Tootsie and Grace: The Blog

Welcome to Tootsie and Grace: The Blog

For Boutique Chic Blogging

I have never blogged before. I hope that wont be painfully obvious. I just love to write and love to journal, and hopefully someone might just find what I have to say interesting!

We'll see about that.

To start, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Marisa and I am a full time mom and part time Etsy shop owner (I say part time, because the rest of the time I am changing diapers, saying "No, you may not watch your Barbie Fairytopia movie again. You already watched it twice today", and force feeding healthy foods to my two year old who only wants "spaghetti-meatballs" aka Chef Boyardee, hot dogs and popcorn from Target, and dinosaur chicken nuggets, which may be made from 100% all white meat with no fillers, but doesn't really fit the boat for healthy nourishment in my humble opinion.

With that said, let me introduce my two darling girls, the inspiration behind all that I do, including my Etsy shop Tootsie and Grace.

This is Gracie:


I think she looks absolutely adorable in this photo, however, she was just peering around me because I was blocking her view of the TV. She was watching Barbie Fairytopia. She does look very Boutique Chic, doesn't she? I'm thrilled because the bib she is wearing has been covered in bananas, sweet potatoes, green beans, squash, corn, carrots and rice cereal, and has been through the wash a million times. Still looks great, doesn't it? Yay.



This is Annelie:

She is the world's most perfect baby. No, seriously.

She was the easiest pregnancy, delivery and new born. She always slept, never cried as long as she was being held (and I was always happy to oblige) and actually smiles at the camera, which Gracie never ever does.

The best part is that she adores the ground Gracie walks upon and Gracie adores her back. I worried that having two would be just horrible and that Gracie would reject her new sister and Annelie would cry for days at a time, but instead it has been a wonderful experience.

Now let me introduce my shop, Tootsie and Grace.

The name Tootsie and Grace is kind of funny to me. A year ago, my mom and I began to talk about opening up a children's boutique. I noticed that a lot of children's boutiques were named after little girls and often, there were two names: A silly or modern name paired up with a classic name. Like Tootsie and Grace.

For the record, Tootsie and Grace is inspired by my daughters, not named after them. Gracie's name is really Donna Grace, after my Grandmother. We call her Gracie because she just doesn't seem like a Donna. She just doesn't seem like a Grace either. Just Gracie.

As for Tootsie... I was pregnant with Annelie when the name of the shop was formed, and while I do sometimes call her Tootsie Pop, she has never been called Tootsie. I just liked the name Tootsie. My mom liked it, too which is why she used to call me Tootsie when I was a little girl. When I ran the name Tootsie and Grace by her she thought it was perfect.

My mom has gone onto other things now, and has her own business called Lindylou (she will have to tell you the story behind that name) which can be found on Etsy at www.lindylou2.etsy.com. I will do a feature on her shop soon, because it is just full of wonderful things for the home and gals on the go (little gals, too. Her baby quilts are too cute for words!)

Now I run Tootsie and Grace on my own and just love the freedom to design and create anything I want and discover people who love my items! I sell a variety of things from Bib and Burp sets, to hand decorate onesies and t-shirts. I plan on carrying a series of baby and toddler toys, beginning with sock monkeys and sock bunnies, as well as play tea cakes and plates. Everything I make is made from designer fabrics (well, not the sock monkeys, but they are make from original Rockford red heel socks!) by designers such as Amy Butler, Alexander Henry, April Cornell, Robert Kaufman, and Michael Miller.

Here are some of my favorite things in my shop:




You can see everything in my shop at www.tootsiegrace.etsy.com
Please stay tuned for more of my blogs. While I am new to blogging, I always have something to say, so hopefully my blog will never be boring.