Feeling Lucky

I haven't posted in a week and I apologize. I was busy getting Autumn Blooms orders fulfilled this past week, but I am so happy to announce that the last of the paid orders went out today. WHEW! Soon, I'll be sharing some links with you so you can shop, shop, shop.

But first I wanted to share with you why I'm feeling so "lucky" these days. My friend Dayna suggested I try Lucky Labels after a few failed attempts at contacting another company that shall not be named to get my MODKID woven labels created, and I am just so happy that she did. Not only did these guys match my colors and artwork exactly, but their customer service was unsurpassed, their pricing was lower than any others I checked out (even including shipping from Thailand!) and their turn-around time was lightning fast! They had a first proof for me within 48 hrs. from the time I emailed them my logo. I made one tiny change and they produced another right away, which was perfect, and the 2,400 pieces were made and ready to ship 4 days later! I couldn't believe it!! And when they arrived at my door I was speechless... it was everything I expected & more!


I ordered the woven clothing labels and the matching seam inserts... and I just love them! I also went out and splurged on a new tagging gun so now I'm really looking professional! hee hee


Here are some pictures of Autumn Blooms in the midst of production...

And then ready to ship out...



Mmmm, those colors are so yummy... and the fabrics are super soft! :) Stay tuned for some online boutique links. I'll be posting a couple this weekend and more to come later.

Cover Girl

In the midst of dealing with my bum leg, plus finishing up "Autumn Blooms" and "La-Di-Dots," I also had the task of shooting Baby Gassy Gooma's Spring 2008 collection. Nope, it was not fun trying to follow a bouncy two-year-old while holding a digital SLR, leaning on crutches and keeping my right foot off the ground... but I managed to get some decent shots nevertheless. And I was so happy when I got the email from Gretchen at BGG telling me that Sydney made the cover of their "Spot & Kitty" line. WOOHOO! I guess all that hard work paid off. Here's the cover of the catalog.


We shot the "Spot & Kitty" line and the "Yellow Rose of Texas" line, but their entire Spring 2008 collection is now viewable on their site, so check it out here. Below are a few of my favorite pics from the photoshoot.

La-Di-DOTS is up!!

I just listed 2 auctions for LimeVine's first Fall launch, titled FIELD TRIP. For our Field Trip, Sophie & Sydney went to our local Children's Museum. Come check out what fun they had! :)

This first one is a 3-piece set... jumper, white underdress and pair of pom-poms with fully-customizable features and will be custom-made in sizes 12M - 6.



Click HERE to view this auction.

This second one is a gorgeous "Cupcake" skirt, a tunic top and a pair of pom-poms. Again, with fully-customizable features and will be custom-made in sizes 12M - 6.



Click HERE to view this auction.

If, for some reason, the above links don't work for you (because sometimes eBay and Blogger just don't like to "play nice,") just click HERE to view all MODKID auctions and then you can click to your favorite! :)

Also, don't forget to check LimeVine's launch listings... they are FABULOUS! :)

Thank you for looking! :)

MODKID Fall 2007 Preview #2

So, I've been hard at work... even with my bum leg. As promised, here is a preview of my second Fall 2007 collection, which I have so appropriately named La-Di-Dots. I am loving how these sets came out and you wouldn't believe the smiles & comments we got today during the photoshoot! We certainly drew a crowd and the girls were feeling like superstars!

These two sets will be up for auction on Thursday, including the hair accessories -- yep, those are mine too! :) The dotty fabrics are all babywale corduroys (oh, so soft!) and I've mixed them up with some cottons and denims and a few colorful decorative buttons to make some super striking sets ... perfect for BACK TO SCHOOL!


And yes, for those of you who have been asking about Autumn Blooms, that collection will be definitely available for purchase... I just don't know where yet. LOL! I will let you guys know as soon as I decide whether to offer them on eBay or just as wholesale items. My decision will be made by next week. :)

More Marieliz!

I have mentioned before here and here that my mom makes these incredible purses and sells them on eBay from time to time. Well, she has made a new batch that is nothing short of stunning! Designer fabrics, cool trims & handles and sweet details make all the difference. And these new styles even come with their own matching coin purses... how cute is that?!



There is something for every taste here. Every purse she designs is unique and one-of-a-kind... she never remakes a design, so you know that you will not encounter another one like it around.

If you see a style on her ME page that you are interested in, contact her... she might still have it and would gladly set up a private auction. But for now check out these FIVE new styles she has up for auction. Click here to see all Marieliz Creations.

MODKID Fall 2007 Preview

I just wanted to share with you the first of hopefully several new collections for this Fall. I just completed my wholesale catalog and sent it to the few retailers who had inquired about orders. If you are a retailer interested in carrying this line or other MODKID designs, please contact me via email at info@modkidboutique.com for a wholesale catalog.


