Guess what...I'm back! A whole month later!

Well hello there friends! That is if I haven't lost all of you in the last month for which my blogging efforts have been non-existent. Now, coming from the girl who hates more than many things--excuses, I really don't want this be considered an "excuse" or anything silly like that as to why my posts have been MIA--but when I say A LOT has gone down in the last month, that is NOT an exaggeration.

 HOWEVER, as I do have 2 blogs, one which is more about my personal life (and if you are interested in entering the land of craziness, silliness, and in my opinion quite entertaining to read if I weren't me..then you are more than welcome to hop right over to: Happy Cakes and Cheese Pockets; but don't say I didn't warn you) and one blog (which would be the one that you're reading now) is supposed to be focused more on what's shakin' at The Tickled Tutu--there are at times obviously overlaps as I am only one person living one life, so some of the funny times, are too good not to be shared in two locations. Anyway, moving forward; let's go back to my last post and move forward from there, shall we? Yes? Great! Hold on to your seats fun friends, here we go!

The Tickled Tutu, as I've mentioned before has times throughout the year where I tend to not have finger tips due to the high volume of merchandise being purchased, made, packaged and mailed and then those times in which I just stare at my display of tulle and wonder, "will toady be the last day of my enjoyment being a business owner?" Well needless to say, I haven't had even the TIME to sit and wonder ANYTHING more than, "Did I run out of elastic AGAIN! How in the world has this happened again?!? #*T& KRISTEN GET IT TOGETHER!!" Thank the good Lord above that Wal-Mart is a wonderful (cringe--that truly hurt in a physical way to call Wal-Mart "wonderful") place that is open 24/7, and saves me from lack-of-elastic crises often. However, as with all night time Wal-Mart outings, you must review the "Going to Wal-Mart after the hours of 10pm alone checklist", and if every single box cannot be checked, then consider the Wal-Mart trip on hold until daytime, in which other more preferable stores are open, so problem solved, wonderful and great. A sneak peak into the checklist: 1. Do you have enough gas in the car to outlast a high speed chase from a man that spoke to you in Walmart and decided to follow you outside to the parking lot and ask if you want to join him at the local bar, to which you reply no thank you strange weirdo. (I wish I was joking you guys, but I'm not. This really did happen..Twice.) 2. Have you taken off your cute outfit of the day and put on the old sweatpants, perhaps add a layered look with the top layer reflecting a stain of whatever your 2 year old threw at you on the particular day--this tends to deter anyone who may think talking to you would be a good idea. 3. Have enough strength in you to be able to hold many conversations with yourself while in Wal-Mart, which will usually clear out an isle and you will have the freedom to look at whatever merchandise you need in peace and quite. And those are just the top 3 bullet points on the list of 12 that need to be reviewed prior to a late night trip to the big WM.

But sometimes, and actually often, I have clients experiencing a tutu crisis in which they need a outfit in 2 days and they might as well live in Africa because rarely do my local clients find themselves in this timing predicament (way to go Denver-Metro TT lovers!). 

So within the last month, I have counted 6 customers purchasing merchandise in which the Africa situation applies. Well let me tell you; this tutu maker is always up to a challenge and I'll be damned the mission is not complete within the given time period. End of story. Come hell or high water, all 6 outfits were not only successfully delivered within the impossible time period given, but were probably some of the cutest creations to have been made by The Tickled Tutu as of yet! *patting my own back, yes I know.

Anyhow, as I mentioned before, you are more than welcome to check out my personal blog if you're interested in the very long list of other things going on in my personal life (which inevitably overlaps with The Tickled Tutu) that have been interesting to work with and around while trying to maintain a profitable business and enjoy getting to know additional and new Tickled Tutu customers. As of now, all Christmas orders from The Tickled Tutu have come to a cease; as my family and I will be leaving in just a matter of a few short days for the sunny beaches in Mexico. Although we will be returning prior to Santa's arrival, there simply won't be enough time to create and ship Christmas merchandise to anyone and have the package reach its destination in time for Christmas Day. A HUGE thank you to everyone who purchased Christmas TT merchandise this year; we had a successful December thanks to all of you and especially to our returning customers--wow, A HUGE thank you to you guys as well!! Nothing feels better than having a previous customer come back for more; it's like getting a high five from...well..hmmm....someone really cool in business :).

