Customer Spotlight: How Bling Out Loud Turns Creativity into Profit with Rhinestones & StickyFlock

Pamela Mosby is a life-long entrepreneur.

After working her way up in retail with Barnes & Noble, she opened her first full-line hobby store in 1990. Eventually, she got involved in digital scrapbooking as a creative outlet, discovering a love for Photoshop and Illustrator.

But when a move to Texas and kids in school changed her schedule, she needed a business that offered flexibility. She wanted to work from home, pick up her kids, and still volunteer.

The solution? Decorated Apparel.

“The decorated apparel business combined my retail experience with the need to be creative,” Pamela says. "The first thing I tried was direct-to-garment printing, but it just wasn’t for me. My customers wanted Bling (it is Texas, after all!)."

With rhinestones, she found she could control the quality of the product without the mess of inks. "Well," she jokes, "There was that one time I sneezed while holding an open container of crystal stones..."

The "Game Changer" Technology 🛠️

Pamela started with a DGI Plotter and a heat press, later upgrading to a Graphtec Craft RoboPro Plotter/Cutter because of its ability to cut straight from Illustrator.

But the real breakthrough came in the template material.

"Originally, I was using a foam material in the plotter to create rhinestone templates, but then I found StickyFlock. What a game changer!"

According to Pamela, switching to StickyFlock made her business:

• Easier to manage
• Faster to produce
• More profitable

"There is no limit to the number of colors I can use in a design with the way StickyFlock can be layered," she explains. "Mixed media t-shirts are very popular, and pretty simple to do combining heat transfer vinyl and Hotfix rhinestones. It's a great way to appeal to both guys and gals."

Equipment & Workspace

Pamela's shop is equipped with the essentials for success:

• Quality Heat Press
• Graphtec RoboPro
• Hat Press (Great for sleeves and tote straps!)
• Design Software: Photoshop, Illustrator, and SignMax.

(She notes that the Hotfix Era software is currently on her wish list!)

Finding Customers & Setting Prices 💰

While she has done some marketing, most of Bling Out Loud's business comes from word of mouth and the website. Her main niche? The K-12 school market and custom spirit wear.

She also innovates with new products: "I recently sourced some acrylic wine glass tumblers and I add rhinestone designs to them with rhinestone hard surface decal material; they’re selling like crazy!"

Overcoming Hurdles

Her biggest challenge was finding customers and positioning herself against a well-established retail competitor in town.

"Once the customer thinks of me first, and realizes my prices and turnaround time are better, I’ll get the business!"

What’s Next? Pamela plans to tackle trade shows and craft shows. As her children enter high school, she expects her customer base to shift, so she is preparing to offer more rhinestone bumper stickers and window decals.

Advice for Beginners 🚀

When asked what advice she would give to someone just starting out, Pamela didn't hesitate.

"Know your market. Know your market. Know your market."

"What do your potential customers want? Don’t just offer what YOU like. Recently I added hair bows to the lineup because some of my customers kept asking me if I made them. As a mom of two boys, we don’t have much need for hair bows in my house, but I just had to listen."

The result? Matching shirt and bow combos have been a massive hit.

"I LOVE THIS BUSINESS! I love getting to see my work around town and hearing from customers that got compliments on their shirts."

Pamela has been a loyal customer of Colman and Company for over a year, utilizing our Hotfix rhinestones and StickyFlock to power her business.