought that if this day ever came I wouldn't be able to face it with a strong mindset, but surprisingly I am rather calm and have full confidence in what I'm about to write. I'm not sure how these sort of things are supposed to be properly approached but I do know I owe my customers, social media fans, friends, and family the proper Dainty Button farewell. 

I started Dainty Button as a hobby almost 3 years ago. I think most of you know this story but if you don't, here's the short version, it took off and became what I call my accidental business. The past 3 years have been the most adventurous, stressful, overwhelming, exciting, achieving, and wonderful 3 years of my life. If you've ever or currently own your own business, you can fully relate to this. The time, tears, frustration, money, and sacrifice that I have invested into this business would blow your mind. I have lived for my company for 3 years and that is why I must bid adieu. I have not lived for myself, but my business. My life has revolved around my business. Vacations have been put off, quality time spent with family and friends has been scarce, and the hours of sleep I have lost, well, I'm too ashamed to even tell people. Why not hire help? I have and currently do have help, however that does not stop me from putting in more hours. My average day consists of 12-14 hour days. There comes a point when a chapter ends in one's life and it's time for a new one and that time has come for me.

When I made DB a legalized LLC I gave it to God. I told God that DB was His and if He ever wanted it back, it was His. Needless did I know that He would hold me to that promise. I have neglected so many important areas of my life the past 3 years. I have prolonged finishing my degree, slacked off on many other areas, my children's book has been delayed a year, which will finally be published next month, have had health issues, and spread myself so very thin, I have found myself on the floor bawling my eyes out, so exhausted, I can't even think straight...on numerous occasions. Important things have slipped through the cracks and I feel like I'm letting others down, including myself. God is not happy with that and I don't deserve to live a life that completely drains me.

I love what I do and God sometimes asks for the biggest part of your life, to see if you will sacrifice it. I have been tossing this decision around for weeks, if not months, and finding myself over the weekend, once again, on the floor of my sewing room, so exhausted and spent, sobbing, I asked God what I should do. I am not one to say "God spoke to me" but I knew in my heart that He was asking for something that I have held so very close to my heart and it has become my identity, world, and the center of my focus. I have fought this for some time, but when God wants something He doesn't give up easily. This past weekend was my moment of brokenness and finally giving Him what He's been asking for and since then I have had such peace and reassurance with my decision. I cannot justify the time I've spent investing into my company because it far outweighs the time I've spent with family/friends, my church obligations and commitments, personal well being, and ultimately my Heavenly Father. In the process of building my own business, I have forgotten about myself. I gave something that God had blessed me with back to Him and I must now follow through with that promise. 

As of January 1st, 2013 I will be dissolving the official LLC of Dainty Button. I will be taking this time to pursue personal goals in my life. All of this broken down...

1. I will offer certain items twice a month via social media, where customers can purchase, such as our popular POP UP SALES.

2. Customers will occasionally be able to purchase merchandise at various conferences and crafting events. 

3. I will still offer my craftsmanship talents but purely as hobby and not as a business on etsy the first weekend of the month, in the form of small accessories.

4. Dainty Button will remain on social media to interact with fans, blogging purposes, and connect with other crafters, while retaining it's given name for identity purposes. 

5. Dainty Button, LLC will remain a full time business through the holiday season where you can currently purchase at Dainty Button Etsy and Dainty Button Website. These sites will remain open until January 1st, 2013.

 If you have not had a chance to purchase from Dainty Button or currently consider yourself a customer, I would take advantage of the next 6 weeks to purchase, as I will only offer items in the above mentioned format as of January 1st, 2013.

I cannot express the gratitude for the amazing support that customers have shown me the past 3 years. Customer service is never an easy field and trust me, I have had some very horrible experiences, but the good far outweighs the bad and it's been an honor to work with such amazing customers. If you've purchased from Dainty Button, thank you. That's all I can say, is thank you. I will be around, so you've not seen or heard the last of me and you will have opportunities in the future to purchase select items as mentioned above. So, let's not say "goodbye" but rather "I'll see you later." Let's have a wonderful holiday season and go out with a bang! 

Charity Morgan

Dainty Button Owner

Fall '12

Fall '12 is here! We released our fall season collection today, well the beginning stages of it. Did you know that it takes an average of about 8-9 hours to upload, list, and load shopping carts in our etsy shop and on our website when we launch a new collection? So, you can imagine what I've been doing all day. I'm very excited about this collection. It's different, there's a lot of new items, and we've ventured into something that I said I would never venture into...children's clothes. It's crazy to think that almost 3 years ago I started off Dainty Button off with  accessories, mainly headbands, and now it's a complete clothing line. There are various different reasons as to why I've avoided this step for so long. One, it's  A LOT of work but at the end of the day, it's rewarding. This collection has simple pieces but we're taking baby steps here and maybe by next spring we'll have ventured off into more exciting chapters.

