What is a Heal Better?

CheyLoCreations Heal Better products are hot/cold therapy packs filled with 2.5lbs. of 100% organic golden flax. Each comes with a removable, washable cover and measures approximately 13" by 8". Heal Better products come unscented, so everyone can use them; if you would like a scent, you can add a drop of fragrance oil or essential oil to the inner pouch. Note: Essential oils are not recommended for children or pregnant women; please do your research before using these potent fragrances.


What can I use it for?

Heal Better products can be used for nearly any task that is usually reserved for ice packs, heating pads, and hot water bottles. They are reusable and combine hot/cold options into one product. The versatile sizes make them great for all ages and uses! Note: Heal Better is not intended to replace the advice/care of your doctor. Here are just a few options:

~Bumps and bruises
~Sore muscles
~Arthritis
~Menstrual cramps
~Headaches/migraines
~Bed warmers
~Fever
~Engorgement for nursing mothers
~Surgery recovery (felt great after my wisdom tooth removal)


Why flax?

Flax seeds are tiny, flat, and smooth, so these packs form oh so gently to your body; no more hard ice, no more pokey rice! Flax contains 30-40% oil, which heats reliably, every time, unlike grain products which rely on water to heat, and eventually dry out. Flax provides a soothing moist heat and comfortable cool relief that lasts.


How do I use it?

Using a Heal Better is easy as can be! Store in the freezer (in a zip bag if you choose) and pull out for cool relief. If heat is what you need, remove from freezer and microwave for 20-30 seconds at a time, until desired heat is reached. Please be cautious when removing from microwave, product will be hot. Always check temperature before using on a child, and always supervise children using Heal Better products.

Heal Better products are made with care in my smoke-free home studio.

Gee, I guess time really flies when you are busy, moving, getting surgery, and just generally having your life turned upside down...

To sum it up the last *cough*4*cough* ahem, months, since I last blogged, in February, my husband's internship got switched around, resulting in a bit of a financial crisis, which led to an unexpected move to live with my grandparents who have extra space and so generously are willing to share it with our family. The move was in mid march and is a bit of a process with a 1 1/2 year old who really wants to help. Early April, my hubby's new internship began and I had all four of my wisdom teeth out. Yay for 3 weeks of jello, mashed potatoes and my savior, egg drop soup. During all this, I was trying to my business back on track after all these said upheavals, and got accepted to the Redmond Saturday Market (www.redmondsaturdaymarket.org) (yay!) and Urban Craft Uprising's 1st summer show (August 1-2) (double yay!) Did I mention that after UCU in December I took a bit of a creating hiatus...leading to much scrambling the 1st week of May to prep enough product for the RSM?

So that us here and now...I have a well-stocked booth of crayons, wipes, boutique burps, 5 sizes of Heal Betters, little lovies, and nursing covers. So what am I working on now? Burps and Hela Betters for this weekend's RSM, and my demo doll ( a reborn I am diligently rooting 1-2 hairs at a time). At the market this weekend, I should have tanner to work on his hair (he will be painted this week, and will make an adorable newborn!).

In family life, my hubby's internship is going great, we are loving getting to spend time with my grandparents, and seeing them with Cheyenne is just so fun! Speaking of Cheyenne, she is, constantly..talking that is. The child is runnign circles around us all, and learns at least3-8 new words a day. Basically if she hears it, she says it. Today's 1st new word of the moring was "safe", pronounced so proudly as "fafe." As in "baby is fafe" which is a real accomplishment around here, what with 4 dogs attempting to eat her (baby is Cheyenne's doll) all day. The garden is planted and now all we need is some sun (can I hear an amen?) so our plants can grow.

I am also trying to get new products up in my shop as quickly as I can, if there is somethign you need though please ask, as I will always have more complete than I will have listed.

Naturally,
The lame, but back in action blogger
Me

Owls are in, big time! I keep selling out of my owl wipe prints, and have had requests for little lovies to be made in the same prints (still thinking on that). So what is it you love about owls?
I love that the prints out there have a retro feel, and a modern feel too (don't ask me to explain, I don't get it either!). I have a couple more cute owl prints to come, but in the meantime, these are both currently available in my etsy shop!

