It's About the Box : August Morgan Cocktail Napkins

Good Morning All!

I am back and reunited with Tinkerbell Hersch. I was in sunny California for a week with my boy child.

My daughter was on a school trip and El Rey was working, so my son and I surfed, visited friends and worked on our tan.

One day we were in our hotel hot tub, chatting with various hotel guests.  A gentleman mentioned that he was from Boulder.  My son, the sports fanatic, asked how he liked the Super Bowl.  The gentleman responded that he did not like the Super Bowl.

Well, the gentleman was the head coach of the Broncos!  Can you believe it?  My son was a wee bit horrified as he had been singing the praises of the Seahawks, and quickly sang the praises of Peyton Manning.  The coach could have not been more kind and gracious and it was a highlight of my son's life to meet him.

Okay, enough kiddo talk.  I need to get back to work and these kids need to back in school, STAT.  I have a new office.  It's getting very cute and I will post photos of it when it gets really cute.

In the mean time I wanted to show you the fantastic box my my August Morgan cocktail napkins come in:

Isn't this fun?  It's a gift already wrapped!

What's not to love?  Especially if you are an organized person and like things in their place.  I am not one such person so I can only imagine.  

The best part about my new cocktail napkin box is that it is included in the same fabulous price!

As per usual, these may be purchased here or at your finer home boutiques!

xoxo,

Kate

This Week In Cocktail Napkin News........

Hello!

I am winding down after a week at NY NOW, formerly the New York International Gift Fair. I just had a great lunch.

Love me some Fred's

 My flight leaves in four hours, so lucky for you I have time to blog!  What a long, strange trip it's been this winter gift show.

Last Friday morning I decided to go on a run before my flight to NYC.  'Twas a glorious morn in Austin.  Tinkerbell and I hit the trail.  We came to an eroded patch where I usually walk, but I was brazen and kept running. Lo and behold I slipped and broke my fall with my left elbow.  On a rock.  My elbow was split open.  I will spare you the grisly details.

I was stitched up, prescibed pain medication (!) and made a later flight.

I became an expert on dressing wounds.....

The next day I was setting up my booth at the Javits Center.

It takes a village..........

The show opened on Sunday.  Super Bowl Sunday.  Yes.  The day was slow as many people were gearing up for parties, and many people were coming in on Monday after the Super Bowl so the hotel rates would be lower.

Monday morning I woke up to this :

Snow.  Polar Vortex.  Whatever it was, flights were cancelled.   Monday was slow but thank goodness for NY, CT, and NJ stores.  I am so grateful for those sales!

Tuesday was a GREAT day for sales.  The biggest hit were the boxes the cocktail napkins come in.

 All sets of four cocktail napkins in every style  come in this fabulous box.

Even if you order online.

The next day was an ice storm, which completed the trifecta.  Truth be told, my sales were fine.  I picked up new accounts and became better friends with my neighbor vendors at the show.  Plus I helped my friends out by buying from them.

I am now ready to go home.  Love on my family.  Take off my fancy city clothes and change into a Mexican dress.

Until the next NY NOW in August............

Fortunately I purchased some fancy city clothes for NY NOW in August!

xoxo,

Kate

That's Rich!

Hello!  I am back from my week in Atlanta,  selling!

I had a ball!  I picked up new accounts, make new trade show friends, and relished being in a hotel room for a week.  I also introduced my new Giraffe Cocktail Napkin.....

It may be purchased here.

Whilst I was away, El Rey did a fabulous job with the children.  And why wouldn't he?  He is their father.

  One time during my stay in Atlanta he informed me that he was winning "many points" with other parents for taking care of the Herschettes.  

Points?  That's RICH!  Why would you earn points for being a parent!  Last I checked it took two to tango to produce the Herschettes. 

El Rey is always traveling and I don't get any points.  To hear him tell it, West Austin was close to throwing a parade in his honor.

To El Rey's credit he was relaying messages that others said.  He is a fabulous and supportive husband.

I arrived home yesterday afternoon, and El Rey left last night for a business trip.  Like him, I helped with homework, made dinner, made sure children bathed, etc.  Today I will do the same.

And I will take those points.  I will take them in the form of loose gemstones, thank you!

xoxo,

Kate

You've Been Served : August Morgan Acrylic Trays

Bonjour!  I am typing this as I descend from the sky into Atlanta.  I suspect I shall finish this post in my hotel suite tonight after I have set up for Americasmart Home and Gift Show.  Please come see me in Building 1, Floor 7, Booth J02.

I do love a trade show!  The drama of the crazy vendors, the thrill of a sale, the lack of parental duties for me....

As always, I am here to serve you.   And I am please to present my newest products : August Morgan Acrylic Trays!  There are two styles available.

