Well I am a terrible blogger

Thats all there is to it - I have not been very good about keeping up with blogging! If you are like me things get busy and it seems to be harder and harder to make time to blog! Anyway I am hoping to find a tad of time this week to blog on the 2009 Halloween Designs - can you belive orders are coming in like crazy for Halloween ALREADY and it just turned August! I can!

Business is going well and despite the fact that my belly is starting to grow .. orders are going out like crazy every week. Last month we found out this new surprise baby for us will be another boy, Ms H was a little upset for a few days and would tell us how she asked for a baby sister, I had to explain with her being our only girl our girls days out would only be me and her and Mr C would have to share the boys days out with his baby brother.

Of course we didnt mind what this baby was the fact of the matter is we had sold EVERYTHING baby not expecting to have anymore so no matter if it was a girl or boy I would need to shop (I can tell you I have no problem doing that!). This little boy will make an appearance in early December or possible late November so I will be taking a few weeks off to recover and get used to having 3 children 4 and under! (That idea scares me a little, when I go to Target I start picturing how the cart will look with 3 ... or better yet how I might look :)

Hope everyone's summer has been great I can hardly believe its almost over and there is only 2 more weeks until school starts back!

Baby Wrap Giveaway...

Here is one of the 1st giveaways on Fabulous Finds its a baby wrap - now with Hannah I was clueless on anything like a bjourn carrier let alone slings and wraps but in the 4 years since having her the sling/wrap industry seems to have exploded with fashionable options. I know Mr C needed to be with me 24/7 it seemed and so these Wraps by Lovely Duds definetly look appealing to me since I will have a 4 and 2 yr old to care for along with a baby later this year. Here is the link go check them out very cute and the materials she uses are definetly trendy!

Site for the giveaway:

http://fabulousfunfinds.blogspot.com/2009/05/loveyduds-baby-wrap-giveaway.html

Baby Shower Blast...

Well since I am having a baby and starting the shopping for baby stuff again! The email I got regarding Fabulous Finds Baby Shower Blast interested me since I need to enter to win some items!!! Here is the details on the Baby Shower Giveaways so head over to their blog and check out what you can enter for! I will post a few on here that I like.

The Fabulous Fun Finds Baby Shower Blast begins Monday! Yahoo!! Monday through Friday there will be 8 to 10 giveaways posted at various times throughout the day, so check the blog often! Each giveaway will be open for entries for 7 days. The winner will be announced the morning after on the actual giveaway post and on the Winners Page (tab on header). Winners are selected using a number generator on Random.org. An email will be sent out notifying the winner, so make sure you leave your email address on your comments or on your profile page. All winners during the BLAST must confirm their win within 24 hours!!! With so many giveaways going on simultaneously I need to keep things moving! Unconfirmed giveaways will have a new winner announced the following day.

Well a little note..

if you havent noticed I havent posted to the blog in a while - we have been super busy and well shall I say I have been a little sick with a surprise! Me and my husband had felt we were done with our family with 1 of each and getting older... apparently God did not feel this way so you can imagine our shock when we discovered we were having a baby! After a few days of shock and thinking hmm the suv has to be traded for a minivan since there will be 3 car seats .. that bedrooms had to be reconfigured and lastly thinking mmm we got rid of all the baby stuff at our community sale last year.. we became excited about the thought of a new addition to the family.

Our Hannah is the most excited she has named the baby "clocky" and clocky is only referred to as a girl by her - we have explained to her many times that we have no control over the baby being a girl or boy but she insists its a girl - in about ten weeks we will see if she is right.

So I havent blogged much because any of you that have been pregnant know how tired you get in the first trimester and its been extremely bad for me - the sickness hasnt been mild either. I will try and blog more as I find the time but right now I have been busy filling orders in the hours I can stay awake :)

Week 2 Top seller is....

Surprise

We actually didnt have anyone guess this weeks winner
Our beautiful Upgraded Birthday Bash

I didnt actually think we would have a top seller someone didnt guess so we will take a look at our 2nd best seller for the week tomorrow and see if we get a winne r there and then I'll post this coming weeks hat to win!

Week 2 of our Girly Girl Beanie Hat Giveaway!

Its Week 2 of our month of Girly Girl Beanie Hat Giveaways!

