Labels!

     I am so excited! Giddy, giggling, can't stop looking at them, ridiculously excited. Was in the middle of dancing Baby Girl to sleep, saw the box on the porch and stopped dancing to get it, excited.

Take a picture of them still in the box and post it on my Facebook page, excited.

     Getting real, high quality, woven, sew in labels is something I have been thinking about and talking about for a long time, like, months and months.  There are all sorts of tutorials on Pinterest to print your own, and I thought about that for awhile, but I decided that if I was going to do it, I really wanted to do it right.  Even after I made the decision that it was definitely going to happen, definitely a step I wanted my business to make, it still took me months to make it happen.  

     I started working with a local company (Suport local businesses!) that came recommended from a supportive and inspiring friend running an amazing small business selling and renting upcycled cloth napkins, sewn from vintage fabrics, for your home or for weddings and events.  It turns out, that when you are trying to get real, high quality, woven, sew in labels made, you can not send these businesses a picture you made on Microsoft Word that you are calling your logo.  That just does not work.  So, ok, I know how to sew, I know how to embroider, I made the paper price/logo tags I use at farmer's markets and craft fairs and send out with every order with Microsoft Word, a color printer and card stock, and I was pretty proud of myself on that one, but Photoshop?  Making a logo on Photoshop?  

Yikes!

     I have Photoshop, but I really, absolutely do not know how to use it.  Every few months I try to play with it for about an hour and end up just clicking that little red dot and hitting 'don't save.'

Obviously at this point I needed professional help.

     And lucky for me, I happen to know (since the day she was born!) an incredibly talented professional photographer/ video editor/ filmmaker who has all sorts of Photoshop skills.  Also, being my sister and all, she is accustomed to my ridiculousness and can just kind of giggle when I explain this situation and jump in to save the day.  

     With a few emails, text messages and calls back and forth, she was able to take my attempt at a logo and turn it into something much more elegant, beautiful, professional and properly formatted!  I now could send this file on to the label company and get to work.  Unfortunately, the local company somehow was having a really hard time creating what I wanted.  They sent me multiple art proofs for approval, and each one was progressively further and further away from the image I had sent then.  I honestly have no idea what was going on there, but I just gave up.  They had very friendly customer service, but I got tired of all the back and forth and was not reassured that I was going to end up with a product I loved.

     But I still had this nagging desire to get real tags made to help the items in my shop look more professional and help to spread my name out there to all those who were seeing my work on the babies they know and love.  Thank goodness for Etsy!  I found a company whose work looked great, even with small fonts, and had even more affordable prices than I had expected.  

     An order placed, a few emails back and forth, a little more help from my awesome, personal graphic designer, incredibly friendly and prompt customer service (they were even nice to me when I did not know what on earth rastasize meant, or really even how to spell it for that matter).  They very first art proof they sent me was beautiful and perfect, I gave final approval and two weeks later they were at my door!  Anyone out there thinking about getting tags- I HIGHLY recommend Print for Brands.

     It also happened to be perfect timing because I had two order (the fruits of my 1 year Anniversary Sale) about to get wrapped up and shipped out, and they got to be the first 5 bibs to have my labels sewn on.  

So after way too long a story, here they are, looking all amazing and professional.  

Also sewed a few onto what will hopefully soon be awesome, bright,
fun, summer clutches!

     One year into this business, starting to make more regular sales and actually make some money, finding what marketing and promoting works for my business and what doesn't, finding my schedule, energy, motivation and focus to really work in the little, nap time, chunks of time I have in my day, and suddenly feeling so much more professional and like a real business owner.  

Thank you, thank you, thank you Little Sister, could not have made these happen without you!

One Year Already? Sale!

     I can't believe it but as of tomorrow it will officially have been one year since my day job quit me and Fun Little Things became my full time job!  This year has gone so unbelievably quickly, and despite  one amazing Little Thing taking up most of my time and love and energy these days, Fun Little Things is still going strong.

To celebrate...

Except really the code is WOOOO

Because it had to 5 characters, but I didn't know that until after I wrote that and took the picture!

Shop, spread the word, Pin it

Thank you to all who have supported FLT either through purchases for friends and family, spreading my name around or just asking me how the business is going and giving me the support and encouragement to keep believing it can be done.

I could not have done it without all of you!

Nanny!

