richelle*leanne

Holiday Sale

2010-11-25T12:55:00.002-06:00

All of my Etsy items are on sale for a limited time! Use coupon code HOLIDAY10 for an extra 10% off all items in my store. There's still time for holiday sets!

Does anybody speak Italian?

2010-02-22T21:25:00.002-06:00

I just found this website and it appears that this article is featuring some of my children's clothing, but I have no idea what it says! I hope it's nice.

http://www.donnaclick.it/articoli/bambini/?id=722&s=1

Also wanted to say thank you to littledevilishdolly.etsy.com for featuring the Alice dress in a lovely Wonderland treasury, and also to Rachel Rose for featuring it on her blog, Posh Bijou. :)

Alice in Wonderland

2010-02-21T19:28:00.003-06:00

This is a replica of the new version of the classic Alice in Wonderland dress as seen in the upcoming movie by Tim Burton. It's available in my Etsy shop.

Cool Yule

2009-11-06T19:37:00.003-06:00

I just got this little twirly Minnie Mouse set listed for the AnthologyInc "Cool Yule" launch. Custom made up to a size 8.

Check out my listings on Etsy too, I recently restocked my store there after getting settled from our move back to the mainland. Listings include this holiday dress inspired by Bella's birthday dress in the soon to be released "New Moon" movie from the Twilight series.

Have a great evening!

Richelle

Anxiously Awaiting

2009-04-01T17:07:00.002-06:00

Lauren has been asking for some time now how long it will be before her teeth start to fall out. She finally has her first loose tooth, so I made her this little pillow last night and I thought I'd share it. She's super excited and can't wait to use it!

Pretty In Punk

2009-03-05T23:00:00.001-06:00

I just listed this set on Ebay, custom size 2-8!

My Handmade Registry

2009-03-04T22:25:00.003-06:00

I just found out that the rose petal gown has been featured on this wedding registry website, www.myhandmaderegistry.com. So neat! They've also been informed by Etsy that they plan to feature the site in an upcoming Etsy blog post (http://www.etsy.com/storque/). Here's the link to the feature:

Click Here!

Thank you to the folks at My Handmade Registry for including my gown amongst these gorgeous creations! :)

AnthologyInc on Facebook

2009-03-04T15:44:00.003-06:00

Our new group page on Facebook just went live, come by and check it out!

Ending soon

2009-03-02T15:39:00.002-06:00

This sweet and bright little spring dress is ending soon on Ebay. Ready to ship in a size 5/6!

Other custom and ready-to-ship items are available in my Etsy store.

http://richelleleanne.etsy.com

Journal Modiste

2009-03-02T15:36:00.002-06:00

I'm thrilled that one of my designs has been chosen by the designers of Journal Modiste as a finalist for the 2008 Modie Awards. The final voting is open to the public, and I would be honored if you would consider voting for it.

You can view the gown and vote here:

http://journalmodiste.com/index.cfm?page=modie_vote&nid=388&cat=1

Thank you!

Ready to wear sets just listed on Etsy

2009-02-10T03:44:00.003-06:00

The first one up is this 3 piece set made with the most gorgeous Amy Butler fabrics. It's sized to fit a 5/6 best.

I also listed a resell/sample appliqued princess dress. It will fit 4/5 or 6 due to the elastic in back and adjustable straps.

Click on the photos to visit the listings. Thanks for looking!

WE DID IT!!!

2009-01-31T02:29:00.003-06:00

In case you haven't heard, we've been given a reprieve. That's right folks, the boutique world is not longer on death row. The CPSC today voted to give us a one year stay of enforcement of the CPSIA in order for them to evaluate the scientific evidence they've been presented which shows that there is zero risk of lead in textile products. This saves us from being required to effectively destroy every garment we create via wet chemistry laboratory testing for lead at the tune of thousands of dollars - even if every single component of the garment has already been tested and passed. Companies such as JCPenney, Walmart, The Children's Place, Coats & Clark and others all presented their test results to the CPSC last week and thankfully the CPSC is listening. Of thousands of textiles that have thus far been tested - costing these companies hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars - none of the fibers were found to exceed the very stringent lead limits set by the new legislation.

Now we can take a deep breath and return to designing.

