A Freshly Picked Giveaway

I recently had the amazing opportunity to work with Freshly Picked. If you haven't heard of them and you have a baby in your life, you are missing out and I'm here to save you! Long story short, they are an amazing USA born company run by the super awesome Susan Peterson {check her twitter here} -- you may have even spotted her on ABC's popular show, Shark Tank. I recently got my hands on a teeny tiny pair of Freshly Picked Neon Pink baby moccs and just about died when I opened the box when I saw what was inside.

I'm obsessed with packaging and when I pulled out this adorable little bag and pin and peeked inside I just wanted to grab the nearest child and let them run free in these bad boys.

 I was able to borrow a little one of a close family member and let them go wild with this pair of pink moccs.

First off, they are ADORABLE. Just holding them you feel like they couldn't possibly fit a human being and they must be for a doll. 

I am a stickler for construction and symmetry and they definitely passed the test. All the seams, fringe and edges were clean and you can definitely see the care and time each shoe took to make. At first, I was a little put off by the price {$60 a pair} but after holding them and seeing them in action, you can see the high quality and see exactly where your money is going (oh, hey 100% leather). I was curious to see how much an infant pair of Nike's cost and guess what, I found a pair for $60! Let's not forget, Freshly Picked is AMERICAN hand made...we can't say the same for other shoe companies.

When daddy was putting on the shoes, we had one little snag (literally). Where the toe meets the heel, there is a seam which is actually left open on the shoe. You can see it in this side profile of the moccs:

Well, little wiggly pinky toes had a tendency to pop out the seam and make it a little tough to get on at first. After realizing this, daddy was able to compensate and fix the issue, but that was the ONLY problem we came upon with the moccs. I personally like the split here to allow for air flow to make the shoes more comfortable and to help with sweaty teeny feet when they're out for a day of fun!

Freshly Picked is genius in their construction so no laces or velcro are needed. There is a sneaky hidden elastic around the ankle of the shoe. This helps keep them stretchy yet secure the entire time. We had zero issues with the moccs falling off whether they were running around on grass, concrete or dirt. 

Now, here's the big issue I have heard a lot of complaints about: the dirt sticking to the soles. Ummm, what? Yes, they are made of leather and the same color as the rest of the shoe so you want them to be nice, but how can you expect them NOT to get dirty? Let's be real for a second, baby feet are ADORABLE. Why wouldn't you want a little footprint on the bottom of your little one's shoes to keep?! People pay a lot of money to make those little footprints in plaster, but these can be used as a keepsake that in my opinion is even cuter for mommy & daddy to show off 20 years from now. After about an hour of play, I could see a very feint marking of baby toes on the bottom of the sole (check out the toe of the left shoe):

I thought it was cute!! Check out this used pair of moccs I found online:

At first you may think...eehhhh dirt, but think about where those little feet have gone. They may even be showing some of the FIRST steps your little one took *insert awwww here*. Overall, we were all very impressed with the quality and look of the moccs. They are clearly versatile, even neon pink, and can be used to dress up just about any outfit. They are soft, cozy and I wish they made them in my size!

So what are you waiting for?? Go to http://freshlypicked.com/ before your favorite pair sells out! Well, maybe you don't have a little one...yet. No excuses! They have bags too! They're also 100% leather and handmade in the good ol' US of A. I'm in love.

Do you want a chance for a pair of Freshly Picked but just can't spare the cash? Don't you worry! I have teamed up with them and will be GIVING AWAY A FREE PAIR through my Instagram! Just follow my shop at @inadreamboutique and see all the super easy rules on how to win these and 16 other amazing gifts. Good luck!

Here are some more chances to win...because I love you guys
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Shop Owner Special: Lookie Loo Loo

It's time for another Shop Owner Special! This week we are looking at Erica Bizon, owner and creator behind Lookie Loo Loo. I absolutely adore her little boys and it always amazes me when mommies can find a balance between being a mommy and being an amazing small business owner! Let me introduce you all ....

