News from NEPA's KidDilly Network www.kiddilly.com

As working mothers fully understand, balancing work and family is no easy task. Yet KidDilly member, Meg Calpin Hughes makes it look easy! She even adds another challenge to the mix — managing her own successful business.

In addition to working full-time in medical marketing and sales, Meg owns and operates Kiss My Style; an online boutique featuring unique handcrafted pieces by amazing designers & artists across the US. She also designs gorgeous hand crafted items for Kiss My Style, too. Her handknits and other crafts are featured throughout her web site. You can also find them locally at select area craft fairs and at Knibbles & Bits,Dunmore.

Meg began her business in 2004, grassroots style.

“I started by doing hand knits and through word of mouth people would call for custom orders: hats, scarves, sweaters, blankets etc. Then I started showing them at craft shows and the business took off! The second year I had an order for almost 90 scarves! The bug bit and I loved it,” she explained.

Now, five years later, her work is receiving spectacular national attention.

“This has been a big year for Kiss My Style,” Hughes explained. “My magnet sets will be featured in the Dec/Jan issue of Parenting Magazine. This is the first national publication to show my pieces.”

To top it off, The Abington Journal ran an article on the Meg last month. In addition, she recently did an interview with Ryan Lecky on Newswatch 16 to promote the magnet sets.

Meg is a perfect example of how hard work and perseverance pay off. She’s the first to admit that when you do what you love, everything is secondary.

“I love everything about what I do. I meet fabulous artisans, get to see creative items, work on new pieces of my own and just talk art shop with a great group.”

As for balancing it all so successfully, Meg is grateful for the support she receives from her family.

“Kiss My Style is my passion and next to my family, my greatest accomplishment. It’s difficult to juggle working, my family, home and business but truthfully I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m blessed to have a really supportive husband and mom who help with my shows & my orders. Without them, I don’t know how it could all get done.”

Check out Meg’s website at www.kissmystyle.com. Use code “holiday” for 10% off a $50 order.
 

If you’re a mommy with your own business, be sure to join KidDilly’s Mompreneurs Group, and find out how you can advertise your business to KidDilly members for free!

If you know a dynamite NEPA mom, nominate her to be featured on an upcoming KidDilly blog post.

Writers, we’re now accepting submissions forKidDilly Blog publication. Email KidDilly@ymail.com for submission guidelines.

What happens when a former Kindergarten teacher and a former Sesame Street producer team up to create an online library for young readers and pre-readers?

Your children get an amazing computer ‘game’ & you get the pleasure of knowing they’re really getting an educational reading experience. Utopia in the home!

I had the opportunity to try a free trial at www.getonemorestory.com, and in my opinion, it truly is a well-built library of the best of children’s classic and contemporary literature.

The site allows pre-readers and early readers access and enjoy literature independently. Pre-readers can choose a book, see the illustrations and have the book read to them. My 2 year-old was even able to click through a book to hear a story without my help. And, early readers can use the I Can Read It mode to get the support they need to read on their own.

Getonemorestory.com currently contains 52 books, and they plan to add 8 more by year’s end. There’s something for every child to enjoy.

So, delight your kiddo with a 7-day free trial at www.getonemorestory.com. I’m certain you’ll have a smile on your face when he or she wants to read it again!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to turn my computer back over to my daughter. She’s begging for “one more story”!

Donna

The KidDilly team is honored to have had the opportunity to speak with the creator of an amazing (and so far still free!) e-zine for kids—Stories for Children Magazine’sVirginia Grenier.

Stories for Children (SFC) debuted in April 2007. Since then, it’s won numerous awards including Preditor & Editor Reader Poll 2008 for Top Ten Magazine in fiction, nonfiction, and Poetry. Three of their magazine covers have placed in the Top Twenty in the 2008 Readers Poll: SFC May 2008 3rd place, September 2008 8th place, and March 2008 12th place. Also, at the time of the interview, 18 of their past stories or illustrations have placed or won awards.

