We're retiring from shows plus, a shipping update

The title says it all, and it's true. It's time, and it feels right. After 14 seasons, we have decided it's time to wrap up the Craft Show and Christmas Market chapter in our lives and really start to enjoy the holidays. Our kids are getting older and through the years we have loved doing these shows, but the only downside it that it has also meant being away from our kids for a few weeks and for a very fast paced December served with a side of exhaustion for us all. We have been considering this transition for a few years now, but the markets have been so great for us financially, and also for the exposure of our business to keep busy year round with orders, so it has been hard to give up. We always looked at it as though 1 month of unbalanced life, gave us 11 months of balance. It's time to have 12 months of balance per year. :)

We will forever be grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of the best juried shows in the country for all these years, and all the life long friends we have made along the way. It truly has been such an honour and something we will never forget or regret. Now we will get to continue to enjoy these shows in a new way, as customers! This decision was made easier for us because of our new business adventure. As my last post explains, we started a new business within our business, Mission Leather Supply. That has taken off to the point where we are kept busy full time with online orders, and has grown to a whole new level since that post. It's a very good thing, and we are really enjoying it and getting to know our newest customers and fulfilling their needs. That said, the One of a Kind Show in Toronto will be our very last holiday show. We will only be there for the first 5 days, from November 22nd through 26th in the 5/6 day section at booth R-21. We will have some special deals, as we would like to sell off as much inventory as possible. Please know that this does not mean we are closing Mally Designs, we just won't be at any of the markets that we usually exhibit at anymore. Going forward, Mally Designs will only be available online, and at a few select retailers. 

Shipping Update: Since we will be away in Toronto for 8 days (exhibiting and then visiting family), we will not be shipping any Mally Designs orders until our return. Shipping will resume as usual within 1-2 business days starting November 30th upon our return, with plenty of time to arrive in time for holiday gifts. 

Thank you to everyone who has visited us over the years at our booth. Your support means the world to us. We hope to see you one last time in Toronto if you're in the area! 

Happy 3 months to our side hustle - introducing Mission Leather Supply!

Since we started Mally Designs in 2005, we literally have not thrown out any quantity of useable leather. We are the non wasting types, and you could imagine what 13 years of scrap leather accumulation looks like. The amount of remnant leather we have neatly stored away has always been somewhat daunting, and in fact, it is a big reason we added moccasins to our collection as well as our accessories in past years. When we moved from our warehouse to our new home studio 5 years ago, we brought a truck load of that scrap home with us. I guess we always knew we would find a way to put it to use. It's perfectly useable, beautiful leather, after all. Last year, we thought it might be fun to see if our shapes would be something that other crafters or leather workers would be interested in, so we listed them on our Mally Designs Etsy Shop. We were pleased to see that the answer was an overwhelming YES - other makers were most definitely interested in our designs for their own crafts! It made us feel pretty good about putting it to use and after about 8 months of selling our leather applique on our first etsy shop, we knew we had a good little side hustle going and we decided to give our leather supplies a shop all of their own. 

Introducing Mission Leather Supply 

Here's a little sneak peek of some of our most popular listings thus far. Just click each image to learn more about the options:

leather leaf shape
This listing was our first etsy sale at Mission Leather Supply and it continues to be a popular one!

 

Lips leather applique
Since we launched 1 month before Valentine's Day, these ones were a hit as well!

 

Leather Color Swatch
This mini color swatch set has proven to be an essential tool for our regulars.

 

8x10 leather sheets
By request, we added 8x10" leather sheets and 4x7" leather sheets, perfect for a multitude of projects.

 

Metallic Leather Pieces
Our Rose Gold, Gold and Silver leather sheets are on trend and flying off the shelves.

 

Leather Diamond Shape
This diamond shape, aka geometric teardrop, has really made an impression.

 

symmetrical diamond leather shape
We also offer a symmetrical diamond shape, also a great choice.

 

Leather leafs
We have also created leather earring supplies sets for our jewelry designer customers.

 

Metallic leather strips
This is another example of what we offer for earring makers, perfect for making bar earrings.

 

Leather circles
Leather circles of all sizes and colors, available in smaller circles and larger circles.

 

leather rectangles
Looking for rectangles? We have those too here and here.

 

Okay, you get the idea. We have options, and yes, even our cute animals, bugs, transportation designs and more are listed. You can check out all of Mission Leather Supply's leather supplies here. You can also subscribe to Mission Leather Supply's Email Newsletter here.

We gave this side business the simple name of Mission Leather Supply because Mission, BC (in the Fraser Valley) is our home and because really, we are on a mission to supply other creative types with our leather - everything from tiny little stars and flowers to embellish their crafts to our current largest 8x10" pieces. So far we have discovered that our customers range from jewelers to crocheters, moccasin makers, purse makers, wreath makers, people working on small repair jobs and more. It's really quite a thrill to see our designs used in the creations of other makers. Throughout the years, all of our designs were hand drawn by myself, so aside from the basic shapes, you really can't get most of them anywhere else. Since our shop opened 3 months ago, we have really just begun and we will continue to be adding new listings and offerings throughout the rest of 2018. It's just a start, and we are really proud of it so far. We look forward to seeing our side hustle grow! 

I'm not much of a numbers person, but I have been exercising that side of my brain a lot lately. I'm learning you have to be quite creative yet analytical when it comes to figuring out algorithms and growing a new etsy shop!

Since Etsy is pretty transparent with this stuff anyhow, here are some numbers from our first 3 months on etsy:

* 43 x 5 star reviews - we must be doing something right!!

* 367 sales, many have been repeat customers

* orders shipped to 5 countries (Canada, USA, Australia, the UK and Ghana!)

* 192 shop favourites - thank you, thank you!

* 122 listings

Another highlight was being featured on the Whistle and Ivy blog with our maple leaf applique! 

This is the amazing Team Canada 'Chinook Toque' design made by Whistle and Ivy which includes our maple leaf applique purchased from the shop. The pattern is available here:

chinook toque by whistle and ivy with Mission Leather Supply applique

Whistle and Ivy Chinook Toque

This feature gave our Maple Leaf Leather Applique a big boost in sales! This community is so wonderfully support of each other! Big thanks to Whistle and Ivy for this feature!

I hope one day to look back at these stats and think how far we have come, but for now we are enjoying the growth of this new shop. There is actually big potential and possibilities with etsy and this is just the beginning. We are motivated and inspired and really excited about this side hustle! 

If you're thinking about starting an etsy shop:

I want to encourage you to GO FOR IT! Seriously, this little shop has been almost fully found just through Etsy searches so far. We have not really done any other promotion other than a brief mention on facebook and a few posts on instagram. That is it! We owe it to the etsy search algorithm for getting us found. If you're thinking about starting a new etsy shop, please use this link to get your first 40 listings free. You won't regret it! We have lots to work on to getting it found in other ways, and this blog post is one of them, but we are very much thankful that just through etsy alone, so much can happen.

Find us at the One of a Kind Spring Show and Sale + a coupon code for while we are away

It's Spring!!! I'm so excited. I mean, I love winter and all, but enough already! Bring on Spring! We are heading to Toronto bright and early tomorrow morning for the One of a Kind Show. The kids are on Spring break, so the whole family is going, which will be great. We are staying at a wonderful Airbnb by the lake with a pool, walking distance to the show and our little post-show hangout Liberty Village. Our eldest Kyler even managed to find a job helping another vendor set up and take down their booth and our youngest Malia might even help out here and there as vendors need a break. I think it will be a good experience for all! After the show we are taking a few days to visit family and we rented an electric vehicle through Turo (it's like Airbnb for cars!!!), which we are super excited about, as we are thinking of making the switch to electric ourselves. I mean, gas prices, especially here in BC are getting out of control, and we are all for making good changes for the environment.

