How did you become ThatFunkyBoutique?

In 2003, I started creating children’s clothing and needed a name. During an online chat with friends, several were suggested and I immediately was drawn to That Funky Boutique. Seemed catchy and I do like to have a playfulness and uniqueness in my creations. I’m no longer doing children’s items but it still seems to fit ok for my etsy shop.

Can you share your background in design?

From a young age I knew I wanted to be an artist. I can’t say enough about the professors I was able to learn from while getting a BFA with emphasis in Illustration and design. After school, I worked for an advertising company for several years where was able to design and illustrate national catalogs and then went off on my own as a freelance artist and designer. I’ve been freelancing ever since and consider it my main focus. Though my textile designs do take over during some seasons! Recent illustration clients include Chatti Patti, Knuckleheads Clothing, Portabello Pixie and others. My That Funky Boutique line fits in nicely between projects as I can never sit still.

Where do you find your inspiration for your creations? What part of
the process is your favorite?

Inspiration for my textile creations comes from all over the place. From my children, from nature, from the materials on hand. Those are the biggest jumping off points.
The first part in the process is my favorite. From early sketches to completing the sample.

How did you come up with your new HOT scarf design for fall? What are
the features of it that will make women want them this season?

My scarves came about on a whim. I hadn’t sewn in quite a long time due to a cross country move that demanded my time and energy. But I dusted off my machine to do some personal sewing for fun. My first scarf was originally going to be a throw blanket out of some wool and cashmere scraps. I did one long length to start the blanket. There happened to be a mirror close by where I was working and I caught a glimpse of myself with the piece. I threw it around my neck and viola. A unique scarf. I had a feeling it would sell and sell it did! Along with more than 100 more in the first month of selling. I never set out to sew and sell again but here I am enjoying it!

What has been the response since having your scarves featured last
week on The Today Show?

I was humbly honored to have my scarf requested for The Today Show segment. I’m hopeful that the segment brought in lots of viewers for all Etsy artisans! My sales are the same—selling about as fast as I can create them!

www.thatfunkyboutique.etsy.com
www.thatfunkyboutique.blogspot.com

The beautiful & amazing Heather Bailey, fabric and textile designer extraordinare shares her inspirations and ideas on NBC’s Studio 5.

Enjoy this awesome interview with Heather, she even shares a quick and easy tutorial on how to create a beautiful fabric flower accessory from sewing scraps! We LOVE you Heather – way to go!

Read Heather’s popular blog here >>

It’s the time of year that our boutique community waits for, Lisa “the Diva’s” Annual BBQ!

The Diva goes all out for her annual BBQ, catering to all the cute little kids as well as the adults! There’s always a well stocked candy cart, babysitting, entertainment, and of course the opportunity to meet with your children’s designer buddies from Ebay and beyond. Contact the Diva for full details, and wing your way out to NY this August!!!

Enjoy our video interviews featuring the vast talent of these two amazing ladies, as they mention some of their hot items for Spring 09. If you are attending Quilt Market in Pittsburgh next month, be sure to pop by and tell them you saw their interviews on Boutique Cafe!

This week, Boutique Cafe is honored to feature a designer who I admire greatly for her natural sense of style. Each outfit Christie Archer releases, starts my head a’buzzing. I just love how she designs to let each child shine!

Designers Quote:

“My princess Ferry is my inspiration for every design that I do. Her current favorite designs are the peasant dresses with pockets for her to keep her treasures in and skirt sets so she can twirl like a pretty princess, lol. Though I try to design around her personal style preferences I personally tend to lean more toward non-traditional colors when choosing fabrics.” – Christie

**GIVEAWAY!
Leave a comment for Christie below and you’ll be entered to win your choice of either a free peasant dress with banded bottom OR 30% off of a skirt and shirred back top set. Design to be discussed and fabric choices to be from what she has in her studio already. GOOD LUCK!! Include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: March 6, 2009 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

Shop Kustom Kids Boutique at her Etsy store**Please allow time for the show to load.

Hurry up and snag this amazing opportunity! Rococo*Kidz on eBay is offering a custom design for your little darling each month of the year!

