Organzing this little biz....

We've been slacking on blogging lately. Attempting to get ourselves organized again since our little biz has about trippled in size since the beginning of the year:) I feel like things are finally coming together. We had absolutely no idea where we really wanted things to go or where we wanted to end up, but we have been given so many opportunities which have helped guide us along the way. I've read so many great articles on indie businesses lately, my favorite being ones by Gussy Sews. I mean how smart is this, put all your notes and post its and goals and ideas in one binder! Why didn't I think of that?!!?

This is my goal for the evening. Create a nice little home for all the ideas and designs that are the chaotic mess on my desk.

{Image via Gussy Sews}

Back in December I stumbled upon some great FREE printable's by Life Your Way that have really helped me plan out what our goals are for our biz. {There are also free printable's to organize just about any part of your world:)} About mid December I started jotting down my yearly goals for 2012. Did I expect to accomplish EVERY DANG ONE by March? NO! But was it fan-freaking-tastic to go back and have to create more goals because we had already accomplished our entire year? YES:) The goals set in Dec. were a bit more about getting our name out there more. Check. So now we really should focus on running this little biz (yes, it's sorta backwards but hey, that's how we roll in the south:)

Goals for HorseFeathers Gifts 2012

• Get in a national magazine
• Attend a celebrity gift lounge
• Average sales over X amount per month
• Focus on wholesale aspect of our biz
• Create more of a brand for ourselves
• Get jewelry on Pretty Little Liars (yes, Chelsea here, and I am addicted)
• Regularly blog!

Things that we accomplished that were NOT on our goals list:

1. Get interviewed on LIVE national TV
2. Mingle with celebs at a super fab Hollywood night club
3. Made a name for ourselves in Hollywood (we've been invited back 4 times already!)
4. Asked to fly out to be interviewed on Extra with Mario Lopez (we will be doing this on our next LA trip:)
5. Have our jewelry on TWO different TV shows. You'll be seeing our jewels on Disney's Jessie & on Nickelodeons Victorious

I honestly cannot believe how much has happened this year so far! It is completely insane to think about. We are seriously so fortunate to have all these amazing opportunities come our way and we truly appreciate everything. (for real!)

So back to getting organized....

Last month my momma, Karrie and I all got ourselves Erin Condren's Life Planner. Holy moly was that a grand idea! Besides the fact that we all now have events and deadlines and all that jazz in ALL our planners (you wouldn't believe how many times none of us knew when we were supposed to be doing a show!hahaha) but there are also totally adorable inspirational sayings throughout the entire planner! It is just fab I tell you!

So with all this organizational goodness going on I plan to keep you up to date on what adventures we are on and the journey of growing our biz:)

Our first official contest!!!!

Mother’s day will be here before you know it & we wanted to do something special for one lucky momma out there! Here’s your chance to win custom fine silver fingerprint pendants for all your kiddos! That’s right, the whole dang clan!!! These babies are made from .999 fine silver and sell for $72 each  just for the pendants alone!

Here’s a few little rules and guidelines:

* You can nominate yourself or someone else whom you think would love this!

* You must actively promote the contest on faceboook! Why you may ask? Because that is where all this voting will go down!

*You have one week to enter starting NOW, contest will go live on our fan page 3/26 and will run for 1 week.

*To enter simply send us a little note stating why you would like to win your kiddos fingerprints and a photo of either your family or kid(s). {1 photo only please, send all info to horsefeathers523(@)yahoo.com Attn: Contest}

* Entries must be in by noon (CST) Sunday March 25^th

Our lucky momma with the most photo “likes”  will not only win the fingerprints of all her kiddos but we will turn them into a custom bracelet or necklace for an awesome one of a kind design!!!  Our runners up may receive a couple goodies too;)

SO START SENDING YOUR PICS AND THOUGHTS IN NOW!!!

Hello California:)

There's nothing like being completely nervous and overwhelmed with something just to have something even more insane thrown into the mix. That is how our Cali trip went. I was all stressed out trying to get all the jewelry made, organized and stuffed into 2 carry ons when I get an email from the assistant producer of FOX News asking us if we will be on their show while we are in LA!!! Holy crap. That was my only response at this point! lol So we had a phone meeting or two, shipped a bunch of jewels off to their DC location and tried not to think about the fact that we would be doing a LIVE interview in just a few days.

Here's some pics around their LA studio....

What's this little guy you might ask? Well, until we get to the LA studio we had NO IDEA that we were doing a satellite interview and that the lovely gal interviewing us was in DC! So to add to the stress they explain we will not be able to see who is interviewing us and we have to speak to that little happy face and we will hear them ask the questions through our ear piece!!! Yes, I am about to puke at this point.

