The End

Today I closed missgracie.co.uk and I am feeling both proud and sad. Proud because I have a full-time job which is challenging and stretching me in an industry I never envisioned being clever enough to work in. But a big lump of sad sits on the pride. I closed the website because I have to accept the end of an era. 

My husband and I have the most splendid daughter. My neighbour uses the word splendid and it always sounds so good when she does. This may be due to a combination of her enthusiasm and accent but hearing her say it never fails to make me smile. Our daughter is splendid! For the past ten years she has been the namesake of Miss Gracie. I was a stay-at-home mum, the type who never wanted to be anything but - and my little girl is my world. 

I conjured up Miss Gracie when she was barely two. The little hair bows that suited her so perfectly, they were like a bow topping a present - the hair bows made her complete. Wearing pretty dresses, overalls or jammies she never seemed to be without a hair bow. Then came the compliments and mums asked where the hair bows were from. At the time there were few hair bows to be found in the UK shops, this was prior to the joys of Etsy and Not-on-the-High-Street, I had retail experience so it made sense to start a small business.

For the first few years of Miss Gracie my daughter and I took orders at playgroups, then the school gates and then we launched our first website. It was perfect - I was a Mumpreneur.  I met a circle of mumpreneur friends and learned the basics of marketing and social media. Our daughter grew up, her role changed from model to cartographer sticking pins in the map to see where in the World the hair bows travelled to (Australia and Japan were the furthest), to inventory manager (I like to think this aided her colour recognition and maths skills) and then she was capable of manning the till and labelling orders. She still wears the occasional hair bow but with a new found sophistication. 

Miss Gracie was something we did along side playdates, homework, Brownies, quiet afternoons, swimming lessons, birthday parties... all the things you do at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 years old but not at 13. At thirteen our daughter is away from home near twelve hours a school day and my husband and I are at work. Full-time work. New schedules. A new era. 

I am sad to close Miss Gracie because it ends my era of being stay-at-home mum, my little girl being little and having those days when you wake up with a little person and wonder what shall we do today? But I am proud of us and happy. We did it. We had a wonderful time, we made new friends and we learned allot. We enter a new era, we'll do new things together and my daughter is more splendid than ever.

Over the years we named the hair bows after our pals. Thank you girls for lending us your names, your smiles for our photos and for wearing our hair bows:

Hannah

Esme

Mia

Claudia

Georgia

Amelia

Olivia

Ella

Isabel

Ruby

Yan Yan

Charlotte

Natasha
MacKenzie

Katie

Imogen

Simone

Bethany

Anna

Gabi

Mei Mei

Abby

Jade

Tenpany
Caitlin

Maddie

Emilia

Lexi

Elizabeth

and thank you to "Mr Gracie" who built our first website and learned more about hair bows than any grown man ever should.

  

  

"Trudy"

This is Big Dude aka "Trudy". We are thinking of sellotaping a bow to her head and making her the Miss Gracie mascot. Who is Trudy? Trudy, originally named Big Dude, was the pet of a family in California in the 1960s. In 1984 and with their children grown, Big Dude came to live with our family. As I recall, my parents, in a leap of faith, left their four teenagers alone while they took a much deserved three week tour of China. Leaving four teenagers for three weeks was risky but they returned to find we had all survived and the house was intact although... two tortoises, a rabbit and a bird had been added to the existing menagerie of a dog, two cats and a tank full of fish. Our mother gave her usual reply of "as long as you feed them", we had either worn her down over the years or she was ridiculously tolerant. 

Most small pets don't have much of a shelf life but a tortoise I recommend. Not only do they hibernate for four months of the year, a towel and a box is all that is required from November to March, but they are particularly good at devouring the left over veg, carrying a beer can (we were teenagers) and are easy to catch. Big Dude was free to roam around the house and garden and often accompanied us to parties, the beach and she has even been sailing.

Big Dude is now known as "Trudy". We moved to England in 1994 and an animal loving friend with two young children offered Big Dude the perfect home in our absence. Big Dude had a new family and thanks to their research, we now know Big Dude is a girl - "Trudy". Eighteen years on, we are still in England and Trudy continues to live a charmed life in the California sunshine.

