Friday, June 27, 2008

v.lou textiles onesies in a blog

So...I was googling myself, I'll admit it and I came across v.lou textiles in another blog. This one is from Babinskis. Babinskis is a baby boutique in Salt Lake City more specifically Foothill Village and they have been buying my onesies since October 2007. They have the most beautiful store filled with all things baby. I have really enjoyed doing business with them as they are so nice and fun. I guess they started a blog, and well, here I am!
On the blog note, I must digress a little from the positive and say something that has been troubling me a little. Well acutally a lot. I love seeing v.lou textiles starting to creep out into the world. I love seeing my labor of love showing up in the community. It's what I've been dreaming about for a couple of years now. I know that doing applique onesie's isn't re-inventing the wheel. It's not a new technique that I discovered myself. I realize this. I do. But what I do think is unique about my product is the fabric that I choose, the way I put things together. I try really hard to have a unique style in the world of over saturated baby items. Well, last week a friend of mine went to the Salt Lake Farmers' Market and called me sort of upset. Apparently someone is there with a booth selling applique baby onesies and they look suspiciously similar in style to mine. And again, I realize that it's an applique. I didn't invent it, I know. But what is so similar is the style of the applique, the fabric all that stuff. So, I've been really upset about this. Why can't people get their own thing going? Why do you have to show up at the Farmers' Market, where I did so well last year and sell what I was selling? Then to make matters worse, Sunday while I was manning my booth at the Park Silly Sunday Market in Park City, Utah, I had a couple of people ask if I was at the Salt Lake market or that my stuff was "like that booth at the Salt Lake market"!!!! I am going to go to the market tomorrow and see for myself. I'm half thinking that maybe I shouldn't because I don't know... what can I do? What should I say if anything? So I guess I will keep you posted. The market is tomorrow. Oh, and sorry for the non-use of paragraphs here. I was on a roll!

So...it's the next day. I went to the Farmers' Market this morning to look at the onesies in question. I was so hoping that a) I didn't know the person who was making them, and b) please don't let them look like mine! Well, she was there and I didn't recognize her. Her stuff is appliqued but in my opnion, not really the same. Although she did have skull t-shirts. What is going on here?!?!?

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Elizabeth Terry Jewelry, my favorite!

So my blogography feature today will be of Elizabeth Terry Jewelry. I met Elizabeth last year when we both had booths at the Salt Lake Farmers' Market. She was pregnant, looking in my booth for baby clothes, meanwhile I was in Elizabeth's booth salivating over all of Elizabeth's jewelry, hinting about potential christmas present ideas! (So was my mother-in-law!)

I like Elizabeth's jewelry because it's actual hand-crafted artisan jewelry. You can tell she has thought about each piece. She uses beautiful semi-precious stones, metal work, or an interesting mixture of leather and metal, not just a bunch of beads strung together or a mold to make the same piece over and over again. I like that she offers a wide range of prices too.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces from her website. You can order directly from this site or she will be busy all over Utah this summer doing markets and festivals. She has a list on her website.


I love love love the necklace in the top left corner. Some day I will own that!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Jeff Beck Photography, my favorite!

I have a lot of really creative friends starting their own businesses, some more established than others but, I thought I could do a little blogography over the next couple of days about some of my favorites so you all can see why I think they are so special!

My first favorite is my friend Jeff Beck. He is a photographer, hence the name Jeff Beck Photography duh! He has the most beautiful outdoor landscape photographs. Here are just a few of my favorites from his website:

I used the last one, the snowy river for my christmas cards one year and I have several of his framed photos in my living room. Unfortunately his website hasn't been updated for, ahem, a few years but, you can get a feel for his style and I know he has hundreds of beautiful photos that will surely please everyone! Also, I just found out that he will be at the Salt Lake City Farmers' Market in Pioneer Park every Saturday! Now you can go and see up close and personal how great his stuff is.