Birthday Party Planning is Underway

When K and I went to Disneyland in April, K's princess obsession was interrupted (a little) by discovering Alice in Wonderland. It helped that she loved riding on the teacups! When we got home, she announced that she wanted her birthday to be a mad tea party inspired by Aice in Wonderland, and this sounded like a fun idea to me so we started brainstorming. I found this darling birthday pack on Etsy from PaperAndCake and our planning took off. We used the invitations from the pack and I plan to use the cutouts on the cake and on goodie bags.

We also decided to try our luck on a backyard party. Given Seattle's weather this spring, this is seeming like a bold plan but we will hope for the best. We got an Alice in Wonderland book and K has been studying it carefully every day for details. She noticed the Chinese lanterns on the tea party page in the book and remembered the lanterns from the Teacups ride at Disneyland and wanted to get some for the party. I did a little online research and ordered some from Luna Bazaar, figuring that we can hang them in K's room after the party. She also wanted to use real teacups but I chickened out a little on the vision of smashed china all our back patio. One of our neighbors has some teacup and teapot garden art so that inspired me to look into glueing stacks of teacups together. After seeing this on Etsy, K and I took off to some local thriftstores in search of mismatching teacups to use as garden art. So now we have a bunch of teacups, Chinese lanterns, and a cute un-birthday partypack. Normally I wouldn't really get so into all of the decorating for a kid's birthday party, but K is really into it and it's keeping her engaged--plus, she has some great ideas! Next up, costumes...

A Dress Just Right For the Pacific Northwest

I really wanted to create a whale dress for this summer and spent a lot of time thinking about different designs, but never really settled on something...until the grandmother of one of our little friends ordered a special custom dress. I met with my little 6-year old client and ended up with an orca whale dress concept. This was absolutely perfect because orcas are frequently spotted off the beach a few minutes away from us here in West Seattle. In fact, a few years ago, I dropped Kate off at preschool and took the dog for a walk along Beach Drive. As we were walking, I absent-mindedly looked offshore toward the water and instantly saw the tall black dorsal fins that are distinctive of orca whales. It was so exciting to see a pod so close to home and I was thrilled to have serendipitously seen such an iconic example of Pacific Northwest wildlife.


So anyway, back to the dress. My client really wanted a blue dress, and I immediately remembered having seen this Michael Miller print at Fabric Crush in Wallingford. It seemed just right for this orca whale dress because it was geometric print that reminded me of sunlight refracting through the water. I then studied images of orca whales, sketched some out, simplified the coloring on the whales a little, and designed the applique for the whale. After some sewing, voila, the dress was complete but it seemed like it needed a little something else. Hmmm. A few years back, I bought some really cute sailboat ribbon ago at Esther's on Bainbridge Island and I thought would look cute with this little marine-inspired dress, so I used it to create a coordinating handbag. So, now here is a Pacific Northwest-inspired ensemble!

Honk if You Love Trucks Dress

My almost 2-year old is in a huge trucks phase...HUGE! Since she already has strong opinions about what she wears, I knew I had to construct a trucks dress for her but I needed inspiration. When I saw this new Alexander Henry print called Truck Stop, I knew I had found my start. A pair of old, really soft J. Crew jeans were in my stash of fabrics and I had been waiting for a good project to"upcycle" some old clothes into something new...so here we go. Honk! Honk! It's an eco-friendly dress for girls who dig something a little bit different.

Oh, and don't worry, there's a blanket coming too. :)

An Educational Personalized Baby Blanket?

Get schooled with this personalized baby blanket! Here's my latest one in this terrific ABC 123 print. I really like this blanket because it would be great for boys and girls and it has a ton of color possibilities. I would love this in red, orange, and or navy blue fleece and am eager to make it up in some other colors. So, want to order it??? :)

Personalized Baby Blanket in Paris Park

I have been feeling really jazzed up to get some of my new blankets listed! This newest one is really cute (I think!) and I fell in love with the vintage-inspired print with little kids playing in the park with balloons, dogs, birds, and cats. This design is a fun departure from the usual pale pink and blue blankets and I am happy to have these great primary colors in the mix.

I'm also exploring the different ways to photograph the blankets. It is not easy to capture the personalization and the fabric print in one photo since they are on opposite sides! I'm also trying to include little kids and babies in the shot since I love seeing the little faces and the kids provide some scale so viewers can get a sense of how big the blankets are. Getting my little models to work with me is another huge challenge! I am pretty much having to bribe my almost-5 year old to pose for me (she's a diva!). My youngest is more amenable to being in pictures but she is much less predictable. The continuous shooting option on my new camera makes it much easier to get some decent shots of her, yet it is still not easy. One of my new goals is to overhaul my listing pictures and get more of our little friends in the pictures so I have a variety of little faces looking out of the pictures. Wish me luck!

Personalized Baby Blanket Bonanza

I am enjoying a great week--the weather has been fabulous, I'm not preparing for any shows so I actually have time to design some new products, and some terrific new prints have arrived in my studio. Today it was this delicious new personalized blanket for my shop in Michael Miller's Disco Dots. Oh, and have I mentioned how much I love taking pics with my new Nikon D3000? Things are really coming together here. My laptop has been acting funky but I have been backing everything up regularly, so my fingers are crossed.

Yesterday was also terrific because I started off the day with a lovely email from a happy customer who was emailing me to tell me how much she loved the dino princess dress that she had ordered for her daughter's dino birthday party. It was so nice to get that email because my two little ones both woke up in very cranky moods, so it felt great to know that someone out there was happy! I was walking my cranky almost-2-year old later that day and my phone rang. It turned out to be the owner of a shop that just received a package of my dresses and she was calling to tell me how thrilled she was with everything that I sent--yay! Indie Banditas on Bainbridge Island is now going to be carrying my dresses so I am eager to send them more one-of-a-kind dresses. A great day was wrapped up with one of my dearest friends sending me a message on my Facebook page that she had spotted one of my blankets at a playground in New York City and the owner had raved about how much she loved it. It's amazing how good feedback can make you feel...wahoo!

A New Blanket for a Glorious Day!

Yay! A glorious day meets a brand new personalized baby blanket! I love this 2-D Zoo print from Alexander Henry and now I am carrying it in the chocolate color scheme. I was planning on asking my neighbor's darling boy to pose with this new blanket but I spotted the gorgeous sky and knew that the orange had to be photographed up against the brilliant blue. After months of cloudy weather, finally we enjoyed a glorious afternoon here in Seattle. Finally!