Working, working, working...

To the tune of "rolling, rolling, rolling..." (I'm sure that song has a real name but I'm too tired to look it up. ;) So, that's been the tune I've been dancing to for the past few weeks. But don't worry, it hasn't been all work and no play in the MODKID household... we've had our fun times to break up the monotony of work (which, as a matter of fact, it's not very monotonous in my book). We did enjoy 4 days of splashing and gorging out at the Wisconsin Dells, followed 2 weeks later by a few more days of skating, egg hunting and more gorging out (yes, we eat a lot when we travel! LOL!) in dear St. Louis. But now it's time to get back to business.

I've been tagged by two fabulous ladies that I love and admire deeply, Jenn of Take A Bow and Alla of My Little City Girl, to share 7 random facts about myself. Well, I was gonna take the easy (read: lazy) way out and just link you guys to some prior very similar postings, but I decided to turn this little meme into an opportunity to "talk business", so these will be 7 random business-related things. If you are looking for some wacky fun facts, like the weird things I like to consume or the strange places I've visited in my lifetime, check this post or this one out.

So, here we go:

1. All my hard work has finally paid off... I have been offered a fabric contact by a very reputable fabric company that I'd bet every one of you ladies who sew have worked with and all of you who don't sew but buy custom boutique regularly have received things made from their fabric. Oh, and believe me, it is killing me as much as I hope it is killing you to not be able to reveal the full facts, but I just don't know when it's actually safe to do so. I have an email in to my contact there asking when I can share my big news. I am not a secretive person by nature... I wear my emotions on my sleeve and have been accused before of "having a big mouth", so as soon as I am able to share, I will! Promise! :)

2. I will be attending Quilt Market in Portland from May 15th (my b-day!) to May 18th, so if you are in the area and would like to get together or if you are already planning to attend, please leave a comment. We are organizing a HUGE get-together of boutique-related ladies. This will be fun!! The ones I know will be attending for sure are: Daria (Boutique Cafe), Megan (BrassyApple), Chelsea (PinkFig and Vintage Chic), Amie (PrincessPicasso), Sandi (PortabelloPixie), Em (SugarSweetBoutique), Tanya (Bug-N-Belle), Michelle (Boutique Buyers' Blog). I think there are others but I am not sure if they are going or not, so I won't mention them here yet.

3. I would like to continue making my knit pieces and selling them either on Etsy or my own website (if that ever gets finished) even after my fabric line comes out in the Fall. I really, truly enjoy working on my Blüm line... yes, the honeymoon period isn't over yet! Of course, I will design a whole new collection with my new fabric line (which will most likely be printed in 100% Woven Cotton at first) but my next order of business will be to see if I can get a line printed on knits... my new passion!

4. And speaking of my knit pieces, I do have 2 new things up on my Etsy store. Both of these were special orders by sweet customers of mine and they turned out so cute that I decided to offer them to you guys.

The popular "Blüm Banded Tank" was recreated in navy blue / cherry red tones and I thought it turned out fabulous! How cute would this be for an Independence Day picnic, paired up with my Yoga Pants... YUM!! Check it out!


Then, the also popular black & white striped yoga pants were spiced up with a Marimekko applique on one leg and a contrast cherry red waistband with decorative buttons! How sharp is this?!?


5. I still dream of taking MODKID to the next level and get my clothing designs manufactured and sold in stores. Believe me, I lie awake at night thinking of ways and possibilities... did I ever mention that I have a serious case of OCD? Jon came home the other day and said that he spoke to this guy at work that has close connections to the clothing manufacturing industry in India (his birthplace), so of course that got me even more excited and my OCD kicked in again! LOL! Of course, with a child at home full-time and another one in school, it may be kinda hard right now to take off to India to meet with these people and get this thing off its feet, especially when I'm trying to finalize artwork for my fabric line and work on fulfilling my Etsy orders...

6. And speaking of fulfilling my Etsy orders... all paid orders that were placed prior to Friday have been shipped! YAY! I did a short mail run on Friday and a slightly bigger one on Saturday, so now I get to play with a couple of new design ideas! The new orders that were placed this weekend will be created this coming week and I plan to have everything shipped out by Friday if all goes well. Thanks again for all the Blüm love... I'm so glad you guys like them as much as I do!

