6-29-08
- Well,
no new and fancy blog location yet as I can't seem to find
time to get it all nice and pretty for you all. So, you will
have to learn to love this little one here for the time
being.
There are SO
MANY NEW things in the store now. And that's not even
including the totally wonderful note cards that I've been
working on... even ones that can be personalized with your
name. Orale! Once those little babies have been
photographed, then I can offer them to you. I really think
you'll like them. Oh, and for those who place orders
this summer, I might even through in a sample of those
personalized note cards for you to check out. So order
something today? On a personal and rather sad note, my
tia Virginia passed away a little over a week ago. I loved
her dearly and grew up being told I was just like her. For
so long we called her Auntie V but for the longest time when
I was little, I was saying Aunt TV and wondered why we
called her a TV. She always bought us the super-sugary
cereals like Count Chocula and Boo Berry when we visited her
in Silver City. I used to giggle to say Piggly Wiggly, the
name of the store she worked at for so many years. She never
married nor had children but treated me and my brothers like her own. I love
her very much and will miss her even more. She traveled so
much throughout her life and it looks like she's continuing
to journey. Tell your loved ones you love them... while you
can. Life is too short to keep it to yourself!
Abrazos!
4-10-08
- How do
you know if you're on the right track when you can't make up
your mind which direction you want to go. I really
want to make VL a one-stop shop for goodies with a sabor
Latino (Latino flavor). I've been seeking out cosas
(things) made by or designed by Latino artists or with the
aforementioned sabor. I've found some new goods and
will be adding them as soon as they arrive. I'm really
excited about this since now there's more for your shopping
pleasure and, honestly, less that I will have to personally
make. Time is in such shortage right now that I've been
worried about keeping up. But all is good.
This leads me
back to the "right track" mentioned
earlier... I have a deep love of paper and paper
goods. It actually puts my fabric addiction to shame. I've
been working on a gift wrap and paper goods line (think gift
bags, tags, invites, favors and even paper ware like plates,
napkins and the sort). I've come to find this also
takes a lot of time. Sourcing printers (preferably those
using recycled, tree-free and environmentally friendly
processes) and working out design and/or art acquisition is
not easy stuff. So herein lies my conundrum...which
venture should I put my most energy into. I love both. Do I
have to choose? Can I do both...and still be decent
mom...and still pay the bills?
3-25-08
- It's
amazing how long it takes to make updates as well as keeping
up with orders and looking for more business...especially
with a new baby in the house. My newest little man was born
a couple days before Christmas and I'm still trying to get a
work schedule worked out, especially added to the schedule
needs of two other kids. But all is good and I'm working
on some really cool stuff for babies (gee, wonder where that
inspiration came from) and collage handbags. I will be
moving this blog to an outside site soon to facilitate
quicker updates. More information to come...stay tuned.
8-1-07 -
So there was this terrible I-can't-keep-my-eyes-open to make
stuff time going on for a while. I mean, my bod was trying
to fall asleep whenever I stood still for more than a
second. Well, the mystery was solved when I found out
that... yup... I'm pregnant with munchkin #3!!!
Yikes! But, I must admit it felt good to have a reason
for the exhaustion and weight gain... and have it not be
something goofy like a thyroid issue. So, we're
expecting this little "jefe" December 27th.
And, in honor of trying to keep as healthy as possible
during this time, I'm cutting back on the production of
items that have toxic elements to them during production
(i.e. resin, soldering, industrial glues). So, I have
instead been working on a lot of goodies using fabric,
acrylic paint and decoupage medium. I think you'll like what
I've come up with. There are a lot of new items on the
site and I'm now on the hunt for others like myself who may
want to consign their goodies... Less for me to make, more
cool stuff for me to offer you. Sounds like a good plan to
me. Orale!
4-1-07 -
Time is at a premium and I find that the less time I have to
do all I want to accomplish, the more crazy I feel inside.
That's one reason behind me scaling back on the products I
make myself and looking to carry more goods designed and
made by others. So, hopefully new item from other
artists/crafters/designers will be available here. In all
honesty, that's what Vista Latina was supposed to be from
day one.
6-12-06 - I''m almost freakin'
done with the site redo. I worked hard on it this past
weekend, literally falling asleep at my keyboard in the wee
hours of the morning (yeah, the last page I worked on at
that point was a mess!). Now I've been getting a lot
inquiries regarding wholesale and while I'm also working
on "secret" wholesale pages with pricing and
online ordering for those interested folks, that is still a
week or two from completion. So those of you to whom that
applies, please be patient with the "old
fashioned" order system of email, fax or phone call.
6-1-06 - I've discovered a
fantastic site: pandora.com.
It's a site built based on the catagoization that was done
under the Music Genome--where over 10,000 songs are
catagorized by genre, musicality, tonality, and the like.
You enter the song or artist you like and create a
"station" where you listen to selections from
other bands that you may enjoy based on the song or artist
you created the station for. It's great!!
3-14-06 - Egads! I finally
switched web hosts! What a mess. Finally getting most of
the kinks ironed out with existing design but can't wait to
get cleaner design up soon. Actually, I'd love to hire
an "expert" to design something really delicious but
that's money that's earmarked for equipment and
printing. Alas.
