PeachHoneyPreemie Website Debut!!

The PeachHoneyLove website is almost complete, but do you want to see the new PeachHoneyPreemie Website?... come on over for a mini-debut and tour!!

Week 16: A Recent Success

Photo Credit

There are many points along my journey I would consider successes.  By the way, it's ok to be happy for ourselves.  We celebrate each other, so let's give ourselves some props.  We deserve it!  I talked about enjoying the little things in this post, but let me reiterate we have to celebrate the small steps we reach along our road to greatness.  Every little step counts… EVERY ONE.

Our life is made up of many successes, so why focus on one.  Here are a few of the things I'm proud of…

1. I'm figuring out how to build and maintain my own website.  This is HUGE!!  I'm not a technical person, and often have to turn to Brandi and Laura for help.  I'm putting on my big girl britches, and taking it on myself.

2. I haven't had another breakdown, since this one.  I set a schedule for myself, and I'm making it work.  The schedule isn't set in stone.. it's adaptable to the craziness that is my life.  We have to be willing to bend to life's will because there will be days when we can't stand to do anything, but sleep.  So sleep, tomorrow is another day.

3. I'm making tremendous headway with the Preemie clothing line.  There are times we get excited about little opportunities that cross our paths, and when the high starts to fade, so does the project.  The preemie line is NOT the case.  My heart and soul is in this project, and it's going to be incredible!!

4. My backyard is finally getting a facelift.  The weeds are being pulled as I type, we planted 11 plants this weekend, and have plans next weekend to start laying down bark.  Now I need a chaise lounge to enjoy my hard work.

What are you proud of?

Making it mine, not hers...

I'm deep in the thick of Scoutie Girl's Website Kickstart eCourse.  I'm making the switch to WordPress, which is exciting, but I'm definitely lamenting over learning a new skill.  Coding, IP addresses, and plugins are definitely not my thing.

Have you ever struggled to learn a new skill?  What did you do to cope?

I'm building my website, and including only the bits and pieces I want.  It's so hard making it mine, not hers.  I'm scanning through my favorite websites, and looking at what keeps me there (I'm greedy, so it's usually eBooks).  I don't want to imitate anyone, but it's extremely difficult to make that final decision and answer the question, "What do you want?"  

Then, Tara asks us the question... "What is the ONE thing you want your visitors to DO?"  I never thought of asking myself that before.  I just put content in the sidebar that I thought should be there, in no particular order.  I didn't make things mine, just picked what was offered.  I didn't change the colors, or the shape, or open photoshop to try to create something new.  Why not?  It's mine, and it's a reflection of me and my business.  So, I'm finally looking within to figure out what I want.  

Shouldn't we all know what we want, and do our best to obtain it?  What do you want?

Hardware Store Inspiration

I finally got my fashiondex in the mail today!  I spent the first 2 hours of my days combing through the pages, and sending emails to prospective fabric companies.  There were a lot... A LOT!  There were emails out of date, closed companies, and most of them advertised products they didn't really carry.  I have only received 1 email, out of 30, that said they carried baby rib fabric.  A little discouraging.  A lot frustrating.  What does a girl have to do to get what she wants?  The search continues.

To lighten my mood, I went on a search for some inspiration.  I've been obsessed with patterns, lately.  I'm thinking of doing some baby room art to go along with the preemie clothing line.  Pale colors, simple designs.  Something sweet with a modern twist.  Good idea?

Anyway, Leslie and Sharilyn gave me the geometric buzz.  It's a good buzz to have.  

Journal and Photo by Leslie

Pattern by Sharilyn

I know this may seem odd, but I went to my dad's Plumbing Wholesale company in search of some new shapes.  I hit the motherload!!  My father and his brother own Thrifty Supply Co Inc (I wish they had a website because I would link to it).  The business was started by my grandfather, Ron, when his sons were very young, and has flourished over the years.

The warehouse has aisles and aisles of pipe fittings, tubing, nuts, bolts... and lots of things that are completely foreign to me.  I asked my dad if he could help me find some interesting patterns among the boxes of plumping goodies, and of course he got right to it.  He knows where everything is!  The place is the size of Disneyland... I don't know how he does it.  I'm not going to lie... I got lost.  As soon as I thought our shopping trip was done, he would say, "Wait, I have one more thing."  I sparked a little creativity today.  It feels good.

I got some great stuff!  I have no idea what anything is, I just know they have equally spaced perfect circles and squares.  It doesn't take much to make me happy.  Excuse me as I drool.  Ooooh.... pretty.  

My loot

Where do you find unsuspecting inspiration?

Week 15... follow up on my goals.

In Week 4, I outlined my creative goals for 2011... and I had some big goals.  Well, we're in the 3rd month of the new year, so let's check in to see how I'm doing.

