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Davis Says...

Aloha, Phil! Have a great vacation, hurry back! We miss you!

Quick Update...

We just had the longest week ever in Arizona. Every hour seemed like a day and every day seemed like a week. We had a major system crash. The hard drive on the server completely went out-unrecoverable. We had no computer system- no operating system, which means no shipping or order processing, it also held all of our accounting information, we didn't have any internet, email, or fax as that is all electronic as well. Did I mention that the person who set up the system set the back-up of the system to back-up onto itself- the same hard drive- which isn't really a back-up at all? We were down for over a week. We had to buy new hardware, new software, and reinstall all of our systems. It was a total nightmare. The good news is that we were able to recover our orders and accounting data and our system will be more stable than ever, with a real back-up system in case this ever happens again. But now I am home to serve jury duty, more good times, which I don't mind doing when there isn't a crisis going on. We leave for the CK Convention in Portland this week as well. As usual, we could use some help in the booth. The show is the 8th, 9th, and 10th and we pay in cash or product. Email Michelle at michelle@lildavisdesigns.com if you are interested. That's it for now. Have a great week!

What I Know

about Salt Lake City...I did find the best Diet Coke ever. It was just like they said, at a place called Pace's. Now, there are apparently three Paces, and I can't remember which one we went to. I would ask Phil, but he has the day off (gasp!) since we just got back from Arizona last night. I will let you know more details about the location as soon as I know, but it was everything I expected it to be, the most perfect Diet Coke, the hamburgers, onion rings, french fries, and tator tots were good too. Geez, that sounds like a fried food extravaganza, mmm...so good. Also, I had the best grilled cheese ever. Now, I really love cheese. So, we went to this restaurant, I will find out the name, that has a "Grilled Cheese of the Day". Now, the day we went, it was a brie and apple grilled cheese. Phil added bacon, because everything tastes better with bacon, and it was amazingly good. So, if you are in SLC, I highly recommend the Diet Coke and grilled cheese. Other than that, and having a woman try to steal my luggage at the airport, I had to chase her down all the way to the door, the trip was great. So, as far as a winner goes, Davis picked number five, so congrats Kelly! I will have Michelle email you for your address.
I am so excited, we are going to see Meatloaf tonight. I know it is weird to be a Meatloaf fan, but I am like a superfan. So on his tour, he has only one appearance on the west coast and it just happened to be an hour from my house. So, Brian got me tickets for Valentine's Day. I can't wait, we are just a few hours away from the show. I am totally going to get the t-shirt. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Meatloaf Rocks!

SLC Bound...

So, I am off again. This time to Salt Lake City. Just a quick trip to train a new inside salesperson we hired at the show. I am really excited about this new position, I have always wanted an inside sales person, and we were lucky enough to find someone who had experience doing this for another scrapbook company. Now we will have a direct liaison for our retail stores. Someone to help with orders, follow-up on catalogs and shipments, and make sure they have everything they need. She will also help Phil out with our outside sales force and getting all of our reps up to date. Funny, thing is her name is Michelle, now we have three. Any suggestions for nicknames would be greatly appreciated. I will be home before Valentine's Day and not have to leave for Arizona until next Sunday. Wow! I am excited about that. I have to admit I am a little apprehensive about going to SLC. It isn't one of my favorite places- not that it isn't a beautiful city- but some of my longest work days have been there. I associate SLC with CKU and twelve hour days, store demos until midnight, and the Roadshow. So, this trip should be a piece of cake. I am going with an open mind, Phil says it's going to be great! Ha! I did get him to promise me a trip to some place that is supposed to have the best fountain soda anywhere. Being that I am a Diet Coke connoisseur, I figure this will be the highlight of the trip. So, wish me luck. I will let you know how it goes, and if I find the best Diet Coke ever, I will let you all know where it is. I did have a chance to grab a couple of jpegs of some of the new CHAW items. These layouts are from the Spring Fling collection, which features printed acid free acetate, metal flowers, bookplates, stickers, and paper. It has really pretty pastel colors and will ship early April. Here are a couple of layouts from Renee and Michelle.

