olive jane designs

Front Page Tresuries!

2009-07-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

Yay! I was featured on the front page of Etsy 3 times this month! You can see if your shop was featured to by checking out this website *craft cult*, it will even show you archived treasuries that you were featured in...pretty nifty. It's funny that I've never been on the front page before and then 3 times in one month...not complaining though.

the toothless wonder!!

2009-07-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

My little Gavin just lost 2 teeth this week. On Monday I took the boys for a 2 mile bike ride and Gavin's bike handle hit him in the mouth and loosened up his already loose front teeth. An hour later while eating an ice cream Gavin pulled out his tooth, two days later Mommy pulled out the second tooth that was just dangling.

So here is my question...after these teeth were lost my little Gavin's behaviour has improved so much, he has been so helpful, kind, agreeable and quite the little peacemaker. Is there a correlation?? Should I knock out the rest of his teeth?? Just joking!

Canada Day and 4th of July!

2009-07-05T21:06:00.000-07:00

In our family we celebrate both, the only problem is that they are only a couple days apart and since we live in the USA we don't want to appear un-patriotic (is that a word?) by celebrating Canada Day just before Independence Day and since most Americans don't even know when Canada Day is it can appear a little insensitive on our part.
Nevertheless, we went to the park in our Canada t-shirts and had pizza with Canadian Bacon on it (roll your eyes if you will) and pineapple (which is essentially Hawaiian pizza and we are also Hawaiian so it works in the multicultural mix!). We had ice cream, played tag and usually sing "Oh Canada!" (which is NOT to the tune of "Oh Christmas tree" in case you were wondering!)
After that my husband and I reflected on how lucky we were to have all our children intact as my sister's pet polar bear recently devoured one of her children...good thing she's got 8 more (gotta do something to keep you warm in those looooong Canadian winters). Just after we write out a check to support the "Igloos for Humanity fund", then we write members of parliament to encourage them to allow the Internet to Canada cause I really miss my siblings and would like to keep in touch with them. (By the way if you believe the last paragraph please keep in mind that Canada is responsible for the inventions of the blackberry, basketball, the zipper and insulin, nor have I ever seen a polar bear except in the Los Angeles zoo!)

July 4th was lots of fun we started with a parade and then headed to my Aunt's gorgeous house for a BBQ and slip and slide and driveway of fireworks.

We are so lucky to live and have lived in countries that provide us with the freedoms that we enjoy and cherish. Happy Canada Day and 4th of July!

New shop addition and treasury!

2009-07-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

Recently I was asked to do a custom order of a drum set, which is harder that one would think... here's what I came up with!

Also I was featured in a treasury recently by Beneath the Rowan tree, Clover and Violet, and Ciuccio some fun treasuries thanks for including me:

away for a while

2009-05-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

I've been missing in action for a while and have been delinquent in blog postings. I am in Canada for a while, helping out with my mother as she is in her final stages fighting her battle with terminal cancer. Here is a link to updates of my mom and how she is doing. She is a trooper, what an amazing women. I will do a proper blog post once life gets back to some semblance of normalicy.

Godzilla and the Handmade experiment

2009-05-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

I was featured on the Handmade Experiment today with some other amazingly cute children's items. An honor to be included among such talented designers. Also check out my new addition to my shop!...Godzilla, who would have thought he would be so popular?

My Latest Eco Addictions.....

2009-05-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

I love love love this Eco Friendly Laundry Detergent, honestly I can't say enough amazing things about this product. It works sooo well, smells amazing (70+ scents to choose from, I chose sweetpea cause that's my nickname!) and has a myriad of uses.
It works for energy efficient washers as well as my old faithful one and takes less than half the amount of regular detergent and saves me so much money. Also these detergents are made with all natural ingredients, phosphate-free, non-toxic, PLANET FRIENDLY and gray water safe. You can buy them from Ashley a WAHM like myself, she has a great business called Crunchy Clean. Check her out. Here are some other uses that this amazing invention has, seriously can you tell I'm in love? It's made my life so much easier.

USE IT AS A SCRUB
You can actually use it by itself as a comet type scrub OR you can add some dish detergent to it to make a paste like soft scrub that works fantastic for shower floors! I use it to clean my toilets too in lieu of comet or other harsh chemical cleaners.

ALL PURPOSE CLEANER
2 Tablespoons in a bucket with 1/4 cup of vinegar makes a GREAT multipurpose cleaner! I clean our ceramic tile floors, the counters, and the kitchen sink with it!

SCRUBBY CLEANER
a few Tablespoons mixed with dish soap makes a wonderful scrubby cleaner - it needs to be a gritty consistency, and you can wash your tubs and sinks safely without bleach or other unsafe cleaners! :)

STAIN PRETREATER
Make a pretreater - mix with water and let it sit on stains! OR, mix hot water with a tablespoon or two and let your stains clothes sit for a few hours or overnight!

DEODORIZER
You can also sprinkle a little in your diaper pail to deodorize.

Also I'm in love with Spa Therapy's facial products, I have the patchouli mint soap, aloe skin toner, vegan deodorant stick (love this!), and the papaya and tea tree scrub (amazing!). These too shops are definite treasures that I've come across on Etsy, feel free to support these amazing women and their handmade products.

Fuzzy Prickly Pear!

2009-04-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

Check out this pincushion that I ordered from South Africa. Isn't it so cute? And it works so well, for those of you who don't use pin cushions that often you wouldn't know that there are certain elements that make up a good pin cushion so become informed before you balk at me :) One of the perks of purchasing this pin cushion is that when it arrived it had so many cool stamps from Africa on it and my kids went crazy for them. This is where I got it on Etsy! Support Handmade cause it's unique and just plain cool.

It kind of reminds me of Heather Bailey's Fresh Picked pincushion, which is also so stinking cute!:

Digging for treasure!

2009-04-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

here are a few of the recent treasuries I've been featured in. Special thanks to scrapnscribe, inocha, thepaperkingdom, kbshimmer, cloverandviolet and sewnsunday for including me in their collections.

Easter Ties!

2009-04-18T14:16:00.001-07:00

At the end of the Easter treasure hunt we had at out house were drawing books and...(drum roll please!) Easter ties!! I made these from some of my favorite Amy Butler fabric....I'm such a sucker for polka dots....love to squeeze them in wherever I can.

Oh Sweet Sadie!

2009-04-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

come and see me at the Oh Sweet Sadie boutique in Daybreak, Utah April 24th-25th!

you can find a map on their blog

Hope to see you there!

sorry I've been so MIA!

2009-04-15T22:31:00.001-07:00

I have been so swamped lately and unfortunately my blog postings have been going by the wayside! I have been working on orders for 3 boutiques, one in Alaska, one in Colorado and one in Virginia. Anyway I've been chained to my sewing machine! Here are some photos of the work in progress with 3 seperate lines for each shop.

I'm treasured!

2009-03-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

Here are three new treasuries that I was fortunate to be included in...

Mind your peas and carrots!

