We love making personalized and bibs. It's always fun to see all the different baby names, and funny or quirky nicknames that are ordered and in case you haven't seen our personalized bibs up close or in person, we want you to know that we don't simply embroider the names on with a computerized machine. Embroidery can be a beautiful addition to some products, but we also need our bibs to be easy to clean and stain resistant. We actually cut each and every letter out of our scrap leather, with our custom alphabet die cutters one by one using our heavy duty hydraulic leather cutting machine, commonly known as a clicker:

Custom alphabet die cutters used for Mally Designs products:

Clicker cutting of leather used for Mally Bibs personalized bibs and other Mally Designs products and applique:

Next we carefully take each letter and examine it to ensure it was cut fairly clean and smooth and to double check and ensure there are no imperfections in the leather such as holes or other flaws. Each and every letter and part of the design applique is handled by us. Quality of each piece is something we take very seriously.

Here's a little secret, a trick of the trade if you will. Once we are sure all the letters are top notch, we turn them upside down and torch them with a small butane torch to 'de-fuzz' the edges. This might not get all the leather fuzz off, but it will get the majority off. This is also something we do with all of our design applique to make sure it has a nice clean, crisp edge. This does add time to our production process of course, but we feel it makes a big difference in the look of the final product.

Once all the letters are ready, we apply each one by hand onto the pocket of the bib, or elsewhere if the customer has chosen to do something else by custom request. We also do this very carefully, using a straight edge and measuring to ensure the name or word is centered on the pocket as best we can. We can fit up to 10 letters on the pocket of our bibs. For names longer than 10 letters, we have been able to manage to get some of the pocket of the toddler size only, depending on the name. Tip: if you wish to order a bib with a name that is more than 10 characters, just send us an email and we can let you know if we can accomodate. 

Next, it's time for our skilled custom bib seamstress to start stitching the name on the bib. For all our sewing, we use a heavy duty nylon thread that won't rott or stain in colors to match the leather we use. Each letter is stitched on by hand with one of our industrial sewing machines. If a stitching error is made, we start the process over to make sure it is just right. This is rare though, as our custom bib seamstress is very good. :)

Lastly the pocket is applied to the bib and the final sewing is done around the perimeter of the bib. I hope this post shows how we really take care in every step, as we know our bibs are expesnsive, especially when they are personalized. We want nothing more than for our customers and gift recipients to open their new Mally Designs items in the mail and be thrilled with what they see. We actually hope that it's better than they imagined it would be. 

Finally, the finished product is trimmed of any leather overlap and excess threads are trimmed. The perimeter of the bib is also lightly  torched so that it can be 'de-fuzzed' around the edges if needed. After that part is complete, it's time to package it up and send it to a happy recipient! 

FUN FACTS: 

*the most popular bib designs for personalizing are: #1 giraffe, #2 puppy, #3 butterfly, #4 dragonfly, #5 bunny

*Celebrities Moms who have our personalized bibs for their children include: Niki Taylor, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Garner, Jenna Elfman and Trista Sutter, to name a few

*Of the above celebrity Moms, Jenna Elfman claims it was the best baby gift she received!

*Some of the more unique requests for personalization include: 'Mushroom', Baby Bird, I'm with the band, J-Bone Jr., Sundance, Baby 2, Child 002 (on a robot bib), Pandaddy (on a panda bib), Cupcake (on a cupcake bib), and Arrrr (on the pirate bib)

*Customers have the option to choose their name to be stitched in upper case, lower case, or a combination. They also have the option to choose their name color

*Our custom bib seamstress much prefers to sew upper case. :)

*Besides first names, some people have ordered to have the baby's last name or family name so that it can be passed down or ordered before the name is known

*We can also add a birthdate on the bib by special request.

To celebrate our 8th Birthday, we have tons of deals, steals, contests, promotions, freebies and surprises in store, but we also have a pretty awesome contest going on too! You could win a 2 x $100 gift certificates for you AND a friend! It's easy, only takes a second and there are multiple ways to enter, so what are you waiting for?! Click through our Raffle Copter contest link below for your chance to win! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For the Pinterest part of the contest, please use any of these images below: 