I've gotten a little bit of a late start on the collection this year but better late than never, right? I scheduled our photo shoot a couple months ago for mid-September with the genius of photographers again, Sam Hassas. He did our Spring '12 commercial shoot and it went over wonderfully. A week before our photo shoot, I dislocated my ribs, which caused my back to go out. I've never had back problems before in my entire life, so this was all new to me. I seriously don't know how people live day to day with consistent back problems. It was scary, painful, and so annoying. I'm always on the go and this was such an inconvenience. I really don't know how to take it slow. I had almost 15 models ready for our Fall '12 shoot and because the doctor ordered me to take it easy and rest I had to reschedule the week of. Sam Hassas is not a photographer that has many openings. He's in high demand and I knew I had blown my chances of him doing our fall shoot. I was wrong! He had an opening the following Saturday, which enabled me to recover those extra few days. I'm still not fully recovered but I'm much better. I went from almost 15 models to 5 models for this shoot due to the rescheduling. I was a little nervous about it because this was a large collection and I was afraid we'd be spread very thin. I was so wrong. 

I didn't put as much planning into this shoot as I did our Spring one. I was scrambling, rushing, and very off. My best friend from Texas came in for the spring shoot and we were so prepared. I literally threw every piece of clothing, accessory, and shoes that resembled fall in a huge suitcase and headed to location. I wasn't feeling too well and because of my back/rib mishap it had put me behind almost 2 weeks on everything. I had 2 adult models and 3 children. Our location couldn't have been more perfect, except it was in the 90's, the models were modeling very heavy fall pieces, the majority of the group were children under 7. They were absolute angels. The shoot could not have gone more smooth and without any hiccups. It was relaxed, fun, but very hot. 

Our location was literally in the middle of nowhere. There was a condemned barn which you'll see in many of the shots. The kids loved the barn and Sam had them believing there were whales in the creek, where they also took photos. 

We had intentions of using a tent we brought along for our dressing room and a place to relax during different scenes but it was the mother of all camping tents to put up, so we set up a dressing room in my sisters SUV, as well as other cars and used my car as the closet and vanity area. We had shoes lined up on the side of the road.

Meet Mehgan and Mikayla, our two adult models who are very good family friends. I couldn't have been blessed with better models. This shoot and collection was very different from our spring. They brought a very different dynamic to the entire collection, which I'm thrilled about. They were fun, professional, and natural at it. Such a fun time!

Fall 2012

What have we added this season? A LOT! We're launching our full children's collection, cardigans, and dresses! 

Here is a small gallery of our Fall '12 collection, which we have selected some feature items and you can now purchase in our etsy shop. You can find the collection on our website at the end of this week, as well. 

Dainty Button Children's Fall '12

Bow Ties

Can be purchased here

Reindeer Dress

Furry Shrug

Christmas Plaid Bow Tie

Can be purchased here

Elf Leggings

Taupe Shimmer Infinity Scarf

Can be purchased here

Splash of Autumn Dress and Legging Set

Can be purchased here

Grey Cobweb Dress

Can be purchased here

Cocoa Ruffle Leg Warmers/Boot Socks

Can be purchased here

Katy Bug Leggings

Taupe Shimmer Infinity Scarf

Can be purchased here

Sugar Plum Dress and Boot Socks

Can be purchased here

Santa's Little Helper Ruffle Leggings

Can be purchased here

Leopard Dress and Furry Shrug Set

Can be purchased here

Funky Fusion Purple Shimmer Dress and Furry Vest Set

Can be purchased here

Women's Fall '12

The Fall Knit Maxi Turtleneck Dress

Can be purchased here

You can also purchase this dress with our matching Plum Crochet Vest Dress

This can be purchased here

Ribbon Knit Skirt

Can be purchased here

Tweed Peplum Skirt

Can be purchased here

Polka Dot Knit Skirt and Zig Zag Cardigan

Can be purchased here

Burst of Autumn Knit Skirt

Can be purchased here

Arizona Winter Sweater Skirt

Can be purchased here

Red Plaid Short and Maxi

Can be purchased here

I hope you've enjoyed some of our featured items from our newly launched Fall '12 line. To see the rest of our collection, please visit our etsy shop. 

