Successful Advertising

We have seen a marked increase in the number of custom badge sales here at The Stroppy Cow these last few months. This is probably down to a number of factors.

Not only do they represent great value in terms of advertising for your business but the cost is not prohibitive if you want to sell your badges on, either as a band or organisation. Everyone is feeling the pinch at the moment and getting your name out there in the market place can be expensive.
Here at The Stroppy Cow we've been able to stream-line our prices thanks to careful buying on our part and this is reflected in our new bulk pricing list.

High quality button badges are a fun, cost effective yet powerful way of getting your message across ~ promoting your business, band, organisation or event.

Just imagine 100's of people promoting YOU from as little as 12p*

By creating an interesting talking point between fans/customers and staff, promotional badges are proven to help increase awareness & sales. So what better way to promote your company, product, service or event than with a button badge?

1 of 100 25mm badges made for Vespa restorer.

*1" badges start from 12p each for 1000 and make brilliant give-aways at Meets, Rallies,Clubs...

1 of 100 25mm badges for campaign to save St Saviour’s Tavern on Guernsey

And what about selling them on?
Well, at 23p each for 100 there is plenty of scope to more than double the cost price to make a very attractive retail price.

But, don't forget, we don't just make badges.
We have magnets and mirrors too.
And we're currently working on Save The Date magnets for Weddings, so watch this space.

Spring???

"One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy."

Good old Aristotle, I reckon he was a glass half empty sort of chap!
But he may have had a point about the swallow though. I saw my first two on Sunday while enjoying driving though the Cheshire country side in glorious sunshine. They were swooping out of a farm barn chittering as they went (probably going on about the state of the place & wondering whether it was worth popping over to Ikea).
Sending a silent prayer to the goddess of camping (yes, it's staycation for us), I speculated out loud, to my other half, about the coming of summer...

I have now switched the heating back on and am grateful for not being able to disconnect my electric blanket on my bed!

Chocolate Cake!

Last month, Himself asked if I would bake some cakes that he could sell at work for Red Nose Day. Not a problem I said..when would he need them. Monday he said. Ok I said.

Sunday came along and I expressed a need to pop out to get the necessaries to make the cakes. Oh, it's not til Friday he said. Are you sure I said. Yes he said. I'm sure your email said Monday I said. No, he said, Friday, for Red Nose Day. Ok I said.

Next day an email arrives in my Inbox. Hi Love, it WAS today I needed the cakes!

Mmmmm....

So, not to let the opportunity pass to raise some money I offered to make a big chocolate cake and some cupcakes that he could auction on the Friday.

Naked Chocolate Cake ~ Chocolate sponge with white praline butter cream filling. (The Margarita bottle

was not full when I started!)

Semi-Naked Chocolate Cake ~ covered in chocolate frosting

(drooling yet?)

Layers of dark, milk & white chocolates and fudge

with melted white chocolate drizzle.

Fully dressed chocolate cake ready to go off to be auctioned.

I made the chocolate sponge mix 4 times in all to make an additional 2 dozen cupcakes, each finished off with frosting, sprinkles and a chocolate.

The cake sold for £35 and the cupcakes for £1.00 each.

It's been a long time since I did any baking and I loved every minute. I was asked if I did it professionally....hey, nice compliment and a lovely idea but ALL that washing up?? No thanks!

Cat Sabotage

In like Flynn this cat.
Not five minutes before I'd been stroppily happily taking photo's of all my yummy new goodies for The Stroppy Cow, leave the room to pop them onto the pc and woosh...she's in. AND in my light box too!
Now there's muddy footprints inside. Grrrrrr.
I swear she told me to sod off when I shouted at her. She certainly looked at me as if to say 'what ya gonna do about it loser'.
Sigh!

Ebay Blues

Sometimes I get so pissed off at Ebay. They frustrate me so much, hiding behind cut and paste 'Customer Support' emails which make it so obvious they haven't even read you email, let alone understood your problem.

I don't usually visit the Community Forums but I wandered in there this afternoon in search of comfort and a group hug.

Wasn't feeling the love in there though...just more evidence of frustrated PowerSellers.

However, there was one chink of light that turned out to be a full blown sun beam!

Pop over to YouTube have a larff at this...cheered me right up.

Suitably inspired I came up with this badge.

How to Shop...

I love shopping...actually, that's not strictly true.
I love buying! Sometimes I HATE shopping.
Take yesterday for example. Frustrated by the number of shops that think the bigger you are, the taller you must be, I just stood, tears rolling down my face, propped up by Himself, unsure whether to collapse pathetically in a heap or to charge, crazed and finger wielding into Evans. However,I'll save that rant for another day...

I visited the NEC on Tuesday to attend the Spring Fair which is the highlight of the trade buying year. I love it. Its like all the Christmas's I've always wanted, all at once! Hundreds of traders with, mostly, amazing stalls and the most gorgeous things you could ever want to buy. With last year's trip still quite fresh in my mind I was determined to stay focused this time and not wear myself out looking at every shiny, bright, colourful,funny and cute item on display. I also had a secret weapon this year...Himself had offered to come with me to see what I found so fascinating. Besides, I'd also made a list! (His Virgo-ness must be catching)

So, within a couple of hours I'd visited all of my existing suppliers, found the ones I wanted to checkout on my list and managed to discover a couple of lovely surprises. Leaving a couple of hours left for wandering to Ooo and Aah at the shiny,bright,colourful,funny and cute things....oh, and buying of course.

Well, what did I buy? Here's a teaser, a taste of what's to come to The Stroppy Cow very soon:

Envirosax...gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous

Apparently Cameron Diaz has had the Envirosax bug since 2007

and check out all the other celebs here

David Arquette with his Envirosax

Cute key rings and phone charms from Hot Munkey

I've also ordered some great handbags made from recycled packaging, but sadly no pics yet and a huge selection of quirky jewelley. I've tried to go Fair Trade and as Eco-Friendly as possible and have generally stuck with the smaller traders (actually the larger ones can be really snooty with 'small-time' retailers so stuff em!).

Watch this space for updates or subscribe to The Stroppy Cow newsletter using the link on the right for regular updates.

Nurse Badges and Magnets

Following a bulk order for the sleep with a nurse magnets for a web based nursing supplies company Nifty Nurses, we've been busy designing some new nursing badges.
Some are on eBay but the complete set can be found on The Stroppy Cow web site.