My Biggest Mistake (and a give-away)

 

Last Wednesday when I got home from the studio there was a message on my voicemail from a customer.  The week before we spent a few days making a set of “Conquistadors” flasks for him.   His message said something like, “The flasks look really good, but I’m torn – they say ‘Conquistadors’ on them.”

My heart sank, and I spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what had gone wrong.  My husband looked at the flasks and suggested, maybe it was supposed to be “Conquistador.”

He was right.

When I talked to the customer the next morning I agreed to re-make every single flask.  I had one assistant out sick Thursday, and one came in Tuesday and was taking Thursday off.  I called the gal who usually does just the stitching on an emergency and she helped a bit.  But, 50 flasks in a day is a lot even for two people.

I got the flasks to the post office just after 3pm and they arrived in time for the customer to give them away at the event, “The Conquistador”  - most importantly, everyone loved them.

I beat myself up about this – it was totally my mistake.  We never got printed artwork from the customer so we were doing it all by phone with a poor connection most of the time.  Somewhere along the line, my brain over-rode the singular version because I thought – they are all conquistadors that they are giving the flasks to, so it must be plural, right?

Well, now I have a limited edition of 50 flasks.  And they’re cool, too!  So here’s the deal: I will sell 25 of them at a discount through my Etsy shop. The other 25 I will give away,  All you have to do is tell me the biggest mistake you’ve ever made, and how you conquered it.  That earns you the right to be one of our conquistadors (and gets you a free flask).

xo

c

The Long Road (and a Free Flask)

Have you ever wondered what the road looks like at 5:30 on a Friday morning in summer?  I never have.  Never wanted to know.  But it’s beautiful.  This weekend was the Anacortes Arts Festival, and I was invited to participate in their new “Ink Alley” feature, with some other equally hip vendors. This little festival is a hidden gem in the Northwest – I’ve lived here my entire life, with the festival happening just an 80 minute drive away, and had never heard of it until they asked me to participate.

Y’know how I know it’s only 80 minutes away? I drove up and back, every day, so I could spend the nights at home with my family.  I’m tired, and the car has 450 more miles on it than it did on Thursday.

Among the super hip vendors was “Nomad” – this super cute little trailer full of goodies from around the US.  They gutted and refurbished the trailer, and had it parked at the end of the street of booths.

Now I want a trailer.

And in a subtle post, the next flask give-away began.  To enter, go to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and tag a friend in the comments on the flask picture for your chance to win.

Good luck.  And congrats to Mark from Mark Poulin Jewelry who makes some of the most darling charms I have ever seen – he’s last week’s winner.

Going to work on a new project. It’s awesome.  Details will come soon.

xo

c

Bee Flask Friday!

 

This week I chose the One Bee Flask.  I spend a lot of time drawing little bees, and this past week was no exception.

On Monday I had a videographer come in and shoot a video of me making a little bee pouch – so exciting!  Soon you’ll actually be able to see me making a leather good, all in the span of 90 seconds (which is, admittedly, much quicker than it took me to actually make it).

Anyway, on to the giveaway.  Thanks to all of you who entered last week, and congratulations to Lucy H. who entered on twitter and won!  Last week’s flask seems to be headed across the ocean.

This week the rules are the same, but the hash tag is different, so here it is – you can enter to win this flask three times, once on each platform.  Winner will be chosen 7/31.  Good luck!

1.  Follow us on Instagram (@moxieandoliver) and re-post the picture of this flask with tag #BestFlask

2.  Follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/moxieandoliver) and share the picture of the flask with tag #BestFlask

3.  Follow us on Twitter (@moxieandoliver) and re-tweet our give-away tweet, with tag #BestFlask

Happy Friday,

C

Free Flask Friday!

 

Today is an exciting day – it’s the first “Free Flask Friday” at the Moxie & Oliver studio.  For the last ten years I’ve been making hundreds, maybe thousands, of handmade leather and stainless steel flasks.  And because drinking is always better with friends, what better thing do do with these little beauties than to give some away?

The flask above was inspired by Cool Material’s month of beer quotes. Many of my flasks over the years have been personalized by customers with quotes of their choosing, but seeing a great collection of beer quotes inspired me to pick some of my own.  Oscar Wilde has some great drinking quotes, but this one from Bruce Tomlinson appealed to my hippy sensibilities as well.  There are a lot of spiritual people up here in the Northwest – no wonder we have so many craft distilleries!

This 4oz flask is the first we’ll give away. It is the Friday Flask with one of our favorite drinking quotes on it, in a beautiful blue color:

“Your body is a temple, you should keep some spirits in you.” – Bruce Tomlinson

To enter to win, just do the following:

1.  Follow us on Instagram (@moxieandoliver) and re-post the picture of this flask with tag #FFFmoxieandoliver

2.  Follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/moxieandoliver) and share the picture of the flask with tag #FFFmoxieandoliver

3.  Follow us on Twitter (@moxieandoliver) and re-tweet our give-away tweet, with tag #FFFmoxieandoliver

Each # 1-3 above is good for one entry, and you can enter once on each platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) each week. Winner will be announced on all three on 7-24-14.  Good luck. 

In good spirits!
C