And second of all……

In honor of today being April Fools and all, I decided to play a little game with you!

I thought of this while sleeping so it may have seemed cooler in my dreams, but let’s give it a shot! I’m going to write 10 sentences. All of which are filled with the truth, except for two or three bona fide fibs. The game? To tell me which few are the little white lies, I’ll pick the first couple winners for something awesome from Platinum!

1. Today is my birthday

2. Kiara’s sister Mariah had her baby boy yesterday, March 30th! (Did you notice their names?? Remind you of any cardigans from You&Me?)

3. Denise has a pup named Franklin and a kitty name Sammy that are arch enemies. (Well, trust me they don’t pal around!)

4. This is Denise and David’s 5th year going to Spring Break in Florida with their friends and family!

5. Our Spring 2013 Collection was originally going to be named “S’wonderful.” I fought hard for it, but Good Hart stole my ACTUAL heart eventually.

6. We have only 2 pregnant gals left at the home office! Miss Becky in return/exchanges and Elyse, graphic designer extraordinaire, are both having boys!

7. You’ve heard her name before, Sara Brown is  Denise’s one and only favorite niece.

8. Matilda Jane’s first collection was Homegrown, Spring of 2008.

9. Kayla Henderson first joined Matilda Jane in 2007.

10. The Platinum website first started in 2009 as a creative outlet for Denise and me. We couldn’t stand just designing twice a year!

Okay, so I bet you find these super easy or a little tricky depending on when you joined the Matilda Jane Family! I’ll post the winners first thing tomorrow. Please only one comment per person!! Let’s play nice

LOVE,

Sam

And here’s to you for all you help from baking to buying bakes goods, to your thoughts and prayers, to coming to a Trunk Show and above all for just being you and being our friend. We could never do anything we do without your support. Thank you.

It was so fun watching yesterday’s bake sale at Matilda Jane. The girls, and boys too, baked so many cupcakes. Like beautiful, delicious cupcakes. I held off till 9pm then I couldn’t say no and sat down and at one. Or maybe three?

David, Sam, and Jenni V did all the deliveries and had a blast. I can hardly wait to see the photos of this. We’ve all been running around a tad crazy with season launch and bake sales galore so today we’ll tidy it all up and get you some photos and such. Gosh, I feel like I keep saying the word “photos”.

Thanks to you, I’m pretty certain we hit our goal!!! This makes me so happy. I’m thinking about maybe taking the extra and using towards helping feed the kids on Saturday and Sunday.  When the school opens back up, it runs M-F so the feeding center is closed Saturday and Sunday. I’ll talk and see if we can help with that. Then, I think maybe it might be fun if we (as in all of us) sponsor a girl? I’m pretty sure we have enough extra to do this.  Okay, maybe I am getting ahead of myself. But I will have a good idea tonight as in where we stand and will certainly let you know.

And of course I’ve got a long story how I came upon the amazing Shannon Sewell.

I want to say it was many, many years ago…okay well, maybe 3-4 years ago that I came across Zozobugbaby. If I am right she donated a dress or something super cute to one of our auctions. And it was super adorable.  I know this because I never forgot it and still remember the bright, vivid play-fullness of her designs. One day I came across one of her photos and was blown away by everything about it. Of course I did my googling and found Shannon Sewell. I’ve followed Shannon’s blog for a long time. so long that she is only 4 bookmarks down on my bookmark list. So yes, I have admired her from a far for years.

I am sure you are all familiar with our Spread the Love?  We gets lots of  great emails telling the beautiful stories of how they opened their front door to a box filled with love and unexpected gifts. It is so fun. But the most fun for us, is certainly hearing the stories and knowing about the smiles we are helping create.  A while back Kayla got an email thanking us for choosing a gal. It wasn’t from the recipient nor the gal who submitted the Spread the Love requests, it was from just a friend of a friend. It was from Shannon Sewell. And why Kayla choose to forward that email to me, I have no clue. All I know is I literally freaked out. I think I called Kayla and said “Do you have any idea WHO Shannon Sewell is? I was seriously freaking out. I probably went back and forth 20x in my head about if I could build up the courag to email her back. I mean it wasn’t an email directly to me, it was to MJC to say thank you..and all I wanted to do was  say “OMG I think you are so cool!” Whelp, as you see above I did it. I emailed her.  And I am still a tad in awe of her, okay a ton.

