Tip Top Shape?? 2012 Resolutions

Sitting around a table of friends asking what is your New Years Resultions, with the odd they are crap people never stick to them remarks, came about much conversation about being fit and in shape for 2012. Alike mine I am forever wanting to be fit healthy and happy, so in serch of ticking these off my list I have gathered some information for all you other people who are searching to be fit, healthy and happy this 2012.

A few basics:

1. Cardio to burn calories and help your heart and lungs work more efficiently,
2. Strength training to build lean muscle tissue while strengthening your bones, muscles and joints, flexibility exercises to improve your range of motion, and rest so your body can recover and grow stronger.


I love love love to run and take the dog for a stroll around the city! A goal is to run the Gold Coast Half Marathon join in if you wish!!!

To get in Shape With Cardio Exercise

Cardio exercise includes any rhythmic activity that gets you into your target heart rate zone. The options are endless, including walking, running, aerobics, cycling, swimming and dancing. You can even use daily chores like raking leaves or shoveling snow, if you can keep the movement consistent enough to raise your heart rate.

How to get started:

1.Choose any cardio activity that's accessible and enjoyable.
2.Schedule your cardio workouts for at least 3 days a week.
3.Begin your workout with a comfortable 5-10 minute warm up to gradually increase your heart rate.
4.Increase your intensity by going faster, adding hills, resistance or incline (or a combination) until you're just out of your comfort zone (Level 5 or 6 on the Perceived Exertion Scale).
5.Maintain that pace for 15-30 minutes or for as long as you can, adjusting your intensity as needed to stay at Level 5 or 6.
6.End your workout with a cool down and stretch.
7.Each week, increase your workout time by a few minutes until you can work continuously for 30 minutes a session.
8.Progress by adding more workout days, trying new activities and/or adding more intensity.

MAKE IT FUN! Go do things with girl friends Boot camps are great for this type of thing!

Get in Shape with Strength Training

The other part of your workout program is strength training with a focus on working all the major muscle groups. And just to be frank you will never bulk up if is physically impossible for women! Now we have that out of the way; How to get started:
1.Choose about 8-10 exercises, targeting the major muscle groups, including the lower body, chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps and abs.
2.If you're a beginner, do 1 set of 15 reps for each exercise. Choose weights that allow you to complete 15 reps - the last rep should be hard, but not impossible.
3.Do your strength workout 2-3 times a week with at least one day of rest in between.
4.Progress each week by adding a set (until you're up to a total of 3 sets per exercise), using heavier weights or trying new exercises.

Look Great while working out not too hard when you have Camelia Carlton! Blingy and colourful just what you need when hitting the gym in style in 2012! Xx



Gift Ideas: Make your Own Gifts, Great for Personalization

Make an eye-catching necklace using some simple beaded beads, Swarovski crystals and elegant vintage glass beads.

1. Gather Your Materials

For this project, you will need the following materials:

•5 grams size 11 Japanese cylinder beads, metallic gold
•29 Swarovski crystals, 4mm round, jet AB

•10 vintage glass beads, squares, drilled diagonally, approximately 8mm

•Gold filled clasp

•Beading wire, gold colored, .019” diameter

•2 crimp beads, gold filled, 2x2mm tube

•Size 12 beading needle

•Nymo D, brown or white

•Wire cutters

•Crimping pliers

2. Make Six Beaded Beads

On a comfortable length of thread (no longer than 3’), string a stop bead. Pick up 21 cylinder beads. Using flat odd-count peyote, make a piece of bead work 14 rows long. A good way to keep track of the rows is to make a mark on a piece of paper after you finish each row. Zip up the piece into a tube by stitching through every other bead. Secure the thread by weaving into the bead work. Set aside.

3. Embellished Tubes (Make Three)

Make a tube as described in Step 2, but do not tie off the working thread. Instead, weave the needle and thread into the bead work and come out of the second bead from the edge.

4. Add the First Embellishment Loop

Pick up the following beads:

3 cylinder beads, a 4mm Swarovski, and 18 cylinder beads. Pass needle and thread back through the 4mm Swarovski bead and pull tightly to form a loop. Pick up 3 cylinder beads and pass needle and thread through the sixth bead from the edge of the bead work.

5. Add the Second Embellishment Loop

Pick up the following beads:

10 cylinder beads, a 4mm Swarovski, and 30 cylinder beads. Pass needle and thread through the 4mm Swarovski bead and pull tightly to form a loop. Pick up 10 cylinder beads. Count off 10 beads and pass needle and thread through the 16th bead from the edge of the bead work. (Make sure that you are staying in the same row when counting off beads.)