1. Design my website... We're starting off on the right foot because the website redesign in well under way.  I've nailed down my color scheme, started to sift through my "must have's" and "I don't wants" on my sidebar, and thanks to Laura, am creating my tabs/pages.  I've been toying with the idea of switching to wordpress, but am a little terrified of the upkeep.  Tara Gentile is offering her Website Kickstart Class again, and because I don't have enough to do... yeah right... I'm really thinking of taking it.  Does anyone have any experience with Wordpress?  Did you like it? Do they have the capability to host your own shop?

Graphic by Tara

2. Finish my first collection by the end of 2011... This goal, unfortunately, has taken a backseat to the preemie clothes, and the commissioned painting I'm working on at the moment.  Poor Claire has been in limbo, sitting on my drafting table, waiting for me to get it together.  Someday soon I hope to have a couple hours to spend with her.

3. Open my PeachHoneyLove Etsy shop by end of Summer 2011... To be honest I'm not sure if this is going to happen.  The PHP clothing line is taking up the bulk on my time, but once the prototypes are complete, and the shop is open, I will have a lot more time to devote to my paintings... I hope.

4. Open my PeachHoneyPreemie Etsy shop by the beginning of Summer 2011... This is definitely happening.  I have about 20 blankets and 10 fitted sheets complete, 8 blanket and 5 sheets pinned, and fabric remnant strips that need to be sewn into ribbons for packaging.  I am still working on the patterns for two more fitted sheet sizes, and I need to print some postcards to include in each order.  We're almost there.... Monday, July 11th is my target date.  Everyone cross your fingers.

5. Finish 5 PeachHoneyPreemie clothing prototypes by the end of 2011...  We are definitely in business.  We have two patterns down, and 3 to go.  I started calling companies for fabric samples, and Sacramento Contractors about producing my line.  No luck yet, but I keep trucking along.  I may have to just bite the bullet and take the trip to San Leandro.

6. Take an encaustic painting class...  Not yet, but I have just learned my local Learning Exchange offers multiple encaustic classes during the year.  Yay for me!!

Painting & Photo by  Judy Wise

7. Start a family... Unfortunately, not yet, but I do have this sweet little muffin to come home to.

Photo by me

8. Sketch more...  also on the back burner.  I wish I could find the time to balance everything that makes my heart go pitter patter.  Do you find it hard to balance everything you're interested in?  How do you manage the chaos? Oh, by the way, Check out Heather's blog!!  Her Sunday Sketches are amazing, and I hope to be half as good with some practice.

Sketch & Photo by Heather

Sketch & Photo by Heather

I think I'm doing pretty good... it's only March, right?  9 more months to go.  Don't forget about my 101 things in 1001 days... Hope to have an update soon.  Have a great week!!

My dreams were in San Francisco...

Photo by me

They were doing a whole lot of construction in San Francisco this week... PANIC!  Thankfully, my husband drove, and I could sit in the passenger seat, sweating and clutching the door handle.  The navigation on my phone kept having to "reroute" due to the endless "no turning" signs, and if it told me to make a u-turn one more time, I swear I would have thrown it out of the window.  I'm always amazed how different the drivers and pedestrians act in the city.  Cab drivers squeezing in between a car and the curb 3 feet away, cutting you off just to make a light... aggressive much?  Thankfully, I don't live in this madness, I would not be as pleasant :)

So I met with Monica this weekend, a pattern/sample maker and owner of Tag Studio.  She has been assigned the huge task of making my dreams come true.  As instructed I bought a preemie onesie (to serve as the middle-of-the-range size... there will, eventually, be a size bigger and a size smaller), and a doll that fits that onesie.  I have a total of 5 designs, but she thought it was best if we stick to the two easiest for the time being because I'm so new to this process.  Poor Monica... I had NO CLUE what this process would entail.  Thankfully, she talked it through with me, step by step, as if I was a third grader.  I could feel my heart violently beating as she handed me my new "honey-do" list.

My lovely husband was so gracious, and sat quietly in the corner with a smile on his face, taking pictures. 

...pinning the preemie pants...



...more pinning...



...schedule check...

Monica called me yesterday to inform me the samples were complete, and that she would mail them this week.  SCREAM!!  My next huge step is to pick my fabric, a MUY IMPORTANTE step according to Monica.  I ordered a Fashiondex book a couple days ago, and will soon start the daunting task of finding the right fabric to use in the line.  This means sending samples to companies, waiting for them to respond, calling, calling, calling.  Not looking forward to this step... 

But everything is happening!!! So excited I could just pee!!

A question for you...

Ok, so I wanted to talk about something else, and I am in desperate need of some advice.  As you know, I have two blogs... this one, and PeachHoneyPreemie.  Man, it is very difficult to balance my time between the two.  I'm torn because I want to offer consistency to both blogs, but it's impossible to keep up with that kind of posting schedule, while starting my business.  I'm adding to my to do lists faster than I can cross things off, and I'm feeling extremely overwhelmed.  Something has to give, so here's my proposal... I want to combine the two blogs under the name PeachHoneyLove.  I want to share my PHP news with my PHL peeps, so I find myself double posting.  It seems a little absurd to me.  What do you think?  Any suggestions?