Jenn, Sam and I are sitting on pins and needles waiting to show you the beyond spectacular photos she did for Good Hart. I even asked Jenn if we could have a pretty cleaned up blog so they look perfect. Us 3 are like crazy high school girls with these photos but…… a lot of the pieces are in Collection 3 so sad story short….It’ll be a bit longer. But hey, there’s a few I can show now and that’s all it take to make me smile.

And don’t forget about our Cupcake for a Cause Bake Sale.

What you may not know, and you do now,  is that one of those cupcake boxes you will be picking up on Monday holds a very special gift to one of you local Fort Wayne Matilda Jane Fans. A very special gift that will get you into Art Fair all by yourself to pick out 5 free pieces on Thursday, June 27. Okay, fine you can bring one friend…and one friend only.  I just re-read that in the same voice as the guy from Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus books…it was kinda funny.  Do your kids like these books? Gabe loves them and the video is pretty cute.

]]> https://matildajaneblog.com/in-awe-of/feed/ 12 https://matildajaneblog.com/cupcakes-for-a-cause/ https://matildajaneblog.com/cupcakes-for-a-cause/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:59:46 +0000 Denise https://matildajaneblog.com/?p=6842

All of us at the home office wanted to enter the the great bake off with you gals and our trunk keepers. So here you have it…

Order your cupcakes STARTING TODAY THROUGH SATURDAY 10am EST through Paypal and we’ll reserve your box of cupcakes for pick up on Monday, March 4 at the MJC Worskshop, 4031 Merchant Road from 10am-3pm.  If you order 10 boxes or more we will be happy to deliver within Fort Wayne. This is a local Bake Sale. We cannot ship cupcakes..Sorry!

Any questions feel free to email us at bakesale@matildajaneclothing.com

What you may not know, and you do now,  is that one of those cupcake boxes you will be picking up on Monday holds a very special gift to one of you local Fort Wayne Matilda Jane Fans. A very special gift that will get you into Art Fair all by yourself to pick out 5 free pieces on Thursday, June 27. Okay, fine you can bring one friend…and one friend only.  I just re-read that in the same voice as the guy from Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus books…it was kinda funny.  Do your kids like these books? Gabe loves them and the video is pretty cute.

UPDATE: I’ve gotten lots of emails asking if you can just swing by Monday between 10-3 and pay. Absolutely but it’d be great of you could email us at bakesale@matildajaneclothing.com so we kind of have an idea on qty to bake this weekend. Also, I have had a few of you ask about donating for the chance to win the Art Fair Golden Ticket….totally. Just put in your Papypal note…donate to random person and we’ll let them open box for you. It could be our mailman, UPS man, printer, the Frito Lay guys next door..but we’ll make it happen. We’ve got lots of kids to feed….let’s hit our goal!

A lot of you guys have been asking what the print is on this top. I’ve been waiting to show you for a bout a month! But it is kinda good I waited because we got Nancy and Cynthia to model for us. It couldn’t be more perfect than that. Matilda Jane will donate $20 form every Chick-a-Dee top we sell to The Chicks for Children Foundation.  That means 100% of the money will go straight to these girls and their friends at The Seeds Orphanage.

These girls have become part of our family.  Many of you may recognize Cynthia’s bright smile and eyes that are full of sparkle. She looks just like her gorgeous mom June. She is the beauty on the right.Gosh, as I am wrting this

Gosh, as I am writing this all I am doing is thinking about my sweet Linda. I doubt I will ever forget her and who knows someday, 10 years down the road, I may run into her and I can say “I never did forget about you.”  Oh, that girl. That girl in the Spiderman shirt who took a piece of my heart with her.  **sigh** before I get all sentimental I wanted to add in this video that David took while Denise (Lynette’s sister) and  Jenny were taking Nancy and Cynthia’s pics. It is so funny. Nancy has no idea what jenny is saying but still loving every bit of it. David took it with his phone so the resolutions isn;t great. But now I see why David feel in love with her. She’s quite the sweetie, and I have a feeling a little bit of Gabe in there too. You know that sweet little spitfire that just has to smile to melt you!

