Facebook

I decided to upload some images of my Ribbon Wands to Facebook. What a great reaction I had. Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback and support!

Widgets

Widgets can add lots of fun to blogs and really add that personal flair. Here is a great site that has a link to 50 + widgets for your blog. Enjoy!

Recently Listed Item

Etsy ♥

I still haven't figured out the etsy :: hearts me feature completely. But I do know that 100 people ♥ me at Etsy and that's pretty cool.

I {heart} Custom Work

Making wand packages that are specific to my customer's needs is truly one of the favorite parts of Ribbon Wands. I would have never thought of putting black ribbon on this base...but one of my customers did and I think the result is stunning and dramatic.

Ribbon Girl Collection

I'm working on a few new bridal designs for the 2008 Ribbon Girl Collection. Hope to have these babies twirling at weddings all over the globe!

Choices

I'm featuring 3 ribbon wands that allow my customers to make a choice between ribbon colors on the wands. The Neapolitan Wand was a huge success and it has spurred me onto trying this with some new bases. I'm working on one base that will have about 5 ribbon choices!

Values: Customer Service

I've had many people say to me how lucky I am to work for myself. Only the thing is I really don't. I work for my customers, past present and future customers who are or have supported my product. Ribbon Wands makes the first impression all by itself, I'm usually nowhere around the area when they are discovering my product. I want them to know that a real, live, person is at the helm and is there to support, problem solve, and care for their individual needs as my customer. We all hope for smooth sailing and 98% of the time it is, but on those rare occassions when the process needs help, I'm committed to positive and effective resolutions.

~ Nikki Workman
Owner and Wand Maker @ Ribbon Wands

Apple Jack Ribbon Wand

My first green ribbon wand listing. Ain't it cute! Will upload to etsy on Monday.

New Wand and New Photo Practice

The Boo Boo Wand was listed today. It's sooo cute, and the name cracks me up.

I've started linking to my etsy shop on my photos. This is a system I recommend to anyone using etsy or any other online shop to sell your wares. Image searches on google have lead me to my wands on some blogs but there is no mention of me or how to purchase. This takes care of those folks that like to save images to their computer and ensures the photo can be linked to it's original source. I realize it can be undone, but it's a timely process and hopefully not worth it in the end.

A thought for Monday

My husband knocked one out of the park this Christmas when he bought me the book, Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko. I wanted to share a snippet of this book that I found incredibly wise and inspiring:

We do not chose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, or the country of our birth , or the immediate circumstances of our upbringings. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time or conditions of our death. But within this realm of choicelessness, we so choose how we shall live: with purpose or adrift, with joy or with joylessness, with hope or with despair, with humor or with sadness, with a positive outlook or a negative outlook, with pride or with shame, with inspiration or with defeat, and with honor or with dishonor. We decide what makes us significant or insignificant. We decide to be creative or to be indifferent. No matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices and decisions, these choices and decisions are ours to make. We decide. We choose. In the end, our own creativity is decided by what we choose to do or what we refuse to do. And as we decide to choose, so are our destinies formed. - taken from the preface of the 2nd Edition of Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko.

Have you chosen creativity? Are you personally struggling with indifference or are those around you indifferent to your creative journey? Sometimes I think we put too much stock in the opinion of others. Especially when the opinion of others is often coming from individuals who mock creativity or have given up on their own dreams and have unknowingly become dream killers. Choose creativity and don't let go...it IS significant and it does matter.

GREEN with envy

All the green ribbon I ordered is on back order. So I'm calling green as a huge wedding color this year. Why? My ribbon supplier is used by many New York fashion designers. Maybe the environmental interest has influenced color in very interesting ways.

Ribbon 411

Regular Play Ribbon

My standard ribbon is 1 1/2" double faced satin, made in the Unitied States. It exceeds federal standards as flame retardant and has been produced using the finest materials and colorants available. It is washable and can be tumble dried.

Flower Girl Wedding Ribbon

I save a special ribbon for weddings. It is a double faced Swiss Satin made in Switzerland. Machine Washable to 140'F Colorfast. Cool Iron, only up to 230'F. Worldwide highest quality and finest materials used.

Ribbon Wands is committed to finding the best materials that will last the test of time and play of your wand. I originally tried ribbon made in China and Asia and the results were just not good enough. My current supplier of ribbon makes the best ribbon I've found on the market and I'm proud to pass this great product onto my customers.

Ribbon Awaits

I've been tracking my ribbon order over the Holidays, as it made its extremely slow crawl from New York City to my door. It's here, it's in the same town as me and I can't get it! We were enroute home from Calgary when we missed the delivery and now my package waits for me in a locked post office. The horror.