Well...its official...

Yup. That's right. Its official. I am taking a break. Well more of a snooze on the couch while the kids play and watch elmo. I'm sure all you mommies know exactly what I'm saying. The fact of the matter is I am just too busy. Believe me when I tell you I did NOT think that less than a year into this venture called "Button Nose Knits" would I need to be scaling DOWN, but alas here we are.

Some of you know that I am a photographer. I work primarily with brides and babies. Between the two I am usually right on the cusp of busy but able to have some time for other things. Well this season that has changed. I am now 100% fully booked through the new year with 90% bookings till June. I'm even over booked in some months with my later booked clients understanding they are going to have to wait longer for their photos. I'm not complaining. The added responsibility of having to be the sole provider for my family as my husband finishes up college proves that the excess business I've been getting is truly a blessing. Really, I am so grateful. But unfortunately that means my time for completing custom orders has already begun to shrink and I will soon reach the point of not being able to finish many if any custom orders for you my lovely customers. At least not in a timely manner. At the same time, the number of custom orders I have been receiving has been steadily climbing. So unless I can teach my 3 yr old to become an experienced crafter in a mater of weeks it seems a change is necessary. ;)

Rather than have a super long turnaround I've decided that till wedding season takes a snooze I'm going to have to revert to an "RTS Only" shop. See? The good news is I'm still going to be around! :) I couldn't bare to leave all those who I have gotten to know through crocheting goodies for their portraits. So what I'm going to do is just work on things from time to time, post them on the site as ready to ship, and participate in my RTS group "Stop 'n Shop PROPS" bi-weekly with 8 other lovely shop owners that I've grown to see as good friends.

I wish I could give you a hard set date on when custom orders will again by posted in the shop. (By custom orders I am not only referring to those orders that are entirely 100% concocted in the collaborative minds of my customer and I. I mean those items that I post in the shop that aren't already made, but that you order for me to make for you in the size and color of your choosing.) The truth is I'm not sure. I can guess and tell you that it will likely be in February if I think realistically.

Now we'll be starting this little snooze in one week from the time I started writing this ridiculously (and admittedly unnecessarily)  long post...yesterday. So, that means starting on Monday, October 15th 2012 I will no longer be taking custom orders or posting made to order items in the shop (at least for a while......). We will be converted over to a full RTS shop. In the mean time please feel free to contact me to place custom orders. I'm happy to take them till that time.

Thanks everyone for being such awesome people, customers, and friends! Now play nicely while I rest my eyes on the couch for a while ;). haha

-Ashley Lowder
orders@buttonnoseknits.com

Button Nose Knits Shop

1K Fan Celebration and Giveaway!

I feel incredible right now. I started this shop in January of 2012 and now exactly 5 months later we are over 1,000 fans on Facebook, I have made some amazing friends and contacts, and I have been able to support my family while my husband is out of work. I am very humbled and blessed. Thank you everyone.

Now lets party!!! To celebrate we're having a 1K giveaway! We have 19 total vendors giving away  21 total prizes, and 10 days to giveaway all these prizes totaling in value at over $600!!

So here's how it works: (I've made it easy for ya. Rafflecopter is awesome.) Just follow the entry instructions! If you have any questions or troubles, feel free to let me know. As all are probably aware, FB can get a bit "glitchy" when you try to "like" too many pages too fast so pace yourself and if it locks up for some reason, try again later.

You'll notice that one of the optional entries is to purchase something from one of our amazing vendors. At the bottom of this post is a list of all the vendors linked to their respective shops or FB pages. Some have opted to give you guys a coupon code to use so feel free, go crazy, show some love!

Giveaway ends at Midnight (EST) on Sunday, June 10th with winners posted on Monday June 11th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

   

• Button Nose Knits by Ashley Lowder Photography (Get 30% off with code: 1KFANS)
• Trinket & Pixie Knits 'n Purls for Wee Ones
• Christina Houser Photography
• Splendid Prop Shop 
• Laila 'n Zoe
• Splash of Color by Moonlight
• Baby Joy Studios
• Beautiful Photo Props
• What's Knot to Love
• Maternity and Newborn Photography Prop Shop
• The Couture Baby
• Foto Creations by M (Get 15% off with code: PROMO15)
• S&S Photo Backdrops and Floors (Get 10% off with code: 10OFFBKN)
• Backdrop Outlet (Get 10% off with code: EMAIL10) 
• Baby Bean by E.L.M. (Get 15% off with code: BUTTONNOSELOVE)
• Photographer's Bling (Get 50% off with code: BLING50)
• Yarn Babies Boutique & Design Shoppe
• Monsters and Me
• Zin Frames     

