Hello of Ms. Veronicas’ insiders, I hope life is being very well to you. I’ve been spending my time having fun with my chocolate business, sharing exclusive Dove Chocolate products at tasting parties where my customers get to try before they buy and my host earns free product based on the sales from her party. I also spend time with my team members aka fellow Chocolate Trailblazers. I’ve also been traveling and having a blast doing so – the picture below is of me in our exclusive Chocolatier pool at the Marriott Resort in St. Kitts. I earned the trip while working my Chocolate business and the double blessing for me was a chance to see my nephews. Yup, it was awesome!

Being a Chocolatier is a much faster road to achieve what I started out to do with Ms. Veronica’s. My hope is that in the next two years, I will be in a position to relaunch Ms. Veronica’s from a place of abundance and fun. Until then, this site will be up, shop and all. Items that are in-stock will be available for purchase until they are gone.

I’ll be hanging out between my Chocolate Website and my exclusive chocolate Facebook group and you are welcome to join the party there. And if you’d like to earn money while having fun, making friends and sharing chocolate, I love sharing information about our business and I do that for free.

Until later, stay sweet and keep it Handmade!

Ms. Veronicas

Saying it’s the sale of season might be an understatement, but at 50% OFF…I’d say it’s monumental / mortgage paying; and the shop is stocked. Happy shopping!

Ms. Veronicas

I feel somewhat bashful to admit that while I have tossed around ideas, I have not designed any new cards for Ms. Veronica’s this holiday season. I know, it’s hard to believe. But I got a good dose of inspiration today…and I do have French Paper on-hand.

Actually, I’ve been periodically playing with some iPad apps and do have one draft to show. What do you think? There may be some holiday creations yet.

Ms. Veronicas

Is your shop in need of some exposure? How about a free banner ad space for one month?Well, show off your handmade – be featured on the front page at Ms. Veronicas.

Every month, one artisan/crafter will be selected to be featured. This feature space (896px by 350px) also comes with a feature article which will be promoted across the major social media platforms including Pinterest and tweeted by several Triberr tribes.

Did I mention it’s all free?!?

If that sounds good to you, comment below to be entered. Next featured shop will be chosen on Monday Nov. 12th.

Ms. Veronicas

Have you ever provided swag items for an event? Was it a good experience? Did it generate sales? What did you learn from it? Are there some events that should be avoided? Or some swag that is a bad idea?

These were all questions I thought of when contacted by the Project Ethos staff. And while I did some research I didn’t come up with much information. But I thought art and fashion was a great mix for my product offerings at Ms. Veronicas and came up with a custom-designed card for their event (previously shared on my Facebook page)

The card featured the illustration that appears on my eco shoe bags with a selection of in-season colors. I don’t have much feedback from the event yet, but the initial reception was very encouraging.

Custom cards for art & fashion event in L.A.

I am still very interested to know if you have had experience with doing swag items for an event and what you have learned from the experience. Get your own pack of the custom-design cards by leaving your response in the comments below. Winner will be randomly selected.

Ms. Veronicas

Hello everyone, I hope this post finds you all safe and warm. It is post Sandy and I’ve yet to have power and gas restored to my home. However, my mom got her power restored Saturday – thank God! Though I’ve battled a sinus/head cold through the cold temperature, I still feel very unscathed by this storm, especially when I hear what friends of mine have gone through and even the other people who have lost loved ones and all their earthly possessions.

It doesn’t seem fair to go back to life as usual when so many folks are yet without basic needs. To that end, I am doing a fundraiser through my chocolate business until November 30th.
- $5 of every purchase of White Spiced Sipping Chocolate will go directly to assist those in need in the NY/NJ area (that equals 100% of my commission).
This sipping chocolate has been described as tasting like the holidays and can even be sprinkled over popcorn or mixed into pancakes. To show your support, add the Sipping Chocolate to your cart and during checkout enter the name “Storm Help” as the party host. Any other items may be purchased under this party and the donation will be the same.

As a thank you from me, you will receive a selection of handmade cards from my shop. Let me know if you have a preference (Christmas, Hanukkah, etc). If you require assistance, would like to select a different product, or prefer to place your request by phone, you can reach me at 201.470.4678.

Ms. Veronicas

Be safe everyone (picture taken on NJ Turnpike).