And here are a few shots taken right out of the catalog. The collection has 7 mix and match pieces: a jumper/dress, a 3-tier twirl skirt, a pair of corduroy flare pants, a pair of denim ruffle pants, a denim peasant shirt, a knit skirted top and a headband with detachable flower. There are 3 different styles of babywale corduroys used alongside some super soft denims and cozy knits. This collection is comfortable, fun, funky and wearable. It is easy to care for and will be perfect for Back To School and all Fall/Winter events.




For wholesale inquiries, please email Patty at info@modkidboutique.com.

KidPoop

No, not what you think.... well, maybe. I was web surfing tonight (as if I didn't have better things to occupy my time with) and I did a Google search for Modkid Boutique. Well, to my surprise this website popped up that had featured my site under "Hot Stuff From Boutiques"... I couldn't believe it. They had even created a nifty little graphic with my designs and logo! And the best part... my site appears right under ... this little company called.... hmmm... Oilily! WHOA!!!! Check it out... scroll to about halfway down the page and when you see Oilily, Modkid is next. :)

http://www.kidpoop.com/category/boutiques/page/9/

But I gotta tell you guys something funny about this. I left a comment thanking those who run this site for featuring me (wish they had told me about it... apparently this has been up there since January). But then I saw a button called "Ratings" and I was curious to see if anyone had rated my site, but when I clicked on it I accidentally rated myself 4 out of 5 stars.... I'm such a dummy! It was better when I had NO ratings.... now I have a mediocre rating that I gave myself! ARGH!

Oh well... they also featured my logo on this page:

http://www.kidpoop.com/clothing/shops/page-5/

It's a very PINK logo but hey, I'm not complaining... FREE advertising is FREE advertising! :)


**UPDATE** Thank you all soo soooo much for going over to KidPoop and writing such sweet comments and rating me higher than I rated myself! ROTFL! I went over there to show Jon my feature and I was pleasantly surprised to see more than my own comment & rating. You girls are so sweet! MWAH! SMOOCH!

Well, at least my toes looked presentable...

I know this sounds like a cheesy cliché but my mom did advice me on several occasions to always wear clean underwear just in case I end up in the hospital. And I always thought that if I ended up in the hospital unexpectedly, the state of my panties will probably be the least of my worries.

Thursday morning's events left me pondering yet another twist on that old cliché ... what if your hospital visit doesn't require for anyone to gaze upon your unmentionables? As in my case. Well, my mother would have been proud because I went in for a sprained ankle and my toes couldn't have looked more beautiful! LOL! I guess it helped that just last week I went on a cruise and treated myself to a French Pedicure, so my toes were saying "Ooh-La-la" while my ankle was saying "Ouchy-Ouchy."

I twisted my ankle as I was running up the stairs carrying a wiggly 2-year-old. Not sure exactly how it happened but I remember hearing a "crack" or a "pop" and tumbling down with Sydney in my arms. I broke her fall with my body. She sprang to her feet as if nothing had happened and I stayed down there. The pain escalated second by second and by the time I reached Jon on the cell phone I was a sobbing, slobbering mess.

When we reached the ER I had to sit there holding back the screams while an uncaring admissions clerk ratted off 20 million questions to me... some were relevant, others were not only irrelevant but downright annoying!

Name?
Date of Birth?
Social Security Number?
Proof of Insurance?
Address?
Phone Number?
Doctor?
and so on...

And just when I thought the interrogation should be over, it was just getting started...

Do you have any allergies?
No

Are you taking any medications?
No, but I could REALLY USE SOME RIGHT NOW!!!!

Have you experienced any domestic violence?
No, my husband didn't push me down the stairs. Believe it or not, I did this all by myself. Well, with a little bit of help from my 2-year-old. Yep.

Are you depressed or have you had any feelings about hurting yourself?
No, but I'm feeling like I might want to hurt YOU if I don't get any meds soon!

Are you pregnant or is there any chance you might be pregnant?
No, but I think my ankle might be about 6 months along!

An hour or so later I finally got in for an X-Ray. To my surprise, my ankle was not broken (I totally thought it was!), just a bad sprain. So now I have to walk around with this nifty little air cast and a pair of crutches... but hey, don't my toes look nice?

Oh, and one good thing happened out of this nightmare hospital visit... I got a full bottle of Vicodin. :)

The world looked so beautiful from up there!

Sorry, it took me so long to share these pictures with you all. I've been so incredibly busy since we got back from vacation. But I just had to take a few minutes on this lazy Sunday morning to edit the pictures and update my blog. Hope you all enjoy them! :)

For those of you who are new to my blog (or those who may have missed a few posts), we took the family on a Florida vacation last week. Sophie & Sydney stayed at my parent's house in Cocoa, where they had a ton of fun activities planned, while Jon and I took a 4-day/3-night cruise to the Bahamas. While at Coco Cay (Royal Caribbean's private island) we took a parasailing excursion, and here are the pictures...

We met our crew and the rest of the parasailing enthusiasts here, right by this cool sign.


Getting ready to go! You can see the little boat in the background. We had 5 other couples going on the parasailing excursion with us. All of them were first-timers except one couple. The contraption is made for 2 people, so at least you're not all alone up there... thank goodness! ;)


Gettin' our gear on...


All suited up and ready to go...


And we're off! HOLY $#%*&!!!! Can you see me screaming in that picture? LOL!


I think at this point I was just thinking... "too late to back out now!" LOL! But, it was worth every penny and every worry. It was just gorgeous and a crazy wonderful experience! :)


WOOHOO! 400 feet up in the air! How beautiful and serene everything is from up here. We were up there for about 6 minutes... wish it had been longer. We just LOVED it!


My favorite picture! The Royal Caribbean cruise ship looks beautiful in the background. The waters are so blue and clear! We were kinda low in this picture... they were probably starting to reel us back in at this point.


Awww, is it time to go back already? But I was just getting used to it up here!


Reeling us back... slowly... slowly...


Oh, so close!


Almost touching the deck of the boat:


YAY! We made it back safely!! Can we go again?


Our group of parasailing enthusiasts: (the lady on the bottom left of the picture is the one responsible for all these wonderful pictures of us. We traded cameras right before we went up . She and her partner went right after us and I reciprocated the favor... what a fun-loving bunch!!)

Thanks for letting me share this wonderful experience with you all! I cannot wait to do it again!!!

MODKID Studio Sale!!!

I finally listed some Fall '06 samples off my studio! Here's the blurb ...I listed two auctions. One in size 24M / 2T (Sydney's size) and one is size 5/6 (Sophie's size).
The starting prices are set ridiculously low (priced to move, as they would say). The 3-pc. set has no reserve, so bid away. The 7-pc. set (in size 5/6) has a low reserve. As a hint, my BIN (Buy It Now) price was calculated at $25 per piece, which is crazy considering how much work went into these, and the reserve was set even LOWER... so you will be getting a deal no matter what! :)

Click here to see the following 7-piece wardrobe in a size 5/6


Click here to see the following 3-piece set in a size 2T.


For a link to all MODKID auctions, click here.

I also have these adorable L'Amour clogs in a size 12 (toddler) that are BNIB (Brand New in Box). I bought these for Sophie to use for modeling and they were way too small. She could not even get her foot into them, LOL! So these have never been worn. They are best sized for a 10, 10.5 or 11 (they run 1 - 2 sizes small). Check them out... so cute! :) I will sell these for $20, just to recover what I paid. Post a comment here on my blog, or email me directly at info@modkidboutique if you are interested in these. :)



Happy shopping, everyone!!!

A quick addition to this post...

Just wanted to let those of you who may have missed it the first time know that I still have a couple of the Baby Gassy Gooma modeling samples in the size 24M available if anyone is interested. Also, the cute pink poodle trench coat in a size 5 is still available... what a perfect accent piece for the Fall/Winter months! For more info/price on these items, check out my previous Blog Sale posting. First come - first served. :)

I'm Baaaaack! ... and ready to work!!!

Boy, this was an awesome vacation. We did everything we set out to do and more. I have so many pictures to share with you, but it'll take hours to download and edit them all. I promise to share soon!

In the meantime I want to share my newest creation. I mentioned in my last post that this was a special dress I made for the Boutique Encore launch. Well, I am just so excited about how nicely it came out! The launch is titled "Shibui" which, according to Wikipedia, means "unobtrusive beauty", but this website has a much better description of it.

The bodice features hand-made frog closures in the front and several rows of shirring in the back for a perfect fit and room for growth. The shoulder straps can be adjusted at end of auction for a shorter or taller child. The attached skirt showcases a fabulous hand-pieced stripwork of the most beautiful Chirimen kimono fabrics I have ever seen... the skirt flares out at the hem to form a perfect circle when laid flat, so this dress has TONS of twirl power. And as I mentioned in my last post, the cute little matching stuffie that Sydney carries in the auction pictures is included as well as a brand-new boxed set of wooden chopsticks.


This OOAK set will NOT be recreated as I used every last bit of these very hard to find Japanese Chirimen fabrics that I special ordered just for this launch.

Click here to check out this auction.
Also, the rest of the listings are not to be missed! These ladies really went all out for this launch... click here to see the entire Boutique Encore "Shibui" launch.

Oh, and I have not forgotten about my Fall '06 studio sale! I received a few emails from some of you requesting specific sets. Not everything from my Fall '06 collection is available. Some samples were sold back then. Others, I kept for Sydney or Sophie to wear around town (free advertising! LOL!) I promise I will sort through these emails and my samples and will get it all taken care of this week.

