This Mom built a brand all about her "Little Stinkers".

How many of us call our kids, "Little Stinkers"? Probably quite a few of us, but one mom decided to start a tee shirt brand around the term. Britt Menzies is the founder of Stinky Kids, a children’s clothing brand that teaches kids about values. The StinkyKids motto teaches little stinkers everywhere to: “Always Be a Leader of Good”

The simple and sweet designs behind her business started from spending time with her kids. Her 2 and 1/2 year old daughter, who loved ballet, asked her to draw a picture of her as a ballerina. Britt never considered herself an artist, rather a doodler. She decided to try and paint a picture of her daughter as a ballerina on a canvas. Her daughter of course loved it, but much to her surprise so did her friends. She eventually brought some of her artwork to a local children's boutique to see if other families would be interested in getting a custom painting of their child. The man who ran the shop was happy to hang up her artwork, but thought her simple designs of the kids characters would sell well on shirts.

Completely flattered by his offer to buy the rights to her characters, Britt had her "aha moment" and decided to go into business herself. Since they always called their kids "little stinkers" they decided to name it "StinkyKids".


Britt says, "While I was creating my new company called StinkyKids, I began to appreciate my mom, Merrily, more than as a great mom, but as a fellow business woman. After her sister Emily died from uterine cancer, my mom decided to leave the corporate world and form a non-profit in her honor (booksbearsbonnets.org) which delivers gift boxes to cancer patients. As it is so hard to raise money for a non-profit, it made sense to partner my new company with her mission, therefore, StinkyKids, from inception, donates 10% of it’s profits towards the fight against cancer, specifically to Books, Bears and Bonnets, Inc."

Britt's kids have been involved with StinkyKids since its inception, and continue to help to this day. "Max and Emma are my business partners. They are the ones that I bounce new ideas and creative direction with. If they like it, then that is a successful focus group. They always give me their suggestions to make it better. They also are the spokeskids for the brand. Emma is our model and Max makes sure everything sounds like it comes from a kid, not a mommy." Britt told MommyandMeDays.

Working from home can be hard. We asked Britt if she plans a "Mommy and Me Day", and she said, "Every day is mommy and me day with my kids. I am very lucky in that my kids love to be with me and my husband and we are a family unit for all activities. As my kids are in elementary school now, the weekends are mommy and me days. I do have time with each kid where we go to the movies or paint pottery together, but mostly we are all together. My husband travels a lot, so the kids and I work together to make the week's agenda work and still have fun together."

What are some of their favorite mommy and me day ideas? "Our favorite thing to do together is go to the movies. I have been taking Max to the movies since he was 2 years old (he is now 10) and Emma has been going since she was a newborn. I have kept all of the movie stubs in a scrapbook to remember all of the fun we had together and the movies we saw. We also really love our snuggle time together at the end of the day, on the couch."

Britt is living proof it is hard to balance being a full time mom and working from home. Check out how CNBC's BIG Idea with Donny Deutsch helped her organize her home office and teach her to manage her stress:


Check out www.stinkykids.com for some adorable shirts for your "little stinkers". StinkyKids shirts are carried in boutiques in Georgia, Florida and Illinois or can be ordered online. To find StinkyKids in your area click here.