Wedding Proposal - OUCH!

National Women's Show

I am exhausted! The National Women's Show was a great success. Women are crazy when it comes to shopping and entering into all the contests there is. We gave out too many flyers to be counted.

Once again, when I thought I was not going to be able to pull through with it, God did the work. First off, we rented a 10x10 feet booth to display our oil portraits. The van we rented on Wednesday to go to Ottawa with killed two birds in one shot, I used it to transport everything to the Women's Show on Thursday. I thought I might as well set up a table with some CLP Invitations products. After dropping everything off, I quickly went to my wholesaler and ordered some more cute little nick-nacks to be picked up on Friday morning, just in time for the show.

I had everything all planned out, Friday morning was going to be a "rest" morning since I've been running around and was getting really tired, I wanted to take it easy before I've to stand the entire weekend at the show. I got a call Friday morning from the Women's Show saying that it is mandatory to have a carpet or some sort of coverings for our 10x10 feet of space. Sheesh! Last time I spoke with them, they said it's not mandatory... where in the world am I going to get cheap carpet?! Renting a 10x10 carpet from the show would cost $159 + tax???? But there was good news, the other reason for their call was that the company who paid for their booth next door canceled at the last minute, so we had the chance to expand to a 10x20 feet space.

I was very thankful when she told me on the phone, but once I got off the phone, I realized it might not be a good thing after all, it'd make my life more difficult! $269 to rent a 10x20 feet carpet for 3 days???? I also had to rush to my office to grab some more easels and paintings to display and to fill up the extra space we had. Rushed to Palais des Congres to drop off everything. The loading dock closed earlier than they said it would, I had to carry everything from my car into Palais des Congres and up to the 2nd floor all the way into the exhibition hall. I must have made 10 trips back and forth, what a waste of time and energy. Then I rushed to Reno Depot to pick up some sort of floor covering, drove super fast to the wholesaler in Laval to pick up the products and on my way back to the Palais des Congres, I made a wrong turn and ended up taking the long way to Chinatown from Laval. I was about to cry while driving 'cause I was all by myself thinking I would never be able to set up in time for 4pm. Kept praying and praying for God to give me peace and not to worry too much.

Finally got to Palais des Congres at 2pm and thought I'd set up whatever I can before 4pm and whatever else I can't set up, then that's it, can't do anything about it. God was good, I was able to set up most of the things I wanted to set up. Just left a couple of boxes in the car, that didn't really matter, as long as the over all look of the booth was good. I wouldn't want to be still setting up after the show starts, our company would look pretty bad. This is what it looked like 2 minutes before 4pm Friday.

What did I say? God is good! Everything worked out to our advantage. The 10x20 feet of space provided us with more visibility and exposure. Some people of course weren't interested in oil paintings and they didnt' realize we specialize in oil portraits from photos, CLP Invitations nick-nacks also made people stop at our booth, while they were checking out, Gloria (my little labourer for the weekend) and I bombarded them with our flyers and information. We also had a raffle for a beautiful 24"x36" oil painting. At times our booth would be flooded with people who wanted to fill out the ballot for the draw, you know when a crowd gathers on the street, that attracts even more people! That was really good, also our chance to give out flyers and info. When they realize when we can do with their photos, they were amazed. The booth next door, Restylane, gave free Botox demonstrations throughout the day (DISGUSTING!), people crowded around their booth to see what was going on and that was also our chance to give out flyers since the crowd spilled into our "territory".


For some samples of oil portraits and how amazing they are, you can check out our website. Honestly, the photos on the website does not do the portrait any justice. You should see the real thing! People continued to be amazed at how talented our artists are, I am amazed too! Ask Gloria!

Speaking of Gloria, this time, instead of stealing pens from the booth next door (like she did at the Wedding Show back in January), she kept stealing BAGS from Restylane!

Today is finally my slack off day, YAY!!!

Interesting...

Here are some interesting wedding stories...

Indian Groom Too Drunk to Wed, so Brother Steps In
Woman to Marry Ex-Husband's Father: Wedding with the In-Laws
Lost Wedding Ring Found Two Years Later in Stomach

Pretty Cool...
Toilet Paper Wedding Dresses
Cashmere Toilet Paper Wedding Dresses

I Don't Understand...

I don't understand how people can be addicted to Facebook?? Especially bureaucrats, political staffers and MPPs...

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/210014

CLP Invitations Growing Across Canada & US!

For the past month, I have been working on a project and putting a business plan into place. I have turn my entire house into a factory! I set up "stations" in my house for different purposes. First, my living room coffee table turned into a Cutting Station where I have a cutting mat, paper trimmer, exacto, scissors and a ruler to cut any large or small pieces of papers needed.

Second, there's the dinning room table where I worked on these little guys...
They are cute little key chains that come in 7 different colours made with satin rattail cords with different combinations of coloured beads. My mommy also turned into my "worker" for the past month and this is what she was mass producing...

Caleb was also helping me price tag the products. He loved helping (cheap labour... more like free child labour)!

Two stations in my room. My computer desk was used to make these magnets packaged in a clear cover tin container. These are popular wedding favours.

I even used my bed as a station to make greeting cards, of course I have to move the stuff to the floor at the end of every night.

I had all these "stations" because since I was mass producing, I can do a little bit of this and a little bit of that and switch back and forth so I don't get bored doing just 1 thing over and over again for 72 hours straight. My house ended up looking like this by the end of last week...

I went on my first official "business trip"
yesterday. It was only a short trip to Nepean, Ottawa but hey, it was still a business trip. I rented a Ford minivan, loaded the entire truck with boxes and off I drove to Ottawa with my mom and Caleb. But before we took off, we kinda encountered a little problem... the Ford minivan had no key hole for the trunk and no lever in the front to pop the trunk with. I am embarrassed to say that I spent almost half an hour trying to figure out how to pop the darn trunk! Looking all over for the trunk lever and reading (omg) the manual I still couldn't figure it out. Guess what? All 4 doors had to be unlocked before the trunk can be opened... even if I had the driver's door unlocked, it wouldn't work. I felt like an idiot for the first time in a very long time.

After a 1.5 hours drive (too long), we arrived in Ottawa. Of course I got honked for not turning right on a right light and gas is only 105.5 (compare to 118.4)!

Finally, we arrived at a store called Amaze (a.k.a The The General Store), it has stores across Canada (of course, except in Quebec! We're always left out. But apparently they are hunting for a store location in Quebec and will open up in the near future). Then I set up my little 4 feet x 8 feet of space on the wall. Other than the Merivale Mall in Nepean, Ottawa, my products will also be selling in Niagara Falls and Canada's largest West Edmonton Mall. This summer, CLP Invitations will be expanding to other Canadian locations as well. But these are three to start with.


Amaze offers free shuttle services from store to store. All I had to do was drop everything off at their Nepean store and they will ship the goods to Niagara and West Ed. When the goods arrive, the staff at the store will set up everything for me. The products retailing in West Ed is pretty much the same as those in Nepean. The products at the Niaraga location is completely different. I have a floor display/spinner right next to the cashier. I was lucky to get that prime location in the store.
From the photo above, the products might seem ordinary, wait till you see the products close up! They are super cute, if I do say so myself. Here are just a few samples...

Jacket Journals (I'm in love with these)


Specialty Bookmarks

Foot Notes










We also carry some books in these retail stores as well as these innovative Smiles Made Easy.

photo taken from www.smilesmadeeasy.com

And finally, thank you Caroline & Lizzy for these beautiful and creative handmade beaded greeting cards! They will be selling at West Edmonton Mall beginning May 15th!
What about the US? I've been making these Wedding Program Fans for some customers from the US. I originally made these for Tanya & Jun's wedding last September. Thanks guys!
I think that's about it... for now!
Congratulations, you've made it through my longest post up-to-date! Thanks for reading!