Unforgettablog

Twitter is the answer for small business news!

2009-05-06T13:23:00.005-04:00

As a small business, Twitter solves a lot of issues for us. How can we get information across about what we are doing now without bothering our customers?

When Twitter first hit the scene, I did not think it would be something I would join, I mean honeslty, who cares what I am eating for lunch?! But when I began to think about how it could help my business I truly got excited.

Our business, unforgettaballs.com, sends out 4 email newsletters a year that contain info on our newest designs for purchase, happenings, and latest retired designs. We only send out one a season b/c we do not want to inundate our customers with email. But throughout the year, btwn newsletter mailings, there is no way to let our customers know what designs are being currently worked on. We do not put the new designs in our newsletter until they are available for purchase, so it is many months since they have been painted.

Now that we have a twitter account set up for Unforgettaballs, people can choose to follow and get updates of what is being painted right now! It is also an excellent way to get feed back about our latest decorative baseball design ideas.

Looking forward to tweeting!-

unforgettaballs.com

Taking my painting on the road!

2009-04-17T15:00:00.005-04:00

As a small business, I do a lot of my painting alone in my studio. I have decided to take the advise of my cousin-in-law Tracey and paint a few days a week out of my studio. My first destination will be to Tracey's catering store where I plan on bringing my paints and folding table, and working there for a few hours. I am not sure where else I will try, perhaps my local Starbucks, where there are always a lot of tables open....I think the important part of this experiment is to see what it is like to paint in a different setting with others around me.

First of all, I am excited to just be in a different location, (I have been painting here for 15yrs, same table, same chair, same wall to look at it!)- but just to be out and around people will be very exciting. I also look forward to feed back on my latest painted baseball design that I am working on, it is always intersting to hear different points of view on your work. Generally I receive most of my artist advise from my husband who knows nothing about painting, but over the years, by fielding hundreds of my painting questions, he has actually gotten to be a very reliable source for opinions.

Luckily, my baseball designs are small, and easily portable. So I will report back with information on how my first excursion went, and if it has added to my creative juices, and need to be with other people, or if it only accomplishes the need to be around other people, without actually getting any artwork done!

To see an artist out painting is really not that unusual, but then they are painting the scene around them, -I may be the first traveling baseball artist painting scenes outdoors of baseball stadiums hundreds of miles away!

http://www.unforgettaballs.com/

Why do I paint better when my desk is clean?

2009-03-31T11:48:00.006-04:00

Ok, here is one for the books- I seriously paint better when my desk is clean and orderly. Now I don't mean clean from the 'just Windexed' sense of the word, but I mean straightened up and orderly. Clearly I have issues here. The problem is not that I don't have enough space to paint, it is just that for me a clear desk, offers me a clear piece of mind, and a calm sense of well being.

How crazy is that?! And just to explain it all a little clearer, when my desk is messy, I find it very difficult to focus well on creative tasks, or even just to embark on new tasks. I shouldn't need much space to paint my baseballs, they are relatively small and I work on very tiny details, but this goes well beyond space issues.

My desk is very orderly, stacked with papers in different levels of 'things to do piles'. But by the end of a very busy day, the piles will start to blur around the edges, and until they are all back into some level of organization, I feel very uneasy thinking about continuing to work. Now, make no mistake, the piles don't need to be completed for me to feel organized, they just need to be straightened, and I have to feel that I know what is in each pile so I feel 'on top of them'.

So there is my crazy confession for the week! My goal is to organize my desk every day before I leave it, so I can come to it in the morning with a bright outlook and sense of calm that only organization can give me! For all those other organization suffers out there- take care- you are not alone!

www.unforgettaballs.com

How do you let people know you are out there?

2009-03-16T11:00:00.004-04:00

What is the best way to find customers who would be interested in your product? How do you get them to know it exists? In the age where there are fifty gagillion websites, how do you find the people who would want to know about you?

Products don't get much more unusual then mine- artistic baseballs for the baseball fan, or collector of all things unusual!(unforgettaballs.com) But if no one ever sees them, it doesn't matter how cool they are!

