ooo baby!

so in the spirit of the nuggets 2 month "birthday" (last week, at least) i thought i would do a post on baby items. I can't get enough of the items people come up with and these handmade items really do make a great impression when given as gifts or when you whip them out in public. I've listed here a few of my favorite shops... some i've bought from (numerous times) and some i've admired from afar- but not for long! i've chosen only a few to highlight here, but if you browse my favorites, you'll find tons more (for another post!). my nugget is no ordinary nugget so i'm constantly looking for fun things to set her apart from the other kids (and make me look good, too!). i also hope these shops have google alerts so they know they're being featured! :-)


Frank & Me


i do believe i have paid for this child's first year of college with all that i've bought from frank&me. i don't remember how i stumbled upon lauren's shop, but i can't get enough of it! i use her burp monsters when we go out (great conversation piece!) and her little swipies are perfect for quick wipes out in public. much more attractive than regular burp cloths are cloth diapers.


BeanPickleSprout



i had the privledge of creating bean's etsy banner and it as so much fun- she's great to work with! in return she sent me some fabulous pieces from her shop- they have a sophistication to them that isn't too serious. i use my zippered pouch to hold nugget's emergency items in my purse and the bibs are tucked into her diaper bag for when we go out and she needs to eat (she's a messy eater!). i love the turtle she sent me as well... i can't wait until nugget's old enough to appreciate it!



ShopMayaPapaya



i was given the cute little goldfish clip by co-workers as a gift to the nugget. i immediately went to maya's shop and looked around- after telling her how adorable the clip was! i ended up purchasing the flower clip for her to wear out at parties and such. we got her clip this past week and it's adorable on her! (i know, i'm bias, but come on!) these clips are also strong and durable. the felt is so think, but pliable enough to "mold" to nugget's head and lay flat.



MayaBella



so mayabella was the only shop i could find a stuffed letter that i really really liked. when i got this in the mail earlier this week i was so excited- it turned out amazing! i chose the colors to match nugget's room and i couldn't be happier. and honestly, anyone that can make a donkey, an owl and a horse look so darn cute, i have to go back to buy from! how can you not love those faces!! this is also one of the shops where i would love to see her workspace... i'm imagining owls perched on shelves and horses and donkeys in a wooden crate placed on astroturf.


BabyLeila



i cannot WAIT until babyleila comes out with their new designs! how could you not love a little boy walking around in those shorts carrying that plushie- ADORABLE! i haven't ordered from babyleila yet (note: they're in canada, but we love our neighbors to the north!), but i'm always checking their site to see what's new. i've also checked out their blog- you should definitely do the same.


FeltAtHome



when i first found felt, i didn't know if i was having a girl or a boy, so i had to hold off on purchasing. so now that i have my little dress up doll, she's picking one of felt's adorable purses out for her very own (and then i'm picking mine out!) felt's work is absolutely amazing... check out their people purses! (note: she's in the UK, but i looked at shipping and it isn't bad at all! yay!) i think once nugget is at that age where she's grown into her "look" i'll have one of those made for her. i also check out felt's blog and she gives a sneak peak of the construction of these amazing pieces... i'm just jealous i couldn't snatch up the goldfish!


so those are my picks for the baby line. like i said, i have a ton more in my favorites, so take a stroll thru (i also have a ton of great paper sellers on etsy, so take a gander at them as well.

digging a little deep

so my quest for researching has begun. i managed to find 45 stationery shops- 22 which specialize in letterpress- to start researching price points, trends and sales. i feel like i'm taking on a big project, considering i've found so many great stationery designers, but i feel this is a necessary step if i want to take this business seriously. i mentioned before that i wanted my next job to be one in which i work for myself in my fantastic little studio (or work room... i'm not going to be picky), so if that's going to happen, i need to think business and not all pleasure. that may mean i stay on maternity leave... and switch it over to mid-life crisis leave... but i'm okay with that. then again, this is only the first step. some may ask why letterpress when you don't offer letterpress? why? because i love it. plain and simple. i won't be using these shops as part of my research, but design wise, they fit in the trend category.

the plan:: what i plan to do is "study" each shop... what are they selling? how is their work printed? what is their pricing structure like? i'm a big advocate of charging what something should cost, not basing it on what the market is charging (even though many people insist on "well xyz is selling for $3 cheaper and in order for me to compete, i have to lower my prices." no. stick to your guns and have pride in your work and your time spent. this is another post for another time, however.) i would like to see where my products fall in the market.

i also plan on purchasing a few products from shops i've really kept an eye on and whom i see as "direct competition"- it's important to look at craft, materials, print method and overall wow factor. to me, these are key.