Since we will be away for the next 9 days, orders will not be shipping during this time. If you do have an urgent request, please send us a message and we will see what we can do. We often ship from the shows we exhibit at if need be. That's no big deal. You just won't be able to get the personalization or customization details you want in a rush, and you might have to be a little less picky about the design, but we always have our top sellers with us. For those of you who are having to wait a little longer than usual to get your order, please use coupon code HAPPYEASTER to save 10% online orders while we are away. This coupon code is valid until Tuesday, April 3rd, 2018.

If you're in the area and would like to come to the show, you can find tickets here and information here. Find us over in booth i-35 and say hi and see what's new! If you like free parking, coat check, a DJ and more, be sure to come on the late night! Also, you will also find our lovely cherry blossom competition entry piece in the competition gallery near the entrance. Please don't vote for ours, as I'm sure there are some that are far more amazing and deserving, but it is pretty cute and Malia helped design it, which was super fun. The whole competition is worth checking out. ;)

We hope to see you there! 

Meet our latest collection; Touch of Gold - a Unicorn Inspired collection!

Over the years we have been both complemented and criticized for designing a wide selection of 'boyish' designs. Having a boy first, I know how shopping for a baby boy can leave Mama's of boys scratching their heads wondering why there's so much more for all the little girls. For that reason, I have always been really careful to design an equal selection of boyish and girly designs, with a generous mix of neutrals. Somehow with that, many people saw our boyish selection 'stronger' than our girls selection. While many found this to be amazing and praised us for it, some said the opposite, and let me tell you people can be brutally honest and I actually love that! Our last collection release, Explore and Adventure featuring our Hot Air Balloon, Tee Pee, Mountains and Camper bibs definitely fit into the more boyish, but could be worn by a little girl category. We worked with a neutral color palette with no pinks, purples, or shimmery golds. The designs celebrated the outdoors and we all know it doesn't matter what your gender is, you should get out and play! Our latest collection though, is the answer for anyone craving those pinks and purples and shimmery golds and if someone loves it enough for their little boy too, we say go for it!

Unicorns are a huge trend and while we have made several custom unicorn bibs now, we wanted to bring together a playful color palette and make it really special, just like unicorns. Included in our Touch of Gold Collection baby items is a Unicorn Bib, a Pastel Rainbow Bib, a sweet multi-colored pair moccasins, appropriately named Unicorn, and a Pastel Rainbow Heart Soother Clip. We decided to add a Unicorn Coin Purse because we all know unicorns are not just for babies, but are also adored by little girls, tweens and maybe even a few adults alike. Everything is designed to coordinate together so you can easily put together the perfect hand picked girly gift for someone special. We hope you love it all! 

Pastel Rainbow Leather Bib

SHOP PASTEL RAINBOW BIB

Mally Mocs Unicorn Moccasins

SHOP UNICORN MOCCASINS

Unicorn Leather Bib

SHOP UNICORN BIB

Pastel Heart Soother Clip

SHOP PASTEL HEART SOOTHER CLIP

Unicorn Coin Purse

SHOP UNICORN COIN PURSE

Touch of Gold Collection

SHOP TOUCH OF GOLD COLLECTION

FREE SHIPPING when you spend $85 or more!

We are currently offering newsletter subscribers a coupon code for FREE SHIPPING on orders valued at $85 or more at mallydesigns.com! Subscribe to The Mally Designs Newsletter to get the code and all the details delivered to your inbox instantly. Update: This coupon has expired. It's still a great idea to subscribe so that you learn about all of our latest greatest news and events! 

MALLY DESIGNS COUPON CODE

Enjoy FREE SHIPPING just before Black Friday through Cyber Monday, November 24th through November 28th by entering coupon code BLACK-CYBER during checkout. This offer is available on any order with shipping within North America. Also, be sure to check out our special Black Friday Bibs! These are only going to be available while supplies last. We are only making 10 baby size and 10 toddler size at the special Black Friday price, and you may choose to personalize with a name or word in any colour you like if you wish! 

free shipping weekend

Advance orders for pick up at holiday shows!

Each year it happens - we get lots of requests for custom orders and regular items for pick up at our markets and holiday shows. The logistics of this is not always easy during our busiest time of year, so this year we have set up 3 unique coupon codes so that you can easily place your order online at mallydesigns.com and pick up at our major events! This will ensure that you to get EXACTLY what you want from our booth before it's gone, as it will be on hold just for YOU at our booth! It will also allow you to order that personalized or customized item and save the shipping.

The 3 shows that we will be offering order pick up are: 

Circle Craft, Vancouver - November 9-13 - *FREE show tickets for the first 2 orders with pick up at Circle Craft!

Art Market, Calgary - November 17-20 - *FREE show tickets for the first 4 orders with pick up at Art Market!

One of a Kind, Toronto - Nov. 24 Dec. 4 *FREE show tickets for the first 10 orders with pick up at One of a Kind!

Here's your pick up coupon codes: 

pick up in Vancouver: CIRLEPICKUP
pick up in Calgary: ARTMPICKUP
pick up in Toronto: OOAKPICKUP

To place your order with pick up at the show, please enter the coordinating show pick up coupon code listed above for the show that you plan to attend.

Now, we really do need plenty of time to ensure we will be able to have your item(s) made and ready for you, so these special pick up coupon codes will need to be entered before November 10th. After that date, please send us a message first to see if it is possible.

*We will also be giving 2 FREE tickets to the Circle Craft Vancouver Show, 4 FREE tickets to the Art Market Calgary Show, and 10 FREE tickets to the One of a Kind Toronto shows for the first 2, 4 and 10 people to order with show pick up at those events. If you are eligible for the free ticket to the show with your order, we will send an email with instructions on how to redeem that after the show pick up order has been placed.

Mally Mocs Halloween Costume Contest - $100 e-gift card prize + several $10 prizes

We have a fun little contest in store for you! Since our baby moccasins are offered in a rainbow of 38 color options and 2 styles (fringe or no fringe), we thought it would be fun to run a little Halloween costume contest! If you don't have a costume idea picked out yet, we have pinned several DIY baby Halloween costume ideas on pinterest here.

It works like this:

Include any Mally Mocs leather baby moccasins as part of your little ones Halloween costume and submit your photo to us (details below) between now and November 2nd. We will carefully look at all of the entries and Malia, our 12 year old daughter will get to pick her favourite as the winner! If she can't decide (there's a good chance she will love them all equally), then Malia will pick a number between 1 and X number of entries and we will count through the entries to that number to select the winner. If your baby is of the itty bitty variety (newborn to 3 months) see our newborn moccasins here.

BONUS: Throughout the contest, we will look for quality photos to include in our social media posts to help promote the contest, with permission and credit given of course. If your photo is chosen and shared, we will set you up with a $10 e-gift card at mallydesigns.com for each share! To see what kind of photos we like to share on social, please see Mally Designs Instagram.

There are several ways to submit your photo to us:

-post on instagram and tag @mallydesigns and / or use #mallymocs and / or #mallymocscostume (using the tag and hashtag ensures we will see it)

OR

-if your instagram account is private, please send  via DM (direct message)

OR

-email your photo entry to contests@mallybibs.com

OR

-post your photo entry to Mally Designs facebook page timeline

That's it! We can't wait to see and share your entries. Our winner will be chosen and announced on November 2nd. If you have any questions at all, please comment below. 