Today (March 17th) through Sunday, March 22nd at 11:59 am CST.
All you need to do is post to this giveaway post on my blog the name of the tutu design (check on the web http://www.hannahstutus.com/) you think will be our top seller for the week of the competition. A top seller means its the design that we sell the most of combined on all our selling sites (our website, etsy etc) it could be a traditional or bloomer style.
Remember to leave your email when you post - at the end of each competition week I will report on what the big seller was for the week and every post that guessed that design will be placed in order by post time and we will use Random Number to select the winner. We will post the winner on our blog by Tuesday morning each week - so be sure to subscribe you will have 48 hours to send me an email claiming your hat after I post the winner.
So ... don't think you can narrow down the top seller?
Well lets spice up things and give a bonus guest - if you blog about this competition on another blog and come back and post the link you can also post another guess!!
Special Rules
Maximum of 2 entries per a person - 1 entry is automatic, 2nd entry has to be earned. 1 winner per a week, you may only win one hat during this 4 week giveaway to allow others the opportunity to win one too. All winners will be posted on the blog and must email us within 48 hours to claim their prize. We will ship the hat to any US location - Intl are welcome to enter the contest however shipping over and beyond $4 will be paid by any Intl winner.
Thanks have fun ... and spread the giveaway word!!!

Our Week 1 Winner is......

So our first Girly Girl Hat winner is .................

Well first let me say a few of you guessed our biggest seller for this past week. It was Island Party! When I first made this design a few months ago I never suspected that it would crawl to the list of top sellers so fast but you never know and I am sure this stunning picture that captures the Island Party tutu is the reason for its top sales.

Whether its on etsy or our website this design is definetly a favorite for customers and photographers. Its made with deep lavender, pinks and greens and it has to be fluffed just right to get a picture like the one we use to show it off!!!

So as we mentioned in the rules if more then one person guesses our top selling design during the week we use RANDOM NUMBERS to select the winner...

So hopefully our winner is a subscriber -so they can contact us so we can ship their cute pink hat out!!!

Our winner is Linda C... !!!! just remember you have 48 hours to let us know you are the winner!

Our Girly Girl Beanie Hat Giveaway.....

So last night my mother and I were chatting on how we havent done any competitions or giveaways on our website or blog lately so get ready for 4 full weeks of giveaways! As spring approaches tutus and our Girly Girl Beanie Hats make perfect little sets for photos.

So each week for 4 weeks we will be giving away a different Girly Girl Beanie Hat to 1 lucky winner weekly! This week's hat is shown below its hot pink with a pink peony that has some olive and brown twinging on the edges of the flower. These hats are perfect for girls 1 - 8 years.

Read below on how to enter!

Check out these beautiful pictures of one of our hats being modeled!

Special Thanks to Tracy Joy Photography for the wonderful pictures!

http://tracyjoy.com/

Lets get the giveaway started! Week 1 starts today!

Monday, March 9th through Sunday, March 15th at 11:59 am CST.

All you need to do is post to this giveaway post on my blog the name of the tutu design (check on the web http://www.hannahstutus.com/) you think will be our top seller for the week of the competition. A top seller means its the design that we sell the most of combined on all our selling sites (our website, etsy etc) it could be a traditional or bloomer style.

Remember to leave your email when you post - at the end of each competition week I will report on what the big seller was for the week and every post that guessed that design will be placed in order by post time and we will use Random Number to select the winner. We will post the winner on our blog by Tuesday morning each week - so be sure to subscribe you will have 48 hours to send me an email claiming your hat after I post the winner.

So ... don't think you can narrow down the top seller?

Well lets spice up things and give a bonus guest - if you blog about this competition on another blog and come back and post the link you can also post another guess!!

Special Rules

Maximum of 2 entries per a person - 1 entry is automatic, 2nd entry has to be earned. 1 winner per a week, you may only win one hat during this 4 week giveaway to allow others the opportunity to win one too. All winners will be posted on the blog and must email us within 48 hours to claim their prize. We will ship the hat to any US location - Intl are welcome to enter the contest however shipping over and beyond $4 will be paid by any Intl winner.

Thanks have fun ... and spread the giveaway word!!!

{Cupcaking Bloomer Fun Tutu ....}

Get a look at this new design shown in the cute Bloomer fun style but we will offer this in our traditional style too - made with pinks, white, choc and aqua with the option of choc polka dot ribbons tied thru this Cupcaking Tutu is too sweet - again shown with the bloomers from www.bellaclairebaby.com check out the cute cupcake ribbons used on the bloomers. The beanie hat with flower is one of our newest products.

