Handprinting and appointments.

I have several handprint appointments lined up today, so yes I will be working from home. I get so excited when I have my home appointment days. It is, of course the best part of my job. My job is so fun because everyone is happy when they walk through my door. We are creating a fun keepsake that will be cherished forever and because of that it is always a pleasure to meet and work with my cute little customers and their parents. :)

Sibling Impression Plates

Sibling plates are SO fun to make. Saturday at the Utah Valley Freedom Festival Baby Contest I got to make a footprint plate for three sisters and a baby brother today. They were all so cute. The girls were 13, 10 and 8 and the baby was 5 weeks old. Your children are NEVER to big to make an impression in clay. They will only get bigger!!!! 

This little family was so darling. Earlier in the day the three girls came up to my table looking at all my samples and just loved it and wanted to get a plate made for their little brother. All day they kept coming up to the table and asking about all the possibilities. Mom was interested too but was busy with the baby contest and tending to the baby. Finally after several hours of the girls coming and going from my booth and talking to Mom, a decision was made and they decided to make a plate with all of children. Footprints it would be! The girls were so cute and so happy to be making this fun keepsake. They helped Mom decide what to put on the plate and what colors to use and how to make it look. They were a part of the whole process. We lined up the girls oldest to youngest with the biggest foot on the left and so on. The best part of the process was seeing how excited everyone was when we put the baby's foot on last next to his older sisters feet. It was so tiny and so sweet. The girls and mom were very happy. I can't wait to show them the finished plaque. I love my job! :)

June is a busy month for Tiny Touches.

For the past 11 years, the month of June has been a very busy month for Tiny Touches. I make lots and lots of ceramic hand and foot impressions. I love it because it seems to kick off the summer for me. I attend many baby contests and do my thing. :)   I get to interact and hold many cute babies.  I love being involved with my community in such a fun way! Here is a little video put together by Jim Rhodimer and myself to promote my little business and my busy month of June! Summer is here and I'm making handprints!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/tinytouches2000#p/a/u/0/bDOoYIVCxT8

Impressions at the end of the day.

Today was a day filled with making hand and foot impressions! I have the best customers ever. I love meeting with a new mom for the first time. It is so fun to see her look at her sweet little baby. To hold that baby with such care and to see her get teary eyed as she sees the cute little impressions we have just made. I love meeting with the mom who walks in with her 4 kids in tow and seems a bit frazzled. I love talking about motherhood in every stage with whoever comes through my door. We talk about the happy sweet times, the exhausting worn out times and the hustle and bustle of life. I have learned a lot over the years just by watching and listening to my customers. I love seeing snipets of life one customer at a time.

Today I am tired and ready to fall into bed. It always feel good at the end of a very productive day to have that sense of accomplishment. I am still behind and did not get everything done that was on my list...........but it was a very good day.

A rainy couple of days....

I have been in CA finishing up my Hand and Footprint training multimedia program and having some fun at the same time. It has been raining here the past couple of days. And when I say rain, I mean RAIN. I love it!!!!! Rain is so calming and cleansing and refreshing for my soul.  So much going on in my life that I have needed to feel the peace that the rain brings. Many many changes in my life, personally and professionally, some days I struggle to keep up with it all. But I am learning a lot about myself and I am loving the girl who is emerging.

An exciting day for my Ceramic Hand and Foot Impressions business.

It has been just about 24 hours since I launched my new Ceramic Hand and Footprint Training program. A training program for the person who would like to work from home and have fun at the same time. I started my career in this industry almost 11 years ago. It has been such a wonderful journey for me. I had found the perfect stay at home mom business and I have never regretted it. I was able to have something of my own and still be home with my children. They were very small at the time, 3 years and 15 months, when I started Tiny Touches.

When I started my company, Tiny Touches, I had no idea the path it would take me down.  I knew I needed something of my own. I had gone to school and majored in secondary education. I even taught in the high schools for about 4 years before my first baby was born. After my son was born I decided to quit my job and stay at home with him. That was in 1997. In 1999 my second son joined our family. A very scary thing started to happen to me. I became very depressed. I was experiencing postpartum depression. I didn't really realize what was happening to me until several years after the fact.  I just thought I wasn't a good mom. I wasn't enjoying life with my babies as most of my girlfriends around me seemed to be doing.  It was a VERY dark time for me. Without going into too much detail about that time of my life I will fast forward about a year (after my 2nd baby was born) to the point at which I stumbled across a similar business in CA. I knew instantly that I needed to be doing this business and I was going to do whatever it took to make that happen. Within a few months of that realization I had started my own business. While doing so I started to feel better. Life, even though it got a lot busier, seemed to feel a whole lot better. Looking back at those early years with my little babies I realized that I needed to not lose myself in a time that is very easy for mothers to do just that.  Reflecting on that time I can now see that my depression was lifting as I had something new to focus on and think about.  I was pulling myself out of my dark place and filling it with something of my own. It seemed to be something that worked for me.

Now, about 10-11 years down the road I want to help others who may need a little something of their own, for whatever reason. Maybe it is not postpartum depression but maybe a life change or a feeling of needing a fresh start in something of value. My business has been a life saver for me. I am very thankful for it. I have never looked back. :)