Category Archives: Work

Blog, The babes, The Pups, Work

Can’t wait for the dog days of summer!

Posted on by Amanda Jackson

Its been a long and interesting Winter/Spring here at Mimi Green. Professor Chicken fell in love, and I mean IN LOVE, with one of our employees, Hilary. Everyone was super sad in March when Hilary moved to France to take care of her grandpa, Chicken was especially hurt.  Although we admired what she was doing, we have all taken her move really hard.   We've all joked about mailing ourselves to France to see Hilary, but Chicken seems to be taking it seriously. 

mimi green cat professor chicken blue russian

Mimi Green had some exciting news this Spring too. We were honored by being featured by In the Company of Dogs catalogue! They took some awesome photos of our embroidered personalized webbing collars, and the collars have had great reception. It is so exciting to see our work in print, especially with a company as cool as In the Company of Dogs! 

embroidered webbing dog collars Other than that, we have just been super busy filling orders — so busy I have again been neglecting my blog! But hopefully that will change this month because on May 21 I am going to be lucky enough to get to stay home half days with Augustine.  

mimi green dog collar flowers

He is getting gigantic (and really scary!) and I am feeling a bit nostalgic about when he was a baby and I got to hang with him all day. 

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He will be 4 this year — I can't believe it since I started Mimi Green when he couldn't even sit up on his own yet! I figure I don't have much time left till Kindergarten and I have my whole life to work 😉 Good thing I have such an awesome, supportive husband that is willing to work twice as hard to cover for me! 

Anyway, Auggie and I are planning super fun stuff to do with each other (and the doggies) so I will have lots to blog about. 

I better run for now, goodnight from everyone here at MG, especially sleepy Chupa! 

chupa the mimi green pug

Blog, The Pups, Work

Introducing Professor Chicken!

Posted on by Amanda Jackson

So we got a new worker here at Mimi Green and he's really smart, a professor in fact. russian blue cat Dan and I looked and looked for a kitty, we must have met 20 cats.  This little (well, he's kind of big for a cat, 12 lbs or so) Russian Blue we met on the first day of looking just stole our hearts and no other cat compared.

His name at the shelter was Emmitt, but Auggie was insistent that the cat's name was Professor Chicken.

The Professor loves being at the office, mostly he supervises and helps Hilary on her machine.

russian blue cat And Chicken helps me take product photos, which Lord knows I need! russian blue chicken cat
I never thought that I liked cats, I am a BIG dog person, but this cat has totally changed my mind. His purring is so soothing, it is hard to have a bad day with his sweetness around.  I read that cat's purring helps relieve stress and aids in general healing. I don't know if I would have believed all that before Chicken, but just look at him, how can it be denied!

russian blue kitty, chicken

 

(Yes, I did put pink claw clovers on his nails. FYI, real men wear pink;)

Blog, Genius Dog Products, Photography, Web/Tech, Work

Wanna Borrow My Rubit Images?

Posted on by Amanda Jackson

So my good friend over at the wonderful website http://www.BarkSlope.com just had some of his original images ripped off by a kind of lousy website that was too lazy to photograph the products themselves. Needless to say, my friend is pretty upset since they didn’t even bother to ask him to use the images.

I, on the other hand, have the opposite problem.  In Chicago, at the Backer trade show, our neighbors were the very cool guys from Rubit! — the clip on dog tag holder company. Now these guys have it made. They have brought to market the best idea since the dog tag itself. This little gadget allows owners to easly switch their dog tags from collar to collar – which is great for our customers that have more than one of our collar designs. We knew that we HAD to carry these on our site.

Since they are such a new company, I had problems finding stock images to use, so I took my own. This wasn’t a problem at all since now our customers can see how cool Rubits look on our collars and I love any excuse to pull out my trusty Canon SLR camera!

large rubit clip on dog tag holder
But I also had a secret hope. I was hoping that some sites WOULD rip off my image. Mimi Green is also a fairly new company and I take great joy in spreading the word about our collars. Plus I figured since Rubit hasn’t released a ton of images yet that ours would stand out.

small red rubit dog tag clip
Today I was almost as sad as my friend at Bark Slope was when a simple google image search told me that NO ONE had borrowed my super cool Rubit images! What the heck, right!?!

So here is my public offering — should you be reading this and you would like to use my Rubit images, feel free, very free.

However, we should all remember that the internet is a tricky beast. I want folks to use these particular images, but its all for shamless promotion.  We must respect each other enough to ask other sites should we want to use their images. Stealing to avoid extra work is not cool.

But don’t think of using my Rubit images as “stealing”, lets just call it “borrowing”. And when your customers ask what crazy awesome collars those Rubits are attached to, don’t forget to tell them they are MIMI GREEN!! rubit dog tag clips

PS: Second public decloration of the day — I WILL take better care of this blog. I love it, I do, but Mimi Green has been busy beyond words lately. Will post more about that soon too. Growing is great, but boy has it be exhausting!

Double PS: Rubits rock. I have them on all my doggies since I can NEVER get their tags on and off easily. These make switching collars a sinch. Rubits are on my must buy list for all dog and cat owners!

xo– amanda

Blog, Sew Sew Sew, Work

MImi Green is all moved in. Whoo hoo!

Posted on by Amanda Jackson

mimi green sewing studio

We are finally all moved in! I'll try to take you on a virtual tour of the place :

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My desk area. I can see out the little window at everyone working in the studio.

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View of the kitchen area

mimi green dog collar studio

Front door

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Paula working away. Didn't take us long to make messes! That little guy is Cooper, Jessi is babysitting him for a friend, but I really don't want him to have to go home! He has been so much fun to have around. See how much light we get!  It is absoulutly wonderful.