Thanks to Tracy Joy again for the adorable pictures http://tracyjoy.com/

{Our Newest Miss Mouse Bloomer Fun Tutu}

These cute shots of one of our newest designs were taken by Tracy Joy http://tracyjoy.com/ the Miss Mouse Bloomer Fun Tutu is made with red/black/white and yellow tulle and has black and red ribbons with polka dots on them tied thru then is finished with the red and white polka dot ribbon bow on the waist - Miss Mouse starts at $21 and up on our website. Adorable Bloomers can be ordered thru http://www.bellaclairebaby.com/ What an adorable set for the Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse themed partys or for your next disney trip.

Purchase today at:

http://hannahstutus.com/item_212/BLOOMER-FUN-TUTU-Miss-Mouse.htm

{Samantha Wacker Photography... http://www.samanthawackerphotography.blogspot.com/ }

I haven't posted in a while but watch out for our weekly contest on our newest product but before I announce that I want to show off some work of several photographers.

These pictures I love from Samantha Wacker Photography, shes located in Florida and does some of the trendiest shots - this little one is showing off our Birthday Bash Tutu and a pair of bloomers from www.bellaclairebaby.com

Thanks Samantha for sharing the cute pictures!

{Where do you get your tags from?}

{Etsy Store - Weakness}

This is a question I get fairly often from my customers when they see the cute tags hanging on our tutus. Well if you aren't a Etsy goer its a great place to check out.

I purchase my tags, headband cards, labels, stickers etc from a store called Weakness

Weakness is run by Amy and although she shows some examples in her store she does alot of custom work so click on sales to see a few of her completed orders. I just had her change the look of our tags and items a bit on this last order.

In addition to business items I order stickers for all of the holidays for Hannah to put on her preschool party goodie bags and always get compliments from the moms and Amy has even created stickers for me that say This belongs to with each of my kids names on and one of their fav characters for instance Mr C has Pablo on his and Hannah has Belle and Dora on hers these are great I keep in a drawer in my kitchen and stick on sippys or other items when we are headed to church or other events where there ar many kids.

One thing that keeps me coming back to Amy's store is the quality I have ordered stickers and tags from many stores but no one offers the quality that Amy does in paper and ink color!

For photographers her tags and stickers are great she can recreate your logo look into a sticker for you to stick on your photo bags for customers etc.

So take a browse in her store or click to contact Amy in her store to chat on custom work! If you order from both myself and Bella Claire Baby well you will see we are both fans of Amy's products!

A few more sneak peaks...

Customer K got this Pink Zebra with headband

Look at these two for twins...

A few of this week's shipments...

This pastel combo one is gong to Customer K

A hot pink and aqua Bloomer Fun Tutu for Customer O

Customer C ordered 3 from us for her photo shoots!

A few shipments over the past few days...

Just a few of our shipments from the past few days I wish I had time to post all of our shipments but as you can see I have only been updating on shipments 1-2 times a week it takes alot of time to get all the photos compiled and posted...

{Cupcakes... Bags .. & Photography....} What's the relationship?

The beginning of January I had a customer purchase one of my Birthday Bash Tutus and Headbands for her little one she was just a couple months old. Well I had to look on her website because the name Bangerang Bake Shop had me a little curious ...

Bangerang Bake Shop is the home of the "Original Cupcake in the Jar" take a ponder to the site the cupcakes range from in the $6-7 range and up and owner Nicole will even gift box them. There is only a few days left to place orders in time for Valentines Day. I ordered (1) each for Hannah's preschool teachers and knowing I couldnt have anything that scrumptious looking in my home without being able to sample it I ordered extra to enjoy late at night when I take a break from creating (no I am not sharing with the husband or kids!)

To tempt you I added a few pictures, the top one is my favorite pick and the one I ordered for myself since I love chocolate mint! Check out the Original Cupcakes in a Jar at http://bangerangbakeshop.mybisi.com/

So how did the cupcakes get connected with photos and bags?

Nicole's good friend is a photography and sent me some beautiful pictures of our little bday bash tutu to use, Tracy Joy not only does photography under the name of Simply Joy Photography BUT she also has her own bag business TJ Bags in which she designs bags so take a look at some of the trendy looks her products have - I know I personally love the trendy designs out today. I copied just a small sample picture of her bags below but check out her full product line on the web.

