Happy Birthday Painted Sheep!

Time to announce the winners in my Anniversary contest.  The $25 Gift Certificate goes to Andrea.  The $15 Gift Certificate goes to Diane.  Congratulations to you both!  Check your email, as I’ve emailed you both this morning

Thanks to all who entered and for all of your comments and support!  I very much appreciate it!

Four years ago today, I officially launched The Painted Sheep.  Four wonderful, happy, creative, amazing years.  Its been a wonderful journey, filled with ups and downs, learning experiences and most of all, wonderful people and LOTS of happy times.  I want to thank you for being a part of that!

Of course, this never comes without a bit of reflection on this little baby of mine called The Painted Sheep.  Its an “interesting” time for The Painted Sheep.  There’s no hiding the fact that I haven’t been in the dye studio recently and haven’t updated.  Know that its not in any way from a lack of interest or desire.  I want more than anything to get into my dye studio – its been far too long.  There’s a lot coming into play.  Life is one – I’ve been working long hours, including a lot from home and going through a stressful time at work.  Between work and normal home stuff, it often feels as though I have little time or energy for other stuff, like playing in my studio, except in little bits of time.  I’m confident that will change in time.  I’m certainly working on it, on several levels.  And there’s the other reality – with less time to spend in the studio and the continued impact of the economy, business has slowed down overall, which impacts the ability to move forward.  Again, I’m hoping this is temporary.  So yes, the year The Painted Sheep has just finished has been slower than years past.  I’m still here, still looking for ways to move forward and get in some new product and still itching to spend time in my beloved studio, creating the handpainted yarns and fibers that I love so much.  Onward – bigger and better next year, I hope!!!

Now, its time to celebrate!  First off – the Anniversary Sale!  Everything in my Etsy shop is 15% off.  Sale runs one week – through Thursday, April 22.  And of course, there’s the contest!  The prize?  A $25 Gift Certificate to my Etsy shop.  And because I missed my Blogiversary last week (remember the thing about life getting in the way?), I’ll draw a second winner for a $15 Gift Certificate to my Etsy shop.   I’m keeping it simple this year – make a comment on this post to enter.  I’ll draw a winner on Friday, April 22.

Its my little way of thanking you for being a part of this amazing journey.  Here’s to another great year!

Thanks to all of you who entered my Anniversary contest.  Tonight, I went through all of the entries posted here, on Facebook, Twitter and Ravelry and those emailed to me – there was 55 of them!  random.org then helped me out with 3 random winners from the entries.

The winners are:

for the Hot Waffles Mitts and Hat Kit:  Amy V.

for the Painted Sheep Tote Bag: Barbara (Ragdoll on Ravelry)

and for the Gift Certificate: Connie (BlissKnitter on Ravelry)

Congratulations!  I’ve emailed or contacted each of you via Ravelry with details.

Once again, thank you for supporting The Painted Sheep in so many ways over these 3 years.

On a side note, I hope to see lots of you at CT Sheep and Wool Festival on Saturday.  I’m not vending but I’ll be spinning with the Nutmeg Spinners and/or poking around the vendors and displays all day.  If you spot me in my Painted Sheep t-shirt, come up and say hello!

Have a great weekend!

Just a quick reminder that today is the final day to enter my Anniversary Contest and shop the 20% off sale in my Etsy shop.  The sale ends tonight.   As for the contest, I’ll accept entries until midnight EST tonight, pull together all of the entries on Friday, pick 3 winners at random and then announce them here on Saturday morning.

Good luck and happy shopping

Three years ago I started this little thing I call The Painted Sheep.  3 years ago officially – the date I started in business, opened my Etsy shop with those first listings of fiber and had my first sale.  There were 8 months of planning and preparing and learning that came before that.  It started with the night in Harrisville, after a long day at Lynne Vogel’s dye class when the idea came to me – that I loved what I was doing so much that I could turn into a business.  Over the course of the next 8 months, my dream of a fiber business became a reality.  I remember it all like it was yesterday.  Taking a small business course at my local adult ed program, registering with the city and the state, getting that first order of yarn and fiber from Ashland Bay.  The late night flash when the name came to me – after weeks of struggling to come up with something, it simply came to me as I was falling asleep.  In that moment, I knew it was to be The Painted Sheep.  My first glorious days in the dye studio.  The incredible feeling when my first sale came in, when I realized that it had really happened – somebody had actually bought my stuff!

Three years and many ups and downs and life changes later, all that is involved in running The Painted Sheep has become so much a part of my daily life that its almost routine.  Long days in the dye studio (far apart as they are now), shipping orders, buying supplies, book keeping, updating the website, blog and shop – all are just part of what I do.

And yet one thing never becomes routine – the rush I still get each and every time someone places an order, buys from me at a show or asks the question “are you The Painted Sheep?”  Yes, yes I am!  And there is little that gives me more joy than that.

Thank you for 3 amazing years!

Its time to celebrate!  To thank you for your support, I’m having an Anniversary Sale.  Now through Thursday, April 22, everything in my Etsy shop is 20% off (excluding Gift Certificates).  Simply place your order, check out as usual and wait to pay – I’ll send you an adjusted Paypal invoice reflecting the sale pricing.  Happy Shopping!

Of course, no celebration here is complete without a contest.  Its your chance to win some Painted Sheep goodies.  The prizes?

A Hot Waffles Kit – 2 skeins of Alpaca Handpaint Yarn in Autumn and Knitspot’s Hot Waffles Hat and Mitts Pattern,

A Painted Sheep canvas tote bag from The Painted Sheep Swag Shop

and lastly, a $25 Gift Certificate to my Etsy shop.

There’s lots of ways to enter:

• Post a comment here.
• Post a comment on The Painted Sheep’s Facebook Fan Page or on our Ravelry Group.
• Tweet it!  Make sure you mention @thepaintedsheep so I know about your entry!
• Link to my contest on your own blog – make sure that you email me at kris@thepaintedsheep.com to let me know you’ve done so.
• Tell me what you’ve done with your Painted Sheep yarn or roving.  Just send an email to me at kris@thepaintedsheep.com with the details.   Include a picture and you’ll get an extra entry! And yes, “I added it to my stash” counts too!

Each of these will get you one entry — meaning that you have up to 7 chances to enter for a chance to win a great prize!  Contest runs through Thursday, April 22.  I’ll draw a winner on our about April 23.  Good luck!

Thanks again for making this little adventure of mine so much fun

NutmegKnitter Becca is the winner of my Blogiversary Contest.  She was spot on, guessing that I’ve written 620 posts.  Congratulations Becca!  I’ve emailed you with details

With that, I’m off — there’s an Etsy shop to put back up (later this afternoon), usual Sunday errands to do and perhaps most importantly, 4 pieces of Blankie waiting to be seamed.  I quite determined to get at least 2 of the seams done, if not the whole thing together.  We shall see.

Enjoy your Sunday!

This morning I had the great pleasure of drawing random names to select the winners of The Painted Sheep’s Anniversary Contest prizes.  Without further ado, the winners are:

The knitter’s prize, a skein of Shimmer and the Tudor Grace Pattern: BJ of Blue Moon Fibers

The spinner’s prize, BFL roving in Spring and Merino Superwash Roving in Iced Latte: Susie

The Gift Certificate: Jayne

I’ve emailed each of you – check your inboxes!

Thank you to everyone who entered!  There were many entries and unfortunately, I didn’t have time to respond to each one as I would have liked.  Know that I enjoyed reading them.  Thank you all for your anniversary wishes!

Just a reminder – The Painted Sheep’s Anniversary Sale and Contest both end at midnight EST tonight.  Last chance!