6. Add the Third Embellishment Loop

Pick up 3 cylinder beads, a 4mm Swarovski, and 18 cylinder beads. Pass needle and thread back through the Swarovski bead and pull snugly to form a loop. Pick up 3 cylinder beads and pass needle and thread through the 20th bead from the edge of the bead work.

Knot the ends of the threads, add a drop of glue if desired, weave into the bead work and trim.

7. String the Necklace

Center one of the embellished tubes on the center of your beading wire. On either side, string the following pattern:


•A 4mm crystal

•A vintage glass bead

•A 4mm crystal

•An embellished tube

•A 4mm crystal

•A vintage glass bead

•A 4mm crystal

•A plain beaded tube

•A 4mm crystal

•A vintage glass bead

•A 4mm crystal

•A plain beaded tube

•A 4mm crystal

•A vintage glass bead

•A 4mm crystal

•A plain beaded tube

•A 4mm crystal

•A vintage glass bead

•A 4mm crystal

8. Attach the Clasp

On one side of the necklace, string a crimp bead, one half of the clasp, and pass the beading wire back through the crimp bead. Use crimping pliers to secure. Repeat for the other half of the clasp.

"Ta-Daa!" My newest creations! Try making your own today!!xo



FAMOUS in Glitter!

I don't think I mentioned this as it was happening, but as we were having difficulties sourcing Swarovski, Toni-Maree and I made the decision to experiment with glitter screen printing. We were't sure what the result would look like so we sent off lot's of different tee shirt colours and shapes to see how the FAMOUS glitter text would come up. Well, let's just say WE LOVE IT!

Clint wore the man's famous shirt on Monday to begin pitching the range to retailers and there was so much interest and excitement for the range! Now that we know it's fabulous, we've been playing around with different placements on the tee - FAMOUS on the front, FAMOUS on the back, even a glittered outline of my personalised camelia flower! The t-shirts will retail between $34.95 - $39.95 which is SO affordable! Now Toni-Maree is going to be selling her Swarovski crystals to anyone and everyone. You can contact her if you're interested at tmb@elaundry.com.au

Until next time,

CC xo

Barcoding & Endorsement Dramas

With the range nearly here, my thoughts have turned to sales. Where will I sell my product? Online only? Or will I pitch it stores like David Jones and Myer? Will I own my very own store one day? Of course I'd love to own my own store, but that's years down the track. For now, I'd love to have my clothes & accessories in the big Australian department stores. But how?

Toni-Maree has again been my saviour! After much research, she's found the answer: BARCODING! This is all very new and confusing to me, but Toni-Maree has taken charge and organised the whole thing.

I'll try to explain.. In order to sell to department stores (or any store, for that matter), you need barcodes for your products. You apply online, pay an annual fee and then await qualification. Apparently this process is much the same as applying to use Swarovski - you need to provide the company with a business plan. They won't just give you the barcodes, they need to aware of every single, specific piece. And even once you've paid your membership, you have to get through the red tape before they'll hand them over.

As well as figuring out the barcoding conundrum, Toni-Maree is also pitching to Swarovski to gain qualification to be able to use their name on our products as an indicator of quality. As we've used the absolute best of the best, we want to be able to tell customers this. We want them to know that we've cleaned every fabrication 5 times to test it's durability, that those crystals are genuine Swarovski and will stand the test of time. But of course, nothing is for free. The process of getting the genuine Swarovski stickers is a complicated one. Thank god for Fairy God Mother's!

Until next time,
CC xo

Camelia Carlton PJs

We have so much FAMOUS elastic that we're thinking of all new ways to use it in the range. Next up: Camelia Carlton PJs! We already had the oversized camelia flower print t-shirt, so are now creating a pair of silky pajama shorts in my custom fabric with a FAMOUS elastic waistband.

Now that the range is expanding, Toni-Maree advised me to create a new colourway in my custom fabric to add flair and dimension to the entire range. I've been playing around on Illustrator, and played around with different combinations in black, white and magenta. I tried a black background with magenta outlined flowers and then the opposite but finally settled on an all-magenta background and outline with white flowers. It's my key colour throughout the collection, and is bright, bold and funky for sleepwear!