2009-03-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

New for spring a diaper cover combo pack perfect for a baby shower gift or for that avid swimming baby or that special cloth diapered baby in your life.

I must admit, I'm in love with the peas....it could be that my term of endearment (from dear hubby) is "sweetpea". For a while my boys thought my name was Sweetpea Mommy Aina.

Trip to Cali!

2009-03-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

I'm way overdo for a post of a personal nature. Happily swamped with work though... A couple weeks ago we went to California with the boys to visit some family and stayed with Stephen's brother and his family. Stephen has two brothers that live there and between the three brothers' families we have a total of 12 grandchildren under the age of 8! It pretty crazy but surprisingly enough they all get along really well and it really didn't seem like there were 12 of them, most of the time anyway~

We were also able to go check out the Amgen Tour of California bike race and Lance Armstrong was in it and my sister in law Tricia who is a whiz with a camera got a great picture of him, which is hard to do when they are riding so fast...we were pretty excited. He is the one with his head turned talking to the other rider.

We have been fortunate to have our children in "batches"...not planned that way but it has turned out to be such a big blessing for the kids to have playmates on their levels. We have the 8 year old group, the 5 year old group, the 3 year old group and the 1 year old group and a couple of baby boys at the end. It's a lively bunch but so much fun.

give away today!

2009-03-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

check me out on this blog this week if you want to win one of my aprons or diaper covers or a meridian of other things that she's giving away!

Good Things Utah!

2009-03-06T22:10:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday March 9th my products with be featured on Good Things Utah on channel 4 (ABC) at 10 am. Emily from giveawaytoday.blogspot.com is being interviewed and she is featuring my little shop on Good Things Utah on Wednesday and on her blog on friday 3/11. She is giving away an apron and a diaper cover both on the tv show for the studio audience and on her blog for general give away...so be sure to enter. She also has lots of other things she's giving away this week such as:

A designer handbag from Bags that Fit

Four all-day adult ski passes for next season to Brighton Ski Resort

A night’s stay at Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake City

Two All-day Family Fun passes to Boondocks

Four Disney on Ice tickets in Salt Lake City

A date night package to Trafalga Fun Center

A scrapbook retreat package OR 5 CDs from Digital Scrapbook Memories

A Photography sitting and package worth over $300 from Photo by Emilie.

KSL interview!

2009-02-16T22:28:00.001-08:00

OK, so last Thursday Amanda Butterfield (KSL channel 5) called me and said that she really wanted to come over and get a quick interview on my reaction to the CPSIA testing stay for the next year. I was very hesitant, there I was still in my pyjamas trying to get my 5 year old out the door for kindergarten, making the boys lunch and packaging up 15 orders...planning on hopping into the shower once the baby was down for a nap...you know usual "Mom" stuff. Amanda persisted "please, we'll be really quick, I just really need a statement from you regarding this, I promise we'll be quick".
When she arrived she said "your home isn't messy I don't know what you were worried about". I told her I wasn't worried about my home as much as the orders, my pyjamas and such and she wanted to put me on TV, never mind that she showed up on my doorstep 20 minutes after calling. I was freaking out. But a quick face wash, some fresh makeup and quick change of clothes and a earlier than usual nap for the baby and 15 minutes of Nintendo for my preschooler and Voila!...a interview for KSL!...with sweat dripping down my brow!

Happy Presidents Day!

2009-02-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

This is amazing! I found this cupcake mosaic a la presidents day theme from cakewrecks.blogspot.com ~ Zilly Rosen and her team put together this mosaic with 5,900 cupcakes...(can you imagine baking that many cupcakes, let alone frosting them and assembling them, gotta love your work that's all I can say!)
It was assembled at the Smithsonian in DC on 2/13

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-14T19:38:00.001-08:00

I know that Valentines Day is a Hallmark created holiday but I still love it. It gives me excuses to shower my boys with extra love and surprises and gifts and hugs. What's not to love about that? Stephen had to work so we had a pretty low key Valentines ourselves. I arranged for a sitter and I took him to get pedicures and out for lunch. He loved the pedicure. He keeps saying, "my feet have never felt so amazing and that paraffin wax thing was great!"
We started out with heart shaped pancakes for breakfast and we had heart shaped sandwiches for lunch.

We made about a million Valentines this week, I was very grateful when that undertaking was finished! Just card stock, glue and crayons and some of those foamy stickers but the kids had a blast making them and I think they turned out pretty cute!

We ended the day with a treasure hunt. My boys LOVE scavenger hunts/treasure hunts and the like. In the interest of time I did a simple trail laden with cards that belonged to a really cute Valentines bingo came that I bought online and jelly beans. They had to pick up the bingo cards and the jelly beans along the way and follow the trail that went up three levels. Once they got to the top they got the big jackpot!

I didn't want to buy them anything that was going to be laying around accumulating space we don't have or getting broken or forgotten about. So I got them popping corn (cause we were out), rented a movie from RedBox (love those 1.00 rentals), made them a Pirate Valentine in keeping with the treasure hunt theme (arrrg me heartys, I luvs ya!) and a dust buster! Yes you read correctly a Dust Buster so they could vacuum up the popcorn if it spills (and it always spills)...plus they can do many other future chores with it! They loved it and we really needed a dust buster since ours broke 3 years ago. Kind of lame I know but I was really going to resourceful and practical! After the treasure hunt we played a rousing game of bingo using the jelly beans as markers...they loved it!
And the best part of the day is hearing "your the best mommy in the world", "you rock our world mommy!", "thank you for all the surprises mommy!"... that just melts my heart!

This is a picture of one of my most successful treasure hunts. It was for Gabriel's 8th birthday and using a legend I prepared for him he had to decode the message in order to find where his birthday gifts were hidden. He LOVED it! It's much cooler if you click on the photo and see it larger!

January give away!

2009-02-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Biance Towler my January diaper cover giveaway winner! Here is the cover that she chose from my etsy shop.

Want a free cover too?
Blog about my covers/products on your blog and link it to me and drop me an email at olivejanedesigns@yahoo.com, random winner will be chosen March 1st. It's that simple!

Happy Birthday Ali!

2009-02-08T18:42:00.000-08:00

So I have this darling friend who turned a whopping 39 this week!!!! I can't even imagine turning 39, I might have to go get fitted for dentures and compression socks when I reach that ripe old age!(just razzing Ali, she had a hard time of it!~) Ali is one of my dearest friends and is from Canada also so we are able to commiserate together when we get supremely homesick. We are "kindred spirits" (for all you Anne of Green Gables fans!)much like sisters, we are definitely straight shooters with each other, there's no holding back or pretension, and she never judges me and believe me she knows way too much about me, I give her lots of opportunity to judge...I adore her.

I had a few of our close friends over this week for cake, tea and presents and girl time of course. I PROMISED I would post my recipe for her birthday cake. Glad you liked it girls....
Happy Birthday Ali, sure do love you, idiosyncrasies and all :)

I am a cake snob...I LOVE a cake from scratch, especially when my Mom makes it...but I have come to appreciate the fact that sometimes when you are in a pinch and need a quick cake a doctored up cake mix might be the way to go, so I'm including both and you can decide which one you have time for.