I assure you that this man will never forget us. Adam here was the lucky one who got to help us get set up for this interview. I was slightly freaking out, Karrie was taking pictures like crazy, and my mom is saying "we have no idea why they picked us!" yea, he was laughing pretty good at us:)

This was Karries seat during the interview, she got to watch us on set and on the camera, PLUS she could see the gal in DC that was interviewing us.

Do we look mad? Well, we aren't. I'm pretty sure we are just trying not to puke! lol

Here is the full interview:)

Hallelujah, the interview is over!!! Now we were all excited (and talking about the fact that my mom just said she wants to kill me on national TV! lol) so we asked the folks in the studio if we could see the interview (remember, we couldnt see anything and have no idea what the heck just happened at this point). They took us back through the studio into the control room thing and let us watch it, then they even got us a copy of it:) They were beyond nice!

All changed into our "shoppin" clothes we decided to take some photos outside the studio.

I didn't think about what "compact" meant when I rented a compact car. For future reference it means really flippin small! lol I'm 5'10" and here is me lying beside our car. It was a lovely little guy. We couldn't go up hills with the AC on or we lost power... Good times.

Me & Karrie outside the studio:)

After the nerve wracking interview we asked the nice folks at the studio where we should go for the day and they recommended the Santa Monica pier. So glad we listened! It was gorgeous that day and we had done nothing but work (literally nothing, we hadn't had an actual meal in 2 days) so we were ready to spend some money and eat some food! :)

Don't worry, this crazy snake charmer just had rubber snakes... yep... that's even more bizarre. Gotta love Cali:)

The Santa Monica pier

Of course, Tammy had to put her feet in the water:)

TONS of folks were out shopping in Santa Monica. It was GORGEOUS that day:)

Finally, we are eating! It took us forever to decide where to eat because we hadn't eaten at any of the cool restaurants. We decided pizza was a good choice since we were starving plus they had a cute little outdoor seating area:)

How stinkin cool is this dressing room?!!? I LOVE Nordstroms.

I'm a regular Nordstroms online shopper, they have some great deals and they have exclusive Toms there too:) If you have never shopped there, checkout their site here.

And here I am with our bags. We had a fabulous time shopping and enjoying the weather!

Stay tuned for all our photos from The Oscars event:)

Peace,
Chelsea

And the winners are......

{Photo via pinterest}

Shanna-Kaye Fancher you have won the following items PLUS a $50 gift certificate!!!

Erika Moore & Francine Rodriguez you have both won the following:)

Thanks to everyone who participated! Remember, you can still get 20% off your entire purchase through noon tomorrow by using code "picklejuice" at checkout:)

Winners, please feel out the contact form here with your mailing address:)

4,000 Fans!! Woohoo!!!!!!

GET EXCITED!!!!!!

Ok, now that you're excited lets celebrate HFG reaching 4,000  facebook fans by having a giveaway and SALE!!!!!

To enter, simply comment below (on this blog post) and let us know your favorite item on our site:) It's that easy!

One lucky winner will win some of the same items we will be gifting 2/25 at the Oscars talent suite gift lounge! 

Spring Bracelet Collection ($88)

VW Bug Fine Silver Pendant($38)

Faceted Turquoise Cluster Earrings ($26)

A $50 Gift Certificate to HorseFeathers Gifts.

TWO Lucky winners will get:

Turquoise Cluster Earrings ($26)

New HFG Signature Necklace (Not yet released. $36)

AND just so we don't leave anyone out of this beyond fabulous celebration we are offering 20% off our ENTIRE site now through Friday about noon :) Simply enter Picklejuice at checkout! (don't ask, it's just the choice of words that first came to mind:)

Winner of giveaway items will be picked tomorrow afternoon (2/16)!

*MAKE SURE YOU HIT RECALCULATE AT CHECKOUT. If you do not do this it will not apply the discount code!!!

Spring is in the air.....

Although it's only about 38 degrees here in Western Kentucky, we can't wait for Spring!!!! Here are some of the amazing designs and color inspiring us this spring:)

I have to tell you, we LOVE color! So when we saw the panatone spring color choices we were pumped!

You gotta love some color in the home! Many people are affraid of putting color on their walls so this is a great way to add some funky colors to your home that aren't so permanet:)

Gorgeous spring wreath! Add a pop of color to your front door:)

We are a HUGE fan of toms, so when they released their ballet flats for spring we knew this would be the one shoe we could not live with out! (The burlap ones are ADORABLE!:)

Perfect outfit to go with your new toms! We are loving the pink blazer with the vintage style lace dress!

You can't go wrong with turquoise! Always in style, pretty much goes with everything:) We are loving this fossil bag for spring!

Boho style stacking bracelets in the panatone spring colors:) From our site

Vintage VW Volkswagon Bug Pendant in pure silver

And of course, we need a teal VW van to drive around in this spring:)

{All iamges via pinterest}