There a two main ways I work to get my baseballs seen: PR and Advertising. Lately I have been debating which I think is a more effective way to reach people.
Advertising is great b/c once you pay a specific amount, and then know you are going to get something out there for the public to see.
PR on the other hand, Is much more of a risk. It can cost much more, and at the end of the day you don't know for sure if anything will be written on your product or not. From a money standpoint, it almost seems to make more sense to just pay to have the advertisement, b/c it is a guarantee that people will see something. Unfortunately, you can not deny that it is always more humble to have someone else write about how great your product is then to have you do it!

Small business advice for the day:
Decide how much you would like to spend per year on getting everyone to know what you do. Then take this number and divide it between PR and Advertising. Track for your self which helped more. (Use analytics on your website through google, etc. to track-if you don't know how to do this- get a web master to do it for you.) Don't put your whole budget in just one of these- it is just to risky.

www.unforgettaballs.com

Do men like receiving gifts?

2009-03-02T17:25:00.005-05:00

Can't decide on this one. There seem to be a lot of gifts men receive that they tolerate with a polite smile, and then stick under a stack of papers on the chair in their bedroom. What are the gifts that make it out of the stack?

The first factor is something that is useful or purposeful. Clothes are a good, safe bet as a gift. Of course it needs to be something they would actually wear, but this is a completely passable gift. But it won't be the most exciting thing they will open. An improvement would be team related clothes (if they are a fan) as a step above the average sweater, b/c now you are putting more of their heart into it, and it is still useful.

To create a meaningful gift that is not clothes, but more of a decorative item for a man is much harder. But what if you began with a play item, such as a baseball, then covered it with art work that was about their favorite team, you could then create something with a great deal of meaning. An artistic baseball can sit on your desk or shelf, and have meaning just representing whatever team is painted on it. But it also has the dual purpose of something that you can pick up, play in your hands while you are thinking or talking on the phone; it has multiple uses and meanings.

We believe creating a gift for men, or anyone for that matter, can be a much more interesting if it has many purposes. Our decorative gift baseballs for example, have images of a favorite stadium on them, which then evokes a memory, but it is also an unusual decorative piece, while also acting as something to play with! (Something about walk around an office with a baseball in your hands to play with just makes you think better!) Also anything that is a throw back to your youth is a good thing.

Small business advice for the day:
How many purposes does your product fulfill? How unusual is it? Know your audience, so you can offer the best product possible to meet there needs.

www.unforgettaballs.com

A collection is born

2009-02-19T21:57:00.010-05:00

Why do some people live for collecting and others just see them as clutter?

Out of my four sisters, 2 of us are die hard collector's, (never met a collection we didn't want to start and master) while my other two sisters seem very happy to take or leave them, ...preferable probably to leave them. Now part of this came from necessity, my youngest sister moved several times in a row, so it seemed optimal not to have too much to move. And my oldest sister, having been to her house recently, seems to have mastered living the clutter free life- but the other two of us find such meaning in our pursuit of perfect collections, that you can hardly walk into our houses without finding one in each room- from dolls from the 70's, to PVC plastic figurines, and everything in between.

Maybe it is genetic. We got the gene from my dad who loves to collect with such a passion, that he has dozens of unopened VHS movies in his collection. He does not keep them unopened b/c of collector value, but just b/c he enjoys owning a full collection! My mother on the other hand, has a certain glee about organizing, alphabetizing, shrinking, and then hopefully removing his collections!

I think there is a pure, and possibly unexplainable, joy to some people in collecting things they love. I myself get an undefined pleasure out of looking through my collections. They have meaning to me in so many different ways. Most of them begin b/c they represented some memory to me of childhood. But other collections having meaning in my current life of something that I love to look at, making me smile every time I see them. I think that all people have these possessions that they drag with them from house to house, and apartment to apartment, not quite being able to let go of them. Even though they don't look at them often, there is some comfort in knowing they still own them.

It is a meaning I hope people find with my baseballs. My latest line that I have created really speaks to this idea. It is centered around great moments in baseball that will have such special meaning to people who were at these events, or are fans of these teams. Seeing them will bring back that joy, because we all have a soft spot for collections that remind us of something we loved.

Small business advice for the day:
If you create a product that is purely decorative, be sure that it speaks to people, that it touches some part of them that when they look at it they smile and think, I'm glad I still have that.

