Celebrating 2011!

It is 2011 and Daintie Designs is going strong. We are located on two sites, www.zibbet.com/daintiedesigns and http://www.daintiedesigns.etsy.com/. Right now we have more items listed on Zibbet than we do on Etsy, but this is soon to change. We have many goals for this New Year. We want to share a few of them with you in no particular order.



Goal 1: to blog on a more regular basis
Goal 2: to list all our items we have in stock regularly
Goal 3: to continue to offer the best customer service possible
Goal 4: to update our website at http://www.daintiedesigns.com/
Goal 5: to list on twitter and facebook on a regular basis - our twitter address is www.twitter.com/daintiedesigns and our facebook address is www.facebook.com/daintiedesigns
Goal 6: to continue to ship our items as fast as possible, usually within a few days, because I am blind it may take anywhere between 3-10 business days.
Goal 7: to communicate with our customers about new products
Goal 8: to continue to send our products off in the best presentation possible
Goal 9: to be organized in all our affairs
Goal 10: to make our goals happen


We have more goals that are within the company guidelines. We look forward to serving our customers in the best way possible. We want to continue to make customer service and quality products the forefront of our company. We have high hopes for the year 2011. We look forward to this year being a great year! We look forward to sharing our hopes with you.

From our hearts to yours, we wish you and yours a healthy, happy, joyful, fun New Year of 2011!
- Daintie Designs

2010 & All Its' Glory

In 2010 we celebrated 1 year online in September as Daintie Designs. This was a very exciting mark for us. We have begun to make a name for ourselves on the online front, especially on Etsy and Zibbet.  Many things have happened over the course of 2010. We added a helper named Claudia Paz who helps out 2 times a week or more. She is 15 & a bright young lady. She helps with orders, filing, and organizing. She is a great help and we are so blessed to have her.

We accomplished to have about 100 cards handmade and sold. We accomplished to add a line of quality tags to our line. We have been working hard with our 3 sister shops, the newest, Vintage Way, and our two busiest shops, Jewels So Sweet, and Mrs Supply. We have these shops listed on different venues. They are Bonanza.com, Etsy.com, and Zibbet.com.

We have been working really hard on our new studio which is soon to open in January of 2011. We have worked hard, I say we, when really it has only been one wonderful person, my dear father, Ron Corkrey. He has busted his tail week after week to make this beautiful studio for us. It is coming right along and is almost finished. It is stunning. We will show pictures soon. It's bright yellow and apple green. The sun shine so brightly through the windows. 

Stay tuned for our goals of 2011...

New at Daintie Designs:  tags! We now are offering our customer tags of all kinds for all kinds of things. They can be used for gifts, wrapping, gift bags, card making, scrapbooking, thank you notes, love notes, notes of any kind, christmas ornaments, christmas tags, valnetines, the uses are endless. We use quality card stock and quality ribbons from our sister store www.zibbet.com/mrssupply. You will be pleased with our new additions. Here are a few pictures to show you, but we will be listing a lot more as the days pass. Please view our new tags at www.zibbet.com/daintiedesigns.

Visit us at:  DaintieDesigns

SALE SALE SALE

SALE!!!!!

SALE! SALE! SALE! Contact us with code : FBFREE to buy 2 cards & get free shipping on as many items as you would like.  Good through May 31, 2010. We have over 70 cards instock & more in the making. Check back often. All you have to do is contact us with the code. So visit us at both Etsy & Zibbet.
 
Happy Shopping!
Remember: our cards are so much cheaper than what you can buy in the stores & so much more adorable!

Yet another reason I LOVE ZIBBET!

Hi guys,
I just wanted to quickly jump in here to add my two cents worth to what has been a pretty hectic week here at Zibbet, and apparently an 'interesting' one at Etsy.I just wanted you guys to be able to get a bit of a philosophical feel for how Jonathan and I and our team like to run our organisation.I figure if people are going to have the opportunity to trust us, then it will require communication and getting to know one another a bit more.So in that vein I'd like to list a few of our beliefs and values concerning how we would like to see Zibbet move forward as it grows bigger.

