a simple blog to share the fresh squeezed juice on fruit (modern handmade baby goods). comment, question and enjoy reading the inside scoop on the fruit of our labor.
We love giveaways! Our new partner, Beyond the Bum, is hosting its first ever giveaway! We are so proud to be a part of Beyond the Bum and want you to have a chance to win one of their very cool 90-load bags of Rockin' Green laundry detergent. It's a super hot product on the green market right now, perfectly safe, natural and phosphate-free for you and your little ones. Here are the specs... Rockin’ Green is:
Dye free
Comes in several yummy scents (& an unscented version for sensitive skin)
Friends and fans, loyal customers and first-time Fruit shoppers, we are launching our first ever Unique Boutique Challenge! This is an incredible opportunity for you to win a $100 Fruit gift certificate. That's right, $100! So here's the scoop on the why and the how...
As we mentioned in our very first blog, Fruit is backed, held up and sustained by a team of customers, helpers, encouragers, cheerleaders, vision-givers,
idea-generators, sounding boards, direction-pointers, dear family and
friends. Part of our mission is to "utilize the talents and resources we've been given" to provide you with the best in handmade, modern goods for baby and mama. So this great Unique Boutique Challenge is to do just that. We are asking you to continue to be part of our team, a resource to grow Fruit and give boutiques across the country the opportunity to provide Fruit products to their customers.
Up until recently, we have only sold our products at our online store. In the last month, in addition to distributing to Beyond the Bum, several baby boutiques have asked to carry Fruit products in their retail stores. So we're opening up our market to the world of in-store retail and we're asking for your help.
The Challenge? Get a local or online baby boutique to carry Fruit products, and we'll give you a $100 Fruit gift certificate to use at our online store. The boutique must place a wholesale order (minimum $200) before you get your reward. The boutiques may be local to you or not (feel free to market while on vacation!), stateside or not (this challenge is open to our overseas customers as well!). The Challenge ends March 1, 2010. So go to it...put those marketing and salesman skills to work! Your gift certificate is waiting!
Need some print? We've got Fruit brochures, business cards and wholesale price lists we'll send to you to help you in your effort.Contact us at laura@fruitbabygoods.com to let us know what you need, where to send them and if you have any other questions about the challenge.
We'll post winners and new boutiques carrying Fruit products as they join the team! Best of luck to all!
We are very proud to introduce Beyond the Bum, a brand new company featuring unique, high-quality, natural baby products. From innovative cloth diapers to the latest baby-wearing products and modern baby accessories (including our Fruit goodies!), Beyond the Bum offers in-house parties or baby showers, education on natural parenting and an in-home or online one-stop baby shop! Check out BTB's website at www.beyondthebum.com or visit the blog at www.beyondthebum.blogspot.com for the full report and photos of last month's launch party.
Kelly Pagan, Beyond the Bum's Founder
We are thrilled to be in partnership with Beyond the Bum and look forward to growing together in the weeks, months and years ahead!
Congratulations go out to SARAH, this month's Giveaway winner! Thank you so much to all of you who browsed the site and posted comments on your favorite new prints. Stay tuned for our next giveaway, more juice from Fruit and other news and sales coming your way. Here's a special offer for those of you coming back to check if you've won...enter code NOVGIVE at checkout and get 20% off your entire order! (This code will be good through the end of November).
Friends and fans of Fruit, this is your chance to win a free Maxfield Bib Set! Great for babies or toddlers, as a gift or to keep for your own little fruits, the Maxfield Bib Set of 2 is one of our brand new collections and already a hit among mod mamas!
To enter to win this bib set, visit our site at www.fruitbabygoods.com. Browse the new collections and then head back here to the blog and post a comment about your favorite new print. Be sure to include your name or email so we can contact you if you've won. The winner will be announced on November 22nd. Happy browsing and good luck!
We had an amazing experience in Beverly Hills at the March of Dimes Celebration of Babies 2009. I failed to take enough pictures to capture the event so I will have to paint one for you with words instead. Hopefully, I will do it justice.
