2 yr old love

Love it when they can do things by themselves.

Determined and triumphant when she can do it!

Inspiration Friday

What a happy group of pictures! I found it here.

Deal of the Week

How about a discount to able mabel for this week's Deal of the Week? A discount of 25% for my lovely blog readers. Take a peek at the key fobs.

Looking for a baby gift? Buzz over to the Lovies and Security Blankets section.

Or add a pop of color to your organization with a plastic grocery bag holder.

For the real bargain seekers, check out the Deal of the Week section of the shop.

To receive your discount, you must enter "BLOG012011" at checkout. The 25% will automatically be deducted from your purchase. This code will be good for only one week.

A little iffy

I got slammed with orders, both on and off Etsy, this week. I didn't see it coming so I haven't had a chance to schedule posts for this week. I apologize. I do have a lot to blog about, including a birthday surprise, but it'll have to wait a week or two.

Had I been on the ball, I would have scheduled all my posts ahead of time. But alas, I didn't. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. We have out of town guests coming today so they do take priority.


Today is the last day to enter the CSN Giveaway. Click here to enter. I haven't been very good about marketing it so you have a great chance of winning. :)

A better way to toss

Poor fabric scraps, threads, label stickers and other able mabel trash. They are sad because they are being tossed carelessly into an ice cream bucket. I mean, they have rights too, don't they? They'd be so much happier if they were being tossed into more "dignified" trash can.

I turned to the world wide web to look for ideas (for a quick 10 minutes this morning). By Googling "modern trash cans", here's what I found...

How about one that leave no doubt what it's for? Just look at the picture on the outside. Duh. ;)

Sleek, shiny and pretty cheap.

I love this idea. Just add a plastic grocery bag.

This one is such a fun modern shape. It makes me smile. I found it at stylehive.

I did find a few at Target that I also liked but I couldn't post the pictures. It didn't work to do it my usual way because they have the magnifying feature on the picture. Oh well.

Now the hard part will be trying to decide which one to get. Maybe I should ask the scraps. ;)

Deal of the Week

How about a giveaway? Remember CSN? They'd like to give another lucky reader a $35 gift certificate.

Let's refresh our memories here. CSN is an online site that has hundreds of shops with thousands of items to choose from. The winner is may have a tough time choosing what to purchase.

I recently purchase a Moby Wrap from one of the shops. It was a breeze. The site is easy to use.

I'll share a few pictures from one shop. In this shop you'll find,
swingsets and accessories (I know $35 isn't going to go very far if you're purchasing a full swing set, but how about a baby swing?),fitness trampolines (remember those New Year's Resolutions? ;) ),

slides for all ages (able mabel is not responsible for adults getting stuck on a kid sized slide),

sleds, bikes and other outdoor toys.

I'll tell ya, the possibilities are endless.

Leave me a comment on this post to be entered into the drawing. (Comments left on Facebook or Twitter will not count.)

Once again, here is the fine print:

• The $35 gift certificate applies to merchandise only, not shipping costs. (sorry, their rule, not mine)
• CSN ships to the USA and Canada only. (again, sorry.)
• Additional entries will be given for any links on Facebook, blogs, Twitter or anywhere else on the web. Please link the post back to the comment section so I know where you posted.
• The giveaway will be open until midnight (MST) on Wednesday, January 26th.
• The winner will be emailed a unique code to enter at the time of purchase.
• The gift certificate is a one time deal. Spend it all in one place, please.

Good luck to all!

Wordless Wednesday

I would love

to decorate a wall in my craft room like this. It would be so fun to have the kids color, draw or paint me a picture or two.

(I found this image here.)

Have you ever seen

the blog How About Orange? Talk about eye candy each and every day. JB clued me in on this blog about a year ago and it's one that I read faithfully. The blogger, Jessica Jones, is also a fabric designer. I love her designs.

One of my favorite parts of her blog is the fact that she has tutorials for useful, fun, creative ideas. This one is for fabric wall decals. Very cool.

