In my in box was this newsletter from another handmade artisan. (I've removed the identifying information.) I share it with you to illustrate a very important point in handmade marketing - DAMAGE CONTROL and how to handle a disaster.
_____

(name removed) & I are closing our online doors!

We have gotten behind and had too many negative feedbacks, subsequently Ebay has suspended our account and we can no longer get our order information.

If you have placed an order with us within 45 days, PLEASE got to paypal and open a dispute, it will be decided in your favor and you will get your money back.

If you paid by check please contact us through our web site within the next 48 hours so we can get your information and get your (item we make) to you.

If you placed an order and it has been OVER 45 days, you will not be able to get your money back so PLEASE contact us through our web site - we have orders written down just not the shipping addresses, so we can still get your beads to you, but will need you to give us your shipping info.


We are so sorry! We may open our web site up again someday for custom work once we have made all of our (item we make) in waiting and paid off paypal (you will get your refunds regardless, just wait the obligatory 7 days I believe).


Best to all and thanks for your support through the years- (names removed, business name removed)
_____

Now, compare it to the following rewrite which says the same thing, but phrases it very differently:

_______

Dear Customers,

(Name and I) have decided we need to take a breather from our online store. It has become clear that we need to focus on filling our current backlog of orders, so we are regretfully closing our store for the time being. Thank you for all your business and faith in us.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have placed an order with us that has not been delivered, we cannot access your customer information and may not have a shipping address for you. We intend to either issue a prompt refund or fill your order as requested, but in order to do that, we need to hear from you right away. Please contact us at (email address) so we can make individual arrangements.

If you wish to be contacted when our store reopens, please drop us a line at ( email address).

Best Wishes,
Names
__________

The first is a stunning example of how NOT to talk to your customers. Let's face it, life happens and we all screw up in business at some point or another. The order gets misplaced and we forget about it or we get unmotivated and we miss the deadline on a custom order. How you recover from these kinds of mistakes is a measure of not only your integrity, but also your commitment to customer service.

Remember, if you do a good job, people might tell their friends. If you do a BAD JOB, people will tell EVERYONE!

While the content of this email is glaringly honest, the phrasing leaves a TERRIBLE taste in my mouth as a potential customer of this business. When I got this, I was forcefully reminded of my mother's propensity when I was growing up to blissfully ignore the pointed nasty looks from us kids and go on happily telling to the grocery checker or waitress every embarrassing personal detail of our lives. (Thankfully, she has gotten much better about this as we have gotten older!) It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion and having NO POWER to stop it. From a customer standpoint, I'd never trust these people with my money ever again. They just admitted they are incompetent slackers who can't manage to fill orders or ship goods in a timely fashion. Not only that, they just told us they couldn't be proactive and tell their customers what was going on. I don't know about you, but I can forgive a screw up if someone apologizes and makes it right. But if I got stone silence followed by this? HELLO, keep your items and give me a REFUND!!

The lesson here is: there is such a thing as too much honesty! There are many ways to say the same thing, and while you should always be honest in any communication to your customers, you don't have to make yourself look irresponsible and untrustworthy by baring your mistakes like this. It is not necessary (not to mention, deeply harmful) to share with them with information they SHOULD NOT know about your internal operations.

Now, if I had gotten the message the rewritten message instead, I would feel a lot differently about this business. I would be much more understanding and probably be willing to take the personal gesture of apology and contact them to work out my order (had I placed one). Even if I didn't have an order pending, I'd be much more likely not to write them off completely, as the first email has caused me to do.

If the worst happens, you don't need to go into your whole tragic story and frankly, do you really want your customers to know that you have screwed up on such a massive scale that Ebay suspended your account? People don't want to hear excuses, they want to know what's going to happen now. Just address their concerns and remain professional and polite.

What do you think? How would you have written this kind of message? How have you handled a similar faux-paus in your business? Please comment below so we can all learn from each others mistakes.

