No Time to Blog

Hello! Good grief! Blogging is one of those things that seems so easy to do but for me, making it a priority is next to impossible. The good news is, if I don’t have time to blog, then I’m super busy sewing and that’ s wonderful! Thank you for being patient with me as I experience these growing pains. I have been in full swing with shows and filling orders. We finished our third big show of the season last month at Merry Marketplace in Memphis. It turned out to be a fantastic show, and as always, I loved meeting new people and getting feedback about our clothes. I finished and shipped all of the orders yesterday, so today has been a wonderful, rainy day of lounging with my family. I don’t think I’ll ever take that for granted again! It’s the best reward after working till midnight for many weeks with little time to eat and sleep.

Our final show of the season is right around the corner. We’ll be packing it up and heading to Franklin, TN for the Nashville Junior League’s ‘Tis the Season that runs from November 18 – 20. If you’re in the area, please come see us!

What’s new with MadiBella? Well, I’m exploring the option of putting my line in stores. I’ve experienced interest from a couple of stores, and I’m praying about the direction of MadiBella (as always) as I try to determine if that is where we want to go. I’m also in the early stages of planning our Spring line and I couldn’t be more excited about it. I think you’ll love the big surprise that’s coming with the Spring line, but more on that later.

That’s all for now! Time to get back to my relaxation…

My Short Escape From Reality

Hello!  So, what’s been going on in the land of MadiBella?  LOTS!

But first, the gift of time away with my hubby.  A couple of weeks ago Scott and I managed to escape reality for a few days and head to one of our happy places – East Tennessee.  We stayed at our favorite B&B Buckhorn Inn and breathed in deeply the mountain air.

B&B Buckhorn Inn

Our Room

This next image shows where we enjoyed our breakfast each morning with views of Mount LeConte:

During our morning hike one day along the Little Pigeon River, I commented that I would love to bottle up the sounds, sights, and smells of the mountains and the rushing waters and take it back home. How magical that would be to simply open a bottle and feel like you’ve been transported to your happy place!

We also got to catch a football game while we were in town, and it always reminds us how much we love Orange and how much we love Knoxville!

Back home to reality (which really isn’t as bad as it sounds) – I’m buried in the middle of booth planning and decorating for our Christmas theme shows. I’ve been all over town and back again searching for the perfect way to display our clothes at these shows and have finally closed in on exactly what I’ve been looking for. A dear friend has graciously agreed to help me with the vision of our booth and given me so many ideas of how to make it great that my head just might explode. I’ve been mod podging like a crazy woman, and now, I may have a slight addiction to Mod Podge. I find myself looking around the house wondering what else I can Mod Podge. Uh-oh!

In other news, our first trunk show in Virginia was last weekend and I’m so excited to get started on those orders! Great job Amy Jo!

Only one more week until the Christmas show season begins!!! Come out and see us!

Until next week…

Ready for Fall: A Few of my Favorite Things

Every year at this exact time, I start to get antsy. Why? Because my mind, body, and soul are ready for fall, but it’s still hotter than 90 degrees outside. I’m ready for all things that signify fall to me – college football (really just Tennessee football – GO VOLS!), crisp mornings, leaves changing colors, the smell of fall in the air, chili and soup, all things pumpkin – pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, pumpkin bread, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, etc. (but not pumpkin pie – weird, I know!).

The list goes on but these are a few of my favorite things! Of course, one of my favorite tees from the Fall Line is the pumpkin tee. I love that it’s so versatile and cute as can be with jeans or paired with our Splashy Rose pants or skirt!

In a couple of weeks, Scott and I (no kids!!!) are going to Knoxville (my hometown) to see our Vols play football and also to spend a couple of nights at our favorite B&B! Words can’t possibly express how excited I am about this little getaway!!! We’re calling it our calm before the storm because when we return we will have all our big fall shows quickly approaching! Here’s a quick glance at our upcoming events:

Hope Market Square

WHEN: Thursday, September 30th

WHERE: Hope Presbyterian Church – Cordova, TN

Mistletoe Merchants

WHEN: Friday, October 1^st – Sunday, October 3rd

WHERE: Agricenter – Memphis, TN

Merry Marketplace

WHEN: Thursday, October 28^th – Saturday, October 30th

WHERE: Agricenter – Memphis, TN

Tis the Season

WHEN: Thursday, November 18^th – Saturday, November 20th

WHERE: The Factory at Franklin, TN

Until next time…

Fall-Winter 2010 Line

For those of you who subscribe to our newsletter, you already got a sneak peek at Saturday’s photo shoot for our Fall/Winter line, but I’m just dying for you to see more!  It went so well, thanks to Amanda with Bel Momento Photography and all my little models who did their best to pretend it was cold outside when it was actually in the mid-90s.  Photo shoots are so much fun for me because I get so much joy from seeing the clothes, that God has inspired me to make, come to life on sweet little girls. It is one thing to choose fun fabrics and put them together, but to actually see them on your little blessings completes the circle.