One very fun Tickled Tutu Customer/Model! : )
Proving that tutus are not only for kids!

Merry Christmas to you all and The Tickled Tutu will be back and better than ever by Wednesday, December 21st. (And yes, that is prior to Christmas, but like I said--we will not be accepting any further Christmas orders until next year!)

The above client's wonderful daughter and awesome Tickled Tutu model!!

XOXOXO

TT

Taking Time To Catch Up!

Hi Everyone! Time for me to make my apologies for not keeping my blog as up to date as I'd like to. I could sit here at write every excuse in the book regarding why this is; but I'll spare you and just move right along.

So this last Saturday The Tickled Tutu participated in the Highland Ranch Fall/Holiday Craft fair and it was SO super fun. I know that I say I enjoy each craft show after they are all said and done, but let me inform you of a little secret....I think I might have been fibbing the last few times. I really honestly had an awesome time at Saturday's show! I had the pleasure of meeting a few of my Facebook followers/fans--whatever you want to call these lovely people; and that was super cool. I always love to meet people in person whom I've been communicating with via email or whatever the method of convo may be--so to you guys that came to visit, thank you and it was so fun for me to meet you!!

Typically before craft shows, I am a huge stress mess for about a month leading up to the event. I know this is unnecessary and so very silly, because when the actual day of the show happens and then ends, I'm always driving back home thinking "WOW. That was so fun and I wasted so much time worrying over ridiculous things!" That is one of the reasons that I decided not to sign up for this particular craft show until there only 2 weeks left leading up to the event (see how I just tricked you into thinking I intentionally waited; for my own health benefit of course--when actually I just simply procrastinated until the very last minute to register, thank you late fees, we have come to be great friends...) and thus I was only a nutcase for 2 weeks. So my husband only had to live with crazy(er) Kristen for 14 days before this event; which I think was probably good for my marriage and sanity of Chris.

So anyway, as I mentioned, I had a blast on Saturday (I won't get into how I learned that I had a staph infection in my foot simply 7 hours prior to the event as I sat in the urgent care office..you can check out my personal blog for those exciting details if you wish) and was so lucky to have had my booth placed around such fun crafters. I have always noticed that the people surrounding your booth can either make or break your day, depending on how well or not well we all may mesh. On Saturday, I was surrounded by such fun people that I actually probably spent more time chatting up my neighbors than focusing on selling tutus (my bad, but really, it was totally worth it), which made the day so light and fun--not to mention fly by super fast (which in this circumstance was a good thing because of prior noted staph infection...). On Wednesday of this week, one of my new crafting friends who had the booth behind mine is actually coming over to my house to talk craft business and share tips and tricks---I'm super stoked :).

Having all of that said, I'm now trying to get organized, which I feel is an ongoing task here but I am determined to get things in order before I bankrupt myself buying multiple supplies due to the fact that I simply cannot find the previous purchases....grrr...

I hope you are all enjoying this time of year; with the holidays quickly approaching please keep The Tickled Tutu in mind for any of your holiday gift needs!!

I will leave you with a photo of my craft fair prep and hopefully add a few more pics on Wednesday ( I do believe my new craft fair friend may have taken a picture of my booth--something I always mean to do but never actually get around to doing...), and if so I will post those as well :).

Today and tomorrow I will be putting together a new Tickled Tutu tutorial guide, with tips and tricks on making bows of all kinds, how to make your tutus fluffy and fun, as well as information regarding starting up your own LLC and what the process was like for me when I opened up The Tickled Tutu, LLC back in November of 2009--so watch for those on my website if you're interested!!

Need the perfect stocking stuffer for the golf enthusiast in your life!? Check out this website; Golf Ball Talk! The owner was on of my craft fair booth neighbors over the weekend too :).

http://www.golfballtalk.com/golf_balls.php

Have a fantastic week!

XOXO Kristen

Cutest Kid in a Halloween Costume Contest!

Hi Friends! I hope everyone is as excited for the weekend as I am! It's been a long but fun week here at The Tickled Tutu. With Halloween quickly approaching, I have found myself staying up far too late at night filling orders that have been so extremely fun to create. Since I don't have much time to write today, I just wanted to give you a heads up about the new contest being held by The Tickled Tutu: Cutest Kid in a Halloween Costume!

