Friday, July 29, 2011

Welcome Penelope!

 Penelope Elizabeth Ringia Was born this past Monday, July 25th.

I have another beautiful amazing daughter, Autumn, who is about 2 1/2, and I am absolutely amazed by how different the birth of Penelope was.

Sunday evening, or in reality, very early Monday morning,  I woke up to go to the bathroom and my water broke.

I wasn't really sure what had happened, because I was under the impression that when your water breaks it is pretty obvious. It was almost more like I peed myself, and then continued to expel fluid for about an hour.

I had not had any noticeable contractions before my water broke in this pregnancy, and they did not start immediately after it broke, so I was not really sure what to do... so I called my mom, who just happened to be at the airport waiting to fly back to her home in Savannah.

My husband called the hospital, and they told me to come in within 6 hours or when I started having contractions.

I had an order that needed to be rushed, so I went ahead and printed that while I was waiting to start having contractions, and before I got it packaged I started having contractions. I quickly finished packaging the order and called my dad. I dropped the package off in the mailbox and my husband and I drove my daughter to my dad's house.

My mom decided to stay in Albuquerque a few more days to meet my new daughter and I was lucky enough to have my mom at the hospital with me. Only my husband and the hospital staff were in the room for delivery because that is what I was comfortable with, but it was really wonderful to have my mom there for so much of the process.

She was at the hospital for the entire labor and delivery process and kept us company for various parts of Penelope's birth. She was in the room when I called for the epidural and left when they administered the epidural. A few hours later, after a nap she came back and she was really impressed with the difference the epidural made :)

The delivery was easy and fast, and I had a successful VBAC.

I had my other daughter Autumn Via emergency C-Section and it was much more stressful. I never actually went into labor with Autumn, and I was really worried I wouldn't know when I went into labor with Penelope. When Autumn was two weeks past due I went to the hospital to be induced. I was 8cm dilated when I had the epidural and it was only starting to become painful at that time, but the contractions never felt anything like what they felt like with Penelope.  Autumn was not positioned correctly and after 17 hours of labor I was whisked away for an emergency cesarean.  The recovery for Autumn didn't really feel that hard, but in comparison I feel really great after this pregnancy. Recovery is MUCH easier after a vaginal birth.

I also am having much better luck breast feeding  this time around. I know it is much harder to breastfeed after a cesarean, but I am sure that the hours spent with lactation consultants when I had Autumn probably helped a lot this time around.

I was surprised  to have to stay in the hospital for 24 hours after Penelope was born, I guess I felt so great that I thought I should be able to go home right away.

I was released from the hospital in the afternoon on the 26th, and it was really wonderful to come home to my mom and my beautiful daughter Autumn. I have spent the past few days relaxing and recovering with my family and finally started production again for Caustic Threads. I have several orders that I will be slowly catching up on, and will reopen shop when I have all of my current orders (including my wholesale orders) complete.

I don't expect to be finished  and back in full swing especially quickly, as I have more important things to tend to.










(The beautiful blanket in many pictures was made by Angela, her etsy store is http://www.etsy.com/shop/allthingsgranny )

Saturday, July 2, 2011

It's July Already?!?

Hello!

This year has flown by for me. It has been a hectic whirlwind, and....
I'm tired.


It is so amazing that little Penelope will be here soon, and I am clearly nesting. I made new curtains and some decorative pillows for Autumn and Penelope's room, and re-coverd the rocking chair that we got in a very impractical light color because I am to frugal to spend twice as much on the same thing in a dark practical color.
      I like how it turned out, I think it is cute. The pillows and curtains match, and the cushions are actually reversible. It was also a pretty easy thing to do that really made the chair look much better. The cream was a beautiful color, but not appropriate for an item used by a baby or a toddler. It is kind of like white and pastel baby clothes- which for some reason are available in abundance- but not good for more than a few wears because they get so stained.  Which makes me want to run off on a tangent about baby clothes, but I guess I have digressed enough. Back to nesting.... I also really want to replace autumns bed. She has been sleeping on a futon mattress, because although her crib turned into a toddler bed, she does not like sleeping in it because it is a "baby bed". 