“This Auction is for 12 Customs. 1 custom delivered each month or 1 custom a week for 12 weeks. This will be your choice.
You can break it up however you like! If you have more than one child you can have me make different sizes to accommodate each child. You may be a grandmother with multiple little granddaughters. This would be perfect for you.

EACH SET WILL INCLUDE 2 PIECES, SOME MAY CONTAIN 3 PIECES DUE TO THE DESIGN.
PLEASE NOTE DRESSES ARE CONSIDERED 2 PIECES. THEY WILL COME WITH MATCHING BLOOMERS FOR LITTLE ONES OR A MATCHING HEAD BAND FOR OLDER GIRLS.

There is no extra charge if the set has appliqués on them. This would be nice for a Christmas present or birthday gift. If you choose I can gift wrap any set.”

CLICK HERE TO BID > Good luck everyone, rococo*kidz has beautiful designs so be sure to check them out on her MePage too!

WisteriaLane and Guests are ushering in Spring with their new eBay launch “It’s a Spring Thing”. Don’t miss out on these fresh new designs, with all the splendor of Spring including this breathtaking Garden Fairies design by Wild By Design!

Spring Launch >>

Many of us know Lisa Carroccio and her beautiful daughter Marielle from the eBay Boutique design world. This amazing and inspiring mother, designer, and hostess extraordinaire, is being featured tomorrow night Sept. 17th, 2008 on The Big Idea – with Donny Deutsch, talking about her current business emergency for her new boys clothing line Downtown Joey. Advising our “Diva” on the show will be experts from the company Chip and Pepper jeans, a multi-million dollar company sold in 42 countries! The show will air on CNBC at 10pm EST (check your local listings).

Lisa worked as a Boutique Cafe correspondent back in BC Show #15, in 2006 covering the Children’s Club Show in NYC. The Diva, generously hosts a massive yearly BBQ for boutique designers and their families at her own home. She has a huge reputation for being the Hostess with The Mostess and gives tirelessly to many causes. Now it’s our turn to support her.

Please tune in to cheer on our girl who gives so much to our community, her family, and especially her daughter Marielle who is currently waiting for a kidney transplant. Please pray with us for a speedy match for Marielle.

We love you Lisa – good luck tomorrow! We’ll be watching and cheering you on. XO – Daria

**UPDATE : Here’s Lisa’s Segment from Last Night’s show for those who may have missed it.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

**For a link to Lisa’s personal blog visit The Domestic Diva’s Disasters.

Hoo! Hoo! Who’s Cute? YOU!! We love this scrumptious little crochet owl hat from eBay designer Angie.Beane.

Hat is available in custom sizes and colors to suit your little owl lover. Talk about a sweet statement for Autumn!

Bid here >

This week we opened up our Fashion Show slot and invited designers to submit if they were ready to go. Right on the ball was designer Kristi from BluMoonDesigns.com. We were so impressed with her beautiful clothing and jumped at the chance to feature her this week. Enjoy!

Designer Quote:
“Cute is always in style! I design with everyday wear in mind. I enjoy creating a unique outfit that can be worn on any occasion whether it be a playdate at the park, or a holiday dinner!” – Kristi

**GIVEAWAY!! Kristi has teamed with Boutique Cafe to offer one lucky reader a free custom Halloween Twirl Skirt! To enter simply post a comment about BluMoon Designs fashions. Winner will be drawn on Sept. 10th at Midnight. Please leave a comment with a valid email address for our drawing. The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

Shop BluMoon Designson their website. **Please allow time for the show to load.

Our dreams are coming true, Boutique Cafe is heading to California!! We’re going to be taping a Video podcast for Boutique Cafe at Disneyland next week!

I’ll be at the park next Tues, Wed, Thursday. If you’re going to be there with your kids, dress them in Boutique, we’ll be watching for you – I’d love to get them into the segment! If you’re a designer this would be a great way to showcase your designs in the happiest place on earth!

We hope to meet several of our Boutique Moms there, and your Disney-kids too!! If you’re going to be in the area, please leave me a comment below and I’ll email you my cell number so we can hook up at the Disneyland park.

See you there! – Daria

***Shhh!!! Don’t tell my kids, they don’t know we’re going there yet!! hee hee

In our continuing video coverage of the Spring 2008 International Quilt Market from Portland, Daria interviews fabric designer Tina Givens! Once you view our interview please leave Tina your comments and questions here below.

Visit Tina’s website www.tinagivens.com and her blog at www.tinagivens.blogspot.com to get to know this inspiring designer a bit better, and enjoy the beautiful fabrics, patterns and more that she creates. Thank you to our new friends at Quilt Market in Portland for your hospitality and enthusiasm for our show!

**GIVEAWAY** Tina Givens is giving away Two Spectacular, Jaw Dropping prizes for Boutique Cafe listeners! To enter simply watch our video interview and comment in our shownotes telling us which Tina Givens design is your personal favorite. Visit www.tinagivens.com for full inspiration!

First prize: 1 Yard of Each of the colorways of Chloe’s Imagination fabric (That’s 8 different designs and the winner will pick out the color of their choice between MARIGOLD PALACE, FAIRYLAND COCO, OBERON RED, AZUR TEA OR PINK VERANDA) A prize valued at $75 !

Second prize: One set of 25 notecards from Tina Givens collection. Will be personalized with the winners name. A prize valued at $120 !

Please include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: June, 20 2008 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen. miss this!

**Boutique Cafe is brought to you by Aveeno Baby from Johnson & Johnson. Thanks Aveeno!

**Update!! Winners Announced!
Congratulations to our Winners –
poster “Carmen” has won our second prize of 25 Notecards personalized from Tina Givens!!
and poster “TheDrizzled Apple” has won our First prize of Tina Givens Fabrics!!!! Thank you to all who participated and commented. We loved your posts as did Tina herself. She’s planning on posting back to you all shortly here on Boutique Cafe. Stay tuned for even more amazing interviews and giveaways! XO!

Here’s some sweet news from LaNae of BijouCo group:

“BijouCo launched our group one year ago, we got a tad sentimental thinking over all the great memories we have made. We decided to invite other designers to join us in celebrating our anniversary! We are so thrilled to have a fabulous list of esteemed designers joining us. I have attached a guest list of all the designers.

The launch begins on April 15th, search BijouCo on eBay to see all the wonderful listings. In fact, each listing will contain a special diary entry from the designer, sharing what inspired them to create their sets! – LaNae”

Click to enjoy the Sentiment Listings – they are gorgeous! >>

Fabulous fabric designer and textile artist Sandi Henderson joins Daria to talk about her wildly popular Ginger Blossom fabric, and to dish about her top secret upcoming fabric line (hint hint…we’ve got pictures in the show!!). Boutique Cafe has the exclusive announcement on Sandi’s new fabric line name as well as news of her new pattern line, and we couldn’t be more honored! Sandi recently hosted “Flat Betty” at her home – find out more. Tune in for an inspiring chat with one of our own, who’s making it big and taking us all along with her. To view the group launch currently running with Sandi Henderson’s fabric click here >

Click here for the Farmer’s Market Sneak Peek >>

We’re proud members of the Mommycast and Friends Family Channel. Check out some of the other podcasts, like Runaway Design and many more!

**GIVEAWAY - Are you feeling lucky?!! You can win a Surprise Collection of Sandi Henderson’s Ginger Blossom Fabric this week on Boutique Cafe! To be eligible please listen to the show and post a comment in our show notes (**don’t forget to share news of this show on your own blogs so we can come visit your site). We’ll draw the winner on March 12th at midnight. Leave a comment with a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

UPDATE WINNER ANNOUNCED….SUE CAHILL!!! Congratulations to you! You were drawn as our Winner from the Boutique Cafe interview with fabric designer Sandi Henderson. You have won a surprise collection of Ginger Blossom fabric directly from Sandi herself!

Thank you so much to everyone who listened to our show, and entered our contest. We love Sandi Henderson’s Fabric lines and look forward to sharing more of them with you in the coming months.

We’ve received so many emails recently, asking the status of popular mommy/daughter duo Lark & Sophie (My Angel Sophie). I know that many of you are fans of Sophie’s modeling and Lark’s tutu collection, and have missed their very popular auctions on eBay.

