Bee and Me in 2011

Firstly I would love to thank each and every one of my customers and facebook 'likers' for your support and helping Bee and Me become a success in 2010 I truly appreciate each comment and sale I receive. Also to hear that you are getting lovely comments on the outfits when your beautiful kids wear them is pure bliss!! 

I love my job SO MUCH but I found this year I was working nearly every weekend which took me away from treasured moments with my family and I don't want this happening next year. They are my everything and kids grow so fast I don't want to miss out on all the weekend fun. :)

Normally I take each and every custom order that I receive but next year I will have to limit the custom orders each month.  I may have some help next year but I don't want to promise anything so for next year once I have my quota of custom orders for that month I will have to put them on hold until those are complete. Thank you all for understanding and we are all mums so I know you'll see where I'm coming from.  I'm fortunate to have the support from my husband to run my own business. It's not just creating the outfits there is so much more to it and there's only little old me doing the best I can.

I want to wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a successful/happy NEW YEAR!! Be safe, have fun and I will see you all in 2011.  I'm unsure of my date that I will be back to work in January as I have to get outfits done for my photoshoot but I will keep you all up to date via facebook.

Dani. xxx

Custom orders

It's 11.30 on a Saturday night and I'm working away... I started at 5am this morning. I haven't been going all day but I will be tomorrow. Baylee has a fever which likely means no kindy next week and I'll get behind in my orders (again) eek!  I've been going through my orders and including layby's I have well over 60 outfits to get out before Christmas. How awesome is that???  BUT that also means I'm going to have to stop taking any custom orders.  I've cancelled my market date in October but with Bee getting sick it has made me realise that if it happens again or if I get sick (god forbid) then I'll be in trouble. I'm just a one woman show.

If I can get some help this may change and I really didn't want to do this but I must look after my current customers 100% and I wouldn't have it any other way.  You can still order through my website and if I can I will put up new stock as I go. Customer service is so important to me so in order to still receive awesome customer service from me this has got to be the way to go.

If there is any chance that I can squeeze in some customs I will definitely let you all know. Thanks so much for understanding. We are all mum's and every day is unpredictable where kids are concerned and Bee has to be my number 1 priority. :)

Dani. xxx

Suggest and Win!

Do you want to win something? Well you can just with a few clicks of your mouse (or your phone). Suggest Bee and Me to your friends from my fan page by clicking on "Suggest to friends" then comment in the Discussion Tab under "I have suggested" so I know who to choose from. Easy peasy!!

Once my "likers" get to 1850 I'll choose 2 winners from the Discussion Tab comments. You can choose something from my website or I can custom make something for you to the value of $30. Please only comment if you actually have suggested, we are working on an honesty system here.

I love to do giveaways and thought this would be a great way to reward my loyal "fans". Good luck!!

Dani. :)

May photo shoot of New Outfits

Well for a whole week I was all packed and ready for my photo shoot. The weather just wasn't my friend last week at all and we had to keep postponing the shoot and I was running out of time before I had to submit the photo's and an article about Bee and Me. I was stressing and EVERYTHING that could go wrong last week did.

Then my photographer Caroline's husband was admitted to hospital and our available time's clashed so I was forced to find another photographer.  Stef had never photographed kids before (hello more stress)  but I think he did an awesome job.  You just can't take your time with kids (as we all know very well) and I did make him rush but we were shooting in a park and it was like dangling lolly snakes in front of their eyes then not letting them have any!! Stef wanted to take pics of them playing on the park which would have looked awesome but the outfits just had to stay clean!  We had fun though.

Here's a little peak of the outfits that will be available on my return from a break around June 12th. I just had to share with you guys.

I'm going to enjoy the rest of my break now... just a few more outfits to finish then I get to relax!  Dani.xx

Donating to a great cause.