 Since we have another baby coming, we will certainly be keeping the crib, but it is really crowded in there with a futon mattress on the floor, so I would like to get autumn a proper bed. Either a toddler bed, or a proper twin bed... or what would be really cool would be to build her a loft that can be transformed into bunk beds later. I have a cool design in mind, that includes turning the bottom portion into a playhouse. Adam is not a fan of this idea, since it is likely that he would be making it. I also really want to paint the walls in thier room. 

Oh... and the carpet... I want to steam clean the carpet- but not just in autumns room... in the whole house. 

I am also finding that when I am working on orders for Caustic Threads, my mind is really wandering. I have so many fun items I want to make for autumn and Penelope, that it is hard to stay on task. Despite this, it seems like I am doing a better job of juggling orders, helping my dad at the shop, and taking care of Autumn, I just wish I had a little more free time to spend with Adam and Autumn. 

Autumn has been pretty difficult lately. I  am not sure if it is because there is a new baby coming, or because she gets less attention from me now that I am a little overloaded. It is probably a combination of things. I know why kids this age are so damn melt-your-heart CUTE at this age though. 

Finally, speaking of being overloaded, Caustic Threads had a record month in June. Amazing. It was the best month ever, we even beat December of last year. It is exciting, and gratifying. I am not sure what kind of goal I should have for July though. Not only do I think expecting to beat June  is a little unrealistic as far as actual sales are concerned, but with a new baby I know that the amount of work I am able to do right after she penelope is born will be limited too. 

And to say Adieu, here is my newest design in Caustic Threads.

Have an excellent weekend! 

♥Erica

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Finding Happiness

Things are crazy here, as usual.





I started helping my dad at his shop recently, and it is getting hard to keep up with orders in Caustic Threads, but I have been managing. I like helping my dad,
and don't mind the work, but I was hoping he would try a little harder to hire someone. Caustic threads is a full time job, and even working about 10 hours a week is taking a toll on both my family life and my business. My younger brother started working for my dad a few weeks ago also, but I know he has other things he wants to be doing too.



I am absolutely thrilled with the unexpected success of Caustic Threads. It is amazing to me that a hobby that was started with relatively low start up cost has grown into a business that allows me to stay home with my daughter autumn (and soon a second daughter, Penelope) and make more than I was making at my last job... granted, I have made more take home income at other jobs, but they required long hours and a lot of travel, which is just not very compatible with a family. (although I know some very amazing families do have a parent that has to travel often). I feel extraordinarily lucky every day to be married to an amazing man that I fall more in love with every day, have a beutiful daughter and another on the way, and to have been able to build a business that allows me to work for myself doing something that I love. I thank Adam, my husband, regularly, for giving me everything I never knew I wanted.



If someone had asked me 10 years ago, when I was 18, what I thought I would be doing right now, I never would have expected to be married, with children, living in Albuquerque. In fact, I think a senior paper that I had to write in high school was about what I wanted and expected to be doing at this point in my life. "Where do you want to be in 10 (or 5, or 15) years?" seems like a common question for people to ask 16 to 18 year olds, and it was always an easy question for me to answer, because I thought I knew exactly what I wanted, and I was sure I would accomplish my goals. I would say, " I want to be a fashion designer, with my own label at some point. I would like to work for someone else to learn the ropes at first, and when I have some experience and capitol I will start my own business. I like the juniors market, it is fast paced, trend driven, and exciting- oh, and teenagers usually have part time jobs and no bills so they have more disposable income than other markets. I want to be single, with no children, living in LA or New York. Preferably New York. " That is really what I thought I wanted to do! I wonder if I had taken a look forward to see myself here now, if I would have considered myself a failure. I don't now, but I may have as a stubborn teenager- which is not to say I am not stubborn now- just that I know how unbelievably happy I am, and I wouldn't trade my life now for the unrealized dreams of a teenager. There are many parallels, and I think the progression of my life, and the steps that brought me here all make sense. All we really want in life is to be happy, and I am so lucky to have found happiness, in a life that I had never expected to be in.