Each monthly issue is loaded with fun stories and articles based on age-appropriate reading levels. There are also puzzles, games, children’s book reviews, crafts, and poems to inspire the imagination.

So what makes this online magazine different from the rest?

In Ms. Grenier’s words, “Stories for Children Magazine is designed to unlock your children’s imagination and take them on an exciting adventure into the World of Ink with Stanley Bookman (the SFC mascot) from Storyville as their guide on the magical monthly trips.

Stories for Children Magazine is not just for adult writers. One thing that sets Stories for Children Magazine apart is that we also publish stories written and illustrated by children and teens. While submitting stories to children’s magazines, I was shocked to discover that few magazines allowed underage writers. I vowed to change this and have done so with Stories for Children Magazine.”

Do you have a little writer in your household? SFC would love to get more submissions from young writers! So let their creativity flow, submit their work to SFC, and maybe it will be published in their magazine!

I also asked Mrs. Grenier if she had any favorite stories from past SFC issues.

She explained the Granny Awards at SFC are presented in multiple categories and all you have to do is be published or donate artwork to the magazine. Annually, the editors at SFC come together to choose their Top Three favorite stories by age group, articles by age group, poems, youth submissions, inside artwork, and magazine cover art.

“It’s a real thrill to announce our Granny Award winners and send them a trophy engraved as a thank you for supporting, donating their talents, and believing in us,” she says.

SFC also has interviews with wonderful authors and illustrators monthly. This is a great tool for schools. Many teachers ask their students to research an author and/or illustrator to write a report about. SFC is an excellent resource for to begin. In the Featured Guest pages and the SFC Contributor pages, they can find information on everyone who has been in Stories for Children Magazine.

Stories for Children Magazine has something for teachers and parents too. Mascot Stanley Bookman shares a new topic on a holiday or event that happened in the current month along with tips to help children become better readers. There’s a Fun Links page for parents and teachers with information on great sites to places where they can buy art supplies, crafts, and more.

SFC plans to add a blog to the website by the summer of 2009. This will be for families and will cover vacations on a budget to interviews with those who work with or entertain children. This will be a weekly blog with each week having a certain topic of discussion. Regarding the blog, Ms. Grenier states, “We’re really excited about this project because Stories for Children is more than just a magazine. We’re a family and a community committed to excellence in our work ethic, in the products and services we provide, and in our relationships with our readers, contributors, freelancers, featured guests, and advertisers. We strive to be fair, honest, committed, and give warm fuzzies and support to those we work with.”

I invite you to take an adventure in the World of Ink with Stories for Children Magazine.  It’s most definitely a dilly! 

If you’ve missed the past issues of SFC, you can purchase the first annual anthology Best of Stories for Children Magazine Volume 1, a collection of over 20 poems which was released November 2008.  Visit LuLu.com  or the SFC Bookstore to purchase.

Donna

A picture’s worth a thousand words…but with the schedules today’s moms juggle, who has time to scrapbook?

You do! No, really. You do.

The KidDilly team found a tool you have at your fingertips, and you might not even know about it.

At 10:30 pm tonight, I checked my email ‘just one more time’ before I planned to call it a night. I’d received a link to Smilebox and decided to give it a quick try.

Normally, I don’t love anything that keeps me from crawling under my covers at the end of a long day. But this? This was delightfully different!

Smilebox is an amazing online, digital scrapbooking site that allows you to preserve your most precious memories in only minutes. And, to my surprise, it’s so much more. You can create scrapbooks, slideshows, e-cards, photo albums & postcards.

I created an amusing scrapbook using pictures of my children–no glue, no scissors, no mess. And, I did it in about a half of an hour! I was able to add music, load it on to my facebook profile, and email it to friends & family. I even made the card ou see below to thank you for checking out our new blog.

And…all this was free. Of course, there were other options I could have paid for, and when I have a little more time, I probably will.

So go ahead…give it a try. I definitely think it’s a dilly!

Donna

Make a Smilebox greeting