1. I want to say very emphatically that here at Z we are not in the business of bagging other venues. Whether they are better or worse than Z, we are not here to cast a shadow on what they do. Especially in light of events this week, let me say we are not interested in tearing down Etsy. We have a lot of respect for Etsy and what they have achieved and there is lots that we can learn from them.
2. Our leadership of Zibbet will not always be perfect, because as humans, we are imperfect. However, we will always endeavour to give our very best effort for the marketplace we have created and those who choose to belong to it. We will make mistakes, but we will never stop trying not to.
3. We will always seek to maintain the highest level of communication with our members as possible. This is motivated by the genuine desire to make Zibbet the best selling venue it possibly can be for your sake. We will always try to be available to our sellers by answering questions, listening to concerns or ideas and generally just being available to personally contribute to peoples' needs. Even as we grow very big, Jonathan and I plan to stay heavily involved in communicating directly with as many sellers as we possibly can. We know this will stretch us, but we are committed to it.
4. Common courtesy is a passion of ours so this will continue to dictate our behaviors and the way in which we interact with you. We believe if someone asks a question they deserve an answer. If we make a mistake, we will own it and apologise. We aim to treat every person with respect. We know we will probably not be able to please everyone, but we will not engage in the practice of 'simply writing people off' because they are upset about something.

All of this may sound lofty or overly romantic and nostalgic, but it is the truthful reality of our desire going forward.

Please feel free to quote or copy and paste these comments in any of your communication with others. If we work together, we can build one of the greatest online selling venues of all time.

A few thoughts from me, for what it's worth.

Andrew

Getting the Word Out There

At times it seems so difficult to promote your items for sale and the sites that they are for sale on. My mission over the next couple of weeks is to spread the word somehow about how people should visit my shops on Zibbet. Sometimes I think maybe the key is attraction NOT promotion. How can I attract people to visit me? How can I get them to want to visit me in the first place?

Well, first do I have what they want. I think so. I mean Daintie Designs right now specializes in greeting cards. I know greeting cards aren't used as much as they once were because of the world wide web, but they still are & should be an important part of the human exsistence. I mean it isn't only proper ettique to send a thank you note when you receive something nice, a gift, a gesture, etc., but it is the right thing to do because that is what your mother taught you. It is just simply polite and kind. And what about a good old fashion birthday card? Who doesn't love to receive snail mail still these days? And what better day than when we are celebrating their special day, they day we celebrate the people we care about. I could go on and on of why and when we should send cards.


Then I think about the cost of my items. I sell all my cards for $2.25. You can't even think of buying a nice card at any store for less than $3.50. So I think the cost is right. I mean these are handmade cards with a lot of love and care put into them let alone lots of time and money. Let me tell you - it isn't cheap to purchase all the things you need to make a homemade greeting card. So $2.25 is a very reasonable price I think.


So how can I promote or rather ATTRACT the general online person to me? To Zibbet? This is what I am going to try to learn to do because I don't have the answer right now. The first thing I am going to do is to send a mass email out to all those people who's email address I have and let them know that I exist. That I am here if they need me. I will let you know where I go from there.


You can visit me at: www.zibbet.com/DaintieDesigns  Hope to see you there.


