What Women Need, and Why Willow House, Why Now?

Upon looking at some of the leaders within Willow House and "why" they chose to join direct sales, you will find many different reasons.  Perhaps it was a passion for young mothers who wanted to leave the business world and stay at home and raise their own kids. Then, the passion for retirement and aging women...the average age of widows in today's world is 56.  Women NEEDING extra income especially as they got older. Perhaps a "why" is helping women grow personally and professionally through direct sales and owning their own businesses.  Or another "why" is to help women find financial freedom.  Or another still might be passion, what drives me- is home.
I have a deep deep heart for the home but I must share with you that Willow House is not about "decorating and entertaining" for me.  IT HAS TO BE ABOUT MORE THAN THAT FOR ME. Somewhere down the road, I have learned that I can create a "home" wherever I am - in an apartment, in a hotel, in a half million dollar home. "Home" is a place of safety and refuge. It is a place to feed my family's soul. I am more interested in helping people design a lifestyle around warmth and comfort and solace.  It is unfortunate, families today are driven by fear, distrust of our government, and disbelief. One million families will lose their homes this year in foreclosure because our housing industry is BROKEN. In a good economy, that number is about 10,000. In 2010- it's ONE MILLION. Dear Lord...where are these people going to go?  The "need" for the food pantry is up 200%!  You may have thought you knew what the homeless looked like. The homeless looks just like us.

More and more families come "home" to rest and think. Home has to be where we come to cuddle and laugh and take care of each other. Home is where I teach my children that God hears the prayers of their hearts and it's safe to tell Him everything we're feeling. As a wife, and a mother and a woman, home is where I plan, and create and bless, and nurture, and re-cooperate and find the strength to get up and do it all over again.


So WHERE does Willow House fit in? WHERE is Willow House relevant?


Here it is. Beauty. Beauty heals. Beauty elevates the simple. Beauty re-stores and blesses and women NEED it. It is a NEED just like air, food, water.. (there is the need). Women need it and will continue to buy beautiful things to surround their world in. And women NEED 3 other things that we offer, too.

Women need Flexibility. Knowing what I know now about flexibility, this benefit is almost as important as income. To be able to make my own hours, work around my family's schedule almost sounds like a fairy tale...but it's real...and it's something we can offer.


Besides flexibility, Women Need Security.  Willow House is relevant because I have total control over my income. Contrary to popular thought, we DO have control over our incomes. We are not powerless.  We have been empowered with such great training and support.  Willow House offers the finest personal development program available and the only advanced design curriculum in the industry.  Willow House provides our business supplies.  Willow House pays all credit card processing fees, Willow House pays for all our Host Incentives.  Willow House pays for all of our special incentives.  Willow House is a Debt Free Company!  I love that I do not need to worry about my future with Willow House!


Lastly, I am burning up with desire to empower other women. As frightening as this world is, we are not victims. Women are a lot stronger than they think they are and a lot smarter. I want to help other women gain CONFIDENCE, SELF WORTH, and ASSURANCE.


At this point you may be thinking to yourself . . . this is all heavy. Why are you sharing all this with me today?

Discover or re-discover what you are passionate about TODAY...

At Willow House We Have

1. The Power of Social Media to become America's FIRST Community Commerce Business.
2. 25% INSTANT Paycheck the day (or night) of your party, or eCommerce order.
3. 5% Business Supply Credit, based on your sales.  Instantly placed into your personal business supply account by Willow House, so you never have to pay for a catalog, style guide, order form etc.
4. Totally FREE Hostess Rewards Program!
5. No Inventory, No Deliveries, No Kidding!
6. Online Ordering and FREE Willow House Community with Willow House Virtual Villages.
7. No Credit Card Processing Charges.  We take all credit cards, and Design Consultants pay Nothing!
8. Great Incentives that EVERYONE can earn!

We are the first Community Commerce Business Model in the United States. This Business Model includes 3 main components:

• Design-based Party Plan
• Enhanced eCommerce
• Media-Rich Online Community

Design-Based Party Plan Offers:
Design Emphasis on our products, and on "dressing" your home.
Sharing Tips and Ideas
Helping Hosts and Guests Discover their personal Styles
Providing Inspiration Guides (part of the starter kit and business supplies) and on-trend tips in companion piece (part of workstation)
Building self-esteem by helping Design Consultants Learn about Design. We are launching a full design curriculum for those that want to advance their design training.
Connecting with online community eCommerce.

