Hey Abbey! How come your prices have gone up??

I have been getting that question a lot lately and I felt that it was REALLY important that I write something in response. I have been very apprehensive and nervous to write this post. I was actually told by a few people that I shouldn’t even write it, but I felt that it was really necessary. I feel an immense gratitude towards my fans. Without you, I would not have the company that I have today.

And so, I thought that it was time to tell you my story. 

When I was in High School, I had really bad grades. I thought that school was a social experience. Not really a place for learning. I didn’t really take it seriously as you can guess. For example, when it was time to take my SAT’s I didn’t bring a pencil or a calculator. I remember wondering why everyone was so frantic and crazy about the test. Was it really that important??? I decided in my senior year that I would go to art school and become an interior designer. You didn’t need to have good grades, just an awesome portfolio. Problem was…. I had never taken an art class in my life or had picked up a pencil to draw. I had some friends in the art studio class in school and I thought if they could do it, why couldn’t I?

My art teacher, as they usually are, was a mighty eccentric character. Loads of curly frizzy hair and an insanely happy personality. When I told her my dreams of going to art school and that I needed 12-15 pieces for a portfolio - oh and that I had never taken art before or knew how to draw – to her credit she didn’t even blink an eye. OK fine – she looked at me as if I was crazy, but she held it all in and never dashed my dreams. It was through her that I first found my love of studio art and discovered the richness of art history. I truly owe her a lot. 

In the end, I came up with 5 large pieces and a sketchpad of drawings to show at my college interviews. I remember thinking that it was a long shot to get in, but get in I did! I was accepted to 2 of the best art schools in NY – the only 2 schools that I had applied to.

But life does not always lead you down the easiest path or take you down the roads you normally expect to take. God directs you through the path that is best for you, even if you can’t see the big picture right away.

I deferred college for the year and went to Israel, learning at a seminary in Jerusalem. When I got back – and this is a story for ANOTHER blog (I promise, it’s a REALLY good story)  I married my husband who I had been seeing since I was 15 years old. We decided to settle down in Los Angeles and so I gave up my dreams of art school on the East Coast. I had no mommy or daddy who would support us. It was extremely important that I find a job fast. Since I had received my teaching degree for Judaic Studies in Israel, I found a job as a teacher at one of the local orthodox day schools. At night, I went to design school at UCLA. 

It was during these first 2 years of marriage 

that the groundwork was set

for who I would become 

and for the company I would later create.

At UCLA, I realized that as soon as I started taking CAD and all the building courses, that I truly HATED interior design. That wasn’t what I liked about art. I loved the color theory classes and the courses that brought about creativity and expected you to think differently. I loved studio art and the prospect of designing pieces that were done by mixing various elements and materials. I didn’t realize this at the time, but those feelings spilled into my teaching. I began teaching students visually and kinesthetically. Special Education became my forte.  

Not 2 Shabbey first began as a scrapbooking company.

I loved to scrapbook – especially my little kids. I sold not only my skill as a scrapbooker, but also various scrapbooking supplies. This was during the time when scrapbooking was all the rage. My husband and I soon moved to the NY area and Not 2 Shabbey then evolved into a crafting company. I love wood – and so I would craft on picture frames and mirrors, as well as other types of wood pieces and sell them at craft fairs around the Tri-State area. It was a hobby at the time, I still taught, and crafted on my down time. In November of 2010, I was at my Aunts house for Thanksgiving vacation. She had once owned a company where she sold hand painted acrylic pieces, like address books, accessories holders, and tea boxes. She wanted to get rid of her stock and so I took it and told her I would paint the pieces and sell them at my next show. I became successful selling acrylic and realized for the first time that I might actually have a viable business and not just a fun hobby.

 I began to notice 2 things…..

#1 – People (especially Orthodox Jews) like to entertain and because of this they want and need good quality serving pieces.

#2 - People do not like acrylic as much as they like glass. 

So one summer, and I’m not joking. I taught myself how to paint glass. It took me some time to figure out how to do it and what materials worked best, but once I learned how my business immediately changed - Overnight .

Sometimes things come together at the perfect moments. Just at the right time. That’s what happened here. Just as my business was taking off, social media stated to become very popular. I started researching how to grow a fan base and what you needed to do to become successful through facebook. I kept reading over and over again about giveaways. I was very scared to give things away for free. Not only was I working hard to make the piece, but it cost money to buy the products. I was a little weary of doing it, but then I read about an IKEA in Europe who ran a brilliant campaign on Facebook. They didn’t have enough money to advertise their location so they created a facebook page. Every day they uploaded a new picture onto their page and whoever shared the photo first would win that piece of Ikea furniture free. They had gotten so much publicity through facebook that millions found out about their new location and paying for advertisements wasn’t necessary. 

