What Inspires Me...

One of the questions I receive most often is what inspired me to open this shop. So I could lie to you and tell you that it was a desire to create bows for my new baby girl and share them with the world or I could tell you the truth... 

When I was 34 weeks pregnant with Eleanor, our second child, I was taken out of work and put on "modified bed rest" because who can really be on bedrest with a 2.5 year old? I had roughly 4 weeks of paid vacation time stored up and still had three weeks until I was expected to meet our baby. Then, about 1.5 weeks after bedrest started we found out our sewer line had collapsed - cue full scale pregnant mommy meltdown.

The estimate by the plumber to fix it? $7,000. Now, I don't know about you, but I typically don't run my life with $7,000 in my savings account.

Less than a week after this project was finished sweet Eleanor was born. Having this major project just days before our baby came was huge eyeopener to me. The idea of something else major happening to our house while I was on unpaid maternity leave was scary. I mean, we could afford to pay the bills and buy groceries - but large home projects and vacations took more than a year of careful budgeting to save up for. I wanted a way that I could contribute to our family financially while still being home and spending time with our kids. 

That week I started making bows. I'm not going to lie... they were rough. I bought felt from Joanns, nylon hosiery from Walmart and got to work...

First I made them for Eleanor, then I made them for friends and coworkers kids and from there it grew into something I never could have expected. I bought myself a patriotic badge reel for 4th of July and then realized I wanted a new one the next week - the start of the interchangeable badge buddies. I started contributing money to groceries, then birthday parties, then home improvement projects and vacations. Now this is no get rich quick scheme, it's never easy and I expect that if I truly did the math, I'd be making minimum hourly wage at best. But I love it, I love that I can express myself creatively, I love the mommas I've met along the way, I love being home with my kids and I love watching how this shop has grown... 

Today my family has come a long way. My husband has a different job, we've paid off some debts and I continue to work full time as a nurse. While I don't have to continue creating for this shop, I can't imagine walking away. The women that help create for this shop are amazing, our customers are incredible mothers and health care workers and I am forever grateful for the opportunity you all continue to provide me by shopping My Fair Ellie.