So in honor of my trip to Salt Lake City, let's have a contest. Leave a comment with your favorite thing about Salt Lake, what do you like to see, do, eat, etc when you are there? What is the best thing about the city? What should I not miss when I am there? I will draw a poster at random and send a box of LDD goodies.

And one last bit of business...we are looking for people to help us out at the Scrapbook Expo in Orange County, it is the 15th-18th. We pay in cash or product, if you are interested please email michelle@lildavisdesigns.com

I think that is it, I am off to pack, finish up the laundry, etc, etc. Have a great week!

Bad, Bad Blogger....

Okay, okay, I really suck and owe you guys an apology for this pathetic excuse of a blog. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that stuff. Let's see, a lot has happened in the last ninety days....as most of you know about a year and a half ago I moved the company to Arizona and stepped out of day to day operations to focus on the creative side of the company. Unfortunately, sometimes you think you are making the best decision but over time realize it was a huge mistake. So, ninety days ago I stepped back in as President and CEO of LDD and took over all aspects of company operations. The familiar faces you might know as employees of LDD are gone, except for my most loyal and hard working employees, whom I actually call friends; Michelle Haralson, Michelle Hill, and Renee Camacho. And of course I kept my husband Brian as Art Director. I was then lucky enough to hire a new Vice President, Phil Tucker. Let me tell you a little bit about Phil. When I decided I was going to make these changes within the company, I knew I needed people around me I could trust. I have known Phil for nearly five years. He was one of the first reps I ever hired and we were one of the first companies he ever repped. He had decided to give up his rep group last year, in 2006, and leave the industry. I tried to talk him out of it and offered him a job at that time, but he turned me down. Since, there were no hard feelings he was the first person I turned to when I needed help this time. After twisting his arm a bit he accepted the VP position. Little did he know it would mean sixteen hour days, commuting from SLC, and putting up with my neurotic tendencies. So in short, that is where I have been. Fixing my company. Rebuilding it and making it the LDD it once was. It's been hard, and sometimes I thought we couldn't do it, that it was beyond repair. But I can honestly say that the last three months have been awesome, hard, but awesome. The progress we have made in such a short amount of time has been crazy. Acrylic stamps shipped. Stripped Chip shipped. And most importantly, Love Affair is shipping now. Whew. And we made it to CHAW. The new product has been sourced from all new vendors. Did I mention Phil and I threw in a trip to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China a week and a half before CHAW? So, all new product is in production and it looks awesome. It will actually ship and on time. We've cleaned out all the cobwebs in Arizona (literally), there was actually a lizard living under the fax machine. Michelle has taken back her old job of customer service and we have hired a new inside sales person to help with our store's needs. Another Michelle by the way, now we have three. So needless to say I have been swamped. I am commuting from California to Arizona every week. I leave at 5:30am on Monday morning, make it to the Phoeniz airport by noon, pick up Phil, work all week, drop Phil off at 6:00pm on Friday and am home by 11pm. Hopefully, once the restructuring is complete I won't need to be in Arizona as much, but right now its necessary to get things done. So that's my last three months in a nutshell. I will post some pics of the new CHAW stuff this week. It is awesome. My favorite is Endless Summer. Here is a layout from Renee. It doesn't use the red flower paper which is my favorite, but you can get the idea of some of the patterns.

So, I will try to be a better blogger, at least once a week so you guys know I am alive. And thanks to everybody I saw at the show who told me they missed my blog- I didn't know anybody other than my mom actually read this thing. So, I hope everyone has a great week. It's nice to be back.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday. I will be home for four whole days, I am so excited. We have lots of stuff going on- big shipments going out, new product coming in, and CHAW product to wrap up in the next few weeks. It is going to be a busy end of the year- and this is usually our slowest time. Crazy. I leave for Mesa on Monday. I can't post when I am on the road because the hotel has the slowest internet connection. Our binder clip kit airs on QVC on Tuesday and I am going to have to watch it online. There is a horrible time delay due to the internet connection- Michelle Hill can testify to that- we tried to watch the last QVC airing on her laptop and it was painful. Wish me luck. I hope everyone's holiday is peaceful and full of friends and family. Take care.

Li'l Davis Warehouse Sale!

