GUEST BIOS

[Guest]

[thebabybloak]

Hi,

I'm the mom behind the Baby Bloak, and while I was ready to leave my dayjob to focus on my business, I now find myself ready to fight the CPSIA. Feel free to visit my website or join the Alliance for Home-Based Children's Businesses

I hope once my income has adjusted to my career transition, I can become a member of this forum on a regular basis.

www.thebabybloak.com
www.momlovestoday.com
http://homebasedalliance.ning.com/

[Kathleen F.]

Moved from another thread

[Fledgling]

I'm Nancy and I design sewing patterns and distribute the patterns of my German friends from Farbenmix, Bunte Nadel and Traumschnitt in North America. My own designs fall under the trade names studioTANTRUM and Fledge. I also occasionally import specialty notions, but Euro-zone items are just too pricey presently. I do not sew to sell, but many, many end users of my products do. I have noticed a virtual standstill in sales of my products and my retail partners are also hearing crickets.

-Nancy.

"Fun is good." -Dr. Seuss

[Kathleen F.]

Welcome Nancy, Ula and "the mom behind the bloack"!!!

Btw, this is NOT a criticism directed to "tmbtb", a lot of our visitors do this but many of your identities seem to be very product driven and it's puzzling to me/us. Iow, you don't have names of your own; your identity is defined by your product. It's even ironic because it seems the smaller the business, the less likely they are to have an identity outside of their products. I see this as akin to losing yourself in a marriage. Having no identity of your own other than wife and mother. What do you do if you lose your spouse or children?

I think authenticity can be measured by permanence; you're authentic if your self applied labels are permanent, not self adhering stickies that fall off after a little wet and wear. Authenticity is not what you think your image should be but what you really are or aspire to be. Are you a productt? Didn't think so .

If you've ever gotten an email from me, you'll know my sig file reads "Nurture people, not products" to serve as a reminder that people are the first priority. Paradoxically, many personable people (albeit small businesses) nurture their products over people and I don't think they realize it (you become what you habitually do). I wrote an essay about it called [url=//fashion-incubator.com/archive/nurture_people_not_products/]Nurture people, not products[/url]. Maybe you'll read it sometime. Anyway, I'm obviously feeling a bit philosophical this morning and since you all were sharing, thought I'd share a few thought to ponder as you go through the day. Assuming you can load the site. I'm frantic about it.

[Shannon F]

Hi everyone, I have been lurking here for the past week or so. I happened upon this website from another CPSIA blurb. There is a wealth of great info and thank you for having this section open to us. I see a wealth of great info on the rest of the forum and this is also my first time to hear about the book. I have been in business for a little over 4 years and am going through some pretty major expansion things and it is scary to dive into with little experience. I think with the book and these forums will be valuable tools.

~Shannon
www.woollybottoms.com

[Kathleen F.]

Hi Shannon, good to have you!

[ShariB]

Hi,
I am very new here as well, but have been lurking for a few days now trying to understand everything that I can regarding the laws. I am an online retailer for little girls clothing, accessories & toys, many of which are artist made pieces (such as handmade dolls, wood blocks, dresses etc) as well as smaller boutique designer childrens clothing lines.
Interestingly enough yesterday I sent a note out to all of my lines asking about their plans regarding the law and most of the childrens apparel companies said they did not believe the law applies to them. I read conflicting news about this all the time and hope that this forum, as well as my research can help me figure this all out! I am sad to say that probably 70% of my lines will not be able to afford testing and will sadly go out of business.
Anyhow, it's easy to digress. But I want to say thank you for opening your forum to many of us who otherwise would not have the access.
Shari
www.happychickadee.com

[Vicki P]

Welcome! So glad you are here.

I'm glad you are on top of the law. I have contacted the stores I sell too and they are either unaware or are ignoring the law or so busy with holiday sales they aren't going to think about it until after the 1st.

I'd love to hear what other retailers are planning.

[ramona1166]

I've been spending a lot of time here lately reading up on this fiasco. I started designing and manufacturing children's special occasion clothing (christening gowns, communion dresses, flower girl dresses) over 25 years ago. We sold wholesale for 20 years then switched to direct retail via the internet 5 years ago (OneSmallChild.com). Our market is a small niche in the children's clothing market and even though we are a large manufacturer in that niche, we are still small potatos compared to the big mainstream manufacturers. We are trying to figure out how we can survive this tsunami. I hope we make it!