Have a terrific day,


Jennifer K. O'Hara
Daintie Designs
Owner

Exciting Times

This is a really exciting time for Daintie Designs. We have been given the wonderful opportunity to be interviewed by our favorite online shopping place where we list our items - ZIBBET! Zibbet is a wonderful online community where you can shop and sell. If you are interested in a FREE place to sell your items just click here: FREE shop, website, online community !   I am so honored that I was asked to be the featured Zibbeter for the first week of March. What a wonderful treat. Take the time to check out Zibbet - the best online community! I love it & I am sure if you will too. I have all 3 of my shops listed there, Daintie Designs, Mrs Supply, and Jewels So Sweet. Each one is very different. Daintie Designs is my frist shop & the one where I am able to use my creative side. It is the shop I love to spend the most time in as I am able to let out my creativity that is within me, even blind I am able to show my creativity. I must admit I have gotten behind in Daintie Designs while I have been setting up the Jewels So Sweet shop. But I am just about to a place where my engery can again be dedicated to creating in Daintie Designs. I will keep you updated. Thank you all for your wonderful encouragement and support. It really does help me to keep going forward, especially on the days where my disibility wants the best of me. You lift me up! Thank you.  So here's 3 cheers to Zibbet!

Featured Zibbeter - DaintieDesigns

Featured Zibbeter - DaintieDesigns

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Even a BETTER ~~~~~~~ SALE sale SALE sale SALE ~~~~~~

Daintie Designs is having a better SALE!

Buy 2 cards get 1 regular (non-holiday) card for FREE!


(the free card must be have the same or lesser value than the purchased cards)

http://www.daintiedesigns.etsy.com/

Daintie Designs is having a SALE!

Buy 3 cards get 1 regular (non-holiday) card for FREE!

(the free card must be have the same or lesser value than the purchased cards)

http://www.daintiedesigns.etsy.com/

Is there ever enough time? Is there ever enough room?

Well the first question is quite easy to answer. No. There is never enough time and there will never be enough time. This really hit home for me when my mother passed away over 5 years ago. There just isn't enough time to love, to play, to read, to work, to create, to listen, to talk, to hold hands, to garden, to clean, to fish, to think, to meditate, to just be. Nope there isn't enough time and there will never be enough time. One more minute with my mother would not be enough nor was the last minute we shared enough. So what I gather from all of this is make the best use of you time and enjoy this very moment. Those two things are the only things that can help me have the acceptance and surrender to the answer being NO! No, there is not ever going to be enough time.


Moving on to the second question. Now this is a little more complicated I think. I also think it depends solely on the person at hand. So I will talk about me. I want there to be enough room and I dream and maybe even believe that yes there is enough room, just not now. I could go room by room and the answer would be the same, but to different degrees and for different reasons. So I will concentrate on the wonderful studio, craft room, office, den, etc. It is the place where all my wonderful things that make me wake up and have a certain feeling that is hard to describe. They are things that I want to feel, touch, stare into, play with, simply use them to create something great. Why is it that there is so much room for the items, but not nearly enough room for me or anyone else to walk through the room or even sit down and create? There is this tiny space that keeps getting smaller and smaller for me to sit down and have room to do what I love, play with glue and paper and ribbon and all kinds of fun materials. My husband and many other people would say do not buy another thing. Point well taken. My answer, build a new studio!


Yes a new studio is on the way. It is going to be fabulous. I am off to dream about it for now....

My Crayons & Coloring Book

Remember learning how to pick up the crayon and try so hard to stay between the lines of the coloring book? You would try and try and it would be so hard, but you continued to color.

Then you realized it didn't really matter if you stayed between the lines or not, it was about doing your best. You really were proud of what you colored. The crayons felt so good touching the paper and sliding across the page. You felt so happy inside to show off your piece of art. Well, the same applies to me today in many areas of life and I still love that feeling when I accomplished something and I want to share it with another person so I can have that reward of praise.