Tell us a little bit about yourself...
My name is Erica Bizon and I currently live in Memphis, Tennessee. My husband and I are originally from Chicago and relocated here after a weekend trip had us weak in the knees in love with the history and vintage fabulousness of Memphis. We have two boys, Lennon 2 years and Theo 1 year, who are a mere 14 months apart. They keep this mama VERY busy! 

My Etsy shop is Lookie Loo Loo (found here) and I sell card stock banners and party goods, fabric bunting and rag tie banners and am starting to do quilts, t-shirt quilts and toddler shorts and leggings. I'm obsessed with anything vintage, unique or borderline gaudy. I love thrift store shopping and antiquing. There are so many wonderful treasures to find on those excursions if you dig a little bit. I'm also a music-lover. In my world, there is little better than getting immersed in a sewing project with my favorite bands crooning me on in the background. 

How did you get the idea to start up a shop? 
I discovered Etsy through a friend way back in 2008-2009. I was immediately hooked by all the hand made goodies and unique, one of a kind finds. As anyone with a creative bone in their body, I immediately started pondering and dreaming about the possibilities of opening my very own shop. Coming from a background as a marketing director of 10 years, I started out thinking too logically. What could I add to this market that wasn't already there? How would I grow a following base? How would I market this? Was Etsy just another flash in the pan website that would disappear in a few short years? I think all of us creative brains over think that too much, and are way too hard on ourselves. We are our own worst critic. In the beginning stages of Etsy, I was childless and my purchases ran from shoes to clothing to bags to jewelry. None of which I had any idea how to make, nor the desire to make on my own. In 2011, I became pregnant with my first son. I was
working as the first Memphis Community Manager for Yelp. Now only was this my dream job, but it seemed to be the culmination of all my experiences and everything I had learned career wise. I worked so hard to obtain that position and was loving my new role in the community. Yelp focuses on and features local businesses- which is very important to me. I'd much rather spend my hard-earned money on a local or small business than a big box store. I had this foolish notion, that once becoming a mama, I'd still be able to go to restaurant openings and to eat out 90% of the time, be out and about and be seen. It became very clear to me once my son was about 6 months that I couldn't juggle both mama and Community Manager like I had wanted. I was missing out on so many little moments with my son because I was constantly glued to my computer and out at businesses. I made a very hard decision to become a stay at home mama. 

Shortly thereafter, I found out we were pregnant with number 2 (SURPRISE!). I immediately began planning and decorating his room. I knew I wanted everything to be DIY and Etsy found. I made artwork and prints, had a local woman make his sheets and crib quilt. At that point, I began to realize how easy it would be to start my own shop. It didn't have to be an immediate success, but this was something I honestly loved doing. My husband had been whispering the idea to me for a few years, but I had no clue what exactly I could make. After planning my son's first birthday party, it became clear to me that I could start with card stock and paper banners and party goods. I opened up shop in February of this year, and haven't looked back.

In the beginning of my Etsy obsession, I spent hours favoriting items that I would love to purchase and hang throughout my home. Jewelry that no one else had, clothing that you couldn't find in big box stores and chains. I had pages upon pages of items I would go back to and just dream about. While there was no way I could ever afford it all, it was my version of Carrie Bradshaw's Vogue magazine. Ha! When it came time to think of a shop name, I spent weeks brainstorming, and kept coming back to the term "looky-loo." It was catchy, and so perfectly descriptive of my introduction to Etsy. "A person who seems interested in making a purchase, but whose actual intention is only to browse:" I added a "loo" on the end, switched up the spelling, and made it official. 


What is your favorite item to make? 
My absolute favorite item to make is fabric bunting. There's something so therapeutic and rhythmic in that creation. From the time I sit down and start cutting out the fabric, to ironing and pinning, till the end stage of sewing it together and watching this masterpiece come to life. I recently took some classes to learn how to quilt and sew clothing. I am just starting the quilting process, but I have to say this will likely be my favorite once I get started. The act of taking pieces of beautiful fabric and compiling it together into a uniquely crafted item, one you cannot replicate or find anywhere else, is magical. There's no other word to describe it. The love and time and detail that go into it, all the while you're imagining the little on who will be using it for years to come. It's a really rewarding experience. 




