Phasing out this blog

Obviously I havent' been keeping up with this blog. I've decided to focus my concentration on two of my online businesses - Story Time Felts and Stampin' UP. That said, I will be phasing out this blog. If you are looking for information on Story Time Felts, please go to my new blog exclusively for STF - http://feltstories.blogspot.com

If you are looking for Stampin' Up ideas, stamps, etc. for now you can head over to my corporate website: http://colleensmith.stampinup.net

Hope you have enjoyed what little I have posted here. I will leave this message up for the next month until all who may stumble over here have had a chance to change their bookmarks to my new sites.

Thanks!

Felt Fridays: Creepy Crawlers & Tall Tales

One thing I love about Story Time Felts is they are always coming up with new felt board sets that are so cool! This month's new set is perfect for the boys in your life....Creepy Crawlers. Why is it that boys are so fascinated with bugs? Well, I guess girls are too, but boys have that reputation you know? If there is an interesting bug on the floor and I call my kids over to check it out, Eric will be the first in line, wanting to find some way of capturing it. Stephanie will want me to just get rid of it, and Cassie will waver between fascination and fear, depending on her mood.

Kids will have a great time playing with this set: Uncut $29.99 Precut $34.99

Aside from the bug set, there is also the new Tall Tales Story set and board. Two of my favorite Tall tales is Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan. I had a great Paul Bunyan record that I wore out as a child.

Tall Tales: Uncut $48.99 Precut $54.99

I see so many great applications for both of these sets. Can't wait to get them in and start playing with them!

To order, call me at 734-3748 or email!

Essential Thursday: New Products!

Okay, I haven't been that diligent at keeping up on my weekly posts. But all that will change now that I am no longer teaching! Yeah!

So coming up from Jordan Essentials we have a wonderful new product:

Fresh Face for Spring Set
Cleanse, Tone and Treat for Fresh glowing skin

• Gentle Cleanser
• Toner Mist
• Age-Defying Serum
• Fresh Spring Floral Charm
• Packaged in an organizational drawstring bag

I'm fairly excited about this new product line. I was just looking in the mirror the other day and wondering what I could do about my wrinkles and old looking skin. Perhaps this is the key to a new younger looking me! I'll let you know the results after I've been using the products for a while.

Don't forget to check out my Jordan Essentials website for prices and ordering.

Wonder Play Wednesdays: Outdoor Fun Sale

Okay, each day I am supposed to promote one of my businesses. I was having a hard time coming up with a catchy name to promote the Discovery Toys. Wonderful Wednesdays came to mind but I wanted to add in the idea of play. After all, DT's mission statement is "Play is a child's work", or something like that. Anyway, Wonder Play Wednesday came to mind.

There is lots going on on the DT website. The Outdoor fun sale ends May 27th. You can check out the flyer at Outdoor Fun Sale

There is also a great Spring into Summer Sale happening as well.
I may get in trouble for posting these, but I'll take my chances! You may order directly from the discovery toys website link on this page but don't forget to use my EC#SMK987 or better yet, give me a call and make it a party to earn free toys! Parties over $300 held before June 17th will earn an additional 50% in free gifts.

Stampin' Tuesdays: First Order

Well, I placed my first order as a Stampin' Up Demonstrator this week. I can't wait for my new products to come in. I was a little leary of the chip board when I first viewed it, but then I saw how you can spice it up with the designer paper and now I can't wait to get my chip board journal and the ginormous flower set. I saw a great idea in Stampin' Up's March Succes Magazine (which I get as a Demonstrator). Using the Ginormous Flower they created a beautiful stand up picture frame that I can't wait to try out. My 5 year old just graduated from Kindergarten so I plan on taking her "grad" picture and putting it in this frame and sending it off to Grandma in Canada.

There is still time to get in on the Chipboard special. 25% off all chipboards if you place an order over $35.

I will be hosting a table at the Guam Homeschool Association Annual Curriculum Fair, next week Saturday, May 24th from 9am to 3pm. If you are in Agana Heights, come on over to the Community Center and check it out!

Motoring Mondays: Intro Better Drivers

Monday is supposed to be reserved for Usborne books. Trouble is, I think I may have let my distributorship in this company lapse. And with all that's going on I may have to leave it for now. So....what to do? What to do......?

I know, promote my real life business: Better Drivers! No one can get mad at me for that one!

Driving school is what pays the bills and feeds the family. I've gotten pretty good at teaching the class, and since Monday is the first day of my weekly class, what better day to promote it?

You have to check out our website: http://www.guamdrivingschool.com. My DH has been working hard on it, adding articles daily and working towards our goal to offer an online driver's ed class for those on Guam. Who knows, if we do a good enough job, maybe we could offer it to other states as well that accept online driver's ed. It still needs a lot of work, but since school will be finished by the end of this week (my other day job) I will have time to dedicate to this worthy endeavor.

Check back next Monday for more driving school tips!

Stampin' Tuesdays: On Board Specials

Get on Board With Chipboards!

Promotion Dates: May 1-31, 2008

Promotion Details:
Spend $35 on Stampin' up products at a workshop or online and qualify for 25% discount on any On Board items from the Spring-Summer Collection. There is no limit on how many On Board items you may purchase at the discount rate. All On Board products (pages 178-179) qualify for this promotion. You may view an online catalog at http://colleensmith.stampinup.net and click on the online catalog under Stampin' Up Products.

Call me at 734-3748 if you'd like to place an order or host a demonstration.

Felt Fridays: Celebrate Earth Month

Ah....Story Time Felts....this is one of the coolest companies I've joined. I have a thing for colors. I like nice bright colors and colorful pictures. Story Time Felts delivers these in their brightly colored felt stories and dolls. Each month they have felts sets on sale and an exclusive hostess special that can only be bought if you host a party.

April is Celebrate Earth Month, so the specials include the Rainforest Felt Board Set (with incredibly detailed animals of the Amazon and other rainforests),$24.99 Uncut, $29.99 Precut

The Bug Book (a great quiet book to keep children entertained),$19.99 uncut, $29.99 precutThe Farm and Zoo toggle book (I'll be posting more on toggle books soon!)$17.99 uncut, $19.99 precut

and the Creation set - a simple circle felt set that introduces and teaches the biblical days of creation. $9.99 uncut, $11.99 precutI love that you can choose to buy these uncut or precut. For those who want to save money and don't mind cutting the felts out, uncut is great. I actually find it very relaxing to sit down and cut out a felt set in an evening. I learned that doing a "halo" cut (a slight edge of felt around the characters) actually makes for easier cutting and looks neater too than when trying to cut right along the edges (precut sets usually have a halo cut).

Next week I'll share more on toggle books and how wonderful these are!

STF still does not have their website functioning; it is in the midst of a major overhaul, but rumor has it that this will be up soon! Then I can actually have my own STF website. In the meantime, my upline Karen hosts http://www.funfelt.com and can take orders for all of her downline. Simply put my name in the comment field and she will pass the order on to me to process.

Essential Thursdays with Jordan Essentials

Jordan Essentials, a direct sales company, used to be called Country Bunny Bath and Beauty, or something similar. I fell in love with their lotion bars, with a cute little bunny embossed on the bar, and the compact tin they came in. The lotion bar can be rubbed onto your hands and makes your skin smooth and silky with a wonderful smell. My friend Vivien introduced me to the company. Vivien is a network market junkie. A single mom, who raised 4 children (including twin boys), she is a born saleswoman and is constantly looking out for great products and ideas. You may think I have a lot on my plate with the few businesses listed here, but Vivien has me beat by a mile.

Jordan Essentials has two specials going on this month.

Treat, Spoil & Pamper Your Mom

Mother’s Day is personal and this collection is personalized for your Mom!

The New Black Raspberry Vanilla Shea Butter, Lotion Bar, and Soap Saver all share the message that Mom is special with “Mom” on the label. Your collection also comes with a 9 oz. Shower Gel to fill your Soap Saver, Mini Spritzer and a card so you can add your own special touch. All yours for only $45.00

April 1 - May 16, 2008

The other special is their Autoship program. For $40 per month you can sign up to recieve a $50 package collection that changes every month.

APRIL SHOWERS COLLECTION

• Soap Saver: Fun and easy to fill and refill
• 9 oz. Grapefruit & Lime Shower Gel
• 9 oz. Black Raspberry Vanilla Shower Gel
• New combo pack of soy candles in
• Grapefruit & Lime and Black Raspberry
• Vanilla
• Olive Oil Soap in Black Raspberry Vanilla

Weekly, Daily topics: Stampin' Tuesdays

I came up with a brilliant idea for this blog today so thought I would implement it as soon as possible. With my various business ventures, I wanted to be able to use this blog as a way to promote myself and the great products I am able to sell. So I decided that each day of the week would be reserved to promote one business and their sales, promos, or just my favorite item. Hopefully, this will generate more sales to my actual business websites.

DISCLAIMER: This is in no way a "business" website for any of the companies I am involved in, and I pray that nobody will try to shut this down. This is my personal blog, where I can share my views on any products that I so desire. No sales will go through this website. (There that should hold off any "issues"...I hope).

So to start off this glorious Tuesday, April 15th, Tax day....(just had to through that in for any that are still fighting that beast), I present to you STAMPIN' UP.

Today is my "official" start as a Stampin' Up demonstrator. At least in my eyes, it's my official start as my kit arrived today! Technically I think my start up date was when they received my appplication, probably April 1st or so. Anyway, I excitedly stood in line today for 20 minutes at the post office, entertaining my 5yo daughter (and the rest of the line up I'm sure) by getting her to read signs for me. Waiting in anticipation for my parcel, the KIT!