We arrived to the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills at 8:30 on Saturday morning for load-in and set up. Funny story here: We purposely arrived a couple days early to do a dry run to be sure we knew where the hotel and load in entrances were. We conveniently noticed a corner Starbucks just in case we needed some morning caffeine on the day of the big event. We did, of course, and so after picking up some quick coffee and a breakfast sandwich, we headed back out Pico Blvd. towards the hotel. After about 8 or 9 minutes, Michelle and I both decided our surroundings were not looking familiar anymore. So I got out our map and we retraced our path back. Our missed turn? On the very corner where we had stopped for coffee! So much for the practice run! :)
We were close enough to the hotel that the lost time was of little importance. We parked at the back end of the hotel where a small set of stairs led up to the beautiful garden area, replete with green foliage, a wide variety of flowers, fountains and brick walkways.There, the March of Dimes staff was busy laying out the red carpet and MOD backdrop where the paparazzi would feast on celebrity attendees. The boutique area was already prepared under white canvas tents covered the path from the garden to the ballroom entrance where the luncheon would be hosted. About 15-20 tables lined either side of the walkway, dressed in white linens and ready for vendor displays. We felt very fortunate that our table was located just outside the ballroom entrance. Later, we realized this proved fruitful for two reasons: first, it happened to be the warmest place in the boutique on a cool Saturday morning and second, it proved to be a congregating area for guests coming and going. We spent the next hour and a half hauling our goods from the car to the table and then proceeding to set up shop. Here's a photo of the set-up just before guests started to arrive.
Guests began to arrive at 11:00am, though the biggest rush came right before lunch. A mix of doctors, nurses, mommies and babies, celebrity couples and advocates of babies' health made their way through the boutique, some stopping to peruse, converse and buy our goodies. At the end of the day, though we didn't sell a ton of goodies, we felt very privileged to be a part of this event and very excited about the opportunities ahead. Here are just a few of the opportunities we are considering as a result of this event:
The March of Dimes National Relations Director asked us to consider partnering with them to go nationwide.
Cedars-Sinai Hospital Nurse and PR Director asked to sell our Fruit products to their parenting, baby development, pregnancy and birth class clientele and patients.
A fertility doctor asked if he could order/send baby gifts for his patients.
Two women who are involved in The Pump Station (pumpstation.com) asked us to be represented in the Pump Station boutiques.
A new boutique owner in West Hollywood asked to carry our goods in her new salon/boutique for mamas and babies.
Another boutique vendor at the event asked if she could help us get into the LA market because she thought Fruit would be an excellent fit.
Of course, my thoughts and answers to all of these inquiries were YES! Now that we are back home, I am working and talking through the details of what all those things look like. Needless to say, the event was a great success and we are eagerly anticipating what God has in store next!
A few other noteworthy parts of the day:
We got to meet Kelly Cotreau, the facebook giveaway winner who connected us with this event!
We were treated to take-out lunch from Jerry's Deli (a Santa Monica fave) by my dear friend Jen Pamu.
We met a few celebrities face to face, though most of them entered the ballroom without going through the boutique. Our favorites? Dawn and Ali Ballard (Numb3rs) and their sweet kiddos, Naya and Cairo. Naya and Michelle hit it off and provided some good entertainment during our lunch break!
We found that having a real live baby at our booth was a big hit! Hillary Smiley (my dear friend and one-day assistant) brought her little guy Luke (4.5 months old), and was able to display a Fruit blanket, burp cloth and nursing cover in action to the guests. So fun! Hillary did take some photos so when I get more from her, I will post them.
In preparation for Celebration of Babies 2009 and in an effort to condense and refine our product selection, we've been working tirelessly on a new line of Fruit goodies.We've kept some old favorites and added some fun new collections and it's now complete! Here's a peak at a few of the newbies. To see the rest, have fun browsing the site! www.fruitbabygoods.com
Last week, when a friend asked how things were going in preparation for the March of Dimes event, she said to me, "So you kind of work in your own sweatshop, huh?" Um, yes, I guess I do. As I thought about her comment, I thought it might be fun for you to have a look-see inside this little sweatshop of mine. It isn't anything special to the outsider's eye, but for me, it is a place to work, to dream, to think, to create, to pray, to provide, to make a mess and clean it up endlessly, to pile products high and set hopes higher, to wonder where God will take this little business and how long He will keep me at it. It is a place of diligence and of faithfulness.
1-The Workhorse. My mom's sewing machine that handles an incredible amount of punishment in a day. (I'm saving for my own and hope it handles just as nicely as this one).
2-Finished diaper clutches, ready for packaging, buried under unfinished, but ready-to-sew burp cloths, buried under blanket backings. I am very organized in my piling.
3-Pending orders. Besides getting ready for the big event, I'm processing, making and sending out new orders.
4-Bibs. Finished, but not rolled and wrapped. Tomorrow's project.
5-My little chest of goodies. Top drawer: fruity gum that my son likes to steal and minty gum and altoids that he doesn't like to steal because they are too "spicy". Second drawer: Delivery confirmation slips for shipping, extra fabric tags, glue stick for packaging. Bottom drawer: Pre-cut Velcro for quick use on diaper clutches and bibs.
6-The BIG box of minky fabric for blankets. It's oh so soft but oh so messy, so it gets its very own box.
7-Luke Smiley, "bringer of light". Luke is a little miracle baby, son of my dear friend Hillary, and an incredible testimony to our amazing creator God. Read his story here.
8-Tomorrow's start pile: finish 4 nursing covers.
