"Just My Style" Files ~ Customized for Your Child

A GREAT new product for young girls! The "Just My Style" Files is a personalized way to help your daughter put together outfits that "set her up for success" in her own wardrobe! We make the notebook and you take the photos of your daughter in outfits that you help pull together for her. Then she doesn't have to ask you "does this go together?" All she has to do is look in her "Just My Style Files!"

Have a great girls day with your own photo shoot and then let your daughter help design her own "Just My Style" Notebook!

This customized notebook includes:
1. Decorative Paper of your choice (Emma chose this cute Lilly P. Paper)
2. Personalized & Laminated Cover (monogram, full name in the font of your choice)
3. Four Customized Tabs in colors that coordinate with your paper selection
(Emma's are labeled: Play Clothes, Nice Casual, Going Shopping, and Church / Special Occasion)
4. 25 sheet protectors capable of holding 50 photographs (size 5 x 7 recommended)

Cost $40.00

Lori Martin
(704) 724-9108
thepurplemartin@bellsouth.net

"Just My Style" Handbook

I had to laugh this morning as I let my 2 year old head off to school having selected her own outfit for the day (before I woke up at 6am). She came downstairs wearing VERY proudly (in the middle of March) a summer smocked gingham top, pajama bottoms (shorts), and then proceeded to march out the door in her snow boots .... "just in case" she said in her "big girl voice." I threw the "right seasonal clothing" in her school bag for her teachers to fight the battle (if they felt it was necessary) and off we went. Her spirit was still in tact and she was SO proud of her accomplishment.

I contrast her choices with my now 8 1/2 year old third grader who is wanting so desperately to be "in fashion" and wearing the clothes of her own choosing. The only difference is that at age 8 she is capable of learning a few fashion "do's and don'ts" - such as we don't mix a plaid with a stripe. We don't wear tank tops in winter (unless as an undergarmet) and suede boots in summer look a little "silly" in church. The really delicate fact is that at age 8 her feelings are hurt very easily and I want to set her up for successful choices of HER choosing in her closet. My ultimate goal ~ to let HER make good choices while keeping her "spirit" and "self confidence" in tact.

Our mutual solution? We went SPRING shopping together at Old Navy where I knew there would be fashionable choices she would love at a price I could afford. Before we went, we took an inventory of her existing closet contents so we knew what we needed and what we already had. That way she had a good idea of pieces we should purchase that would "extend" her existing closet contents.

After taking our list of "needs" to Old Navy I let her do her own shopping with gentle guidance. I followed her through the store with the shopping cart letting her put her "ideas" in the cart. Then I let her inventory the items she thought would "go together" and we headed to the dressing room to try on her choices. As she tried them on, I made little suggestions like "a jean jacket would look GREAT over that sundress if you were cold when we are at the beach this summer." OR "that striped shirt will look great with a pair of white capris AND pink capris." We had a BALL together and we left having educated each other on 3rd grade "fashion" and "wardrobing."

Our next step was to have a "fashion show" at home with her new outfits. I had her try on all her new clothes and then added pieces from her existing wardrobe to show her how the pieces we already had at home would fit together with her new ones! We had the best time and she made "model" poses while I snapped away.

I then developed the photos I took of her in the outfits and put them in a really cool "Style Book" that she keeps in her room. Now, when she can't remember what is appropriate to wear to church, all she does is flip to the "church outfit" section of her style book and see the outfits we put together for her to wear ~ including shoes & accessories!

She LOVES her style book and now does not need to ask me if what she has selected "goes together." She just looks in her style book that SHE helped to create!

Mission Accomplished ~ Budget Friendly Shopping with 3rd Grade Style & A Self-Confident 8 Year Old Making GOOD Choices

There's Just Not An App For That

My most frequently fielded question is .... why do I need a "paper based" handbook system for my family when my technology works just great for me?

The simple answer is there just isn't the technology available to provide your family with an easy to understand guide to how your household operates. Our lives as moms are much more complex than our i-phones, pc's and our information straddles the "electronic" and "paper based" platforms.

NOT SHAREABLE
There are many reasons, but the biggest reason is that technology is not a universally "shareable" device. Our PC's & personal devices do not give us a "clear voice" and they do not clearly interpret our intentions for our family.

My i-phone is meant for me only. I store information at a moment's notice (generally on the fly in the carpool line) and contact fields are most likely not used to their full capacity. I can't tell you if the "phone number" for my doctor is in the doctor's proper "work #" field - it may just as easily be stored in the email line because that is where my cursor landed at the time. I really can't even ensure that my doctor's name is spelled correctly in my i-phone - so my husband may not be able to find it in my device if he tried.

NOT EASILY INTERPRETED
Now - assuming my i-phone contacts were in pristine condition and every contact was labeled correctly. If I was in a medical emergency, my husband would not be able to know who was responsible for running carpool that day, unless he looked at my carpool schedule (in my daily routine tab). He also wouldn't know the bus number for my son (in the Myers Park traditional tab).

NOT WORTHY OF MY DEVICE
The even bigger reason is that the majority of this information is not worthy of my i-phone. I want (and NEED) to be able to look up the email address of the assistant preschool registrar, but I don't necessarily need her information in my i-phone. I also NEED to know the emergency contacts for the children in my carpools, but I will never logically remember how to look up Grandma Myrtle (of no relation to me) in my cell phone if I need her in a pinch. I need her information in a list with all of the other information for my carpool crew.

I bet that one day there WILL be an app for this. I would love to develop it! But until babysitters, caregivers, schools, doctors, summer camps, service providers and everyone else goes 100% paperless ~ us mom's are going to need our handbooks.