Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Baby Booties!



Well, I am taking a break from my exhausting workload right now (it has been a VERY busy couple of weeks and I am not sure I have been to bed before 2am more than once or twice in the past two weeks!) :) to post some photos of the BABY BOOTIES from my new line! (I think I am going to call the new baby line "Paisley Pie").

Yes, I designed these little buggers (soon to be joined by baby bibs perhaps?) and look forward to making them available at the Halloween Costume Contest (which will have a little boutique section) as well as at the trusty Chickadee Boutique (which is a great eclectic mix of all sorts of arts, crafts, gifts, etc. located in a cozy cottage in Shoreview MN) where my jewelry (and some handbags, cards, and other items I whip up) are shown/sold each winter & spring. Check out details & directions for the Chickadee here. (Perhaps eventually I'll also dip into a few other retails shops and such, but I don't have the time to take on any of that right now!) :)

My bootie designs consist of 15 different modern patterns for boys & girls (I agonized to get it down to that many!), each featuring a quilted sole, elastic so that "yes-they-actually-stay-on" unlike most baby socks/shoes, and another funky pattern on the inside. Right now they are available in two sizes: 0-6m & 6-12m, but possibly in the future a 12-18m size will be added (though right now they don't have non-skid soles, so they're more like slippers for older/walking babies rather than shoes). They are washable and all or almost all of the fabrics are 100% cotton (flannel or light-weight cotton).

While I have designed jewelry and handbags in the past and still have a line of jewelry on the side (shannon tacheny collection), these booties were actually born out of an idea for my photography business. The main purpose for them is that they will be sold as a combo with Newborn (0-6week old) photo session gift certificates. How PERFECT of a gift is that! And great to pick up last minute if you're heading to a shower and don't have a gift yet. (Oooh, and then the adorable little newborn can come to me and get their photo taken with thier new booties on! I can't wait!)

Well, enough talk already. Here are more images of my test-samples. I will be receving my first large order in about two weeks (handmade by a lovely production seamstress, as I am far too busy to sew) so all the varieties will be available soon! (Register your kiddos for the costume contest and come see them then!)

Let me know what you think! (I believe you can add your comments below).

Cheers,
Shannon :)



Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Hunter (6mos) & Delia... collage images

Well, Hunter is 7 months old now (what a GREAT age!), but here are a few glimpses of his 6 month pictures I took a few weeks ago (doesn't he look handsome in his tie!). I put them in a collage format, which is something I'm going to be offering more of in the near future. Prices are not nailed down yet, but something similar to this (long & skinny) would be available in a 5x15 or 10x20 print size. There are also some great long, thin canvas options that I will be making available for collages. If one picture is worth a thousand words, than think how many more words a collage is worth! :) Really though, I tend to shoot with the display of multiple images in mind (I love expressions and personality), so I think this will factor in well with my style.



I got some of him with big sister Delia as well. I thought I'd give these three images a try in one of my new holiday card designs! How useful is that... these can be used for just about anything. All of the holiday cards come with your custom wording, and of course I used a funkier font here, but something a bit more "pretty" is generally what suits the cards. This is a 5x7 design, as are most of the new holiday templates.


PS - Since I don't get to the blog as often as I'd like, I'm going to give you a sneak peak of some things to come... In addition to all of the new formats I have to offer now (the collages, canvases, baby annoucements, borders, etc.); and the updating of all of the galleries on my website (the HUGE project I got myself in to that will hopefully be finished soon, complete with a wedding and commercial photograhy section); and framing options I now have available (ask if you're interested, that flyer might not be ready as soon as I'd like); I am ALSO (drum roll....) designing my own line of modern little BABY BOOTIES!!! I am so excited about these little buggers! It all started when I decided the PERFECT BABY GIFT would be a newborn gift certificate attached to a pair of baby booties... and Voila! Some of you know I still design a line of jewelry (shannon tacheny collection) which used to include handbags. And while I did much of the sewing & production for those myself, this time around I've done the research, designing/sketches, and fabric choosing, and handed this project off to a seamstress for now to get me the first samples (I pick them up Thursday!). I've got the most adorable modern yet vintagey fabrics and I can't wait to post pictures for you all to see! Hopefully they'll be at least a few available at the boutique portion of my Halloween shoot, so perhaps you can see them then. All for now... have a great week everyone!