I thought, “Hey, if it worked for them, maybe it would work for me!”

I ran my first campaign I believe, that winter. I immediately gained 300 followers, and every time I posted a new photo I gained another 100 or so fans. I realized the brilliancy of my plan. I needed to get my products into the hands of my fans. It wasn’t just enough that they “LIKED” my page. They needed to see, feel, and above all else use my pieces to fall in love with them, so they would recommend them to their friends and come back to me as a retail client. As my fan base grew, I started going to stores and creating relationships with their owners. I started painting exclusively for a manufacturer after we made a connection at the NY Gift Show. I was there looking for good pieces of glass and he was a vendor looking to offer something different to his customers. 

So now I was working wholesale to stores and retail to private customers AND still teaching. It all started to become a little too much for just little ole’ me. I really needed help. I had gotten to the point that without spending money my company wouldn’t grow, but I had no money to spend. I had set my pricing too low and wasn’t making enough to cover for workers.  It was do or die. 

A couple months ago, a friend of mine recommended that I speak to Shoshana Raff, an amazing business coach. We went out for lunch and I began telling her about my company and what I was all about. We immediately hit it off and I knew that she would be a great asset to me and my company. She found me Natan who would become my new business administrator and The Clear MyDesk team who would redesign my studio space.  I also hired an assistant painter who preps and cleans pieces. 

So why am I telling you my story????? 

There are always challenges to selling you own work. As an artist, it is very hard to set pricing for your own pieces. You know the time and effort it takes to create the item and we usually undercut our value. We don’t always see the value of our own worth. 

What I’ve learned is….

         #1 -  How I perceive myself is how others will perceive me.  

         #2 -  If I want my company to be taken seriously then I need to take it seriously.

         #3 – The company has to work efficiently and professionally. 

With that in mind……

I have grown a company that was created by me, but is no longer just me.

Not 2 Shabbey was started by Abbey, but it is now running as a bigger entity and because of that my pricing has gone up.

As I said in the beginning you are my biggest asset. 

I would not be here if it wasn't for my fans. 

So please accept my gift to you!

 Use Promo Code – MYGIFT and receive 20% off your entire order from now till May 15^th

http://not2shabbey.com/

 

We are still working tirelessly on the new website. And we have so many great things ready to come at you in the next couple of months. Things that will BLOW YOU AWAY. But for now please bear with us as we are in transition mode. Most everything is up on the site or will be soon. Although there are a limited amount of photographs- I PROMISE WE ARE WORKING ON IT!!! 

I hope this helps to explain some things and clear up some of your confusion. If you weren’t wondering what was going on, then I hope you found this to be a good read anyway! 

All the best, 

Shabbey Abbey 

A Wimple In Time....

Being "out there" in the social media world, I do get some interesting requests from time to time. As an artist you see,  I love taking on challenges, especially those I know I will have fun with.

Last January, I received this email from a wonderful fan..... 

 

Hi, 

I found your page on facebook and see your beautiful items.

I am looking for a "wimple" artist for my sons 3rd birthday. Id imagine you might not know what a "wimple" is but it is a yekke minhag instead of an upsherin. It is basically a large piece of cloth (about 10 foot long banner) that the child wraps around the sefer Torah. it is designed with the childs name and pesukim  with pictures and designs. 

Does that sound like something you might be able to create?

My response back to her was ....

Hi _____! 

Honestly I have never heard of a wimple before, but it sounds really beautiful! I would love to make it for u. Could u send me a pic of one so that I can get a better idea of what it entails. 

Thank you so much for thinking about me! 

Have a wonderful shabbos! 

Abbey

We emailed back and forth discussing pricing and the design of the piece. She was extremely helpful by sending me a video of a sample and sending me her own husbands in the mail along with the piece of fabric. 

To be perfectly honest with you, I was most frightened about getting the wording onto the wimple. I was terrified that the Pasuk wouldn't fit on the piece of fabric. What if I made the wording too big? What if it was too small and there was so much extra room??? Those thoughts plagued me as the package of fabric sat on my porch waiting to be worked on. I new that it had to be completed by a certain date after Pesach so I wasn't overly concerned that it wouldn't get done. But as Purim came and went and Pesach was upon us I felt that it really really needed to get started. I new that once it came out and I started painting it, I wouldn't be able to put it away. Would I get the wimple done on time????  Thank Goodness I work BEST under pressure of a deadline!