Ms. Veronicas

The past couple weeks have been a real schedule roller coaster which included lots of travel – from getting a request to have my items in a swag bag for the upcoming ProjectEthos event to losing one of my favorite uncles just two weeks after losing an auntie I was just getting to know. I’ve been to my home country of Trinidad and back, did a vendor event with my Chocolate business and back to the office to quench the proverbial fires there. What a ride. The best part was spending time with my family, especially the ones that live on the other side of the pond (in England). I even had a chance to visit with one of my ‘girls’ and meet my new baby cousin (so adorable, but I can’t share any pictures of her by request). Good food, bathing in the Caribbean Sea, eating fish at the beach and laughing it up into the night with my Dad, Aunties, Uncles and cousins of all ages…good times! My ProjectEthos items are in the mail (pics to come) and now, I’m off for a sweet few days with some fellow Team Leader Chocolatiers at our Dove Chocolate Discoveries headquarters in Mt. Arlington, NJ.  But do enjoy this a recap in photos…

Ms. Veronicas

“I want to relish in art, dabbling in this and that.” – Dana; I’d say Dana and I have something in common right off the bat. Trinkets by Dana is the first Artisan feature shop at the new, redesigned Ms. Veronica’s. I hope you’ve all had a chance to click on her shop banner that’s on the front page slider and check out her creations.

Dana is currently working on a degree in Psychology. She sells everything from paper crafts/decor for parties and weddings to jewelry/accessories… and of course original art/prints/fine art photography. It’s a mouthful– that’s why “trinkets” is perfect for the variety!

Dana says, “I think the biggest accomplishment for me as a shop owner was being able to push through the doubts and negativity people would have to offer about my small online business even if it was really just for my sanity at first. The biggest accomplishment as an artist is being able to offer my work to people who have a vision for what they want exactly– whether its a wall canvas or wedding table toppers. It’s also always a plus that I get to collaborate with such a wonderful and supportive art community. ”

For new Etsy shop owners, Dana has some good advice; “Don’t lose sight of what you want to accomplish with your shop. Don’t get caught up in quantity but quality and definitely take your time with the development of your shop. What you have to offer to the world may not get traffic as fast as another shop but that doesn’t mean you don’t have something special to offer. All good things take time!”

Here’s where you can find Dana:
www.trinketsbydana.etsy.com
www.facebook.etsy.com
Portfolio: http://placefulness.tumblr.com/

Ms. Veronicas

A tree? Not exactly, but a whole lot more. I had the great fortune to spend the afternoon volunteering at the Greater Newark Conservancy and it was so much more than I imagined. Their director made a point to mention that she’s trying to grow their Facebook fans, so I encourage you to like them below and when you can, stop by their site and check out all they have going on in Newark, NJ. So click ‘Like’, then you can scroll down and have a look-see of our lovely afternoon…

The last two pictures are actually from a rose garden in Schenectady, NY. I thought they’d find a nice home in this collection. Click on an image to open the gallery and enjoy.

Ms. Veronicas

While working on my post to come about my volunteer experience at the Greater Newark Conservancy, there was the documentary on Public TV called The Pact. The Spirit of the Newark is really captured in this film (and I thought it was so ironic that I stumbled upon it at that time.)  Here is a peak from YouTube…

Here is another video with some highlights including mention of their book – “The Bond”.

I absolutely applaud these gentlemen, not for their accomplishments, but for the effort they put forth to elevate their community.

…and stay turned for my photo journal of my day at the Greater Newark Conservancy.

Ms. Veronicas

The older I get, the more I love and appreciate my family. And every moment that I can enjoy them, I grab it.

Here’s a little peek into my family fun this summer, which included getting to know a sister that I didn’t grow up with and my new nephew and niece; a visit from my military brother and sister-in-law, my three nephews being together for 6 weeks, and celebrating all three of their birthdays; traveling between Schenectady, NY and Fort Lee, VA and I can’t help but just smile. These pictures are only a taste.

My travels started at our Chocolate conference in Baltimore, MD

Fun at my chocolate conference

Birthday celebration at Chuck E. Cheese

End of Summer Family Dinner

My military brother and his ‘new’ niece

My best friend and my big sister

Ms. Veronicas

Stats

August’s Handmade Pinterest Party stats look like this:
Pinners –32
Followers – 161
Pins – 221
Repins – 117
Likes – 125
…not bad, if I do say so myself.

