Whew! I've been busy!

Felt.  I love it!  Not just any felt, but wool-blend felt.  I love wool blend felt.  It's soft, it comes in lots of pretty colors, and it can turn something "average" into something that looks very high end.


I love wool-blend felt cuts that can be transformed from 2-dimensional shapes to 3-dimensional works of art that you can wear.


I have been so busy over the past few days making lots and lots of creations with my gigantic stash of felt shapes.


I've turned those little shapes into beautiful carnations for clippies, like this set below.  This is my "Candy Collection" set. 

You can see them on my Etsy shop, here.  The set was featured in the "A Tisket a Tasket Pretty Gift for the Easter Basket" Treasury.  You can see the entire treasury here.

I've turned circles into little puff flowers for clippies.  This is my "Chocolate Hearts Collection" set.

They can be seen in my Etsy shop here.

I've taken cuts of felt and turned them into beautiful roses.

I've put the roses on headbands like this one.  When I began, it was a very plain, lavender satin-lined headband.  I took my "Butterfly Kisses" collection, and look at it now!

Here it is in my Etsy shop.

I've also put them onto elastic headbands.  Can't you just picture an adorable bald head wearing this?

I made this one for my cousin's daughter, Natalie, as part of her Christmas outfit.

Or how about these two?

These were made as baby shower gifts.

I've also used the roses on clippies. 

I've done them in clusters, like this set, on a "regular" sized alligator clip.

I've also put them singly, on itty bitty clippies, like this set that I made for my new niece, Gabrielle.

This is my "Baby Baby Collection" palette.

How about some fun mums?  I love the way these look.  This set is on fold over elastic.  I'm actually waiting on professional shots of this one on a model.  Any day now!

My newest flowers are the hydrangeas.  I have them in "mini" and "regular" size, and today I've gone hydrangea crazy!

This is my Aloha collection, and the headband is in my shop here.  These are the "min" size.

These ones are "regular" sized.



This is my "Tropical Collection".  This headband can be found here.

This one is also in the "Tropical Collection", but is on shocking pink elastic lace.  It is in my shop here.  It was also included in the "Springtime Hair Candy" Treasury on Etsy, here.

Well, I can safely say that I've been using my time wisely over the past few days.  Now, to figure out how to drive customers to my Etsy shop to buy all of these amazing things I've made.



Felt and Ribbon - Making Matches

So today I decided that I should sit down, with all of the felt cuts that I have, and match them to the ribbon that I have so that when I want to put them on clips I'll know just what color to grab.

I sat down, with my collections on my screen, and my ribbon chart in front of me set to go.

How long could it take, right?  Matching felt to ribbon?  Not too long....or so I thought.

I made a list of felt colors with the matching ribbon color, and then made a list of each of the collections I have with the ribbon colors I'd need.

Yeah...two hours later I was done.

So much for being productive while the kids were at school...

Beading Parties by The Purple Alligator? You Bet!

That's right! The Purple Alligator is now offering beading parties.


Are you looking for a neat party idea?  Maybe something that nobody else has done yet?  How about hosting a beading party?

Does your Girl Scout troop need to work on earning badges?  What about using a beading party as a way to help them earn their Jeweler badge?

Take the worry out of planning your child's next party, or your next "Girls' Night In".  You provide the space, and I'll bring everything you need for your guests and you to make a beaded necklace or a beaded bottlecap necklace.

Purple Alligator Beading Parties can accomodate up to 10 people and include:

• 10 invitations
• 2 hours of fun
• lots of beads and findings so you can make a necklace that is perfect for you.

Beading Party Details:

• Parties are designed for ages 8 and up.
• Parties are not limited to birthday parties.  They can be fun for a "Girls' Night" for big girls, too!
• The Purple Alligator will provide all of the supplies including bottlecap charms (if desired), beading boards, findings, and tools.  No outside beads allowed.
• Party cost is $150 for two hours, and a $50 non-refundable deposit is required at the time of party booking.

***If you require a certain theme for the images for your bottlecaps, or a specific color scheme for the beads, a 4-week lead time is required in the event that they are not currently in stock.***

If you are interested in setting up a beading party, you can e-mail me at laura@the-purple-alligator.com and we will set up your party.

Clippies Here, Clippies There, Clippies Clippies EVERYWHERE!

Almost every hair accessory that I create requires an alligator clip to attach it to.

I line my alligator clips with ribbon, and it always seems to take me forever to get it done.  Because of this, I always put it off.

Well, because I've decided to do a craft show, I have to have a supply of lined alligator clips to attach my bows and flowers to.

Last week was "Clippie Week".  I had a bunch of ribbon cut to size (literally, hundreds of pieces), but had to put my adhesive on the back and then attach it to the clips.

EVERY day of last week consisted of lining alligator clips.  Even when I had the kids outside, I brought out a TV tray, my basket of ribbon, and my clips.

This is how it went down.

I took all of my ribbon cuts and lined them with my adhesive...

This left me with close to 100 feet of ribbon mess craziness.