Lemon Cake

1/3 cup soft butter
1/3 cup soft shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour (sifted)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice (preferably freshly squeezed)
1 1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 tbsp fresh lemon zest

preheat 350 degrees.
grease and flour 3 8" layer pans
cream butter, shortening and sugar together until fluffy, beat in thoroughly 3 eggs. Sift dry ingredients together and add gradually while alternating with wet ingredients (water/juice and extract). Pour into prepared pans, bake until cake tests done (check after 12 minutes since layers cook faster). Finish with clear lemon filling in between layers and frost with lemon cream cheese frosting! Call over your girlfriends and enjoy!

if you would rather just doctor up a box cake here is the recipe:

1 yellow cake mix
1 3 oz package of instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 eggs
1/3 c oil
1 tbsp lemon zest
combine all ingredients, pour into 8" greased and floured layer pans and bake at 350 degrees for 12-20 minutes.

Clear Lemon Filling

1 cup sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water
2 tbsp grated lemon zest
1/2 lemon juice
2 tbsp butter
combine ingredients in saucepan, bring to rolling boil for 1 minute stirring constantly. Chill before using.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

2 3oz packages of softened cream cheese
1/2 cup softened butter
2 tsp lemon juice
beat on low until light and fluffy. Gradually add 4 cups powdered sugar. Add more if necessary until desired spreading consistancy is achieved. Stir in 1 tsp lemon zest.

FOE tutorial time!

2009-02-02T20:39:00.000-08:00

Ok, so by multiple requests I am finally getting my act together and hopefully my customers will forgive me that I am really behind in orders and taking an evening to put this tutorial together. So here it is.....right HERE!

If my tutorial was unclear here is another on youtube if you feel like it would make more sense to see it visually. You might still want to read my tutorial though cause it offers a few tips that may expand on what she demonstrates.

Also here are a few suggestions besides skirts and covers to use FOE on and they are really neat ideas!
Dalia's dress

A blouse

Sadie's dress

Also here is a couple of great places to get FOE:
1. this is where I get my 5/8" FOE for children's clothing etc.

2. I also LOVE Crystal from Foe your diaper.com She has a great selection of the 1" plush FOE and great customer service, often has great sales AND she's Canadian...what more could you ask for!

Cheap clips??

2009-02-01T17:55:00.001-08:00

Does anybody out there know what it's like to do a marathon hair cutting session with 4 (soon to be 5 once Simon needs a haircut...I've been putting it off!) boys/man that need haircuts all at once? Picture if you will a freshly washed floor that I was hoping would last at least for 2 or 3 days and then it happens...."honey, do you think I could get a hair cut today?"....then Son #1 "Mommy I need a hair cut too!"...then Son #2 "Mommy I really need a haircut too and please don't cut it like Troy from High School Musical cause I really don't like my hair tickling my eyes and it's not appropriate for school!"...then son #3 "Mommy my hair is really long too and it tickles my ears can I go before Gavin?"

And then the mayhem begins, trying to keep the 16 month old out of the hair that's piling up without success, having little particles of hair that have now become needles poking into my shirt and pants (and I've already showered!), trying to keep heads steady, making sure my husbands is PERFECT he is quite a stickler...despite the fact that his increasingly grey hairs have a mind of their own, and of course I am left with all the hairy clean up and suddenly my clean, sparkling floor is no more. To any woman out there that knows my plight my heart goes out to you. But when I think of the thousands that I've saved us...well, I'll be doing it again in a couple weeks.

kind words from stellablue!

2009-02-01T17:49:00.000-08:00

Today I received the sweetest email from one of my etsy customers, check out her darling baby, photography compliments of unscripted moments. thanks Stellablue, you made my night.

Hi :)

I recently purchased a cover from you. We had some newborn pictures taken today and our little one was wearing the cover. It looks great in the pictures and I just wanted to pass it on to you! We LOVE the cover and can't wait to buy more :)

Thanks for making such a great product!!!

Stellablue

CPSC Grants One Year Stay of Testing and Certification Requirements for Certain Products!!!!

2009-01-31T11:44:00.000-08:00

We've been HEARD! The following is directly from the CPSC website...just today!
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously (2-0) to issue a one year stay of enforcement for certain testing and certification requirements for manufacturers and importers of regulated products, including products intended for children 12 years old and younger. These requirements are part of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), which added certification and testing requirements for all products subject to CPSC standards or bans.

Significant to makers of children’s products, the vote by the Commission provides limited relief from the testing and certification requirements which go into effect on February 10, 2009 for new total lead content limits (600 ppm), phthalates limits for certain products (1000 ppm), and mandatory toy standards, among other things. Manufacturers and importers – large and small – of children’s products will not need to test or certify to these new requirements, but will need to meet the lead and phthalates limits, mandatory toy standards and other requirements.

The decision by the Commission gives the staff more time to finalize four proposed rules which could relieve certain materials and products from lead testing and to issue more guidance on when testing is required and how it is to be conducted.

The stay will remain in effect until February 10, 2010, at which time a Commission vote will be taken to terminate the stay.

The stay does not apply to:

Four requirements for third-party testing and certification of certain children’s products subject to:
The ban on lead in paint and other surface coatings effective for products made after December 21, 2008;
The standards for full-size and non full-size cribs and pacifiers effective for products made after January 20, 2009;
The ban on small parts effective for products made after February 15, 2009; and
The limits on lead content of metal components of children’s jewelry effective for products made after March 23, 2009.
Certification requirements applicable to ATV’s manufactured after April 13, 2009.
Pre-CPSIA testing and certification requirements, including for: automatic residential garage door openers, bike helmets, candles with metal core wicks, lawnmowers, lighters, mattresses, and swimming pool slides; and
Pool drain cover requirements of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act.
The stay of enforcement provides some temporary, limited relief to the crafters, children’s garment manufacturers and toy makers who had been subject to the testing and certification required under the CPSIA. These businesses will not need to issue certificates based on testing of their products until additional decisions are issued by the Commission. However, all businesses, including, but not limited to, handmade toy and apparel makers, crafters and home-based small businesses, must still be sure that their products conform to all safety standards and similar requirements, including the lead and phthalates provisions of the CPSIA.

Handmade garment makers are cautioned to know whether the zippers, buttons and other fasteners they are using contain lead. Likewise, handmade toy manufacturers need to know whether their products, if using plastic or soft flexible vinyl, contain phthalates.

The stay of enforcement on testing and certification does not address thrift and second hand stores and small retailers because they are not required to test and certify products under the CPSIA. The products they sell, including those in inventory on February 10, 2009, must not contain more than 600 ppm lead in any accessible part. The Commission is aware that it is difficult to know whether a product meets the lead standard without testing and has issued guidance for these companies that can be found on our web site.

