Tiny Acorn Atelier [organically] took root when a few factors coalesced:

My husband and I welcomed our first child - a daughter - in the Fall of 2013. Our daughter's birth also marked nearly a decade I'd spent in South Florida and away from my home in the Northeast.

Amid sultry days that melt into one another and a surplus of mangroves and coconut palms - and in the throes of adapting to life with a new baby - I suddenly couldn't stop thinking about my own birthplace, the place I'd called "home" throughout most of my life: I longed to breath the crisp and pungent fall air, watch snow collect on mighty pines, wake to the robin's cheerful warble, and walk barefoot through the velvety grass. It saddened me that the quarterly changes I'd looked forward to while growing up would be a foreign concept to my daughter.

On what seemed to be an unrelated topic, I also found myself discouraged by many of the commercial products on today's market geared towards babies and children. A great deal of these products are mass produced and comprised of questionable materials, and, as a new mom, quality and safety were top priorities.

Again, I thought back to my childhood; I thought of my own mother seated at my family's kitchen table in the evening, the rapid whir of her sewing machine coupled with an occasional complaint about the poor lighting. My excitement was palpable as I stood beside her watching stitches chase each other across a piece of outstretched calico; by morning, the fabric would be transformed into a prairie bonnet and I, to a pioneer girl.

It occurred to me that my mother spent a great deal of her limited free-time creating things with her hands - things that still reserve space in my heart. I wanted to do the same for my daughter.

This shop was born when my need to celebrate the world I'd once known - a world brimming with color and textures and whimsy - merged with my longing to provide my own little girl with quality one-of-a-kind items lovingly crafted from safe materials.

Where did our name come from? As a graduate student undertaking my MFA, I often found myself resonating with specific symbols and quotes during each stage of my journey. As I worked to piece together my thesis - a childhood memoir - I stumbled across the proverb: "Mighty oaks from little acorns grow." This mantra, albeit grammatically askew, still speaks to so many areas of my life, that when it came time to choose a shop name, I didn't think twice. Given a lot of love and nurturing through the years, our little ones [and seemingly small ideas] are destined for greatness.