Pancakes, 7 Kids & the Neighbours

I have a crazy schedule and as you can see from the inventory levels, I have not squashed in the time to order hair bows - woops! I work freelance dabbling in my pre-child career. Recently the requests for me to work more have increased and rather good prospects have landed on my desk.  It is tempting; the set hours and regular pay but then I snap a photo like this:

Do I really want to miss Pancake Afternoon?

We're Back!

Whew! After two weeks of reading manuals and emailing Help (I could think of other words) Desks, Miss Gracie is finally trading online again.

Simple & Practical

Customers talk about our hair bows and often what they have to say is about the clips and the quality; how well they stay in and how beautifully they are made. We have taken the suggestion of creating sturdy, simple clips for school. A variation on the Chloe clip, a two prong pinch clip covered in simple saddle stitch ribbon. More colours plus mini dot ribbon will be arriving soon and best of all they are made in the UK!

Back to school...

A week ago we snapped this year's "First Day of School" photo and each day I plan to add it to the blog. Uniform ironed, hair tidy and in lovely Miss Gracie hair bows but what to write? Could I be a bit clever or funny? What made our first day back something someone, besides our family, would want to see or read about? So I left it. No photo, no "story" until this morning when I stepped over the Lego again. 

I have been stepping over this little Lego Mermaid and all the "bits" that accompany her for a week. Perched on her rock, gazing at a starfish while Merman gently rocks the Merbaby in the back ground (the dogs seem to be just "dogs", not "Merdogs"; no fishtails) and for some unknown reason the chosen play space is inconveniently, a doorway we all pass through regularly. This is my "back to school" photo. It is easy to remember the uniform, the hair bows, the smiles and the anticipation but I want to remember everything else. Long afternoons when we had time to "play", the round rock from Devon and the flat stone from Scotland, the Mer-Lego from her fourth birthday, the Pirate ship from the charity shop, the little starfish from California, Playmobil dogs and their tiny dog treats, the blue fleece blanket and the un-hoovered floor. 

Term time now and the toys are hardly touched as school, homework and activities fill our days. I will leave Mermaid and her family until the weekend but then it is back to the playroom. Mermaid will have to consider her playroom options; she can either borrow the Playmobil's camper van or move into the Regency Hotel with the Sylvanians.

"Do you make these?"

As the proprietor of Miss Gracie Hair Bows, the question I am asked the most is, "do you make these?". The times I have been tempted to say "yes" and take the credit for the beautifully crafted hair bows is too many count; oh how I would love to be that talented! 

I consider myself "crafty". I am a dab hand at play date art or buying up half of an art shop in anticipation of a school project but I know by the end results that it is best I remain the retailer, not the maker. So who makes the beautiful Miss Gracie hair bows? "Mums", "Moms" and "Mamans" with artistic flair, an eye for detail and a great deal of patience. Some of them have hair bow making businesses while others are talented crafters and when asked if they would  consider making hair bows, they agreed to the task. Thanks to email, Twitter and Facebook, we can communicate across time zones, in three currencies and between nap times and school runs.

You don't have to be a mother to be a hair bow maker for Miss Gracie, it just seems to have worked out that way.

Summer is upon us!

School term nearly over and as always, June and July fly by! Assemblies, Sports Days, visiting relatives and this year we have thrown new jobs for Mr Gracie and I into the mix! Roll on slower summer days, camping, Cornwall and sand between our toes. We'll be back after a much needed relaxing break. 

Please email your requests for September school hair bows to info@missgracie.co.uk to ensure we save them for you.

Happy Summer!

http://www.stives-cornwall.co.uk/about-stives.html

May Half Term

Four relaxing days in Scotland as guests in our friend's beautiful home. The only decision we had to make all weekend was which "pebble" to bring home. After much deliberating we chose "Haggis" pictured on the right.