12-3-05 -
Where the heck has the year gone. I've keeping
VERY busy with a bunch of orders. It's fantastic
and exhausting at the same time. I've been making
everything as ordered and it's been a challenge
to keep up. But, I'm getting better and faster at
making the goodies everyone is ordering. I've
also been filling multiple orders for a wonderful
museum in Puerto Rico and that is very exciting.
It's great to know that my little creations are
literally across the country, and with eBay sales
in Europe and Australia, I love to be able to say
that I sell globally. Okay, now if someone in
Iceland or Nimibia would just place an order...
just kidding.
I'm
working on a bunch of new products. Being human,
I get bored too of doing the same thing over and
over so I've come up with new stuff for 2006.
Along with items I'm creating, I'm working on
getting other creators to consign their items
here. More fun stuff for customer's enjoyment and
more exposure for crafters/artists that don't have
a big audience yet but should. Win, win!
8-12-05
- The updates have been
posted to the site. So many new things...still
too little time to make everything. there has
been quite a lot of activity via eBay and I'm
grateful for that. It's allowed me to reach out
so much further into the cyber ether. I'm needing
to take this venture to the next level if I ever
hope to pay my bills with it. I'm calling on
local stores and maybe some not-so-local stores
to see if I can get some of my babies onto their
shelves. Pray for me. I am also needing to get
into trade shows but I don't know when I can
realistically pull that magic off. (Oops, ended
that sentence with a preposition!)
Anywhooooooo...
7-22-05
- YEAH! My
baby girlie is ONE year old today! Happy Birthday
angel girl!
6-18-05
- Geez! Where
on eBay can I purchase more hours in a day! I
could really use them. I've been scrambling to
get site updated and between all my others
endeavors, including putting a lot of stuff up
for sale on eBay. Thanks to the hubby for all his
work in doing the listings and other such
management (can we say slave labor?), I just
don't have enough time. I've come to the
conclusion that eating takes up a lot of precious
time during the day. If I could figure out how to
get around it, then I'd so much extra time to
create new things that I'd be crazy with
happiness. Okay, maybe not that extreme.
1-10-05 - Survived the holidays and I'm
looking forward to getting more of the fun stuff
I've been making onto this site. I wish I could
get a sample of everything I make for the art
shows I attend but then this site would be crazy
huge. And as it is, I can't seem to keep up with
what's already here.
11-26-04 - Well, it's been quite a while
since this update but I'm happy to report that my
newest "mini me" made it into the world
perfect and healthy. She weighed in at 8 lbs.
even with peach fuzz for hair. My mom tells me I
didn't start off gifted in the hair department
either but I have crazy thick hair now so there's
hope for my little cue ball. As for my endeavors
since her birth, I've been adjusting to having
two little darlins' around and it's definitely more of a challenge this time around since my
3-yr-old needs more attention now that baby is
getting so much. But, he's a great big-brother.
And, she's a happy, easy baby. Whew! Thank
goodness.
It's now into the
last laps of holiday gift making and in some
cases buying. I've joined a holiday card exchange
so I best be getting those cards made and into
the mail! I can't wait to receive my share.
07-11-04 - I'm on the final countdown to baby
#2. Please, everyone pray that I go into labor
NOW! I am so ready to be done. It's hot and
sticky here in lovely little Tucson with the
onset of the monsoons. Here I am at 3am working
on updating some stuff on this site because it's
the coolest part of the day and my grumpy
potential is at its lowest. Keep a lookout for
some new cool purses, wallets and check book
covers I'm making and will be adding to the site
soon. I'm really excited about them!
05-25-04 - I'm as big as a house and I still
have 2 months to go until the baby comes. I'm
working on trying to get my products into more
retail locations to offset what I'm not doing in
the way of arts/crafts shows. I hope that I'm
able to find success with that approach. Oh, and
in case I haven't already mentioned it, I'm now a
Mary Kay Consultant so if you're looking for a
consultant or just want to find out how to best
take care of the skin God gave you, get in touch
with me and I can help you out. You can order
24/7 via my Mary Kay website at www.marykay.com/saharms or call me at (520)
721-4722. Free shipping in the continental US and
cool free gifts with purchases over $40.
Shameless plug? Yes, of course.
04-03-04 - I just did a craft show a few days
ago and it wiped me out. Being 6 months pregnant
can really wear on body. I'm starting to work on
the gift wrap line so if anyone has connections
to a printer that can handle such items, please
refer them to me!
03-18-04 - MARATHON UPDATING GOIN' ON! I've
added a whole mess of stuff to the site. Yes,
I've been a busy little beaver and burning the
midnight oil. I want to get this update done
before the end of today and before I leave for
four days to San Diego to attend a Mary Kay
career conference. Yes, I also market Mary Kay...
'cuz I just don't have enough to do with Vista
Latina and a two-year-old. (Sense the sarcasm?).
No, I just want to make sure I can continue to
dictate my schedule with my son and
soon-to-arrive daughter. But, ya know, if you
folks would buy lots of stuff from either
enterprise, then I could maybe cut it down to one
job. Just a thought. Well, blessings to all.