The contest has just begun and will end on Sunday evening. To participate, simply post a photo on The Tickled Tutu's facebook page (www.facebook.com/tickledtutu) of your cutie in his/her Halloween costume and send your friends/family over to vote for photo! The photo receiving the most votes by Sunday evening at 7pm MST will win a gift certificate worth $50 in Tickled Tutu merchandise. It's that easy! So hop to it and post those photos!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend; enjoy your friends and family!

FYI: All orders placed within the last week will be shipped out by tomorrow (Saturday, Oct. 22nd) with the exception of Christine B, of which will ship out on Monday, October 24th. Take care everyone!

A Clean Room, A Stink Bug, and A Craft Fair

Hello friends! I hope you're all doing well as I write on this mid-weekday Wednesday. It's been a bit chilly here in Colorado lately, which has allowed me to actually get quite a bit of work done while staying warm inside! For one, I completely re-organized the upstairs "tutu room", which is a HUGE task if you have never seen it before. I would say it's safe to state that 360 of the lovely 365 days a year; the tutu room qualifies for a great episode of Hoarders, however I do always seem to know where things are (or so I thought, until I actually went through everything and found things that I've purchased multiples of simply because I thought I needed to....yikes maybe I do need to be on that show) and the area is CLEAN just very very full of fun things. Anyway, I started out with 4 sorting boxes; 2 for trash, 1 for seasonal merchandise and 1 for Goodwill/ARC. I ended up with 6 trash boxes, 2 seasonal boxes and 4 Goodwill/ARC donation boxes. As a result;  a room that I never really knew existed in my home!! Princess Dy - as I refer to my pink Dyson, the love of my life (in line after Owen of course but possibly equal to the love for Chris) even had the extreme pleasure of getting to make the floors look like new! She was very happy I'm sure. Hooray! Anyway, moving on.

Where the "business" side of the job is done.

So I typically receive a few emails a day with custom Tickled Tutu order requests. I even have a special hanging file folder for which I print the "Best Of" if you will, of the custom order request emails, because sometimes they are quite hilarious and on those days when I need a good chuckle, I walk to the file and begin reading. I have always said that I LOVE custom orders, and that is the truth. I am a creative person and LOVE working with creative people, so when approached by someone who has a new idea, I love to make it come to life. Yesterday, I "met" (well I guess I didn't meet this client since our communication was via email, but I will say met just because I want to) an awesome client who ordered 3 outfits, one of which was custom. I haven't asked her permission to disclose her name, so we will just call her Jill. Jill has a daughter who chose to be a "stink bug" in her school play. lol. It's really hard for me to write about this without laughing, and I'm not totally sure why, but something about the name "Stink Bug" gets me every time. Well Jill didn't seem extremely thrilled about putting her daughter in a brown and black sweatsuit to represent the bug, so she had a custom order request of a brown and black Stink Bug Tickled Tutu. I laughed each time I communicated with Jill and I laughed nearly the entire time making the tutu and then I laughed harder when my 2 year old son asked me "Mommy, what you doing?" I replied: "Making a Stink Bug tutu." He looks at me, looks at the tutu: "Stinky.....Daddddddd Mom's making a stinky tutu." :D So the tutu is complete, and I hope that Jill's daughter makes the cutest Stink Bug known to man because she certainly made my day yesterday.

I am sure this little girl will be the cutest Stink Bug ever!

In conclusion, I am now spending my time preparing for the Highlands Ranch Holiday Craft and Jewelry fair, while of course filling other Tickled Tutu orders. I haven't done a show in about a year and I'm really looking forward to this one, which is on November 5th if you're in the area--I'll even through in $15 off your purchase price if you mention the secret password "Stink Bug" at our booth. :) As I said before, I hope you are all doing well, and thanks for taking the time to catch up with the happenings at The Tickled Tutu today!!

Have a great week!

<3 TT

Minnie Mouse Fever!

Minnie Mouse Fever!!

(and more, of course)

Hi Everyone! So I just wanted to update you about new things going on here at The Tickled Tutu; it's been awhile since I've written a post that's actually applicable to my business so I thought - no better time than the present!