It's impossible to read her blog and not be inspired. Check it out when you get a chance.

A Fun Little Project

A doll blanket and cradle mattress for a customer. Something a little different from the norm.

Deal of the Week

Like this bag holder? There is a minor fabric flaw on it's backside, close to the back seam.

Most people probably wouldn't notice but I don't feel comfortable selling it for full price. It can be yours for $9 instead of $11. Nothing else is wrong with the bag holder.

Find it here. (click on the word "here")

almost Wordless Wednesday one day late

for you non-Facebookers. I had nothing to do with this picture other than to snap the pic.

Repeats

Pete and Repeat went down to the lake, Pete fell in....

No, I'm kidding. I'll spare you the rest of the joke.

In the past few months, (or I should say when I started paying closer attention) I have had quite a few repeat customers.

I've noticed a little trend, for lack of a better word, among them. The customer will purchase one small item from my shop, a $5 key fob or $7 bib. Then a week or so later, they'll come back and place a larger order.

It just goes to show how important customer service is no matter how large or small the order, especially when selling online. When a customer can't physically handle an item before they purchase, you have to be even more on top of answering emails, questions and the like. It's easy to get lazy and think "it's just a small item, this customer isn't as important as someone spending $50."

As a seller, I have no idea what type of social networks my customers have. One buyer purchasing a $5 dollar item could be sending a lot of other customers my way via word of mouth. Word of mouth and referrals is also huge when selling online.

Want me to finish that joke? ;)

Merry Christmas to Me!

One of my Christmas presents from my husband was a craft room. He started it after Thanksgiving and was done by the 23rd of December. Quite the guy!

Since then, I have slowly, very slowly, but surely getting it organized. It is definitely a work in progress.

I'll give you your first sneak peek. Three pictures, that's it. :) More will follow as I get more done. I promise.

On either side of my built in work table, there is a cabinet with open shelves. One side is for my sewing supplies. Over the last few months, I've saved glass jars to store stuff in. Snaps, key fob hardware, buttons, pom pom trim, etc. I love the look. Under the cabinet are my sewing tools that I use daily.

On the other side is my scrapbooking and paper craft supplies. (Can't forget the kleenex box!) Under this cabinet is some misc scrapbooking supplies that don't fit in my other organizer.

These cabinets will fill up more as I get more stuff moved into this room. This will probably get moved around, rearranged as I figure out just how I like to work.

My table is a lot of storage space under it. The grey tote is my Good Intentions Tote which houses half finished projects, misc supplies, "oopsies" that need to the seams ripped, etc. (Please tell me I'm not the only one with this type of tote.) I have most of my scrapbooking papers, rubons, stamps, and such stored in the black organizer. My key fob supplies are in the 3 drawer organizer. On top of my Good Intentions Tote is my little tote of light switch covers and behind that is my jewelry making supplies. Looks like I won't be reaching into the GI Tote anytime soon, it's pretty buried! Also under the table is my shipping supplies and totes of fabric.

On Saturday Hubby got our big, beefy desk sanded down and restained. Once it is muscled into this room, there will be more to organize.

I have most of the fun and easy-to-put-away supplies organized. Now I'm left with a bunch of odds and ends. Stuff I don't want to get rid of but I don't really know what to do with. Should I get another tote and toss it all in there? :)

'Garnet ~ January Birthday Gift Ideas' by ablemabel

A gift idea for all those January birthdays! Happy Birthday to us! :)

GlassRiverJewe... $28.00	LilliansGarden $42.00	katylua $8.00	Ayca $48.00
hunterartist $20.00	Parsimony $76.00	alaparisienne $27.00	bayanhippo $44.00
allthatweare $15.00	lyoness8 $300.00	Raceytay $30.00	littlebugjewel... $83.00
SweetlyFallen $11.25	WallStarGraphi... $55.00	SewnNatural $54.00	NORIK $44.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Deal of the Week

How about a new feature? able mabel has some "oldies but goodies" that we'd love to clear out. Before we go ahead a open a clearance section in our shop, we're going to let our blog readers have first dibs on them. None of the merchandise is defective or flawed, unless specified. Sometimes the deal of the week will be a certain item. Sometimes it'll be a coupon code to our shop. Sometimes you'll have to go thru Etsy to purchase the item, other times you can purchase it straight from the blog.