7. If you are on my mailing list, you will receive a special announcement on Tuesday (can't reveal the specifics yet, but it will be a good one!). If you are not, don't fret, I will post it here on my blog as well. But it may be a good idea to join my mailing list anyway. I send out special promotions at times and offer FREE shipping. :)

OK... PHEW... how was that for an informative random meme?
Blüms and Blossoms

Oh, happy day! The sun came out today in our little corner of the world. It melted the snow and brought warmth to the air. And as a little miracle of Spring all sicknesses were banished at once from the MODKID household. Everyone, including my little Sydney, is healthy and happy today... we even went outside without our coats for the first time in months!

So, to celebrate the coming of Spring I have brought you guys some Blüms and some Blossoms. ;)

First, let's talk about the Blossoms. Today is the start of the Ginger Blossom launch on eBay. 75 custom boutique designers have gathered to honor Sandi and design some super scrumptious pieces with her debut line of fabric, Ginger Blossom.

My contribution to this launch is this One Of A Kind 3-piece set perfect for a 3T princess but may also fit a 2T or a slim 4T. I'd be glad to make some minor alterations to make sure it fits your princess just right... email me to discuss.

I have set up this auction as a 99-cent-NO-reserve listing... this means if you bid 99 cents right now and no one outbids you, you are walking out with an OOAK MODKID design for under a buck! What a deal!!


Click here to visit the auction.

Now on to the Blüms... I've been told by several of you that I needed to add some new Spring tops to go with my line of Yoga pants on Etsy... hmmm... why didn't I think of that? Actually I did, but since I'm a 1-man-shop right now, there is only so much I can do at once. I guess I could have waited until everything was finished to list all at once, but what fun is that? If you haven't noticed already, I am a super impatient person so as soon as I complete any design I just have to list it! LOL!

So... here you go... a few cute Spring tanks and halters for your yoga pants and flare-legged pants. If you see a design you like and would like it made in a different fabric (solid, striped, dotted, any) just convo me and I'd be glad to set up a private listing for you.


Click HERE for the Lime Green Banded Halter Top.

Click HERE for the Lime Green Banded Tank Top.

Click HERE for the Navy Blue Banded Halter.

If any of these designs come up as SOLD, just check my Etsy store. I will relist them for as long as I have fabric available. Oh, and for those of you who were inquiring about the solid raspberry fabric, I got more in today... WOOOOHOOO... so I have relisted the raspberry flare-legged pants and the raspberry tie-strap tank. I only have 2 yards of this fabric (that's all the store had left) so it will be first-come-first-served again. :)

I do have some dresses in the works made from a couple of new Marimekko prints I got in the mail today... those will be listed in a couple of days (I told you I was impatient!). If you want to take advantage of the shipping discounts ($1 each additional item) but still get these items before they sell out, you can go ahead and purchase whatever you want from my Etsy store now but don't pay yet. Then you can see if you want to add a dress to your order later on and then pay all at once. Just convo me to let me know what you are doing. :)

Happy shopping!
Family Time

These past few days have been crazy around the MODKID household. First, Jon and I drove the kids down to St. Louis late on Wednesday night (3 hrs. one-way), to stay with my sister, my niece and also with my mom who was visiting from FL. Then, the following morning we drove all the way back home where I proceeded to have 2 days of uninterrupted sewing. AHHHH! You have no idea what a treat that was! I never get alone time. I am always juggling a million different things and trying to fit my sewing time in between driving the kids around or doing other mommy-related tasks. But this was heavenly. It was just me, Bernie, and my Etsy orders. Oh, and by the way.... thanks for the yoga pants love! I knew I loved them, and that my girls loved them, but I had no idea you guys would love them so much!!! WOOOHOOO! I actually got an inquiry from an upscale children's fitness center that wants to carry my entire line of yoga pants at their store. More on that later...

But, back to family time. So, after I sewed-up all the orders I could sew (and we had our fill of Indian food and Sushi) we drove all the way down to St. Louis on Saturday morning and attended my niece's 8th b-day party. She had it at a roller skating rink that has an outer space theme, so the whole place is pitch black with black light decorations everywhere. I love these funky pictures I took without my flash. I took a bunch with my flash too, but these are way more interesting! It was hard to focus and since I had it on manual setting, I had to open my aperture all the way and use a super slow shutter speed, therefore the fuzziness, but I still adore the look of these.