I gotta tell you, Sam and I sat across the desk from each other today and both took in  a huge sigh of relief. You know, when you work so far in advance you have like a year of anxiety and anticipation (not sure if those are the words I am looking for) built up.  I think we are totally are worst critics. We over analyze every little thing we do. Once we get the collection to where we want it we take it to Lynette and crew and they go through it and we kinda start all over.  It’s a lot to feel all eyes on you. But Good Hart, I think we just knew it. There is this love and belief built all around it.  I gotta say, it’s a good place to be. You know the place where you actually feel confident. You know you gave it your all and you know when you lay it all out on the table, it is you to the core.

Side note: Why is it when you tuck kids in they have to get up like every other minute…Where are my snowpants? Can I put my homework in my bag? Joe’s music is too loud? I think I heard a noise?  And trust me, I am certain there will be a 5th question before I finish this post.

We worked on Art Fair with Cheryl at Party Apart today.  I love that lady! I love when we say, beautiful , dreamy, and super cool/arty she gets it.  And that is pretty much all the explaining we need to do. I am telling you, promising you…okay, well there’s lots of events, but let’s focus on Pre-Party right now…The Pre-Party is going to be breathe taking. I promise you. I do. I super excited about so many components of it. And having it downtown is the perfect choice.  If you have not gotten your ticket yet, please do so before the event. Especially if you have kids, cuz I really need to know how many boys and girls.  I can;t wait to tell you the theme, and can’t wait for you to see ….

Sorry I have been dreaming way to much today. And it’s kinda Sam’s fault cuz we are both sitting here working on a line and our brains start buzzing and one thing becomes 20.
And perfect timing….because now Gabe is screaming my name.

Seriously, my kids used to go to bed so easily. Read a book, tuck in, Goodnight, kiss and I luv ya… Now it’s like this never ending “how long can I push mom till she gets mad?”

Good Night- Denise

And if you’re wondering what my favorites are then you should sign up for the Fancy + Free newsletter we send out every week! I wrote something special for Good Hart today that should be landing in your inbox’s sometime tomorrow.

Little legs are the cutest things and shorties make them even cuter! If you think the shorties in first release are adorable, just wait until 2nd and 3rd…. Aren’t you stoked we ordered so many this year!?

Okay, it’s Monday and that means there is A TON of work to be done. So I’ll talk to you later!!

LOVE,

SAM

PS.. Thanks for getting tickets for the special parties during Art Fair!! Both events are for such a great cause, and I can’t wait to meet you all at them! Ahhh, I can’t wait for Art Fair!!!!!!!!

Take a photo of your Good Hart Trunk Show or a photo of yourself at a Trunk Show today and leave it in a comment on our Matilda Jane Facebook.

We will randomly pick one of you tonight to win a $150 Matilda Jane gift card!

Not to mention, we would absolutely love to see your shows today!! We’re so excited!

Let the photos begin!

Thanks!

And that’s what I did, everyday. I have been blessed ever since. Soaring? Well, now that’s a funny thing. If you don’t slow down and really experience what soaring feels like—and it’s so easy not to—then it’s a memory in a flash, a memory you wish you’d savored more, a memory you’d give anything to feel again.

Grandpas teach you to slow down, and take another look—closer, and from all sides. They just get it, don’t they?

The thing about good hearts, though I never realized it, a good heart isn’t just a feeling. It’s a place.

Have you ever gone somewhere, and felt like it was the closest you’ve ever come to truly feeling like you were home?

This is Good Hart.

On the shore of Lake Michigan, right smack in the middle of the Tunnel of Trees is the magical town of Good Hart. I was pretty lucky to grow up in Northen Michigan but it wasn’t until just last Spring that I really knew or understood Good Hart.

Coming home from Spring Break I was texting back and forth with my friend, Anne, about getting a summer house up Northern Michigan. I stumble upon this gem that sits prettily a top of a hill surrounded by 40acres of wooded rolling hills. She’d been sitting entry fir 5-6 years.

I text Anne the address and DVD responds “No way! We go up there every summer, 1/4 mile down the road is where my family summers. ”
How funny is that? We’re driving through Alabama, I’m googling homes and I end up finding one right by the girl in the car behind me. Not even knowing!

