Baby Guessing Pool and Easter Outfit Giveaway!

What better way to celebrate the new addition to the Sweet Child of Mine family than with a giveaway? Instead of a boring old drawing, you can enter to win this adorable prize by making a guess in the Baby Pool! Whoever guesses the closest to our baby's birth date, weight, length and gender wins!

Up for grabs is one of our most popular items. This is going to be the baby's Easter outfit, but the fabrics are so versatile, they can be worn for other occasions. Since I don't anticipate having much time to sew with a newborn, I'm making the outfit ahead of time. I don't know the baby's gender, so I'm making one of each in a size 0-3 months. The winner of the Baby Pool will win either the dress or vest-whichever one our baby doesn't need. 

To Enter:

Step 1: Follow the Sweet Child of Mine Blog

Step 2: Enter your guess in the Baby Pool.

The winner will be announced after the baby's arrival. If you want to be notified in the event that you are the winner, please enter your e-mail address in the box where it asks how you know the parents (it will be visible to all who view the pool). Otherwise, I will post the name of the winner here on the blog and on the Sweet Child of Mine Facebook page. "Liking" the fan page is not required, but would be helpful in the case that you win but don't provide an e-mail address. If the winner does not claim the prize within 48 hours, an alternate winner will be chosen.

I'm open to answering questions if anybody needs more information to make an educated guess. Post them here.

Here are the stats from my first two children:

Sweet Child #1: Girl, 8lbs 5oz 21.75 inches, born 5 days after due date

Sweet Child #2: Boy, 8lbs 7oz 20.5 inches, born 5 days after due date

Have fun and happy guessing!

Q&A

• How or why did you get started with your craft/business? When my daughter was a baby, I found myself frustrated and unhappy with store bought clothing. The stuff from the big box stores were poorly made and just didn't seem like they would last through much wear and tear. The clothing from  boutique-style stores was just too expensive for something that would be spit up on (or worse), then shortly outgrown. I also didn't want to be afraid to let her play out of fear of ruining an expensive outfit. My other issue was that everywhere we went, there was always at least one other girl in the exact same outfit. I have always loved creating my own style (which is much easier for adults since there are so many more places to shop for clothing), and I wanted the same for my little girl. It occurred to me that I solve my clothing problem by making affordable, stylish, durable garments myself. I got a lot of comments about her clothes, and after several suggestions that I start selling my creations, Sweet Child of Mine was born.
• Is there a story behind the name of your shop? I wanted something memorable that reflected my love of children. My daughter's nickname is Sweets so I wanted to incorporate that, and came up with Sweet Child of Mine.
• What has been the most rewarding thing about running your own shop? The  most rewarding thing is getting to do something I love and being able make others happy with my clothing. I also love being able to help out children in need by donating at least 10% of my sales to charities that benefit children.
• What has been the hardest? The hardest thing is trying to distinguish myself from the many other wonderful Etsy shops out there selling children's clothing.
• Do you have a specific schedule during the day you follow while working on your craft, or do you fit it your work in whenever you can throughout the day? I mostly sew in the evenings after dinner. When I get small breaks during the day, I work on editing photos, adding and editing listings,  answering e-mails, updating my business Facebook page.
• What is your most favorite item to create? My favorite items to create are custom orders for birthday outfits. I love that I can be a part of making their day special.
• If you have children, how do you manage everything (being a mom, running a shop, etc)? I try to get all of my housework done in the morning and early afternoon. I take breaks and play with the kids. Then after dinner and my husband goes to work, I go downstairs to sew. The kids usually go with me and play with their toys, and they like to watch me and sometimes they even sit on my lap while I sew. My kids always come first. I don't always have the perfect balance between sewing and housework. If I get a lot of orders or I'm closing in on a deadline to get my shop stocked before a holiday, sometimes the dishes and laundry start to pile up. It's even more challenging now that I'm near the end of my pregnancy, because some days I'm just exhausted.
• Where do you create (your own room, a corner of the kitchen, in a pile on the dining room floor, etc)? I have a large room downstairs where I sew, There is enough room that my kids can play (and even ride their tricycle).
• What is your favorite color? Do you find yourself using it often in your crafting? My favorite color is green. I don't specifically use it more than any other color. Most of the clothing I make is holiday-specific, and I usually let my daughter choose some of the fabrics.
• How do you spread the word about your shop? The best thing I've done as far as promoting my shop goes is to join the EtsyKids Team. There are over 600 member who work together and promote each other's shops. I also promote through my blog and Facebook pages. I've also participated in giveaways on other blogs. Locally, I promote by word of mouth. I carry business cards in my purse and when people ask where my kids' clothes came from, I tell them and give them a card. I also make clothing as gifts for my friends' kids and my nieces and nephews. Of course my main reason is because I think handmade gifts are more thoughtful, but if word gets out about my business, then it's a bonus.
• Are you a morning person or a night owl? I'm definitely a night owl, and luckily my kids seem to be too. 
• Do you listen to music while you work? If so, what do you listen to? I don't listen to music while I work since I'm usually interacting with my kids. 
• Where do you see yourself and your shop in the next year? Five years? In the next year, I'd love to have grown my business to the point where I have a more steady income. In five years, I'd like to have enough business that running my shop is my full-time job. My dream would be for the business to be our family's sole source of income.
• Any advice you would give to someone considering opening their own shop? My advice to a new shop owner would be to try to find something that sets them apart from the competition. Another thing is to join a team on Etsy. It's a great way to network and get help from experienced shop owners. Read the merchandising reports that Etsy puts out, and tag your items with any relevant keywords from the reports to get your items found in searches and chosen for treasuries. Lastly, show respect for other Etsy sellers and do not copy designs or patterns from other sellers. 

Tie Tying Tutorial (say that 5 times fast!)