And by the way, I just remembered that in my parent's front hall, on a small wood table, stands a collection of a half a dozen little penguin statues that have been there for years, a favorite animal of my mother's.

http://www.unforgettaballs.com/

Licensing, does it help or hurt?

2009-02-10T17:32:00.005-05:00

I met with a buyer today for a large company. We had a very interesting discussion about licensing. My decorative baseballs are a well selling item for this company, and the buyer brought up the question of licensing. Do I think that my designs would be better with the team logos on the baseballs?

It is a concept that has come up a lot in my years of business; it usually sounds like 'why don't you use team names? A big logo of the team would really be a big selling point.'

But I was never asked the question I was asked today:

Did I think the baseballs would sell better if their team logo was on them?

I truly believe the answer is no. The licensing world is a powerful, huge business, and nothing can deny the pull of seeing a familiar logo on something. But from the collector stand point, I think that leaving the big logo out makes our pieces unique, and in an interesting way, even more collectible. Baseball memorabilia has a powerful pull towards licensing and big team names, but artwork that is talking about the town, the stadium, and the feeling of the game from that city, transcends any logo. I think these baseball designs provide that.

Logos are on everything, and although I do think they appeal to the fan, I think there is something deep felt about the memento that captures the spirit of a team's city, stadium, and feel that makes it special. The true fan knows without a doubt that the piece speaks to them, they don't need to turn it in their hand to make sure they have the right team.

Small business advice for the day:
There are more then one way to do things successfully; licensing is not always better. Be true to your vision- and the sales will follow.

The Power of the Underdog

2009-02-02T13:50:00.004-05:00

Watching the Super bowl last night, which was won in the last few moments by the Steelers, makes me wonder about the power of the Underdog. Last night, I would say that the Cardinals, never having won a Super bowl before, were clearly the Underdogs. They rallied a few times, but ultimately the clock defeated them and they did not have time to rally again.

I wonder which team would have won if the game was permitted to go on indefinitely until one team just conceded defeat. I often have the feeling that the Underdog (or my analogy, the small company, which is how I see them) has the power of persistence far more then the bigger, possibly more skilled, competition does. It would have to be true by the shear nature that the Underdog has made it to that position- the position of being able to compete in the same arena as its 'better' competition.

The success of my gift baseball company, Unforgettaballs, is without question do to my Underdog mentality of never giving up, and that anything is possible. I find it all a matter of finding many solutions to solve problems, if one doesn't work try another, and don't give up until you find the one that does work. If we could put a monkey in a spaceship on the way to the moon, I refuse to believe that most of my small business problems can't be solved without some creative thinking.

So... if just the Superbowl game could have gone on a few more hours, maybe the Cardinals could have rallied a few more times to show they had what it takes to stick with it... I actually like the Steelers, but I guess I am just a true believer in the Underdog...

To Q or not to Q

2009-01-21T13:17:00.005-05:00

I have had a lot of questions lately from people starting up businesses, wondering if they should try to sell their product on QVC.

Living so close to QVC (about 45 minutes away) it was never a question whether I should sell on QVC or on HSN, b/c QVC was so local for me. This definitely is an advantage for those early in the morning spots and not needing to worry about last minute plane/hotel reservations.

I have been on QVC 7 times in the last 2 1/2 years. It has been a great experience, and luckily, always very profitable. But I have been in business 15 yrs, selling baseballs for all of them, so you may be wondering why only the past few years, when I live so close, and everyone and their mother had always said to me 'you should be on QVC with your baseballs', did I finally decide to go.

Until I had a place to sell the baseballs directly myself, my website: www.unforgettaballs.com I did not want to risk going on QVC, and having inventory that would be returned to me when I had no better place to store them then my garage.

You see the key thing to understand about QVC, and I'm sure this goes for HSN as well, is that whatever is not sold on TV within your 6 or so minutes on air, gets returned to you!

So you have to be prepared for it all to come back, and then have an outlet to sell it. Before I sold direct to the consumer on my website, I sold only to another company that acted as a distributor for me, selling to large retail stores, catalogs, etc. But I could not give them the left over inventory, b/c if it was not a baseball design they were carrying, it would not make sense for them to try to sell it. (My distributor sells a few of my designs, not all of them) so to go out on the risk curve and give QVC a new baseball design, I needed to wait to have a place for the excess inventory.

So wouldn't you know, I waited years to go on, (until I had created my own website, and my own warehouse that ships my inventory for the site) to go on to QVC, and now of course when I go on, I never have any left over! But you have to be prepared, b/c as such a small company, you can not take on that kind of risk.

QVC as it happens, is a great avenue for my work. The baseballs sell very well on the shows, and whether it is 4am or 6pm, they always meet the requirements necessary to air again. When you air on QVC, you are expected to sell a certain $ per minute, and that of course is based on your time of day, so the 4am spot is not judged on the same $ per minute as the 6pm spot. But all of the times have their minimum requirements to meet. I had entered the QVC world with a rep who I first introduced my product to, and then the rep brought it and sold the idea to QVC. The rep also negotiates my time spots, and helps to decide what quantity I should except from QVC. (A commission that I pay happily, b/c it is absolutely worth every penny.) Anyway, you have to be cautious, b/c QVC would bring in a large amount, but the larger the amount you bring in, the larger your risk to get it all back, so you want to proceed to grow with them, but also while watching your own risk.

I am off to go paint now, many new designs I am working on (New Yankee Stadium, etc.) so I will blog at another time about my Q experiences once you have been invited on, and are waiting to air- it is quite an incredible experience, no matter how many times I have been there, it is still such a thrill.

Picking the Right Hat Each Day

2008-04-09T10:10:00.005-04:00

As the sole owner of my business, I of course do all the different jobs. I do have a webmaster, and an accountant and a lawyer, but I mean the day to day workings of the business.

It is important to spend time each day on the big picture so you can move your business to the next level.

This is a concept that I feel to really achieve and feel on top of, you have to daily access the 'big picture'. At the end of each day analyze 3 questions:
1. what did I do today?
2. what did I want to do today, and did I achieve it?
3. what do I want to do tomorrow?

Every morning to also look at the most important 'little business details' to get done that day, and what big picture things you want to get done that day. It is important part of keeping your business growing

www.unforgettaballs.com

The Problems of Shipping for a Small Web Business

2008-03-28T14:48:00.005-04:00

There are many issues to be considered in this process for a small business:

1. Trying to find a warehouse the right size for how many times a month you ship, you may be very small, or start small, but on some months (like December) have a ton to ship out ...

2. Figuring out the best way to ship!
Look carefully at the differences btwn UPS and the Post Office.

UPS ground: About $8-$9 to ship one ball!! And that does not include how much you pay your warehouse for packing and shipping it.
But its trackable, and usually gets anywhere in about 6 days. It's a fortune for little items...

USPS: The post office is great on the cost side-only about $5 for shipping priority, but there is no tracking, and it could take as long as 10-15 days if the post office isn't in a good mood...

small business advise for the day:
Know your product, check out other sites with similar cost items and see what they charge. Keep checking for changing rates, and adjust as you continue to find better ways to ship. Sometimes better will be cheaper, but don't sacrifice cost completely for quality.

www.unforgettaballs.com

'Differentiate or Die' advice for a small business

2008-03-12T10:04:00.006-04:00

This is the title of a book I read a few years back by Jack Trout, that is often in my mind.

I was the first to create any patterning on baseballs 15 years ago, before my company all baseballs were white and I created the idea of using them as a canvas. Since then, over the years there have been many knock-offs and copycats- this always happens, and in some ways it is a tribute to a good idea. (But I have to add here that although it is a tribute to a good idea, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it still makes me angry every time I see it!)

So although the market place has other printed baseballs now, I focus my attention on showing the difference between my product and the copycat. My balls have always been art that I created by hand, even the lettering is by hand- they are not cut and pasted or computer generated. To me, I have always differentiated in my mind how the art I create for these balls was meant for the baseball alone, not a design that could than be stuck on a coffee mug. I am a baseball artist, and try to stay true to that so my product reflects it. There is more of an artistic feel to my baseballs b/c of this.