Check out the new etsyBaby Treasury by ZadyBall!

It is so funny...September has far and away been my best month on etsy, until the last day or two. My cloth wipes have been selling like gangbusters (what a weird phrase by the way...anyone know what it means?), but then yesterday and today, I feel like someone pulled an invisibility cloak over my shop, views have been next to non-existent. So strange. I suppose it could have something to do with the economy freak out...Either way, I am sure it will get better! Just means it is time to hit the sewing machine hard! Well, not literally "hit," but you know what I mean!

In other news, good news, I got into Urban Craft Uprising 2008! I am so beyond excited! It is a super huge 2 day show, December 6-7th in Seattle, WA. I applied and got in! So, it is certainly time to up the inventory....up a lot! I have heard some folks even sell out (wow, how cool would that be!)! I generlaly do very well at shows, so I am very happy! Should make for a busy fall/winter!

Recently I had a booth at Showcase Tacoma and gave out promo packs full of great business cards, promotional materials and samples from many many amazing etsy sellers! The packs were a hit, and will be offered at many more shows or mine! Please contact me if you are interested in participating in the future!

Don't these look great? Everything from earrings to pencils, to soap and lotion to photography to stuffed animals and greeting cards, and so much more!

Pink and Brown are my favorite colors, so I chose them for my business (banner, avatar, business cards, website, etc)...it was all pink and brown. The problem arose when I belatedly realized that that much pink might be a turn off to potential customers, especially moms and dads of boys, and well, dads in general. And the closest thing to a logo were the hand prints I had put on my banner and avatar in photoshop (I used photoshop, much tears were shed, but they turned out well at the end of it) which I then had included on my business cards and cloth labels for my products. Because hand prints scream baby, right, haha, not so much I realized. It is important to me that people look at my branding efforts and know at least generally what they will find in my shop/booth/website. So the obvious answer became...remodel, intensively remodel.

I made this decision just about three weeks before Showcase Tacoma, where I was to sell my goods August 8-9 (which I did, and had a great time). So, I shopped around on etsy, hired a brilliant designer to do a logo, banner, avatar, business card, etc etc etc. I was super excited...until this question showed up in my inbox: "So, what would you like your logo to be (what main element/image)?" (paraphrased). I had falsely assumed the graphic designer would do it all...but really, my input was needed, which makes sense since a logo is so personal, and also so public (it could, foreseeabley represent one's company forever). So I started thinking and decided to stay with the hand print. Once I received a proof, I realized a hand print was just not going to cut it; it really doesn't represent my products, or my core beliefs about parenting and baby products. She agreed, I gave her an idea, and she was going to work on it. Status: Still no real progress and only a week and a half until the show.

After not hearing from the designer for a while, I asked my husband to doodle some logo ideas and he came up with one I love (the one that now represents CheyLoCreations)! I really liked that he had drawn it too, it fits with our family run business model. So I passed on the idea to my designer, she liked it, and we were going to move forward. More time passes. Several frantic emails later, it turns out she had a family emergency and was unable to finish by my deadline. I totally understood, thanked her for her time, received my refund and began to absolutely panic. Status: Have a handdrawn logo that I have no way to edit, no banner, etc; Sunday the week of the show (Friday/Saturday show), and I need to be able to print new labels, business cards, etc all by Thursday. ANd of course I have my heart set on having it all done by the show.

This has some practical purposes. I did not want to hand out cards in the old style, then get everything redone and have people wind up a site that does not match at all; too confusing. So, I post in the etsy forums in a panic and find a wonderful woman willing to help. Sasserstrom Designs did a beautiful job bringing my logo to life, picked really cool colors, and was super patient, all for a great price and in a serious time crunch! I am so so so grateful!

So, it all got finished, I was able to redo my esty shop, and print the business cards in time for the show. I stayed up until 3am early early Friday morning in order to get my website redesigned and relaunched, and then was able to sleep for two hours, before waking at 5 am to shower and drive from my parent's house in Bellevue down to Tacoma for a 7am setup, with my wonderful husband and oh so helpful daughter, 11 month old Cheyenne.

It was a very stressful couple of weeks, but I ended up with what I wanted with a little (okay a lot) of help from my friends, and I think it turned out well. What do you think?