Over the last 2 weeks, Tickled Tutu's Minnie Mouse outfits have been "all the rage." (I totally hate that phrase yet it still makes me giggle, so why not use it) These outfits are also my most favorite to make, so I suppose that's a win-win situation. There is just something about Minnie mouse that makes things hard to screw up! However, the common trend among the clients purchasing these outfits is....nearly all of them are preparing for an upcoming trip to Disney Land or Disney World. Yey for them; but super jealousy has taken over for me!!!! I am so looking forward to when Owen is old enough to remember a trip to Disney (that's also code for, I'm waiting for the moment that my husband gives the green flag and books our trip).

On Saturday I went through EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY PRE-MADE BOWS (nearly 250 or so...) and decided which ones will stay and which bows will be "retired"--25 bows stayed. It was a bit sad to say goodbye to the 225 others, but I donated them all to Goodwill hoping that someone finds them and makes another little girl smile. What's amazing is even though I cleaned out a ton of inventory, somehow I have already managed to fill the space up again!!! It always seems to blow my mind how that happens!

About 2 weeks ago I ran a giveaway to about 7 facebook Tickled Tutu fans and they received custom hand painted bow holders; so I have now added that fun little addition to the Tickled Tutu family. I have always loved to paint and making these bow holders has been a nice change of pace.

So now I've begun the Christmas holiday seasons of tutu and clothing making, which is always a blast. I tend to do approximately one craft show a year and usually choose one that's around Christmas time just because of the fun spirit in the air. There is a local garden/nursery near my home that brings in live reindeer on the first weekend of December. That's one of my very favorite days of the year, and I LOVE doing tutu photo shoots there! If you are a Denver-Metro area local, shoot me an email and I'll give you the info about where you can see these awesome animals. Santa makes his appearance here and there, but the reindeer...they are AWESOME.

So I'm leaving you with hopes that you have a wonderful week and enjoy these wonderful fall days!!

Until Next Time!

xoxo TT 

Oh the things the day brings!

Owen, age 2.



Owen; age 2 years and 3 months.

This is what I'm worknig with today.

 Cheers!
 

Oh such a lovely find! And zero to do with Tutus - FYI.

HELLO!! :)

So this evening was a very eventful one for me. Not in the business aspect, or really the fun aspect, but eventful in the sense that I have now traveled to nearly every pharmacy in the Denver Metro area searching for some muscle relaxant that I was prescribed for by my doctor that simply does not exist. This has been an on-going search for me, actually since September 28th and still, no such luck. Anyway, tonight's pharmacy adventure was far more exciting! My search ended at King Soopers (yep, simply .5 miles from my home--but wow, did I get to see some Colorado scenery on my drug hunt!) where I love to search through the giant "DISCOUNT BOOK DEALS!" bin. This bin is approximately my height and always over flowing with tons of random books for under $5. I should note also that my "favorite" finds are always those that are on the bottom of the 5'4" bin, so I have been inside the box to retrieve my goods in the past. The bin is located about 20 feet from the pharmacy, so you better believe that when I crawl inside this thing, there are people and probably multiple cameras witnessing my adventure. But tonight my friends; I found the ultimate find. And I didn't even have to get inside the box.

Tonight; I found...brace yourselves because this is exciting...MRS. MEYER'S CLEAN HOME NO-NONSENSE ADVICE THAT WILL INSPIRE YOU TO CLEAN LIKE THE DICKENS book! And you guessed it; only $5 for this gem, of which I paid for in quarters that I planned to take to Coinstar,..but that's a story for another day.

Now of course I purchased this awesome bound bunch of goodness, sort of hoping that Mrs. Meyer's published her personal phone number where I could reach her 24/7, hidden inside so that she could "teach" me her tricks by simply cleaning my house herself. You know--the whole teach one, watch one, do one? Is that the order? Who cares. Anyway, no such luck so far on finding the Mrs. Meyer's hot line number, but hey, I still have a few pages left to read.

So I must share some of the funniest blurbs I've come across as of yet--and let me back up a second; for anyone who doesn't know me, this is SO not a book for me, as one of the first rules written by Mrs. Meyer's is that every time you get out of your shower, you are to do a little cleanup of the shower curtain by applying a baking soda based paste and then top it off with a spritz of lemon juice--this prevents mold--duh. I don't even know that I've ever owned baking soda for the record, and that's why I also don't bake. (My neighbor takes care of making the cookies for me; she does a great job, so why give her any competition?)