A little girl is tossing in her bed, she's in a deep sleep dreaming about the monster hurting mummy again. He's very loud and it causes her to wake up and sit up in her bed. The dream turns to a nightmare when she realises that the monster is next to her sister's bed hurting her mummy while her sister is in the bed too! The monster's name is Daddy. He bashed her mum until her eyes ballooned up and closed and her nose was broken and bleeding. Her mum thought that if she got into bed with her daughter he would stop hitting her. She was wrong. That was the last time my father hit my mother, she finally walked out with us that night after 20 years of abuse from his fists and mouth. I'm so proud of my mum for taking that step, it was a major struggle to be a single parent with four kids and no money but she did it and did an amazing job of raising my sisters, my brother and I. I think I was about 6 years old then.

I would love to take this opportunity to donate $2.50 from every order I receive in April to the White Ribbon Foundation (Violence against women). You can check out their website at http://www.whiteribbonday.org.au/ or become a fan on facebook White Ribbon and support this great cause.  They also have a campaign asking all men to swear never to commit, excuse, or stay silent about violence against women. They can swear here http://www.myoath.com.au/ and "All aussie men should swear"!

Thank you for reading this and I hope we can put a stop to violence, not only against women but violence in general!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY BEE AND ME!

Well it's been one year tomorrow since I started selling in a real store! It's been such a great 12 months with really great customers. And to celebrate for one day only all items on my website will be 20% OFF!! This starts tomorrow and only items that are on my website, no custom orders sorry!!

Just a few rules: - Any orders made tomorrow MUST be paid for within 3 days, I cannot bend these rules so please don't ask. Any orders that I currently have been asked about, layby's etc are not included in the sale. Just a reminder also that I am back from my easter break on the 5th April so any orders placed will be made and sent after this date.

I hope you all enjoy your Easter and the kids have a great weekend! Be safe and have fun!

Autumn is here!

It's been a while since I blogged so I thought I'd better keep you all informed of what's happening at Bee and Me! We will be doing another photoshoot on March 15th with Mihaja Photography with new stock I am so excited. I will be taking a break from 8th - 14th March to get all the outfits done for the shoot so I won't be taking orders during this time. Any orders from the website will be made and posted after the 14th. I apologise for any inconvenience!

I have so many new ideas so I hope I can get them all done for the shoot. There will be outfits for the cooler weather as well as new dresses. I love that the dresses can still be worn in winter with leggings and a long sleeve top underneath.

Any competitions I do will now be done on this blog and linked on my fan page so we don't get into trouble with all the rules and regulations of facebook. Thank you to all my fans, followers and customers that have supported us for the last year, it's our 1st birthday on 31st March so I'll have to think of something special to do for that.

Dani. xx

HMK Rising Star Awards!

Hello fans! I would love to win some advertising for Bee and Me  on Handmade Kids - this is part of the prize for the winner of the Rising Star Awards. I know it's a big ask but all you have to do if you want to help me out is email jemma@handmadekids.com.au with who you would like to nominate (my url is www.beeandme.com.au) and why you are nominating us.  Nominations must be in by midnight Australia Day so today is my last chance!  Thank you all in advance if you could take the time to do this, it would be highly appreciated!!  If you aren't a fan on Handmade kids on facebook please fan them to find great handmade stuff for kids from some very talented people.

Dani. xx

Suprise your friend & Share the love!

I've been through some hard times in my life and always had a friend to count on to get me through the bad times. Even just knowing she was there if I needed her was enough as I'm not much of a "feeling sharer". ANYWAY what I want you guys to do is nominate a friend that you want to give something back to and I will pick one person and I will send her either an outfit for one of her kids (sizes from 00-4) or a custom made bag and will pop a little note in there that it's from YOU! We can discuss colours, items etc once I pick the winner via email.

I love giving and would give away more if I could. God I remember when I was in Bali my hubby would barter on a really cheap price and I would sneak them more money!! They need it so badly though. I'm not doing this for advertising or to get more fans - I just love giving away prizes etc and thought this would be a cool and fun way to do it.

On my fan page is a discussion tab so if you want to nominate someone just tell me a bit about why you love them so much and their name and I will pick one lucky person at some stage sunday afternoon.  It's a bit of fun and a chance to give back!  SHARE THE LOVE!!