After that, I had to cut all of the little pieces apart.

It seemed some much more managable once it was all neatly cut and in a small basket.

Once it was all cut, the lining began.  I lined when the kids were in school.  I lined when the kids were in bed for the night.  I lined when I brought the kids outside to play.  I was lining, lining, lining...

My neighbor even made the comment, when he was at the mailbox, that he really liked my new office -- because he had seen me in the same spot in our driveway, lining clippies, all week long as I had the kids outside!

I thought that I would never get to the bottom of my little basket -- which held much more ribbon than I ever imagined it would.

As I lined, I put the clips into a basket.  I didn't realize how many clips I had actually done until I finished and dumped them all out onto the TV tray I was slave to all week long.

Hundreds of clippies later, I'm ready to put some of them on bows.

Do you think I have enough to choose from?

To Craft Fair or Not to Craft Fair...That is The Question

I've been making things for sale for about 2 years now.  I have had success on a small scale, but I want to expand.

I know that my stuff is good, because when people order from me they don't order a bow or two, they order crazy numbers -- 15, 20, 32 -- those are actual numbers from orders that I've had.

People tell me that they like my stuff, and with the order sizes that I get, I know that they do.

I'm ready to branch out and start selling to people that I don't know.

I thought that giving donation baskets to local schools would help me branch out.  Sadly, I never got anything from the donations that I gave, and I would donate HUNDREDS of dollars of my products each time I was asked for a donation.

I've contemplated doing an Open House, but again, that would mostly be people that I know.  If someone brought a friend or two, I may get one or two new contacts, but I need to reach farther.

I think the next level of sales is going to have to be a craft fair.  The thought gets me nervous for two reasons.

First, I once did a show.  It was a fundraiser for a shelter for women and children.  I was so excited.  I created and created and created.  I worked like a crazy lady to get things ready.  I had bows, clippies, headbands and beanies with flowers, and bling bead jewelry.  I had a neighbor come with me to keep me company and help with sales.  I did ZERO in sales that day.  How disappointing was it that I worked for WEEKS to get ready for this and didn't sell one thing.

Second, I have not really seen bows on children around here.  Maybe it's because there is not anyone is this area that sells them.  I've seen a few here and there, but they are awful.  They look like they were grabbed off of a hook at Dollar Tree.

My products are not expensive.  I even had a friend help me to price them.  She made me raise my prices because she said that what I was charging was barely covering costs.

So that's it.  In writing this I've talked myself into doing a craft fair, and I know when my first one will be.  I will be reserving a space, under the pavillion, at the Sixth Annual Fox Lake Sping Festival of Crafts in Titusville on April 2.  I have about 9 weeks to work on my doodads to have a good stash to bring with me.

I'll have to do updates, and include pictures, to keep me on track.

Ooh...the butterflies just started.

Monday...That Means No Work for Me

Mondays. Everyone hates them. I understand why...it's because they've just enjoyed their weekend , and they have to head back to work.


Everyone, that is, except for me. I can't work on Mondays, because my kids are home.

On Mondays we are usually slow to start, and it's always been that way.

Today included doing a small food shop at Publix, because we ran out of mini juice boxes, and we need them for snack in school next week.


We were also on the lookout for Fudge Covered Ritz crackers. One word - Stupendous. I found them at Christmastime while I was in Target. They were by the front registers, so I grabbed a box. I figured that I'd give them a try. Ritz crackers...chocolate...salty goodness mixed with sweet -- what's not to like?

The good thing was that they were a "Limited Time Only" item. The bad this is that they were a "Limited Time Only" item.



So I got to thinking...Grimaldi Candies has a new storefront right over on US1. So, after we did our little food shop -- and came up empty-handed for Fudge Covered Ritz -- we headed over there to see if we could find them.



Well, they did not carry them, BUT, the (very cute) guy that I spoke with told me that if I bring a box of Ritz down to him, he'll make them for me in my choice of chocolate -- milk or dark.



For me, who HATES asking questions and inquiring about things, this was a big deal. But, a big deal that really paid off! I'll be heading to Publix tomorrow for their BOGO Ritz Crackers and deliver a box to the very nice man at Grimaldi's. I can't wait to pick them up on Friday.



The remainder of the day included a "sunny snack" in the driveway of cheese and crackers, and some carrot dip chips and broccoli and ranch dressing, some scootering and some bike riding. Then, my neighborhood BFF, Ladena, came over to talk, and she and I passed the time -- about 2.5 hours -- just chatting.

It's now 6:30, supper is finishing, and I have yet to get any work done today.

But hey, it's Monday, and I NEVER get any work done on Mondays!

Hm....What's This Blog Thing?

So I remembered that I have a blog, and that it has been a LONG time since I did anything on it.  So I went back to check, and it's been almost two years!

That's not okay.

So, I have decided that each day I will post something.  It might be what I'm doing that day (well, if I can get productive), or maybe just something that's on my mind.

So here it goes...today begins the rest of my blogging days.