9-Artwork from my two precious little fruits, Jack (4) and Ella (20 mo). Also, a hymn that has been my lifesong over the past two years: God Moves in a Mysterious Way.
This photo is one major part of my workspace. There is a closet to the left full of bolts and cuts of fabric. The rest of the room has its own piles. The kitchen counter has been housing my cutting mat for a week now and there are three plastic bins full of products ready to be packaged for LA in the hallway outside the door. And yes, I did clean up a little. If, from this photo, you are seeing fabrics you don't see on the website, well, this is some sneak peakage at the new line to be released in the next few days. Stay tuned...
Three weeks from today, we get to be a part of the 2009 March of Dimes Celebration of Babies in Beverly Hills. Each year, the California chapter of March of Dimes hosts a charity luncheon recognizing celebrities and prominent individuals who are celebrating the birth of their children and who are role models for the March of Dimes commitment to love and hope for healthy babies. The event, called "Celebration of Babies," includes a luncheon and program, an auction and a "boutique-style marketplace boasting best in class designers, companies and boutique owners." Providentially, we were invited to be a part of the event as one of the boutique "shops."
As the event draws near, I often catch myself thinking, "What have I gotten myself into?" Really, how in the world did this little outfit I call "fruit" become a company carrying "best in class design" products suited for the babies of high-profile celebrities like Ashlee Simpson and Nicole Richie? I have no answer but God. In His providence, He orchestrated a Facebook giveaway winner to contact the March of Dimes event director who offered me the very last spot in the boutique. And just like that, I found myself saying yes and kicking things into high gear to get ready.
So a few fun facts about Celebration of Babies 2009:
This year's event will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.
It will be hosted by Lisa Breckenridge (News Anchor, Fox 11 LA) and Lauren Sanchez (Good Day LA, Extra).
Special guests will include Halle Barry and Courtney Thorne-Smith.
The "Stork Club" (parents who have welcomed new babies in the past year) includes Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz, Nicole Richie and Joel Madden, Hank Azaria and Katie Wright, Julie Bowen and Scott Phillips, Howie and Leigh Dorough, Mitchell and Clare Davis, Nicole Sullivan and Jason Packham, Jennifer Todd and Chris Messina and Marlien Rentmeester and John Phelps.
This year's Golden Rattle Award will be given to Dr. Robert Katz, long-time physician and advocate for healthy babies at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
To say it is an honor to be a part of this event is an understatement at best. And not only do we get to participate in the boutique, we've also been privileged to gift the Stork Club with some special Fruit products as part of their gift bag (which is actually a stroller full of goodies!) as well as offer one of our luxury blankets for bidding in the auction. Pictured are the Stork Club gifts ready to be sent!
Aside from the hoopla of participating in a celebrity charity event, I personally am most looking forward to sharing the experience with my two very best friends: my hometown country girl who could swing it in the big city, Michelle Rogers, and my big city girl who is so down-to-earth she could swing it in the country, Hillary Smiley. Both gems in my heart!
A heap of fabric needing to be fashioned into bibs, diaper clutches, blankets and burp cloths awaits me.
More to come on this and more in the days ahead...
I've been going back and forth on if, when, how and why to write a blog on the insides of this little company I call "fruit". There's a lot happening right now, a lot to look forward to, a lot on my plate and I've decided to take the plunge into the world of blogging to record it all (or some of it at least) for those who want to know more about what goes on behind the scenes of an in-home, hand-made, sole-proprietor, mommy-run business. So here we go...
One of the first and most important things I want to share is that while my name is the only one printed beneath the business name, I don't do it all alone. For those of you who don't know me personally, I am a Christ-follower, a child of God, created in His image and for His glory. He takes the lead, and I follow. He is light for my path, even if it's just a step at a time. And that is usually the way it is.
Running a sewing gig is the absolute last thing I could ever have dreamed of doing in life. My parents are still dumbfounded that their jock of a daughter who much preferred playing the sport of the season to learning the home-making skills my mother so faithfully taught us girls growing up, is now sewing for a living. But how does the saying go? "Necessity is the mother of invention." My "need" was to stay at home with my kids and yet there was also a need to generate some income. What started as wanting to learn to sew, grew into an idea that perhaps I could create some simple patterns, use the ingenious creativity of the world of fabric design, and then put the two together to start a business sewing and selling baby essentials.
And here I am now, doing just that. Again, I have not done it alone. I wish I could name every name and post photos of each and every person in my band of helpers, encouragers, cheerleaders, vision-givers, idea-generators, sounding boards, direction-pointers, dear family and friends who have enabled me to start and now grow "fruit"...in time, I hope to do that. For now, know that "fruit" is the product of many hands, minds and hearts nurturing me forward, daily anchored in the grace of a loving and ever-present personal God.