The Fine Print:
This giveaway and the winnings are in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by Facebook. Any information that you provide is not given to facebook but to Button Nose Knits and is only used for the purposes of this giveaway/winnings. All information posted is posted at your own risk. Button Nose Knits will never share information given but cannot guarantee the safety of your information when posted publicly on facebook. Information will be provided to vendors giving them their respective winner's contact info. Button Nose Knits will never share or sell information to anyone else but can not guarantee the safety of information.


Shipping may not be covered by prizes the vendors have donated. Do not be surprised if you are required to pay shipping, especially if you are outside of the United States or Canada. Winners have a total of 48 hours to contact their participating vendor. Should winners not contact their respective vendors, prizes may be forfeit.

Freebie Friday Winner 05/11/2012

The winner of this week's Freebie Friday (this cute little hat)...

Is comment number.....

SIX! That means liz22 You are this week's winner! Liz22 will be receiving an email from me with all the details needed to get her prize. 


Thank you everyone for entering! Be sure to come back next week for another fun Freebie Friday! 

-Ashley Lowder
orders@buttonnoseknits.com

FREEBIE FRIDAY! 05/11/12

Welcome to our first ever BLOG hosted Freebie Friday! We're switching this over to the blog so that Facebook doesn't get angry with me ;). I recently read the rules and found out that hosting Freebie Friday on my FB page was a biiig no-no (can you tell  have a toddler? lol)

Here we go! This adorable and soft little 0-3mo bear hat is going to go to a new home soon!

Here's how its going to work. To win this item you will need to follow the steps below. I'm going to try to keep them simple and try to keep it to three steps since that's how many we did on FB.

1. Comment on this post with your email address (Tell me something fun like your favorite color ;) haha)
2. Click on the Facebook Share icon at the bottom of the post (no comment needed for this)
3. Go "like" Button Nose Knits on Facebook 

That's it! One comment, one click (fb icon), one "like" on FB!

Winner will be chosen via http://www.random.org tonight at about 9pm MST AZ!

Fine Print-
This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You are providing your information to Button Nose Knits and not to Facebook. The information that you provide will only be used for the purposes of this giveaway.

Galpin Studios: The famous Pea Pod Giveaway!

I just wanted to share this giveaway real fast. Those of you who need props, this is a great one to enter. Her pea pods are so unique and beautiful! 

Galpin Studios: The famous Pea Pod Giveaway !:  The Famous Pea Pod is one of the most sorted out props of Newborn Photographers! 

Have a great day yall!

-Ashley Lowder
Owner of Button Nose Knits by Ashley Lowder Photography

http://www.buttonnoseknits.com
orders@buttonnoseknits.com

The BNK Blog is Born!

I'll admit, a blog for hats wasn't really my cup of tea. But as the business and fan base is growing I figured it would be fun to branch out a bit. Expand my horizons. Deepen our pool of possibilities. And lets face it, as much as I love Facebook as a business promoter, you can't do everything on Facebook. So here we are! The Button Nose Knits (BNK) Blog! I know it's not the fanciest thing in the world. One day I'll flag down my web developer husband and make him re-do all my sites and blogs, but for now this will do I suppose ;).

The main reason for this blog is as follows- I'm a sucker for a good giveaway and well...Facebook gets really mad if you crash their servers with too much traffic due to a giveaway. SOOOO instead we'll crash Blogger's servers right!? ;) The facebook page is up over 800 fans as of this moment and I have mentioned a few times that I would really love to hold a multi-vendor giveaway once we hit 1,000 fans just to celebrate. ;)

I will post from time to time on here but I'll be upfront. This isn't going to be my main form of communication to my fan base. Facebook likely will always be my communication platform of choice just because of the nature of community it provides. Well... I guess always is a pretty heavy word to be using in the tech world! I guess we'll just say for the time being with no change currently in mind.

I think this is getting a bit long for a welcome post so we'll stop here. Welcome to the BNK Blog!

-Ashley Lowder
Owner of Button Nose Knits by Ashley Lowder Photography

orders@buttonnoseknits.com

http://www.buttonnoseknits.com
http://www.facebook.com/buttonnoseknits