My Grasshopper Acrylic Tray

My Snail Acrylic Tray

Back of Trays

If you cannot make it to my booth in Building 1, Floor 7, Booth J02, the trays may be purchased online here.

It is now the morning before the show.  I must put my face on.  Have a great day!

xoxo,

Kate

Celebrity Gift Guide : Tinkerbell Hersch

I know what you are thinking, what to give Miss Tinkerbell Hersch for the Holidays?  She is so loving, clever and supportive.  Well, she has agreed to let her wish list go public!

1.

Tinkerbell loves cash.  We hand it to her by the fist fulls and she just eats it up.  The we all laugh and say, "oh Tinkerbell, you crack us up!!"

2. 

Tinkerbell is on a Mexican Dress kick.  Explains Tinky, "In this age of high tech ipads, big box stores, and mass produced food, it is refreshing to wear a product that was made by hand.  In fact, I predict that next year we will see more stitching, and hear less bitching."  Remember folks, you heard it from Tinkerbell first.

Lastly, Tinkerbell wishes that you would purchase my latest cocktail napkin :

It may be purchased here.


Happiest Holidays!

xoxo,

Tinkerbell and Kate

Why Can't I be Nice?

This week I had the honor to be included as a vendor in a holiday sale.  The sale took place at a gorgeous Austin estate and had other nice vendors.  I enjoyed the last of the balmy Texas weather and making money, naturally.

One woman came  to my table and looked at my wares as if they were space junk that had recently fallen to Earth.  "What are these?," she wondered.  "Why, cocktail napkins," I replied.  She stood there trying to take it all in and then said "like coasters?"

Was this woman raised by wolves?  Did Mammaw and Pappaw not use embroidered cocktail napkins whilst they drank their moonshine from a jug with XXX on it?

I then thought, why can't I be nice?  I resolved to educate her on linens that do not wind up in the garbage with a red solo cup, but she made a beeline to the bar instead.

I resolve to be nice, nicer, less snarky.  Some ideas include :

1. Tilt one's head to the side when talking to another person.  It provides the illusion that you are interested in what they are saying.

2.  Smile, not sneer, at OPC (other people's children).

3.  volunteer



Yesterday my children and I made "stockings" for the homeless.  We took socks and filled them with deodorant, food, combs and the like.  We then drove to a downtown homeless shelter and dropped them off.

On the ride home the children were silent.  I imagined them taking in the solemness of the shelter.  I was sure they were counting their blessings, vowing to be better siblings and children.

When they children returned home they immediately began to beat each other up again.  It was a long day.

Do you know what you could do to be nice?  Purchase my Embroidered Whale Cocktail Napkin.

And me?  I am going to keep on trying to be nice.....

I hear there's a pill for it!

xoxo,

Kate

Letting Go, or How to Build an Empire

Good Morning!

The photograph above was an outtake from my photo shoot for a TRIBEZA article about moi.  I was flattered and thrilled to be included, and it resulted in three sales on my website, which is better than a kick in the head.

Yes, and it is the step in the right direction of taking August Morgan to a different level.  But first a brief history of August Morgan.

I began by re purposing vintage needle points into one of a kind pillows. I did the New York International Gift Show and was fortunate enough that Barneys picked me up my first market.

I sold my vintage pillows for years to amazing boutiques and decorators.  I now only sell my vintage collection through One Kings Lane Vintage and Market Finds.

I then started designing my own line of pillows that were hand stitched by fair trade artisans in India and sewn into pillows in Austin.

Pinatas : Before and After

These pillows, while quite clever, were rather expensive due to the labor involved.  Lesson learned.

 Next came the August Morgan Cocktail Napkin.  These have been very successful and so much fun to create.  They are sold in shops around the US and even in Tokyo and Germany!  They are also currently available on Anthropologie's website.

But what next?  How do I become the next Tory Burch?  I asked my husband to be my Chris Burch and write my business plan.  He replied that they eventually divorced.

I have hired an assistant to help me with the more tedious tasks.  But it is hard to let go.  I spend hours sifting through napkins, making sure they are perfect.  While doing this, the TV is usually on.  When Law and Order is not on the one channel I get in the kitchen, NCIS is on.  Question : Why are there so many murders in the Navy?  I never knew.   And on US soil to boot.

But I have to let go of napkin sorting.  Tory Burch would never do that.  Or Tori Spelling, probably.

I am also in the process of getting a big girl office.  More on that later.

So yes, slowly but surely, August Morgan will grow.  I will let go of the tedious tasks so I have more time to be creative and dream up new napkins, such as the soon to be famous.....

Hand Embroidered Squirrel Cocktail Napkin

Wouldn't these be a great hostess gift for Thanksgiving?  You should buy them.  Thank you in advance for expanding my empire.

xoxo,

Kate