i am taking notes on what is not being offered at this time as well... is there a niche i can capture now while no one or very few are offering the product? i already have a few things in the works... just little ideas waiting to grace the pages of etsy! my little notebook is fresh and ready to accept all the thoughts i have to get down on paper (yes, i'm handwriting all of this. why? because i love notebooks filled with handwritten thoughts. i'm weird- i've accepted this a long time ago.)

this is something i would encourage all shops to do every quarter or every 6 months. take inventory of what's out there and what you're up against, not just what's in your own shop. know your market and what's being offered. is the market over saturated in a particular item you offer? can you rework that piece to make it stand out? do you even want to carry that piece anymore? i'd guess that 75% or more of the design business is the the actual business side of things. there is a lot of talent out there, so you have to know how to pull yourself out of the pack and get noticed.



though i'm not the biggest cheerleader for oprah, i did watch her show with marcus buckingham. marcus is an expert on helping you take control of your career and helping you realize what it is you should really be doing with your career. i've been listening to the podcast while working and some of it is common knowledge, some of it is alot like i see oprah- forget about real life and follow your heart no matter if you go poor or you make somewhat irrational decisions doing it... at least you're following your heart and then some of it is helping you, yourself, figure out what you're good at and how to incorporate that into either the job you have or find the job you should be doing. i'm hoping this exercise will help me figure out what i should be doing with my career.

marcus has you go thru an exercise for a week at work where you write down "i loathed it" and " i loved it" for week pertaining to things you do at work. this is to help you recognized the verbs of your job, really and the strengths and weaknesses you possess. many in the exercise found that the things they were good at were things they loathed to do. his suggestion? offer to do the things you like to do over and over and then you just might get asked to keep doing them and your role switches- ta da! you've just reworked your job to work for you. of course, he makes it sound much more simple than it really is, i'm sure, but it never hurts to try and make the 8+ hours you spend at work a little more tolerable.

so i'm going to try this. next week at work i'm going to keep my loathed and loved cards and see where it gets me- for both jobs if possible (even though a majority of my own business is done at my regular job- whooops!). i'm going to see if i can figure out what my calling in life should be! this could be intereting.

have a great weekend!

blog calendar!

today is the first day of my blog calendar! i'm slightly excited- this will help me stay on task and keep me motivated to research and look and learn more about design and all it's components. although it would be great, i won't be blogging everyday just yet... i just don't have the time and i just can't commit to it.



i printed out the results of my survey this morning and read over all the comments. i've highlighted points i want to convey and i must say, i received a lot of good feedback. and those of you that signed up for the stationery give away- i haven't forgotten you! i will be going thru the email addresses tonite, choosing one out of a hat and then contacting the winner via email. once i get confirmation from them, i'll announce the winner and link their etsy shop (if they have one) for all to enjoy!

before i forget! i was witty enough to name a sock dog!! threeredtrees sent me this fantastic card which i cannot wait to send to someone. i love her animals and once we get hospital bills sorted out, i'll be purchasing one for the nugget. i'm a huge supporter of donating to the animal shelter and plan to do something similar in my shop (once i figure out not only where i want to donate, but what i will offer in my shop... i have a few ideas running around).

it's now off to research topics for my blog calendar!

first day back

so it's my first day back to work (real-world work, not etsy) after maternity leave. it's been kinda fun... didn't really skip too much of a beat. it's been nice to be back around adults and have conversations with full sentences. i do miss my little girl, but she's in good hands.

today was the last day for my packaging survey. i'll try and get the data collected and sorted for monday... that's my goal at least!

and here's a little sneak peak of my latest design adventure.


i have multiple ideas brewing with this, so i'm hoping at least one pans out. this is also part of a series i began way back when but haven't been able to debut because i'm one design short for said series- ugh. i'll work it out. i just don't want to throw something out for the sake of getting it out into the world! i need to play with the elements more and get my thoughts worked out... they're a bit tired these days. :-)

short post, but be back tomorrow... tomorrow debuts the blog calendar!

have you hugged a tree?

i know i'm a day late, but... did you hug a tree? i wouldn't say that i literally hugged the maple in the back yard, but i have been trying to clean up my act this year and i'm proud of what i've done to be a little greener...

• i use totes when i go to the grocery... and they give me 5cents off my bill for every bag i bring! win win situation

• i have my compost bin in the backyard and i must say that if the dogs don't get it, the compost bin does. big marv loves him some veggies, so i can't say our scraps make it to the bin, but stale bread, banana peels and old fruit makes it in there. i just recently learned you can put your shredded paper in there, so looks like all those bills have somewhere to go!