The Commission trusts that State Attorneys General will respect the Commission's judgment that it is necessary to stay certain testing and certification requirements and will focus their own enforcement efforts on other provisions of the law, e.g. the sale of recalled products.

Please visit the CPSC Web Site for more information on all of the efforts being made to successfully implement the CPSIA.

Statements on this vote by Acting Chairman Nancy Nord and Commissioner Thomas H. Moore are in portable document format (PDF).

cute morsels!

2009-01-30T15:13:00.000-08:00

you can view this treasury for a couple of days here! Thanks for including my new rocket applique cover! I'm in love with these hats from Eugene Oregon...so cute.

New kid on the etsy block!

2009-01-27T21:59:00.001-08:00

My sister Kendra just opened up an Etsy shop a couple weeks ago. She is an amazing seamstress, I wish everyday that she could live near to me...I know that together we could make big things happen. Kendra is the kind of person EVERYBODY loves and loves being around. She is fun, beautiful, talented, positive, and kind...she makes you feel good about yourself and want to be better. And most importantly she loves chocolate too!

The only problem with Kendra and her new shop is that she is so brilliant at making so many things that she's having a hard time figuring out what to focus on. Please welcome my sister into her new store and spread the word to others that may be looking for high quality, hand made with love children's clothing and paraphernalia. She loves custom orders and can make anything, give her a try...I dare you! Congratulations Ken, I wish you many successes. Love you.

CPSC here we come!

2009-01-27T21:48:00.001-08:00

So is it any wonder that I've been soooo behind in blog posts with 4 kids, my job with JetBlue, housework up the ying yang, swimming/basketball/scouts/preschool/school and kindergarten drop offs/pick ups, home owners association board, church responsibilities and of course trying to run my little business that has been growing pretty fast...earlier this week I was behind 36 diaper covers! Oh and my husband needs attention sometimes too and of course I want his attention also! :) If all this wasn't enough we have the CPSIA looming in the distance threatening it's effect on Feb 10th. I am desperately trying to get all elements of my diaper covers etc. tested to be in compliance with CPSIA. It's not as easy as you would think. It's very difficult to find labs that are certified to test in compliance with CPSC regulations and the turn around time is long, it's expensive and very labor intensive and frustrating. I'm just trying to save my business and ensure its growth, I think I've got a good thing going and I'm pretty sure that others do also. Tonight I spent a couple of hours getting together samples of elastic and hook and loop (Velcro) and a diaper cover for submission for testing. It was a long process but hopefully it will have a positive outcome and we can post the certificate for others that use the same product/manufacturer and save them some time and energy. Please keep your fingers crossed that this will all come together and won't be painfully expensive...wishful thinking. I told my sister Kendra that if I have to close up shop I would sell her my designs and she can start making them from Canada where the CPSIA doesn't apply. I guess I can still make covers and children's clothing for my international customers just not the ones in the country in which I reside.

tutu cute!

2009-01-27T19:31:00.000-08:00

I had to make a tutu for a friends' daughter's birthday, she is ABOUT the same age as Seth....and....I needed a model! Tell me I haven't scarred him for life?

Jazz up your marriage!

2009-01-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

So we've lived in Utah now for 9 years! (can hardly believe it) Both of us come from big basketball loving families and yet we have NEVER been to a Jazz game! How appauling! We have a friend that works for Larry H. Miller group (the owner of the Jazz)periodically he gets free tickets and they gave them to us. I made sure that they didn't want them seeing as they were center court 20 rows up amazing seats and his wife said, and I quote "(my husband) hates sports and said he would rather get a root canal then watch a basketball game!" Wow, he must really hate sports. So we gladly took them, it was really fun. Stephen and I had a great time critiquing the players and their finesse, we were shocked and humbled to see that all but one of the Jazz players are younger than Stephen and ALL of them are younger than me and make about 25 times what we make! Great game though, could have done without our neighbors next to us that got up about 15 times during the game and became increasinly inebriated but oh well, can't win them all....but the Jazz did by the way! Thanks for the tickets Steve and Melanie!

soft to the touch~

2009-01-27T18:45:00.000-08:00

A new treasury, it's a cute one!
You can view it for a couple days here!

Utah Etsy Treasury!

2009-01-17T15:53:00.001-08:00

One of my Utah Etsy friends created a fun treasury based on her favorite color of green.

Also HERE is the link if you want to check it out and add your comments and check out the items from the other artists. Special thanks to Christine for modelling my cute apron, that now has a happy home!

My Sentiments Exactlee....

2009-01-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

I had one of my covers reviewed by Lee Alport who has an award winning blog and is a writer of an popular online magazine. It's a great review and along with the review is another giveaway! Feel free to enter Lee's giveaway and win win win....she has lots of giveaways of amazing products on her blog as that's what she does, review products that have everything to do with mothers/fathers and kids! Check it out right here!

Full steam ahead!!

2009-01-13T22:08:00.000-08:00

So my husband works swing shifts usually getting home at midnight or so, sometimes to unwind he'll turn on the TV... there is virtually nothing on TV at midnight unless you count endless commercials for live link dating hot line and of course info-mercials! I walk in the room and my husband is watching an info-mercial for a clothes steamer! And our convo went something like this:
"Honey, you can put in a movie we have several to choose from instead of that dumb info-mercial"
"Are you kidding me? I've always wanted a clothes steamer!"
"Really? Are you kidding me? I never knew that about you!"
"Think of the time it would save me ironing my shirts and I could steam my suits and not have to take them to the cleaners!"

So to put this in perspective my husband attended the Air Force academy where he had to literally iron his sheets. He has relaxed quite a bit but he is all about having things pressed and shined and sharp looking. So I bought him a steamer for Christmas (the only thing he got for Christmas...we were trying to be really frugal this year). So there you go my husband, hot and steamy...knock yourself out honey!

The fairy [quilt] godmother!

2009-01-13T21:59:00.000-08:00

A lady emailed me today saying that she found me on Cool Mom Pick.com which is an award winning blog specializing in finding unique and cool things and then sending them out there in cyberspace allowing it's readers to make them popular or not. It was a very cool review of my baby quilts, thank you for the endorsement CoolMomPicks! Sure appreciate it!

Happy 100th Sale To Moi!

2009-01-11T18:44:00.000-08:00

Congrats to mistyspringfish who's purchase made my 100th sale. She is receiving a free diaper cover of her choice! I really appreciate Misty and patronage, she is a return customer as luck would have it and I'm thrilled that she won. Because of loyal customers like her my tiny business is doing well and might enable me to squeeze out my other part time job and only do Etsy and spend more time with my children, exactly where I want to be...deliriously happy swimming in my sea of testosterone (four boys and my hubby!) Wouldn't trade it for the world.

KSL interview

2009-01-11T18:24:00.000-08:00

If you missed the interview you can watch it on our Utah Etsy Team website right here!

ANOTHER GIVE AWAY!!