I hope you all fall in love with Good Hart as much as we have. Both the collection and the town, if you ever get the chance to pass through.

We’ve only had the place in Good Hart less than a year. And in that short time it’s been filled with the girls of MJC, tons of family and friends, our MJC Team Leaders and just about anyone that will venture up with us.

And every single one of them leaves with their head a little clearer, heart a little fuller and a huge smile. It does that to you. It makes you stop, put the phone down and sleep in. The days are for great conversations, exploring the woods or building puzzles.

Ahhhh I could go on and on.

Here’s to a beautiful collection, an amazing team and the wonderful customers who share the love of keeping little girls little as long as we can.

Squeeze ‘em right, share a story, hold their hand and remind them it all starts with a good heart!

(Do you see that messy desk?? Ah…I wish I would have cropped my trash can out )

And 2013 is the year for great things. At least that’s what I keep thinking. Everyday that I go into work I arrive with a smile and leave with one too. I’m too lucky to work here, surrounded by the smartest, funniest, loving, and wonderful girls ever, to take a moment of it for granted. Not this year! January is almost over and my positive attitude is still here! Another good sign for 2013.

But there would be no 2013 without 2012. A long year filled with GROWTH; amazing, scary, intense growth. For Matilda Jane and myself.

This week a year of my life gets “released” on Friday. Isn’t that nuts? A year ago in February Denise and I started to grow our 2013 Spring Collection, Good Hart. At first it was just a few colors; lots of periwinkle and hints of yellow, then add lots of pink and aqua, and our signature shade of dirty-celery green. We sit at our computers next to each other coloring fabrics, adding polka dots, and erasing stripes. Denise’s printer works hard to keep up with us, while it spits out the colors we trust because this printer is the ONLY printer we use to design our fabrics. Every Collection starts this way. Every. Single. One. And then it’s off to the red table….

The moment the printed sheets of paper covered that table, we knew Spring 2013 would be INSANE. At least I did. Ha, I get a little TOO excited while designing, lots of silly smiling for me and restless, jumpy movements of giddiness! And then the cut outs begin, AKA our very own paper dolls. We use scissors, glue sticks, and tape to make little dresses, leggings, and tops. This part is so much fun and such a mess. I feel bad because during these weeks of designing, I always leave Denise’s house a disaster.

The few weeks Denise and I work on it, nurturing the designs and finalizing details until they are as cute as can be, doesn’t even compare to how much time we spend in development. We see every item roll in, some in the CRAZIEST fabric combinations ever, and we have to visualize it in the correct fabrics. Or trust me, we wouldn’t get to approve ANY of these designs. The fabrics they send samples in sometimes are HILARIOUS. But we get past the silly combos, and approve designs, get size sets in, measure every spec, adjust specs to match our sizing, and then get another sample in–FINALLY in the correct fabrics. And then we make necessary changes from there!

It’s such an incredible machine to be apart of. A beautiful, designing and developing machine. Now that Yama is here, it’s even better because if I am dreaming of a pattern change, she can do it RIGHT THERE. And we can work on adjusting sizing IN HOUSE. It’s so exciting. Carla in Peru IS AMAZING, but being across the country made this a little difficult. Yama is here and is soooooo good at her job. I can’t wait for you to see Fall 2013. She has impressed the socks off me with this line. And I have a feeling you’re going to LOVE all of her adjustments.

Okay, I started off this morning by looking at Yama and telling her I didn’t know what to write today. I guess that changed rather quickly! Gosh now all I can think about is Friday and I’m worried I talked the line up too much, but we all love it. Oh boy it’s just sooo pretty to meee…

LOVE,

SAM

This summer Chelsa and I were running down to the Good Hart General Store to grab some milk only to find out they were closed. So we drove the extra 15 minutes to the gas station in Cross Village only to get a phone call from out mother n’law that there was an amazing garage sale, 20 more minutes in the opposite direction. Problem- the kids were at home waiting for milk and we’d already been gone 25 minutes..but of course we couldn’t pass up a good garage sale.

Good thing we made it cuz I would have never known that on January 1, 1937 there was “Snow Storm, NE Wind..and Leo left home, was to town, got cold PM” then on January 2-3 “Snowing, all got sick”, and January 4 “all sick in bed, snowstorm, last milking of cow no. 6″.

