It started with a bunny and a pea...
2010 was a special year for me as it heralded the long awaited arrival of my daughter to the joy of my little family, and also was the beginning of Babamoon.
I had been Knitting and Crocheting for a number of years at that stage, excited by the idea of hand creating the things my children would wear and play with as they grew up.
I have always been artistic, mostly my talents have been honed in the fine arts during childhood and my college days but I enjoyed crafting and textile arts also. Over time I developed an interest in amateur photography and enjoyed taking photos of my family and macro style nature photos which I used to explore and teach myself digital painting which I eventually accumulated a stack of original digital works.
I stumbled across Etsy around this time which gave me the opportunity begin a home based business in art and design.
I created my first Etsy shop known as moonangelnay.etsy.com a year after my son was born in 2008-2010 selling my Digital Art and Fine Art pieces. I fell in love with the ethos of the company, the community of entrepreneurs and the freedom to create and share my work, and to sell my creations. It was during this period that I had decided to pick back up my knit and crochet needles as I was very inspired and full of ideas of things I wanted to create.
I used to love buying knitting books and patterns as my son grew up, and had never really considered writing my own patterns despite my ideas and abilities, but whilst waiting for my daughter's birth in 2010, I suddenly found myself relying on the books less, and on my own ideas more; making wonderful garments and accessories almost weekly for my growing family.
It was actually my then 3 year old son's suggestions of things to make that lead to the beginnings of Babamoon. His ideas of making cute costumes and fluffy animal themed hats for his newborn baby sister lead to many compliments and requests when out and about. Friends, family members, and even strangers really took a liking to my designs and I felt encouraged! So I opened up my second shop Babamoon!
To start, I included my first bunny hat design, crochet wings and peapod cocoon amongst a few others to sell on a made to order basis. To my delight I made my first sale within a month! And within 6 months, some new designs, tweaks to my bunny design, and the introduction of my well known Original Blue Stripe Bunny Ears I found myself suddenly working as a business rather than a hobby. Now 10 years down the line Babamoon is still thriving as a full time venture!
I couldn't be more pleased with the progress Babamoon has made. I owe huge credit to my supportive family for putting up with my work loads, my overspilling yarn hoard!
I am grateful to my husband especially for regularly assisting with shipping and for my children forever inspiring me. My eldest son especially with his crazy but cool ideas that started it all, for my daughter (being the face of my business) modelling in the majority of my photos throughout my store including the popular Original Blue Stripe Bunny Ears, and also for my youngest son whom has had to put up with all the hats and taken a few photos of his own!
I feel it's important to use the highest quality components for my items with them being exclusively Handmade by me. It gives me much flexibility and input into what I pass on to my customers. Striving for quality is what I believe has lead to Babamoon’s success. I couldn't be more proud of the achievements that have been brought forth with magazine and blog appearances (Stylist, Handmade Living, WhatToExpect.com to name a few), Etsy Press Kits and more over the years. I look forward to what the future will bring for my business and excited about all the new ideas I plan to include in store.