It's time for our end of year warehouse sale!
Please join us:
November 9th 8am-5pm
November 10th 10am-5pm
November 11th 10am-2pm

We’ve got the best deals on scrapbook supplies at 50-80% off retail!
All of your favorite Li’l Davis products are on sale including metal, wood, canvas,
chipboard, stickers, foam stamps, paint, paper, rub-ons, and more!
Bring a friend and shop early for the best selection!

Location:

>Li’l Davis Designs Warehouse
1835 S. MacDonald Suite 103
Mesa AZ 85210
Just East of Country Club,
between Baseline and Hwy 60

Please Note:

The entrance for the warehouse sale will be at the front of the building.
Please park on the street, not in the business center parking lot thank you.
There will be a single line feeding to all registers. Cash and credit card only.
No checks please. ID will be required for credit card transactions.
All sales are final. No refunds or exchanges.

I'm Back, But Not For Long

Just a quick post to announce our Product Challenge winner from last week. I got back from Arizona Friday night, late of course. Since I got two flat tires coming home. Did I mention I was by myself and it was 9:00 at night? THANK GOD, I was coming down the mountain into Coachella. I pulled off at some truck stop and a nice guy helped me with the tires. Did I mention that I have only had my car back a few weeks from last time it was in the shop for the two front tires? It was at the dealer for an entire month last time. A whole month. Aargh. Oh, and the oil overflow light came on too. Seriously, the car looks great on the outside, but it has been in the shop more then I have driven it. So tonight, I am back off to AZ in my little rental car. So, without any further delay...our product challenge winner is Andrea Wiebe. Here is her super cute layout:

Congratulations Andrea! Well, I am off to the pumpkin patch with Davis. Should be a good afternoon before the long drive tonight. Good Times!

This Sums Up My Week....

That's actually Davis and her "TaeKwonDo" sparring face. (Yes, she is the littlest fighter in her class. A green belt now, and no, I haven't had the nerve to watch.) :)
But that picture sums up my week. Crazy, busy. Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. Just trying to catch up from MemoryTrends. This week has been insane. But enough of that, we have some business here to take care of.

New Product Challenge Starts Today! In case you didn't get the newsletter here is the info:

Welcome to daily inspiration from the Li'l Davis Design Team. Today's feature is a Product Challenge with ribbon. This week we’ve talked a lot about ribbons. They are such a quick textural item to add to your page and because they are so colorful, they add a lot of punch to even the simplest layouts. At Li’l Davis Designs, we carry a ton of ribbons in a variety of styles and colors. We have a bit of everything, from gorgeous vintage ric-rac and trims to fresh and colorful hip foil ribbons. Whatever your project needs, we’re sure to have a ribbon that will suit the look you’re going for. We challenge you to grab a package of our multiple styles of ribbons and use some on a layout today. I’m sure you’ll agree that you’ll be able to find exactly what you need!

Simply email a jpeg of your layout to info@lildavisdesigns.com. We will pick our favorite layout and the winner will be posted on our blog www.lildavisdesigns.typepad.com on Friday, October 27th. The deadline for submiissions is Thursday, October 26th at midnight. The winner will receive a goodie box full of Li'l Davis product. Here is a layout from Renee to get the ideas started.

Business #2:

We are looking for help at the Scrapbook Expo in Ontario, October 26-28 and Sacramento, November 2-4. We pay in cash or product, so if you are interested in helping out please email michelle@lildavisdesigns.com

And lastly, our layout contest is almost over so head on over to our website and post your favorite LDD layout for a chance to win a box of LDD product.

Whew, I told you there was a lot going on! I hope everybody has a great weekend!

Product Challenge Winner

The winner of our first product challenge featuring the Crillon Collection is Jennifer Nguyen. We just loved her layout and the sweet photograph. Congratulations Jennifer!

I am a week behind on the newsletter and new challenge after being gone a week for MemoryTrends. The internet connection in our room was the "plug-in" type and it crawled at a snail's pace so I wasn't able to upload and mail any newsletters. I will be back on track starting Monday, so look for the new product challenge to be in your inbox next Friday. Thanks to all who participated. We had so many cute layouts- it was hard to choose just one. Congrats again, Jennifer, a Li'l Davis goodie box is coming your way!