Service Review - My First TULA Wrap Conversion Carrier & Customized Accessories from Angelycia

Hi Mamas! Today I'll be sharing about my First TULA WC (Wrap Conversion) Baby Carrier I scored on Baby TULA online couple months back. But first, let me share with you how I journeyed myself to being a TULA convert. Last year I talked about the difference between baby slings and baby carriers (link here). I've always been a practical Mama so I try not to spend/overspend on baby items that are not necessary. Baby F. was born last year and that means she was a Jubilee Baby born during the year of SG50. All SG50 babies were given a set of nice baby items and the Baba Sling was one of them. Being a practical Mom I used what was given until one day when Baby F. grew heavier, my shoulder also got more tired with slinging her on one side. Then I found out about the "awesome" TULA, went to try one out at Bumwear, then had to get myself one b'cuz it was so comfortable and Baby F. loved it too. I personally would recommend baby slings from infancy to maybe up to 4-6 months old for the cosiness, then switch to a baby carrier as they grow heavier so that the weight distribution of your baby can be spread out on both shoulders.

So this was my very first Baby TULA Canvas Carrier in Puppy Love. Look at Baby F.'s shiok sleeping face... haha.

What is TULA? TULA is a brand that carries different types of ergonomic baby carriers for all your preferences and here's the types of baby carriers TULA has to offer:

• Soft Structured Carriers which are made of 100% cotton canvas, aka canvas carriers or buckle carriers, 
• Coast Carriers are similar to the canvas carrier but uses breathable mesh material to promote better ventilation which is especially good for humid and warm locales,
• Woven Wraps are long pieces of fabric, specially woven to carry your child,
• Ring Slings are made from woven wraps with an extra ring to secure the wrap in place,
• Wrap Conversion Carriers are structurally the same as the canvas carriers, but made with woven wrap material.

I got my very first TULA canvas carrier last December during X'mas, thinking "wow this baby carrier is costly and I won't get anything more than this b'cuz I'm so happy with my canvas carrier". B'cuz I was so in love with my new carrier (so was Baby F. who always magically sleeps in it everytime - they call it the magic dust, haha!), I got fonder and fonder of this brand of baby carrier. As days passed and I learned more about it, I got myself "poisoned" by the TULA spell and I end up one day waking up in the wee mornings trying out my luck online TULA to "score" a WC carrier. Wrap Conversion carriers are some what a more premium carrier compared to the canvas ones. That is because the material used to make WCs are woven wraps which combine the art and beauty of modern weaving and by itself is a more premium material. There are different variations of just the WC carriers as you can see in the picture above; the semi, the half, and the full. Of course that means that the carrier made with more woven material is more expensive, e.g. full will be most costly, followed by the half, and the semi.

My first score and first WC! The Sekailove Sybelle.

The canvas baby carriers can be ordered online either on TULA's official website, or some other local online stores like Bumwear, Pupsik Studio, etc. They can also be tried and purchased at Bumwear's store (that's where I got mine). But for the WC baby carriers, TULA will only release them on their official website every few weeks at a specific date and time. B'cuz the WC carriers are limited during each day's sale and are highly sought after, they tend to get sold out almost every release. Thus we call it a "score" if we manage to get one.

A half or full WC is typically at least double the price of the canvas carrier (prices vary depending on the material of wrap used). Once you "scored" your WC and upon receiving a confirmation email from TULA on your purchase, it typically takes 2 weeks (from what I remember) to reach you. When we receive our "scored purchase", we call it a "fluff mail" - and this here is called a "ring shot". I'm not familiar why and who came up with all these terminologies, but I guess its all just for the fun of it.

One thing different about WC and canvas carriers... retailers do not sell ready-made matching accessories for the WC, but on the other hand there are matching accessories for the canvas carriers. So lets say if you managed to "score" a WC carrier and (LIKELY) wanna get some matching accessories like drool pads or hood, etc, you'd need to source for your own wrap/fabric to have accessory makers make them for you. 

