Picture This: My Morning

Just a shot of our coffee table. Normal stuff: coffee, water-based stain, four random legs, Grace's pretend homework and a brush. Maybe I'll change out the coffee table decorations today?!?



Sammy, our fearless 13-yr-old dog is comforting Grace in her sick state. :)



Grace is sick today. Can't you tell? She looks it, eh? So the little cute blond convinced me to let her stay home from school today since her nose is running like a faucet. Lucky girl and her runny nose get to accompany me to Rockler Woodworking store today.



As usual, there's something half-finished in my living room. :)

(And Mom and Trac, if you're reading this, I'll get my butt in gear and get some photos after I make my house not look like a tornado hit it.)

CPSIA Blog-In Is Today!

Bloggers around the world are blogging about Saving Handmade today! Here's a great post....

http://etsybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/01/cpsia-blog-in.html

Hope Chests?

All this CPSIA got me thinking about some of my older designs that would lend themselves to truly being adult storage solutions. That, and the fact that for every three toy chest orders, someone orders one of my toy chests for their non-kid home. In fact, a lovely woman from NY is requesting a modified Owyn as a hope chest for herself to keep all the wonderful knitted hats, blankets, etc that she creates for her future grandchildren.

I know I have a need for a hope chest...or even just a chest in our living room so we can store blankets and hide really loud, obnoxious kid toys from the children. Pity I can't find a decent carpenter to make one for me. Anyhow, I was wondering if some of you feel the same way about having an additional storage piece in your living room?

Look for some new designs soon that project that "modern organic" look and nicely hide whatever you want to hide from whomever you want to hide it. Think Gracie Toy Box meets Owyn Toy Box. That was so LA of me to say it that way, wasn't it?

CPSIA Nightmare

I've been wracking my brain as to how I can help (aside from signing petitions, etc) Save Handmade so today, I took my cause to Oprah. Anyone ever written in about a topic or suggestion to be on Oprah? Well, I did!

It seems so unfair that so many of us, who work our tails off building and making non-toxic, eco-friendly goods for kids are about to lose our businesses or face fines of $100K+ for violating the CPSIA ruling because we can't afford the outrageous testing fee. All the while, all along, from day one, we've been using the best, eco-friendly, non-toxic materials. Ironic, eh? I looked into testing for some of my goods and it will cost roughly $2000-$5000 per piece. There's just no way.

So if this law doesn't get amended, look for Mod Mom to be selling storage pieces...for parents and folks older than 12. Wonder what I could make for teens these days? Little wooden boxes for storing things they don't want their parents to see. There's an idea.

All of this just makes me sick to my stomach. Keep your fingers crossed that Oprah's staff takes pity on a woodworker from LA. On second thought, I'll write back and see if she has a show on stuff made for teenagers...so I can start marketing my "my mom would die if she saw what's in this", slow-closing, lockable, mini-wooden chests for teens. Just kidding....

Check out this link....it's brilliant!!

http://blog.buyhandmade.org/

Buried....

...under....wood.

more later....

:)

Baby Couture Magazine Hearts Bertie

Picture this. My daughter out tonight with a head that looks like she's just woken up, stains on her shirt, mismatched pants, a face-paint apple (smudged) on the side of her cheek and boots that need a good washing. While standing there at Ross buying discounted towels for our new/old home watching Little G rummage through the discount bin, Scott said, "Kiers, she looks homeless AND parentless." I couldn't have agreed more. Which is all very ironic since her mother's furniture was recently featured in Baby Couture Magazine. Nothing about either of my kids screams couture. More like Target and "wow those are some seriously too-short pants." But not couture.

If you'd like to see some cool kid couture stuff that doesn't scream dirty, filthy kid, check out this link: http://issuu.com/bcmag/docs/bc_holiday2008-2009_sweetin-1?mode=a_p

If you go to page 33 you'll see the Bertie Box!

P.S. I did make both kids shower/bathe tonight. Ok, well, Scott did. I was in the garage cutting out a Bertie Box. :)

Save Handmade!

(image courtesy of Cool Mom Picks)

You might have heard something about a new ruling coming in February that mandates that anything made for kids up to age 12 (clothing, toys, furniture, etc) MUST be tested...at a rate of $500-$5000 per test per product. This comes in response to the recall of all those lead-paint toys from China. While I completely agree we have to protect our children from harmful chemicals, a blanket mandate across the board will likely shut down almost all of the small businesses specializing in handmade goods who have, from the start, been using the best, eco-friendly, non-toxic materials available.

As you may have guessed, this will affect my business but more importantly, it will affect every business out there making handmade goods for kids. It will likely put most of them out of business. Businesses, like mine, that were started from home in order to make up for lost income and/or to be able to stay home with their kids and work at the same time.

Please help make it known that small businesses making goods for kids should not be lumped into the same category as the large US-based and foreign kids product companies.

To find out how you can help, go to COOL MOM PICKS SAVE HANDMADE webpage by clicking on the link. And thanks to Liz and Kristen for all their support!!

Thanks so much for helping to SAVE HANDMADE!!!

Same Mod Mom, New Garage

Whose bright idea was it to combine moving with Christmas? Oh yeah...ours. I've been long absent from writing because frankly we've been so busy we can't see straight. We're moving to a new (when I say "new" I mean old and smaller but completely renovated) home in an effort to reduce our monthly expenses. We're so excited about our new house...and the new garage! Get this...the garage is actually attached to the house. I can walk right from our laundry room into the garage WITHOUT GOING OUTSIDE! I know to most people this is standard, but in LA, it's not standard at all. We've had this set up in other cities we've lived but it never meant as much as it does to me now. It's the little things, isn't it?!?!

On other notes, I'm still working on the prototype for Land of Nod. It's fun and exciting and sometimes damn frustrating but totally worth it. I'm also plugging away on orders as usual. Still covered in paint and stain.

Christmas has been so fun! We had both sets of parents in town at one point or another. Scott's parents got to experience Christmas in only two rooms of our current house. We decorated the family room and the dining room and every room in between looks like we're moving tomorrow. We sold a lot of our furniture to scale down so Chrstimas was spent with four people and dogs on the couch playing Wii games. Hope your holidays have been equally fun and crowded!!!

We're moving on January 2nd so I'll try and write some new posts either before or after. Here's wishing all of you a very Happy New Year! And thanks so much for all of your support and love in 2008!

Atomic Ranch Rules!

If you haven't checked out the fabulous quarterly magazine Atomic Ranch, you need to! And if you pick up the winter issue (at Barnes and Nobles and large book/magazine dealers) you'll see some furniture you recognize. The title of the section is called Mommy Dearest -- how can you not love that?

Happy Birthday, Mom of Mod Mom!

Happy (BELATED) Birthday, Mom! And look Mom -- only a few days late!!! Sure, I could've been one of those REALLY good daughters and posted birthday wishes on your birthday but what fun would that have been? Don't answer that.

Mom, you're truly one of a kind and I'm so thankful everyday for your love, guidance and fantastic listening ear for when I drone on about how tired and covered in sawdust I am. I love you very much! We're so excited about your visit - can't wait to see both of you on Saturday!

P.S. I promise to shower and even put on a new pair of fake toenails before your visit. I'll be a new me! Just for you. Think of it as another birthday gift.