2009-01-10T21:23:00.000-08:00

***want a free diaper cover??*** There are two ways you can get one:
1) blog about my covers/products on your blog and link it to me and drop me an email at olivejanedesigns [!at] yahoo.com, random winner will be chosen monthly.
OR
2) be my 100th sale and you will receive a free diaper cover!
It's that simple.

Coming soon!! Snap options for diaper covers AND ruffles for those little bums, just in time for summer and showing off whether crawling, walking or swimming!....providing I'm still open for business come Feb 10th! Fingers crossed!

PLEASE SAVE HANDMADE!!

2009-01-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

Today Amanda Butterfield from KSL Channel 5 came over to my home and interviewed myself and 3 others from our Utah Etsy Team . The topic?? CPSIA Many of you may know what it is, it is a heated topic amongst many online boards and groups. CPSIA stands for Consumer Product Safety Inspection Act and could potentially shut down thousands of small businesses across the nation that sell products for intended for children under 12. You can read about it more here. In the face of an already crumbling economy it will devastate thousands, whether it's your hobby or your livelihood. Please take a minute to sign petitions or write to congressmen/senators...anyone who will listen as it will heavily impact our economy, landfills, employment rate and ultimately our families. If you can't watch it on TV then please check it out on KSL online and leave a comment...the more comments and "click" we get keep it on the front page of the website and will draw attention to this topic.

Here are the links of the other shops that were featured in the piece:
Bugs n bees
Luminous Mom
Levity in brevity

The power of popcorn!

2009-01-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

Every Friday I take my boys to the library where they pick out a movie and IF, BIG IF the family room and their rooms are clean they get to have......MOVIE NIGHT! Elated are they to consume massive amounts of homemade popcorn (no matter how big a supper they had) while watching a rousing episode of the Flinstones! Friday nights always finish with a sleepover in the family room crashing on bean bags, couches or in homemade forts...the joy of being a little boy!

Slip and Slide!

2009-01-02T20:53:00.000-08:00

Efforts to make Christmas Vacation amazing edition number 3...sliding at our cousins house in the country!

I am the only one of my family in the US, I miss my family SO MUCH it hurts...particularly at Christmas and New Years...which is why I take every opportunity I can to spend time with my aunt Jennie (my only relative living in the US) her amazing husband Dave and their phenomenal children. Sounds too good to be true right? No, honestly this family is top notch, I can only hope that mine will turn out a fraction as well, I keep asking her secret ingredient but so far she is with holding it from me. Her oldest daughter Amber and I have children the same age and Amber and they live in this picturesque area to the south of me equipped with great sliding hills and a Nintendo Wii (which we don't have!). It is my boys idea of heaven (except for the dogs which they are terrified of). Blessed am I to have such amazing family if only 45 minutes away!

New Years Eve with monkeys and yellow snow!

2009-01-02T20:34:00.000-08:00

In my efforts yet again to make the boys' Christmas vacation memorable I decide at the last minute that I really should do something special with the boys for New Years Eve even though Stephen is working. The difficult thing is that I had to work at 9:00pm also and that meant everyone had to be in bed asleep by 9pm so I could start my shift...a little stressful. I took the boys to the zoo for "zoo lights" a very cool light display with every animal you can imagine encapsulated in a twinkling display. The boys were on their BEST behaviour which I was grateful for although Simon did not like the cold and there was a LOT of walking to be had. The boys were a little disappointed that most of the animals went "home for the winter and will be back to visit in spring" but they settled for the odd cougar, bobcat or tiger slumbering in the snow. Good sports!

I also have to point out the gorgeous hats that my darling mother made for me and the boys! Isn't she amazing? She would be proud to see them all keeping them on, especially Simon! Love you Mom, thanks for the treasure! Any creative juice I have running through these veins I owe to my mother, she is the queen of making a gourmet meal out of nothing and an evening gown out of a brown paper bag.

On the way out the door of the zoo my 3 year old says "thank you mommy for to taking us to the zoo!", the older two chime in "yeah mommy you rock our world, thanks I'm exhausted but it was fun". Music to my ears, guess it was worth the stress and the 18 bucks!

Only after we get all the way to the car (which was not an easy feat!) Simon crying all the way, (he was so beyond exhausted)did Seth inform me that he needed to go potty and it could "definitely not wait". We were parked quite a way from the zoo and consequently the bathrooms. What did I do? Just what every resourceful mother would do, found an empty cup and placed it underneath his parts and said "ok, pee"...he was so shock that he had a little difficulty producing the goods but eventually relinquished, only to my surprise did I realize that the 'tumbler size cup from Costco' might not hold all that was inside this little 3 year old. I was freaking out (inside...never let them see you sweat!)...relieved I was to find that he finished with an inch from the top of the brim! Phew! I promptly disposed of it on a snowbank, moral of this story? Don't eat yellow snow! Hope you and yours have a very happy New Year!

bruises and snoozes!

2008-12-30T22:20:00.001-08:00

So in my efforts to make Christmas vacation memorable the boys and I made a list of things we wanted to do and then sat down to downsize the list and figure out who, what, when and where etc. Here is the list:
*swimming *bowling *skating *sledding *playing Nintendo 64 *playing Hullabaloo *visiting cousins
I called Stephen to see what his recommendations were (he was working). He said "pick one we have to pay for and one that we don't and we'll see if we can't accomplish that this week, we just can't fit it all in". True enough! So we did secret ballot by writing for those that can and drawing for those that can't read. Much to my disappointment bowling won and skating got ousted! (I love to skate) We made plans with friends of our that we haven't seen in 8 years to go together bowling today. This morning they called and their kids were throwing up so we had to reschedule for later in the week. I turned to Stephen and said "so since we aren't going bowling today shall we skate?" I'm so sly!

The boys had fun, complained at first cause they could not stay up for anything....by the end they were starting to get the hang of it. They kept saying "I want to skate like you (with tears in their eyes)" to which I replied "honey, I've been skating since I was three, I had a skating rink in my backyard! That's like me wanting to play the violin as well as Daddy right away and he's been playing since he was three! It takes lots of work and patience!"
I'm interested to see how many bruises I'll find on them at bath time tomorrow, but with all the excitement and falling, there will be a lot of snoozing tonight!

PHEW!!

2008-12-30T22:08:00.000-08:00

I've been busy trying to get some new covers and skirts posted to my Etsy shop. It feels so good to have them listed and not sitting here calling my name! Now I can move onto other sewing projects like Christmas pajamas that didn't get done in time, Hawaiian quilts for the boys beds, and many new aprons for my shop. Also I need to get the pattern finished and tweaked and ready for printing. With a to do list like this think I'll be busy until next year 2010! Happy New Year to all....wish I could boast of exciting New Years plans but sadly I have to work, so I'll be ringing in the New Year over the phone with my Jetblue customers. Stephen will also be working so at least I'll get a New Years kiss when he gets home right before midnight strikes! Hope 2009 is a successful, memorable and fulfilling year for you all. Cheers,
Kara

it's treasury time!!

2008-12-28T18:36:00.000-08:00

Ellen of ellenmorrowarts on Etsy included me in a stunning treasury called pure...clear...COLOR! thanks Ellen!