My Small business advice for the day:
There are a lot of products out on the market that are similar, and often when someone comes up with a new idea, they don't think about how to differentiate from what else is out there, or it is something thought about in the creation of the business, but never again. Viewing your business from the stand point of how you are different from your competition should be an ongoing pursuit that you look at as your business evolves, and as your competition evolves as well!

www.unfogettaballs.com

The questions of a small business owner: do you promote yourself or the product?

2008-03-03T22:19:00.004-05:00

I have been thinking about this a lot lately b/c it seems as an artist and a business owner that you could spend time promoting yourself as the artist, but maybe you should be spending your time on promoting your product instead. I am not looking to get famous myself, but I am looking for my baseballs to get famous, can one get famous without the other?

I am not sure, I think of Christopher Radko and his ornaments. (I somehow always use him in these sorts of examples b/c he is to ornaments what I want to be to baseballs.) Anyway, which became famous first-he himself or his ornaments? They seem to almost have evolved together. When press write about my baseballs they are writing about the balls, but it is a very artist driven piece. Yet when the balls are in gift guides, catalogs, etc. there is really no mention of the artist, and it seems more product driven. I wonder if you have to decide which path you want to take, or is it best to work both at once? I have read Mrs. Field's Cookies story and I am not sure if this is the same as Christopher Radko b/c hers is more about a franchise story then about being an artist but there are still some similarities I wonder if she chose to promote herself over her product, or both at the same time?
When I was on QVC I think I was definitely selling both myself and my product, so maybe it just involves if I am there or not....

I unfortunately don't have the answers to this one yet, but maybe it is that you have to work both sides, depending on what type of press you are involved with and what kind of coverage it will be.

My Small business advice for the day:
I think it is important to continue to analyze your business from all different angles. Look at how others view your products and your press. Are you selling the product or are you selling yourself, and does it matter which of these you are doing? It may not, but I think it is important to be aware that all these aspects of your business are choices, and to stay contious and aware of all of them!

http://www.unforgettaballs.com/

No Country for Small Businesses

2008-02-25T09:23:00.006-05:00

Here we are, the day after the Academy Awards, not sure whether I think this country helps small businesses or hurts.

It is not very difficult to start your small business, actually, in a lot of ways , it is very easy to start your own business here, once you have the idea, you plot out how it will work, and go buy business cards! Of course to last in a small business it takes much more than that. With so many thousands of small businesses starting in the US every year, you have to distinguish yourself.

When you believe in your product, you have to find a way to get it out to the people so they can believe in it too. This can be very difficult, because even if you do get it out there, you have to find ways to keep it out there, in front of people, so it is current and alive in people's minds.

The biggest misconception of difficulties for a small business is that you need a good idea. But most people would never start such a huge undertaking unless they did have a really good idea. The hard part is what to do with your good idea. I recently did an interview with the Daily News here in Philadelphia, and it struck me how you really need to spend as much of your time promoting your product, as creating it!

I have chosen baseball art because I am passionate about creating a whole little world on a baseball. Even if my business closed tomorrow, I could not stop myself from continuing to capture the world on a baseball. I would still paint them, even if I ran out of space to put them in my office! The ideas for them come very naturally to me, but I have to really focus on the creative side of how to keep them out there.

I started this to create the best collection of artwork painted on baseballs in the world, I have been in business for over 12 years, they are sold all over the country, but I still have to work at it, every day, with the same creativity as that first day.

http://www.unforgettaballs.com/

Our First Hollywood Appearance!

2008-02-06T13:43:00.000-05:00

Here we are, unforgettaballs.com, at the Baseball Scouts Foundation Gala-we donated 2000 Unforgettaball baseballs to be center pieces on all the tables, and a few hundred that when into the VIP lounge. It was a really great event, and I was able to take pictures with lots of clebrities, and people in baseball-

Here I am with Mary Hart who hosted the event with Tim Allen:

(Emily Wolfson & Mary Hart as seen at Scout's Gala)

Only problem with an event like this, is as a small company (like we are), it is a lot of money to do these kind of events. Who knew, but to get into all of the events where you give your product away for free to the media/celebrities, you actually give it for free!! Somehow, (and I think I am the last one to figure this out), but I actually thought, the company running the event bought them, and then they gave them for free!