It was (for me) a long and quite painful process to look for the wrap/fabric b'cuz usually you won't need one whole woven wrap by yourself just to make some accessories for your WC carrier. So before you even order your woven wrap online, you'd have to look for other Mummies who "scored" the carrier in the same print as you, decide how much to share, source for the wrap online, then order and split the cost. This process is rather time consuming but I do know of many Mummies who actually enjoy this, just not me.

After you've gotten your wrap/fabric ready, there are many accessories maker out there who makes beautiful customised accessories for your WC carriers. Usually customers will decide on what to make and how they want it made. Your maker will then show you a rough idea of how the end product will look like and after agreeing, she'd start making your accessories. There was a few accessories maker which I KIV-ed but eventually I went with Angelycia b'cuz (1) I managed to secure a slot with her - usually there can be quite a waiting time to get yourself a slot with Angelycia but I was lucky I just gotten in for the last few for that opening (2) she's highly recommended by many Mummy friends (3) reviews of her work was very good, mostly raved about her great workmanship (4) she was patient and answered MANY of my questions even thou she was really busy, b'cuz many times I was undecided with the design I wanted (5) great service as she went the extra mile to source for materials just to show them to me.

Isn't it lovely?

After months of sourcing for the wrap/fabric, communicating with Angelycia back and forth about my ideal design for the accessories, then having Angelycia work her magic and crafty fingers... I finally got my beautiful set of matching accessories for my first WC baby carrier!!

Finally my Sekailove Sybelle has been dressed up pretty! I "scored" my WC in this print b'cuz my first canvas carrier was in black, I wanted another carrier in a lighter shade to match my lighter coloured clothes. I realised that dark coloured carriers don't match light coloured clothing, in fact looks quite hideous - lol! 

I love neutral colours that are more versatile and easy to match with my clothing. I've mentioned that I'm a practical Mummy, so getting one WC is probably the most I'd go for so it's better worth my bucks if it can match more of my clothing, hahaha!! Actually right now most of the time my helper uses the canvas carrier to bring my girl to my mil's place in the day. I still use my canvas carrier to match with my darker clothes and alternate with my WC carrier on days I'd like to dress up in lighter coloured clothes.

Me heading out with my Sekailove Sybelle fully geared to the Baby Fair.
See everytime I take an action shot of my TULAs, Baby F. is surely sound asleep. Haha.

Having a TULA WC baby carrier - the process of scoring, to sourcing and making and finally dressing up the carrier was an experience. Writing this short story was just to share with new Mummies who are wondering about TULA baby carriers b'cuz honestly there's not alot of blog reviews about them. Besides that I would like to recommend Angelycia to all Mummies looking for accessories maker b'cuz she is an awesome accessories maker. Ask your Mummy friends and I think majority would know who Angelycia is and that her works are great. Angelycia also makes very very cute cartoon hoodies, you should really see her works online.

For those of you keen to find out or see more works of Angelycia here's her Facebook link -

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngeLycia.UniqueliUrs/

If you are keen to find out more about TULA Baby Carriers here are some links -

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/babytula/

Website FAQs: http://www.tulababycarriers.com/pages/faqs

And there's even a Facebook page for TULA fans in Singapore/Asia, you may join the closed group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/singaporetulalove/

I hope you liked my story and review on TULA Baby Carriers as well as services from AngeLycia. Feel free to leave comments in the comment box below if you have any question/s and I'll try my best to answer if its not already stated in my blog above. And that's all for today, bye~! ; )

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Thank you for reading my blog. Cheers and stay tuned for more. ; )

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P.S. JTS something with you dear readers, i will be doing a give-away contest to win one item hand-made by AngeLycia, do check my page for more details. *Wink Wink** 

* Updates: Click here for give-away contest.
Closing date: 25th December 2016, 7:50PM.

**Special Updates** AngeLycia is very generous to offer a special promo for my readers - just quote "Vannytelly" to get 10% discount for your 1st order made before 31st Dec 2016. Hurry up Mamas, b'cuz for those of you who don't already know, slots for AngeLycia is filled up VERY fast! Don't miss this esp if you have new fluff mail otw to you! You're welcome～👍🙂😘