Petit Amoir - My New Adventure!

I thought I better do a bit of a post about what I've been working on for the last 6 months. Finally on 8th September Petit Armoir was born! She has been a labor of love and I'm more than pleased with the result. 

Whilst there's still a long way to go in both renovations, website development and stock, she's looking so good and it's been flat out since opening. 

Here's what she looks like....

Street view

Front window

Signage (which I love!)

Inside

Front counter which is yet to have the logo added. Note awesome chandelier!

Kids play area complete with perspex barrier in front of TV so no breakages!

Linen from BABU & 'and the little dog laughed'

Babies

Boys & Girls sizes 2-14yrs

There's still lots to do like wallpaper the back wall, more stock to buy, advertising to organize etc. But so far so good. I'm so proud of what I've put together and I've had lots of great feedback. It makes all the long nights after working all day in the old shop worthwhile!

What do you think? 

Sneak Peak Summer 2012

Something a little different today and more in line with my passion......


I thought I'd share some of the Summer 2012 kids range coming out with a sneak peak of some of the stock I'm getting into my new shop. I also thought it's time to reveal the new name!


Deciding on a business name is really, really, REALLY hard! There were loads of options to choose from but you want to sound original, have the right "feel" to the name because it can dictate your logo, image and ultimately type of customer that walks through your door. 


After a lot of debating, back and forth with friends and family I finally chose this name:

And this is my new logo. You like?

I've signed quite a few labels already and will be looking at more at the upcoming Kids In Style Expo in Melbourne. So here's a sneak peak at some of the designs coming out for your kids this summer. 

Some very cool sunglasses by Babiators

Gorgeous singlets and matching headbands by Fawn & Milk

Summer Mary-Jane's by WALNUT Melbourne

How adorable is this jumpsuit in dusty pink by Baobab? 

Boys aren't forgotten in these stylish organic cotton unisex harem pants and pine needle print tee by Baobab

Fun and practical for play. Chemical free with 100% organic cotton. Emily definitely needs one of these navy play-suits by Baobab.

I've got your cool dude covered with Freshbaked. Sizes 3 to 14. 

This dress is perfect for year 6 school dances or parties. It comes in sizes 3 to 14 and it's by Freshbaked. 

New to the kids market is Milk & Sugar. Pretty prints and available in sizes 0000 to 0. I'm in love with this new label!

Totally on trend, the boys range of Milk & Sugar is very special. 

Another new comer. The Letter M specialises in sizes 8 to 14 and it's so refreshing to find a Tweenie label that's both young, on trend and still age appropriate. 

Natural hues are definitely in this summer for Tween's. How greet would your 12 year old look in this number by The Letter M at her school formal or Christmas Party? 

So that's my preview of Summer 2012. I think this season is going to be huge and I can't wait to hear what you think of it. 

Little Me Market

Very soon we have a new handmade market coming up in Wodonga called the Little Me Markets. It specialises in baby and children's handmade items and I'm determined to make something worthy of it.

My idea is simple. A bag. A library/childcare/swim/wet bag to be exact. I've ordered a heap of fabric on line because nobody likes to see fabrics they can buy at Spotlight.

Last night I began making my prototype with a cheap fabric I had lying around the house.

I started with a bag 30x40cm and my intention was to sew a clear plastic window on the front that you can slide a card or piece of paper into to write the child's name, class and school on. The plastic PVC was too thick and my sewing machine just pulled it along and wouldn't sew it to the fabric. The bag was also too small to be a decent library bag. Kids picture books can be big and i wanted a bag big enough to fit a towel if used for swimming classes.

This was my second attempt tonight and I purchase thinner PVC earlier today hoping I would be able to sew it on. I ended up hand blanket stitching it and I'm still not happy with the finial outcome. Whilst the rest of the bag is great, the plastic window looks shonky and hand stitching it means I can't turn out 20 or so bags by market time as it'll take too long.

So back to the drawing board and I'll have a third attempt tomorrow night.

One success of the night's crafting was my stand for the new boys accessories range I have at the shop. They're fabric covered magnets and badges and they look very cool. Apparently boys love these. I grew up in a house of girls so I'm taking Mum's with sons word for it!

The stand was originally a slate grey color so I covered it in white fabric and the two ribbons were hot glued to the top and bottom of the stand so I can attach the badges to them. I can't wait to put all the magnets and accessories on it tomorrow and see how it looks.

Finally this is my little munchkin this morning pretending to blog while we watched retro mummy on Channel 9.

I love that she's my walking advertisment for the shop in her Gaia Organic Cotton Tee and Leggins and her Walnut Melbourne Mary Jane shoes.

Social Media Bullshit

Recently I held a competition on my Facebook page to get to 250 likers. I don't know why I put so much emphasis on getting so many likers.

I posted and promoted and shared and did liking ladders all to get to this magical number of 250. I had a giveaway of a $50 gift voucher and customised handmade tee by A Dor able. But why?

New likers, or any likers for that matter does not mean I have 250 customers who are buying from my kids clothing on-line shop. It doesn't even mean 250 people like my shop. It means a certain number of people just liked my page to win a gift voucher and when I announced the winner my number of likers magically went back down.