Until next time!

Charity and DB Team!

xoxo

PIN IT WARS!

We haven't done a giveaway in awhile and I wanted to do something a little different than the typical sharing a photo and commenting. Pinterest has taken over our lives and what better place to host this next giveaway and contest, right? This will be very simple and since most of you are already on Pinterest, fun as well. 

Rules and Guidelines:

To Participate:

1. You must be on Pinterest

2. Find us on Pinterest by searching "Dainty Button" or "daintybutton@yahoo.com" and follow us.

How to:

The PIN IT WARS contest/giveaway will begin on Friday, September 21st and end on Friday, September 28th at 11:59 PM (PST). Beginning on Friday, September 21st, we will PIN one of our favorite items to our pin board and announce this on our FB wall, with a link. We will post a favorite PIN every day during this contest. 

Your participation...

1. A Repin = 1 ENTRY 

2. Repin and a FB comment "PINNED IT" WITH YOUR PINTEREST USERNAME on the Pinterest link we post each day = 2 ENTRIES 

Rules:

1. Only one repin and comment will be accounted for daily, HOWEVER you are more than welcome to repin as many times as you'd like : )

2. The contest winner MUST notify us within 24 hours via email (daintybutton@yahoo.com) to redeem their giveaway.

3. The giveaway of choice will not be shipped until 21 BUSINESS days after redeemed.

How is a winner determined?

We will accumulate the total number of PINS and comments at the end of the contest and draw a random winner via random.org.

What is the giveaway?

The giveaway of choice will be a $150 SHOPPING SPREE redeemable in our ETSY SHOP or at daintybutton.com.

Now, who's ready for WAR?

Charity and DB Team!

FB Auction and POP UP SALE - Labor Day

Good morning and Happy Labor Day! Can you believe it's technically the last "summer" holiday and we're already in September? If you've been following us on FB or Twitter, I'm sure you've seen something about the POP UP SALE and FB auction we're kicking off today, in honor of Labor Day and it being our last summer sale, so to speak. I don't think we've ever covered a blog post about our POP UP SALES, so here is a good time to do it, while we're covering our FB auction.

POP UP SALES

We did our first POP UP SALE in April of this year, I believe. I never intended for the sales to become a weekly or bi-weekly event but it has evolved to just that. What is a POP UP SALE? A POP UP SALE is a FB exclusive sale for our FB followers, allowing them the chance to get items at extremely discounted prices. Sometimes we announce POP UP SALES, other times we don't and surprise followers. We post the pictures directly onto the FB wall, what the item is, what size (if clothing), how many we have in quantity, the price and shipping, then prompt followers to leave their email address. If there's 5 available, we'll send invoices to the first 5 that comment and so on. We give a 12 hour time window to have these invoices paid. For the most part most of the invoices sent are paid but there are those few that are ignored. We do try and stick to a tight 12 hour window but if you do contact us and let us know, we're usually good to keep the invoice open. A few other things to know about POP UP SALES...

1. If you comment on several items, we do our very best to combine shipping.

2. Items are normally not shipped from POP UP SALES until 5-7 business days after invoice is taken care of. We do our very best to include this info in the invoice but sometimes it's overlooked as we are distributing invoices very quickly.

3. Over the span of 5 months of doing these sales we have had situations where items were missing and invoices were overlooked. This is not intentional or us "scamming" you, as one customer recently told us. Ha! Sometimes, you just have to laugh. Please keep in mind that we are using a PayPal system, where there is no third party database, that's helping us manage orders, as our etsy shop or website allows. FB is basically our "online store" during this sale and when there are at times, well over 100 women commenting different items, it's extremely easy for us to overlook a comment. Again, we do our very best but mistakes do happen. I paid my invoice but never got my item. Once customers pay their invoices, our production team prints out all of the invoices from that sale. We try to print these invoices out after all of the invoices are paid but a lot of times production is wanting to start on it, as there is a 12 hour time window and if one item has been reissued a couple times, it could prolong the shipping status of others, and they start printing. If your invoice is not taken care of at this point, it's not printed. If it has been taken care of, again, it's extremely easy to overlook printing an invoice, which is why there have been occurrences where items have been paid but not shipped. It's simply an oversight on our part and we do our best to right it ASAP. 

 4. Quantity control and oversells: Before a POP UP SALE commences, we go through our inventory and see what we're wanting to get rid of or sale, count the quantity (keep in mind we're counting fabric and how many production can get out of what we have in fabric inventory), which is where we normally put the quantity on the post. There are times when oversells occur, which means there are too many comments and not enough to go around. When this happens, if we're able to obtain more fabric in inventory, we'll email the customers and let them know or offer a refund. We try to avoid this but it does happen every once in awhile.