(Dave Winfield and Emily Wolfson as seen at Scout's Gala)

I have many more photos that I could upload, with Tommy LaSorda, Tony Gwynn, Rod Carew, but to be honest, it takes me so long to upload them, and have them on the page where I want, that I am going to have be done for now! (Just picture the rest, ...they all look good, and I am in the same dress as above)

My building your small business advice for the day: Exposure costs money, so choose carefully and proceed slowly. A big splurge each year is probably what is affordable, and then also gives you time to see what response you receive. (Charities are always great events, b/c then you are involved with helping your business, and helping a good cause at the same time.)

The building of a small business

2008-01-29T15:21:00.000-05:00

Wow, it has been a long time since we have blogged! To be honest, been really busy painting new designs...and I am a slow painter...

first let's catch up...

My 2nd ever, QVC appearance,
(really awesome experience to get on live tv- and great exposure for unforgettaballs.com):

This was in November of 07, around the 25th, at 1am.

Spent my first hour waiting to go on QVC, with our baseballs, in the waiting area talking to Chuck Woolery, who might just be one of the most genuine, nicest people I have ever met. He gave me tips for going on air and not being too nervous- which I was anyway, but was nice of him to say...and he was perfectly tanned in the middle of November in his Gucci shoes!

It was a sell out! And we left QVC unable to give some of the backstage people who wanted to order Unforgettaball baseballs, b/c we completely ran out!

We will be back on QVC for Father's Day in '08...

back to blog again soon-off to keep working the business (unforgettaballs)!

Baseball players from the turn of the century

2007-07-27T22:29:00.000-04:00

I have been researching baseball players and the old 'Tobacco cards' of the late 1800's. These baseball cards are so unusual, and have such a distinct style. I am wondering if this is a category people would like to see on a baseball? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T206

I think they could fit in well with our nostalgia baseball series like the Opening Day Baseballs on our site:
http://www.unforgettaballs.com/
these Opening Day baseballs were images form the 1920's when these parks first opened; but there was a whole lot of baseball that went on before that!

Any thoughts?

Girls Baseballs

2007-07-11T22:32:00.000-04:00

It is unusual to have decorative girl's baseballs; but with all of the pink baseball mitts that are out there: http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=pink%20baseball%20mitts&origkw=pink%20baseball%20mitts&sr=1 the world of decorative baseball already exists-- it just hadn't made it to the balls themselves yet. Until now!

Our best selling girl's playable decorative baseball is the frog design:

Available for purchase at:
http://unforgettaballs.com/girls.html

We have 5 different girl's designs on the site, and all are made with baseballs that actually can be hit with a bat! Although all our Unforgettaball baseballs are official size and weight baseballs, these girls balls have more rubber in their core, and are meant to be played with.

The Life Span of a Collectible Baseball

2007-07-05T21:33:00.000-04:00

I have been doing a lot of thinking about the collectiblitiy of baseball art. I am very interested in adding value to the Unforgettaball! line, and now that we have a website for the designs: http://unforgettaballs.com/home.html, I am more committed than ever to focus attention on creating a line of decorative baseballs that interests the baseball sports fan of all ages.

I have been studying other designers who I admire, for instance, Christopher Radko; http://www.christopherradko.com/ who is the famous designer of glass Christmas ornaments. His company has literally thousands of designs, but they are only released for a short period of time, perhaps a year or so, and then never remade. I have read that every year, 1/3 of the gift ornaments designed are retired.

We have added a retired page to the Unforgettaballs! website; http://unforgettaballs.com/retired.html and my plan is to work on creating new designs each year, and retire old baseball designs. This will really increase depth to our line, as well as giving the consumer a more valuable piece by the nature of it's being more rare.

We are also considering the idea of having a few baseball designs in very limited quantities, a few hundred, or 1,000 pcs only.

Stay tuned!

New Packaging for the Collectible Baseballs!

2007-06-27T19:38:00.000-04:00

In the next few days, the Unforgettaballs' website (http://www.unforgettaballs.com/) will have new packaging options!

We originally started the site with all the decorative baseball designs packaged the same way; the baseballs were in a clear PVC plastic container, included was a round black base, which were placed in a printed Unforgettaballs box.