Lately I have been using my crayons. Being blind is a lot like this - a lot of trial & error. A lot of learning how to stay between the lines. So I have been teaching myself to do more & more blind with my work. I can make a complete card without my eyesight. It is really something to make something when you cannot see it then hours later have your eyesight and be able to see it. It is really a weird feeling. It really reminds me a lot of a grown-up version (with me having IH & blindness) of peek-a-boo. The strange thing is the "peek" lasts a really long time. The "boo" is most magnificent because I used my hands, my mind, my supplies, my creativity in the most amazing way; all hidden behind blackness. Then "boo" - hours later you see just what came of it all! Amazing how that works for me isn't it? I am even more amazed how I used my crayons and stayed in the lines! My very first instinct after seeing it for myself is wanting to show Brendan or Dad, or whoever will give me praise. My friend Shirley praises me a lot. I adore her for this. It is nice to have a friend and family members supporting you to use your crayons no matter what and to praise you even if you didn't stay in the lines. We all need praise. We all want that reward. I think it is only natural.

So here's to crayons and coloring books, peek-a-boo & all those who give me the reward in life of praise.

Week One - Daintie Designs Officially Opens

Daintie Designs Officially Opens


Brendan & I got our business license in November of 2007. 2008 - An entire year was spent on reading about being an entrepreneur, having an online business, & everything else you can imagine about starting our own company. Our first year was in the red & we paid our taxes to prove so! LOL


2009 - I stepped it up a few notches. I got going on setting up Daintie Designs website, learning about Etsy, and taking the actions needed to get these sites running. I completed our business plan. I could not stop thinking of DD, Daintie Designs day & night. My mind started going full speed ahead about products, supplies, customers, inventory, & so much more. My whole career before I became ill had been in order fulfillment in some aspect or another. It ended with being the Operations Manager for Muench Yarns, a yarn wholesaler. So I have the experience & the mind to make this happen, but I had my doubts.


After all the planning, spending money on supplies, way too much spending by the way, & getting all geared up to put some products online; it happened!


I use to dream about having my own card company since I have been a little girl. I have always loved gluing paper, cutting, and doing just about all crafting. I always wanted to sell my work, but instead I would love to make the cards and mail them to family and friends. I have been called the "card girl" many times. I never thought it would happen this way. That I would become ill, lose my eyesight, need more income to survive, and I would open an online store. This is my story and I love it. It's who I am today.


So the doors opened to Daintie Designs. In my very first week I sold more than 70 cards! I could not believe it. The orders kept coming in one by one. I was blown away! I still am. It will be a while, a long while, before the red becomes green, but I am on my way & I could not be happier.




Enjoy my website at DaintieDesigns.Become a fan on Facebook.


Find my online shops on Etsy, Artfire, Zibbet, and Shophandmade.


Thank you for supporting Daintie Designs. Our goal is to make you smile or those you gift to. Enjoy THIS moment ~ for it is all we have.

Working When I Can

It is now 1:49am & I am working away with my eyesight. I am making cards, drinking bubbly water, & waiting for the love of my life to get home from a late night being the good man that he is for us. Each card I make, I think oh I don't know about this one, there might be one in the middle that I really like, but for the most part I am not satisfied with the work I have done. I have made some blind & boy if those aren't something else. But no matter what they all are made with the hands God gave me. I really do put my heart and soul into each one of them and I hope the best end result comes to them. I am glad there is always room for improvement. I am glad that I am out of touch with my hands because that leaves me room to get things together and make things better. I would be bored if everything was perfect with no room for improvement. So things are the way they are meant to be for today. I will continue to do my best and put my heart into each one of them. Back to work I go, waiting for him to walk through the front door any minute now.

How did the idea of me running a busniess start?

