Ramble Writing of R.D. Hayes

 My goal when I started, Maria’s Valentine Rose, back in 2007 was to be able to support myself and my family with no other income. Well, it has been a few long and hard years and I am slowly moving up the totem pole. Along my way I have met hundreds of people who offered their opinion on what I was doing wrong and I took as much as I could from as many of them as I could. The results? I started realizing that not every advice was good advice. I joined the Army Reserves and put my business on hold which may have not been the best idea in the world as far as my crafting business went. I learned that when you put something as great as I had on hold, the damage is great. I finished out basic and then set out a plan to build my business back up and here is what I learned that helped my business. These are a few of the things that I used before that worked and are now working to help my business grow. I hope that you can take a lot away from it and that it will help you. Stop wasting you...

I love crafting blogs just as much as the next person but I also love giving shout-outs to those whom I feel truly deserve it. Today’s topic will be on hair accessory craft blogs and I hope you guys enjoy this. I also have wholesale ribbon and plastic headbands that I sale over at  Maria’s Valentine Rose  so if you are interested in buying these at a great price, hit me up, or if you are wanting to buy some in bulk I can do that as well and I also offer a discount for those of you who buy in bulk. First I wanted to let you guys know that I also have a few headband tutorials that you can find on the left hand side of this blog that you might be interested in. Anyways, here are some of my favorite hair accessory crafting blogs and articles. Indulgy -  I don’t even really know what this site is for but it kind of looks like another Pinterest in my opinion but they do have a lot of cool things on it. Some of the hair accessories are pretty unique and the tutori...

  My husband often asks me why I put tutorials on here since I sell a lot of the things that I make. My response is like the response of most honest crafters, I believe that everyone should know how to make the things that they love to wear. Well, that and because I also sell a lot of crafting supplies as well as the actual product since I know that some people just don’t have the time or patience to make the items themselves. So, here is the tutorial that you have all bee waiting for. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Materials:     3/8 ribbon (however many colors that you like, I used two colors in this pattern) needle and thread( I used transparent thread because this is what I had on hand, ruler for measuring, glue(I love my hot glue gun). Step 1, Preparing the ribbon:   Cut the first color into 4 inch pieces and set them aside. Then grab your next ribbon and cut it into 3 inch pieces. Your last color should be cut into 2 inch pieces. You can cut ...

  I kept trying to figure out what to do with all my construction paper since I had them tucked nicely in a draw but I needed that draw to be free. I ran across a picture while doing a search on Google for inexpensive storage spaces and saw a photo with no link attached to it for one similar to this one. I thought,”what a great idea”. So, I did this myself and thought I would share it. My total cost was $1 at the dollar store for a dish drainer and it organizes my papers nicely and I now have a place to put my markers as well. Can’t beat this deal……

  If you haven’t already noticed, Christmas is around the corner. With this being said, we all know that this means that we are going to be dishing out a lot of money. I came up with a really cool little idea that would make my kids smile and keep my wallet happy. If you haven’t already signed up for  Listia  you might want to look into it. Listia  is a website that allows you to get free stuff and give your free stuff away. You have to bid on items with points instead of money. How do you get points? Glad you asked. You get points by either getting rid of your stuff, buying them, inviting friends to join, or by a hundred other ways that are listed on their website such as viewing offers. So what’s my plan and how is this going to help you? Well, with my children I have noticed that each one of them has a favorite item that they collect such as Hot Wheels, Littlest Pet Shop, Pokemon, and CD’s to name a few. So, I have decided to fill a box up with those ite...

  A while back I showed you  how to make a hemp bracelet  using hemp twine and now I am going to show you where you can purchase really great hemp to make these bracelets. At  MariasValentineRose.com  you can find all sorts of colors and 1mm hemp twine that is 20lbs test which is what I use to make my hemp bracelets. This twine is awesome and the colors are bright and pretty. This is my online store that I am referring you to (I gotta earn money for this blog somewhere). I am able to sell these hemp twine balls at a great price because I order them from the manufacturer in bulk and then I sell them to people just like you so that you can get your hands on it. The picture above represents the colors that I sell and these are actually some of the hemp balls that I have. I am constantly getting new items in stock and would love you you guys to stop buy and make sure that you check out my  monthly specials  and use the  coupon codes  to...