OOpsy Owl wOOly bibs

Prevention of those nasty snack trails from sabotaging your baby's sense of style.........

OOpsy Owl wOOly bibs are hand-crafted from available 100% up-cycled wool and replicate the silhouette of an owl’s wise face (turned upside-down!) A personalized and unique little owl is sewn into the left-hand corner and adds a simple, yet whimsical detail of hand-made charm. Velcro tabs on the back are sew-in strong and are very convenient during mealtimes. One-of-a-kind, your OOpsy Owl wOOly bib was created from available up-cycled 100% wool. The unique thing about up-cycling is that once the reclaimed wool is made into something, it is almost impossible to recreate the exact same item!

OOpsy Owl wOOly bibs have been pre-soaked in a lanolin bath to restore the natural properties in wool such as stain, moisture and wrinkle resistance.

Visit my Etsy shop to see all of my OOpsy Owl wOOly bib collection!!

From my hands to yours.

{o,o}  The wOOly Owl

|)__)

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Broken Heel = Better success!

What happens when you fall off of a 6 foot high reinforcement wall? You break you heel.

Yes it can be done, your heel can break and I have to warn you it is not a very pleasant feeling.

I remember catching my foot on the edge of the flower box and falling to my heel bone’s demise. I have been off work for a month now and just starting to get back to my sewing table. With Christmas coming I was so disappointed to have had to miss my greatly anticipated Craft fair on the 13^th of November. Days leading up to the event, I tried to accommodate my foot by keeping it above my machine and sewing in an awkward position, yet the disadvantage was that I could not move to and fro and I do in my creative state going from one room to the other to create patterns and fetch buttons, or to find my missing sewing needles. I also have not been able to scavenge the second hand stores for my wOOly gold nor find hidden treasures of reclaimed lace or silks. But from all of the forced relaxation and seemingly house arrest, I have found the pleasure of impractical perfection........

Breaking my heel has forced me to slow down and look at the finer details in my life. Do I really need to clean the house spotless every day? NO, Things can get a bit dusty if it means I rest and elevate my foot for the required 8 months. Do I have need to stress about craft fairs and the ever approaching holidays? NO. To be frank, I am actually thankful that I had to miss the Russel Craft Fair.  

For the last four weeks I have taken this opportunity to start up my new wOOly Owl Etsy shop.   http://www.etsy.com/people/thewOOlyOwl I love it. At first I avoided the whole Etsy community, thinking that everyone sold their things on Etsy, I tried to be the renegade and forgo the online opportunity to reach more potential customers. Then in my haze of stay home injury fever, I sign up and have been loving it ever since. I have even joined a team, Ohcanadateam, which encourages and promotes Canadian-based venders to better sell their items to customers looking for more local products. I have to say that there are so many talented individuals out there doing an amazing job selling their things. If you have the chance, check out a few of my favourites:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bumbleebuck

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ForStrangeWomen?ref=pr_faveshops

 and http://www.etsy.com/shop/paintedturtlewt

I love how each shop embodies the character of the owner and how even the photography of their items becomes almost more desirable then the items themselves. Brilliant. The hours I have been able to venture into these cyber shops has left me with the knowledge and inspiration on how to make my wOOly things that much more beautiful. Thanks to my broken heel, I now have creatively tagged my wOOly things with a unique little owl, Have packaged them in a fitting wrapper and tied them with the best and most ideal bow I could find......... Bring on the Holidays baby, The wOOly Owl is coming to town!

The Best Thing My Boss Taught Me

I have to say that these last few days have been a bit inspiramidating. This is my word to guiltlessly say that I have been feeling a bit intimidated by all of those sewers out there who have just as many great ideas as I yet are a year ahead of me in their practice.....all of their pretty postings on Etsy (check out my shop @ http://www.etsy.com/people/thewOOlyOwl ) and knithack force me to have something to compare my work with......but that should inspire me right?

The more I jumped into the rabbit hole that is organic sewing and the whole natural movement in general, the more I felt like here I am at the beginning, a newbie, that young girl who walks into the sewing store looking for lanolin and gets that timeless look from the other ladies who say...oh well so and so are already doing that.......... well made me feel like, "Damn, I have bitten off a really big chunk to swallow!" Starting a business and following my passion had one small catch....

Competition.

Okay...so the words of wisdom.....
 As a BC girl I had the privilege of working with a woman who impacted me in more ways than one.

                                                                       Mary

Mary Lucas is the owner of the Victoria artery of Hip Baby. I worked with Mary for a few character building months before my adventures brought me to Muskoka. One thing that placed Mary on my Top Ten List of Strong Woman in My Life was her attitude about competition, or in her words, partners.

 From the beginning, Mary made a strong conviction that there will always be other business that will sell the same products as you. Instead of looking at these businesses as competition or intimidation, Mary takes the professional and positive approach that, not only are other individuals in the same field as you valuable connections, they set the level of standards by which each business can inspire the other to become better, to deliver higher customer service and products and to have an all around, more positive and lasting enterprise.

 I had to compare my insecurities with her attitude and realized that my intimidation came from the desire that I want to be successful in this area of my life. Sewing to me is what makes me happy. It is what makes me lose track of time and it is what makes me feel independent from others around me. To realize that others out there are jumping onto the green dragon made me want to jump on as well which in turn stressed me out that I would somehow (in the matter of a week) miss my great opportunity to ride to my own green success. STOP Alissa, realize that with time the hands become wiser and so does the spirit.

So as I sat there is my sewing room inspecting my work, ensuring that my seams were right and that I needed to focus on craftsmanship and that extra handmade touch, I realized that there is a huge source out there of inspiration if you only chose to see it that way. Yes, there are others out there who are up-cycling and creating beautiful hand made things....I will take their efforts, work harder, pay attention to detail, slow down, and dammit, Love every minute of it.

To all of those out there creating beauty with their hands, you are my inspiration.


{o,o}  The wOOly Owl
|)__)
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