I'm just thrilled with it. I think, aside from the stamps, the best thing in the box was a set of magazines with all kinds of layouts and card ideas. And then, oh my, the website! I just found a great template for making a scrapbook in a night! (small album 6X6), but boy does that give me a great idea for a workshop.

I can tell that the next few weeks might have me being a bit "one sided" in my businesses as I get to know this new venture. But just think of how creative I'll be being!

Don't forget to check out my own personal stampin' up website: http://colleensmith.stampinup.net

Stress Free Tax Preparation, Even at the last moment

It’s that time of year, 3 days and counting until one of the most horrid days of the year arrives in the United States. Tax Day. April 15^th. For some people it is like an evil demon, hovering in their future ready to pounce on them and send them into shivers of terror. Or they may be one of those who spend hours prepping and organizing and filing on January 1^st every year. Or there are those of us in between extremes.

I admit, that for years I faced tax day like it was some day made in hell, sweating and worrying for weeks before and then shamefully hiding my head in the sand for another year after it passed and I had yet to get my act together. But it’s not healthy to live like that, so I had to figure out how to handle this monster.

This year, for the first time I’ve realized that my solution actually worked. Here’s how I tamed the beast.

First of all the most essential tool in dealing with tax issues is to have your financial documents in order. This takes a system and a good computer program in order for this to work. I discovered Quickbooks, by Intuit, over 13 years ago now and have never strayed from its easy to understand interface and flexible category system. .

The second secret is to save all your receipts. I mean EVERYTHING. Even if you are not sure if it’s allowable as a deduction; save it anyway. You can use a shoebox on your desk, a drawer, an envelope, or whatever system works for you. I prefer an “inbox” and all receipts are to be placed there by family members. In my purse I keep a legal sized envelope where I put all my receipts during the week and empty into the inbox at the end of the week.

I’ll admit that I’m not an accountant and my system may not be the preferred method by the accountants of the world, but as a simple business owner, with self taught bookkeeping experience and one college class under my belt, I feel that my method works well. In my Quickbooks program I set up whatever bank accounts I have, and then I set up a “cash” account as if it were a bank account. This is where I enter all the receipts I have that I paid with cash, and all the checks or credit card payments into their appropriate accounts. Then I file all my receipts by categories. Utilities, meals, gas, insurance, etc. If there is a company that I always buy from, I might also set up a file just for receipts from that company. But usually the file system is based on categories that would match an IRS form. Try to avoid miscellaneous files. I would rather have a file labeled “cat food” than to have a miscellaneous file to have to sort through at the end of the year. It is better to over categorize your files than to be too general. Over the course of the year I try to keep up with the files, and organize the receipts by month. So that in your “Water Bill” file you will have all the bills organized by month and you can easily see what was paid when.

When the tax day looms, if you have kept up with your inputting of receipts and their organizing, it will be much easier for you to retrieve the information and lessen the feelings of stress.

Set aside a day at least 3 days before D day. If you are a procrastinator like me that is. Otherwise, give yourself a better time cushion. Make sure to lessen all distractions. Have hubby take kids for the day. Gather your supplies. A good pot of coffee, munchies for strength (nothing sticky as you don’t want to get gunk on your tax forms!), mood music if you so desire, and at least some chocolate is essential too.

Run a profit and loss report with Quickbooks and take the time to double check all the categories. Did you get all the power bills entered? Are there any duplicate entries? Are there any receipts entered into the wrong category? Once you have the minor glitches like that worked out, make sure you have plenty of paper and a good internet connection. Because even if you did pick up tax forms at Rev and Tax you may find yourself needing just one more form.

Children are a wonderful asset so take advantage of them. Make sure you check to see if you are eligible for the Child tax Credits, and the Additional Child Tax Credit (I missed that one year), Earned Income Credit and many others. As a small business owner, my goal has always been to make enough money to live, but not enough money to owe taxes. I love those tax credits that help me fulfill that goal.

Then go to it. And pray lots. It always helps to have a little guidance from above.

Perhaps this information has come a little late for some, but at least you have some ideas for next year.

Happy Tax Day!

Entrepeneurship

For several years I have been involved in one direct sales company after another. I'm really not a salesperson so you may wonder why? Simply put, it's because I love the products! And when you love something, it makes sense to get involved so that you can get the products for yourself at a discount or even for free! Some of the businesses I'm involved in, the products sell themselves.

Now my biggest issue is how to market these and perhaps even make some money from these companies. Some offer websites as part of the package, but to drive traffic there requires some kind of vehicle. So that is what this blog is all about.

I have decided to combine all of my businesses into one easy place to access for all my customers. And to write reviews of the various businesses, products and upcoming specials. All the while attempting to adhere to all appropriate internet business protocols set out by the various companies.

I hope you enjoy what you see here and come back often to check on sales and specials!