Mally Mocs Halloween Contest - Pooh with black mally mocs

UPDATE - This contest is now closed. Check out some of our favourite entries:

pink owl - mally mocs: charcoal lux suede
Pink Owl Costume, Mally Mocs: Charcoal Lux Suede

Skunk, Mally Mocs: Black
Skunk Costume, Mally Mocs: Black

3 little pigs costume
3 Little Pigs Costume, Mally Mocs: Birch Lux Suede

Cupcake and Chef Costumes
Cupcake Costume and Chef Costume, Mally Mocs: Bubblegum

grey owl costume
Grey Owl Costume, Mally Mocs: Sand

Unicorn Costume
Unicorn Costume, Mally Mocs: Silver

Moose Costume
Moose Costume, Mally Mocs: Chestnut Lux Suede

cotton candy costume
Cotton Candy Costume, Mally Mocs: Seashell

Unicorn Costume
Unicorn Costume, Mally Mocs: Snowflake

Clown costume
Clown Costume, Mally Mocs Sandals: Snowflake
 

In case your wondering, Malia chose the sweet little Skunk as her winner of our $100 e-gift card. :)

 

 

FREE Shipping for Canadian Thanksgiving!

Free shipping is now over, but please subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page and follow us on social to be the first to know of our promotions and events. 

We have so much to be thankful, including you, our customers and supporters. We wouldn't be able to do what we love if it wasn't for you. Thank you for continuing to support our business for going on almost 12 years now. To show our appreciation, we are offering free shipping now through Monday October 10th at midnight. Just use coupon code THANKS2016 to get free shipping on any order with shipping destinations in North America! 

free shipping for thanksgiving weekend at mallydesigns.com

TO REDEEM: 

Add all the items that you would like to your cart at mallydesigns.com and enter THANKS2016 in the coupon code section during checkout. Regular or expedited shipping will be deducted from your total prior to the payment processing page. 

*valid on orders with shipping destinations in North America, including wholesale orders
*free shipping expires at midnight on Monday, October 10th 2016
*cannot be combined with any other coupon code

Mally Designs 2016 Fall Market Schedule

It's the last day of summer as I type this and while I look out our studio windows at the gorgeous sun shining down on the still green fully leafed trees while Sadie (our office dog) is basking in her sun filled spot by the window, I'm really going to miss it. BUT, I am also starting to get excited about Fall. As soon as we have one of those crisp fall days where you can just smell it in the air, I am going to treat myself to a pumpkin spice latte, a new pair of fall boots and maybe a new sweater to celebrate. I LOVE summer, but I also LOVE Fall. It's time to embrace the season! Part of the reason I love Fall so much is because it's when we get to travel around to all our shows and see our customers first hand! So many small business friends ask us how we do it, but I always say it's simply because we love it. Visiting these great cities and meeting the people who support our business is really satisfying to us. There's no better way to connect with our customers and get to know what they want, than to see them in person. Here's our 2016 Fall Market Schedule:

Whistler Farmer's Market, October 2nd, Upper Village, Whistler BC

Whistler Farmer's Market, October 8th, Upper Village Whistler BC

Whistler Farmer's Market, October 9th, Upper Village Whistler BC

North Shore Kids' Eco-Swap & Craft Market, North Vancouver BC

The Artisan's Market, Vancouver BC

Circle Craft, November 9th - 13th, Vancouver BC

Art Market, November 17th - 20th, Calgary AB

The one of a Kind Show & Sale - November 24th - December 4th. Toronto ON

Mally Designs 2016 Fall and Holiday Markets

We will be sure to bring along a great selection of our popular new items, such as our new Lux Suede Mally Mocs, Mally Designs X BOOKHOU collaboration items, and our new Monochrome Collection, as well as our most popular classic Mally Bibs and Mally Mocs leather baby shoes. Be sure to visit our booth early for the best selection!

For complete details including venue locations, show hours and links to the show websites, please visit our events page. Be sure to follow us on instagram and like us on facebook for ticket giveaways and reminders. We hope to see you there!

From Our Blog

We're retiring from shows plus, a shipping update

The title says it all, and it's true. It's time, and it feels right. After 14 seasons, we have decided it's time to wrap up the Craft Show and Christmas Market chapter in our lives and really start to enjoy the holidays. Our kids are getting older and through the years we have loved doing these shows, but the only downside it that it has also meant being away from our kids for a few weeks and for a very fast paced December served with a side of exhaustion for us all.

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