CPSC/CPSIA Requirements in effect 2/10/09

2008-12-06T17:18:00.003-06:00

I found out about this last night. I knew that there were tougher restrictions coming out for children's toys because of the problems with lead in goods from China recently. This has much further reaching effects than I imagined and I'm shocked that so few of us in the boutique world have heard about this before now. It affects each and every one of us that produces anything intended for children under the age of 12 - yes, even us little cottage industry moms selling our clothing, bows, or jewelry on Ebay, or the ladies selling monogrammed baby bibs and burp cloths at local craft shows, Amish wood toy makers...so many will be affected. Our choices as consumers will be sorely limited because it will be difficult for even larger businesses to afford to test every single variation of their products for hundreds or thousands per test. According to Fashion Incubator, a 10 piece clothing line in 3 colorways would cost $30,000 for lead testing and about three times that for phthalate testing. As the requirements stand now we will all be out of business come February 10th or face fines and criminal penalties. Visit these links for more information, and spread the word.

http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/legislation.html
http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org
http://www.cpsc.gov/library/foia/advisory/322.pdf
http://www.nationalbankruptcyday.com
http://www.fashion-incubator.com
http://cpsia-central.ning.com/

Richelle

New Portrait Gown

2008-11-12T22:50:00.002-06:00

I just got this one listed for AnthologyInc's Winter Ball launch. I really like how this turned out, I tried something new with the skirt. Click the picture to go to the listing.

Winter Ball

2008-11-07T22:48:00.002-06:00

Be sure to search for AnthologyInc on eBay this coming Tuesday, we're teaming up for a fabulous holiday/winter launch!

Etsy

2008-10-25T05:32:00.004-06:00

I've started concentrating the majority of my items in my Etsy store. The AnthologyInc gals are in the process of getting a team together and we'll be increasing our visibility on this site. We'd love you to "heart" us! MWAH! :)

New Listings

2008-09-29T16:55:00.004-06:00

I have a few new items up right now, this one is a ready to ship Halloween set, I have two of these available in sizes 3/4 and 5/6.

And for the first time on Ebay, I've listed a hand-painted wood tote to match. I'll be doing more of these to match my sets in the very near future. This was too fun to make!

Sales picking up!

2008-07-19T00:57:00.002-06:00

So a week ago I did a bunch of searches on groups and their average prices. This week prices have gone up a bit, here are the top 6 according to sales with last week's average in parenthesis:

1. Melimelo - $154.16 ($146.84)

2. AnthologyInc - $103.99 ($93.18)

3. Lemonlime Boutique - $96.98 ($95.93)

4. StudioE Boutique - $96.07 ($80.96)

5. WisteriaLane - $84.21 ($70.93)

6. Ivylane - $78.55 ($73.45)

Hopefully those averages will continue to climb!

It's Snowing!

2008-07-17T22:34:00.003-06:00

Not really, we don't seem to get much of that here. It's the name of the line of Moda fabrics that I used for my latest set, "Snow Day!". This is my second listing for the AnthologyInc JollyJuly launch going on this week. I used a Euro pattern for these over the top pants - I LOVE how they turned out! Too funky and cute!! Well enough blabbing, here it is:

Click the pic to find yourself magically transported to the listing. :)

Quilt Giveaway

2008-07-17T03:07:00.003-06:00

Look at this beautiful quilt! You can win it by visiting http://oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/. I hope you don't win it though, because I really really want it. :) Isn't it just scrumptious?

Jolly July with AnthologyInc

2008-07-15T01:18:00.003-06:00

My new all-time favorite, Christmas Rose. I'm so anxious for this gown to do well, it was a ton of work but such a fun gown to create. :)

You can find it here

And in that same vein

2008-07-11T19:32:00.003-06:00

I started searching groups. Some of them I put boutique in the search as well because sometimes random things come up using their group name only. Here are my searches followed by the average price sold and number of listings sold (3 weeks):

melimelo $146.84, 104

lemonlime boutique $95.93, 72

anthologyinc $93.18, 25

studioe boutique $80.96, 57

ivylane $73.45, 44

wisterialane $70.93, 75

lilpeas $69.21, 81

gallerybay $52.11, 44

clovergirls $48.01, 19

vendemia $44.73, 16

odod $34.33, 169

lilyplum $34.16, 15

poppyst $55.33, 19

boutique sandbox $54.16, 32

boutique jaynes $27.98, 29

and some other random searches:

aart $125.65, 52

ateam $135.92, 50

absd $34.08, 59

It will be interesting to do these searches in another month when people come back from summer vacations and are buying for back to school.

