Its a Thank You Sale at Tillies Attic

I SOOOOO WANT THIS CHAIR!

I just wanted to share this sale with all of my local friends. Tillies Attic is having a great Thank You sale:) I stopped by this morning and took some new pictures. Lots of great new items are in and ready for summer decor or entertaining! 

The owners of Tillie's would like to thank you for shopping with us for the last seven years. One of the partners is leaving & our product will be reduced to 50% off lowest price marked. The rest of the Store will be 10% off (some vendors may offer more...signs will be posted in their booths.)


MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR

May 20-22

Friday-Sunday
Tillies Attic
1941 W. Guadalupe Rd.
Mesa Az. 480 775-4342 Hours:Tuesday- Saturday 9-530 Sunday 10-4 Closed Mondays

How Cute Is This? :)

I have been busy working and getting ready for my surgery on May 31st. Getting my house ready and groceries and kitty supplies stocked up on.  I am not sure how long I will be out of commission, but it sounds like it could be 6 to 8 weeks. I am looking forward to having a new hip and getting my life back. I am relatively young to be having my hip replaced, but my situation goes back to birth. So, its very exciting to think of how great it will be to walk normal and pain free once again. Its been a very long time. I dont have much to share at the moment, but I wanted to post my new computer. A friend of mine helps me with my computer stuff and he does a great job building my systems from scratch. He is quite smart about such things.  He found this pink and white "Kitty" tower case and new it was perfect for me. I love it:)

Well, I hope you all have a pretty day. 

Designher Brands and Shabby Apple !!

I am over the top excited! As ya all know I belong to Make Mine Pink. Its an amazing group of Women who have their own online business' or brick and mortar shops. There are many advantages to membership with Make Mine Pink. Networking with like minded women has been amazing and I am always learning something new.  We have a new member, Melissa Bolton of Designher Brands. She offers special services for online business. Be sure to visit her website to see all she offers. We had the pleasure of learning all about SEO during our last marketing chat at Make Mine Pink.

Melissa held a blog contest with the prize being a choice of one of the gorgeous dresses from the website Shabby Apple.  This site is so pretty and they carry some of the prettiest dresses I have ever seen. So unique and different from anything you find in the stores. You have to check them out!  BUT, the fantastic news is I was the winner!!  I had a choice of several dresses, but I chose this adorable black dress. A girl cant have too many black dresses. :)  So, when you get a chance be sure to visit these great sites! Thank you so much Melissa, I will enjoy this dress so much. 

Pretty New Things

Boy, I need to be better at blogging more often.  I spend ALOT of time visiting blogs. I will be making some changes to mine in the near future, hopefully for the better and prettier!

Last Saturday I did a small show in a home. Dorothy is a successful real estate agent and held this get together for her clients she has met over the last year or so.  Her son is a caterer and gave a demonstration. The food was excellent, her home was beautiful and I met some very nice women.  This is just a few shots of my space and also my friend Phyllis. She has the most beautiful work and sews with vintage chenille. This is just a small selection of what she has.  Phyllis is one of the artist that will have her cute things in my new shop, Bella Events.

I am still doing alot of research and have an outline of my business plan. I found a site that is ran by the State of Arizona and it has fabulous resources and work sheets to use for starting up a small business.  I have also found a few grants that you can apply for designed specifically for women.  I havent slowed down or lost one ounce of excitement for this shop. I will be so excited to get my surgery over with and on the road to recovery and getting my life back.  I know I will never allow myself to take walking for granted again. I am so excited that I have found a surgeon who is able to do this type of operation and I cant describe the energy and excitement I feel for being able to start this business and actually love what I will be doing. 

Marketing is still very important and brings up so many questions about social media. I have twitter, but cant remember the last time I posted there. I also go on Facebook, but not too often. I feel like all of my "friends" are people just like myself, trying to get their online business or Etsy shop some exposure. But I question... is this the target market for that? We are all doing the same thing, marketing to each other.  We may see a few customers, but I just dont get it. Maybe its working wonderful for your business:) I sure hope so. I love facebook for keeping up with my friends though. And the social aspect of it.  But I do love blogging. I love visiting blogs and always amazed at the creativity and inspiration. I think its a place to be positive and show the pretty side of our lifes.  I work in customer service, on the phones all day, and I can tell you... alot of times people are not so nice! But I come home and get so lost in blogland.  I think people need a place to express what they know and what they are good at in a positive and safe environment.  There is so much we can learn from each other.  So, enjoy a pretty week and check out of few blogs:)       

Fairys and Cupcakes

Happy Easter:) Its been such a pretty weekend. I am making the most of this weekend with family, spring weather and creating new things. I have been working a mon-frid schedule starting at 9:30 am. I have been in training for a new position since January and now tomorrow I start on my new team and new schedule. I will be a 6:00am shift. I am happy about that, but not thrilled with my days off. Thur and Sat. But I am hoping to be much more productive getting off at 2:30 everyday. Plus having one day off during the week can be a good thing too.

