Come join us July 4th!

Hello everyone -- I just wanted to pop on here and extend an invitation to all of our Blog readers to come and join us July 4th at Avalon Park. Their annual July 4th celebration will have tons of food, craft vendors and fun for the kids -- so don't forget to bring the family and a blanket to watch the fireworks. The celebration starts at 5 pm and ends after the last firework -- around 9 or 9:30. We'll be there, setting up, starting at noon so don't hesitate to come a little early to chat.

This will probably be our last craft fair for a little while, at least until the murderous heat subsides. Not many people seem interested in purchasing baby blankets when it's 95 outside ;). Our products will still be available through Etsy and custom order, so don't hesitate to contact us.

As a bonus for our loyal blog readers, we're offering 5% off your order... just mention the blog discount and you'll get your discount!

Take care and we hope to see you there :)

Jen

We're back!

Hello everyone! This is Jen and I'm back from my family's vacation to Puerto Rico (very nice!), ready to rock and roll.


The Lake Eola Farmer's Market went very well and we sold quite a few onesies and blankets to new moms and moms-to-be. We didn't see any Etsians there but we're hoping to see some people who recognize us from the internet soon. This is a picture of our booth with some of the items displayed! The only negative to the market was that some artists had a chalk contest on the paving the day before -- they were AMAZING -- and we lost several onesies after the wind blew them into the chalk. Nothing a good washing in a machine wouldn't eliminate but it was still a little frustrating.

Our trip to Puerto Rico actually netted us some FANTASTIC vintage saris -- one in a beautiful lavender/pink with gold trim and one in a deep cardinal red with silver. They are seriously some of the most beautiful pieces of material I've seen in a long time and I cannot wait to repurpose them into pillows and even a child's blanket or two. Pictures will definitely be up soon.

As far as upcoming products we're rolling out... our list includes: Organic onesies appliqued with eco-friendly felt, those sari blankets and pillows and an assortment of plush blankets in whatever designs strike our fancy and a beautiful blanket with a hand embroidered rabbit in aqua, cream and tan. We'll definitely have some cupcake items at our next farmer's market (June 1st at Lake Eola), so keep your eyes open for that. We took part in Etsy's newest Baby Shower and drew a wonderful mom of a baby girl, so we'll be rolling out a few gifts for her and her new daughter.

Anyway, I hope to have some more pictures up soon of our new designs and products -- look for them by the middle of next week! Take care :)

Lake Eola Craft / Farmer's Market

Alrighty everyone, Made By Moms will be at the Lake Eola Farmer's Market on Sunday, May 11th from 10 am until 4 pm. After you take mom out to brunch, swing her by Lake Eola for some of the best produce and crafts you'll see in Central Florida.

We look forward to seeing everyone there.

As a bonus -- if you mention that you read this post on our blog you'll receive 10% off the price of your purchase (custom orders not included) !!!!!

Have a great day!!!

Completely, totally awesome new blankets!

Ok, I haven't been this excited about our blankets in a long time. I'm so accustomed to sewing with traditional baby patterns -- cute animals, cute ocean-theme, cute bears, cute flowers -- that anything outside of the realm of "cute" has been foreign to me for a while. I am *so* not a cute person... never was and never will be. I can fawn over cutesy baby stuff with the next mom but I'll be honest when I say that clothing involving the words pink, frilly and lace will never adorn my little girl. Ever.

Well, ok, maybe a little pink. As long as it doesn't have ruffles or lace on it.

Anyway, in a kind of mini-rebellion against cute I went out and bought some fantastic new fabrics (from FabricByTheYard on Etsy) that I couldn't wait to make into some mod blankets. They're not completely done yet but I felt like I had to show them in their partly-finished state.

The first blanket is a small snuggle blanket that measures 17" square. The four squares are brown dot minky, dark pink dot minky, pink fluff and pink satin; it's backed by the coolest brown/pink paisley satin I've ever seen! The second blanket is from the mod fabric I purchased -- it's 24" x 27" and is backed by the softest chocolate swirl fabric I've ever worked with. How cool is that? The last blanket is a small snuggle blanket that comes in the chocolate mod paisley pattern and is backed by the brown swirl minky. So, what do you guys think?

I'm working on some quilts that include the fabric and I'll definitely be using the fabric to make some awesome burp cloths! Hope you guys come out to see us on Mother's Day in Lake Eola!

Happy Earth Day!

Hello everyone -- Happy Earth Day! Yay! I'm thinking my hubby and I are going to plant a tree in our yard this weekend, so cross your fingers that I can find a Yellow Trumpet Tree! :)

Anyway, I've been studiously trying to better my photography and I think I might be getting better... slowly! I've added five new listings to Etsy today -- a blanket/burp cloth gift set, three burp cloth sets and a flower blanket. I hope these enhance my shop!

This is my main photo of a beautiful white cloud design gift set. The snuggle blanket is 17" square -- perfect for the car seat or stroller -- and is oriented towards sensory stimulation in young infants. There are four squares -- cotton, flannel, fleece and satin -- with a minky backing, each square giving a different texture for your little baby. The burp cloth is matching, with the same white minky back. Yay!








This photo to the right is an example of our two burp cloth set -- with purple moons and blue clouds.