You know, I always say everyone deserves and should do what they love and love what they do. Why do I say this? Well, really the answer is as simple as it gets: YOLO! You only live once, and you should make the most of it, doing what you love! I'm sure you have seen people in your life who don't enjoy what they do, and perhaps you wonder why. Or perhaps you yourself have been or currently are stuck in a job that you don't like, but you just don't know a way out. Maybe the money is too good, or it offers you the security you need, or maybe you just can't imagine doing anything else because this is what you've been doing for years. I see people complain on facebook about their job, or how they can't wait for the weekend, and I truly feel for them. I just wish they could see that they have options in life. Before starting this business, I was lucky enough to have a job that I loved. I have always been interested in interior design, and lucky me, I got to create displays at a retail store with a team of people that were fun to work with. Then when I had kids, I longed to do something that gave me the flexibility to be with my kids more. I didn't like having to call in sick when my child was sick because I wanted to be dedicated to my work, nor did I like missing out on those special moments, and I knew as they got older it would be even harder. I was torn, because I loved what I did, but I also loved my kids. I could see my Son didn't like when I sent back to work after my year off, and when it was time to go back after I had my daughter it was twice as hard. Thankfully, nearing the end of my maternity leave with my daughter, I came up with an idea that I knew I could turn into a business, doing something I loved as well. Less than a year later, I quit my job to pursue my business, and a year after that, my husband quit his job as a pipe fitter / gas fitter to join me. Now, fast forward 8 years and my husband and I are both running our business full time from our studio in Mission, BC, doing what we love and loving what we do. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of work, but the key is, it's work we enjoy!

Now, if you too are longing to get out of your job, and you happen to be an artsy, crafty, designer type like myself, there is an answer! Seriously, you can turn your passion into a business. I did, thousands of others have, and so can you. Thankfully, I have met some amazing artists and entrepreneurs along this journey who also have these beliefs, and Jenna Herbut in particular is on a mission to help others to see this as well. Among other business ventures, Jenna is creating an amazingly inspirational documentary, along with her partner Neil Mangan, which will study handmade craft businesses around the globe. What they are doing is amazing, and I would by lying if I didn't say I am in awe over Jenna's passion for changing lives. Watch the video, and I'm sure you will agree:

I love Etsy. I've always loved browsing Etsy for unique and beautiful handmade made items. It's such a great resource for inspiration and seeing the success of so many craftspeople just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. We decided a few years ago to create our own Etsy shop. We really didn't give it a whole lot of effort to be honest. It's just that it seemed a little silly to me, when we already have a gorgeous and perfecly functioning website, to have an Etsy shop as well. We started selling a few items and I thought, okay, here I am paying Etsy a fee to sell my items that I have no problem selling on my own wesbite, so I decided to save Etsy for just our slightly imperfect sales in the beginning. Please note that NOW we only have our slightly imperfect sales 2x per year, in the Spring and in the Fall, and we generally announce it on our Facebook Page a day or two before. It is a great way for us to quickly sell off our still functional but slightly imperfect items at a discount, while maintaining the image of our website. It worked very well, and if you've ever seen one of our slightly imperfect sales go live on Etsy, then you know I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's always a HUGE success! You have to be quick. The items sell out in seconds and as a craftsperson / business owner, it's pretty thrilling. We only do these slightly imperfect sales twice per year (in the Spring and in the Fall), and the rest of the time our Etsy shop has sat empty and unattended to. 

This was not smart and here's why:

We have the perfect products to sell on Etsy! It's handmade in Canada, in our studio. We do custom work, personalization and work with all kinds of themes and color combinations that appeal to various people and age groups. Our items are very gifty. We design each product with design and function in mind, as well as uniqueness. All of that really describes how we are so very Etsy! What I didn't realize at first is the entirely huge community of Etsy shoppers, designers and artists that are constantly browsing around on etsy, just waiting to be exposed to products just like ours! A few months ago I decided to post EVERYTHING that we have on our website, on our Etsy shop as well. Etsy sales have trickled in here and there, and we have definitely gained new exposure.

Now it's time to take it a step further. Let's give credit where credit is due: I have been entirely inspired by a little company on Vancouver Island called Bamboletta. Bamboletta is run by Christina, who I was lucky enough to meet a few years ago. She is Whaldorf Doll maker extraordinaire, and in my opinion, Marketing Genius. She has created such an amazingly beautiful and sought-after handmade product that is one of a kind. They have thousands of fans and followers who wait each week for their highly anticipated pre-announced uploads of their unique Whaldorf Dolls, which they perfectly describe as companions for little ones. When the dolls go live for sale, they sell out FAST, much like our slightly imperfect bibs do! The entrepreneur in me loves this. In order to keep doing what I love, I need to make money. The artist in me LOVES this even more because uploading unqiue one of a kind items means I get to be creative. So, we're experimenting with this model, and I really hope it works for us like it has for Bamboletta. We just launched our first ever upload, a lovely collection of one of a kind Valentine's themed items on our Etsy shop! I hope as we learn and grow that we can create a similar enthusiasm and anticipation for our own uploads. I realize it might take a little time. 

Here's a sampling of what you can find on our first ever one of a kind themed upload: 

Each item is a one of a kind item, so once it's gone it is GONE! 

We have to keep doing what we love in order to love what we do and this love themed upload for our first one seems more than appropriate doesn't it? We hope you love our first custom themed upload. We have so many fantastic ideas in mind, and I'm confident that in time we will get better at this. Our next upload will be in about 2 weeks and if these themed uploads prove successful we will start doing them weekly! The future is exciting at Mally Designs!