Enhanced eCommerce Offers:
OnLine Ordering (October 1)
eBoutiques offering beautifully styled, high value products (coming early 2011)
Reverse auctions encourage more visitors to get the best price. Have your heard of Woot?
eOutlets: sharing discontinued and excess inventory products (October 1)
Co-owned by company and Design Consultants.
Host benefit from sharing.

Media-Rich Online Community Offers (all starting in December):
Innovative virtual community.
Hundreds of videos, search engine
The best blogs and home decor, design and entertaining
Connecting with those who don't attend parties
Willow House Live TV
Multiple sites, opportunities for information.

We truely are the next generation of direct sales and are helping people all across America start home-based businesses. We are leveraging social media wit this new business model. Combining these three elements eliminates each of their potential weaknesses while capturing their strengths.

Through September 30th you can OWN a business for $99 and get paid the day you party, or take orders. ENJOY training (yes I said enjoy), learning more about how to bring comfort to Your Home and help others do the same!  Develop Amazing Friendships all over the United States that will last a LIFETIME!  Take Amazing Trips that you have EARNED, not PAID FOR, but EARNED FOR FREE! PLUS...LOVE WHAT YOU DO Every Day of the Week! 
Consider This . . .

With Willow House, I earn over $45 an hour! When I do 4 shows a month, I work on average about 20 hours a month and earn around $900 just by going to a party!

Willow House vs. The Part Time Job
Part Time Job:
20 hrs/week (80 hours month) @ $10/hr = $800 a month

Willow House:
20 hrs/month @ $45/hr = $900 a month (not including bonuses like team royalties, free gift cards, monthly fuel bonus, free vacations and PIP bonus income as part of our leadership program.

Isn't it TIME Your LIFE Lived Up To YOUR POTENTIAL?

So...what are you waiting for...get started TODAY!
http://susiev.willowhouse.com/  214-212-5134    Susie.VanDeventer@gmail.com

Fall Decorating in America's Heartland

The rich colors of autumn set the tone for decorating with gourds, leaves, pumpkins and other seasonal materials.

Gourd vases
Gourds come in all shapes and colors and easily become seasonal vases. Cut a hole big enough to accommodate a couple of florist tubes. Insert flower stems for a unique bud vase.

Eerie entry
Greet your guests with ghostly gourds this season, cleverly decorating your stoop to show your holiday spirit.
Just a little paint will transform fall produce into eerie apparitions. Start by covering your gourd with acrylic spray varnish. Use acrylic crafts paints to create your design. Finish with another coat of spray varnish.
To hang each gourd, drill a small hole through the top of the neck and thread florist's wire through it. Finish your display with dried vines, bittersweet berries and maybe even an abandoned paper-wasp nest.

Corn on a rake
Put an old garden rake to use as an autumnal door display. Just add ears of multicolor maize. To secure, push each ear of corn between the teeth of the rake. Hang near your front entry with a hook, or prop it against a nearby wall. You'll have a festive fall look in minutes.

Floating display
Clear glass containers highlight the seasonal beauty of smooth pumpkins and frilly flowers in this unusual--and ultra quick--display.
Fill an assortment of glasses with water and float mini pumpkins along with Teddy Bear sunflowers or other autumn blooms.

Harvest table
An easy grouping of seasonal items and colors brings autumn to your tabletop.
Orange and white pumpkins plus yellow chrysanthemums in a sunny yellow container create an eye-catching centerpiece. Elevate some of the pumpkins for added flair.

Glowing balls
Fashion a spooky tabletop display that starts with easy-to-make plaster-cloth spheres.
Wrap plaster-cloth strips (from a crafts store) around a balloon, following the directions on the plaster-cloth package. Leave open spaces as you wrap. When dry, remove the balloon and use a crafts knife to cut an opening for inserting the light. Place sphere over an orange or white battery-operated votive. Set your spheres on clear glass cake stands or similar displays.

Bountiful wheelbarrow
Put together a colorful outdoor fall display using a sturdy wheelbarrow as a base.
Our wheelbarrow overflows with ornamental cabbage and peppers, ornamental grasses, chrysanthemums, flowering zucchini and other seasonal plants. Fill the wheelbarrow with soil and insert the plants loosely, or tuck containers into the wheelbarrow, making sure to fill in the gaps with more plants

Gourd beauty
Unusual combinations of pedestals and gourds make an easy and novel centerpiece.
White gourds look like miniature sculptures when placed on pieces of old table legs and balusters. Other items to try as pedestals: upside-down bowls, old candlesticks, decorative nesting boxes, Mason jars--use your imagination!