Euro = Bucks

2008-07-11T19:21:00.003-06:00

No I'm not talking about the exchange rate - I'm talking boutique. I discovered the handy-dandy "What's It Worth" tool on the Ebay selling page and started playing with it. Interesting numbers for some various searches. Here are some with the search terms first, the next number is the average price sold, and how many listings were sold with those terms in the past 3 weeks.

custom boutique - $34.72, 4,770

custom boutique set - $48.12, 911

custom boutique princess - $47.73, 165

custom boutique euro - $90.08, 162

custom boutique euro set - $94.14, 38

Can you say Farbenmix? :-) I think I may have to finally break out my Vida.

Newest Listings

2008-06-11T01:15:00.003-06:00

Ladybug Princess

Ginger Owl

Click on the pictures to go to the listings. :)

Fashion Plate

2008-06-09T15:43:00.002-06:00

This is my daughter left to her own devices. You rarely see her unless she's all dolled up for boutique photos, but this is what she looks like 99% of the time:

Happy as a pig in mud. :)

Labels

2008-06-09T15:31:00.003-06:00

I got my labels last week and I want to share. I love them! Nice, woven, real-live clothing labels. Did I mention that I love them? :)

At the Beach

2008-06-09T15:25:00.003-06:00

This pic is a rare one - all 4 of my kids, sitting together nicely (well, for the most part) and more than half of them actually looking at the camera. :)

We found this mostly secluded little stretch of beach thanks to Cynthia of twolittle*angels. It's only about 5 minutes from our house, too. You can see Waikiki there in the background.

Hula Girls meet to tell FISH TALES!

2008-05-19T19:00:00.004-06:00

We met up over the weekend with our new friends to play at the beach and hopefully get some cute photos. Several other Hawaii-based ebayers and I just launched together for the second time, and the theme for the launch is Fish Tales. You can search for HHG Boutique on Ebay to find all of our listings.

Mailing list contest UPDATE

2008-05-17T03:31:00.006-06:00

Okay so perhaps my DH wasn't the best candidate to be the Winner Picker. He golfed all day and promptly fell asleep upon his return, and here is it 11:30PM and he never did wake up for dinner (he took Tylenol PM - ahem, see below post - but the doctor said he could try to golf again, it was just based on his pain tolerance. He hasn't golfed in 5 months and I think if his leg fell off he wouldn't have cared. Of course he didn't notice how much his knee hurt 'til he finished). Anyway I promise I'll have him pick in the morning and let you know who won just as soon as he lets me know. :)

AND THE WINNER IS:

Annie Heng-Tse

Congratulations Annie, and thank you to everyone that signed up. Stay tuned for further contests, and you can sign up at any time to be eligible for future giveaways!

Mailing list contest!

2008-05-03T18:49:00.004-06:00

Sign up for my mailing list before May 15 and be entered into a drawing for a free custom hula girl set! This is completely unscientific and not monitored by any accounting firm, but I'll have my husband pick a name from the list (because he has no idea who anyone is). I'll have him do this on the 16th and I'll email the winner and post them here on my blog and on the boutique boards on ebay. I will generally only send one newsletter out per month. :)

Applique

2008-05-03T18:34:00.007-06:00

So lately I've gotten away from hand applique-ing. I discovered machine applique embroidery designs and had been using those, but I was getting frustrated by not being able to find exactly what I was looking for on many projects. Sooo, I decide to go back to the old way of doing things. After several late nights of drawing, cutting, ironing, adhering, and stitching, this is the result. I LOVE IT! I never want to buy another applique design. Why haven't I been doing this all along? Now let's just hope it sells...

Whilst Googling...

2007-12-24T03:00:00.000-06:00

I found this article about my grandma. It is in the The Churches of Christ By Richard Thomas Hughes, R. L. Roberts. I thought it was pretty cool, so I'm sharing. Actually I'm copying and pasting, but either way here it is:

BELKNAP, ONA (16 May 1904, Oklahoma City, OK-25 February 1997, Nacogdoches, TX). Education: Unknown. Career. Teacher; writer; editor, Christian Woman, July 1967-72.

