All Natural Mommies

Warning: in_array() [function.in-array]: Wrong datatype for second argument in /home/jaztrio/public_html/natural-news/wp-content/plugins/socialize/socialize.php on line 165

Warning: in_array() [function.in-array]: Wrong datatype for second argument in /home/jaztrio/public_html/natural-news/wp-content/plugins/socialize/socialize.php on line 140

The other day (actually several weeks ago, because I am SLOW – sorry Cynthia) I had the great pleasure to talk to Cynthia from ChicksandCubs.com. Cynthia is an amazing woman, wonderful mom and owns a very successful, mom owned business! I am was really excited to talk with her!

Hello Cynthia, thank you for chatting with me this evening. How are you?

Doing well – tired from the busy summer schedule with my 3 boys.

Oh wow, I bet, how old are they?

9.5, 6, and 19 months

WOW, your hands ARE full – of love that is!

So could I ask, are they the reason you opened up chicksandcubs.com?

I, actually, had never wanted to go back to work but the money was good. I was able to get my company to allow me to work 3 days a week. And I did that for 1.5 years. Before I quit and threw myself into being a WAHM.

Oh wow, how wonderful! I just love your shoe bronzing what a neat dea! hat made you thought to offer that, honestly I had never heard of it until I saw your website.

Shoe Bronzing is a very old tradition but I am really seeing it take a surge again. I really started my business with another product – Patty-Cakes but added Shoe Bronzing right away because it is such a natural fit to the Patty-Cakes product.

Most people like to bronze the first walking shoes.

Do you just use bronze or are there other colors/materials that you can “bronze” shoes with?

We offer antique bronze, pewter, silver and porcelainizing.

We have several different mountings from unmounted (my favorite) to bookends to picture frames, metal bases and walnut bases.

Very cool, so you can get them anyway you want them, basically!

As an added bonus, when working with ChicksandCubs.com our shoe bronzing prices are BELOW suggested retail!

Hmm, neat – it’s a great keepsake, I am excited to do that for my sister…soon. She’s not due until Aug. But she already has the cutest pair of shoes to bronze – I can’t wait.

Yeah those little shoes are very cute.

Yes, they are – she just got a pair of basket ball shoes that are sooo tiney, I could hardly believe it.
So, what exactly are Patty-Cakes?

Patty-Cakes are actual impressions of the child’s hand and foot that are bronzing and plaqued.

Oh, that’s a wonderful idea too!

I mostly do that business locally because I take the impressions – that is the art of getting a great product. People can find a Patty-Cakes person near them or if there is not one near them then I can do it mail order. The parents then have to take the impression.

I was just thinking, you could also get your sister a gift certificate for the shoe bronzing as a shower gift!

We already had her shower, but I was thinking new baby present!

Or a first birthday gift since that will be about the time the tiny shoes will be done.

There you go!
I also know that you sell Child Safety products, that’s so important these days.

I got into this line of products about 2 summers ago. And I really like it.

The products are simple and very inexpensive. And they put the information that a child needs IN WRITING on the child.

That’s wonderful.

What do you mean in writing?

Well we have all tried to teach our kids their phone number and address, right?

Right!

But what if you are on vaction? Or at a festival? What good is that home phone number? And besides – your are not home!!!

Very true!

I never thought of that.

Kids now a days need to know lots of information.

That’s true.

Mom’s cell, Dad’s cell, Grandma’s cell, baby sitter’s cell………Hotel name and number……

Most of the products I sell are centered around getting all that information written down and then the child having that information physically on them.

Then the stickers actually have a plastic overlay – kind of like a thin laminate so no smudges and such.

Heck not only that, but even what foods they are allergic to. I have several friends with children allergic to dairy, the mom actually bought plain white shirts, and wrote “Please don’t feed me. I get sick” on them.

Yes that is true too. I have 2 products specially for food allergies: Stickers and Temporary tattoos.

Oh how fun, most kids LOVE temporary tattoos! I know mine do!

So where does all this information go?

The two products I like the best are shoe stickers – you put them inside the shoe.

How crazy, awesome is that?

No one else can see them but the child has the information. And that product you get 20 stickers for $10.00 – really not bad!

Not at all, do they fit in all shoes?

Yes – I even have it in the 19 months shoes.