I hope you enjoy some more candids that Scott took from our photo shoot. Stay tuned for our official launch of the Fall/Winter line next week when we get the pictures back from Amanda!  I can’t wait!

On a personal note, we started back to school this week and it’s been great! Madison started middle school and Alex is in 3^rd grade, so they are at two separate schools. This is working out great because one goes to school an hour earlier and comes home an hour earlier than the other, so I get to give my undivided attention to each of them when they get home instead of them both coming home at the same time arguing, talking at the same time, blood sugars dropping at the same time, and losing my mind. I think it’s going to be a good year!

Until next time…

C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A

Hello followers!  I’ve just returned from a FABULOUS long weekend in Coronado, CA!  Two dear friends, Hilary and Lauren, moved to Coronado recently, and Hilary offered to host a trunk show for me, so we did our first show for the new Fall line.  Plus, it was a great excuse to get to visit friends in such a beautiful place.  However, it started off a little bumpy…

I left Memphis on Thursday afternoon and had a rotten day getting ready for the trip because our home computer was not cooperating and that is an essential component for running an online business.  So I was pretty frustrated when I left town, but I knew I was headed for something better when I got on that plane.

I left my frustrations behind and made a quick connection in Chicago before the final leg to San Diego.  When I arrived in CA at 10:45 pm, I learned my luggage didn’t make the connecting flight as well as I had.  My trunk show was scheduled for the next morning at 10:00 am.  Now what?  The guy in baggage claim was clueless and knew it.  He said it wouldn’t arrive till the next day at 11:00 am. Really?!  We drove to Lauren’s and when we arrived, I called the airline regarding the missing luggage to which they replied that it had just arrived, but it would be put on a delivery truck at midnight.  We turned around, went back to the airport, only to learn we missed the truck and my luggage was on its way to Lauren’s.  It was supposed to get to her house by 6:00 AM, but at 6:00 I received a phone call from the airline asking if they could deliver my luggage between 7:30 and 9:30 that morning. Thank God!  It arrived at 8:30 in time for me to shower and get to Hilary’s to showcase my new line! Whew!  God is good, and I was surprisingly at peace about the whole thing thanks to Him!

Needless to say, the weekend just got better from there and it was awesome to see my friends and their sweet families again.  After spending four nights with Lauren and her family, I feel like I kind of adopted them or they adopted me and I miss them like crazy.  Here are a few pics of our weekend:

Hillary and I

Lauren and I

Coming up this weekend is our Fall/Winter 2010 photo shoot! I’m so excited to see our little models wearing the new line! I hope to have a sneak peak to share with you next week.

Until then…

Designers I Love

What inspires your creativity?  For me, as a clothing designer, it’s fabric – beautiful, fun, whimsical, classical, colorful fabric that can change your mood from sad to glad.  I wanted to share with you two of my favorite designers right now.  There are the classics out there like Amy Butler and Michael Miller that need no introduction, but there are a plethora of others out there that deserve that same recognition.  Two of my favorites are Heather Bailey and Jenean Morrison.  Both are featured, along with Amy Butler and Michael Miller, in my upcoming Fall/Winter 2010 line because they inspire me to be creative and I think the little girls that wear them will be inspired too.

Heather Bailey has long been a favorite of mine and is also featured in our Spring/Summer 2010 line. You should check out her blog sometime to see why http://heatherbailey.typepad.com/.  She has such a fun, whimsical look to her fabric that just comes alive in the clothes of MadiBella.  I love to watch my customers shop at our booth and be drawn to the same beautiful patterns I love.

Jenean Morrison has been around but is new to me. I have fallen in love with her California Dreamin’ line. She uses bold, bright colors that will take the winter blues out of any day – thus the reason you’ll see lots of her fabric in our Fall/Winter line coming out next month. I think it has a 60s/70s hippie-feel to it. How fun is that! It is the inspiration behind the peasant dresses I’ll be introducing soon. After I found her fabric, I began researching more about her as an artist and guess what? She lives in Memphis like me! Crazy! Who knew? It explains why California Dreamin’ was created because living in Memphis causes me to do quite a bit of that! J Be sure to check her out too at http://www.jeneanmorrison.net/.

