Kiddywampus!

I am so honored that my I Spy Bags have landed a spot in the quirky toy shop at Kiddywampus in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. It sounds like such a cool place - I wish I could visit! The owner, Amy Saldanha, chose to carry my rocket ship, cupcake, and robot I Spy Bags. From her website: "...kiddywampus is an interactive, inspiring shop and art studio. Created by a lawyer and mother of three, kiddywampus aims to provide a selection of the most unique toys, books, and accessories for arty, curious kids."

Above is a picture of the "shop" part of the store. Kids are allowed (in fact encouraged) to play with the toys, and parents don't have to worry about saying "don't touch that!" What a mother's dream!

Kiddywampus also hosts classes (theater workshops and fine art classes) and parties in a spacious on-site art studio, where the techniques of Jackson Pollock serve as inspiration, and kids fling and splatter paint all over the place! (and the best part... they clean it up for you).And, drum roll please... when you purchase something from Kiddywampus, you are making a donation to charity. Yes, that's right! She announced in September 2007 that all after-tax profits will be donated to charities benefiting children. She has already partnered with Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

If you are ever in the twin cities area, please stop in! Then come back here and tell us what it was like in person, because we ALL want to know :)

Is it too early for Christmas?

I'm usually one of those people who complains about Christmas decorations coming out before Thanksgiving, but working in the world of retail and wholesale brings Christmas a little early! I have all kinds of goodies up my sleeve that I can't wait to implement and tell you all about! For now, a little taste of Christmas....

The goldfinch takeover

A few weeks ago, I took these pictures through my studio window (so they are a little blurry...). For about four days, there were 8-10 goldfinches outside my window at any given time. The sunflowers were just going to seed, and the birds were having a hay day!

For your princess...

Introducing my new princess crown. I'm excited about this one! I'm breaking the mold of my usual crazy shapes and doing something I think will appeal to all those girly-girls out there! It has been a real process figuring out the bugs - and the photography has been a bit tricky. I tried photographing it on white so I could essentially erase the background and do some fun photoshop background, but my computer was having a hard time distinguishing between the background and the crown, so I gave up on that. Then I photographed it on a black background to try the same method, but ended up with a black outline/shadow all around that made it look very obvious that it was cut out. So, for now, it is just on black, but I'm working on some other options to have a better picture for my website, wholesale brochure, and press sheets.

Mississippi Children's Museum

One of the things that has kept me so busy over the last month is a very special project for the Mississippi Children's Museum. I was contacted about my ability to put together a special I Spy Bag that would be like "Mississippi in a bag." After several weeks, many excited phone calls, and lots of "email tag," I came up with an I Spy Bag inspired by their adorable rocket ship logo.The actual logo has a space needle top which was problematic and left out, but I am very pleased with the result! The museum is in the final stages of development (actually being built as we speak), and they will be using these bags to promote the museum and generate excitement about all that can be found there. I was told "we want people to play with these bags, then visit the museum, and be like 'Hey! I saw that in the bag!'" They presented an original list of "dream" items - some were quite a challenge! With some creative thinking, a few custom photo tiles, and some serious searching on my part, we came up with a fabulous list very tailored to their museum and state. Some of the fun things inside include a shrimp, tugboat, globe, space shuttle, and local road signs.

It was a huge order to fill, and I am thrilled to have it finished and shipped out. I've been told that the promotional bags will be revealed at a week-long fundraising event that began yesterday, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they are received! They are already talking about a scaled down version to carry in their gift shop :)

This was a really FUN project to work on, and I hope to generate some excitement from other organizations that could benefit from such a specialized item. To learn more about the amazing Mississippi Children's Museum, please visit www.mississippichildrensmuseum.com. If you are interested in hiring me to design an exclusive I Spy Bag for your organization, please send an email to thosegreathousewomen (at) gmail (dot) com.

Preparing for Halloween!

Sorry, I've been on blogging vacation. The good news is, I have new products to show you! I'm finally getting into the Halloween spirit (my mom, too), and we have several new designs to showcase...
Even one just for autumn: