Thursday, December 18, 2008

Let the counting begin!

And so it is that time of year again where I get asked more than a few times a day "How many more days until Santa comes?"....ah yes my impatient little ones.

My attempt at taking a photo of the girls for our Christmas cards was a bit challenging this year. Ms. S just loves the snow aka "Ice Cream" and did not want to sit for Mommy. She was way too intersted in eating the snow.





I have been enjoying my time off from making and filling customer orders but could not keep away from my pile of fabrics and my sewing machine. I decided to make something creative for the teachers this year. These steno pad covers where super easy to make and fun because I got to mix and match some of the brighter fabrics together.
The next half of the countdown will be mine of course....how many more days until school is back? That is after Christmas of course. The kiddos will get bored and tired of being stuck inside with this really cold weather and snow we have been having.

And then comes my birthday again....it creeps up on me every year. I have even lost count a couple of times and had to sit back and actually calculate in my head just how old I really was? I took off 1 or 2 years accidentally when I had answered how old I was. Is this what happens in your "ahem" early 30's? I am in trouble if that is the case I will be a basket case by the time I am 40!

We all get so busy and involved in Christmas, then New Years Eve, then the recovery of New Year's Day then BOOM....it is here again but who's counting anyway?

Monday, December 15, 2008

Please Read!

As of February 10, Loves Me Not and thousands of others in the children's industry will be deeply affected financially and or will be out of business.

Remember the outcry last holiday season over lead in imported toys? In order to combat such safety issues, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has passed legislation called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). The law sets stringent guidelines for children’s products containing lead and phthalates (a chemical used in some vinyl products).

It is supposed to go into effect February 10th, 2009, and after that date any product intended for children ages 12 and under must meet these guidelines, and have a certificate of compliance from a CPSC-accredited laboratory. This includes not just toys, but clothing, jewelry, blankets, sheets, books, bibs, strollers, carriers, and anything else that a child under 12 might come in contact with. Sounds great, right?

In theory, maybe. But in actuality the law is so far reaching that it may succeed in turning the economy upside down. For starters, the CPSIA requires end unit testing on every product intended for use by children under 12. It is the responsibility of the manufacturer to do this testing, regardless of how small the business. That means that manufacturers (like myself ) will have to pay to get every different product they offer tested. These tests have to be done at a CSPC accredited lab, and cost tens of thousands of dollars. For example if you offer 3 different types of dresses. Each dress contains 2 different fabrics, as well as buttons, and thread, so that's potentially $600 to test one dress. But if you have 3 or more styles, that's $1800. And when you get a new bolt of fabric, you need to start all over again.

At present, there are no exemptions for small businesses and "micro" manufacturers and most handcraft artisans. There is no exception for quantities made, where the garments/products are made or anything else. Nor is there an exception for unadorned fabric components, unfinished wood components, materials which, by their nature, are free of lead and phthalates.

Also, the Act takes a "guilty until proven innocent" approach, which would treat a handmade, unfinished wooden toy that doesn't meet the certification deadline of 2/10/09 as a "banned hazardous substance" which would be illegal to distribute in this country. Each infraction carries a $100,000 felony charge. This legislation is also retroactive for any pre-existing inventory as of February 10th, 2009. This means that everything on the shelves in those big (or small) stores will also be "banned, hazardous substances" - contraband.

Larger corporations that can afford testing will incur thousands, maybe millions of dollars in fees, and this expense will be handed down to the consumer, probably making the prices for children's products go through the roof.

This also means that after that date, even selling your kids old things on eBay or Craigslist will be illegal. Charities will not be able to accept donations without a certificate of compliance either. February 10, 2009 is being dubbed “National Bankruptcy Day” by many people in the apparel and toy industry. If this legislation is not amended, it will affect everyone from port workers to parents looking for legal products. Billions of dollars worth of children's products will have to be destroyed because they can’t be legally sold, and this will cause major environmental problems.

While I am all for higher safety standards and keeping our kids safe, this law is so overreaching as to put thousands on manufacturers of children's products out of business -hurting our economy and causing even more loan defaults. Though this legislation was well-intentioned, it cannot be allowed to stand as is.Please help us defend the American dream and our entrepreneurial spirit! This law affects every stay at home mom trying to help put food on the table and every grandmother knitting blankets for the local craft fair. It makes the thousands of us who have found a niche in the burgeoning children's market have to make a tough decision - continue to produce items illegally and possible incur a $100,000 fine, pay the enormous fees and raise costs of goods sold, or close up shop!

Please help us!Contact your Congressperson using this link: http://capwiz.com/americanapparel/issues/alert/?alertid=12274476

It only takes 30 seconds!If you have an extra minute send a hard copy of the letter as well!To sign the online petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/index.html

Read more about it here: http://nationalbankruptcyday.com/

Please copy and paste this on your blogs, we need all the help we can get!

I copied this article from Knuckleheads Clothing.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Photo Moto


Two posts in one day...man am I on a role!

So you may or may not know I tinker in photography just for fun. I have been asked by a few friends to take some photos for them for their Christmas cards this year, and for my first official "shoots" I think I did pretty ok.

Just wanted to share a few of my favorites











Now for my family photos so I can get cards printed and in the mail :)

Exhale ....





Wow, it has been really long since I have wrote here on my blog. But since things with Loves Me Not are now slow and I am finally caught up, I can slow down a bit, exhale, and enjoy the Holiday rush right?

Lots has happened since I was on here last and I will sum it all up!

Miss. S turned 3! Can't believe my little baby is 3. We had a great time at the birthday party as usual.

I conquered my portion of the orders from our Etsy shop "the beast" as I called it has been wiped clean! Oh what to do with this free time?
Miss. S decided that turning 3 was just not enough and decided she needed to add 3 stitches to her forehead. She got into a tassle with the coffee table and the table won! Just got the stitches out today and she still jumps and climbs like it never happened.
Lesa and I are working on finalizing a photographer and choosing fabrics for the Spring line. We do not know exactly when we will be previewing that but we need to decide soon.

Spellcheck is not working on here and if anyone knows me I always have typos so please forgive my mis-spellings if I missed any!