Do you do custom orders?
Custom orders are my absolute favorite. I love taking a walk into someone else's imagination and mind and melding our two ideas together. It's amazing, and scary all at the same time. Melding two different people's ideas together is a creative person's dream. And seeing their face or hearing their words across a computer screen when they see that final project is priceless. It truly is. 

Do you use the items you make? 
My boys are the proud owners of every item I've ever made the first (or second or third) go around. We have many a fabric bunting and rag tie banner decorating our walls. I'm also in the process of making both boys a their own quilt. Lennon's will be made out of some divine Beatles fabric I stumbled upon and Theo's will be adorable monster crayon art. 

What are your goals for your products and shop? 
I don't think I'll ever get the marketing director out of my blood. So, when I sat down and really started toying with this idea, I wrote out a rough business plan. My husband's job keeps him very long hours and most holidays, so we both knew going into this rearing children thing, that with a schedule like that, one of us would need to be present for these boys all the time. I have 3-4 years until both are school aged, and if we have a third like we plan, that gives me 5-6 years to build this shop to a point that it can sustain itself and allow me to work full time from home. Ultimately, I'd like to be able to be there for them for extracurricular activities, room mother duties and PTA. This is a mother's dream, and I know it can be obtained with some very hard work these next few years. 

Do you have any advice for fellow small business owners like yourself?
My biggest piece of advice would be to utilize your social media outlets. The relationships I have made in these few short months since I've opened- business and otherwise- are priceless. The social media community I am involved with is comprised of intelligent, extremely creative, beautiful mamas much like myself. They are not only an inspiration, but they cheer me on from the sidelines. There is no competition- we all want one another to succeed. That's rare to find in a work environment, but we've all been in one another's position. And, I have great respect for anyone who puts their creativity out there for the world to judge. Even more respect for a full time mama who can find a way to juggle all of that and still run a small business. I believe that in the beginning of my Etsy experience, the social media is what was lacking. I could never get past that "how will people find me?" or "how can I market this." Since the advent of Facebook business
pages, Instagram, Twitter, etc- its become even easier to market yourself and your business. You get what you put out there. You have to be present, you have to help others. In the end, it's all returned three-fold. 
                                         
Why should we buy handmade?
I think the real reason is why SHOULDN'T you buy handmade. Not only is this a unique item no one else will have, but the time and effort that goes into creating these items is priceless. Your hard earned money isn't going back into the pocket of a multi-million dollar CEO. It's going into the bank account of a family who needs the money. You're single-handedly helping an artist to continue their dream and push themselves to a higher level. When I receive a handmade item in the mail, everything from the packaging and hand written note to the item itself is a piece of art to devour. Just staring at it and imagining th ehours of blood, sweat and tears that went into it is inspiring. 

Do you have any special discounts or coupon codes?
I will be offering a 15% discount on all shop items with the release of this blog post. You can visit my Facebook here or Instagram page @lookielooloo for the discount code! 

Let's show Erica some love from In A Dream Boutique: 
www.facebook.com/lookielooloo
www.lookielooloo.wordpress.com
www.lookielooloo.etsy.com
@lookielooloo on Instagram

Shop Owner Special: Melody's Treasure

It is that time again for me to share another amazing fellow small business owner! I always love to reach out to new crafters so let me take a moment to introduce you to Emily, owner of Melody's Treasure.

Tell us a little bit about yourself...

My name is Emily, from London, England. I live with my partner Georgia in a small flat and make homemade shabby chic style items at my dining room table during my spare time! I’m quite an outdoorsy person I like mountain biking, climbing, skate boarding and going surfing (when I have time to escape the chaos of London!)

How did you get the idea to start up a shop? 