Ms J from the cafe around the corner popped in to say hello on Friday. She told me she went out the night before and ran into a woman she hadn't hung out with for 15 years and hadn't even seen for 5 years. This woman had sent a friend request to her on Facebook. Ms J felt obliged to accept the request but recently culled her friends list to only include people she actually talks to and family members. The woman wanted to know why Miss J deleted her as a friend and was very upset (some might say aggressive) about the fact that Miss J had deleted her.

My point is.....do we place too much emphasis on social media? I mean, I follow a lot of blogs, I write a blog, I Facebook, I Twitter. How many people do I actually talk to? Apart from face to face customers, probably not that many.

In some ways Facebook has helped me reconnect to a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time and some of them have become close friends again. On the other hand I have at least 100 "friends" that I have blocked posts, don't see or speak to, don't actually like and probably don't really like me. So why are we friends?

My sisters and I never really called each other much. We never needed to, we always just pick up where we left off. Now that we are all connected on Facebook we chat, post photo's of our kids, email and see each other even more. Why couldn't we do that without Facebook?

I don't have answers to my questions. I don't even have an ending to this post. Social Media can be bullshit and it can also be a great way to feel a little less alone in a huge world.

How Was Your Day Dear?

I'm single parenting at the moment as hubby is on "a business" trip. This business trip happens to be in Coffs Harbour in a 5 star luxury resort and his room, with it's king size bed and spa, overlooks the ocean. He tells me tonight that he spent a hard morning brainstorming in an IT workshop, then spent the afternoon in the pool and got sunburnt.

I on the other hand was woken at 6am by our screaming toddler, who by the way didn't go to bed until 10pm last night! My morning shower was taken whilst Miss E had her face pressed up against it crying "Daddy" and staring at me like I could magically produce him. After getting us both dressed and breakfast, cleaning the house, doing the dishes and putting on a load of washing I had to answer a phone call from hubby just as I was about to race out the door. Apparently it's not nice to just hang up on someone who tells you they just woke up (it was 8:30am) and what a glorious sleep he had. Really? Do I GAF???

Dropping Miss E off at daycare I politely ask if they can please make sure she wakes up at 1:30pm as she hasn't been going to sleep at night and I want to tire her out so she'll go straight to bed tonight. This is followed by a lecture from the childcare worker advising me I enable her too much by giving her too many cuddles and I should just let her cry it out. She tells me they have no trouble getting her to sleep during the day. Well that's just great!

I get to work and my back room looks like a nuclear stock explosion. There is literally no room to move and so after spending the first hour rearranging I finally am able to make my way to the kitchen where I find a mouse has accidentally got caught in the trap my Dad set behind the fridge 6 months ago. I feel sorry for him. I also feel disgusted and dry retch as I pick up the trap and throw the entire thing in the bin. I'll just buy a new one, it's too much to ask me to get the thing out of there!

I go to put pictures of my new Gaia Organic Cotton Winter 2012 collection on my website and realise that my computer just wiped the shop copy of the stock images. Aaaarrrggghhh!!! Another job I'm going to have to do at home on the trusty Toshiba.

Gaia Organic Cotton Winter 2012 Preview

 After this discovery I decided to have a go at doing a new window for the shop. Originally I wanted to do a Red and White theme for Valentines Day, but my new Eternal Creation range hasn't arrived yet and so I'm having to make do with Pink and Blue. I think it still turned out pretty good.

 Anyway, picked up Miss E from childcare and found they had let her sleep for over two hours today so she was not tired at all. She also had a big scratch on her face which they couldn't tell me how it happened. This is not the first time I've had these kind of issues, however luckily we are on the waiting list for our preferred childcare centre in central Albury and hopefully soon we'll have a great place where I don't have to worry.

Tonight it took until 9pm to get Miss E off to sleep. We raced around the back yard when we got home, made dinner, had a bath, watered the garden, read books and played until she was exhausted at 7pm. Then as soon as she lied down and I turned out the light the crying game started. I ignored, painted some new shop fittings, did another load of washing, took out the garbage, checked Facebook, until I heard the whiny cry change to a distressing scream so I raced back in to find her soaked in sweat and she had vomited all down the front of her PJ's.

I cleaned her up, gave her some warm milk, cuddles and kissed her and told her it would be OK, put her back in bed and held her hand until she finally drifted off to sleep.

Then hubby called........

Seriously I couldn't give a toss how wonderful your damn resort is and how you plan to take me there one day!

Apparently it's rude to hang up on someone when there telling you how wonderful their life is when your day has been so shitty.....

How was your day?

Fresh

Sometimes it's hard to come up with new ideas. Yesterday I spent most of the day trying to decide on what to put in my window. It shouldn't be hard to do a window. But when it's the end of a season and you've seen the same Gaia Organic Cotton and Eternal Creation Clothing for the last 6 months it's hard to decide what to put in it.