The green goblin!

2008-12-26T22:27:00.001-08:00

I just have to post this hilarious picture of my little Simon in his green goblin garb! Stephen says he looks like a little pro-wrestler. He has gone through quite a growth spurt and we have very few pairs of pants for him that actually fit, as they were all in the wash either drying or washing I put on these little leg warmers to keep him somewhat toasty in the middle of winter. This little guy just cracks me up, I can't get enough of him (except when he turns off the computer when I'm in the middle of an email/post ARGGG!) still I'll take him in whatever form I can get, he is such a treasure!

Fa La La La La.....little Cindy Lou Who!

2008-12-26T16:33:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the marathon posts...can you tell we finally got a new computer after 2 months without one (I was dying!)
My neighbor, and might I add one of the most fabulous people on the planet showed up at my door with this wreath for me! She is one of those people that you just want to be around all the time cause she makes you feel so good about yourself and makes you want to be a little better a the same time. She just ooooozes love, you know the kind of person I'm talking about?? They are a rare comodity and such a treasure. This wreath is quirky and fun and reminds me so much of Little Cindy Lou Who, don't you think? I love it. My neighbor said that she wasn't sure if it would endure the cold with the glue and the glass and expansion and such, but I told her I would have to take my chances cause it's just too gorgeous to keep all to myself.

Ms. Montgomery's curtains!

2008-12-26T16:28:00.000-08:00

So my children go to a charter school...since I work during the mornings until 12:45 and then my husband leaves for his work at 1:30 there is little time to volunteer at the boys' school. I often seek for opportunities to volunteer while doing things from home (sewing costumes for the play, making bean bags for math centers, typing things for the class website etc.) This year Gabriel's teacher asked me to sew her some curtains to cover the closets where she keeps the school supplies. Her walls are a fun cranberry red and so I went with something that would stand out and be a little fun. She thought they were a hoot, and Gabriel was so proud that his mother could actually sew as his friends commented "I can't believe your Mom made that, my Mom can't sew at all!".

Boutique display!

2008-12-26T16:16:00.000-08:00

After much obsessing and very little sleep here is the display that I did for my first boutique in mid December. It went fairly well considering we had a huge snow storm that weekend and I was positioned in a freezing garage next to the designer jeans! Call me crazy but those that are looking for 200$ designer jeans aren't usually thinking "cloth diapering, save the planet and my pocket book while your at it" type, plus during a snow storm not many are thinking "swim diaper covers for the hot weather!" I could be wrong though. It was fun and met some really great people but it is torture for a multi tasker such as myself to sit at a boutique for 16 hours just 2 weeks before Christmas. I couldn't stop thinking of all the things I needed to be doing and most were not portable things that I could do at the boutique as well. It was a great learning experience and I was pleased to be part of a very classy boutique.

Blessings for Christmas!

2008-12-26T15:12:00.000-08:00

I feel so blessed that we were able to have such a great Christmas full of love, laughter and of course energy with 4 little boys. During a season of great difficulty for many, I find myself giving many thanks for our jobs and the security they provide, our health...my kids are very healthy...sometimes I find myself wishing for a moment of lethargy from one or two :) Nevertheless health is something that can be taken for granted and I'm finding over the past year a renewed need to give thanks for such a tremendous blessing.

My mother, though still fighting her stage 4 cancer is in such great spirits and is a continuous example to me of the power of positivity in the face of adversity. She is still with us and blesses our lives. During this season I am so greatful for loving, kind parents that raised a family with so much love. My sibblings rock and I think that is one of the greatest gift they have ever given me...cool brothers and sisters. The ONLY thing that would have made Christmas better this year is to have been able to spend it with family, but then again I guess that's another blessing to count is that we actually have lots of family members that we would WANT to spend time with, instead of the toxic and annoying type you hear so much of.

Here is my wish to you for a fabulous New Year filled with much happiness, and many opportunities to count blessings!

ANOTHER AINA OHANA MIRACLE!

2008-11-20T09:57:00.000-08:00

yesterday my darling sister in law had her fourth baby...she was so ready to have this baby, 4 days overdue and just tired of being pregnant. This is the 13th grandchild...all of them under 8 years old!
Melissa is an avid knitter and has beautiful work, you should see her stuff. She is so cute sitting there with her laptop with her pattern that she designed on a spreadsheet, finger flying furiously. Unfortunately I don't think she was able to finish baby's Christmas stocking in time, but Christmas is still a few weeks away. Congrats Melissa and family, it's always so exciting to have a new addition to our family...this little boy is so lucky to be born to such fabulous parents. Congrats!

Another treasury!

2008-11-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

I was added to another Etsy treasury today. They only last for a few days so check it out before it expires. Click on it as many times as you care to...it increases it's chances of getting to the front page...a very coveted spot! thanks for looking!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=33298

And the winners are.....

2008-11-15T14:35:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Melissa D Williams and Jennigirl who by random selection each won a diaper cover from this months giveaway. Thanks for entering. Ladies would you both contact me at olivejanedesigns@yahoo.com with your shipping info and confirm the size that you need for your wee ones! Thanks to all who entered, stay tuned for future drawings!

Come Visit Me at the Spotted Zebra Boutique!

2008-11-12T20:19:00.000-08:00

http://thespottedzebraboutique.blogspot.com/

Etsy Treasury!

2008-10-29T21:44:00.001-07:00

I was featured in my first Etsy treasury, which for those of you who don't know what that is..... basically an Etsy member competes for space available to curate their own mini "art show" based on items they like usually surrounding a theme. The treasury will expire in a few days so check it out ASAP feel free to leave your comments it will increase the chances of it getting promoted to the front page of Etsy which elicites big exposure! (many thanks to Sherry the curator, here is her shop) It really is a fantastic treasury and the color combination is like eye candy! Click here

Halloween Festivities!

2008-10-29T15:42:00.000-07:00

Here I am 1.5 days before Halloween and still madly making costumes. Will I ever learn??? We are going to California to go trick or treating in our flip flops! I have finished 3 out of 4 of the boys costumes...C3PO (he didn't want a helmet and I'm not going to argue), R2D2 (the baby friendly version that allows a 13 month old to crawl and walk) and finally my little Yoda ("revealed your feelings are...), hopefully by the time our flight leaves tomorow I will have a storm trooper to add to the repetoire! I made the R2D2 costume out of old t-shirts that my husband and I had accumulated from 5K runs and promotional shirts from work (thanks JetBlue!). I'm feeling pretty good about my up-cycled creation costing a total of .75! Happy Halloween, may your children get lots of great candy for you to eat! (chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!)

2008-10-27T20:01:00.001-07:00

The tip junkie kindly featured my giveaway on her fabulous blog! Thanks Laurie!
I haven't been able to post anything new lately because our computer is in the shop! But when it comes back beware of the marathon posts!

cover up baby!! and giveaway!

