2010 Sneak Peak

Not many days remaining in 2009! Can you believe it has been ten years since the whole Y2K thing?

As I push through orders in the hopes of being able to take a little break in January I thought I'd let you in on a few things to look forward to for next year!

Firstly, newsletter subscribers and Facebook fans are going to be the ONLY ONES eligible to take part in a pretty cool contest coming up with a pretty cool prize so if you aren't one or the other (or both!) then I suggest you take care of that now so you don't miss out! You can sign up for the Bouncing Off The Walls newsletter on the home page of our site or there is a sign up box here on the blog in the right hand column. You will find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/bouncingoffthewalls

We also have new products and new designs that will be added in the New Year. Many of which come from your own ideas so stay tuned to see what's coming!

I will also be announcing where you will be able to find us! Everyone who's met me at trade show knows that there are always deals to be had by ordering in person. Soon I will be letting you all know where we will be and you can come down and see the products first-hand!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to a fantastic 2010 with you all!

Hair Bow Holders

One of the newest additions to Bouncing Off The Walls and now one of the more popular items is my custom hair bow holders. I have to admit that as a mother of a boy a hair bow holder was not something that had even entered my mind as a must-have item! Then along came a daughter in 2008 and things around here sure shifted! Said daughter was not only born with lots of hair, but CRAZY hair to boot! When you're born with hair like that everyone starts buying you hair accessories to try and tame the wildness!

But where to keep all these lovely bows and korkers? Clippies? (Ya, I had to learn a whole new language too!) I found some nice bow holders online, but of course the creative wheels started turning and I thought, "how great would it be to make bow holders that were COMPLETELY customizable?" Not just the colors or personalization, but what if I could make ANY type of bow holder requested?

And so I set out doing just that! I hand cut all my bow holders from 1/2" thick Baltic Birch plywood and I can pretty much do any design or shape imaginable as they're done entirely free-hand. That's what makes them so fabulous!

I do have to say that they've actually become one of my favorite items as I'm free to just draw the design and cut it as I see fit!

One of the biggest requests lately though is to make some that you can also hang hair bands on. I'm working on it! When I make one that I know will work and is of high-quality you'll be the first to know!

Until then, keep those ideas coming! I love them!

Mural Mural On The Wall

Bouncing Off The Walls originally started as a mural business. Through the past few years due to the addition of wall letters, growth charts, room decor and two children I've had to stop painting murals and focus on things I can work on from the home front.

This was a decision that I really struggled with and went back and forth on more than once! I painted while hugely pregnant, I painted while orders for letters piled up, I painted when my husband had days off leaving no time for him and I. It was finally the amount of orders for room decor I was getting and the difficulty in finding child care that made me come to a firm decision that I was done painting on walls at this point in my life.

The hardest part was turning people down. Especially some whom I'd painted for in the past. I hated just saying no and leaving it at that. I needed to have someone to refer people to. I didn't want to just refer to anybody though, I wanted someone who did fabulous work and was great to work with.

And then I found Denise from Creative Artwork by Denise. Denise is a Calgary based mural artist with a passion for art work and children. Her work is fun, original and EXACTLY what I was looking for to refer people to.

A few phone calls and many emails later we finally met in person for a "quick" lunch. Ha! A quick lunch turned into about 3 hours as we soon discovered that we must have been separated at birth! With many eerie similarities between us I left that lunch feeling not only completely confident that I was referring people to one of the best muralists out there but that I'd also gained a great friend!

So, please; if you need a wall or even an entire room done, give Denise a call. You can rest assured that you've chosen someone who will give you a mural that's even better than you could have ever imagined it to be!

Simply Connected

This past Sunday we had the privilege of spending some time with an amazing Calgary photographer getting some family pictures done. Her name is Brandi Murray and her business is called Simply Connected Photography.

Patience must be Brandi's middle name for working with a three-year-old over-actor who wants to pose too much and an eighteen-month-old with a mind of her own is no easy task I assure you! But, she took it all in stride and managed to capture the true personalities of my little family!

The following are just a few of the images Brandi captured!

If you are ever in the need for a great child, baby or family photographer in the Calgary area I highly recommend Brandi! Her relaxed personality coupled with ability to capture the perfect shots makes her our first pick!