So this is what I picked:

I decided on a handmade mixed with the current season. I have Walnut Melbourne Cruise Shoes in Taupe, a Skeanie cowboy hat, Gaia Organic Cotton Bodysuit, Handmade by Terri Applique singlet, Eternal Creation shirt and shorts, Three Potato Four dress and C for Cat reversible dress. The Mummy and Bubby owl set by A Dor able is one of my favourites. The baby owl has a rattle in it and the mummy owl is the perfect size for a cot throw cushion. The teddy has been with the shop since I bought it last year.

In my quest to increase sales for kids clothing online I went to see Mrs Doodlebug to get some artistic help with drawing a bear and coming up with a color scheme for the shop. After we'd told each other our life stories, ate a bowl of cherries, played with her gorgeous baby (who coincidentally has the same name as mine), wondered about how she's English born in August married to an Aussie and I'm an Aussie born in August married to and Irishman who we both met our husbands whilst on holidays immediately getting pregnant and both our husbands have their birthdays in January, we finally put pen to paper and drew the most quirky, whimsical bear I have ever seen. She truly is talented. Mad but talented! We also picked out a new color scheme for the shop but you'll have to wait to see what that is.

Next I helped her with deciding on a Madeit.com shop, Etsy shop or Pinterest. It can be so confusing when you have a great product that your ready to take to the next level and there are so many choices. I suggested she stick to Facebook and Madeit.com and the rest would come when she perfected these. So I was wrapt today when I got and email to say she had opened her Madeit.com Doodlebugs shop!

I think it's great that we can help each other with our businesses. We get to double up on promoting our business through each other and our networks so it's win win.

Al Olio

It's been a gruelling couple of days at the shop. I have my summer sale on and people have been going crazy over the recycled children's clothing. Weird because it sat there for the last 4-5 months and didn't budge, now all of a sudden it's on sale and they're swarming like bee's. I don't think I could have fitted any more women in my shop this morning. Mum's with kids, there mum's tagging along watching the little ones who insist on trying to run off out the door (luckily I have a child gate locking them in).

By 11am (I open at 10am) I had met my sales target for the day. Brilliant! Now I can sit back and relax. Wrong, wrong wrong! I check my emails and 3 suppliers want me to go to viewings of Summer 2012/13 stock. What! This summer is not even over. This is something I've learnt. You buy 6 months in advance and designers design 9-12 months in advance. Lucky I'm an organiser so planning this far in advance is kind of fun. Although I've already forgotten what I bought for winter 2012.......

Hubby had an overnight installation job (he works in IT) so I feel like I've hardly seen him the last couple of days. We wave at each other in the driveway and kiss each other when we get a second. Because of the type of work he does and who he works for he often has trips away. Unfortunately we are both away one week or another for most of February and Miss E will be in a one parent household for most of the month. Great timing since she's decided to be super clingy now.

So to unwind tonight I thought I'd make myself a late supper of Spagetti Al Olio with a little chilli, relax in front of my laptop and catch up on my blog. I love cooking. There's something so relaxing and cathartic about creating something special to sit and enjoy at the end of a hectic day. Well I put way too much chilli in the spagetti and now my mouth in on fire! All I can do is laugh.

Life is busy and throws us challenges every day. It's how we handle them that matters.  How do you unwind?

Webisphere

Why do teenagers persist in hitting my light box sign out the front of my shop? Is it because they can reach it when they jump high enough? Is it because it's so boring walking down the street with a bunch of hormonal, pimple faced friends and that's the only exciting thing they can think of to do? It drives me crazy! I'm just waiting for it to explode one day and fall all over their little heads.....wishful thinking.....

This is the front of my little shop Bearly Worn in Albury

Speaking of the shop, I spent about two hours yesterday conversing with my favourite web geek Fiona who gave me loads of tips and tricks to organically get my website on the first page of the Google searches.

Two days ago I wrote down some goals for 2012 and one of them was to get at least one online sale per day. Children's clothing on-line is incredibly competitive so it's great to find out exactly how Google works and how to get my website up there without paying Google $500 a month for AdWords.

Basically it's a popularity contest and the more my site is written about and linked to the better. So now I'm trawling for kids fashion reviews and blogs that I can leave comments on and link to my site to get it up there. I've also got myself a gravatar (globally recognised avatar) so that every time I do make a comment my picture comes up.

So my next step is modernising my logo and home page. I'm starting with my Bear. It's not that there's anything wrong with the little fella but he's just a bit drab and watercolor-like. Maybe old-fashioned is more the point. I inherited him when I bought the shop and if the rest of the place can have a face lift, so can he! So, I'm calling on my friend Mrs Doodlebug who does amazing work and hopefully she can come up with something for me. God I haven't even asked her what it'll cost me yet!

Step 3 is to get my web geek Fiona  to update my artwork and logo on-line. I've decided to change around some of the wording so that it says New and Recycled Children's Clothing instead of the other way around.

Which brings me back to my damn light box.....what to do with that? Do I bother being charged a fortune to change it or will people not really notice it or care? Is it more important to update what's on-line and my business cards etc? Or should I be a perfectionist and update all of it?

At the end of the day it all comes down to dollars and cents so I guess I'll prioritise as usual and start with "A" and move my way down the list.

Best case scenario the ratbag teens hit it and it breaks and the insurance company pays for it........but that is wishful thinking!