| | Published September 14th, 2011
| Creative Lamorinda Mothers Turn Their Passion into Business
| | By Sophie Braccini |  | | Leslie Price with her cushions Photos Sophie Braccini
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Karen Baymiller, Staci Ericson and Leslie Price have a few things in common-creativity, initiative and resourcefulness. They needed these traits to turn their passions into businesses, using family and community resources to sharpen their skills and fine tune their products. They are starting their marketing efforts right here in Lamorinda, although some of their products can be distributed worldwide. The three show that it's possible to be a 'stay-at-home' mom and still play on equal terms in a global market.
All three women have teenage children attending local high schools.
Leslie Price:
Lekalia Interiors - Pillow Love
Price has been a stager for the real estate market for 10 years and enjoys maximizing the appeal of a space through decoration. But last year, as her first born child started his second semester as a senior in high school, she realized that the family dynamic would soon change. She wanted to create something for herself that would make her happy, stimulate her creative side, and that she could do by hand. "When I work with my hands, my spirit is free," she says.
The stager knew that beautiful cushions could enliven almost any piece of furniture, so she took her mother's 1967 sewing machine out of storage and decided to make bold cushions. She took an upholstery class through the Acalanes Union High School District's Adult Education program. "Then I met Carlos at Moises Gomez & Associates, a Lafayette tailor to whom I brought a dress to alter, and he's been mentoring me on how to make professional-looking cushions," Price recounts.
"I launched my business at the end of August on Etsy, a site for artists who make their own things," she said. Price also emailed all of her friends in the area, and her business took off immediately. "I also like to restore, paint and re-upholster old furniture," she says, "I just need to feel that I am creating something useful."
See Price's cushions at www.lekaliainteriors.etsy.com
Karen Baymiller: Petals and Pods
Baymiller is on the same wavelength, "I feel fortunate to be a stay-at-home mother, help with the schools and be there for my children, but I need a creative outlet," she says. She was a meeting planner in Chicago for 15 years before she came to California with her family 10 years ago. Once her kids were settled in school, she started taking floral classes at Heather Farm in Walnut Creek and helped at Floral Arts Florist in Lafayette, creating flower arrangements for weddings. "Weddings are very stressful and it took its toll," she said, "so I asked myself, now what?"
In August she started a new business that focuses on fresh flower arrangement classes and custom-made dried flower bouquets. She offers three classes, from basic flower arranging principles and techniques to design to a class in arrangements using foliage, fruit, pods and grasses. She also creates modern, stylish, long lasting arrangements of dried flowers that can be ordered through her website. "I am adapting to what the community asks for," she says. Like Price, Baymiller started her marketing by contacting all her friends. "I also reached out to other local businesses with which I could partner, and community groups," she says. She designed her web site herself, admitting that "it was a learning curve." All of her classes and bouquets can be found at www.petalsandpods.net.
Staci Ericson: Golly Gee-pers
Web site and word of mouth are also the main marketing tools of Staci Ericson, who created the card game Golly Gee-pers. The Lafayette mom started designing games to teach her own kids while having fun. Her first creation is a table manners card game that recently earned her two awards from Dr. Toy- as one of the 10 Best Socially Responsible Products, and among the 100 Best Children's Products. According to Ericson, it all started when the father of her daughter's friend brought her back home after a play date. "I asked him how my daughter, who was five at the time, behaved," remembers Ericson, "he said that she was very well behaved, but that she chews her food like a horse. At that point, I knew I had to do something."
She created cards with thumbs up and thumbs down, and drawing others with little characters on them. "Soon my daughters' friends started asking for them, they enjoyed the friendly competition and it made for nice meals," she remembers. She then tested the game with focus groups of local parents and children. "It works for kids starting at age 5," she says, "and some mothers in the focus groups said that it works with dads, too!"
Ericson says, "It took ten years from the first drawing to the production," adding, "it was worth it and I met a lot of wonderful and helpful people along the way."
Golly Gee-pers can be found at Handle Bar Toys, 3631 Mt. Diablo Blvd. in Lafayette, and online at www.gollygee-pers.com.
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 | | Karen Baymiller preparing flower arrangements
|  | | Staci Ericson and her daughter Photo provided
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA