Little Girl Blue?

It's funny, I have two boys and my youngest was a girl. I was shocked, scared and thrilled when they turned her over. At first, there was a lot of pink being bought, just because I could! Now, she is nearing her second birthday, and in the stack of clothes I bought her the other day most were blue and some were black. (one was a black and white striped maxi dress, which secretly I am in search of for myself, so there was a little vicarious living going on there.)

So I am wondering, am I dressing her too sophisticated for her tender years? Do I need to dress her in cotton candy in order for her to be age appropriate?

And how did I get over my pink fix so quickly?

  Looking at these pictures though...

  she looks adorable...

  age appropriate...

  and just girly enough. I guess I won't worry too much!

Why Celebrity Gifting & Shoes for a Celebrity

I recently had another beautiful opportunity to make a pair of shoes for a celebrity. This time it was a real blast from the past, but due to her paid endorsements I can not disclose the name.

Not knowing her shoe size, I decided to make a pair of shoes for her oldest daughter. Her mother describes her as a fashionista. Researching her style, I saw her just as often in sweet little floral dresses as I did in more punk styles, so I decided to try to marry the two.

Pretty pink floral with black and white stripes. Can easily be dressed up or down.

I know there are a lot of people who don't understand the celebrity gifting. Business owners have lots of reasons for doing this. I can't speak for everyone, but I can explain a little about why I do it. 

I don't have cable and I rarely go to movies. I am not what you would consider star struck. 

 And I know that most celebrities have more than enough money to buy my items and that they get free stuff all of the time. But, there are other means of compensation. Call it cache. If they like my items, tell others about them, or even better are photographed with them, my return on investment is incredible. We have had a handful of our members, in The Artisan Group, get this kind of success. It's awesome. I also consider it to be a fair trade. And if it doesn't happen, my investment was small, the experience was exciting, and I still get to say "I made these accessories for *insert celebrity name here*." 

  In my experience, in gifting HGTV's Cari Cucksey, I have tweets from her telling me how much she loves my shoes. Very handy for marketing purposes. Cari has also offered to consign my shoes at the Country Living Fair this year. That's a huge fair (my absolute favorite and I go every year) and I couldn't manage a booth on my own at this point. This is an awesome opportunity. And one I could only have gotten through these means. Plus, Cari is just a geuinely lovely person I am glad I was able to gift and get to know a little better through this. 

I also make sure I try for opportunities that make sense. Suri Cruise is known for her shoe collection. That was kind of a no brainer. Cari is a Michigan local who is well known for re-purposing items. She's a business woman as well as a TV star. In this particular instance, the celebrity has a children's shop that sells ecologically friendly items. I felt it would be a good fit and worth it to put my items into her hands. 

And lastly, if you're still with me, these opportunities give me the chance to create something completely on my own, to make designs I have been thinking about or wanting to make. It gives me a chance to stretch myself artistically. And that benefits my business in numerous way. 

I hope that sheds a little light on the situation. It's not hero worship, I don't expect my business to all of  a sudden explode with orders because my item was tied to a celeb in some way. But, I see many benefits in this type of experience. And I hope that now you do too.

A Treat for Two

This is the first of a handful of double orders I received in a short amount of time. A sweet set for a grandma and her granddaughter.

Grandma wanted a pair of shabby chic shoes. A lovely wool tweed with a lace flower. This is one of my most popular designs.

For her granddaughter's pair she wanted a peep toe version of my Are You My Mother shoes.

So I did a little reworking and they turned out like this:

They were a birthday present. I hope they make her day!

The Color Purple

Decisions, decisions. Sometimes in the design process, it's very easy. Usually when I design my shoes, I get a general idea of what my customer prefers. Then when the shoe is together, I play around with it, and more often than not I find "the one". I send my customer a picture to get their approval and I have only had one customer tell me they didn't like something in all this time.

For this pair of shoes though, I made a small mistake. In my enthusiasm to show my customer the design, I took and sent a less than stellar picture of the unfinished shoe.

That was awful. I don't know what I was thinking, other than that I couldn't wait.

Not surprisingly, she was less than impressed and asked if we could try a lace flower. So I made some and sent her some pictures. But, I also took another, better couple pictures of the purple flower, just in case.

Thankfully, she saw the purple potential and I got to make these sweet darlings.

I'm completely enchanted with them. The fabric choice reminds me of Edwardian muslin.

They're so sweetly feminine, but not too saccharine.

They are on their way to New York today. And I am fairly confident they won't feel too meanly in that fashion conscious city.

A Little Makeover

As a general rule, I am not a huge fan of plastic surgery. But, this little lady needed some help. Not only was she missing a leg, poor gal, her hair was falling out and her makeup left so much to be desired. (Seriously, those eyes scared me.)

I have been wanting to make my daughter a doll almost since the moment she was born. I am sure I could do it. But, then, between raising the kids, the little business I am trying to run and trying to keep her in shoes. I just haven't been able to tackle it. When I brought out my old doll collection, she was in there. I honestly don't remember where or when I got her, or whether someone I know made her for me. Still, I couldn't just toss her out.

Looking at her, I realized I could pretty easily make her over. So I carefully removed her other leg, her button eyes and her hair.

I cut out new features for her from felt and glued them on with fabric glue, including the front of her hair. I glued them to the back of her head leaving the pen features to be covered by the back of her hair.

Then I whip stitched the back of her hair to the front hair and to the doll's head. I stitched her legs on and refashioned her clothing. She could use a new wardrobe. But that will have to wait.

My girl seems to approve.

That picture makes a mother's heart just melt. So what do you think? Think she looks better?

Dining Room Reveal!

Okay, I know I haven't really been talking about this here, so it isn't really something you all have been anxiously awaiting. But, I have been waiting for it for literally months. Last summer I won two free gallons of paint from Dutch Boy. Two months or so later I finally got the paint. In October, my mom and I took the wallpaper off the walls. Early this year I bought the paint for the top half of the walls, plus the spackle and various other items needed to make it happen, and still it wasn't done.

This weekend my hubby promised me he would make it happen. And he took three nights and a day, and make it happen he did! I love him.

Wanna see what took so long?

Don't you think it's a huge improvement? The wall paper was there when we moved in. I didn't love it, but it was not SOOO gaudy that I couldn't live with it. There were other things that needed more immediate attention. (Like the bright neon green kitchen with gray cabinets in the kitchen. Eek.)

What I liked less was the color, or rather non-color, on the bottom half of the wall. So I am loving the dark gray that is there now. It defines the room. It's current and modern.

I love the warm cream on the top.

We had to buy a new light fixture last year when the old brass one literally fell out of the ceiling. This modern silver one was on clearance and it was just what I was looking for. I was so happy to find it.

I scaled down the folk art in here and replaced it with this antique mirror that my sister bought in Gettysburg. Her husband felt it was too fussy for their home. Personally, I am glad about that!

This was a Christmas present from my hubby's folks. We love it.

And we kept a few folk items. Firstly, I think a well design room has multiple styles woven into it, for depth and character. Secondly, these two are special. The pic on top was bought for us by my mother in Gettysburg because she said it reminder her of our family. And the red mirror on the bottom was an anniversary present from my husband the year we went to Hannibal, MO. There's a delightful story attached to it that I know we both think of when we look at it.

And even more "rules" from my best friend for Christmas. Couldn't be more perfect.

So overall, what do you think?

What's Old is New Again

I can't believe I own not one but two pieces of vintage feedsack. Thank you Country Living Fair!

Deborah just had knee surgery, so I am hoping these will bring her some cheer while she is recuperating.

She likes bright cheerful colors, and I was so glad when she picked this one. I have been itching to use it since I bought it in September.

Finding the right flower combination was challenging, but I think it worked out nicely. I hope she loves them!