What happens in Vegas . . .

On Monday, we took our “show on the road” to where else…Vegas, baby!  Okay, maybe COTS is not really a road show but we did attend the annual Sourcing at Magic tradeshow.  Let me tell you, it was an eye-opening experience.  If you are a designer and/or buyer in the fashion industry, this tradeshow is for you!  At times, we felt like fish out of water but we learned a lot and found some potential suppliers for items like ribbon, bags and hats.  Although we may have been able to find the suppliers online, we are hands-on, 100% involved so we can see and touch everything, and besides, this particular portion of the tradeshow was free (who doesn’t like free), and we were excited to receive complimentary Square readers (again with the free), we got ideas for tea towel designs, and got to share some laughs on the flight home. We cannot wait to share our new ideas and designs with you, and if you’re local to the southwest, we have one you’ll LOVE!  As with any growing business, we want to learn from our experiences and I learned to ALWAYS bring a cloth napkin everywhere I go (it’s just one of my things), and beware of the cab driver that will rip you off…correction, try to rip you off.  COTS may be a new venture, and always learning but we will do our best to not be taken advantage of so we can pass all of our deals onto the best part of this ride, you, our customers.

Just a reminder, our next Central Farmers Market appearance will be Saturday, September 1^st from 8:00 to Noon.  As we are working towards launching our internet boutique soon, we are starting to narrow down our regular product line.  If there’s anything you want us to start carrying, let us know. 

Until next time, enjoy the rest of your week!

Lady Lanie Lou

   

     At this past weekend's Farmers Market, we were formally greeted by royalty in the form of a princess . . . enter, Lady Lanie Lou, the cutest little girl.  She was dressed in her proper Farmers Market attire consisting of what else, but a tutu and tiara!  Lady Lou was full of energy, definitely more than the average 3 year old princess.  Her bubbling personality had enough mischief to keep her Farmers Market subjects entertained.  Lady Lou had us all wanting to walk around wearing tiaras and tutus (come on you know you have at least one of them collecting dust in your closet).  Imagine how much fun the laundry, house cleaning and grocery shopping would be if we wore our princess gear as well as Lady Lanie Lou. Until next time, have a great week and let's take a cue from Lady Lou by wearing our tiara while we Stay Calm and Carry On!

Design Inspiration

     It has been awhile since we last posted but Brenda and I have been busy traveling and visiting family. Brenda spent time in Chicago visiting the in-laws and I had fun visiting my sisters and baby niece who happened to be born on my birthday (I know what you're thinking and yes, I am the best auntie ever!). No matter where we are, we constantly keep our eyes open for design ideas. Many COTS designs are original such as our burp cloths, tutus, tea towels, jute bags, flower clips, pillow bands and onesies; however, we're just like you.  We get A LOT of our ideas from Pinterest. Pinterest has quickly become our favorite website and our biggest down-time obsession (I prefer to use the term "researching".)! I'm constantly telling friends that Pinterest is a life changer. I don't think, I'll ever have to buy shampoo, laundry soap, cooking and/or bug spray ever again! We realize and are betting that a fair amount of you pin a lot of ideas but rarely get around to doing them. You're not alone in the "I can do that" department. There are so many ideas running through our heads as we pin idea after idea onto our boards imagining how we can make it by using a certain material, style or color we're drawn to. Some Pinterest ideas that we've put our own twist on are: picture frame dry erase boards, metal tray chalk boards, and wine corks. We're currently working on tile coasters, dry erase menu boards, monogram canvas bags, and about 113 other ideas, all in our heads of course. We also believe once we figure out what to do with freezer paper (another Pinterest pin), the design potential will be endless. So as we try to master the next "I can do that" thing, happy pinning!