Last but certaintly not least is some of the adorable pictures that Tracy Joy sent to me .. aren't the girls precious? if any of you have seen pictures of Hannah as a baby the first picture shares a little resembalance to pictures of Hannah at 9 mths. Simply Joy Photography services areas in NW Illinois and specializes in Maternity through 1 year pictures. Take a ponder in the photo gallery to see more of Tracy Joy's work at http://tracyjoy.com/photography/#

Special Thanks to Nicole and Tracy for allowing me to use the pictures!

PS I forgot to mention Tracy's new blog on props!!! ... www.propinsanity.blogspot.com

A new signature mark for Hannah's Tutus by Madilu Designs

{madilu designs...}

Looking for a Logo, Template or something else to be designed? Then check out malidu designs on etsy. The owner,Kimberly recently helped me with some work to create a little signature or as I call it stamp for any photos we display on our blog or any of our selling sites. The funny thing is she lives only 10 minutes away from me and I found her on etsy - what a small world!

I uploaded a few of her templates for you to see but check out her etsy store and her blog to see more of her work and templates.

Now to show off the work I had done. Check out the small marking I placed on this photo? So perhaps you are wondering why we have decided to mark all of the photos used on our sites? Unfortunately in the past year we have had an incredible amount of pictures taken and used on sites by others and even chinese suppliers stating its their product. With us copyrighting our actual designs we need to ensure that we can prove the product and pictures is one of Hannah's Tutus and hopefully by stamping every picture whether one we take or a photographer takes we will be able to avoid picture and design theft in the future.

Look carefully to see it I choose something that wont stand out very well on all pictures because I hate to take away from the beautiful designs our pictures display!

This beautiful picture is courtesy of

Samantha Wacker Photography who services areas in Florida

A few of our Monday shipments...

{Its Monday...}

Just a few of the orders shipping today not shown are a few pastel combo and hat sets a mardi gras set some cupids princess sets and several more..

Island Party Tutu for Customer R

I love how this one looks different depending on the light!

Carribean Sunset & Headband for Customer A

This one has been slow on the order scale then BOOM last week we had orders for several of this design I personally LOVE it with its orange, Garnet and gold and other tropical colors in it. This one has been upgraded with tied ribbons through it. Check out the beautiful headband to match
All Lt Pink with a Headband for customer S
There is nothing more elegant than a basic little pink tutu on a tiny baby
this is actually in our xs size its hard to see that in our close up but just a stunning set


Pastel Combo for Customer T
Another little one - this picture doesnt quite do our VERY popular Pastel Combo tutu justice!
Its one of our largest sellers for non bright colors.

{Few More Saturday Shipments...}

A final two to show there are many more but I need to get back to work - these two are for sisters the lower one is for the little sister made pinks and the older sister has pinks and glimpses of other colors in hers.

{ Saturday Shipments... }

{Island Party for Customer J}

Last week Island Party was the HOT seller of the week -

check out this one with the matching wand!

{Island Princess for Customer J}

This bright one from our Island Line is proving to be a popular pick too

adorable with its matching wand too

{Cotton Candy Swirls & Sparkles for Customer N}

Always a popular fairy look this tutu has the matching wand and fancy wings

{Bloomer Fun Tutu in Hot & Lt Pink}

with a cute matching wand and headband

{Island Blush for Customer M}

An unexpected Island Top seller is our Island Blush which is great for Valentines
and anytime of the year

{Saturday Shipments....}

Well these are just a few of the twenty somewhat packages going out in tomorrow's mail... its been a busy week we have shipped 10+ packages almost every day this week despite the snow and ice storms that hit both our MidWest and East Coast locations. My mom and I still continued on and I believe there was only one day we could not drop of our packages each.

{Our Upgraded Bday Bash by J.Carmon Photography}

{Featuring J. Carmon Photography}

I just love these pictures that Jenni from J.Carmon Photography shared with me recently. You can't get any cuter than a little girl in our Birthday Bash Tutu. This one shown is our Upgraded Birthday Bash with all the colors, ribbons, sequins and flowers its one of our Premier designs and its easy to see why.

J.Carmon Photography services the Portland, Oregon area. Click on the link above to view the Galleries and Jenni's Blog she has some fabulous pictures from weddings, enagagements, families and the little ones. I couldn't find a picture I didn't like. Browse her blog to see more great pictures. I just love some of her senior pictures on her blog!