This last photo is one of my favorites -- I think it's a great closeup that I simply cannot duplicate no matter how hard I try. It's a picture of our basic burp cloth gift set with the Pastel Block and Welcome Little One burp cloths pictured. I hope you enjoyed these -- any of our items are available for purchase through our Etsy store and can be made into larger gift sets. We can create matching onesies, blankets and many other items!







Anyway, I think that's enough posting on Etsy for me for a while... let's cross our fingers and hope a few things sell. So many items are popular at craft shows -- like the burp cloths and snuggle blankets -- let's hope that popularity translates over to Etsy! Wish us luck!

Photography

Ok, so I'm being a good sport. I'm trying this whole selling-crafts-online thing because I want to broaden our sales base by more than the "Craft Market Patrons" and "Friend Referrals" in the Orlando area. I gamely set up a Myspace (not hard considering I had one already) and I'm jumping into Etsy. The latest thing has been this blog and I feel like things are churning along fairly well...

Except for one thing.....
My photographs. I look at all these listing for baby blankets and burp cloths on Etsy and I see the most beautiful pictures. I'm not sure if some sellers have hidden photography fetishes or if I'm just way behind the eight ball when it comes to style, but their pictures have mine beat by... oh... about a million to one. I'm not saying their products are better -- heck, most baby blankets are essentially the same -- but their presentations are better. Some are so beautiful, with the perfect lighting (no shadows!), perfect backdrop and exact angle that I wonder if they hired a professional photographer to come and shoot their products.

You have their pictures... then you have *MY* pictures. Bad lighting, bad setup, shadows all over the place, blankets not centered, blurry -- if something can go wrong, it will. I've tried different rooms of my house, I've tried outside, I've tried light-colored backing, I've tried dark, I've tried hanging the blankets from a canopy bed and artistically arranging the lighting, I've tried folding the blankets, I've tried draping the blankets, crumpling the blankets, laying them flat, folding down a corner, I've tried crappy camera with a flash, crappy camera without flash, awesomely-expensive camera without flash, awesomely-expensive camera with primo bounce-flash, I've tried all the lights on in my house, I've tried adding some extra halogen lights, I've tried directing a desk lamp at the setup, yet nothing I do yields that mythical "awesome Etsy photograph" moment that enhances your product instead of making look like it sucks. Honestly, that has to be the reason we're not doing better on Etsy (that and.. yeah... I haven't added like 90% of what we sell... lol). I made a sale on a pillow and, surprise, it was actually one of my better quality photographs.

I hate taking pictures of blankets. I think I've photographed the same silly blanket approximately FIVE TIMES because I can't get it right! ACK! Why oh why is this so hard for me???? *Bangs head into wall* The most frustrating part is that I know our blankets are nice -- they are well-constructed and made from top-of-the-line materials -- yet I can't convey the true softness and appeal into a photograph... which is the whole essence of being successful on Etsy.

Ugh.

Well, anyway... I have a few more pictures of our most recent blankets -- hopefully they came out better than the previous ones. The one on the left is a small (24 x 29") baby blanket with a soft snuggle flannel on one side and the softest white minky on the other, joined with satin binding while the one on the right is one of my all-time favorite blankets. I love oriental-style clothing and blankets, and this butterfly brocade is just FANTASTIC. It's a white satin brocade etched with butterflies on one side and a super-soft dark pink minky on the other. Enjoy!

Hello and Welcome to our blog!

This whole blog thing is so new to me I'm really not sure what to say here! I guess I'll just wing it and see how it goes...

Anyway, my name is Jennifer and I'm a co-owner of a small, new craft business based out of Orlando, FL. My other half, Heidi, and I make up Made By Moms and we create everything you see here, on our Myspace and on Etsy by hand. We love to sew and create everything from diaper bags to burp cloths, clothing to baby blankets. I, personally, have a great fondness for hand embroidery and hope to have a few embroidered items featured in our Etsy shop soon. When I say we're new, we're only a few months old so right now we're working hard to increase our inventory while working small craft markets like the ones in Lake Eola and Sanford. Hopefully this fall will allow us to see our first large-scale craft market.

So, who am I? I'm a 28-year-old SAHM to a beautiful (yet completely obnoxious) two-and-a-half-year-old little boy. I graduated from the University of Florida in 2001 and taught high school mathematics until I had my son. I love to read (Dean Koontz, Stephen King, etc), jog, sew, watch sports and play with my son. I'm happily married to a wonderful man who happens to be my Optometrist and we'll be going on six years this October. I'm a big geek who loves to dabble in Photoshop, watch Star Wars movies and read Harry Potter. I have a tendency to dress up when I go see Harry Potter movies (or go to pre-release HP book parties) and I still love Halloween. I can carve a mean tombstone and make all of our props for Halloween -- I'm working on the coolest cemetery ever to grace the good Orlando area. I met Heidi through our mom's group and we've been friends since our children were about 7 months old -- her daughter is only a week older than my son. Heidi is pregnant with their second child, so I'll be the one in charge of our online presence to allow her time to rest! :)

If you ever have any questions, comments or concerns about us, our products, Etsy or our policies, please contact us and we'd be more than happy to help. We'd love to create anything custom you desire -- from a portable changing pad to a full crib bedding set, we're here to please. We feel our products are among the best you can find and we hope to talk to you soon!