Anyway, moving on to one particular paragraph that make my tummy hurt from laughing--It's titled, "As for the Smelly Stuff" (I have a feeling that Mrs. Meyer's didn't have a 2 year old son with an issue keeping what belongs in the diaper, in the diaper. Because when I read the title of this paragraph, I did not expect to read what you are about to read...) "Giving That Grimy Garbage Can a Good Clean. LOL. So by a show of hands, who has scrubbed their INDOOR garbage cans with an old toothbrush--which you keep at the top of your medicine cabinet for the monthly can cleanly duties as well as grout scrubbing needs for your floor tile? No hands are being raised here!!! Anyway, I'm kind of preoccupied by laughter right now, but if you have a King Soopers near you and there is a discount book bin inside, I highly suggest you find out some tips to keeping your home shiny and bright 365 days a year. And that's all I've got for today folks! May your week bring you cleanliness and if not, my sister-in-law swears by her cleaning crew, so I'd be happy to grab the info for you and pass it along :)

Peace Out. Kristen

 For something totally off subject but way more fun, visit us at: www.thetickledtutu.com

TT Phone Home!

So I have been an AWFUL blogger, and for that I am very sorry but the reason for my absence is simply that I haven't had any creative juices flowing enough to write something that I feel would interest anyone! So although I still don't feel as though I have any funny or humiliating stories to share, I will try my best to update you on what's been shakin' lately at The Tickled Tutu! (Wow, what an intro...if you have already decided to click the X button to leave this post, peace be with you sister.)

So let's see; since I last wrote, I have been dealing with lots of fun home issues and not so many exciting Tickled Tutu issues! As you may know, I have a 2 (and some change) year old son, Owen. Owen has made it his job within the last few weeks to really test my abilities to be a strong, non-crazy, understanding mommy. And here is why. Owen has decided that he hates nap time--this is nothing new, naps have never been his thing. However, the new development is this: since Owen hates nap time, and I'm the parent home during the day to enforce nap time, Owen devised a plan of which I call "Operation Teach Mommy a Lesson". What is this lesson you may wonder? Well get ready for it, it's certainly not a heartwarming story I'm about to tell you...Owen now poops during his nap time and takes it upon himself to remove the poop from the diaper and use as finger paints to decorate his room. Did that make you throw up? I'm very sorry if it did, but this is also what I call, "Mommy's new diet plan." The very first time this happened I think I lost 5 lbs. And cried. And drank some wine. And cried some more. Owen however found it quite hilarious as he ran around the house naked screaming "MOM, I POOPED EVERWHERE!! HA HA!"

Now, I should note that all Tickled Tutu merchandise is spared from this awful disgusting thing that my son has chosen to do. I have installed multiple locks (and I'm not joking even a little bit) on my tutu room door to ensure that no one under the age of, well, me, can enter.

But back to the part about this happening ONLY when I am on parent duty. Has Chris (my ever so loving husband...) had the pleasure of experiencing this nastiness. Nope. Not at all. In fact, Owen will TELL Chris when he has to go #2 and then walk patiently to his toilet and do his business. But for me, I am being punished by my 2 year old simply for making him take a nap.

Side note to anyone who's pregnant right now that might be reading this: BEING A MOM IS SO FANTASTIC AND YOU WILL LOVE EVERY WAKING SECOND OF IT. I'M SURE THIS ONLY HAPPENS TO ME BECAUSE I PROBABLY DID SOMETHING(S) VERY DEVIOUS TO MY PARENTS WHEN GROWING UP. Or maybe not, but hey if you're pregnant, good luck!

So moving on to cleaner and more exciting topics; Tickled Tutu news! I have been running crazy sales on Tickled Tutu merchandise for the past week because I'm about to explode out of my designated tutu room--and remember, I cannot leave that room otherwise the 2 year old will attack. I have a ton of new holiday inventory that I'd love to get started on, so as of now, I am about 80% cleared out of summer/spring merchandise and about ready to list some adorable Christmas themed outfits. Keep checking back at www.thetickledtutu.com for updates--if you don't see new things arriving within the next few weeks, then Owen won and I have been committed to a home for crazies.

