Decorated Cabinets

So I think everyone that knows me - really knows me - knows that I am a very crafty/artsy person that loves to decorate.  Pinterest is one of my addictions and probably one that I should have never found because I get all kinds of inspiration from there and I absolutely can't stay away from it. 

Here is one of my projects - the idea came from the menu boards you see posted all over Pinterest - but I changed it up a little bit.  I hated my boring cabinets and loved the menu board idea so I jazzed up one side of my cabinets and couldn't just stop with the menu board or they wouldn't match.  Here is what I did:

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Jack's Pack Pet Planet is officially taking orders :)

I know this is my personal blog for our family and projects but I have to announce that Jack's Pack Pet Planet is officially taking orders online.  It has been a long road getting it to this point - especially since it is a one person show - but it has been well worth the effort.  Prior to the redesign we had orders from New York and didn't even market the site.  Now we have it redesigned through Magento and can't wait to get more products on there. 

The goal now is to focus on adding more products.  Our current hosting plan only allows us 1,000 products so we are going to get those in and then switch our hosting plan to an unlimited option so that we can keep growing.  We have over 500K products that we can add from our 2 suppliers and we have multiple suppliers we are looking to add.  The sky is the limit for this business.  But please be patient with us as it is truly only me (Crystal) working on the site in between my full-time job, selling Younique (which I love by the way) and everything else I have going on.  We have a lot of plans for Jack's Pack Pet Planet so share it with your friends and follow us on this journey.  It is going to be amazing.

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Sock Monkey Craziness

So I wanted to share an old project with everyone.  This was a project that took me a year to complete but was so much fun to do. 

At the beginning of the year in 2011, I was really thinking about the people in my family that I had lost over the years and I was really sad.  I kept looking at this sock monkey that my great-grandmother, Mae Byrom (Big Momma) had made for me when I was a kid. 

This sadness kept nagging at me until I decided to make sock monkeys for all the kids in my family for Christmas.  With this project, I felt like I would be honoring my great-grandmother who had done the same so many many years ago.  I knew that I had to start early if I was going to make it by Christmas because there were at least 22 sock monkeys I needed to make.

I found my pattern and borrowed my Mom's sewing machine because the one that my Granny had given me didn't work.  I did most of the sewing by hand during my lunch hours at work or at home while watching TV on the couch but I did do some of it on the machine.


Word got around that I was doing this project and a few people wanted to buy sock monkeys from me.  So I took their orders and added those to my final count. 

Christmas came and the sock monkeys were gifted out.  Some were mailed and some were hand delivered.  The kids all loved them and they were a big hit with many of the adults too.  That year, I requested a new sewing machine of my own for Christmas and my sweet husband took my Mom and they picked out one for me.  I love it and can't wait to use it on more projects like this.

Now I'm not a great seamstress or anything but the project was so much fun and was so fulfilling for me.  It helped me overcome my sadness and redirect that energy to something productive and fun.  The pictures below are just some of the sock monkeys I made in 2011.  I hope to make more in the future and maybe sell them on Etsy or EBay or something.  We will see.  Right now, my free time is being spent on the development of Jack's Pack Pet Planet and growing my Younique customer base - so projects like this are on hold for the time being. But soon...

 

 

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TGIF - Seriously

I must say that I am so glad it is Friday.  Work is getting crazy because one co-worker quit and the other is going to be on medical leave for the next 6 weeks - leaving me and my boss to handle everything.  My boss really handles another area so really - it leaves me to handle most of it.  I'm already swamped and she doesn't leave until next week.  I will try really hard not to turn "The House of Koutz" blog into a venting session over the next 6 weeks.  What I really need to focus this blog on is sharing our adventures, sharing our family projects and sharing how things are going in our life as we journey to new beginnings with our businesses. 

That being said, tonight I am working on my Jack's Pack Pet Planet site.  I successfully cleaned up the homepage but messed up something else that I am not really sure how to fix.  I will be researching floating fieldsets for a while - or so it seems.  I am adding cross-sells, upsells and related products to my bird cages and fish aquariums and I think that will take me most of the night.  Once I get those steps done, I have lots of products to add to keep it progressing.  I wish I could just twitch my nose and it would all be done.  The redesign is looking good though and should be replacing the current site very soon.

On a personal level, I get a girl's night on Sunday to go see Wicked on Broadway and I'm really looking forward to a little relaxation while I watch the show.  I love Broadway and would highly recommend going to a show if you have never been.  So far, my favorite is absolutely Lion King.  It was the best Broadway show I have ever seen.  Have any of you watched any Broadway shows?  What was your favorite?
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Projects: Magnetic/Dry-Erase Family Calendar

--> The House of Koutz is so busy right now it is hard to keep up with everything.  David has trucks to fix and get back to their owner's, he has raised beds to build for our back yard, he has training to do with Jack (our Blue Heeler) and so much more.  I have my Younique business I am building, my Jack's Pack Pet Planet Website I am rebuilding and trying to get launched as soon as possible, a calendar project to finish before the end of this month, a bathroom to finish painting (just the doors are left), a business plan to write, my full time job and housework.  We as a family have tons of birthdays, weddings and events this month and who knows what else will come up between now and then.  There are days when my head just starts spinning because there is so much to do that I don't know where to start.  Tonight I should be working on building my website or the calendar buttons but instead, I have to finish a rotating web banner project for ARMA San Antonio that my full time job is expecting to have up and running tomorrow.  Busy Busy Busy.  I guess it is better than being Bored Bored Bored. 
Today I wanted to share my calendar project with everyone so you can start planning easy Christmas present ideas.  I use to make printed calendars for our family with everyone's birthday, anniversary and pictures on it but they started getting more and more expensive to print and harder to manage as our family grew.  I didn't make them every year but I made a few of them and they were usually a big hit with the family at Christmas.  I decided to redesign my idea to make it more cost effective and efficient for me to manage.  Here is what I am doing now:

Since I am doing these as Christmas gifts, I gave them to the parents and grandparents last year and plan to give them to brothers and sisters this year and then eventually to Aunts, Uncles and Cousins too.  Since I started this late last year, I only did January - March buttons so I need to do the April - June buttons now and mail them out and then July - Sept and so on.  That way they get a small gift 4 times this year :)

Now when someone has a baby or an event to add - instead of making a new calendar - I just make a new button and mail them out to everyone.  MUCH cheaper since the calendar is reusable year-to-year.  I love this idea.

Welcome to The House of Koutz Blog

--> Welcome to The House of Koutz blog.  On this blog we will showcase our family projects, things we love on Pinterest and try to duplicate ourselves (successful and failed attempts), recipes, inspirations, humor, personal/family stories and adventures and stuff like that. 
The reason we created this blog is because we wanted to share some of the personal stuff we have going on in our lives.  For the most part, this blog will not be about our business ventures but from time to time we may have a cross-over post if the content is so fantastic that we just have to share it everywhere.

We hope you enjoy sharing part of our lives with us as we document our life's journey at The House of Koutz blog.  We wish you and your family many blessings.