2008-10-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to update my blog for weeks but since I opened my Etsy shop I've been so busy. I opened it up meaning to get my quilts out there and start getting some quilts made....however, the diaper covers are really what's been flying and I'm finding myself sewing diaper covers nearly every night to get orders filled. I'm not complaining, it's been a fun ride over the last couple weeks and soon if everything works out the covers will be featured as a seller in an online baby/cloth diapering boutique...that's an order that will certainly keep me busy!...stay tuned. These diaper covers have mainly been used for those that want to fashionable cloth diapers their cuties but it also can be used as a swim diaper cover (law in Utah)to prevent cryptosporidium in the pools!

DIAPER COVER GIVE AWAY!!
***so to celebrate the sales of my diaper covers I'm giving 2 away*** Leave your comments on what amazing thing you think your baby (or someone elses) could accomplish in one of these cute covers, make it as creative as you can. Link me to your blog and receive 2 entries (let me know so I can check your work), also tell me the size and gender you want your cover in and we will have a random drawing on November 15th!!

my artistic counterpart!

2008-10-09T09:15:00.001-07:00

OK, so I got a phone call on Monday night from my brother Justin (who lives in Manitoba, Canada) and he happened to be in Utah for training for his new job...much to my suprise!! He said he wanted to pop in and visit a little that night. For those of you that don't know I am the oldest of 6 kids and there are 3 girls (my BFFs) and then there are 3 boys (they worship us sisters...and they are pretty cool too!) Growing up we each had a brother that we were in "charge" of and also that looked like/had similar personality to their sister counterpart. Justin is my male counterpart! He and I are the ones in the family that are constantly creating something...painting, sewing, drawing, designing etc. I was thrilled to see him, and after he got some time in tickling and wrestling with my boys I put him to work drawing a mural on the wall downstairs in the family room (stay tuned also). I knew he was the man for the job...plus I needed his muscles to move the furniture so we could start the mural that I have been putting off for months. Now I just have to paint it....that's going to take a while, it's pretty involved eventhough it's all in one color! Hope it turns out as cute as it is in my brain! Anyway here is a picture of my HOT brother Justin....sorry ladies, he's married to the amazing Kaiti (we are lucky to have her in our family she rocks too).

skirting the issue!

2008-10-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

I recently sewed a couple of fun and flirty little girls skirts to post on my etsy shop. They turned out so cute, I had a couple of neighbors girls try them on (since I am in testosterone heaven!) and they looked even sweeter on. I hope they will find a happy home! I will post a tutorial on how to apply the FOE for the wasteband and how to do the piping and border at the bottom...stay tuned!

my sewing class rocks!

2008-10-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had a sewing class and made it a work class so everyone could get caught up on projects and put finishing touches on some of them. As I was helping one of my fabulous students another called to me and said "Hey Kara, I need your help with this over here!" I turned around to see a HUGE box on the table. Secretly my students paid off the rest that I owed on the machine that I put on layaway. I have been saving for a new machine for 5 years, so it is a really big deal to me. I'm not going to say that I didn't cry, but not too much....just enough for dramatic purposes (yeah right Kara!) Now I can finally do all the things I need to cause I have a machine that can sew fast, acurately and does what I need to without ripping my fabric! Thanks gals you rock!

check out my etsy shop and bring your friends!!

2008-09-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

Rag time!!

2008-09-08T20:49:00.000-07:00

Just finished a commission piece for a baby shower gift. I haven't done a rag quilt in a long time....forgot how time consuming it is. I think it turned out kind of cute though. She could decide between light pink/bright pink with green so I did light pink/green on one side and bright pink/darker green on the other side. I did free hand embroidery of little flowers periodically on some of the blocks. I used rag snips this time instead of sharp manicure scissors, wow...what a difference. My tendons are thanking me, not like last time.

moonlets and prospectors!

2008-08-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

In the name of creativity....The other day the boys built a rocket ship in the living room and donned their impressive explorer paraphernalia. I asked them what they were doing, to which they replied: "We are moonlets, little boys that explore the moon and other planets. First we are prospectors that dig for gold and then we use the gold to buy supplies to use on our mission!" Maybe I should not have asked :)

As they were playing I was in the kitchen trying hard not to laugh at the intensity and seriousness of their mission. This is what I heard:

G1-"On some planets they say that it is raining cats and dogs but in this case its actually raining lizards and frogs! Pray for us and give us your well wishes as we explore this new planet! There is some excessive damage but our 911 crew will fix it, we need to go and explore...."

G2-"Look, I see a flying crocodile in the sky!"

G1-"That's not a flying crocodile it's a purple Maggi, he has unusual powers, do not attack or he will throw thunderbolts at us! Remember flying crocodiles travel in herds!"

G1-"Where is our astronaut that is scouting for food? Oh, there you are...what took you so long young astronaut we were so worried about you!!"

S1-"I was getting food for the winter here is the banana pie and the garlic stew!"

G1-"Great young astronaut, could you please organize the beans, salad and chicken for the winter?"

It's moments like these that I realize that I really have the best job in the whole world...being the mother of these fabulous boys and watching them grow and become best friends. Priceless!

sewing class project!

2008-08-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

I've been teaching a beginning sewing class, which by the way is so much fun and my class rocks. I have such an amazing bunch of ladies. We just finished rod pocket curtains and now we are working on pajama bottoms which it appears they are going to crank out a plethora of them. I had no idea they were chomping at the bit to make pajama bottoms so badly! It's pretty cool to see their confidence build and lights going on in their brains as we discuss riveting topics such as tension, stitch length, salvages and fabric choice.

Anyway, our next project will be skirt for themselves or girls in their lives. This project will mainly demonstrate the concept of grain, cross grain and bias and allow them to make something functional that they can show off. I found a tutorial for a bias skirt on one of my favorite blogs and thought I would try it out before I get my students to take their cutting to the point of no return. I had to adjust it a bit and it's still a little more triangular than I would like but it is really comfortable, really fun and nice and cool for this insufferable heat. I finished the waste band with FOE which is code word for "fold over elastic" which I happened to have a ton of from recent diaper making ventures.

I'm not too keen about the ankle shot (never liked those ankles!) but the pedicure (thanks to my cousin Amber) is pretty cute. You can't see it in this picture but there are tiny pink polka dots on the French Pedicure white section. Also as an added bonus on this skirt, my mother would be proud to see me in colors other than black, brown and grey...which truth be told I hardly ever don those colors since giving birth to 4 boys. I have definitely jacked up the pink and all things girly. Need to leave my mark amongst all this testosterone!

Vintage dressform project!

