Welcome Little Color Box

The month of March flew by with accelerated speed this year. A few new things, one of which I'm about to reveal, took top priority and seemed to suck up most of my time. More than a few of my morning prayers included pleading to God to expand my time that day. I'm not sure if God can really expand time but I think it's worth asking for because if anyone could expand your time it would be God.
Along with some unusual things that happened that month there was still the usual mundane daily tasks that needed taking care of. Cleaning the house narrowly made any kind of priority list. To be honest it fell to the bottom of the non-priority list next to deep cleaning the garage.
OK so enough with the "I've just been so busy" talk. Yuck.

Here's the thing, a few months ago a friend of mine asked if I wanted to share a booth with her and few others at an arts and craft fair the first week of April. I quickly said yes not having a clue what I was going to sell. It's kinda funny actually.

Anyway several weeks of thinking and exploring my many, many, many, many ideas I found myself oneday doodling little monsters. And poof, that's how it began. I started making appliqued tshirts for babies. It of course developed more than that and continues to develop.

Well, I worked really hard for next several weeks trying to get a small collection together for the fair. I found myself stuck in my laundry room for hours dyeing fabrics and ironing on my hand drawn appliques which were later stitched on. I came up with a name and a logo, made my own labels, printed off business cards and came up with a display. Little Color Box was on it's way. To where I didn't know. In fact I'm still trying to figure that out.

The fair was a little disappointing because I didn't sell much, which I like to think was because it just wasn't my crowd. No offence to anyone who wears kooky hats and Keds but I saw a lot of kooky hats and Keds that day. But despite the disappointing numbers I had a great response from many and I will forever hold a special spot in my heart for all those who bought one of my outfits that day.

Despite my low sales, I wasn't the least bit discouraged. I was so happy and proud with myself for what I had accomplished in a short time. And I knew that my initial ideas could blossom into so much more. I know that if I trust myself and work really hard Little Color Box can become something great. And so the seed has been planted.

Since the fair I have opened an etsy shop www.littlecolorbox.etsy.com and recently purchased a very handsome serger so I can start making my own clothing. I'm sure Chris is worried that I will soon be having a full blown love affair with my baby lock. No worries babe, despite the serger's amazing capabilities it does have it's limitations.

Here is a look at Little Color Box's humble beginnings.

This is Hudson. He's my first model. He's also one of my first customers.

Test Drive

A few weeks ago we offered, no wait, Chris offered to watch a co-workers dog while he and his family went on vacation. No big deal. It would fun watching a puppy for a few days even a week if needed. I knew the kids would love it. The stakes were high but I was willing to take the chance that maybe the dog would win over Chris' reluctance to ever getting a dog. We were all game.

Jax, a.k.a. "Marley" arrived on Wednesday evening full of excitement and eager to meet us. In fact he was so excited it took several minutes to calm him down long enough just to get him in the house. oh this will be fun I convincingly thought to myself. I can do this. It's only a week. Later that evening Chris informed me that it was going to be a few days longer than a week. But by then the family had left and so any chance of pulling out of the offer was no longer a possibility.

I had dogs growing up and I think I have a very realistic idea of what is means to have a dog. And it's because of this realistic view point that we are still not dog owners. So I knew Jax would be a lot of work. I just didn't know I would be watching a a highly strung, boisterous, and somewhat uncontrolled puppy. Who was strong, powerful, endlessly hungry, eager to be active, and often destructive of our property and pooped several big poops a day. Yuck! Jax was a handful. Below is just a sampling of the things his pearly whites got a hold of.

T-Rex got away lucky with the only the loss of his arms. At least he still looks fierce, or maybe he's in pain I don't know which.

Troy the barbie doll was also lucky to escape with only ripped shorts and a chewed off left foot.

It really didn't matter what the material. Plastic was one of Jax's favorites. He ate several Capri Sun pouches and chewed on his food dishes.

Most items were of little significance except for my irreplaceable funky Chinese shoes I got in New York. Bad dog!

I think we said "drop it" at least 1,000 times if not more. One of the more disgusting items he got a hold of was a dead bird which he would not release from his mouth. I tried unsuccessfully several times trying to remove the decaying corps but all I ended up with was a napkin full of feathers and two skinny bird legs that I had ripped from the poor animals body. I eventually gave up and sent him the backyard to dispose of it how ever he pleased. A few minutes later he released the bird probably deciding it was too gross even for a dog to eat something infested with maggots.

I had more than a few moments of wanting to hate the dog but the thing is I could never hate him because he was completely without malice and he would give you the "but I'm so adorable look". You dog owners know the look. It's the reason we love them in spite of their naughtiness.

One day I asked Jack if he liked the dog and he said, "No. I no like the dog." I can't really blame him after all he did destroy quite a few of his toys and racked havoc in his territory.

It didn't take long for Thomas to realize just how much work it is to have a dog. His tolerance for Jax ran thin at times. (He is his father's son after all.) I'm pretty confident he will not be the one begging for a dog any time soon if ever.

Chris feels the same as he did before we watched the dog which is, it's nice to have neighbors with well behaved dogs that we can occasionally pet and say hello to.

As for myself I may get talked into getting a dog eventually, but I'm pretty sure it won't be a puppy!

Kate on the other hand loved every minute of it. Which is not surprising since she is the one that constantly wants to have the "when are we going to get a dog" conversation. But after our little test drive of having a dog my usually response of "one day we'll get a dog" has quickly change to "MAYBE one day we'll get a dog."