The Happs

Things have been busy here in HootyCutie land. The time change has been bad news for us! Nap times are all off. Mornings have been easier, but because it gets dark so early I have been having trouble staying awake. This is bad news for getting anything done! But I've still managed to get all orders complete. Now I just have to finish the stuff for the shower this weekend...

In other news (hehe): If your looking for something to do this weekend, come and see me (and over 60 other vendors) at The 20th Annual Arts and Crafts Show at Good Shepherd Catholic Church on Thomasville road. We will be there from 9am - 3pm. This show features only handmade items from local ladies and gents. It is a wonderful opportunity to pick up those unique Christmas gifts. While your there, make sure your are on the look out for the Mom's Time Out Member signs. There will be several of us there.

I will also be doing my $20 gift certificate give away that I do at these shows. All you have to do to enter is show up! So I hope to see you there.

One final note: I am going to put a limit on Thanksgiving dress orders for this coming Wednesday (11/16). So if you were thinking about getting one, you better get on it. Take advantage of out Veteran's Day Sale. Use code VET10 at check out for 10% your entire order.

You Asked for It!

First, I want to say sorry for being MIA for a bit. Things have been a little crazy around here. Between football games, lots of orders (awesome!), an unexpected visit from my mom (Yippee!!), doctors appointments, and finding out that we have to move AGAIN (this will be the third time in 5 years!), I have not exactly had a great deal of time to blog... and my facebook page has been very neglected too :( Oh, did I mention I'm planning a baby shower for my sister-in-law too (so excited!). But despite it all, I did find the time to create a much requested special item.

Monograming? Check!

You asked for it, and now you can have it! That's right, you can now have any dress, tie, applique shirt, etc. monogrammed for your little one. I am so excited to announce my partnership with Dots and Demask. They have generously offered to do monogramming on items that you order from me. The best part is that they are going to do it during construction of the items so you can even have it on the reversible dress! I'm going to have them do one for my daughter, so I will post a picture with more details soon :)

While we are talking about them, have you checked out Dots and Demask? Here is their description from their facebook page:

Workin' for the Weekend

This weekend is going to be a very busy weekend for HootyCutie Designs. But I am so excited! I finished filling all my orders from MTO Fall Market over the weekend, so I have been and will be working very hard the rest of the week to get ready for my weekend.

First up is Merry Market 2011. Merry Market is a "craft and gift show with unique items you won't find anywhere else" (taken from their website which you can check HCD on page 2). They are celebrating their 10th anniversary and are having a big raffle to celebrate.

MTO Fall Market Recap

What a fantastic event! The weather was perfect. The vendors were amazing. And the shoppers were having a great time.
 

I feel very fortunate to have the privilege to be part of this amazing group of moms in business. I'm in awe of how supportive this community is.

Getting Ready for MTO Fall Market

Things have been very busy here in HootyCutie land! I have been working very hard to get ready for my first ever event. This Sunday, Oct 2nd, from noon to 4pm at Earth Fare (on Apalachee Pwky) is the Mom's Time Out Tallahassee Fall Market. If you don't know about MTO yet, here is a little bit about it from the Mom's Time Out blog:

Mom's Time Out is a time for Tallahassee moms, their families, and others in the community to come out and enjoy food, shopping, and fun while supporting mothers in business.  Moms are busy people.  They want to

Matching Boy & Girl Outifts

I have been so excited to show you guys the new Christmas stuff, and with it some new products! We have been very busy, but in a good way. We went out of town for a wedding. And I have been busy filling orders :). But I finial finished the samples! Here they are!

And they are ALL reversible!!

Custom Design Listings up on Etsy

I just completed the most adorable custom order last night for a matching dress and tie for a sister and brother.

The dress is reversible, and here is what both sides look like:

Football Season is Here!

And HootyCutie Designs has got you covered! Introducing our new sports team line. Pillowcase dresses for girls and tie applique shirts for boys.

The girls pillowcase dresses are so adorable. By combining a delicate flower and solid contrast you get an outfit that supports the team while still having feminine style. The sports team patches adorn the front for that final touch. You can customize your dress by deciding the size of the ties, number of ties, or

Holiday Dresses

It's quickly approaching that time of year again. Holiday Season! I am so excited about these adorable new holiday dresses. I am also introducing the new reversible dress. That's right two dresses in one! I love this idea. The dresses are closed in the back using a tie, so you can close them from either side. The other great thing about the tie closer is that it makes the dress slightly adjustable. This way it can be worn for an extended period of time.

The new reversible dress is absolutely perfect for the holiday dresses. You get two (even three) holidays in

Fall Preview

Before we get to that, what do you think of our new look?!?! I am so in love with it. I want to send out a HUGE thank you to my friend Marcy at Magic By Marcy for designing it for me. Her work is just plain awesome. She makes custom designs for invitations, announcements, holiday cards, even iron-on transfers, and much more. Have you checked her out yet? I can't wait to see her designs for Christmas this year.