PeachHoneyPreemie is on a roll!!

PeachHoneyPreemie News!!
I've been on a fabric buying rampage, Amy Butler, Joel Dewberry, etc... I'm in desperate need of a 12 step program for shopaholics.  I told myself "You do not need anymore fabric," but then quickly changed my tune to "You do not need anymore fabric, but if you find a really cute pattern on sale, buy 5 yards."  This prompted a shopping spree on ETSY and my local fabric stores.  It's been a busy month at the sewing mill, and I have some seriously adorable fitted sheet and blanket sets for all my preemie families.  Are you excited?!?!

The preemie clothes are close... very very close.  I have just recently sent my drawings to a sample maker, who will hopefully, give me a good deal for production.  I ran into a little roadblock when picking fabric.  As it turns out most of the cute interlock knit fabric is copyrighted, so I was running into some major issues with the cohesiveness of the line.  So, I talked to some people, who have produced their own fabric, and guess what I found out?  It's extremely expensive!!  I didn't have $30,000 to start a fabric line, so the next best thing was screenprinting... genious!!  I have decided to make this line eco-friendly, so I'm using un-dyed natural fabric, and I found some water-based eco-loving screen print ink.  It's all coming together, and I can't believe this is my wonderful life.  I hope to have some exciting news next week and, some even bigger news in the beginning of summer.

Do you want to follow my preemie journey?  Then follow me on my preemie blog...

Other stuff...
My business cards came!!  Yay!! I only got a few for my upcoming Blog Conference in San Diego this month, but I'm already planning the change up with the next batch.  I'm thinking some pinky vintage texure, like my new banner.  Hmmmm...

It's amazing to me that things are actually happening.  I imagined this life for myself, and it's coming true.  It's unreal, and heartwarming, and I can't believe it's mine... this is my wonderful life.  

0.05% done! & a new banner!!

We've got a long way to go, people, but we're beginning to making a dent.

10. Take Golden's free class.
I talked a little bit about this awesome class in this video, but let me just say that if you're ever curious about what Golden has to offer, this is the class for you!!  The FREE Golden Lecture Demo was taught by Tesia Blackburn, a Golden working artist, who is energetic and so, so helpful!!  I brought a friend, who has no art experience whatsoever, and she was instantly inspired to start creating.  This two hour demo class covers all of the different gels, pastes, grounds, paints and mediums Golden has to offer.  Did I mention it was FREE!!! Visit the Golden website to find a working artist in your area.

55. Sell questroom furniture.  
Well, we ended up giving it away to a struggling family, which felt a lot better than selling it.  Now we are a that much closer to turning the room into a workout room, another "to do" on my 101 things list.

94. Watch every episode of Xena: The Warrior Princess.
I know what you're thinking... seriously?  Yes, I'm dead serious.  This was my favorite show growing up, and revisiting these action-packed episodes got me through a lot of late nights working and writing.

100. Floss every day for one month. 
Another random thing, but my dental hygienist will be so proud.

Time to focus on the big stuff now...

Some other things happening...
Did you notice anything different in the right hand sidebar?  There's a newsletter subscriber sign-up!!!  That's right!!  I'm working on an eBook to offer to my email and newsletter subscribers, and if you sign up now, you will receive it as soon as it's done.  Check out my last post, and tell me what you guys would like to see in the eBook.

I've been neglecting the PeachHoneyPreemie blog, due to the busy posting schedule of this one, but it's time to give it some attention.  It's forcing me to realize I may have to limit the PHL posting to 2 times a week, until everything is up and running.  It's a hard decision I may have to make because the preemies need a voice.

The PeachHoneyPreemie ETSY shop is still scheduled to debut this summer, and I've been hard at work making blankets, fitted sheets, and prototypes.  My dog and I have a routine on sunny days.  We leave the sliding glass door opened... while he lays in the sun, on a pile of dirt, I enjoy the light breeze blowing through the family room while I sew my little heart out.  It's blissful.

I'm finally beautifying the blog.  Making it mine.  After fussing around in Photoshop, I was frustrated, so turned to my texture/vintage/color loving friend, Brandi.  God Bless her!!! She made everything better.  She turned one of my favorite pictures into a banner to swoon over.

BEFORE

AFTER

THE BANNER!!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... I have the greatest friends!!!  Thank you, Brandi, for helping me!!! You're always so generous with your time and wisdom.

I started the re-design of the blog... what do you think? I have to set aside a chunk of a day to finish the redo, but like I said before, I have to keep my priorities in order.  Let's focus on opening the shop...