Our ties have quickly become one of our hottest items! To save paper (and who keeps the stuff that comes with the package anyway?) I'm putting the instructions online.


Step 1: Lay the tie and band pieces perpendicular with the tie piece on top of the center of the band as pictured (narrow end at the top). For a longer tie, move the tie piece toward the narrow end of the tie piece and for a shorter tie, move the band down toward the wide end of the tie piece.

Step 2: Fold the narrow end of the tie piece down behind the band.

Step 3: Fold the narrow end of the tie piece over the wide end. This is a good time to make sure the tie piece is centered on the band piece and is the desired length.

Step 4: Fold the narrow end of the tie piece up and behind the neck band. 

Back View

Step 5: Bring the narrow end in front of the neck band.

Step 6: Pull the narrow end down behind the wider end of the tie piece.

Step 7: Hold the knot and pull the narrow end down until it's tight. It may not look right at this stage, but that's ok.

Step 8:  Pull the ends of the neck band straight out, and it should look like this:

The neck band has an extra long velcro closure to achieve a perfect fit for a variety of sizes. The length can be adjusted from 10 to 16 inches. Combined with the adjustable neck band, these ties will grow with your little guy.

Sweet Child of Mine Update

I'm excited to announce that we will be adding Sweet Child number three to our family in March! I will be closing the shop for custom orders on March 10th (subject to change if the little one decides to make an early entrance), so all Easter orders will have to be received by that date. Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day orders will not be affected. The store will remain open for in-stock orders which will ship out within two business days. I will do my best to stock as many sizes and fabric selections as possible.

Current turn-around time for custom orders is 10 business days.

Helpful Tagging Tips for Etsy Sellers

I created this post to share with my EtsyKids Team regional group.These are some things I've learned along the way that will hopefully help newer Etsy sellers label their items in a way to get more exposure. 

Each month, Etsy publishes a merchandising report that lists what is trending at that particular time. Treasury curators will choose items that fit the keywords in this report, because it maximizes the chance of their treasury being chosen for Etsy's front page. The items in these treasuries get tons of views! Even if your item doesn't make it to the front page, being featured in a treasury gives you lots of exposure. You can increase your chances of being chosen for a treasury by tagging your items with the keywords from the Etsy merchandising report (of course you need to make sure these words accurately describe your item).

I use all 13 tags in almost all of my listings. Make sure the colors of your item are tagged, because curators use a certain color theme in their treasuries. Be specific about the shade of the color if possible, especially if the color is mentioned in the Merchandising Report. For example, if your item is mustard yellow, or phlox purple, then tag those specific colors, don't just tag yellow or purple. Other things to tag are the season, any holidays or current trends that your item represents, possible recipients (boy, baby, woman etc), occasion (anniversary, birthday, new baby, etc) and anything else you can think of that accurately describes your item. You never know what random thing people will be looking for to curate a treasury. A personal example is a tie I have listed that is made of blue fabric with orange fish and there are small white bubbles. That item was just featured in a treasury today called "Babies and Bubbles". I'm glad I tagged "bubbles" even though it was not a significant part of the tie! Please note, you cannot use tags that describe a potential use for your item like "gift" or "stocking stuffer". (You CAN suggest these uses in the Description section of your listing).  For a complete list of the new tagging rules, click here.

The November merchandising report can be found here. The Pantone Color Trend Report for fall can be found here.

If you have any questions, please ask, and if you have any listings you need help tagging, post them here, and we can all give suggestions.

Christmas Shopping EtsyKids Style

Are you looking for a unique gift for the special children in your life? Are you sick of crappy plastic toys and sweatshop clothes from the box stores? Perhaps you want to buy a handmade gift and support a small business, but purchasing online makes you nervous.

Etsy is the solution to all of these problems! For those who may not be familiar with Etsy, it is a website where crafters and artisans sell their handmade products. Everything in Etsy is handmade, with the exception of vintage items and craft supplies. This is NOT your grandma's craft bazaar! Most of the items are very high quality, and there is a wide variety of items and crafting styles. You'll find clothing for all members of the family (yes, the pets too!), toys, jewelry, art and home decor. The crafting methods range from sewing, knitting, crocheting, wood-crafting, metalworking, graphic design, paper-crafting, painting and much more. Some of you are still hung up on the fact that I said most of the items are high quality. Yes, there are some items that are literally 2 pieces of trash hot-glued together. There are many strange and borderline pornographic things on Etsy. There is actually an entire website (and book) that is solely dedicated to pointing out all of the bizarre and trashy things on Etsy.

This is where EtsyKids comes to the rescue (well only for kids' items, you're on your own for the rest)! The EtsyKids Team is made up of over 600 different shops selling a variety of quality children's items. In order to be approved for membership, shops must have excellent feedback ratings, sell only family-friendly items and abide by the Etsy rules and regulations. Approved shops must also have been in business at least three months, stock a minimum of 10 children's items and actively participate within the team. This means that EtsyKids is made up only of shops who produce high quality products, have excellent customer satisfaction and are dedicated to the team and to their shops.

So go ahead and look here for some unique handmade gifts for your little ones this Christmas. You can also check out the EtsyKids blog to get to know the people behind the great products and to read fun articles and craft ideas.

It's been a while!

Wow, it's been so long since I've blogged! With the responsibilities of running a household, taking care of two very active kids, and running a business, blogging has fallen by the wayside. One of my New Year's resolutions is to follow through on things. I've been working on putting more time into my Etsy shop, so keeping up with the blog is the next step for me!

I plan on not only keeping my readers up-to-date with what's happening at Sweet Child of Mine, but also showcasing other businesses that sell handmade items. I'll probably branch out and talk about other things, like crafts, recipes and gardening too.

Thanks for reading, and I promise to keep this blog interesting!