The matching t-shirt will be an oversized fit with a giant pink camelia flower printed on the front, and FAMOUS Swarovski crystals adorning the flower. This is EXACTLY what I want to be wearing to bed!

Until next time,

CC xo

Look What Arrived!

The mailman has been busy delivering things this week! My order from VistaPrint, which included my swing tags, hats, t-shirts and stationery arrived! Although I love the look of the hot pink camelia flower on the simple white background, we had a bit of a hiccup with the final cost of postage as each individual item was manufactured in a different country. Hence the cost was considerably more - so consider this a word of warning if you're thinking of using VistaPrint.

What else arrived is the FAMOUS and Camelia Carlton blings in Swarovski crystal! If you look closely at the FAMOUS bling you can see there's different sized crystals in the "F", whereas the Camelia Carlton bling is all one size. I got a bit creative and stuck the bling on the white hat. I've already worn it out today and gotten heaps of compliments! Just gives me a big boost that this range is going to be a huge success!

Until next time,
CC xo

Ordering, ordering, ordering

Ok, apart from being Valentine's Day today (Happy V day to all you lovebirds!), it's CRUNCH TIME! My fabric is days away from arriving, Clint has created patterns for my garments, so now it's time to order swing tags, care labels and trims.

I found out about VistaPrint through a friend, so decided to order my swing tag through them. I've ordered a postcard sized swing tag with the Camelia Carlton FAMOUS logo on one side and Toni-Maree's elaundry business on the other (because it's a joint venture and all!)

And while I was on VistaPrint I couldn't help but order a few things for work - like keyrings, notepads, mousepads, post it notes and mug - just to brighten up my office! I will give them out to my friends and such, I hope they love my camelia logo as much as I do! I also had to order a few more t-shirts with the giant pink camelia flower, just because I haven't got any of them yet. I got one slim fit t-shirt with a small flower, and one oversized fit t-shirt with a large flower.

Now that I've ordered my swing tags and got that expense out of the way, I thought about what trims and embellishments I needed to order.

First up, my Swarovski crystals! I ordered both "FAMOUS" and "Camelia Carlton", one in different sized large crystals, and one in same size small crystals. I hope they look fab! I'm thinking of sticking them on top of the camelia flower.. We'll see how it looks though!

I've also ordered elastic for the waistbands of my garments. I didn't want to go with basic black or white, so found a manufacturer and have ordered custom elastic with FAMOUS written on it. I am BEYOND excited to see what this looks like IRL! I could start designing underwear.. The opportunities are endless!

And in BIG, BIG NEWS... I've ordered the minimum required order (MOQ in industry terms) of my FINISHED & FABULOUS BOOT BAG! They will take a few weeks to arrive, but I can't wait to start selling them. I've told anyone and everyone who will listen (even strangers at the supermarket struggling by with their groceries) about the boot bag!

Until next time,
CC xo

Dancesport Design - BE FAMOUS

After a few months of uninterrupted planning, I've finally got my head around my dancesport range.

Although I love my Ralph Lauren & Chanel, sometimes branded items can be a bit tacky. I want my customers to know that Camelia Carlton is the label of the clothes, but that doesn't mean that I need my name written all over the garments. 

I thought about what I wanted from the range. I want it to be fabulous and feminine. I want to use only the most expensive and most luxurious fabrications and embellishments, because I truly believe in quality and care. I want my customers to feel amazing when they put my clothes and accessories on. I want them to feel empowered, to feel like they can conquer the world one sequin at a time. I want them to look, feel and be FAMOUS. 

FAMOUS - this is the Camelia Carlton catchy cry that represents my brand, my audience, and most importantly, me. I want FAMOUS emblazoned on my clothes, like a boxer's robe has their name in big lettering across the back. The FAMOUS logo has to be BIG, BOLD and BLINGY. I've started designing a robe just like a boxer's one (but a feminine one), with my custom fabric lined on the inside. Do you know how hard it is to find a black silky robe? I do!

Toni-Maree and I have looked into Swarovski crystals and are totally impressed. We can get the FAMOUS logo in different sizes and fonts, even have graduating crystal sizes. Amazing! I've also found decal paper that you can buy online to do mockups. You print your design on it and stick it on to your shirt, pants or bag (whatever you want to test the design out on). Then you can wear it around and see if you like the design/size/colour. I've done this for all of my FAMOUS catch cry sizing and placements on my clothes so they are tried and tested when they reach you.

So this is the catch cry that represented my brand, audience and more importantly, represents me - FAMOUS.