     Living in San Diego over the last 3+ years I have missed my family and friends and home in Santa Cruz a lot, but never so much as I have since Annie was born.  I want her to grow up with her Nanny and Grampy, her Aunties and Uncle, her cousins.  I mean really grow up with them in her life, not just visiting every now and then.  And I want us to really be in the quickly growing up lives of cousins Jack, Shelby and Norah.  And time has never passed so quickly!

    One week from today she will be 5 months old already!  That is almost half a year, how on Earth is that possible? In this almost half a year we have visited home 3 times (one of those times we accidentally stayed for 2 weeks...) and my Mom has come visit twice, my Dad and Little Sister one time each.  Pre-Annie this would seem like lots and lots of visiting, but now it is nowhere near enough.  The goal is to be together at least once a month until we can find a way to live closer.  There are plans in the works for July and August visits and adventures.  I will have to be happy with that for now, and spend lots of time FaceTiming with everyone, texting pictures back and forth, and looking at pictures of when we were last together.

    Just last week Nanny was here for 6 (of the fastest ever) days!

We played in the sand,

Giggled at the waves and stuck our toes in the water,

Walked to the rocks and back, people watching, 

and fell asleep for a little beach towel nap.

We ate yummy pizza.  Thanks Nanny for sharing your crust!

We watched a little mermaid practice her skills!

We secretly worked on Dad's Father's Day apron, which would have been an enormous and frustrating disaster without help and wise, wise, experienced advice.

Another post on this apron, and the pot holders
that go along with it coming soon.
And plans for children's aprons coming to the shop soon!

We played in our new Jolly Jumper in our cute new outfit!

We have been jumping every day since -
Thanks, Nanny and Canadian eBay!

And she took some gorgeous family pictures of us intended as Father's Day presents for my most spectacularly amazing Daddio/ Annie's Grampio (who I am so sad that I did not get to spend Father's Day with,) for Annie's most spectacularly amazing Dad, and for his Dad, too, but which I love and which now cover my fridge and real life pin board over my desk/ tiny sewing table, and which I will treasure forever (cheesy, I know, but absolutely true, plus, cheesy is kind of how I roll.)

I love the look on her face, she knows already she is stuck with two goofballs!

Oh, the spit bubbles!

     It was way too fast and we had to bring her back to the airport way too soon, but it was just what we needed, a little bit of family and home and love came to us, lived our San Diego life with us for a few days.  We can't wait for more playing and baby-rule breaking and snuggling and partying for Big Sister's birthday and lots of loving in just a few more weeks.

PS - That whole blogging twice a week intention thing I wrote about a few weeks back...

I succeeded one week, but got NOTHING else done! I do actually want to/ need to do some sewing for the shop every now and then, list new items for sale (ooh! which is another thing I got to do while Nanny was here.  New bibs! ) and occasionally, I guess, use nap times to do things like vacuum or throw out old food in the fridge.

Once a week is my new goal!

Unfinished things

    In the middle of lots of projects around here and nothing new done!  Trying to not let this make me feel crazy, but it does a bit.

There are bibs halfway snapped (because the bottom half always breaks when I do it).

In addition to that frustrating half of a snap, this pile of bibs also needs pictures taken, descriptions written and listings posted.

There is fabric cut for 9 new, bright, linen, summertime clutches, but only 4 pockets pressed and pinned, nothing sewn and no magnet snaps in place.

There are also teeth not quite out yet, making little one (and Dad and I) oh, so sad, and really getting in the way of any quality eating, sleeping, playing or book reading.

There are also other fun blog posts being planned in my brain as I drive or as we walk or dance, about bread and soup and jam, and about swim lessons (and there is that pesky intention of blogging twice a week, which is clearly not going to be a reality if I want to finish any of these other projects.)

There are Father's Day projects planned but not started.

But then there is this

This is weirdly warped! But look at that smile!

and this

And this room all ready for Nanny's visit TOMORROW!!!!!!!!

And really, really, what is more important than that.  Projects will get done when projects get done.  It is sunny out.  Hopefully Annie will wake up a bit happier from her nap and we can read books and play with toys and look at plants and laugh at Dad and dogs. And if not we will chew on Sophie and frozen strawberry and cool wet facecloths and walk and dance.  

And just maybe vacuum and clean the bathroom...