Ona Belknap was one of the most influential women among Churches of Christ in the mid-twentieth century, known best perhaps for her work in Christian journalism. For many years she wrote articles on religious and Biblical subjects for a variety of publications serving Churches of Christ, but she published them under a pseudonym--a man's name--because she thought that people would read articles by men more readily. Her poems and articles also appeared in Christian Woman, especially after July 1967, when she became the third editor of that magazine. By 1958 she was a frequent speaker to women's groups in a variety of Church of Christ settings and conducted religious seminars and training courses in creative writing in many states. Ona Belknap and Thelma Holt organized in Detroit, Michigan, in 1969 the first Black-White Christian Women's Seminar, which became a popular annual event. A member of the 12th and Drexel Street Church of Christ in Oklahoma City. Belknap and her husband led in establishing a permanent mission in a neglected area of Oklahoma City.

Bibliography
A. CWom, 1969-1972.
B. Yvette Stills, "Ona Belknap," CWom, 40 (January 1972), 25.

Her education is actually not "unknown" (well not to me anyway); she attended Wichita Falls High School in Texas, back when she was Ona Sweet. She had problems with her knees and couldn't climb the stairs to get to her classes, and because this was long before the American's with Disabilities Act was in place she had to drop out of high school. So her education would have been about 10th grade. But not all was lost, she met my grandpa (Andrew Belknap) at Wichita Falls High. He went on to become Humanitarian of the Year for Ford Motor Company back in the 60's. After retiring from Ford, he became a nurse and then retired from Deaconness Hospital in Oklahoma City. Even in his later years (I'm talking in his 90's) he kept busy grading papers for the World Bible College from the retirement community he lived in. He passed away last January just 2 weeks before his 100th birthday. He was such a good man, always putting others before himself. He took care of my grandma for years, she was always a frail woman and after having several strokes and becoming invalid, instead of putting her in a nursing home he had a hospital bed delivered to their house and he cared for her as long as possible. I wish I had been able to learn more about her life while she was still here on Earth, but she passed away when I was 11 years old. She taught me how to read when I was 3, she had this little primer and taught me how to read from "The Little Red Hen", that was the first and only story we read for a long time until I graduated to the more difficult stories. That book was so old and antiquated - it was the same book she taught my dad to read from. Lots of memories. Lots of questions I'd like to ask. *sigh*

Vintage Home Remedies

2007-12-18T00:41:00.000-06:00

So in an attempt to organize myself, I was going through my storage room. I have a big stack of recipe books that belonged to my grandmother and great-grandmother. Well as during all such organization attempts, I found myself sidetracked. This time it was by those books...but OH what wonderful things I found written in them! Margins were filled by random cleaning tips or other household hints, and the best part is that they are in the handwriting of two women that I love and miss terribly. My Grandma Ditmore (my mom's mom's mom) writes the following:

"A Good Lye Soap"
1 Can Lye
4 Lbs meat scraps
2 1/2 gal. water
Boil 1 hour. When nearly done add 10 cent box Borax

I mean how on Earth could anybody have ever thought that soap should be made with meat scraps? LOL...here are some more:

- To get rid of Odor in Ref. or deep freeze left from spoilt food. Rang (sp?) an ordinary piece of string in it and light it with a match, then close the door. Leave it several hours. It works!

- To clean artificial flowers - Put them in a paper bag with 1/2 cup of corn meal and 1/4 cup of SALT. Close the bag & shake well but gently.

- Roses For Xmas? Select rose buds and process them to keep for Christmas Day. Dip each bud into melted paraffin up to the point where the stem begins. Seal the end of each stalk by dipping in paraffin. After the wax hardens, wrap buds carefully in tissue paper. Pack in a box; store in a cool place. Near Xmas, melt the wax carefully by soaking in warm water. The roses will unfold into full bloom.

And here's a quote that I absolutely adore, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness, but in childhood it's next to impossible".

