30 Days until Launch..part 1

Several months ago I began thinking of things that are part of our family traditions. Last year our two older boys married amazing young women and I wanted to a pass along a few things we did as a family when the kids were younger.

One of the first things that came to mind was baking cookies. From the time the kids were old enough to wear aprons and lick the beaters,  I baked gingersnaps. Instead of rolling the ball of dough into sugar and flattening it with the bottom of a cup, I used a cookie stamp. It was fired clay stamp with a moose impression in the bottom that, when dipped into sugar and pressed onto the round ball of dough, would leave a raised image. Not only did they make fun looking cookies, they were super practical!  I could roll out the dough and my young kids could stamp it! No little fingers, especailly ones that had been licked, ever touched cookies that were baked!  Fun and functional.

The problem was, I had purchased my stamp almost 20 years ago. There were others I could order, but they were pretty cookie cutter looking (pun intended). I wanted something that was created with them in mind so they could start their own memories.  So, I decided to make them myself.

I took my stamp to the pottery studio, where we all took a class on my birhday, and asked the owner who said it was totally possible. My creative gears started turning.  I went to Michaels’ craft store and bought FIMO clay, eventually sculpting little sea creatures I could harden in my oven; a sea turtle, a seahorse, crab, starfish, and a shark. Then, signed up for a class on how to go about using my sea inspired molds to create the final product.

I will tell you, buying a 25 pound of clay is a committment. I knew I would be making more than a few dozen stamps. As the cookie stamps began to take shape I thought of how much fun I experienced baking with my kids. I thought of others who would love getting the stamps. There is something to be said for spending time together in the kitchen.

“You should open an Etsy store!,” my oldest daughter, Emma, said when I told her about my idea. “Those are so creative and original.”

I decided to look into it. I glazed the pieces with bright colors and then the moment of truth, I mixed up a batch of lemon shorbread cookie dough to see if my stamps really worked. When the timer went off, I pulled out the cookie sheet and shouted with delight. The cookies turned out cuter that I could have even imagined, and I have a pretty good imagination!

Then I had another idea…I am a MOMpreneur, why not set up a Kickstarter campaign to launch my cookie stamp business? I would need a little working capital to cover the expenses of setting up a great landing page, have a logo drawn up, buy more clay and firings, print up labels and recipe cards, and get a  business license.

So.. in 30 days..on October 1st, which happens to be National Homemade Cookie Day, I will be launching my Kickstarter!

This month I will be doing bloging and posting articles about crowdfunding and how to set up a Kickstarter campaign. There are so many little details that need to be taken care of and things I wished I had known when I ran my last successfully funded Kickstarter that I thought I would share my week to week progress with others. I wanted those who were curious about how I funded “The Adventures of Pearley Monroe” to see the concept-to-completion process in a way that they could set up a Kickstarter campaign themselves someday.

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Do you have an idea that might be worth crowdfunding?

Maybe it is a product you have developed and would like to make it more marketable. Maybe it is a manuscript that you have worked on and you need the funds to get it published. Maybe it is something that you have always dreamed of doing, but just didn’t know where to start.

What is your dream?

What is the first step you need to take to make it a reality?