2008-08-05T22:59:00.000-07:00

So I've been trying to find a dressform that I can use not only for designing clothing but mainly as a model to take pictures of aprons and such. Dressforms are not cheap my friends and I wanted one that was visually appealing also. I was mentioning it to my dear friend Jenny (who's photography is amazing and I secretly covet her talent, I'm not good with photos!) and a couple days later her and her sister had a yard sale and what did her very cool sister bring to the yard sale to sell??? You got it, a vintage dress form...which I promptly purchased with my mind swimming with ideas of how best to make it into a photo worthy dress form. I must admit, the robin egg blue color is charming and I am rather partial to it, however the bolts and screws all over the place and it is not very sturdy at all so I have a mission. This is a picture of the original dress form, stay tuned to see the finished project. If you have any suggestions of what color to paint it when it's done I would love to hear them...I've narrowed it down to 4 choices. 1)keep the original robin egg blue just a fresh coat of paint 2)red 3)black 4)white. Also I need suggestions of what kind of decorative element to put on top, some sort of finial or maybe a vintage crystal doorknob, anyway cast your votes!

Apronista madness!

2008-08-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of aprons I designed based on some of my grandmothers old patterns that I found when I went home to visit my mom. I helped her dejunk her sewing room and there were all these old crochet patterns, sewing patterns, embroidery patterns that I remembered from my grandmothers sewing room growing up...talk about nostalgia! the bluish apron was made for my dear friend Kristin who will look smashing in it she's very hip and cutting edge, happy birthday Kristin!

O Canada !!

2008-07-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

All of my kids have "Canada" t-shirt that they can exhibit in celebratory style on Canada Day! (July 1st) I am completely Canadian, do you think I have a shirt?? My family would be disgusted if they knew. I don't even have a plain red shirt I can wear. I have a USA shirt but no Canada shirt. So, this year in a mad fury to get ready for Canada Day I embroidered one for myself. Finished it just minutes before the celebration was to begin. Phew! Here is me with my big sister Jennie (actually my aunt suposedly) and my little Simon.

Also I have to post Gabriel's contribution he drew a moose for "pin the tail on the moose" game all by himself. We will make an artist out of him yet! He even used "eh" in proper context....maybe we'll make a Canadian out of him also, I guess technically he is half!

Hair Bows Gallore!

2008-07-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

I've had a few requests to post some of my hair bows to my blog. I have made hundreds of bows... sadly I have not taken many pictures of them and because I have ALL boys and no girls of my own I don't have any on hand to take snap shots of them. Maybe my darling sister and sisters-in-law will forward me photos of my handiwork....even my mother-in-law has some stashed away for up and coming baby showers. Until I can whip up some more for an order or to take photos of (whichever comes first) these photos will have to suffice :)

Not much variety in these pics though...sorry!

Cloth Diapers anyone????

2008-07-15T13:28:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I've done cloth diapers at different stages with all my boys but ended up stopping when they outgrew the cloth diapers I had for them. Let's face it, it's an investment and cloth diapers are not cheap. With Simon though I thought "why can't I make them?...how hard can it be?" It took quite a bit of research to find out where to purchase the supplies I needed but they turned out rather well. I've been happy with them and they are festive little nappies don't you think? They can also double as a diaper cover and in our state (not sure about other states) it is required to have a diaper cover over the swim diaper because of last years incidents with Cryptosporidium bacteria in the pools.

Well, these covers will keep it all in!

Gavin's 5th birthday!

2008-06-18T12:49:00.001-07:00

Ok, so we had been planning for MONTHS to have "knights and fair maidens" birthday party for Gavin. We were so excited and had it all planned out right down to the treat bags and pinata! 2 3 weeks before his party he gets invited to another birthday party within his main circle of friends and what is he having.....?.....you guessed it "knights and fair maidens". Not that we couldn't have done the same thing, there would probably have been some differences and the kids wouldn't care, but I was having a hard time getting geared up for that much preperation for a party that had already been done 3 weeks before. It put a damper on my creativity and I just wasn't very excited. Gavin decided after much discussion (I wanted an outer space party!) that he would have a "cooking party" (he loves to cook). I made each of the children aprons and chef hats and they brought their things home in a dinner napkin wrapping up play dough, rolling pin and cookie cutter. It looked kid of like a picnic sack. They each made their own pizza and custom made cookies and we played "name that utensil". It was the smoothest party ever! It was a lot of fun. In retrospect I'm glad "knights and fair maidens" was taken cause this was really enjoyable. And what were the more popular toppings for the pizzas you ask?? Pepperoni (of course), pineapple and BLACK OLIVES....who would have thought? Nobody touched the zucchini and the green pepper wasn't that popular either, go figure!

Check out Simon just chilling, he was such an angel baby....just watching all the kids having fun and wishing he was old enough for pizza!

spittin' up in style!

2008-06-17T14:24:00.000-07:00

Some more burp cloths for a new baby girl! I swear I've made hundreds of these... they are quick to whip up and they look so fun and cheery. You might as well have something stylish to use as your wiping spit up off the only clean shirt you own!

Eva's blessing!

2008-06-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

Today I attended the baby blessing of my FABULOUS cousin Amber's baby girl. This is her third baby and her first girl after two boys...naturally I had to get in on the excitement and made baby Eva's blessing dress. I forgot how much I love to embroider...sewing is still my number one love though...next to my husband and boys of course. Eva looked darling in her long white, linen dress and the blessing was beautiful, very touching. Stephen had to work so the main challenge was keeping 4 boys semi-quiet for the duration of the meeting. They did pretty well though, thank goodness for pretzels and coloring books!

Kaity's bridal gift!

2008-06-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

This past week I attended a bridal shower for my darling cousin Kaity and I had to make her a vintage apron that just screamed her name! She loved it and unknown to me she had wanted one for a long time. Of course I paired the apron with some fun unmentionable gifts as well.

More About Me!!

2008-06-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

I'm married to the most amazing man in the world...hands off girls!
I speak French, Japanese, Portuguese, some Spanish, oh yes and English!!
I love dark chocolate, gelato, samosas and california rolls.
Greenbeans and Heirloom tomatoes are my favorite things in my garden.
I am addicted to baby gear, not really buying it (I wish) but checking out the sleekist designs and novel ideas that are out there.
I love doing anything if it means that Stephen is present, he is so much fun.
I love going home to Canada to spend any amount of time with my family, eating dulse and Aero chocolate bars, going to the farmers market for souvlaki and orange juice.
I love to read but don't really have the time so I do a LOT of audiobooks.
I am so grateful for my Mom teaching me how to sew at the age of 8, it has blessed my life.
I am training for my first marathon in September 2008 and surprisingly it's going rather well. Although I am having a hard time beefing up my playlist, any suggestions?
I love to sing and dance with my boys in the kitchen...they act embarassed but secretly they LOVE it!
I love to cook when I have time!
I adore my sisters and my sisters-in-law....they are my best friends and I can't get enough of them.
I love swing dancing and beating my husband at board games and tennis! (wishful thinking)
I love watching my boys play together, they are magical!
I love the family I married into...they are all such remarkable people I am so lucky.
I love to travel and have flight benefits but I rarely get the chance. Someday?

And what gets me through the million loads of laundry, endless dishes, many runny noses to wipe, bellies to tickle and mouths to feed is that I know that at the end of the day, if my husband is not available for quality time and if I'm not working for JetBlue that is....I get to create! Sew, quilt, paint, embroider, knit, draw, design and that balances me out!