babybrewing : MyBlogHer Profile

In 2005, Kristen had a baby and lost her job, all in a couple of months. She spent a LOT of time watching “daytime dramas” and changing diapers that first year. Determined to find a better way to spend her time than watching hours of soaps in the afternoon, Kristen got this crazy idea to make smart ass maternity t-shirts to sell on the internet.

Baby Brewing was born.

Kristen was going to have a screen printer do all of her t-shirts but then that didn’t work out. Kristen got in her truck and drove to Allentown, Pennsylvania to buy a screen printing press.

She stuck around a few days so that Mark, the guy who sold her the printer, could actually teach her how to use it. It didn’t take her long to realize how very fun it could be to have your very own screen press in your basement. Except she didn’t have any room in her basement for the thousand pound printer she bought. Ever gracious, her friend Cath let the printer live in her basement until Kristen made her husband move to a house with a big basement.

An avid blogger, Kristen then got this crazy idea to make a t-shirt with the name of her blog: Mommy Needs a Cocktail. She made the Mommy Needs a Cocktail shirt and wore it for the very first time at the Blogher conference. It became an instant success. She then realized there was a whole world of t-shirt making beyond maternity. She started having contests on her blog so that her readers could help her come up with great t-shirt slogans.

So when she’s not writing legal policy for some government agency or sharing stories of her “half-assed” parenting at MommyNeedsaCocktail.com, Kristen can be found in her basement, hiding from her children and coming up with the next fabulous idea.