I contacted Lark today to get the scoop on our fave girls:

“Hi Daria! I actually stopped selling on ebay back in October, but I think most are just now realizing it

Sophie is in competitive dance this year, and I worked on about 100 team/solo costumes. It has taken up all our time not to mention Sophie is dancing about 20 hours a week right now. We just started competition season and won’t be finished until April. I might come back this summer but honestly I just haven’t missed it at all.

You are so sweet to think of us…. Sophie is still modeling when she has time…. this past summer she was super busy with it, so I bet she will be busy again this summer. I am sure this summer I will come back and list a few things. In April, I will list all of Sophie’s dance costumes for sure!” – Lark

So that’s the word on the street everyone. If you’d like to leave a comment for Lark and Sophie here please feel welcome. Maybe we can encourage them to come back a bit sooner.

Our Fashion Show features the designs of Aida from Anna Bella Designs this week. Vibrant colors, charming fabrics, loving details and much more go into her designs for little girls.

Designer Quote:

“My children are my inspiration. Watching them play and interact with one another fills me with such warmth and happiness. The innocence of a child’s laughter can quickly erase the stresses of every day life. This holds especially true when I’m able to see the excitement in my daughters’ eyes, Bella & Anna, every time I create a new set. To hear the squeal of joy as they ask each time in our native language, Danish, “Mommy, is that for me?” makes what I do a passion and not a hobby.

I enjoy creating everyday garments for girls. My philosophy is quite simple – clothing should be simple in design, yet colorful, as well as wearable and comfortable. “

-Aida Pedersen

Shop Anna Bella Designs on her website. You can learn more about Aida on her eBay Me page as well as her Etsy shop. **Please allow time for the show to load. A HUGE Thank you to Lisa from iza-bella.com for producing our Fashion Show this week!

Bring on the Funk! This week Boutique Cafe features one of our fave designers…Angie Eisman from That Funky Boutique. Angie consistently wows us with breathtaking designs for children, they look like wondrous works of art, but fun and funky enough to wear- and believe us, you’ll want to! Kick back and enjoy our featured Fashion Show of That Funky Boutique. Please feel welcome to leave comments for Angie as well.

Designer Quote:

Why I love doing what I do:
“I’ve always had a creative outlet and it just simply fulfills me. Being creative is in my blood, I guess! My mom upholstered furniture for a living and my dad builds houses and does woodwork….both self employed DIYers. As long as I can remember I was sewing mom’s upholstery fabric scraps into tiny animals…stuffing them with her leftover foam bits. And gluing whatever wood scraps and sawdust I found under my dad’s saws into whatever my imagination thought up. I’m thankful that they never minded my messes and crazy collages. In college, everyone knew to find me in the art building where my professors granted me my own studio space. That led me to a BFA and a career in graphic design. Though my hearts not in graphic design as much anymore, I still do freelance work for Chatti Patti And Knuckleheads Clothing. And now here I am sewing children’s clothing. Mmmmm, I’m rambling but I guess the point is, I don’t know any different and wouldn’t have it any other way. I just love to use the gifts that I’ve been given. And to have people want to purchase what I make? Icing on the cake.” – Angie Eisman

Shop That Funky Boutique in her gorgeous eBay auctions. You can learn more about Angie on her eBay Me page as well as her website and her Blog ». **Please allow time for the show to load. A HUGE Thank you to Lisa from iza-bella.com for producing our Fashion Show this week!

On today’s show, Daria dishes with Celebrity Nursery & Family Lifestyle Designer Wendy Bellissimo. Wendy tells the story of how her successful business was born, what it is like to design for celebrity babies, and the joy she finds in designing rooms and products for children. Wendy also shares her love of being a Mother, and her feelings of wanting to be a mom since she was a young child herself. Hear her say: “Motherhood puts things into perspective” & “I still say the Glue Gun is my best friend!”. Laugh with Wendy, as we put her on the spot with our 60 Second Blitz.

Daria shares details of how you can Win some GREEN by showing your Green creations in our BC Chat forum this weekend. Full Details here. Music by Coco Love Alcorn – “Go to Sleep”.