The only exception to this packaging on the site are 2 designs, the Baby's first Baseballs, (pictured below left) and the Opening day Baseballs (pictured below right). These two designs both come in Lucite cubes.

-Baby's 1st ball available in pink or blue.

-Opening day balls available for Yankee stadium, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field

Our newest options for packaging your collectible baseballs are from one of the highest quality, best known source for baseball collectible packaging: Ballqube. This highly acclaimed baseball holder company can be viewed at, http://ballqube.com/index.html.

We are offering two different Baseball holder options:

The first is a Lucite cube, which is UV protected to keep your Unforgettaball design baseball protected, but it is also the same stackable size as most baseball cubes, so if you currently have your baseball collection on display, this will fit right in.

The second option is also from Ballqube, and it is a wood stand with a mirrored top, that comes with the same Lucite cube listed above, that sits perfectly on the wood base. The mirror may sound cheesy, but truly it is a very classy look. If you are buying one of our Unforgettaball designs as a gift, this is a really nice way to dress it up.

This new packaging page will be on our website http://unforgettaballs.com/home.html, by the end of this week (6/29).

Pirate baseballs coming in two weeks

2007-06-15T13:47:00.000-04:00

Two weeks from today the new Pirate Treasure balls will be seen in the gift store of the latest exhibit by Arts and Exhibitions. They're the company that brought the King Tut Exhibit to Philadelphia, and next to London. The pirate exhibit will also tour different cities for a total of 5 years!

http://www.huliq.com/22959/national-geographic-real-pirates-exhibition-at-cincinnati-museum

We have sold over 20 baseballs a day at the Tut exhibit in Philly, so despite Tut never playing ball, (although I think he would have been a big baseball fan if he had the opportunity), it seems to be a natural for the gift store. We are considering ending the run of Tut balls once the Exhibit is over. More on this idea to come.

But the pirate ball will be the new gift for the sports fan who visits the exhibit in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The new decorative ball should be up on our website soon.

More designs coming!

2007-06-05T14:17:00.000-04:00

Many new designs are coming,and will be up on the site in the next few weeks.

New to the site, but already had been in production:
-Cleveland Municipal Stadium
-PNC Park
-New York City ball
-California ball

New designs coming:
-Billiards Eight ball
-Connie Mack stadium (Picture below) - Click Here to purchase this ball

More designs coming in next few months, including some smaller run limited edition pieces only sold here!

Contacting customers!

2007-05-02T21:25:00.000-04:00

Help!!! I am looking for a suggestion on how to contact a few people who have contacted the site, or ordered an out of stock item, but have never received my emails.

There are only a few people this has happened with, but one woman has contacted me 3 times from the contact sheet and every time I email back a response, she must not be receiving it! I also have two people that ordered balls that are on back order until May 16, and my emails to them have never been received to let them know this and advise what they would like to do. Any ideas??!

One customer who this happened to, but who finally received the email, said that our email responses went directly into a spam folder on her computer, not recognizing our email address.

I have made it a policy to return all contact questions within 24-48 hours, and all orders that are not in stock are emailed to client if they want a refund, or if they would like to wait for the inventory, also contacted within 24-48 hours. If you are reading this and you are one of the few waiting for a response, or waiting for a shipment, please call our telephone number on the contact page and leave a way to get in touch with you!

Being new at e-commerce, any suggestions how to prevent this in the future?

Emily

Philadelphia stadiums!

2007-04-14T21:12:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to drop a line to explain why there are no Philadelphia stadiums yet! My wholesale distributors in the past few years were all West Coast based. So except for Fenway and NY, they didn't have a big east coast market.

Anyway, I have lived here for almost 20 years and really have no excuse! Promise that some Philly stadiums will go up on the site in the next couple months. Looking into doing Citizens bank, maybe the Vet...I have to do some research on them, and then I will start painting-promise!

Opening Day series

2007-04-12T20:16:00.000-04:00

Considering redoing all stadiums with their version of the 'opening day' or the day the parks first actually opened their gates. Is this as appealing for lesser ballparks, less noteworthy then Fenway, Wrigley and Yankee? The historical significance of the actual day the parks opened is very appealing to me, but not sure if this would be an interesting point to others. Any thoughts?