I have always wanted to run my own busniess, but never really had the time or complete gumption to get such a big task done. I have always been in love with paper. I am the greeting card queen. I have been since I can remember as a child. I love to use my hands and paint, cut, paste, etc. But the real start of this venture began when I was visiting my dear sister, Kathleen Corkrey Johnson, in her hometown of Murray, Utah, just outside Salt Lake City. Her and I were shopping the stores and were noticed how items from her very successful business from 20 years ago were coming back in style. Her business was call "Poppy Patch." She was a wholesaler of custom items for girls. She even sold to Nordstroms! She is an amazing artist with such a creative mind. So she of course knowing of my financial situation due to my disease knocking out of corporate America with a very successful job I had, I needed something to help bring in some money. So with her kind heart, she said "Jenn why don't you take all my Poppy Patch stuff & make your own business?" I was shocked at first & then delighted & then in awe that she would be so kind to me to just give me such a prized possession. So I went back home. Thought about it & weeks later drove out to Murray with dear old Daddio to pick up all the left over items from Poppy Patch. I couldn't be happier. While I was there she gave me lots of lessons & pointers. I wrote them all down in a book to save & refer back to. So I came home with lots of boxes piled every way the van would hold & believe it or not we managed to get everything in the van. I am still so touched my my sister's generosity to just give me her old business. She is so loving and kind. I appreciate her so very much. I have always been a crafy gal myself. My love is paper. So I thought I could combine my talents with the "Poppy Patch" theme. So that is what I have done. I specialize in hair designs, decors, cards, favors, and gifts. That is a broad range of things and I love it that way. The sky is the limit for me and my business. Next.... naming the business......

Waiting for the light

It's a Great morning each morning I wake up. Some are tougher than others because not only am I in pain, but I am in the darkness. Today I have both. But I will not allow either to get my spirits down, but today to be honest it is a struggle. I wish Momma was here to hold me and protect me from the pain of IH...I wish she could lay down with me and tell me the good things, we could laugh together, and this would help redirect my thinking about the pain the hurt of not being able to see. Oh how I miss my Momma. The pain is in my head, it hurts like someone is taking a knife & stabbing me with it. It is in my legs like I have walked a marathon and believe me I am out of shape so that is some pain! My hands and arms ache like I had lifted boxes and boxes of heavy books with them yesterday. But most of all my heart hurts as does my true inner spirit that I can not see the words I am typing, the cats who want to come in and out this morning, my own hands. I can not see Brendan, especially his facial expressions or other fantastic body parts - all of them! :o) I am saddened that I can't see the sky to see if it's dark or light outside. I am sad. I am sad a lot when I am in darkness, but I push it down most of the time & do my best to persevere through it so I may reach in and feel the true spirit rise above my sadness, above my fears and let what I love about myself shine. That truly no matter what I wait for light and I am okay waiting. It will come again. Soon I hope. If not then I too will be the wonderful child of God that He meant me to be. I will rise above the anxiety of fear and sadness and wait for the light. It so beautiful when it comes. It like no other experience you could imagine. When you have been in total darkness and then all of a sudden - BOOOM out of no where... you can see... you see color, you see light, you faces, you see loved ones, you see, you see, you see. Oh it's magical. Then there is no fear or sadness. Then there is only the wonderful light of the day. Only the true happiness and gratitude a heart can feel. Only the thankfulness that I can see. Gosh what a feeling it is. I wish I could explain it better into words. It's just amazing, truly "Amazing Grace!" So with this I will end my blog for this wonderful morning. It is going to be a great day. I have talked myself away from the sadness and the fear for now as I wait for light of the moment. It's going to be so glorious, as it is each and every time. Mom is with me now in spirit, she is with me each time the darkness becomes light. Thank God for the angels in my life, especially the most radiant angel, my dear Momma.

I made one of the local San Francisco Bay Area Newspapers!

There are some confusions, but overall this was a well put together story written & I am very excited about it! I hope there are more to come about the golf tournament! My website for my business is www.daintiedesigns.com.

Here is the link to the newspaper article - http://www.marinscope.com/inscope/subpage.php?story=Mn3&p=rossvalleyreporter!

Pretty exciting to be in any newspaper - what an honor to get the word out about IH. It just makes me so happy.


Enjoy the read!


Remember: All we have is today, let's make the most of it. I am going to do my best in the darkness & in the light.