Thanks Jenni for sharing these sweet pictures with us and allowing us to use.

{Double the Fun with 2 Tutus and 2 Girls....}

I have to show off this darling picture.

Look at these little twin girls, they are actually wearing our Bloomer Fun Tutus which was perfect as they come a little smaller than our traditionals. In pink and red and the headbands (with peonys on them) to match they have the perfect Valentines look.

Jennifer from Camera-Shy-Photography took this picture just as soon as her tutu order arrived. http://www.camera-shy-photography.com/ Jennifer services the North Western portion of Florida and specializes in Beach Portraits.

Jennifer also has two other businesses ... http://www.sandsational-ceremonies.com/ in which they coordinate all the details of your beach wedding. I know last year I created many new looks with my dresses for flower girls at beach weddings. Jennifer also creates photo cards... whether you need a birth announcement, save the date card, wedding invite, Birthday invites etc she can do it check out her new site SofieBelle to see her beautiful designs I know myself I love custom work for my kids birthday invites and special occasions and http://www.sofiebelle.com/ I was checking out her Gallery and love the Garden Party & Pink Birthday designs under the Birthday Invites link be sure to check out her Guess Who's expecting cards for a cute way to announce your pregnancy! http://www.sofiebelle.com/guesswho.html

Thanks Jennifer for letting us show off your beautiful picture!!!

{Island Party Tutu .... photographed by Terhune Photography}

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted to make a tutu to match this gorgeous Birthday Hat shown in the picture (Hat made by http://www.ginghambunny.etsy.com/). So a mix of my deep lavender, hot pink, lime and mint and just a tid bit of lt pink came together to make this gorgeous combination. After making the tutu I just loved the colors together and said I am going to make that an official design for our Island Line... so now we offer the Island Party Tutu. I have to say people must love the look we have sold 5 already!

The beautiful picture was given to me by Ashlea of Terhune Photography (http://www.terhunephotography.com/) check out her website and the stunning bridal work she has done. Terhune Photography serves the Nashville area.

Thanks Ashlea for letting us showcase your picture on our blog and site!

{Where are the sneak peaks at Lisa?}

{The Sneak Peaks}

So occasionally customers will send me a message and say where are the sneak peak pictures? We have so many orders going out daily its really hard to keep up with showing sneak peaks all of the time but I am trying to show a few every now and again since I know people love to come and browse our posts to see whatwe have made lately. As the 4th week of January approaches I have to say I expected a little slow down after Christmas and it hasn't occured yet. My mom and I are busy creating daily to keep up with the growing amount of orders from our website.


As spring approaches I will be working on many bridal orders, I love creating for little flower girls and have had many inquiries already. Generally I like to have about 4-6 weeks notice so I can purchase anything special for the dress looks or ensure I get the appropiate leotards... watch out for pictures soon showing some of the leotards for weddings that will come soon. These looks are fabulous for outdoor and beach weddings. My local town has a wedding fair tomorrow and if I had thought of it I would of loved to have had dresses modeled during it.

Watch for more features on photographers - and their work with our tutus. I have had several customers use some of the photographers listed on my blog for their own pictures too!

Last week I took some time off from the Tutu Business.... well I still processed orders etc every night but we went on a family trip to Disney and then the Gulf Coast - Hannah loved all the princesses (pictures are from the breakfast with the Princesses at Epcott - note if you are going and want to take your little girl to any princess events call and make reservations FAR in advance I tried for weeks to get in at Magic Kingdom for the breakfast or lunch and finally booked at Epcott - only bad thing is we had to buy park hopper passes that day since our toddlers didn't seem too interested in anything else at Epcott.

The first picture is Mr C. he is my 19 mth old boy and was hestitant as to whether he liked anyone at Disney - as I write this post I will admit he is wearing a tutu along with his sister and dancing to Dancing Queen (my children love my fav movie).

....Before anyone comments on why Hannah isnt wearing one of my dresses for the event ...I was so busy the week leading up to our trip and I still didnt have reservations for the breakfast even when we departed for Florida so we were hoping she would forget we had mentioned the event (I was supposed to make a Belle Dress) anyway on the way down to Florida we stopped at her Aunt & Uncles house and she proceeded to say to her Aunt Julie that she was having breakfast with the princesses... how could we let her down... so we called and took the Epcott reservation - and let her pick out an outfit at Disney and she did remind me a few times that I was supposed to make her a dress!