I got my personal set of Hot Rod colors last night. (I make zero claim to any ability as a manicure expert.) Here's what the hot rod collection looks like on my nails.


from Thumb: Crusin', Nitro Injected, Hot Spot, Lowrider, Little Déuce Coupé


From Thumb: Lowrider, Little Déuce Coupé, Nitro Injected, Cherry, Baby and Crusin'

Lowrider, Cherry, Baby, Hot Spot and Nitro Injected go on really smooth and dense. You could get away with one coat. Crusin' and Little Déuce Coupé, being matte colors, are a bit trickier and you may need up to three coats for full color density.

Cherry, Baby has a very subtle glitter sparkle in it. Nitro Lowrider and Hot Spot all have a nice metallic sheen.

I hear the next set from BB Couture, tentatively titled Heros and Villians, will have Torch in it.

Summer days are so great for a good read! Here's a selection of handmade bookmarks to enhance that juicy read with an elegant touch.


Two beaded book thongs from my good friend Debbie over at Santiam Designs. The copper colored book thong she sent me last year is currently marking my place in Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind.




Exotic Burl Wood Bookmarks by Boxnmor


Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Book Beads by Boofolo Beads. I'm taking the family to see it after work. Kidlet is massively excited.



Brisinger Book Beads by Boofolo Beads





These hand dyed fabric bookmarks by Ruby Mountain Dyeworks really caught my eye this morning. Love the combo of handdyed fabrics with such elegant design!






Copper and Leather bookmark from wiretree



Beautifully illustrated Shakespeare bookmarks on leather by Immortal Longings

Copper Fern Leaf metal bookmark by Star Flower Silver


What do you use to mark your place? Please share a link for your favorite bookmark.

Another bag for Carried Away's Summer of Freedom. Come visit the team shop to get a great bag and support our troops.

The Great American Melting Pot by TM Solsisters
Remember those School House Rock cartoons on TV every Saturday morning in the 70's and 80's? I learned all about our how our government is supposed to work and some American history from those catchy tunes. What I also absorbed was the feeling of pride and belief in the dreams America was founded on. Now that I am an adult, I realize government is not so simple and maybe those ideals had more to them then what was in the songs, but I still believe in the core ideal of freedom to live your own life and make what you can of yourself.

"The Great American Melting Pot" is my tribute to the song of the same name that really explained to my then 8-year old mind how America was the land of second chances for so many. It also taught how Americans are made of many backgrounds and that, in the early days, our country welcomed them all. I've tried to teach my daughter that same idea of tolerance for everyone she encounters.

Flashback from Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWJ4udW41Ns

This flowerpot-style bag is Americana through and through. Red patchwork base with a stripe of white topped off with origami blue frayed edge stars made by my daughter. The bag is lined in blue with a zipper pocket and a red pocket. Long handles of deep indigo with a white floral pattern make this a comfortable shoulder bag or tote.

Measures 14" across the top, 7" the bottom. Base is about 2" wide. Closes with a magnetic snap.

Just $30!

In honor of the release of the Hot Rod Collection of nail polish by BB Couture which I inspired and named, I'm giving away one full set of all six smashin' colors ($53) plus one awesome handmade flame makeup zip pouch ($20).

Cherry, Baby! - A sweet candy apple red with high shine and a "begging for a speeding ticket" attitude!
Crusin' - Bright, cream neon orange, smooth and delicious, but never ignored.
Hot Spot - The ghost flames in this nuclear orange are alive with deep red undertones.
Lil' Deuce Coupé - The perfect lemon yellow for hot summer days.
Lowrider - Take a tall drink of grape soda and mix in some pearlescent shine.
Nitro Injected - This sassy blue is all about wide open skies with the top down doing 90mph!

To win this $83 prize (limit four entries per person, per day):
1) Follow my blog (place your follow name in first box)
2) Tweet my giveaway and paste the link in first box
3) Put my giveaway on your facebook and page paste the link in first box
4) Promote my giveaway some other way and paste the link in first box

Entries MUST have an email address to be valid.

GET TEN BONUS ENTRIES!!!!!
1) Make a purchase of $20 or more from my shop
2) Make a purchase of $20 or more from the Carried Away Team shop to support our solider

Shipping of your prize inside the US will be free of charge.
If my winner is international, I will deduct $4.95 from the shipping price.