• i recycle every possible thing i can. i have a bag that hangs on a cabinet door that we shove aluminum cans, boxes, magazines, etc into and when it fills up (i can fill up a bag in 1-2 days) i take it out to the recycling bin. i started separating my recyclables, but when i saw the recycle man take the bin and just dump it into a big truck, i gave up on that.

• i've been making my own laundry detergent for the past 6 months or so. i've saved money and though the hubz mentioned today that he wished it smelled like something, i think the homemade detergent is working just as well as the expensive stuff. unfortunately, i buy the nugget's detergent that they recommend, but i'll switch her over soon.

• as soon as we get our gutters fixed, we're going to install a rain collection barrel. i don't know that we'll see a huge difference moneywise by doing this, but if we have the same kind of summer that we did last year, it might help us save our lawn. it sucks we weren't able to get the barrel installed before the nugget because she was born during the "2008 flood" (a term i use lightly) and all that water would have been great to collect.

• i save all the bubble wrap and boxes from orders i purchase. i use them for my own shipping when possible.

• i have 3 bills that i'm not able to pay online, but all the other 500 million i have i do automatic bill pay- LOVE IT!

• we've switched all our lightbulbs, i use as few lights as possible and we keep the thermostat at 67 or below when possible.

i'm hoping to switch to homemade cleaning products soon- i have the recipes, it's just a matter of using up what we have now before i implement the take over!

once the nugget is a bit bigger (and we go thru all the diapers grandma bought us), we're going to switch to cloth diapers. it will take a bit to get used to, especially since by the time we switch nugget will be crawling, but we owe it to our budget and the nugget to try it.

this summer i also plan on going to farmer's markets for our fruits and veggies. we have an incredible market here in cincinnati called findlay market where all sorts of farmers from all over the area come to sell their products- veggies to meat to seafood- so i'm really excited to go... i've been here 3 years and i've never been!

we've also decided that every year the nugget will adopt an animal from the WWF website. for $50 she will contribute to saving an endangered animal and in return, she gets a stuffed animal of the animal she adopts, a certificate and we teach her the importance of wildlife and preservation.

in terms of my business, i plan to make my blog calendar and a mini day planner using scrap prints. i rarely throw away paper i've printed on as it is, but before i left for maternity leave at my day job, i began saving all the prints i had made so i have a ton of scrap paper to work with... which excites me!

so i hope everyone had a great earth day yesterday. i've found incorporating all these changes into our everyday life has been extremely easy and the hubz has taken very well to the changes as well. yay!

what do i have to show for my time off?

not much.

so i'm a jerk and it took me awhile to get back to my blurbs on the april favorites. miss charlotte has figured out that if you stay up more during the day, you get more attention, so i had to attend to her needs. plus, i go back to work next week, so i've been trying to get our affairs (i.e. figuring out hospital bills) in order so that i don't go scatter brained!

however, i've been able to make a few observations about my business and a few things i need/want to do to make it work this time.

a blog calendar:: yes it sounds a bit silly, but another etsian, dancingmooney, has one and from what she says, it helps her not only have ideas to keep her her blog interesting, but it helps keep her thoughts in order. if she thinks of something she wants to blog about, she can either add it to the calendar with a similar topic or she can make it happen on it's own day. i may even try "pre blogging" in case i have one of those just-hit-me topics, but have a few days filled up already. i think it will help me organize posts so that i have a flow and a focus.

what do i want to do when i grow up:: i was up late one nite with the nugget and watched an older oprah show that featured a "career expert". he offers a course on itunes that is supposed to help you figure out what your strengths are so that you can guide your career toward those strengths. i'm going to give this little workshop a whirl and see what i come up with- i'm not the biggest oprah follower, but if this guy can help me find my calling in life i'll give it a whirl. i have a few ideas already as to what my strengths are outside of design so i think having all that information in once place will help me figure out not only if i'm going in the right direction, but how i can incorporate all of those strengths in to one job (or the job i have right now).


i do know, though, that my goal in my career is that my next job is working for myself. when people ask, "where do you see yourself in x years?" my vision in my head is this... i'm working out of the house i live in now (why, i'm not sure, but go with it), but the house has been redecorated as a studio space-- we have another house somewhere else (quite possibly one the hubz designed, which means it will take 5 years to build because we will be any builders' nightmare... architect and designer building a house only spells headache). i'm in what is now the nugget's room sitting behind a desk designing some sort of stationery collection. i have a lovely intern/assistant that is set up in the now dining room. my lovely intern/assistant makes her own schedule- she has a cap on how many hours a week she works, but she comes in when she wants and goes home when she wants. upstairs has been converted into a playroom for the nugget so that if she's not in school yet, i can just bring her to work and if she is in school, then she has somewhere to go after school while i finish up for the day. the dogs come with me to work if i don't have meetings and instead of a coffee machine in the kitchen, i serve fountain soda. it's always been a dream of mine to own a fountain soda machine... can soda works, but there's nothing like a refreshing fountain soda. so there you have it. where i want to be in x years. i just wish i knew what the x was in this equation.