Anyway, that's all for today. I'm currently working on (new to The Tickled Tutu) Tickled Tutu Hand Painted Personalized Bow Holders and I must say that they are turning out to be super cute! Take a peek at them here: http://www.thetickledtutu.com/item_206/Tickled-Tutu-Personalized-Hand-Painted-Bow-Holder.htm

Until next time, my friends; take care and I hope you're enjoying this awesome fall weather!!

xoxo TT

Oh and remember: just for reading my rants on this blog, you are entitled to free shipping on any merchandise purchased at thetickledtutu.com. Simply enter coupon/voucher code: TTSHIPSFREE when making your purchase. <3

Warning: Proceed with Caution.

This is the phrase for which I feel should precede all aspects of raising a child. Coming to you live right now from my SON's bedroom floor; here I am. You see; we recently switched Owen's bed from the lovely blessed crib (another one of those awesome things that I didn't really realize was awesome until it no longer exists) to his "big boy" toddler bed, which allows him to enter and exit the bed as he so desires. Now we made the change from the crib to toddler bed to prevent neck injuries and other bodily harm that he may cause to himself because he had become able to escape the crib via Tony Hawke moves. Now; as I sit and write to you from his bedroom floor, Owen has decided that he would like nothing to do with his bed, room, expensive Melissa and Doug over-priced lovely toys but would rather lay in the middle of my bedroom floor, looking up at the ceiling fan. Sleep? No. Totally overrated apparently. On top of that, I am locked out of my office because when the decision to make this bed change took place, it was also necessary (according to my husband, who is probably 100% correct in his thoughts...) that we lock from the inside-out all other rooms in the house and enter them by using a special "key" (made out of a wire coat hanger) that can "easily" be used to unlock the door by any patient adult. I would re-write that last sentence for emphasis but I do not have the patience to do so. This special key, is located approximately 2 feet above my head on the top of the door frame; or it was until when attempting to grab it (this involves taking an actual running jump for me--or a ladder, which I'm just now realizing would have been a better solution), knocked it down and it landed underneath the door of the office. It was truly an epic move to be noted in history. So again, I as I sit here on Owen's floor, I warn you: proceed with caution and have a fantastic day.

Working outside my office today!

What a wonderful Saturday :). Although I am working, which is fine because I love it dearly; I have chosen to take my work to a new location--spice things up a bit and enjoy the outdoors while also catching up on orders. Check out this new outfit I put together last night: http://www.thetickledtutu.com/item_172/Tickled-Tutu-Towering-Birthday-Cake-Outfit.htm So far, one of my faves! I love pink and brown, always have and probably always will. It's a crying shame that for my 28th birthday I could probably not pull this outfit off on my own... Anyhow, just checking in and saying "hi!" and wish you all a VERY enjoyable Saturday! xoxo TT

What a difference a good night's sleep makes!

Hello friends! Do I sound particularly cheerful today??? Well I SURE HOPE I DO! I just had the most amazing night's sleep that I have had in months. And yes, I am going to do some bragging about it right now; so if you are struggling with sleeping lately and will hate me for being excited for blogging about such topic, close your browser now. Moving on. Holy smokes. So for the last few weeks I've been averaging around 4-5 hours of sleep per night (I use the term "night" very liberally as I have been falling asleep around 3am. This not only makes for a very tired Mommy the following day, but a very grouchy wife as well and quite frankly, a less productive person in general which goes against everything I stand for. So; kind of like I gave into the blogging world; last night I gave in to SLEEP HYNOSIS. Insert LOL here. Now I will not go much further because I have a full day ahead of me that is about to completely rock my world (and hopefully yours too), but I slept for 8.5 hours and I remember the first 2 minutes of my hypnosis "therapy". Maybe not even that much to tell you the truth, because I didn't get very far in Big Brother After Dark (another reason why perhaps I don't go to bed until the wee hours of the morning) and I NEVER give up on that amazing live show. So anyway, that's that--I'm feelin' good, have a list of plans for the day, and I should probably also mention that I am doing my makeup right now via my computer webcam. Which is set on the mirrored setting and I don't know how exactly to fix that--so I probably won't end up looking as great today as I feel, but who cares!

A few notes of important business: TICKLED TUMBLERS ARE GOING UP FOR SALE TODAY!!!! As of what time exactly, I will get back to you when I find out this exciting news myself; but woohooo! I'm stoked and I hope you all are too. Have a fantastic day and I will be back later for more news and perhaps a photo or two of how my webcam makeup job turned out.

:) Peace out.

Another week goes by at The Tickled Tutu!

So this week has been quite interesting in many ways. It has--as I find most weeks do--had it's ups and downs (a serious down being when I walked into Owen's room to find that he had removed his "big boy pull-ups" because according to my 2 year old, he didn't like poop on his butt), but today I find myself pretty exhausted and it's only 3:10pm! Ah, such is life I suppose. So let us turn our focus to more positive things that have taken place this week. The Tickled Tutu has welcomed to our site, InStitches With Jes merchandise! Originally, back in 2009 when I incorporated The Tickled Tutu, I was determined that I was NOT going to be one of those e-commerce sites that has tons of merchandise for sale simply because most of it is made by people other than the person who hosts the site. I wasn't into that one bit. And to clarify; I'm still not! However, an exception, if you will, has been made for a very dear friend who has talent beyond belief and who I strongly believe is going to make a HUGE name for herself. I am simply providing the outlet (via www.thetickledtutu.com) for her to sell her merchandise so she can show herself how truly talented she is. Currently, Jessica and I are working (VERY HARD MIGHT I ADD) to get our licensing completed to reveal our (technically HER) merchandise. I'm so super excited for this day to come that I can hardly stand it! Trust me, when it comes, you will know. Everyone will know. I will shout from the roof top (and I have a VERY LOUD VOICE when needed) to inform everyone that InStitches is open and ready for business! In the meantime, you should check out Jessica's Etsy shop: institcheswithjes.etsy.com. Although only a few products have been listed as of yet, this is a shop you will want to follow and trust me, you will want the merchandise as well. (Important: keep husband away from computer when making purchase--not because the products are expensive, but kind like Lays Potato Chips-you can't eat just one if you know what I mean.)

Onto Tickled Tutu business; I have found that the months of April-November are typically my busy months, and that has stayed true this year as well. April begins what I call summer "Birthday Season" (which I love, by the way) and Birthday Season tends to extend through mid-August. Now. "Wedding Season" could consume an entire hour of your time if I were to allow myself to go into full detail so I will save you from that amount of reading. Wedding Season begins at all times of the year, and ends,...well never and overlaps with,...well everything. Which is also awesome. I honestly adore making Tickled Tutu dresses for precious flower girls; it's almost a way for me to look back at my wedding and remember how much fun the whole process was. But I digress. Wedding Season this year has taken The Tickled Tutu by storm. So far in the last 30 days, I have made 17 flower girl dresses--all custom of course, because that's how we roll around here--for girls ages 12 months up to age 6. To say the least, I am in desperate need of a manicure; perhaps need to see any eye doctor to figure out why the needles keep hitting my fingers instead of the intended materials and then...I need a VERY LARGE MOJITO. I wouldn't say that I am a perfectionist--I try to be, but that failed so there; but when it comes to making dresses for weddings, I tend to hold the bar (my bar) for myself, about as high as a commercial airliner flies. My most recent client ordered two custom (what should have been relatively easy to complete) flower girl dresses for the most adorable little princesses and...here we go I am going to admit it...I started over in my process of designing and making these dresses a total of 7 times. SEVEN TIMES. It was like I was back to my novice years. Nothing went right (in my mind anyway), the slip wasn't photographing well (in my opinion) and 7 entire times, I started the project over again. Lessons have been learned--I do believe I cried more during the making of these two dresses than when I first saw My Girl in theaters when I was about 8 years old-- and I will leave it at that. The dresses are now complete--and that's that in a not-so-nutshell. This evening I have 4 orders to fill that were placed via thetickledtutu.com (my customers really honesty rock, I swear they are the best in the entire world) and then; deep breath, I might be searching for the perfect mojito. All suggestions welcome regarding where to find such beverage. At the end of the day, it's totally worth it. Every single bit of it. Love it love it love. And that's me, signing off for now. Peace out readers!