I spend a lot of time browsing Etsy/Tumblr/Pinterest and was inspired to start crafting items for my own house and friends and family but then realised I could potentially start selling my things. Having just finished uni, I have had a bit more spare time on my hands so decided to put it to good use. I begged all my family to donate me their old jars and bought some craft items from local stores and eBay. I opened my Etsy shop mid May 2014 so it is literally brand new and only has a few items so far but much more to come in the near future so watch this space! My dad used to call me Melody as a kid as I never stopped singing and I think it has a bit more of a ring to it than Emily so thats what inspired my shop name. 

What is your favorite item to make? 

My favourite item to make is the small make up/clutch bags in my etsy shop. I’m a typically girly girl and love carrying my make up around with me from day to day but it usually gets lost in my huge bag so I will definitely by making one just for me!

Do you do custom orders?

I would love to do custom orders so just let me know what you’d like and I’ll tell you whether it can be done and how much etc...

Do you use the items you make?

I have made a set of jar candle holders for myself which look lovely in my living room!

What are your goals for your products and shop? 

I don’t have any long term goals for the shop but I would love to branch out and for someone to ask me to do a whole wedding collection, i.e. bunting, table centre pieces, favours, cutlery holders, bridesmaid bags etc. The thought of organizing a project from start to finish and making everything from scratch excites me. I think i’ll need a bigger table though!

Do you have any advice for fellow small business owners like yourself?

Use social media to your advantage; Facebook is great in terms of getting people you know on board/seeing your products. I also use Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram to draw attention to my Etsy shop which seems to have worked so far. Word of mouth is also a great way to promote your small business so use your networking skills and be passionate about your product.

Why should we buy handmade?

In the last couple of years I have used etsy a lot for birthday/Christmas and occasion gifts and really believe in supporting local/small businesses who make their products by hand. This makes the shopping experience so much more personal as you know where your product has come from and can often custom order to get exactly what you want. Doing business with small homemade shops is never unappreciated as you are enabling them to continue doing what they love!

How do you balance your personal life and your social media/Etsy/small business life? 

Social media/Etsy life fits in well as am only working part time this summer since finishing studying. My iPhone is constantly attached to my hand and the etsy apps both for shopping and selling are great for keeping track of your products and visitor statistics. I’m a little bit addicted to social media but I think in terms of my Etsy shop this will be an advantage!


Let's all show some love from In A Dream Boutique and follow Emily!

Instagram: @melodystreasure
Etsy: melodystreasure.etsy.com

Seeing Green

I always find myself promising to eat more veggies. I go to the store, buy a cart full of healthy veggies...and then they rot in my fridge. I don't know why I do it. I have such good intentions but when it comes time to actually EAT them, it's just....eew.

If you're like me I may have a helpful solution for you: SMOOTHIES! I mean, who doesn't love Jamba Juice? The only bag thing is they have a surprisingly high amount of sugar and calories (which totally defeats the purpose). 

Are you ready for this...and I apologize in advance for totally ruining this for you but one 28oz Razzmatazz (my favorite) is almost ONE HALF CUP of sugar. A HALF of a cup. Let's all take a minute to go into our kitchen, pull out the measuring cup and really just take it in. 

That is a ridiculous amount of sugar to be consuming in a meal, let alone in one day. So how do we fix this? Homemade smoothies of course. I have one recipe that I LOVE and even got my man to drink it, and then say it was delicious! I have a few steps to explain first...but I promise it is definitely worth the prep.

In A Dream Green Smoothie Recipe:

First, I bought this ginormous box of Organic Baby Spinach. I buy it at Vons, but your local grocery store should have something similar. 

I always have an issue with not finishing it, so I came up with a genius idea to preserve it for a LONG time: blend and freeze! It's super quick and really simple. I just threw all of it in my amazing Ninja blender with a teeny bit of water (just to help it move around better) and let it liquify!

Next is the crazy part...pour it all into an ice cube tray. I only had one tray so I filled them up to the top and it filled up one full tray. I recommend doing half-size cubes to fill about 2 trays to make it go a little farther....but its still enough for 16 smoothies. At $5 for 16 thats only .31 cents of spinach in each smoothie!