So last Wednesday night, as my wonderful husband was kashering our kitchen for Pesach, I hid away in my studio and began working on the wimple. Once I pulled it out and saw the beauty of the fathers piece I new that I was in for a really fun few hours. The first thing I noticed was that The fabric was thin enough that I could copy the wording directly from the fathers wimple onto his sons. Of course I had to change names and dates so I used the lettering and pieced the words together. This totally eliminated my worst fear! I was able to get the wording and sizing perfectly onto the wimple! PHEW!

The next thing I needed to do was to begin painting in the lettering and the design. The fathers wimple was decorated with a paint pen, I was going to paint his sons with fabric paint and a brush. The piece of fabric is made from a linen material which had a lot of holes. So I had to make sure that there was a paper towel under the piece the whole time. This would protect my table and protect any paint from going onto the fabric from underneath. I decided to paint the piece in a harmony of rainbow colors one color leading into the next word. 

Next I began painting in the tree design. Adding branches and leaves. 

Once the lettering was painted and the initial tree design was on I began adding the 3 dimensional effects. I used a puffy paint to raise the border around the letters as well as adding flowers and blossoms to the tree. It was also important to the family that I add pictures over the wording to describe the pasuk text. Half way through, at around midnight, the baby woke up and I fed her. My husband was still humming to his music while he worked away in the kitchen and I had been bitten by the creative bug and was just itching to finish the piece in my studio. So I happily returned to my seat and put the baby into her carseat on the floor next to me.

In the end it took me over 6 hours to complete and I left my studio at 3 am bleary eyed and exhausted, but oh so happy. I felt so accomplished! The piece was unbelievably beautiful and something so special that would be cherished forever. I took this video as I held the baby who was in need of another feeding, so you can hear her in the background :) 

In the morning when I came downstairs to roll up the piece and check that it indeed dried the proper way, I noticed that the paint had bled through onto my table. Oh well. Nothing a little acetone won't fix! Baruch Hashem, the family loved the piece and it's in the mail as we speak! Another challenge done and now on to the next one!!! 

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK? Have YOU ever heard of a wimple before?

From Bags to Drawers - A Studio Makeover Story

I'm a really big slob, can't clean for my life, and many would say that I'm a hopeless mess. As I've gotten older and my "artists" gene has become more pronounced the crazy disorganization has fully taken root within my home. I don't think it helps that I have 5 children (animals) under the age of 9 who's sole purpose in life is to destroy every surface of my very small home. Seriously, I think I have crayon drawings on EVERY wall - at least I can say it goes with the aura of the house :)

When I first began the many adventures of Not 2 Shabbey I was working down in my very sad basement. White walls, industrial shelving, boxes, and tubs kept me company. It was very hard to be creative in such a dreary place.  Soon though, as I became more and more successful, boxes and garbage just began piling up. In those early days - what a year ago ??? It was just me! And I was so busy filling orders that there was just no time to clean up after myself. So I finally had to seek refuge from the garbage and abandoned ship to my dining room table. There, I worked all week long - hoping and praying that my pieces wouldn't be broken by one of my children. Then, every Friday in anticipation of Shabbos, all the pieces and bags of supplies would be brought down to the basement only to resurface afterwards.



Baruch Hashem, within the past year my business has started to grow and is now beginning to flourish. No longer am I "Little Abbey Wolin" painting on her dining room table, but I have created a true honest to goodness company that pays employees and has a REAL business plan. And because of that, a new studio space was so vital to the productivity of the company. My WONDERFUL and AMAZING business consultant - Soshana Raff-  found me the best team of workers - Shoshi and Tali from Clear My Desk to come in and redesign the entire space. They not only did a fabulous job, but they intuitively knew what I needed. Here are some pics of the new studio :)

My desk in itself is so totally awesome. Buckets and drawers galore - I have a place for everything now. Each stamp is categorized and  every tube of paint has its place. I decided to paint one of my walls a darker purple - infusing the entire space with creative spirit.

My favorite place - by far is the wrapping station. Every ribbon is at my fingertips! It's so easy to wrap, ship, and package. It makes gift wrapping a breeze!

On the other side of the room is another work station for my assistant Heather. She has her own rack and shelves for paints and brushes. And then on the far wall is the "office" station for Natan our administrator.

There is just one thing you guys should know before I end this blog. This entire makeover happened just last week. During my CRAZY Pesach rush. How I got all the orders done and worked through the cleaning process - I have no clue. I am just so happy it's finished and that it is beautiful and above all else exceptionally useful. Now all I have to do is keep it clean. Thank God for Heather and my housekeeper. Without them, I think I would be lost in my own garbage.

