My Very first post!

Hey everyone and welcome to my new blog!! If you don't already know me, my name is Julia and I am a work at home mom to two adorable little girls, Natali and Alexa. I was born and raised in the beautiful mountains of East Tennessee, and I love it here!

I love being crafty and creating/designing new things. I credit this creativity to my wonderful grandmother who was a school teacher before she retired. She took care of me, my brother, and cousins after school and in the summers. During our summer breaks, she did a summer school for us. We would write plays, do crafts, dance - you name it, we did it! It was so wonderful having such an amazingly creative, fun, and imaginative grandmother! I'll have to dig up some pics of these times.

Also as a child, my mother enrolled me each year for several years in art classes through the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. I took all sorts of fun classes - painting, clay scultping, the potter's wheel, wood working, etc. Great memories there too!

I sort of lost my sense of creativity in the years following high school, but when I found out I was pregnant with a little girl in 2004, it all came back to me! Her nursery was my blank canvas. I painted everything I could in there - light switch plates, outlet covers, walls, her wall letters, frames, and on and on.

Then when I was pregnant with Alexa, I visited a friend's house who has just had a little girl. She had an adorable wooden "R" painted to match her daughter's nursery with ribbon hanging down to hold her bows. I went home and had to create something for all of Natali's bows. I took a trip to the craft store, bought supplies and created my very first bow holder on a wooden plaque with Natali's name on it....

Then I thought, "I bet I can sell these on ebay." So I did! The first ones I sold, I think I made a $1 on, but I kept it up. Then sales really took off and I got a business license and started my website. www.PersonalizedBowHolders.com.

I started my bow holder, bow, and nursery decor business over a year ago. I have recently began making tutus and designing clothing with my mother in law, Rhonda, as well! She is an awesome seamstress and fantastic designer! I couldn't be happier to add her clothing to my site, which we have named Elise Claire designs after my girls. Elise is Natali's middle name and Claire is Alexa's.

I will be adding sneak peaks on my blog to our latest creations. We are looking to add a new organic baby line in the near future!

Thanks so much for reading this and I hope you'll keep checking back!