"When I was growing up, my initial dream was to become a fashion designer," says Josie Bissett. "Then I ended up playing one on Melrose Place. Now I'm really doing it—I'm designing a little girls clothing line. So, in a way, my dreams have come full circle."
     Designing clothes is only one of several recent ventures, including developing a toy line, publishing two books, and hosting the PBS special Teach More, Love More, that Bissett has explored since Melrose went off the air in 1999. But her primary focus these days is son Mason, 3, and daughter Maya, 1—as it has been since she and her husband, former Melrose castmate Rob Estes, started their family and she decided to retire (temporarily, she insists) from acting.
     "Josie is a great mother, and she's doing what she loves," says friend and fellow Melrose Place alum Heather Locklear. "And as far as I'm concerned, stay-at-home mothers are some of the hardest-working people in the world."
     Estes, who finds it amusing when he hears people say his wife has stopped working, agrees. "She's working harder than she ever did when she was acting," he says, chuckling. "If you combine motherhood with all the businesses she's involved with, that's a lot."
     Indeed, when Bissett, 32, traded Hollywood for home and hearth, she discovered an innate entrepeneurial streak, exemplified by her two books. The first, Little Bits of Wisdom, was a compilation of parenting tips inspired by the great child-rearing advice she gleaned not from experts but from everyday mothers and fathers. Her new book, Making Memories, which hits bookstores this month, suggests creative ways to cultivate family memories—from putting notes in children's lunch boxes to recording snippets of their voices and saving them on CDs.
     "It's full of ways we can make memories for our kids by choice, instead of just by chance, says Bissett. "For instance, I heard about how one family used to have popcorn parties under the stars, so last night I got a big sheet and put it on the grass, and we all sat out there with popcorn. It was a completely different experience from being inside with the television on and the phone ringing. It only took a few minutes, but it brought us closer together."