 

So. I guess you could say that my new studio is  

"Not 2 Shabbey" 

What do you think? 

Do-It-Yourself Bag Of Plagues For Your Passover Seder

Pesach is around the corner and the time to prepare is upon us. I can only imagine the facebook posts that are already being displayed about the long hours spent in the kitchen cleaning, and cleaning, and cleaning.  However, I have a little secret to share with you……..I absolutely positively have no clue how to clean.  Somehow when God was giving out the cleaning gene, he promptly skipped me. For the first 10 years of my marriage I thought I hid it very well from my husband. It was right before the very first Pesach that I had to make on my own that it became rudely apparent that I lacked the fundamental skills of organizing and housekeeping. I quickly confessed my sins to my husband who matter of factly told me that he’s known for years!
Although God may not have given me the cleaning talent, he did bestow upon me an awfully good one. Creativity.  One of my favorite creative projects for Pesach is a relatively simple idea that I wanted to share with you.  Much like crafting guru Martha Stewart, I like making my bag of plagues from scratch since it gives over that homemade feeling you can’t get from anywhere else.  To get an idea of a home made one, watch Martha’s video here.  But instead of using the ingredients that she recommends, check out mine – I’ll guarentee they’ll be more exciting!
Here are the items that I like to put into MY Makkos Bags.

Blood

Now yes, Martha’s red cherry chocolate is quite delicious, but does it REALLY scream blood to you??? I don’t think so.  How about this Blood Putty for $.99cents- I will be my 8 year olds best friend when he opens up his bag, let me tell you!

Lice

For lice, if you really want to ramp up your Seder table give your kids each a small container of Glitter or Confetti

Beasts

For wild animals I personally love these wild animal bubble containers  which adds an extra layer of fun, but there are also these great wild animal toys that come in handy all year round as well.

Cattle Disease

These are seriously fabulous for Dever, Cattle disease, but if they really gross you out why not try the farm animal bookmarks which can be useful for the rest of the Seder or these relaxing sqeeze balls , all perfect choices.

Boils

Boils may take a little bit of work on your part. I would buy these sticky hands and draw small dots all over them, giving the hands the appearance of boils.  Cute right?

Hail

For hail I’m thinking ping pong balls.  Can you just imagine them flying and bouncing throughout your Seder!!!  HOW FUN!?! But if you are more of the reserved type you can get these reusable ice cubes.

Locust

For Locust you could go a little bit more buggier with these adorable snap & play bugs.

Darkness

For darkness your best bet are sunglasses which everyone has fun putting on and playing with.

Death of Firstborn

For the death of the firstborn these glow in the dark skeletons  are pretty freaky.

Frogs

Last but not least, your seder isn’t complete without some of these plastic jumping frogs!

How To Assemble

Now that all the contents have been ordered let’s discuss how it will be presented. Martha recommends using a wax bag, but any brown paper bag, or even white bag is perfectly fine. You can get them at any local grocery store. You can use these fancy craft scissors to cut the top off your bags, put each of the 10 plagues into a bag and fold over the top.   Attach the ribbon to the bag as well.


For the decorative paper that goes on top of the bag print out this coloring sheet on cardstock paper and give it to your children to color during one of the endless days before Pesach when they have nothing to do.  When they are finished (make sure their names are on it – don’t want to go mixing them up!) glue them to each of the bags.  It’s the perfect personal touch.
Of course, you can also buy a ready-made bag of plagues like this one if you’re short on time.


So while you are meticulously cleaning and scrubbing, I will be meticulously painting down in my studio bringing creativity back to each of your dining room tables.  Come and visit my store & choose something unique and special to enhance your Passover Table.
Share pictures of your Makkos Bags here in the comments or on our Facebook pages: KosherShopaholic & Not2Shabbey - we can’t wait to see them!  Wishing you all a Chag Kasher V’Sameach.
Not 2 Shabbey, Abbey & The Kosher Shopaholic, Shoshana

Personalized Hair Accessories - Giveaway Details!!!

Although I am a crafter at heart, the one thing I love the most is designing new and fun pieces. These headbands and ribbons were inspired over the holidays when I saw so many children wearing big "beefy" bows and headbands. I love designing new embroidery for yarmulkes and kippahs, and thought it would be cute on ribbons.

So there I am thinking about the embroidered ribbons and the next day in shul what should happen? In walks a little girl with a ribbon bow clip and her name embroidered onto it!!! At least I knew I had a good idea!!