I have been able to do some creating this weekend and got a few new jewelry pieces done.  I love fairys and cupcakes and have had these two necklaces in mind for a while. Just for fun I did another rose ring.  I have been working on sewing some new pillows. I will share them later;)

I am still working on my business plan and I am so intrigued with the whole process. I love the research.  This is the book I chose to read first. Lots of great advice.  The very first thing you need is your great idea. You have to envision it in all its detail and glory.  I have been searching wholesale companies for the banquet tables and 50 chairs. Also flower cases and bakery cases.  In a professional and detailed plan one thing you need to include is what and where your compitition is. I have been researching this. Its fun visiting lots of fun places to see whats out there. But the great thing is, so far I have found nothing like what I have in mind. There may be pieces of what I plan in a current shop, but not the whole package. Also so many event spaces are geared for a very large amount of people.  I am trying to get the group of ladies who need a beautiful space that is more intiment. 

And I have to share a Grandma moment. My daughter and Grandson Mikey spent the night. Apparently the Easter Bunny was coming here to my place.  I hope you had a pretty holiday too.          

Its Just The Beginning

I think summer is making its way to AZ fast this year. I was at the Grandkids softball games today and it was so hot. The kind where you really dont feel so well and you know you got over heated.  So I just moved indoors to A/C! My friend Pat and I had appointments at Sephora for make overs. It was alot of fun, but I look a little too fancy! lol.  I did find this cute bug ring for 50 percent off and thought that she was pretty fancy too.

I have been working very hard researching all kinds of information on my new business venture.  So far I am still liking the name Bella Events. For the cafe area I am going with a little bit of an Italian flavor. I love happy colors and like muted tangerines, butter yellows and raspberry pinks. I have been collecting a few things I think will be perfect. I love dishes, serving trays and display plates. Here are a few that I have found.  I need to start fabric shopping and sewing chair cover and table cloths and runners.  Its just the beginning.  I am really enjoying this.

Have a pretty week and do something you love! I came to the realization this week that I have been working in Call Centers for the past 20 years, and I HATE it.  I am thankful to have a job, but what an Aha moment. 20 years is a very long time and a huge chunk of my adult life doing something I disliked so much.  Its paid the bills, helped me to raise my daughters and I have met some wonderful friends that mean the world to me. So there is always good, but at 52, its my time. Time to do what I love and go for it. So stay tuned, I will be sharing along the way. Pass on things I am learning and hopeful will be of some help to someone else.

Arizona Bloggers Luncheon

Yesterday I went to a fun event. It was hosted by Meri from Imagimeris. She creates the sweetest paper clay sculptures. They are so amazing and the ones she does for Halloween are my favorites! She had a few of us AZ Bloggers over for an afternoon of learning to make shadow boxes. We had so much fun. She had tables of supplies for to choose from. Lunch was unbelievable! She had prepared a Honey Baked ham and rostisseries chickens. There were amazing salads, fruits, cookies, brownies.  Soooo yummo! It was so nice to meet so many bloggers in person. There was about 10 bloggers there. It was a chilly, rainy day for Arizona. So it was nice to be inside, creating and making new friends.  Meris husband was so sweet. It was raining and he came out with an umbrella to walk us in when we arrived. Now that is a perfect hostess. Thank you so much Meri.  I thought I would share some of our finished shawdow boxes. Everyones was so different, but beautiful....in case you cant figure it out, mine is the pink one with the pink poodle inside. LOL

(it was a cloudy day, and photos are pretty dark, but you can get the idea:) )

Have a pretty day.  I have some very exciting news. I will be changing my blog in the very near future. As I have said here a few times I will be having hip surgery in May. Its from a birth defect and a little more detailed than normal. It appears it will be a longer recovery time. BUT... I plan to make the most of this time. I am working on a business plan to open a new shop. Its going to be a cupcake/bakery/cafe space for hanging out with your friends, but the main thing will be an event room for special parties like bridal or baby showers. I have lots of ideas and plans and think it will be so much fun to document the experience along the way.  I have researched quite abit, but the hardest thing so far is a NAME! But right now what I am thinking about is Bella Events.  What do you think of that for a name.  Cant wait to share more. Let the adventure begin...... :) 

Its Easter at Tillies Attic

The weather is so pretty. I love spring in Arizona. I get Spring Fever bad and its so hard to drag myself to my job. I would love to be planting flowers or sitting in a chair reading a book. I also love Spring decorations. I was at Tillies Attic this weekend and Spring has definately arrived there. Its so pretty. I thought I would post a few pictures. I also wanted to share some information with local crafters. Elaine from Tillies still has a few spaces for rent in the store.  If you are interested you can visit her at the shop or call her at 480 775-4342. The address is 1941 W. Guadalupe #111 Mesa AZ 85202. (SE corner of Guadalupe and Dobson)
I hope you all have a pretty spring day and enjoy some flowers!