What a find is that?  Every time we come up to Good Hart I flip the page to the current date. I feel like I kinda know this lady. It’s certainly a lady cuz I can tell by her handwriting.

And for so many reason I am excited for the Spring 2013 line…so many. One, I love designing for Spring. I mean who doesn’t love pretty pinks, lavenders and every other springy color.  Two, I feel like we are in a great place at MJC to make this the best season ever.  We’ve got lots of new Trunk Keepers on board to help you schedule your shows,  a few new faces at the office, and ha, a funny one, new packing bags that I think are so cute. Three, Good Hart is just a great place. When I am here, and hopefully when you see the line, there is this comfort, this freshness, this feeling of friendship that makes you want to be surrounded by it. If that makes sense?

We’ll have to have a get together some day this summer with all you girls who live in Northern Michigan, or come up here. Cuz you all know the feeling that happens once you start seeing the pine trees and big blue skies. Ahhhh….Yup, I got that feeling right now and man, if I could only stay here forever.  Those of you who know are up here or summer up here you must leave a comment to share why everyone needs to come visit Good Hart!!

It is always so hard to start of blog posts.  I swear I start everyone off with  “I”. You guys posted so many fun Christmas pics on FB and Instagram. I think I have been addicted to the dang refresh button.  Thanks for sharing them all. We had a great Christmas at home and are heading to Michigan tomorrow.  I’ve got the bags packed and David may not know it but he’s gonna be loading the car pretty soon. Cuz I am ready to go at 8am.  And my brain won’t stop, cuz I really want to give Franklin a bath before we leave too.  Ha, one, well another, good thing is I got my own set up markers for up north too!! Oh ya! Those of you who have not joined in my coloring addiction, you have no idea what you are missing.

Insomnia has taken over my life. Well, the past week.  I was up till 4 last night googling wallpaper and lights. The night before was looking through Jimmy’s FB page for pics of my sweet Linda.  I love this girl. Okay, I love them all. I guess more than anything I just want them to be ok. I want them to have the same opportunities as my kids. They need to. It is the only way they can help change their country. We met so many amazing kids with great stories. They are bright, full of charisma and  born to be leaders.   They are going to make a difference and I can hardly wait for 5-10 years from now to hear where they are and what they are doing. God has good things in store for these kids. i just know it. Alright…you know I just want to be able to show you some more sweet pics of Linda.

See..she steals your heart right! I was telling our Trunk Keepers “This girl is so dang sweet and so …umm..I don’t want to say fiesty but she certainly has  a personality.  Actually, the outfit I met her in (MJC and Spiderman) pretty much says it all.  Sweet, a good heart but the inner strength to move mountains. That’s my girl. She’s gonna be the best combination of a dreamer and a doer! And we are going to make sure that happens. I seriously cannot thank you guys enough for giving me all the opportunities you have. Without your support, Matilda Jane would never have grown to the company we are today. We would never have been able to fully sponsor a Habitat House, host a Boys and Girls Club “Smart Girls/Brilliant Women” luncheon, donate over 10K to Turnstone..gosh the lists goes on…we sent out well over 500 Spread the Loves throughout the year, we partnered with Chicks for Children to build an orphanage and got to share the experience with so many great friends. Aghhh… this is wonderful.  Thank you, thank you. And thank you will never EVER be a big enough word to tell you how grateful I am everyday for you!!

You have no idea, no idea how happy I was when I saw these pics. I knew Jenni and Jami pulled a few girl over to take some pics in the Spring line. But they pulled my Linda! Ha, now I know how you guys feel when we use your daughter on the blog… seriously, it made everything make sense. Another friend of mine was telling me that if we could just restore the heart in people everything would click and fall into place. Oh, it is so true. Right? It all starts with a good heart. Crazy that the Spring Line happens to be named Good Hart, a small town in northern Michigan. A place where you are just you and people take the time to ask how your day was.

Okay, so back to Linda..and how cute is it she is wearing the shirt with chicks on it…Just saying..none of this was planned.

Okay, I am rambling…but thank you so much for all you have done for me and all the folks that have either been on the receiving end or been able to experience the giving first hand. Thank you.