Two shades of gold
A wheat wreath reflects your Midwest heritage. Insert dried sheaves into a foam wreath form, then dress up your wreath by slipping the stems of golden maple leaves into the spaces between wheat heads. Use leaves sparingly for the best effect.

Nuts for decoration
Nuts, beautiful in their natural state, are as easy to decorate with as they are good to eat. Here, they anchor a candle inside a hurricane lamp. Experiment with different varieties of nuts and a selection of clear containers.

Golden glow
Clear glass containers show off both the flicker of candles as well as the colorful materials around them.
Nestle a candle in popcorn kernels or other seasonal materials such as candy corn or colored clear round stones (available in crafts stores).

Nesting nuts and flowers
Tiers adds drama to your centerpiece. Tuck a small glass bowl of rose heads inside larger containers of mixed nuts.

Branches and fruits
Snips of fall branches make easy--and inexpensive--arrangements.
Look for interesting shapes with leaves, acorns or berries. Add fruit such as lemons in the base of your container for both color and stability.

Highlight nature
Create simple but striking arrangements with autumn beauties. Try cattails, ornamental grasses, coneflower seed heads or dried hydrangea blooms.

Natural vase
A creatively cut pumpkin "basket" makes an imaginative centerpiece for a fall table.
Cut out two top quarters of the pumpkin, leaving the stem and a narrow strip as the basket "handle." Zigzag the bottom edges, and hollow out the base. Place a block of wet floral foam inside. Position two glass votive holders in the foam and surround with a bevy of fall blooms and leaves.

Creative runner
You might have trouble keeping the piles of foliage outside in order, but these leaves march in perfect rows across a table runner.
Use a stencil or rubber stamp and fabric or crafts paint to decorate a plain linen cloth. Follow instructions on the paint container for setting and washing the finished design. The same technique can be used to create other fall linens for your home, such as hand towels or even pillowcases.

Harvest centerpiece
A short branch makes a striking centerpiece for an autumn party.
Weight a pot with stones and fill with florist's foam to secure the branch, then wrap the pot in a drawstring jute bag. Pair the arrangement with flowers and plants in leaf-inspired colors -- we used roses, millet, kale, leaves and berries

A picture of fall
For an easy mantel display, combine brightly colored fall leaves with an empty picture frame.
Hang leaves on S-hooks (used for jewelry making and found at crafts stores) or pin to a ribbon. Put nails in both sides of a colorful frame and suspend the ribbon loosely across the center, tying it to the nails. Add to the display by spreading a branch full of brightly colored berries across the length of the mantel and setting small gourds on top of egg cups.

Mantel of gourds
Use as many gourds as you'd like to create this simple mantel decoration. We mixed two larger hard-shell gourds with smaller soft-shell gourds (and tucked in a squash for good measure). Bittersweet branches and maple leaves provide extra color and texture.

Fabulous Fall Wreaths

It has been said that your front door is the "centerpiece to your home" a focal point that deserves a crown.   Welcome the fall season, and friends and neighbors, into your home with door decorations using ornamental corn, gourds, pumpkins and other autumn materials.


This Wreath was created by Midwest Living to respresent South Dakota.  I am a sucker for pheasant feathers and find this wreath to be warm and welcoming.  To recreate it, begin with a pre-made twig wreath (ours was 22 inches wide). Using hot glue and a glue gun, attach tiny pheasant pinfeathers to a few twig ends. Using hot glue, attach Brazil nuts (found in grocery stores) around the center opening. Insert medium-size pheasant feathers, all facing the same direction as the twigs. Attach with hot glue. About a dozen long tail feathers are used in the lower third of the wreath. Divide the feathers, using half on one side, half on the other, gluing them horizontally so they resemble whiskers on a cat-s face. A large bow of brown satin, attached with florist-s wire, is centered above the large feathers.



Fall color wreath
Create this beautiful fall wreath with a variety of materials that reflect autumn's hues: gold, red, orange and brown.
Both your yard and a crafts store should provide a bounty of choices. A mix of fresh and dried materials looks lovely, but a wreath of all dried materials lasts longer.
Lightly soak a 10- or 12-inch ring of Oasis floral foam in water. Group your materials by color to plan each section of the wreath, then insert materials by the stems. We used tree leaves and fresh mums for red and orange bands of color, tree leaves and dried yarrow for gold, and dried oak leaves and pinecones for brown. Hot glue or T-pins help hold materials in place.