A Blind Swim - A Great Partner

My husband, Brendan, and I went to the beautiful American River for a peaceful day away & to cool off in the mountain cold waters. It is about a 1.5 hour drive up there or so & I was blind the entire way. So I took a nap for a good portion of it. Other than that we had some needed nice conversation. Once we got there, we decided where we going to go on the River. It is actually a convergence so there are lots of places we could have chosen, but not matter which one, it's always a long hike down the mountain. After 3 years of directing me with blindness, Brendan is pretty darn good at giving me directions on which way to go & how to place my footing etc. We are a great team actually when it comes to this routine. So down we went. Soon I could hear the water moving, the water rushing, but mostly the people having fun. We picked a great spot where a group of people were just leaving & we had the whole spot to ourselves. I quickly got undressed in to 107 degree weather in Auburn, CA. & ask Brendan to assist me to the water where I could get in & sure enough my sight came back! Yippppeeeeeee, for now I could manage all by by myself. But the gent that he is, he still reaches his hand out so I don't fall on the rocks.


So the late afternoon turns into evening and the sun continues to shine down upon us as we play in the water. The neat thing about the area where we are swimming at is if we go in at one area, float down about 30 feet you can feel the water turn drastically warm. It is a lot of fun to go back and forth. Then we take a walk up the river about a football yard or so and go in there where the water is calm, like a pool. We play around in the water there for about a half an hour or so then walk back because the water is too turbulent and shallow to ride the river back to where our belongings are located.


Once we get back and go into the water I lose my eyesight. I choose to stay in the water. I know the spot well enough, we have been there so many times over the past 10 years that I feel comfortable enough to be in total darkness to swim around the rocks from the freezing cold water down to the warm water. But let it be known that I am still scared to be in total blackness. I am afraid of the turbulence, the rocks, the unknown that lack of eyesight brings even when you know the place so well, but I swim around it anyways. What fear I have, yet what courage I feel. I can conquer my fears. I can do it. I can live life in darkness and have fun just as I was with my sight. Soon the sunlight on my eyes hurts too much, where I must get out of the water and put my sunglasses on. Then we both decide we have had enough for a day & we start to gather our things.


We change our clothing. Gather up and Brendan starts forward and I hold on to the blanket he is carrying and listen to his voice direct me up the long steep mountain side. This scares me the most. I am afraid of my footing slipping on the rocks or the lose dirt. But each time I feel the fear start to take over my courage, I say a prayer asking God to give me the strength I need to endure the fear, trust in God and Brendan that I will be safe and I continue forward mustering up as much courage as I have in me up up up the mountain. It seems like it takes forever, but soon enough Brendan tells me we are almost to the car, so I push up a little more and soon enough we are there in the blackness.


We are in the car & I lay back to take my nap for the day in my darkness all the way home for over an hour and a half. The traffic is bad. Before I know it, I am home, sightless, but with dignity that I can live life no matter what obstacles are put in my path. I have fun if I am in the light or the dark. God is great all the time, especially when you have a partner next to you who believes in you. Brendan is a great partner in my life.

Good Morning Sight

I woke up this morning at 6am to take the little green dish full of daily 6am pills I take each & every day. I decided I would start staying up in the mornings managing my way through the brain pain, abdominal pain, & leg pain so I could get more hours into my day awake and hopefully with sight. I have been doing this for about 2 weeks now. So far I have gotten more hours - maybe - but not more sight. Sometimes it doesn't matter if I am asleep or awake that gives me darkness. This morning I woke up with sight, what a glorious thing to wake up to. I can't tell you what a motivator it is to wake up & be able to see your own hands, see the bottle of water you drink from, see the color of the coffee cup you will drink from, the list goes on & on of things I am happy to see. I have true gratitude this morning.

My goal today is to continue to make product. I admit I am real rusty at my actual crafting because I got so caught up in the to her elements of starting a business. It scared me a bit yesterday, I thought to myself "how on earth am I going to earn a living with this stuff?" But I know like anything else with sight or no sight it takes practice. So today we are just going to keep it simple and practice life.