Also I have tons of new ideas for the new Fall '07 collections... so there are lots of new MODKID designs coming your way! Stay tuned!! :)

Cruisin'

Well, everyone, I am off on vacation in a couple of hours. Stayed up late last night packing and finishing up some last minute work and now I am ready to relax and have fun. We will spend the first 3 days hanging out at my parents' house in Cocoa... probably going to the beach, eating lots of Latin food and catching up with family. Then Jon & I will head out on a Bahamas cruise until Monday! I can't wait!! I will post pictures here when I get back. I am taking my Digital SLR with me on the cruise and leaving Sophie in charge of the point & shoot digital. She is a budding artist & photographer, so we'll see what kind of shots she gets of her time with her cousin & grandparents while Jon & I are away... should be interesting nonetheless! ;)

I didn't get a chance to list any of my Fall 2006 samples as I mentioned in my last post, sorry! I know a few of you were interested and I greatly appreciate it. Thank you to those who emailed me directly to inquire about specific pieces. I will settle up with all of you when I get back. :) Maybe I won't have that much to list after all! hee hee

On July 10th (the day we return), I will be listing my LAST Summer design before I unveil my Fall 2007 line. But this will be a special design... completely original and One Of A Kind (OOAK). I am honored to have been invited to participate in Boutique Encore's launch that starts July 10th. It is a Japanese inspired launch and one rule was that we had to use authentic Japanese fabrics for at least part of the design. Well, I ordered some Chirimen fabrics and waited ... and waited... and waited... then gave up hope... then they showed up and they were exquisite! :) I immediately knew what I was going to make with them! This design will NOT be recreated because I only received enough of this fabric to make this one special dress and the remnants were used to make some super cute Japanese stuffies that are also included in the auction... I will even include the hair accessories, ehem, chopsticks! LOL! The set is made in Sydney's size, so those of you who have purchased my sample sets know what her size is... about a 2T/3T. Straps can be adjusted (made longer or shorter at end of auction), to fit a bigger or smaller child. I will notify you all when it is up! :)

OK, so this is it! I will be back on the 10th full of pictures and stories and ready to list again, so HAPPY 4th everyone! Take care, have a great week and I'll talk to you soon!!!

Sweet Abigail

One of my favorite customers just spoiled me rotten this weekend. First she sends me pictures of her sweet daughter, Abigail, in her new "Bistro" set. I was so excited!! But then when I asked permission to feature her here on my blog, she sends me more pictures in some of the other MODKID originals she owns. I had forgotten about some of these because a couple of the separates were custom designed for Abigail, meaning that after the auction ended we worked together to make extra mix & match pieces for the sets she had won, so it was such a treat seeing these on a little girl, since they had never been modeled before! Christy, thank you SO MUCH for making my day! I will share these with the world so they can see what a happy, sweet little girl Abigail is!!



What a great way to leave this blog before going on vacation! I may have mentioned this before, but in case I haven't, my family and I are leaving for a 7-day vacation to Florida this Tuesday, July 3rd. My parents live down there, in Cocoa, so we will be staying with them. Sophie & Sydney will be hanging out with grandma & grandpa while Jon & I take a 4-day/3-night cruise to the Bahamas... WOOHOO!!! This will be a special cruise for us not only because it is the first time in a long, long time that we go anywhere together without kids, but also, the only 2 times I have gone on a cruise I was pregnant, so I was not able to enjoy myself as much as I wanted to. Let's just say that virgin CocoLoco's are not as much fun as the real ones, LOL! And, last time we went I was dying to try the parasailing and the rock-climbing wall... but both of those activities would be way too dangerous for women in my state, so I stood on the sidelines while everyone else enjoyed themselves. I did do some of the more harmless activities, like snorkeling, but my adventurous mind was dying to try the daredevil stuff, LOL! Remember the post where I mentioned that I had gone skydiving & scuba diving? Yep, this is just another one of those things to put on my "Done That!" list! :) So this time I am going ALL OUT!!!! I have always wanted to try parasailing. It looks like so much fun!! I'm THERE!

So, I will say my goodbyes now just in case I don't get a chance to update my blog tomorrow before leaving. I have so much on my to-do list it's not even funny! I really wanted to have a studio sale and clear out all my old samples to make room for my new Fall 2007 collection, but I just don't know. Ebay has been so slow lately. Do you all think I should list all my samples from last year... all the Fall '06 stuff? I have sets in size 24M/2T and some in size 5T/6 that were only worn for modeling. I also have a couple of Spring sets that I could list. Let me know if any of your would be interested in some studio samples... at this point I am not looking to make a profit, just recover my materials cost and move them out so I can make room for all the new stuff...

OK, so maybe if I have time, I might list a few things tomorrow evening and let the auctions run for 7 days so they will end when my trip ends. :) If I do, I will post it here...