Karen with Design-a-Dish won. Her plates and quick design rings will be featured on HSN on the 27th. You can go to HSN.com search Homemade Millionaire and order them now. The plates look gorgeous, as does Karen. I think Wendy did a good job of coaching the story our of this shy reluctant inventor. By the time she pitched to the executives at HSN she was a different business woman. Brynn was a very good pitcher, her tag line of just “press and go” was really easy to digest and she looked great as a spokesperson. Lay down Stay down beach blanket was an interesting and practical idea. Living in Michigan beach is a way of life so I won’t be surprised to see this type of product out there at the lakeshore.

Brynnn, with Press and Go Ironing, Karen with Design a China and Katie with Lay Down and Stay Down beach towel-these are the season-ending contestants on Homemade Millionaire. Watch them pitch Dec. 24 10 p/9C and on Dec. 25 Discovery Health at 12am! Good luck to these ladies.

Grace Choi and her convertible jewelry won Homemade Millionaire episode 5. This episode was interesting because it was “bread and butter” vs. risk. The Klipzon, a clip on headband, was very impressive as it stayed on the ladies at the gym, no matter how they thrashed about. I thought the advice of the stylist to add faux croc, and embellishments were a great way to go. I did like some of Deedra’s less flashy choices too. Deedra came off as a very sweet, but with some business gumption. I liked how she was able to update her product. I especially liked the flower headband that she wore for the last show. See www.klipzon.com. Grace’s convertible jewelry really morphed into a much more desirable product than her prototype (see photo above) after talking to the experts. The magnetic clasps were a tremendous improvement. I see women, especially older women, who have arthritis being able to use her pieces easily. See the Grace Choi Collection at www.HSN.com This episode really showed how a little bit of tweaking can really improve the products dramatically. Both women and products were very likeable in different ways. It’s very easy for me to connect emotionally with Deedra, as a mom, and as a creative inventor of the Klipzon head bands. The choice of Grace, as a Homemade Millionaire winner, made the show seem more unpredictable. Choosing a young brainy Cornell alumna, jewlry designer that was not an obvious choice. HSN went with their “bread and butter” product, jewelry. Sometimes, like Trump says, “it’s not personal it’s business…..”

Here is another Honorable Mention in the Speedy Holiday Design contest. Once again a very cute dog and nice concept but what if my recipients didn’t celebrate Christmas? Like the stocking and smart logo placement as a present in the stocking. Good job students! Want to watch more competition? Catch Homemade Millionaire tonight. From all the buzz I think the “Cake Huggers” are a hit and I bet they will be for sale tomorrow on HSN…have to check it out to see if I’m right. http://tlc.discovery.com/videos/homemade-millionare-cake-huggers.html

This student team had 15-20 minutes to come up with a Holiday Concept for a Business Christmas card. I thought they did a super job. I would have like to see the use of the ClipCleany logo dog, even though their dog was more realistic. I also really like their message without using the word poop. Clever. Good job