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The sitting area in my office. Of course I'd have a gallon of milk on my desk 😉

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Prepping area 

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Paula, Jessi and Cooper working

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Paula's pug Chupa hard at work 😉

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Overall it was a great move. We did it in 2 days, but Dan and I still haven't gotten to cleaning up the old studio. It is so nice to have the office close by, it is only a mile away from our house!

I really love this new space 😉

Blog, Work

Mimi Furnishings

Posted on by Amanda Jackson

Okay, so I am having a dilemma. I found these cool acrylic folding chairs at TJ Max for $60 each, but I already have wooden folding chairs that are going unused. Only this is, the wooden ones are not super cool acrylic or PINK!IMG_1509

Here they are side by side with the new TJ Max table and my reminder to LAUGH! from my friend Tracy.  Dan says he likes the pink chairs but that I don't need them. But they are SO cool!

More office furnishings I have bought this week: Couch
Couch that is made of down and is going to have super cool pillows made of Mimi Green fabric. Storage_1
The shelves look like this. Everyone says they will be prettier when they have beautiful fabrics stacked on them. 

Other than that, we got a sweet Cuisnart coffee maker.  Still looking for a fridge and a tiny microwave. I am having a lot of fun decorating, although I must admit it is a bit stressful. I just want the new studio to be so perfect! 

The next 10 days are going to be R-E-A-L-L-Y long 😉

Blog, Work

We did it! Mimi Green Dog Collars has a home!

Posted on by Amanda Jackson

mimi green studio We got a place! And I am in love with it.  It is right outside of Nob Hill, right by a freeway entrance/exit, and 1/2 a mile from a drive thru Starbucks.  (I took these photos with my iPhone, so they kinda stink, but you will get the idea;)

 

 

I am nuts about the checkerboard floor and the built in desk/office for me.

Also, it has refrigerated air, which in New Mexico, is a huge blessing!


And I really love that we can see the Sandia Mountains from our front window.

mimi green studio

And look, there is a window box for pretty flowers!


The building is cute too, we are the middle one with no sign yet. But I ordered a really awesome one and cannot wait to get it in the window.

mimi green studio

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It is 2.5 times bigger than the current Mimi Green studio (it is hard to tell from the photos), so we will finally have room to walk! Plus the prep table won’t have to double as the shipping table and my desk won’t be in my dining room! Yahoo!

The new place is just one mile from our house so Dan and I can ride our bikes in the morning. I am so excited, my head could explode! We move in on Feb. 15, what a cool Valentines present, right?

Blog, Work

Growing pains

Posted on by Amanda Jackson

Mimi Green has grown so much in the past year that it is time to get a bigger space. I have been so reluctant and until yesterday I hadn’t seen a building that I liked as much as our current studio.

Then I saw this listing on Craigslist — a space in Albuquerque’s historic Cal-Linn Building — the very building where Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in 1975!

cal-linn building
call-linn building microsoft
cal linn building bill gates Right now it is a beautiful gallery called Arthaus 66, the current owners have done a fabulous job. The track lighting is great, the floors are stained concrete, and no detail has been overlooked.

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cal linn bill gates paul allen
And I can finally have my own office through that red door — can you imagine?!? And maybe I can channel  Bill Gates and turn Mimi Green into a super company 😉

The only problem is that I need to find $84 K or somehow convince the current owner to rent to us. I will keep you posted on what happens, today I talked to the Realtor 4 times so hopefully we will know by weeks end.

So send positive thoughts our way. We need a fabulous building to make fabulous collars and leashes in and I really think this is the one for us!

At home, Blog, Work

We made it!

Posted on by Amanda Jackson

This year's holiday season is finally behind us, and I have to say that I am pretty proud of everyone here at Mimi Green. In December alone we shipped over 315 orders — can you believe it???  Christmas 08 we shipped 40 orders, which seemed like a TON at the time. Boy, I sure wasn't ready for the rush we had this year!

Although I was super tired and still don't think I have recovered, we had a really great Christmas here at the Jackson-Miller house.

We put up a tiny tree for the kids. My mother in law sent Dan's ornaments from when he was a kid and we used those.

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The kids had a good time opening all the presents Santa brought, although every one Auggie opened from me he said "I don't like it".  The elmo slippers that I thought would be a huge hit made him cry!

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 This hat wasn't a hit either until Dan said he was going to wear it and then Auggie liked it 😉

Here's a photo of one of the slower days! I hope all of you who got packages from us this Holiday Season loved your collars and leashes. I have some photos that I will post soon so you can see some our our customers in their holiday gear.

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Here's to a great new year! I think 2010 is going to be really good for us.I hope it is really great for you too.

xoxo, amanda

Blog, Sew Sew Sew, Web/Tech, Work

Mr. and Mrs. Macbooks

Posted on by Amanda Jackson

macbook pro pink

My new baby– her name is midge (since she is much smaller than my old one). Check out the sweet covers we got for them!

macbook pro covers skin

Mine got a tattoo of course;) All you have to do is find a sweet skin (aka laptop sticker) and attach it before the Speck cover and tada! Laptop tattoo. Dan inherited my 15'' Macbook Pro, which was named Cali but I think i will re-name her Marge since her coloring is like Marge Simpson's hair doo. 

Midge arrived on Friday and although her birth was almost painless, I did totally screw up by accidentaly deleting ALL of the Mimi Green files before switching them over to her. I got a cold and the meds just didn't agree with my brain.  Thank God for Mac's time machine witch had all but a few files saved. 

Dan also got a new baby just yesterday:

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A brand new industrial machine! Now we will be rocking out collars just in time for the holiday season.

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as you can see, we are swamped! The studio is a mess, but it is a glorious mess — I am so grateful that we are doing so well!