Big changes are happening at Oh the Cuteness! A new shop, a new location, and a new format are in the works.
Hi everyone! I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted here, but I have a very good excuse this time that I think you will all be very excited about. Big changes are happening and big plans are being made!
First of all, I'm no longer living in Campbell (And yes, this means I had to disassemble and box up the amazing craft room... Le sigh.). At the moment I've got everything I own except for the essentials put in a storage pod, and I've spent the holidays with my mom and dad, and the new year with my sister, and now I'm planning on returning to my beautiful city of Oakland to finally start working on my big dream...
I'm very proud to introduce to you The Black Squirrel, a brick-and-mortar and online fabric, yarn, and craft supply boutique! It's been my lifelong dream to own a little craft shop and I've decided it's time to go for it! The shop will stock a variety of beautiful trendy yarns and fabrics, with a focus on sustainably and locally made items, as well as some handmade gifts and a rotating selection of craft supplies that will coincide with some of the awesome classes we will offer. The classroom space can also be used as a workspace for customers and as a gallery space for local artists. The overall design of the shop will be light, bright, and inviting, and I'm hoping it will become a creative hub for the crafting community in the Bay Area.
I'm extremely excited, and also pretty intimidated, because in the new year I'll be launching a Kickstarter to fund it. I'm spending all my time setting up the campaign and anything I can think of for the business, but I'm going to need a lot of help from all my friends, family, and fans to get the word out about the Kickstarter once it's launched. You can head over to the new website, http://www.blacksquirrelfabric.com and check out what I have been working on. There's nothing in the shop yet, that will have to come after the retail location has been established, but there is a super cute free baby cardigan knitting pattern over on the new blog:
As well as a new free pattern for a chunky crochet set:
The really exciting part about this set-up process is getting to interact with so many people in the crafting community. I've been connecting with all my creative friends to collaborate on the rewards for my campaign (There's some really cool stuff!), and I've been communicating with the community at large to get their opinions on items to stock, shop design, and everything in between.
Currently I'm looking for people who can help spread the word about the Kickstarter campaign when it's time to launch it. If you're interested in helping, please send me an email at blacksquirrelfabric@gmail.com and I'll add you to the mailing list. There will only be a couple newsletters about it, and mostly it's just asking people to share it across social media!
Also if you're interested in voicing your opinion on the shop I'd love to hear what you have to say! You can head over to our new Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/blacksquirrelfabric, like us, and be sure to turn notifications on so you'll get to see our posts. (I'm so annoyed by the way Facebook only shows your page posts to 7-10% of the people who like your page. Grrr.) I've been posting updates and questions on the page, as well as links to fun tutorials from all over the web that I think my readers would enjoy. Join in the conversations and tell me what you want to see!
My Instagram and Pinterest accounts, which used to be under my Oh the Cuteness name, have been switched over to The Black Squirrel. If you're not already a follower you can now find them at http://www.instagram.com/blacksquirrelfabric (@blacksquirrelfabric) and http://www.pinterest.com/squirrelfabric (@squirrelfabric). I also set up a new Twitter account at http://www.twitter.com/squirrelfabric (@squirrelfabric), and all of my Facebook updates are tweeted. If you'd like to speak with me directly with any questions, opinions, or ideas you can email me at blacksquirrelfabric@gmail.com.
So you may be wondering, what does this mean for my handmade company and this blog? Fear not, because I also have some fun plans for Oh the Cuteness that will have to wait until the new shop is up and running, but they are exciting all the same. I'm planning on turning it into a handmade collective in the future, a place for my friends, who find trying to stock a whole Etsy shop on their own a little too daunting, to sell their beautiful handmade goods. The blog and Twitter will become part of the collective too, which means lots of new creative minds and more fun content! One of my big goals with my new business is to encourage more people to be creative and I think having a collective is another great step.
So there you have it folks, and I hope you guys are as excited as I am! Please do contact me if you have any questions or comments at all, I'd love to hear from you! And stay tuned for more updates!
I'm extremely excited, and also pretty intimidated, because in the new year I'll be launching a Kickstarter to fund it. I'm spending all my time setting up the campaign and anything I can think of for the business, but I'm going to need a lot of help from all my friends, family, and fans to get the word out about the Kickstarter once it's launched. You can head over to the new website, http://www.blacksquirrelfabric.com and check out what I have been working on. There's nothing in the shop yet, that will have to come after the retail location has been established, but there is a super cute free baby cardigan knitting pattern over on the new blog:
As well as a new free pattern for a chunky crochet set:
The really exciting part about this set-up process is getting to interact with so many people in the crafting community. I've been connecting with all my creative friends to collaborate on the rewards for my campaign (There's some really cool stuff!), and I've been communicating with the community at large to get their opinions on items to stock, shop design, and everything in between.
Currently I'm looking for people who can help spread the word about the Kickstarter campaign when it's time to launch it. If you're interested in helping, please send me an email at blacksquirrelfabric@gmail.com and I'll add you to the mailing list. There will only be a couple newsletters about it, and mostly it's just asking people to share it across social media!
Also if you're interested in voicing your opinion on the shop I'd love to hear what you have to say! You can head over to our new Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/blacksquirrelfabric, like us, and be sure to turn notifications on so you'll get to see our posts. (I'm so annoyed by the way Facebook only shows your page posts to 7-10% of the people who like your page. Grrr.) I've been posting updates and questions on the page, as well as links to fun tutorials from all over the web that I think my readers would enjoy. Join in the conversations and tell me what you want to see!
My Instagram and Pinterest accounts, which used to be under my Oh the Cuteness name, have been switched over to The Black Squirrel. If you're not already a follower you can now find them at http://www.instagram.com/blacksquirrelfabric (@blacksquirrelfabric) and http://www.pinterest.com/squirrelfabric (@squirrelfabric). I also set up a new Twitter account at http://www.twitter.com/squirrelfabric (@squirrelfabric), and all of my Facebook updates are tweeted. If you'd like to speak with me directly with any questions, opinions, or ideas you can email me at blacksquirrelfabric@gmail.com.
So you may be wondering, what does this mean for my handmade company and this blog? Fear not, because I also have some fun plans for Oh the Cuteness that will have to wait until the new shop is up and running, but they are exciting all the same. I'm planning on turning it into a handmade collective in the future, a place for my friends, who find trying to stock a whole Etsy shop on their own a little too daunting, to sell their beautiful handmade goods. The blog and Twitter will become part of the collective too, which means lots of new creative minds and more fun content! One of my big goals with my new business is to encourage more people to be creative and I think having a collective is another great step.
So there you have it folks, and I hope you guys are as excited as I am! Please do contact me if you have any questions or comments at all, I'd love to hear from you! And stay tuned for more updates!
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