5. POP UP SALE items are FINAL SALE.

FB Auction SALE

I've seen online auctions and always thought they were really neat but honestly never thought of doing one. One of my very dear friends suggested we do an online FB auction when I told her we were in the works of doing an "end of the summer" type sale. Her theory was "So many of us want items during your POP UP SALES but because we log on to FB way after you've posted, we don't even stand a chance. A lot of these items, I want so bad and other women do too, why not have an auction and let us outbid each other. If I really want an item, I'm going to fight for it. Ha!" So, today we're kicking off our very first FB online auction, which I'm very excited about. We will have two FB albums on our page, one that's POP UP SALE and the other that's Auction Sale. What's the difference in the POP UP SALE and Auction Sale? Our POP UP SALE will have items in quantities over 1, which makes auctions pointless. Our auction sale will have items that are one of a kind and we're also including some fall items that you'll see at full retail in our etsy shop and website in the coming week or so. We will post the starting bid, ask you to leave your bid. The auction will end tonight, September 3rd, at 11:59 PM (PST). Once the auction has ended, we will close the post out by asking the highest bidder to comment with their email address, where we can email an invoice. Again, we will use our 12 hour window to pay the invoice, otherwise it will be redistributed to the next highest bidder. 

Now, I'm off to finish preparing for this fun sale today! I hope to see you there!

Charity and DB Team!

Support Mary Jane

I hate cancer. I hate everything it represents...the heartache, hurt, pain, depression, fear. I have lost some very dear people to cancer, as I'm sure many of you reading this can say the same. This blog post is dedicated to my best friend and her family. Jana lives in Houston, Texas and married a good friend of mine from California. A few weeks ago, her mother-in-law, Mary Jane, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. Jana is the young mother of two wonderful children and has spent the last 6 weeks here in California caring for her mother-in-law, as she begins chemo. I have heard the heartache and sadness in Jana's voice as she speaks of this and not to mention the toll it's taken on their family and friends. Along with cancer comes unexpected expenses, which is where I'm hoping I can play a part. Dainty Button  has designed a special infinity scarf in pink to support Mary Jane. 

This special LIMITED EDITION infinity scarf, which we have appropriately dubbed The Mary Jane, retails at $7 (plus shipping). Half of the proceeds will be going to a "Support Mary Jane" fund. There is a link at the top left corner of our blog to donate any specific amount, if you choose to do so. I'm rallying our customers, fans, friends, and family to support Mary Jane in spirit, prayers, and financially. Everybody needs someone in the bleachers cheering them on and I know Mary Jane and her family can use all of the support, prayers, and cheerleading they can get during this difficult time. Who's in? 

To purchase The Mary Jane Infinity Scarf directly from our etsy shop, please click here. We appreciate all of the support we receive and please keep Mary Jane and her family in your prayers! Let's help fight this for Mary Jane!


Charity and DB Team

Mary Jane and Jim Campbell posing with her "new hair".

Jana (my best friend), Jim, and Mary Jane.

Hosting a Trunk Show

Fall and the holiday season will be here before you know it and we at Dainty Button are preparing for the rush. During the holidays we do a lot of craft fairs and trunk shows, which make it fun because there's nothing more that I love than the holidays, mix in a little shopping and it's close to perfection. We attempted to do this endeavor a long time ago and received many inquiries but due to crazy schedules, we were not able to follow through with it. But now, we're thinking this is a great opportunity for us AND YOU! A wonderful customer of ours emailed me awhile back and suggested this and then it jogged my memory of what we had attempted to do a long time ago and I've not been able to get it off the brain. We'd like to bring the trunk show to YOU and YOUR AREA, by allowing you to host your very own Dainty Button Trunk Show. We're taking baby steps here and our first few trunk shows would be exclusive to our popular infinity scarves, only. We want to make sure this is going to work and what better way to break it in, than with some of our lovely scarves? So how does this work?

It's 3 easy steps and it's FREE...

1. Simply click on this link to fill out an application Dainty Button Trunk Show Application.

2. Once the application has been accepted, we will contact you within 48 hours, with further details and to secure a date, if you are a good candidate.

3. Every scarf sale you make, YOU get to keep $1 for yourself. Not only is this a FREE opportunity, you're getting paid. 

Interested? We're anxious to start booking Fall Trunk Shows!