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Suburban Life

Local Moms Find Craft in Customizing

When Sarah Headrick and Sarah Rivera decided to start an Internet-based company together they wanted a personalized product, one that would stay in a child’s life more than a year.

The two moms made their dream a reality by self-publishing “The First Adventures of Incredible You,” a customized children’s book. Sarah Headrick and Sarah Rivera

“There was nothing like this out there,” Headrick said. “Mostly, you just give the name and birthday, but this book allows you to really personalize the story and detail the experiences a young child will have in their first eight years.”

With the help of Chicago illustrator Jill Dryer Bartolucci, Headrick and Rivera created a colorful hardcover book customizing a child’s early adventures. Seamlessly woven into the rhymed text is everything from who the child will play with to what football games they will attend.

Headrick and Rivera said they had fun bouncing ideas off each other and were able to finish writing the book in six weeks. The difficult part was setting up the Web site.

“It was more work than we ever imagined,” Rivera said. “But it’s been very rewarding with the response we’ve had from parents. They just love the book.”

Since they began selling their product in August, the moms have had about 350 orders nationwide. The book’s popularity is also growing overseas, with five orders from New Zealand and various ones from England and Canada.

With raving reviews on numerous “Mommy” sites and magazines, Headrick and Rivera were asked in November to hand out their product to celebrity parents at the Golden Globes in January.

Since Custom Made For Kids is an online company, Headrick and Rivera are able to work out of their homes in Western Springs and Hinsdale, respectively. The two switch off taking orders and have learned to balance family life with work. Their children also are close — it was their eldest who initiated their friendship at a play group about five years ago — and love the book.

“I still have to read it almost every night to my younger son because this is his favorite book,” Rivera said.

Every day Rivera and Headrick look forward to customizing another story, knowing they are creating a gift that is bound to stay on the shelf for a lifetime.