Amazing, what about sweat, does that bother them?

The shoe stickers last a good 3-4 months in tennis shoes when socks are worn.

Sandles seem to last 4-6 weeks.

That’s a pretty good amount of time, heck my kids grow out of there shoes before 3 months go by.

I would have never thought about doing that, but it totally makes sense, nothing for the children to remember and the kids do not have a sticker on there chest saying – this is who I am, and this is where I live – type thing.

The other great product is a child ID bracelet.

I have several different styles of bracelets.

The ID bracelet sounds great too, all the same great info on that as is on the stickers?

Yes the bracelets have an insert that you fill out and put in an inside pocket of the bracelet.

What are they made out of?

The outside says ID Inside or Vital ID – something like that.

That’s cool – so that if the child gets hurt, and no one is around, Police know where to look.

EXACTLY.

How great.

Alot of people don’t think of doing ID for kids 9 – 14 because they think they are too old. But – if they got lost would they know all they need to know. And, would they be able to remember it. And what if they got hurt off by themselves? Or with friends?

Very true, and oh so scary. My daughter, 8, knows both her house address’ and her phone numbers (for her father and myself) but if she were hurt, or something, she might not be able to tell someone!

Adults always make sure they have an ID on them – why not kids.

It only makes sense!

I also know that you run contests all the time too, how fun and exciting!!

I started a contest on my site well over a year ago. I love my products and I want more and more people to at least KNOW about them. Even if they don’t purchase from me at least I want them to
know I am here.

The biggest thing I can give away is a pair of baby shoes bronzed for free. So that is my GRAND PRIZE.

You sound like me, I am the say way about babywearing and Attachment Parenting all together. Spreading the word is the most important part to me!

WOW, your contest sounds exciting! Do you have other prizes?

Well my contest is called the MomPack Raffle my tag line to it is “Where the tickets are
FREE and everyone is a WINNER” – So everyone that enters the contest wins something.

Can anyone join, or is it just for members of the Mom Pack?

Anyone can enter – whether you recieve an actual number or you can request a number. I send out MomPack Raffle ticket numbers to all my WAHM friends for them to pass out to their customers and at their shows, parties and such. Or anyone visiting my site can enter and request a number.

The prized range from $2.00 off at my site to 10% off, 20% off, free shipping or some other prize from another business. And I have ways that people can get extra entries into the GRAND PRIZE drawing: join my newsletter, place an order, refer and order and give me a tip, story, picture that I can use on my site or in my newsletter. – So you can get up to 5 entries into the GRAND PRIZE drawing.

What a great idea.

Right now I am doing 2 grand prize drawings a year.

That’s wonderful – I bet you get a TON of interest via your contests?

It has gone pretty well. I continue to tweak how I run it and how I advertise it. I think I have a pretty good system in place now and my number of entries is going up with every cycle.

I guess you want to know where to enter?

Totally!

Just go to my home page: www.chicksandcubs.com – then you will see several links to the MomPack Raffle. Simply fill out the entry and I will email you back the prize you have won.

That’s it?

And if you are wanting to place an order – enter first and see if you won a discount then place your order with the discount.

That is it.

And I only retain your info for that drawing and only email you with information about that drawing – when it is done then I dump that info and we start fresh.

Do you notify those that have entered that they need to resign up if they want to continue to play?

Yes when the Grand Prize is Drawn – I send
out a final email and tell them if they did not win they are welcome to
enter the next drawing.

I did have several people enter again this time from the last drawing in March – and I came up with a substitute for them if they were already on my newsletter list.

I, actually, put up a survey for them – short – but it gave them that extra entry and gave me so good feed back.

That’s nice.

Oh – my next drawing is 9/31/07

Exciting, going to get my butt over there tonight and enter!

And the last person won with her extra entry of a story – so don’t think extra entries won’t matter – it did for her.

Thank you so much Cynthia for talking to me tonight. What a great website you have, and awesome products! Tell us again where we can get in touch with you if we have questions?

The site is ChicksandCubs.com and you can email me at Cynthia@chicksandcubs.com And I am in SC so go to the site and you will
see my number there if you need phone help.

Great! Thank you for taking time out of your busy life to tell us about your great products and awesome giveaways!

NO, thank you for your interest, I really appreciate your time!