On a side note, I threw a 80s surprise party Saturday night for my husband who is turning 40 this week. It was the hardest secret I’ve ever had to keep from him, but oh, was it worth it! It was so much fun, and he loved it! Happy Birthday, Scott!!! We love you!

…until next week…

Business Collides with Personal

Working from home is undeniably a huge, huge blessing. However, with my kids home from school over the summer, it has been challenging to get any actual work done. It goes something like this –

Turn on sewing machine.

“Mom, she won’t give me my Legos!” Retrieve Legos.

Thread machine.

“Mom, he’s hurting Bono (the cat)!” Save cat from death.

Put one pin in dress.

“Mom, can I have a snack?” Solve hunger.

Put another pin in dress.

“Mom, Bono just coughed up a hairball!” Clean up said hairball.

I could go on, but you get the picture. The challenge is not to lose your mind, because it has taken an hour before I start the first stitch. I know I’ll be sad when school starts back in 23 days (who’s counting?!), because it will be strangely quiet all day and there will be no excuses for not being super-productive. We’ll soon be in the drudgery of homework and school deadlines that seem to plague the whole family. So, I will sit back, take a deep breath, and try, try, try to count my blessings.

I am getting so excited about the Fall/Winter line and can’t wait to release it! It’s really coming together so much better than I ever imagined. It reminds me a bit of the 60s/70s hippie wear with fun, fun colors and prints – no dull winter colors for MadiBella girls! We’ll have double-ruffle pants, peasant dresses and tops, more skirts and reversible dresses, and our first ever Christmas line. Our photo shoot is scheduled for August 6, so stay tuned for more details!

…until next week…

Meet Charity

I wanted to give you all a very quick introduction.  My name is Charity and I’m the business owner of MadiBella.  I live in the deep south of Memphis, with my husband and two children.  I keep myself quite busy between the obvious management of my family’s needs, and then of course my business.

I am a true believer in a few things. One is God.  He is my Lord and savior and it was through his wisdom and guidance that I was able to attain such a dream and blessing as MadiBella.  Another is family.  And the final is taking care of myself.  I believe that a healthy woman is more sound and successful in everything she does.

But enough about me.  Let’s talk a little bit about how MadiBella came about.

In June 2009, I left my career of 8 years as a Financial Advisor to stay home with my two school-age children and with the intention of learning to sew and make children’s clothing. Within one year, I have not only been more involved in the daily lives of my children, but I have learned to sew, designed a clothing line for little girls, and experienced the joy of starting and running my own business. I have been blessed by my customers and the joy they’ve expressed with my clothing line.

As I brainstormed for a business name that included my daughter’s name Madison, I thought of MadiBella. I thought it had such a great ring to it. Then I looked up how each name is defined and knew it was destined to be the name of my company.

Madison means gift of the Lord (Hebrew) and strong fighter (German).  Bella means devoted to God (Hebrew), yielding to prayer (Latin), and beautiful (French, Italian, Spanish).

I wanted the name to reflect my family’s devotion to God, prayer, and the commitment of our plans to Him (Proverbs 16:3) as I pursue His will for my life by making unique custom boutique clothing for your little blessings.

The best “happy” I receive (and it’s beginning to happen more and more) is being out in public and seeing a little girl, whom I’ve never met, wearing the clothes that I made. I get giddy every single time it happens!

Now’s a Great Time to Follow Us!

If you’re not already following MadiBella on Twitter, or if you haven’t joined us on Facebook, now is a great time to do so.  (Links are on the side bar).  Need some great reasons to follow us?  Well, here is just a quick update, and some tidbits that are happening with MadiBella this week:

• We have been working around the clock hand-crafting new inventory for your little blessings.
• There have been several new changes with MadiBella and we have a couple new programs that are about to be unleashed.  But it’s all still a secret…ssshh!
• Sign up for our newsletter today and start reaping some promotional rewards, and get the latest MadiBella Fashion Trend scoop with it.

We wish all our customers a safe, but fun, 4th of July weekend!  Please bookmark this page, or put the RSS feed into your Google Reader so you can be one of the first to see the secrets MadiBella plans on unleashing very soon!

Have a comment, or some feedback for us?  We’d love to hear from you!  Email us at info@madibella.com today!

Welcome to MadiBella’s Blog

Welcome to MadiBella’s Blog.  I’m thrilled you found us.  This blog has just launched so it’s under construction at the moment.  Feel free to browse what I have completed so far and please visit back shortly to view the completed version.

Make sure to bookmark us and subscribe to our newsletter (coming shortly) to take advantage of special inside promotions.  The newsletter is a great way to keep up with our latest trends and get glimpses of upcoming lines.