High on my list of favourite local places is the Bekonscot Model Village . Each time we visit the children spot new additions to the small world: another boat on the lake, more animals in the zoo or another building. The "real fire" in the thatched cottage and the responding fire truck is a favourite as is remembering to look for Noddy at the door of Enid Blyton's home. We will be headed there again this Tuesday to introduce this little world to our young friends visiting from the USA. They may have Disneyland, unlimited sunshine & Hollywood but they don't have "Model Village".

Birdy Birdy

Peering at me through the clear plastic boxes in my office are these gorgeous birdy clip holders and tooth keepers meticulously created for Miss Gracie by the talented Marie at HeartFelt Handmade. Each time I pack one up to post I automatically say Shel Silverstien's poem in my mind:

Oh, if you're a bird, be an early bird
And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.
If you're a bird, be an early early bird-
But if you're a worm, sleep late.

What to write about the school holidays, Easter weekend and another Bank holiday to come? This photo sums up all that needs to be said. Sunshine, hammock, bunting, blossoms, rubber duck and friends.

Made in Scotland

Introducing the latest additon to the Miss Gracie range, the Lucy polka dot hair bow. A crafty mummy in Scotland is creating these hair bows for us. We like her colour choices, red or navy to match school uniform, lime, hot pink or orchid for Easter but our favourite is sea mist. A great match to the Spring collection from Joules.

Party Time

Our household is having one of those months when there is a playmate's birthday party every week. Time for gift buying. I used the stack of invites as an excuse for some online retail therapy so we are wrapped and ready. Of course the pretty parcels include Miss Gracie clips.  Blossom & the Simone bow this time plus a charm bracelet from Daisy & Mouse with a cupcake charm. All wrapped up with "lots of curly whirly ribbon" and  finished with a beautiful personalised gift tag from Fraser & Parsley. Easy, peasy thanks to online shopping!

A sneaky peak of what is to come. Bottlecap clips with her initial. My 9 year old and her pals have flipped for them.

Samples

Glancing back at some old Miss Gracie photos and I spotted this. 
Wow! Let's party!

I do need to mention that it was a sample and lil' mg never actually wore it out in public. 

A Good Week

Sketching Chinese Dragons at the Victoria & Albert Museum

Lively music at the Royal Albert Hall

Spotting celebs at the Burberry show, London Fashion Week

Cycle ride in the sunshine

A morning of baking and product testing the new "Lauren" hair bow. 

 All in all, a good week.

Half Term

Half Term. Some mums dread it some mums love it. I am one of those in the love it group. I love the time. Time to do lots or time to do nothing. The week always flies by much too quick, a couple of days out, a pajama day in. I always end up tired as I then work at night to allow me kid time in the day but it is the kid time I just don't like to miss. Yes, I am one of those annoying mums who enjoys the kid activities as much as the kids. Ask me how many times I have seen the Bubble Show at the Science Museum? I may be to embarrassed to answer.

This half term we are doing our usual "find a fantastic and free activity in London" day and we have chosen the Ignite Family Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Always exciting to visit such a beautiful venue. Weather permitting we will picnic in Kensington Gardens otherwise we will be slurping noodles at Wagamama's on High St. Ken.

We never have a winter half term without a visit to feed the lambs. We cycle to Odds Farm Park, and join the crowd to feed the over excited lambs and play with the "kids". Love those goats!

If I do need to squeeze in some work in the daylight hours then the kids will be off to Mop End a lesser know option for fantastic school holiday activities. Mop End is the South Bucks venue for the Field Studies Council. We have enjoyed fantastic days in the woods with enthusiastic guides building dens, open fires and solving Harry Potter mysteries.

Must go get some work done if I am going to play next week! Happy half term!

Happy Valentines Day

I know it is just a coincidence but I think it rather fun that three of today's orders were made up entirely of pink or red, the colours of the Valentine. I presume the red hair bows are for school but I know the box of pink are on their way to three ballet loving sisters. Enjoy your hair bows girls and Happy Valentines Day!

Isabel

Just a sneak peak at what is to come. Little Isabel hair bows in yummy colours. Like little scoops of gelato on a warm sunny day.