Bittersweet wreath
A cluster of six gourds stars in this festive autumn wreath. Wrap extra raffia (the fiber from palm leaf stalks) around the top of each gourd and tie them together in a cluster. Attach gourds to a circle of bittersweet. Top it all off with a raffia bow.



U-shape wreath
The unusual shape of this harvest-themed wreath makes it a standout door decoration.
Cut away about one-fifth of a plastic foam wreath to create the shape. Wrap yellow seam-binding ribbon around the wreath. Hot-glue fresh or preserved green salal leaves (commonly called lemon leaf) to the wreath, covering it completely. Glue a cluster of nuts to the bottom center, then add dried wheat, preserved fern fronds, and fresh or silk berries.



Sunburst wreath
Mimic a blazing sunburst with this fall wreath. Fold out the husks on ears of Indian corn so they point straight out from the tops. Hot-glue the ears to a straw wreath, and "fluff" the husks to complete the look.

Wheat wreath
A wheat wreath reflects your Midwest heritage. Insert dried sheaves into a foam wreath form, then dress up your wreath by slipping the stems of golden maple leaves into the spaces between wheat heads. Use leaves sparingly for the best effect.

Acorn ring wreath
Combine moss and acorns to create a simple but lovely fall wreath. Hot-glue moss to a small wire or cardboard ring, then glue acorns to the ring. If needed, secure the acorns to their caps with glue. Hang with a satin ribbon.

Wheat and flowers decor
Bundle wheat with sunflowers and a ribbon bow for a quick-and-easy fall door decoration.

Nuts and leaf wreath
Use a variety of inexpensive fall materials to create this autumn wreath. Just hot-glue artificial leaves, walnuts and hazelnuts (or other hard-shell nuts) in a ring around the front of a grapevine wreath.

Bright leaf wreath
The shape of this wreath makes it distinctive. Use U-shaped pins to attach moss onto a foam wreath form, then hot-glue preserved or artificial leaves. Hang a small pumpkin ornament in the center.

Birchbark Bounty
A hanging birch basket (you can buy one at florists shops or crafts stores) cradles a bounty of fall fruits and foliage. Fill with two or three small gourds, five ears of ornamental corn and 10 wheat stems. Then, add small amounts of rosehips, maple and oak leaves, as well as sorghum and acacia foliage.

Fall plate wreath
For a quick-and-easy wreath, hot-glue pressed leaves (or leaves from a crafts store) around the edge of a platter and hang with a plate hook. The glue peels right off when you want the platter back

Ornamental corn braid
A harvest of multi-colored ornamental corn highlights this simple wall hanging. Wrap thick strands of rust- and natural-colored raffia around the husks of 10 to 12 ears of corn, leaving approximately 1 foot of excess raffia at the end. Braid the ends together. Finish with a raffia bow and bittersweet branches.

Maidenhair fern swag
A fistful of dried maidenhair ferns (about 2 feet long) and a couple of branches of acacia foliage form the base of this delicate autumn swag. Using plenty of raffia, attach four small ornamental ears of corn and nine stems of wheat to the swag. If you like, you can substitute sweet Annie branches for the acacia foliage.

Fire Your Boss! Curious?

As I write to you today, our launch date for Willow House is approaching.
Only 5 more days to become a Willow House Founding Design Consultant.
We know we are launching the next-generation direct sales company that is going to rock our industry! We believe with our technological advances, we will make our businesses more accessible, desirable, easier, and worthy of joining -- we will meet head-on the buying patterns and behaviors of consumers today and tomorrow. We know that our company is going to experience tremendous growth this year and you have the unique advantage of partnering with our new technology and becoming unstoppable! We are not going to be Southern Living At HOME repackaged. We are becoming a new company with a new, never-been-done, business model. We can only tell you what we know at this time as we all wait for the big announcement at our national convention on July 16.


Check this out:

• New company, new name, new business model. Willow House is NOT just the merging of two companies, taking the best of each and putting them into a new gorgeous catalog. Willow House IS a brand NEW company with a NEW Business Model – one that currently does not exist in the sales industry. Our founder and Willow House CEO, Bill Shaw has over 35 years in the direct sales industry.

• Shipping rates being completely revamped. If we were to duplicate Southern Living at HOME's 2009 party history our NEW Shipping would reduce fees to customers by $3,500,000!! Incredible Savings we are passing on! Hostesses have always received free shipping and handling but some express concern for the cost incurred by their guests. No longer will this be the case – making it easier for you to book parties!

• Easier ways for customers to do business with us (through new business model).

