I Heart Maggie Blue Designs (and a Giveaway)

I am so very excited to have the pleasure of Featuring Maggie Blue Designs on Project Mommyhood. I have drooled over her fabulous personalized Candid Memory Illustrations and Cards....and have on many occasions dreamed of going to the Library with Pooh....carrying his books in one of her The Monster Ate My Tote Bag.

She is an amazingly talented Lady....whose products are full of Fun and Whimsy....and a wonderful childlike sense of humor....

http://www.maggiebluedesigns.blogspot.com/

Here is my chat with Maggie:

PM: When did you start crafting and why?

MBD: I think I've always crafted. When I was 10 I made a bikini for my sister out of hot glue and fabric. She never wore it in public though...I wonder why? The literal answer would be October. I'm a chemist professionally, but I've never enjoyed what I do. One day my boss made me mad and I couldn't sleep, so I pulled out an old sketchpad and started sketching. By morning I had a dozen pages filled with ideas. I decided to start simple with my fleece hats and sell on ETSY. Then it just kept growing.

PM: What do you love most about your craft?
Coming up with an idea, sketching it out and then making it come to life. Some ideas work out better than others, but at worst the bad one is a learning experience and the best ones become great products.

PM: What is your favorite item that you have available right now?

MBD: That's hard to answer. I love bright colors and things that stand out, so probably my monster tote. But some of my Easter baskets were so cute it was hard to send them away!

PM: Do you have any exciting plans for your shop in the near future?

MBD: YES! I plan to grow the illustration-side of the business. It's terribly fun to turn someone's picture or memory into something new that they can cherish. It allows me to feel apart of their life-story for a brief moment in time. But even bigger than that, I'm working on a website right now. A webstore actually. It will feature my products initially, and then as it grows I would like to pull in some other artisans to sell on my site as well. All handmade, high quaility and unique stuff for kids (and maybe moms too eventually).

PM: What do you find the most exciting and rewarding part of being a mom?

MBD :How do you answer that in a paragraph? We have a saying in my family, it started with my mom. I'll digress for a second because I think the history is important. My mom's mom worked her whole life. Her life was serious, and hard...and I think sadly, it was boring. She had two kids and a full time job. Because my mom's house was so quiet and sterile growing up she wanted tons and tons of kids. But, she could only have two...I was the last. So she started doing foster care, then adopting. In 21 years she had 6 kids. Two biological, four adopted, two boys, four girls, two black, four white...etc etc. We have an awesome family portrait. Anyway, she liked to use the phrase "just us chickens." As in "tomorrow is a just-us-chickens-day." This came to mean a day spent together just having fun. That was the key...she didn't want life to be hard or sterile or quiet for her kids (and it wasn't). When I had my first child I starting using this phrase too. Since I work this phrase has a stronger meaning because not every day can be a just-us-chickens day...so when I tell my oldest that it's a "chickens day" (our shortened version) she gets very excited. To see her eyes light up knowing we get to spend the day together...it's the little things like that. My kids melt my heart on a daily basis. What could be better than that?

PM: What advice would you give to other moms who may be thinking of getting into crafting and perhaps wanting to sell online?

MBD: Start small and see what happens. This is why ETSY is great. You can start up for next-to-nothing. I made the mistake of jumping in too fast without thinking it through. I did craft fairs in the fall and ended up making lots and lots of products that didn't sell. It took me a while to dig out of the money pit, but sale-by-sale I dug my way out. Now I generally don't make a product unless there is an order for it, or I'm working on a prototype. It helps keep costs down. Take it step by step, don't rush. Sometimes you don't find your niche for a while. I started by making hats, but I've found I prefer making bags, and it seems to be what people really like. I try to sew something everyday, whether I have an order or not. It keeps the creative juices flowing. I also try to learn a new technique as often as I can. People will ask me how I learned to do this or that...and honestly...sometimes I don't remember. You just try and see. The first time I appliqued something I took an old pair of shorts and tried 5 different kinds of fusing material and 4 different kinds of stitching until I figured out what worked. (And in reality it took months to fine tune which to use when...so don't lose heart with any new technique) Always be ready to learn something new...you never know what great idea might come from it!

Maggie is SO awesome....she has graciously provided Project Mommyhood with a fabulous Piece to Giveaway to one Very Lucky Reader. This Piece is Brand New....exclusively for Project Mommyhood...How Fab-u-lous is that? (see I told ya she was amazing)

All you need to do...Go to Maggie Blue Designs , peruse her shop...then come back and tell me what your favorite item is....

Blog or Tweet about this giveaway and recieve an extra 5 entries...(Please Leave a link to the tweet or blog post on the first of the 5 entries)

Contest Will Begin at Midnight Friday April, 17 (EST) and end on Wednesday, April 22nd at 11:59 PM (PST)

The winner will have 48 hours to respond with name and address before a new winner is chosen.....