Wild and Crazy New Product

Well, after a few late nights and some strong coffee (thanks babe!) I’m ready to reveal this month’s new products. At first I was unsure if this was the right direction for ej&t to take but I’m super excited to introduce my new product: monkeys!

That’s right, beginning today, I will be selling monkeys. The idea actually began a number of years back when my friend Jenny and I got our pictures taken with the cutest little chimp. A connection was made, a bond was formed and ever since that day I’ve had a special place in my heart for monkeys (or chimps, whatever—they’re all cute).

Jenny, a chimp and me

When I first began thinking about selling monkeys on my Etsy site I wondered where I could get them for a relatively good deal. The breakthrough came when I heard about a greyhound adoption program. (For those of you who don’t know, these programs—a Google search will yield plenty of results—take greyhounds that were bred for racing and match them with new homes. It’s a great way to preserve a dog when it’s racing career is over.)

I thought, if this works for greyhounds it could work for circus monkeys. When monkeys age they become less funny and circuses are often forced to send them to Hollywood to make those old CareerBuilder commercials you see during the SuperBowl. So I decided to take these monkeys—which are still super cute, just not as funny—train them to be comfortable around a family and sell them through Etsy. Cool, huh?

The monkeys are great and the idea is solid but Etsy prohibits the sale of live animals through its site. I can understand where they are coming from. So, beginning today, April 1, 2008, when you buy something from my store you will get a free monkey. The tag will cost $100.00 but the monkey is free. (This is a clever and legal way of sidestepping Etsy’s live animal restrictions.)

I hope you love the idea as much as I do. I’m only running this deal for a limited time as the monkeys kind of make a mess of the house. (That is, only before they are house-broken.)

If you have any concerns about this new venture, I’m sure this picture will answer any questions you may have:
april fools

Heeheehee… now to serious issues, the real new product! I had so much fun making the girly mini books last time that I thought I would make another kit for boys. I gave a sneak peek earlier (see this post) and now it is in the shop. Also new this month is a set of mini cards. I think they are so cute. I used some of your favorite patterns and printed them on mini cards. But the other thing that is so cute about them is the envelopes are like a mini manila envelope. They are adorable! Here’s a picture:
mini cards

And of course, I couldn’t let finish the post without mentioning the tag of the month for April. Here’s a picture:
tag of month april

So go check out the store, there is also some fun I [heart] tags, boyish tags (same patterns as the mini book) and some new random alpha tags (to match the random numbers). And who knows, maybe even a monkey or two :)

P.S. Thank you to all who voted for me and my bedroom in the Design*Sponge contest. Unfortunately I didn’t win but I appreciated all your votes! Click here to see the winners.