Xoxo,

Erica

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Roller Derby Deals: Caustic Threads interview & giveaway!

Roller Derby Deals: Caustic Threads interview & giveaway!: "Erica Voges is best known to Duke City Derby skaters and fans as Doom Dee Doom, but she is also the talented artisan behind Caustic Threads..."

Monday, April 25, 2011

Manic Monday: Back To business.

As usual it is a busy Monday morning, Right now I only have time to pop in and write a blog entry because I have pots of shirts dying and the closer I keep an eye on items I dye the better they usually turn out.

I did finally reach my goal of 1000 sales last week, and  after a good week it looks like I am getting a little closer to my sales goals for the month as well.  The ebb and flow of sales is always surprising. Last week was one of my best weeks ever in caustic threads, and the week before was one of the slowest. There was a time where I worked on commission, so naturally sales was part of the job. Anytime we would get discouraged by a slow down they would tell us to remain consistent and not to let the slow day affect how we did things, and never to panic,  and eventually things would even out. It was hard advice to follow when you were watching your paycheck get flushed down the toilet, but it proved to always be true. It has been a long time since I thought about that advice, but it is a good way to remain calm when the anxiety of low sales hits you.

We had a great weekend here,  My mom and her husband were in town for the week and my brother and his wife drove up for the weekend too. It was fun and eventful to have so much family in town, and a little bit of a relief on Sunday afternoon when I got to get back to some of the work I needed to do.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

♥Erica

Tropical Paradise

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Almost There!

I  opened Caustic Threads before I started listing items, but I know that I started listing items April 15th of 2010. I wish I could say I had ambitious-or really any- goals for caustic threads when I started listing items, but I didn't.   I didn't even open it with the expectation that Caustic Threads would primarily be a TShirt store, but rather a sewn clothing store, because as you may know I am also a fashion designer and Caustic Threads was intended to be my indie design label since I made the best decision of my life and decided to be a stay at home mom instead. The problem with having a store of all intricate designs that I have to sew to measurements is that while I LOVE designing, and can sew well, i don't love sewing the same thing over and over, especially if it is complicated.

I had been interested in screen printing for a long time and decided early 2010 to invest in a screen-printing set-up- the initial costs for my business were very low and I am still happy with it. I started out buying overstock shirts and then as I made more I was able to invest my earnings into made to order shirts, which is when my sales really started to take off.

Early January I finally set my first sales goal for caustic threads. I wanted to make 1000 sales by April 15, 2011. I didn't quite make it but now it is April 19th and I am at 997 sales! It is so close I feel like I reached my goal anyway! I am so thrilled that Caustic Threads has been so successful, and I love designing the art for my shirts as well as dying and printing them!

So cheers! To goals, and reaching them... or at least getting REALLY close.

Here are some of my newest items at http://www.etsy.com/shop/CausticThreads




















































Good luck with all of your goals!

Take care!
♥Erica

Monday, April 18, 2011

I finally did it!

I have been interested in purchasing fabric from spoonflower.com for a long time but got sticker shock from the $18 a yard price tag. Not that that is a BAD price for a custom item, just that that is a lot of money for fabric.

I decided to buy myself some fabric for my birthday last week and was planning on buying some from some of the sellers on etsy, but when my favorite seller was on vacation it re-sparked my interest in designing my own fabric.

Here are a few of the designs I ordered:







































































I was hoping I could share what they looked like with the images repeated to give a better idea of how they will turn out, but I am sure I will be back to share what the actual fabric looks like later!

I am super stoked!

Take Care!
♥Erica

Spring Romance