• Technology being utilized to capture those not attending the party.

• Increased booking opportunities. The main reason that women attend a party is to fulfill a social need, more so than to purchase products. A big chunk of women’s social needs are now being fulfilled on the internet through social media sites such as facebook. This fulfilling of social needs causes the demand to host or attend a party to become less than it was before. We had to not only REPLACE the demand, but continue to INCREASE that demand.

• Increased income revenue with new revenue streams being established. Currently party plan direct sales companies offer 2 income streams – 1 earning commission by selling product through parties; 2 building a team. Willow House will be offering 6 (SIX!) additional income streams to our consultants!

• Streamlining business operational costs to keep product costs at reasonable level and passing that savings on to our customers through value priced retails.

• Company will be addressing all areas of challenges for consultants, to make it easier to have a successful business with us.

• New updated personal consultant websites with technology working in a whole new way. YEAH!

• THINK BIG program. We now have three full months to complete the three levels of $1000 each month and will earn business supply credit and product at each level (first partial month does not even count). Also, we have the added bonus of earning up to $2000 in a cash card for sponsoring and qualifying up to 5 people during that time. Because sponsoring will be put on hold in July, new consultants will have FOUR full months to reach the qualifying goal of 5 to earn the $2000 cash award. Sign up in June and you will have until October 31 to reach this goal. This will NOT be offered in August. We believe sponsoring is going to be easier as we attract a whole new demographic of young women and men to this industry as a result of what we are about to launch. Enabling you to build your team like never before! In August our Willow House executive team will be traveling all over the United States (local Dallas / Fort Worth date is set as Saturday, August 21 with Bill Shaw, our CEO.) offering Willow House opportunity sessions for local consultants to invite guest to hear first hand about our amazing opportunity.

• Sell $1500 in any month and receive a gas bonus of $50 every month you make that goal!

Speaking from my heart, I can also tell you that I never expected to retire from a 20 year career in corporate America when I joined Southern Living at HOME in October 2007. I joined knowing that we were moving into our dream home and my wish list was the entire catalog. I was asked by friends who saw my new goodies to consult at their parties so they could earn these goodies for free. Doing so gave me a new social outlet, a fun night out, and a new source of income that I didn’t expect. I didn’t expect success to come so easily, enabling me to put a few lofty dreams into reality. Now I would like to help others achieve their dreams. Does that mean telling your boss “you’re fired” and being at home for your kids (yes, kids can be the four-legged variety), or perhaps it means paying off debt and taking a few free vacations every year. Willow House will be the business that you will identify with. I promise you it doesn’t look like anything else out there!

If what you read intrigues you and you join before June 30, you have two opportunities to:

1) turn in personal retail sales of $1000 by the end of June and become a Founding Consultant;

2) Join by June 30 and be in the system to receive new technology updates and website in the first batch of consultants during our first phase release on August 4. This is HUGE! This allows you to be in that first group of consultants as we launch this new company (this will be the case whether you've sold the first $1000 by June 30 or not).

You can also take advantage of the July SALE as a consultant and sell product through emails, phone calls, and yes – even parties, because our Southern Living at HOME SUMMER SALE is so awesome! We expect there to be about 80 products at SALE prices up to 80% off! This SALE is a great way to make some extra money in July!


Are you on the fence? Perhaps you want to wait until you can hold a Willow House catalog and I have all the new company information to share with you?

• If so, please NOTE: We will have the ability to only sign up 4000 new consultants beginning August 4, wouldn’t you like some of those consultants to be on your team, reaching their dreams? Why are we limiting recruiting? Simple. If we offered unlimited recruiting it would put us in a back order situation for the products we, as consultants need, and want to sell.

We will have a SMALL WINDOW coming out of our National Conference to recruit. If you are interested in hearing more when I return on July 18, please plan to attend one of my personal opportunity sessions at my home in Grapevine on Tuesday, July 20 – check my website under My Events for the available times and further details (http://www.SouthernLivingatHOME.com/SueV) or we can schedule a private appointment (Coffee, Lunch, Drinks – yes, even Mickey D’s with the kiddos), if the private appointment works better give me a shout so I can add you to my appointment book.

Interested in learning more but don’t live nearby? Let me send you a no-obligation curious packet and let’s set up a time to follow up by phone. You can be trained via the web and tele-conferences on all aspects of our business, and I can tune you into group meetings within your area so you can meet your local ladies in the business.

If you are interested in learning more please email me at Susie.VanDeventer@gmail.com or call me at 214-212-5134 and I will help you get started.