[handcraftivist]

Hello.
First, I want to let you know that I am not a member of the fashion-incubator, but I have a friend who helps support her family by making and selling hairbows on eBay. She directed me to your message board. This friend first alerted me to the potential far-reaching effects of the CPSIA 2008 just this past week. Like many, I had not been aware of the details of the legislation nor its potential harm to handcrafters.

I have a lot of artists and handcrafters in my family. I loved making things by hand in my growing up years. Now, my crafting is more in the media and video field.

I am an activist at heart. The endeavor closest to my heart is the development of The Last Show ~2007-2008~, a MySpace page promoting drunk driving awareness and showingcasing the devastating toll on those who are left behind when their loved ones are taken.

http://www.myspace.com/ncproud
The Last Show ~2007-2008~
Dedicated to Casey Bokhoven 1980-2007

I have YouTube channels that support the page-
http://www.youtube.com/ncproud
http://www.youtube.com/ncproud2

I hope this gives you an idea of who I am.
I set up a YouTube page under the name "handcraftivist."
http://www.youtube.com/handcraftivist

I believe in art, entrepeneurship and the American dream of making your own destiny by the creativity of your own heart and hands.

It is my hope that I can gather a substantial number of videos to support the endeavor to tell the story of handcrafters who will be affected by the CPSIA 2008 as it is now written.

YouTube is a tremendous vehicle and voice. News networks now routinely comb YouTube for material and even use videos on national newscasts.

I would appreciate your help in directing me to any videos you see on this issue. I am especially looking for news stories produced by local affiliates directly about the affect CPSIA 2008 will have come February 10, 2009.

[Ning]

Hi everyone

My name is Ning. I'm a stay at home mom of 3. I'm also a designer and seamtress of custom children garment. I'm also the leader of Haute Couture For Kids, it's an online group consisting of designer of custom children clothing and accessories, buyers, boutique owners, etc. We have over 650 members and growing.

So far designing sewing children clothing is a hobby, although I occassionally sell them.

I came accross so many dumb gov. policies that affected my life, I don't even know where to start. And this is one of them.

This is so overwhelming I don't know what to do. This law will affect all of my members.

I am also working on charity projects. I'm making and collecting new hats, bandanas, and headbands to be donated to hospitals etc for children who lost their hair due to medical illness, I was also planning to make some blankies to donate to a local children haven and homeless children.

I will have to stop my charity works when this law is in effect. It's such a shame! I LOVE doing charity works, and I have tons of fabrics donated by generous donators like Amy Butler, Westminsters fibers, and Fabric.com. I am just very upset that the gov wrote and approved something without thinking first.

Oh yeah, just in case anyone wants to know, here are my links:

http://www.georgegabriellecouture.com/
http://georgegabriellecouture.blogspot.com/
http://www.hautecoutureforkids.blogspot.com/

Ning

[pmm]

Hi, my name is Paige and my husband and I own Belle Baby Carriers. We are a tiny three-person operation that manufactures here in Colorado primarily using home sewers. I am also an attorney and am really delving deep into this law and trying to understand how to comply. Thanks for opening up this forum. I am excited to see so many people interested in fighting against some of the poorly drafted components of this law. For what it's worth, it sounds like the CPSA is struggling too.

[Kathleen F.]

Hi Paige, great to meet you. Didn't you get a copy of the book? If so, you qualify for a regular membership. In any event, I'll be looking forward to your comments. There's several attorneys in here.

[Wacky Hermit]

Hello everyone, my name is Sarah Natividad, a.k.a Wacky Hermit (my nom de blog) and my business is called Curious Workmanship. So for example my Etsy username is curiousworkmanship and my Twitter username is curiouswork. I really should just pick one name and stick to it, but I kinda wanted to keep business and personal separate (although they're increasingly becoming integrated with this CPSIA thing).

I make hand-crocheted baby booties, more of them than the average home-based Etsian but fewer than most people who run a small manufacturing concern. I make most of the booties myself (all the ones I sell on Etsy are made by me personally). Those I don't make myself are made by contractors. I do more wholesale to boutiques and distributors than I do retail, so CPSIA compliance is a little more important to my ongoing business concern than it might be to someone who just makes a few things to sell at a craft fair.

I'm one of those people who believes that if something truly matters to you, you will do something about it. That's why I've been getting testing quotes and organizing protests (and neglecting cleaning my house and putting in volunteer hours at the new charter school, even though it means my kids will have to be in the admissions lottery with everyone else's kids). All my life I've had recurring nightmares about government that gradually gets so oppressive that eventually it cannot be escaped. I'm glad to finally find the hill I choose to defend in the fight against tyranny.