On to the preview:

Here's What's New

I am so excited to announce that I will be in two upcoming craft shows in October. The first will be Mom's Time Out Fall Event which is Sunday, October 2nd from noon to 4pm @ Earth Fare. I am so excited to be a part of this event. I've been to several Mom's Time out events as a customer in the past and it has always been wonderful.

The second event is the Merry Market 2011 on Saturday October 15th from 9am-3pm @ Bradfordville First Baptist Church. This year is their 10th aniversary so it will be a special celebration. I am stoked to be able to participate in this awesome event.

So this means I need to beef up my stock and that means SHOPPING! Off to JoAnn's I went. I started with my pillowcase dress because those are my best sellers. I got some pretty good deals on the fabrics and I just love what I got. There are already a few of the new designs up at the shop and the rest are soon to follow.

Hoot, Hoot... Look Whoo's One!

I can not begin to describe how excited I was to plan my daughter's first birthday party. Don't get me wrong, I was in no way, shape, or form ready for my little baby to be one. However, the excitement to organize a celebration to mark this milestone in her life was just to much for me to contain. I'll try to give you a little perspective... the planning started in the beginning of June! And all that excitement and planning paid off. I couldn't be happier with he way everything turned out.

 

Printalicious Party Time

One of the biggest milestones for parents is their child's first birthday. The excitement in planning that first ever birthday party is exhilarating. And I had the opportunity to do it twice for my little girl! My family lives quite a distance from us, and some of my family members are not able to travel to us. Since I have a sister and an aunt with birthdays in August as well, we decided to make a the trip to them to celebrate the special occasions.

We had the wonderful opportunity to combine my daughter's first birthday and my sister's sixteenth birthday in a printalicious joint milestone celebration. My sister loves zebra print, and her favorite color is yellow. So what goes better with yellow zebra print than pink leopard print?! That way there is consistence while each girl is able to retain their own individuality. And let me tell you, the results were too cute for words! 

Happy First Birthday, Jaycelyn!

My amazing little girl turned one today! I am so happy, and a little sad all at the same time. I am loving every second of her growing up. I love watching her learn new things every day. I love seeing her personality grow more and more. But at the same time, she is no longer a baby... see has officaly become a toddler. It has been one heck of a year. There have been some lows, but I would not change one second. I am so blessed to be the mother to this enchanting creature that is my daughter, and I am so excited about the year to come.

CLOSED! Contest time!

And the winner is... Andrea Skoog!

So, I officially lost my teaching job. Bummer. But on the bright side, I have become a SAHM (hopefully WAHM if I can find another job to do from home). On another positive note, this means I will have more time to devote to the shop. And I am very much looking forward to increasing my stock over the next few weeks.

Enough with the sad news and on to the fun.  So I’ve been struggling to come up with wording for my daughter’s 1^st birthday invitations. My husband suggested it was a great opportunity to do a contest with the shop. And I think he might actually be right (one of the few occasions hahahaJ).

How's it goin'?

Well that is a good question! It's hard to say. I have finally been able to get some times posted, but boy has it be one thing after another. I finished 6 owls to be posted on Sunday and Monday. That was good.
But then the fun really began.

First, on Monday I was trying to set-up my Facebook account. Boy do they know how to make things difficult. I spent almost 3 hours trying to figure out how to navigate as me and as HootyCuite. It was so frustrating. But the good news is I THINK I know what I am doing now :)
So since I had all these owls and several other crochet items complete, I decided to go ahead and take some pictures on Monday. However, with all the wonderful Florida rain storms, it was a very wet affair. So pictures would have to wait till Tuesday. So as I am going to put the camera away, I drop it!

Day 1

Well not actually. This is 2 days after I started the page. However, this is the first chance I've had to write. This is not boading well!

Welcome to HootyCutie Designs. My name is Niki Lavin. I am mother to a beautiful 7 month old baby girl named Jaycelyn, wife to a wonderful man (Shane),
high school science teacher, dance team coach, and I am now adding Etsy shop owner to my growing list of titles! I have been on spring break this week, so I decided that I would go ahead and reserve my Etsy name. I will try to get the shop up and running soon, but I'm not making any promises until summer.

So why am I starting an Etsy shop? I love making things, but at some point when you baby has 5 beanie hats and you live in Florida there might be a problem! So I deciede that if I was going to continue to created I might as well sell the products. And in thus doing so, I can fund my crafting addiction! It's a win-win!

What is HootyCutie about? My store will really be a mix of items. I have crafting ADD, so I like to try to make different things all the time. So trying to think of just one or two things to sell is kind of impossible for me. However, most of by products will be baby/kid directed or "going green" products. Examples of baby/kid products are crochet toys, hats/scarfs, blankets and sewn baby quilts, bibs, pillows/pillow covers, and shoping cart covers. Examples of "going green" products would be "un"-paper towels, cloth wipes, and reusable shopping bags. I will strive to use the most natural products possible. However, for cost purposes some of my initial products will not meet this crietira. My goal is to use only natural products once I am up and running.