Here are some of the wonderful items pinned.

New Rules

That completes three months of the Handmade Pinterest Party. Just enough time to work our the kinks. Pinterest is not an easy place to communicate ie you cannot message pinners. The only way I’ve found is to comment under their pins. It is important to have integrity on this shared board and since communication is challenging, I’ve simplified and focused the rules so they are super easy. So going forward, here they are:

Repinning items from the board to your other board is also very helpful so feel free to share items that you like.

Lastly, I hope everyone has been getting views inbound from Pinterest. I’m very anxious to here from those who’s work appears on the board what your traffic is like so chime with your comments below.

Ms. Veronicas

Image source: The Etsy Blog

Have you heard the buzz? Etsy Gift Cards are coming soon! For those regular Etsians, you already know that Etsy rolled out direct checkout a few months ago.

According to the Etsy blog, “Starting this fall, any member will be able to purchase a gift card with a US credit card. You can email the gift card directly to a friend or print one out to give in person. The gift card credit will be in the form of a code, which buyers will use towards purchases at any shop accepting direct checkout. ” You can read more about it here.

I do think this is a great functionality to add to the website, particularly with the holiday season coming up. Are you a regular Etsy shopper? What do you think about direct checkout and the soon to be here gift cards?

Ms. Veronicas

It’s been pretty quiet around Ms. Veronica’s lately. Well, it is summer and I have been on the road a lot (Maryland, Virginia) and somewhat occupied with my three little nephews and Dove Chocolate Discoveries. Had a great time at our national conference in Baltimore.

I have also been working on the new look for Ms. Veronica’s. There’s a whole new site layout and I’m excited about it. There’s a different home page layout, less ad space and a discounted stationery section is coming to the shop. No worries, the rewards program will still be there and you will not lose any of your accumulated points. It is still sort of blog-like but with more of a store front look. The intention is to scale down the distractions and have everything neat and packed away. And as tradition serves, the kick-off will be done with giveaways and freebies.

So up for grabs first, is one of the slider spots on my home page. This space will be yours for two weeks and you’ll get a featured article for posterity. How to enter? Leave a blog comment below with what you like best about the new layout (PS – don’t mention the double selected tabs, it’s being worked out). That’s it!

So come on over and have a look and leave a comment to be entered.

- Roanne/Ms. V

Ms. Veronicas

I was awarded by my fellow Triberr member Dana of CereusArt with the Liebster Blog Award. Liebster means dearest, beloved or favorite. This is my second ‘blog’ award and I do like them very much because they come form the folks that share this blogosphere. Pier admiration is the best.

I’m not sure where it originated but the rules are the winners have to pay it forward to other blogs that are worth the recognition. If they accept the award, they should: thank the person who nominated them (Thanks Dana!) and link to their site; nominate five other blogs with fewer than 200 followers (I bended that rule a litte), and copy/paste the Liebster Blog Icon into their post.

I’d like to take my turn in bestowing the award upon these five blogs:

1. There can be only Juan
2. Stephanie Herrera (an awesome Illustrator)
3. Fabric Fascination (because I have one)
4. Maria at Ms Bitty Knacks
5. At Home With Rebecca

What a great way to support fellow bloggers you admire!

Ms. Veronicas

Snarky moleskin by MadebyRori

I read an article sometime ago about Small Business Planning which was just the thing I needed to regain my focus for Ms. Veronicas. I’ve been doing leadership training with my chocolate business and I love that there are things I’ve learned from starting Ms. Veronicas that I can apply there and things that I’m learning there that I can apply to Ms. V.

I’m going to summarize what I got from the article. It has helped me chart a course for the next year of Ms. Veronicas Handmade. And feel free to grab these questions/statements and adapt or apply them to your business.There are three statements to develop. They may be super-easy or challenging for you to come up with but must be S.M.A.R.T. – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely – particularity your Vision Statement.

Linen Peices from Pilowlink on Etsy

1. Brand Position Statement (What your brand is all about)

While I love paper and fabric, I also love experimenting and trying every process there is to try out there. How can I focus the brand of ‘Ms Veronicas Handmade’ while still allowing myself the creative space I need.

Ms. Veronicas Handmade creates ecosustainable paper and fabric products that uplift those that use, give or receive them.

2. Company Mission Statement (The core values your company adheres to)

With a focus on providing the best customer service, Ms. Veronicas Handmade will create products that are friendly to the earth (recycled, upcycled or sustainably sourced) and will do so while maintaining the standards of kindness and caring for your fellowman, standards that were exemplified by the life of the woman for whom this company was named.

New York No. 1 print by LisaBarbero

3. Vision Statement (The long term goals you have for your business)

The goal of getting my own website was to set up my own retail space and while there is one here it is not the focus. And coming up on the one year anniversary of launching my own site, I think it is a great time to revamp and start the ‘new’ year on the right path.To that end, I have already begun redesigning the website from the ground up and the estimated launch date will be August 27th. That is short term. The next year will be focused on narrowing my product offerings. That focus will then allow me to see where would be best for Ms. Veronicas in the next 2, 5 10 years. I will say however, my goal is to KEEP IT HANDMADE for sure.

Ms. Veronicas

This exploration started in a staff meeting at work. Workflow is super important when you work with a group of designers. It is so helpful to know what each other is working on especially when you have clients who don’t have a clue (sorry, but it’s true). My boss wanted to do an old fashion dry-erase board. And while I love hands-on, I rather use the dry erase board for some drawing fun and use something more efficient to help our productivity. So, I started exploring. Here’s some of what I’ve found. They all have different features and sharing abilities but are all great for brainstorming in a group or by yourself.

The first on the list is what I started using for myself – popplet.com. There is an iPad app which is needed to access it’s online functionality on your iPad because it’s flash-based and thus cannot be properly used via the web on the iPad. You can add photos, links, text plus use colors for sorting. What I really like is the mapping lines that you can adjust as you need, like creating a mind map. I have an idea board for Ms. Veronicas and a goal tracking board for Friends ‘n Chocolate. I even have a board for my Pathfinder class. I will admit that their interface could use a designer’s finesse, but it is simple, clean and works well and that’s what matters.

Stixy.com

Stixy.com is my least recommended board for sharing. Maybe just because it’s functionality didn’t fit my needs; but it did have some really cool features. The design features are really good and you can customize a lot with colors, fonts and being able to resize (for screen) images. And it you have a large screen, then you’ve got a really nice work area.

Corkboard.me

This can be used when working with a group as it updates in real-time and can be shared. What I’ve done is copy the url of the board to a post-it/email so I can recall it when needed. It doesn’t have the security of signing up for an account, but if you’re not working on top secret stuff, I don’t see a need for the monthly fee. Plus, I do love the aesthetic of the cork-board background – pretty cool looking.

You’ll see that popplet combines the best functionality of the latter two boards even though it doesn’t have that designer feel. And I have to say that I’m please with the way it works on the computer and the iPad.

I’m sure there’s lots more out there that I just haven’t found.  Is there an online board/sharing service that you find useful?

Ms. Veronicas

What a fabulous time I had this past weekend. I can just blabber on, but here is just a taste of my weekend. Mix in time with great friends, a cooling breeze in-spite of the heat and my kids performing above and beyond…Oh! What a time!

Did you notice their crafts on the table?

Of course I did not get any pictures of them doing their theme, basic rescue and physical fitness relays, but I did manage to capture a small part of the parade, led by our fearless Pathfinder leader – Director Andrew.

Ms. Veronicas

So the Handmade Pinterest Party had some starting hiccups, including some programing glitches that were beyond my control. However, it did get rolling and now it is easier for me to add Pinners who are already on Pinterest. So starting this month, if you follow the Handmade Pinterest Party board, you will automatically be added so you can pin and share and help bring more views to our handmade community. If you do not get added right away, please just message me at msveronicas@gmail.com and I’ll get you right in.

Have a look at some of the items that were pinned and then scroll down for a recap by the numbers.

As promised, here are some stats from last month’s Pinterest Party:
Pins – 37
Pinners -
Repins – 39
Likes – 13
Followers – 103

Not bad for the first month. So, let’s full steam ahead into July. The linky below is for items you would like pinned. So go ahead, pin, share and invite and I’ll see you on Pinterest.

Ms. Veronicas