That's all for today, but I'll be adding more of these wonderful tidbits regularly. :)

Crazy life

2007-05-04T21:51:00.000-06:00

This has been one long week. Once upon a time I was on active duty with a husband on sea duty so he was never home, getting up at 4:30 to get the kids ready and out the door to daycare by 6, then fighting traffic in Norfolk to get to work by 6:45-ish. Then work/stress all day and fight traffic to get everybody picked up before daycare closed at 6 then home to dinner, homework. laundry...falling in bed just to do it again. I would look at the stay-at-home moms living around us and think they had it MADE! What an easy life, right? I remember my next door neighbor, a SAHM with two kids in school all day, complaining about having to take her son to swim practice. I must have looked at her like she was crazy...LOL! How utterly wrong I was thinking they had an easy life. I admit, my life isn't quite as hectic as it used to be but it's easy to lose sight of that. I'm sitting here after a week of shuffling kids around to baseball practices, games, a tournament (happy Cinco de Mayo!) that started today *sigh*, band concert, field day at school, ballet lessons, preschool, and I tell you I just want to sleep until noon tomorrow. OH, except we have 3 baseball games tomorrow (2 tournament and one rain make-up game) on the day I had planned a garage sale because we had nothing scheduled (my bad!). Anyway I haven't been keeping up with my blog as planned, but there ya go. Here's to moms of all kinds, stay-at-home, work-at-home, single moms, and full-time career moms! (((BIG HUGS))) and a margarita or two :)

Coach Contest!

2007-04-24T12:02:00.000-06:00

Ah Mah Gah!! I found this on pamperingbeki's blog. I adore Coach bags, and here's one that's just sitting there waiting for me to win it!! But in order to enter, I have to spread the love and tell other people it's just sitting there waiting for them to enter too. *sigh* Always a catch. ;)

http://quietromance.blogspot.com/2007/04/coach-purse-contest.html

Latest Creation

2007-04-05T21:35:00.000-06:00

Don't you just love it when you see something that's adorable, then you discover that it's not for sale? That's how I feel about this one...I did this as a custom set for the sweetest lady and we both hunted around for this adorable fabric that her daughter liked. She is a "big girl" :) and wanted something a little funkier for her Easter dress. I am so mad at myself for not purchasing more of these fabrics, because all I heard from Lauren for a week was, "Ohh, that's Lauren's dress?"...poor baby. Oh, the guilt (like she doesn't have a closet full of stuff I've made her!). Isn't this just precious though?

Fun with Dandelions

2007-03-29T22:17:00.000-06:00

Still at the baseball fields...we were helping with the landscaping. There are not NEARLY enough dandelions out there (but oh, there will be a couple days from now...LOL!).

Spring!

2007-03-29T21:45:00.000-06:00

Springtime means baseball at our house, and for my 3 year old it means playing in the outer parts of the field where her brother has practice. Today she discovered a real live ladybug and was so excited to hold it. But just for a second... I can't believe I actually got a picture of the ladybug taking flight!

I get Gymbo!

2007-03-27T21:18:00.000-06:00

My sister has made fun of me for years now because I can't shop at Gymbo. At first I thought it was just too expensive and didn't have much of a selection. Then I had a girl and tried again, but I couldn't seem to get out of there at less than $100 and that would get me one outfit. But I GET IT NOW! I mean now that Lauren has sprouted enough hair to actually put accessories in, and now that she likes to carry purses and wear sunglasses, I GET IT! I even saved up Gymbucks. Okay so I ended up selling them to my sister *shhhh*, but I am spending so much cash in that place it's not even funny. So I decided to do my first Made To Match Gymbo set and I LOVE how it turned out. If you Gymbo, you have got to search M2MG on eBay. You will be blown away by the cute clothes and accessories that are made to match their different lines. Anyway here's my M2MG Wish You Were Here dress...

It's a miracle I got any decent pics from this shoot. All she wanted to do was chase ducks around the pond...LOL! I plan to make a pair of matching appliqued jeans and relist this one soon.

Welcome!

2007-03-15T23:21:00.000-06:00

Well it's official, I'm a blogger. What does that mean? Do I have to develop compelling ideas and a persuasive writing ability to get people here to read about my opinions on all sorts of current events? WELL, since Anderson Cooper has that market cornered I'll just stick to talking about my designs. Upcoming ones, ones relegated to the growing "discard" stash, ones still buried undiscovered in my mounds of fabric, and current ones. And other things that I and my family are up to. I just bought a new camera and as I venture off of the auto mode I'll add some of my favorite pics. WOOHOO! I'm excited about the possibilities!