Be Mine

I know that there are many who have been so patiently waiting for an update of when new Art & Soul will launch. I have to share I'm not sure, I am hoping sometime before the end of Feb. We have a lot of the fabric for production here but I can't stop from finding more treasures to put with this and that along the way. I keep trying to focus. Just to get started I need 9 great dresses to fill the page! 9 great tops and bottoms that match up too. Photo shoots for everything etc.
Hopefully there will some peeks for you middle of next week.

In the mean while feast your eyes on these two new LaBella Flora Collections that my friend LaDonna and I collaborated on.
LaDonna from LaBellaflora.com has been a huge supporter of mine over the years. We first meet when working together in the early 90's, she would come to town and buy merchandise for her first store. Now she has one of the absolute best boutique web sites for girls out there! When I told her I wanted to launch my new line Art & Soul she was the first one to order for her site, what a boost that was for my confidence. She has always dreamed of putting together her own look for her site and once again she honored me with asking for my help in putting it together. Here you go. It looks so sweet I can't wait for you all to check it out. The best part, it's all in stock and ready to ship today, plus this is the super special part she's letting me share a discount code Spring5 for 5% off your labellaflora purchases now through Feb 10th. These would be perfect for all the little valentine's in your life. So don't delay in checking out Simply Spring and Be Mine!

Upside down M's

Okay, I know for you faithful readers I can be called a blog slacker for sure! I can share with everyone I really have been doing some exciting things behind the scenes. In search of inspiration for Art and Soul's spring collection a dose of sunshine was in order. Most of our family was able to escape to FL for a real vacation last week. We were so lucky the weather was a glorious 10 degrees above normal, how crazy, because the 2 weeks before had been the coldest ever since keeping records! Hence a mad dash to ship and communicate about stuff and then virtually no info via email or blogging of any kind. We were internet impaired which made for much more beach and sun time.

Back to reality this week. We have had a few inquires about how we are able to offer a secure shopping site for our customers being such a small company. Can you trust my, by most standards, ancient hard drive to be secure? Can you trust my server or shopping cart company that captures information about you and your order etc.? Probably.... but you can also know that we have paypal and all their powerful security systems as our merchant company. This means that they capture your credit card info or your paypal info when you order. We never get your complete credit card info into any of our systems at any time so there would be no way for this information to be compromised on our end. Hopefully this information is comforting to you.

I know I feel better knowing our systems have all this security in place because sometimes when I say we, it's really just me. I'm usually the one who gets the orders in and ships them out, I try to respond to all emails and I'm most likely the one who made a shipping mistake and also the one to make them right. So please know that I do try hard almost everyday to stay on top of all this along with designing the new collections that make all these challenges necessary. I love what I do so it makes all this my pleasure. I can't wait to share the new collections soon!

My daughter Vanessa, who's almost 5, was spelling mom the other day while on our vacation and got her M's upside down. I said "Vanessa that spells WOW " , she said "that means awesome so it's the same as MOM". Wow what a way to melt my heart. Wow, Mom ; We, Me, I guess we both sometimes do upside down M's.

Part II

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Wishing you all a Happy New Year. Our gift to you. New Year Shopping! As promised, our continued, Shop like a Professional now through January 14th enter coupon/voucher code wholesale and receive 50% off your entire order. Shop early for best selection. In stock merchandise only. All sales final. No returns. No exchanges. Please understand that adding an item to your Shopping Cart is not a 100% guarantee that the item is available. We will make every effort to provide you with your complete order.At times, items become oversold when multiple customers add the same item to their cart simultaneously. If this happens, you will receive a refund for the oversold item. We do wrap pretty packages and will personalize cards free of charge if you wish put the message in the comment box. Regards, Kristine Bercot P.S. Please share the love with all your friends! Thank you! Our mailing address is: Art & Soul Boutique 2301 Fairfield Ave Suite 100 Fort Wayne, IN 46807 Our telephone: 260-456-9739

(c) copyright Art & Soul by Bercot

Wordless Wednesday

Peace and Happiness

What happens when you live too far in the past or too much in the future? You miss out on the present! Is that why the word for now is present? Hoping you all got the best present of all for the holidays, quality time with family and friends.
I was so thankful to be so busy shipping Art and Soul all over the world right before the Christmas break. Thanks so much for the love I really appreciate it! All orders (by the grace of God) did get shipped before the 22nd, a few things need a little attention but overall I can say I had tears of joy in my eyes reading all the nice emails and seeing all the great pics. I am taking a break spending time with family presently. Will be back in the studio after the 4th from our retreat of rest and relaxation. I predict oodles of new creations coming soon with all my new found creative energy. Wishing you all much peace and happiness in the year ahead. XOXO Kristine

Norma Rae

Okay now I just feel like Norma Rae. Working 12-15 hour days with no breaks, barely food and water. Less than 50 orders left to ship. So if you don't have your order yet or haven't gotten notice of it being shipped don't worry, they will all go out by tuesday. If you get an email with a crazy time like 10:30pm or 6:00 am my clock is not broke, I'm truly working night and day to get everything shipped. I'm doing my best to answer emails too. Please be patience with me.

Thanks so much for everything I don't want to sound ungrateful. Now back to sewing and shipping. Thank you Crystal Lee Sutton, the real Norma Rae!

WOW!

WOW!!! I am in shock and truly blessed by the response about our holiday share the love sale.

Before the sale : we ordered shipping supplies, took inventory and prayed for the best.

Okay so WOW again. I set up the code Sunday night to test it,left to run an errand for an hoursih and came back to 100 emails, and it hasn't stopped since. I'm so pleased :0) and overwhelmed with gratitude. I feel like Sally Fields on Oscar night for Norma Rae, "You like me, you really like me."

So what great news right?

Well I ran out of shipping supplies twice so far and we just can't keep this pace up, so... we are turning off the shopping cart at 12:00 Friday the 18th. I wish we didn't have to but there is no way to get all the current orders and the ones that may come in by tomorrow noon out before the 22nd if we don't make this drastic move.

So thank you more than 1000 times and my apologises a million times. The inventory is a little messed up too, the classic reasons things put in multiple shopping carts simultaneously before checking out, people phone in orders and add ons etc. Please know we are filling orders in the order in which they arrived to be fair to all involved. If you emailed me or called I am trying to respond in order received as well and will try to get back to you before the end of today. Know that if you do have an order you will be shipped complete by the 22nd or a refund for items we cannot fill will be issued by the 22nd. Also I am adjusting shipping charges when appropriate when items cannot be filled.Thanks again, now back to pulling, packing and shipping orders.

On a very personal note,I'm going down to my mom and dad's with my husband and 2 littlest kids between the Christmas and New Year school break. My husband hasn't been able to see my dad at all this year, something I know my parents are looking forward too. My dad will be finishing his last radiation treatment when we are there. Hopefully 2010 will be one of health for my family we all kinda need a break from this cancer stuff.

Oh yeah and because I had to end the sale early we will do it again once we have regrouped after the holidays sometime before January 15th for 2 1/2 days to make up for ending it early. Thanks to everyone for your patience and understanding it means the world to me.
We're looking forward and willing to have this mayhem again, WOW!