Now just throw that bad boy in the freezer. When they're nice and frozen, just pop one out and throw it in the smoothie mix. 

As far as the rest of the smoothie, I use the 16 oz single serve cup that came with my Ninja. I toss in one spinach cube, about 8 small frozen strawberries, a small handful of mixed frozen berries, 1/4 cup cucumber (it really ads a crisp refreshing surprise) and fill the cup halfway with my favorite natural orange juice. I know OJ has more sugar than some would want to add, so you can switch it out for any juice or even almond milk. You can see my cup here pre-orange juice. 

Another trick you can use that I love is to chop your cucumber into bite size pieces and pre-freeze them! Just like the spinach, they will last way longer and you don't have to worry about using it all at once. 

I hope my "secrets" help you find a healthier and more natural alternative for getting your fruits and veggies. Smoothies have been noted to be a better alternative to getting  fruits and veggies than juicing since juicing extracts all of the pulp (which holds almost all of the nutrients).  I figure if I don't eat them, at least I'll drink them in a yummy smoothie!

Because Everyone Loves Cupcakes

Have I mentioned how much I love Etsy? It is probably one of the best websites....ever. You can find some AMAZINGLY talented gals and guys on there and it's much more satisfying buying handmade knowing someone put hours of work into what you purchased. 

Because I love handmade shops so much, I have decided to start featuring some of my favorites here! I handpicked this first shop, ladawnelaine because I have a not-so-secret passion for baking cupcakes (I mean who doesn't) and I'm obsessed with teeny tiny decorations. So without further ado, let's meet LaDawn, our friend from the North (Ontario, Canada) the owner and mastermind behind ladawnelaine 

Tell us a little about yourself -
I live with my husband Jordan who is a graphics designer, (www.whiteboarddesign.com), and our 7 month old puppy, Moose. Crafting is one of my favorite things, and my husband often works late into the evening. We have offices across from each other and while he's working on graphic design, I'm often working on a project too!

Hold on..back up! Let's all take a moment to bask in Moose's cute-ness. Want more? Follow him on his Instagram @moosetheschnauzer

Tell us a little about your "free" time:
My idea of downtime is creative time! I love having a project on the go. Whether that means sewing up a storm, or baking something sweet! In my shop I sell party decor as well as handmade gift packaging. I just recently started making homemade cakepops (deliciously moist cake on a stick covered in melting chocolate), and am planning to start a local business selling them this summer! 

What lead you to open ladawnelaine?
Planning for our wedding several years ago, I realized how much fun it was to DIY, so to speak! That's how my shop came to be. 

What is your favorite item to make?
I quite enjoy making cupcake toppers! It's a relaxing pastime for me and takes my mind off of my busy teaching schedule!

If you could offer a piece of advice to fellow small business owners, what would it be?
If you are putting your best foot forward, and creating items that YOU love and would buy, chances are, your customers will be more interested in your products, too!

Do you offer custom orders?
Yes, a lot of my cupcake toppers are customizable. I do custom colored drawstring bags as well! 

Do you like to use your own products?
There is a leather gift card pouch currently listed in my shop which is my favorite item at the moment! I created one for my husband last Christmas, and decided to make a few more since he loved it so much! They're made with high quality cowhide leather.

Yeah...but WHY buy handmade?
Supporting the handmade community is important to me because it connects you to the artist on a more intimate level. I think products are that much more enjoyable when you know their back story!

Now because you guys are so amazing, LaDawn has provided us all with her coupon code SUMMERSHIP for free shipping in her shop! The best part, she ships to Canada, US, and Australia! Her shop has amazing custom cupcake toppers and bags and they are all very reasonably priced. You can get a set of 24 toppers (the perfect amount for all you box mix users) for only $15. You can also upgrade for only $3 more and get a fully customizable message to put in the little flags! shop ladawnelaine on Etsy here

I hope you all have officially fallen in love with LaDawn, her cupcake toppers (and Moose) and show her some social media love...and don't forget to mention In A Dream Boutique!  

Follow LaDawn on Twitter & Instagram @ladawnouellette