We'll kick off with this apron. Reg. price: $24.50 with $2.50 for shipping.

Now: $16.50 with free shipping.

Click here to purchase it.

Ready, set, go!!

Wordless Wednesday

Weeding Out

When I first started Facebook, I had one goal in mind. To drive traffic to my Etsy shop. My name was "able mabel", instead of my real name. I added random people to my friends list, not caring whether or not I knew them.

At one point and time, I did start a business page for able mabel but quit it because it felt like I was doing the same thing twice.

As the weeks went by, I realized how many of my "real" friends were on Facebook. Yet, I hesitated to invite them to be my friends because I worried that they'd get annoyed at all my postings about able mabel.

I was also hesitant to share too much information about my family or to post pictures of them because I didn't really know my "friends" on Facebook. One can never be too careful on this World Wide Web.

In the last few months, I've realized the drawbacks of Facebooking in this manner. The amount of spammy messages and requests for all sorts of Farmville type games I've received has gone thru the roof. Annoying. Trying to keep up with my "real" friends is a joke (even when they're organized into lists).

Time for a drastic change.

I fired my business page back up. Click to become a fan. Most able mabel related postings will be done there.
I weeded out my friends list (from 2021 friends down to 160 friends).
I changed my name to my real name.
I updated my profile picture to a picture of Hubby and I. (slightly fuzzy but it's works)
I can now update my birthday and allow my friends to write on my wall again. (I had to take that off because I was getting so much spam on there.)

I'm loving the change! I spend way less time on Facebook now. (always a plus!)

Happy New Year!

Yep, this picture, although taken at another time, pretty much sums up our New Years. Our plans to get together with a few other families got nixed when our household got hit with an unwelcome bug.

First, a low grade fever and chills set in, followed by a sinus headache, coughing and a double barrel snot gun (aka runny nose).

The bug got the best of me on New Years Eve. I was still able to function, but barely. I had to rely on sinus meds to keep me somewhat sane. At 8pm, I started doing the 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, but instead of joining me, everyone just looked at me like I had three heads. Come on, it was midnight somewhere, right? ;)

By 9:30 pm, my nerves were shot and I again suggested we put the kids to bed. Hubby looked at me and said, "I have a better idea. Why don't you go to bed and I'll stay up with the older kids." "Why?", I protested, "I'm not cranky, they are." His rely was a raised eyebrow. I got the hint and snuggled into the sheets, cranking my heated mattress pad on high. I gotta admit, he was onto something. Sleep was simply blissful.

I got the scoop on how the rest of the night went from my 8 yr old:
"First Dad started snoring on the chair. Then we sent Clay (age 4) to go check the what numbers were on the clock. '1-0-5-3' he said. After a long time we sent him to check again. '1-0-5-5. The girls decided to go to bed. Then I decided to go to bed. Clay was the only one who stayed up. I don't know what he did."

Hubby was awaken at midnight from his slumber by some loud noises. "Will you quit banging on the house?", he asked the kids, his eyes still closed. Clay answered him, "It's fireworks from the neighbors, Dad." Happy New Yearzzzzzzzzzzzz.

As the bug made it way thru most of the family, we relied on two things to keep us out of eachother's hair. The ice rink in the backyard (started on Friday, ready by Sunday thanks to some MN-like weather) and the game Apples to Apples Jr. First try out on the rink. He pretty much had the whole thing to himself, he just had to dodge a sibling or two.Later when friends were over. Can you say traffic jam on ice? :) They didn't care. The more the merrier!

Apples to Apples Jr. is a wonderful family game! Our 6 yr old can play, although barely, and it's priceless to see her face when she's playing. I'm trying to get it captured on camera and will post pictures when I do.

May you all have a happy and blessed New Year!