April favorites!

ok so it's time for the april favorites (whoo hoo!) i've decided to keep it close to home and Shop Local on etsy for my picks this month! so, if you're from the cincinnati area take a look and see what people are creating around town...



as usual... starting at the top left, going across to the right and down to the next row

1. maillemystique :: these earrings are beautiful and i think the photograph is what makes them that much more glamourous. the beads (if that's what they really are- i don't know much about the jewelry world!) look expensive and classy... something i love!

2. MMSIs :: this is just fun- my first internship was with a local paper company and in making all the gift bags that we did, i always loved the bright, fun colors. it's vibrant, playful and nicely done

3. chunkymcmonkey :: how comfy cozy! i've found myself looking more and more at children's items. i love the cherry pattern... i'm not sure you can go wrong with a cherry pattern (at least i haven't seen anything yet to disprove that statement, though i'm sure it exists somewhere... but not here!)

4. heatherknitz :: soft, sophisticated and appropriate for a child, a career woman or just someone wanting to feel "springy"

5. daphnephotostudio :: i love the contrast of soft and hard with the sky and the building. i love the texture on the building itself and i have a strong love of intricate architecture... very ornate and classic architecture

6. marriageofmetal :: my love of clovers takes over...

7. nancygamon :: can't wait to order one of these curling iron pouches! i'm still drawn to animal prints done nicely- which i think nancy's done... can't you see this pattern lined in bright pinks, oranges, blues and greens!? how fun would that be? on a side note, i have a headband from nancy (she made it from one of my hubz old ties) and i heart it!!

8. supergirlsstickers :: i love love love polka dots... so round stickers with polka dots make my heart sing

9. polymer :: i'm dying to use wall decals SOMEWHERE in my house, but i can't find anything appropriate for charlotte's room just yet. but, i love me some elephants and who can resist a whole train of them?

10. zephi :: i love the texture and contrast in this painting. i love how it seems as if the frog was painted and then moved to show white space... the painting wouldn't have the same effect without that white space

11. skydreams :: i dream of the day i buy a skydream piece of jewelry. again, the photo captures the beauty of the beads and chains

12. morninglori :: don't you love this little guy! it reminds me of a gremlin- love him!

13. luvkt :: he looks so sad, but nothing a good hug couldn't cure! i love the extreme length of his arms... i'm very into exaggerated extremities, be it arms, legs or ears on stuffed animals

14. odannysgirl :: what i couldn't show was how this thing folds up for easy travel. i love this thing and will order one once my little one is old enough to do some damage with utensils!

15. arthappens :: love the antiqued look of this pendant and the gold tint of not only the pearls but the crystal... beautiful

16. qpucel :: how retro! but with a twist. i love it and i really appreciate the careful placement of the dirty light blue.

17. ndeurshoes :: LOVE SHOES! what girl doesn't love shoes? i love this whole concept and i WILL own a pair of these one day. i love how from far away, the bubble pattern could read as lace, so you could wear them out on the town or in a formal setting

18. ovenfriedbeads :: this takes me back to my own bead making days. the time and care that goes into "babysitting" this little guys to make sure they turn out superbly is the true test of a bead maker, i think

19. orangewillow :: the simplicity of this painting drew me in... especially since i've seen this artist create much more complicated pieces. poppies are always a popular choice, but i like how they aren't as easily recognizable

20. retiredrecords :: loooooove this! taking something so industrial and making it into something so elegant- this would be perfect in a modern kitchen or bathroom... or even repurposed into a candy dish or remote control holder in a living room

21. lawatson :: i love the elegant nature of this teapot. the colors and the handle design are absolutely lovely and i like how it's not perfectly shaped as well. it gives it a weathered look that only vintage can inspire. plus it doesn't feel mass produced (yay!) and the imperfections give it that handmade feel

22. visualingual :: vine street! this makes me miss working downtown (but not the job that was downtown!). i love how the actual design is a bit of a secret- that you would never know it was vine street in downtown cincinnati unless you, duh, read the description

23. gazzu :: this is just so pretty. vintagey and pretty. simplistic and pretty. love it.

24. abbydid :: how fun is this little guy! a great way to keep track of the remote control or anything else that may find its way onto the couch. this would be great in a children's playroom or even a bedroom and is a great way to teach little ones how to put things away!

sorry it took so long to get my thoughts down... i know you were all losing sleep over not knowing why i chose everything! :-)