What I love about them the most is that they are so simple and yet so unbelievably classy. My 4th grade daughter went to school today and wore her headband for the first time. I asked her if anyone said anything about her headband and her reply was "EVERYONE!" They all wanted to know where they could get it :) The same thing happened when I showed them to some post seminary teachers at my school. Squeals of delight! It was just so funny!

So I want to give a set away tonight to one lucky fan! Whose in? All you got to do is this. At 9:30 EST I will post a picture - you will have 5 minutes to tag the picture. If there are too many tags and it won't let you I will post an additional picture BUT THAT'S IT. Once the tags are filled the giveaway will close so hurry and don't miss your chance. One lucky fan will be randomly chosen as the winner!

They are made by the BEST hair accessories company on the market and embroidered by the BEST embroiderer I have ever worked with. The quality is fantastic and the price is totally reasonable. If you don't win one tonight don't worry! You can always get them here and just as an added bonus for the next 24 hours only, use promo code BOW10 and receive 10% off your hair accessories purchase.

Good luck to everyone!
Abbey

Gray vs. Grey

I have a confession to make........

I'm a really really really really bad speller. 

Truth be told I love to read, but for some reason the words that I read and the books that I seem to consume on a daily basis have not really impacted my success as a speller. My husband on the other hand, is a GREAT speller, but never reads. GO FIGURE. As an English teacher you would think that I could spell, but I can't. And just one other side point...don't you hate it when you're doing homework with your kids and you keep repeating the same word over helping them to spell it, L.I.T.T.L.E., over and over and over again till you're like.....wait...is that really how you spell it?!? 

But this time I KNOW I AM RIGHT. Gray is spelled G.R.A.Y. - so then why do so many of my clients and so many arts and crafts supplies spell it GREY.....Could I be {GULP} wrong???

I decided to go and look it up on the oldy but goody site GOOGLE. Was I perhaps the only one with this color spelling issue??? 

It seems that there is a true controversy at hand in regards to this color; or should I say colour? Because as you guessed this is a spelling issue that descends from our "ENGLISH" roots.  According to Google Answers, the two words have almost the same meaning in all cases, and g-r-a-y is simply an American derivation of the original British spelling g-r-e-y.

So now -  just so we are clear:

Gray is a color. Grey is a *colour*

I do want to point out that I did see another interpretation for the difference in spelling that perhaps may be very interesting to all you other artists and colorists out there. According to a very comprehensive color chart provided by Clorford.com (a trusted resource on color swatches) grey and gray are actually two different "color swatches".

Grey	Gray

A survey conducted both in the U.S. and England, many people believe grey is an actual color perceived as the hue of "silver", and gray is a sliding scale of values from black to white. 

 So there you have it. 

The next time you're faced with the choice of spelling the word "gray," feel free to go with whatever spelling best suits you at the time. I think I'll continue to use GRAY, just because it's been so lucky for me in the past.

But now I'm curious what do you chose? GRAY or GREY?  Comment below with your answer and make sure to add your email address and an exclusive holiday coupon code will be emailed directly to you, because we all know the winter is kinds gray..... isn't it?

I think it will have to have the word GRAY in it, don't you?? Wait, or should it be GREY? hmmmmmm......

OH! And how much will the savings on the coupon be? Well isn't gray a little bit of white and a little bit of black? The great thing about gray is that you can make so many values by adding different percentages of colors... sometimes it's even 50/50. So I guess you'll just have wait and see what type of "value" you will receive in you GRAY/GREY coupon code :)

Happy Shopping!

 

Giveaway Rules!

There has been lots of buzz on the internet lately about Facebook games - what is and isn't allowed. To be on the safe side I am moving my giveaway announcements to my blog. For all of you that are new or are playing the game for the first time here's how it works...... 

Before I launch a new line I want to get my fans excited and buzzing about the new pieces. So I set up a giveaway contest where my fans get to win the new products FREE!

Basically, I will post a new picture into the giveaway album and the fist person to TAG or SHARE (depends on the instructions for the night) the picture and comment DONE below the picture will win the product. Not strings attached - the customer doesn't even pay shipping!

There are a few guidelines though......

1) You can only win once in a giveaway contest. Husband and wife teams have won in the past, but it has been a controversial situation.....

2) You may not win for yourself on with someone else’s name. This applies to one person who may have 2 facebook profiles.

3) I will only accept DONE comments after the picture has been published to my wall. The photo as well as your comments are time stamped. Some times fans eager to win a product will refresh the album and the picture will come up faster, but it will not have been published yet and their entry will be eliminated. Refresh my fan page and you won't have a problem :) 


The GIVEAWAY SEASON is about to start and I am so excited. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!

If you have any questions, please comment below!