ENTER BELOW! if you have already entered manually, I have entered your info into the form and deleted the public comment to protect your privacy





GIVEAWAY ENDS 7/24/09.

My sister asked for some special makeup pouches to give to the first few people who purchased our Hot Rod Collection of nail polish by BB Couture. I was going to create something with this great piece of red and black with an abstract flame pattern ... but then I decided to try this out. I drew the flame in illustrator and traced it onto a paper backed fabric adhesive. Then I ironed the orange flame onto the front panel and used two strands of thread (one orange rayon and one red cotton) to outline the flames and add more flame detail. The edges are left raw and will fray with washing, giving it kinda a retro 40's feel.

I'm really pleased with how these two came out and anxious to see how the other 2 come up.

That's right, PROMOTE A BROTHER. We've got a man on the Carried Away team! Say Hello to Bill from Third Willow. Bill makes lush, elegant bags with a huge punch of retro style.

Of his rather unusual choice to make designer bags, Bill says:

I have been an interior designer for over seven years now and have always had a creative outlet....Recently, I find myself in a managerial position, still within design, but far less creative. I had to put that untapped energy somewhere.

I spent over a year learning to knit and loved it then and love it still...... But I wanted more. One year ago I received a sewing machine for my birthday and started my most current adventure.
I sewed anything and everything I could think of. Once our home had been lovingly drapped in fabric within an inch of it's life, I knew I had to find more.

Priscilla's Penthouse Clutch in Gold and Black Damask with Turquoise Ribbon

I decided to make a handbag from a pattern or two and found that I got bored rather quickly, so I designed a few of my own, and a few more after that until I found myself making more bags then I could ever give away. And, friends and family kept asking to buy some for their friends and family..........and Third Willow was born.

The Edith Weekender Bag in Houndstooth - SALE

Third Willow is based on custom designed simplistic vintage inspriations with an updated look. A majority of my custom designed pieces are based on vintage inspired upholstery and drapery fabrics mixed with quirky grosgrain ribbon and sculptural accents. I also I find myself drawn to outrageous colors and patterns inspired by 50's kitsch, art deco, art noveau, pop art, asian culture.....pretty much anything that strikes my fancy!

The Charlotte Weekender Bag in Brown and Russet Floral - SALE

Third Willow's mission is to create custom designed vintage inspired accessories with modern sensibilities! Using inspiration from the 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's, most handbag fabrics are chosen because they are beautiful, modern re-interpretations of vintage style, while a few are truly vintage fabric. Many of the shapes of the bags were re-interpreted from pictures of handbags and clutches from the 1920's - 1970's. Simplification of shape and addition of useful interior pockets added modern sensibilities to these beautiful antique and vintage purse designs. The end result is custom designed vintage inspired handbags with modern sensibilities!

Yeah I know I am a little slow on this one, but I did finally get a facebook page. So come say hello!

Kim says I can release the password protected order page for my Hot Rod Nail Polish collection by BB Couture to my blog readers. And really, who am I to argue?

She was in a car accident tonight, she's okay. Car not so much... but in no condition to take down the page on schedule. So we'll just share the link with a few of our favorite people.. like... say my readers!UPDATE!
She has moved the polish to the main catalog. You can get it and the rest of the BB Couture line at Overallbeauty.com

Holly and I spent some time tonight getting Carried Away's Herobox ready to ship. My most wonderful client Dana happened to be with me when I was shopping for goodies to fill the box and he insisted on paying for EVERYTHING. This box is STUFFED to the gills. Now if we can just sell some FREEDOM Bags so that we can send another one next month!

Speaking of bags, Holly helped me get another one just about ready to go. Here's the side panels for my 2nd freedom bag The Great American Melting Pot. This flowerpot bag will have circular bottom and a blue lining with an inside zip pocket. It will close on top with a red zipper and have long, patchwork handles. Haven't decided if they will be red or blue yet. Holly made more origami stars to applique to the bag and tucked a note in our herobox to our solider and her unit.