03-03-04 - I'm going to be slimming down on
the number of outdoor arts/crafts shows I attend
from now through the end of summer as I am
expecting baby #2 (a girl due July 22) and can't
really handle all the schlepping. But to make
sure I still have a retail presence other than
this site, I have rented space in the Creative Ventures craft mall at 522 N. 4th Avenue in
Tucson. There one can find a nice assortment of
the jewelry, note cards, home accessories, switch plate covers, journals and trinket boxes I
usually carry in my crafts booths. These items
will soon be on the website as well.
01-24-04 - Today has been a very sad day for
me and my hubby. We had to say "good
bye" to my baby, Kolbie. She was my
"baby dog" that I've had almost all of
my adult life. The poor soul became afflicted
with a spinal tumor that rendered her hind legs
useless for the most part. We tried her on
steroids to see if they would have any miraculous
affect but alas, they didn't do enough. There was
the option of perhaps major back surgery but that
would have been so terrible for her at her age
(14) and still no guarantee that she would regain
use of her legs. We could see that everyday that
went on and with repeated pee accidents on the
carpet, something that horrified and embarrassed Kolbie as she was normally careful never to make
a mess, she was becoming more and more sad. We
couldn't subject her to any more frustration and
what seemed like depression on her part so we did
the best thing we could think of... we euthanized her. She was my first baby and I took her
everywhere with me. She was such a wonderful
creature and I and my husband will miss her
dearly. My only consolation now is knowing that
she is no longer suffering and that I will get to
see her again someday when it's my time to join
her. God bless her. God blessed me for lending
her to me...

01-01-04 - FELIZ AN~O NUEVO! HAPPY NEW YEYAR!
Jeez! Where the heck have I been? Swamped in
craft shows and farmers markets and coming up
with A LOT of new stuff. I got nifty new digital
camera so now I can get my new creations and
those fun things I've found from other artists
and publishers up on the site within a short
period of time. Finally! I've also been working
on a physical retail location and thought I had
found a great place (cute, located amongst other
artists and CHEAP). But, as I did more thinking I
realized that I really needed to heed the most
important points in selecting a retail location:
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. Chiche? Yes, but
important and especially in a town like Tucson
where it's difficult to market to a generally
thrifty customer base. I'm constantly asked where
me "regular store" is when I'm at
outdoor markets and therefore feel that with the
right location, planning and financing, I can
make a little place of my own a viable concern.
But everything in its own good time.
12-16-03 - Whew! I'm exhausted! Did the
street fair and had good sales. But, I must
admit, if I had to fork out the full space fee, I
would have made a paltry amount. So, I'm mixed on
whether I'd do it again with the same line up of
products I sold. I'll have to give it more
thought.
12-10-03 - I'm scramblin' to make mucho for
the upcoming 4th Avenue Street Fair (Dec. 12-14).
This street fair occurs twice a year (late Fall
and Spring) and is a big deal here in Tucson.
I've got a chance to set up a booth (thanks Craig
@ Creative Ventures) and hope the experience is a
good one. I'm a little torn about doing this
winter's fair 'cuz the Bizarre Bazaar West is
happening on the 14th in Los Angeles and I
REALLY, REALLY wanted to be a vendor there. But,
I really can't pass up the chance to try out the
Street Fair.
06-25-03 - Well, I finally have a few items
available to order. Shopping cart still in the
works. I've also been crazy busy helping to put
together a craft show in Tucson that will take
place October 3-4. It's called The Desert Peddler Boutique and will hopefully go off
well.
05-10-03 - Hoping to go "live"
soon, even if I haven't worked out the issue of a
shopping cart. Having to learn web design along
with starting and trying to grow a business can
be a bit overwhelming. Especially when my boss,
my 19-month-old little man had other designs on
my time and attention.
01/05/03 - I'd have to say that the website
construction, or rather re-construction could not
possibly go any slower if I actually tried to do
so. I stay up late working on it and on making
products to offer the world and wonder, how the
heck did I get here. Well, it can all be blamed
on paper, or rather, my love of it. Just ask my
husband how much of this fire hazard I have
around. And it is this love of paper that lead me
to seek out stationary and gift wrap that had a
Latin flavor to it, Mexican or otherwise. I found
a couple of things, and I mean a couple. But,
that definately wasn't enough. So, I started
hunting high and low for stuff that would feed my
need and as I collected the various resources
(after countless hours of web surfing, driving
around and faxing all over the Americas) I
decided that I should bring them all together in
one place and make them available to others. I
just knew that I couldn't be the only person out
there that would like to find notecards, giftwrap
and the like that reflected Latinos and their
art, customs and even kitcsh. So, Vista Latina
was born. Due to a serious lack of funds, I
started making some things myself and kept that
wish list of items that I wanted to order from
various vendors on the back burner. In the zest
of making products myself, I sidetracked a bit
from the stationary and giftwrap and have also
ventured into jewelry, soap, magnets and various
other objects de arte. So, it's now Vista Latina
has a little bit of everything... but no kitchen
sinks.