And, yes, the mamas showed their moves on the floor. That is me on the left, my mom in the middle and my sister on the right. Don't we look cool??? NOT! LOL! My sister, Cathy, actually has inline skates. My mom and I went totally old school... heee heee ;)

The following day we had all these great plans for Easter but we woke up to a blanket of snow and about a 32 degree weather all day long, which kinda put a damper on things, but nevertheless, we finally braved the temperatures and headed out to the St. Louis Zoo for their Easter Eggstravaganza. We did miss most of the Easter Egg animal feedings, but we caught the lions which was SO FUN!!!


They had these oversized Easter Eggs strewn all about their pen and a giant zebra striped Easter Egg basket filled with straw and eggs for them to play with. The lions were beside themselves... it was SOOO COOL to watch! They immediately attacked the zebra basket and all the eggs inside and spent the next few minutes hunting for the rest of the eggs. Here you can see the female lion pouncing on an egg while the male lion destroys the zebra basket.


We also caught the sea lion feeding and the bear feeding and went to see a penguin and puffin exhibit that the girls LOVED!


All in all it was a pretty good day despite the chilly temperatures. The girls wore their 'Sweet Tooth' outfits but you can barely tell because they have so many layers on.


We drove back home late last night and at about 3 am Sydney comes to our bed just covered in vomit. (If you are of the queasy nature, don't read any further, just look at the pretty pictures... I promise I didn't take any of the vomit!) I proceeded to clean her up but there was just sooo much vomit everywhere that I just had to give her a shower... at 3 a.m.! The bed, and all its surroundings, was also covered. It was like 3-day's worth of food! She slept in our bed and then vomited again at breakfast time and once more a couple of hours later. By 10 am I was on my 3rd load of laundry and about 300th hand washing. Eeeek! She then took a long nap and woke up refreshed, ate something and played the rest of the afternoon. I thought it was a done deal. But then dinner time came around 6 p.m. ... she took 2 or 3 bites and spewed all over the place. I grabbed her and sat her down on the couch on top of me and she proceeded to let it all out RIGHT ON TOP OF ME!!!!! BLECH! We BOTH had to jump in the shower then because we were both completely covered. YUCK! In the shower, she puked 3 or 4 more times.

She is in bed right now and I am hoping the nightmare is OVER. Poor thing! What a way to end a super fun weekend, eh? Oh, and I guess what a way to end a super fun blog posting, eh? OK, OK, I wi
ll leave you with a few more pictures from our trip to the zoo... these are a lot more comforting than my puking stories, I promise. ;)

BLüM is blooming!

So, why is Sydney perched so adorably in the Om position, you might ask? I will answer that question in a bit. But first of all I wanted to thank you all for the Blüm love ... thanks for all the sweet comments on my last posting and for all the convos on Etsy and of course, for all the orders. I am just ecstatic that you guys liked the collection as much as I do. There's something about this line that just felt right from the very beginning and I don't think I had ever sewn with such a big smile on my face before... LOL!

But the weirdest part of all is that I usually love making my original designs but when I have to re-create them for a custom order, I ... well ... let's just say, I'm not quite as enthralled with them. ;) But this time it was different. I enjoyed sewing the custom orders as much as the originals. How weird is that?!? I'm telling you... there's just something about this Marimekko fabric that just puts a little extra spring in my step. The MODKID Studio (and consequently the MODKID house) is positively blooming with BLüM right now... there are fabric rolls, pattern pieces, scraps and what-not strewn all over the place, but yet... I'm STILL happy! And even more happy to report that all orders placed by last Friday are finished, packed and shipped! WOOHOO! Check out the fruits of my labor:

rack


So, if you are one of the first few customers to order some BLUM, you will have your sweet pieces in your hands before the end of the week as I shipped everything via Priority Mail.


And as if sewing all those orders wasn't labor-intensive enough, somehow I mustered the energy to create a whole other collection that is somewhat related to BLüM -- like a super cute, health-conscious, fashion-forward younger step-sister. And here my friends is where our tour makes a full circle back to the beginning and we address Sydney's meditative state. Well, my little ball of energy is taking a few seconds out of her busy schedule to reflect on MODKID's latest collection... YOGA BABY.

yoga-baby

I created a new line of Yoga pants that are completely customizable and very affordable! These have a double knit waistband with no elastic, so they are super soft and comfy!

There are 8 styles/colors to choose from and since each pair is made-to-order, you can fully customize it... want it shorter or longer? appliques? no appliques? the possibilities are endless. And at such a low price, you could even get a couple of different styles! These would look great with a plain tee and, of course, are a perfect match to the BLüM Collection tops in my Etsy shop.

Check them out!

all4

JUST A QUICK UPDATE: I am fresh out of the solid raspberry knit, so I have removed the raspberry flare-legged pants off my store (so sorry). I do have some remnants that can be used to make the raspberry tie-strap top and possibly a small twirl skirt, but definitely not enough for pants. Also, I only have enough of the raspberry/grape stripe to make a very small pair of custom pants (maybe up to a size 2T). And one last note, I have received a few inquiries for size 6 & 6X items, and just wanted to tell you that yes, if I have enough fabric, I can make these in that size for $2.00 extra plus adjusted shipping charges. Convo me to inquire about a specific item and I'd be glad to set up a listing for you. That's it! :)

ANOTHER UPDATE: I sold another one of those raspberry tie-strap tops this morning so now the raspberry fabric is all gone and I have taken that item out of my store as well. :( But the good news is that I found a fabric online that looks like it will be a good match (crossing fingers) so when it arrives I will relist the items if it indeed is a match... you never know when looking at pictures on your computer screen. Thanks for all the orders, ladies! :)
MODKID Meets Marimekko

I've had a long-term love affair with all things Marimekko, so of course when I came across these gorgeous knit fabrics made from their famous UNIKKO design from 1964, I just had to have them! The epitome of MOD. And what better occasion to showcase my new collection than during LimeVine's first ever Etsy-only launch.... appropriately titled KnitWits?

The BLUM Spring Collection 2008 by MODKID was inspired by the modern simplicity of Scandinavian design. Using solid knits in vibrant colors paired up with authentic Marimekko fabrics, these pieces are easy to wear and make a statement wherever you go.

There are currently 10 mix & match pieces in the BLUM Collection. All items will be made-to-order, so please allow 10 – 14 days for construction and delivery of your custom-made MODKID item.



Click HERE to view the entire BLUM collection.

Click HERE to view all the gorgeous "knit" pieces from my talented groupmates.
I'm in the Modies

hee heee .... who's singing in their head? Just wanted to let you all know that I was selected as one of the 3 finalists in the "Girls Outfit" category for Journal Modiste's 2nd Annual MODIE Awards! WOOOHOOO! I am beyond thrilled!!! I really, really want that Modie Girl trophy to keep my other girls company. ;)

Here is what Journal Modiste has to say about the Modies:

Time to vote in the 2nd Annual Journal Modiste Modie Awards. We have 9 categories of the best designs from Journal Modiste members. These designs were created in 2007. All winners will receive our "Modie" girl trophy as well as a slew of other prizes including free advertising, ebooks, fabric and more.

Vote today for your favorite....voting ends March 21.


Hanging out on the bay this week

No, I am not backing out on my word! LOL! I mentioned here and most recently, here, that I would return to eBay from time to time for special events or prior commitments. After all... the bay is such a hard habit to break and I haven't had much luck elsewhere thus far. ;) Well, this is both a "special event" and a "prior commitment." I am thrilled to be participating in Anthology,Inc's guest launch, titled "REFLECTION". For this event, I have created a couple of sweet sister sets that are a reflection of our styles... both mine and my girls'.

I wanted to create something that was fun and colorful, utilizing patchwork and Euro brights. Sophie & Sydney wanted something that "looked like candy" hmmmm... surprise, surprise! So, after a long creative session that involved crayons, paper and lots of candy, I present to you... "Sweet Tooth" ... a perfect marriage of our styles.



Both sets are ready-made and include 3-pieces each.

Click HERE to view the size 2T/3T listing.

And click HERE to view the size 5/6 listing.

To make it simple, I have listed both sets with NO RESERVE and even added a BIN price in case anyone wants them in a hurry, for Easter or Mother's Day or any other special event. :)

If you are interested in a custom-made version of this set, I do have enough fabric for just ONE more, so please contact me to discuss details and I'd be glad to set up a private auction for you at an agreed-upon price. :)

*UPDATE* (03-09-08) The custom is sold! :)

I am gettin' my eBay fix this week... just hope I don't get lured back in. ;)
Proudly designed by | mlekoshi Playground |