I'm an Auntie! (again)

If you aren't keeping dibs on me on instagram - I've got news for you! My sister gave birth to a baby girl last Wednesday making me an Auntie yet again! Check out this "yet to be named" little bundle of joy:

Since I'm actually writing this before the weekend (I was going away - I needed to schedule!) she could actually have a name by now, but I'm hoping for "Kate" since she's the lucky younger sibling and all. Whatever her name, it's nice to see she's arrived into the world safely and will let me enjoy the wonders of babies without actually having one. Haha! Happy Monday everyone! 

Nice Expression Jean...

This is quite possibly the funniest picture I have seen in a long time. I think this one (specifically that facial expression) will haunt Jean for many years to come. Just check out my niece as captured by my brother in law Neal:

Ahahahahhaha! So hilarious (and cute)! That girl sure loves running and I the pigtails really top it off. Hopefully you find it equally funny and it's not just a "Kate is the crazy Aunt showing too many pictures of her niece" moment. Oh dear. What's on the agenda for your Wednesday? Any funny pictures or links to share to perk up the mid week?

Auntie Kate

Last week I got the opportunity to hang out with my niece Jean for a few days. I've only really seen her in person two times before and now that she's talking and moving about she is much more entertaining! She is one cute and happy little kid and although I had nightmares about uncontrollable crying and getting kicked out of our building, Jean was pretty great! It was nice to see my sister too, but I'm sure she was happy Auntie Kate was around to wrangle with her little munchkin for a while. 

When she's not running track around the house, stealing your seat and giggling, or rearranging things - it was pretty safe to say Jean was getting into the shoe closet and trying something on. She seemed to quickly fall for one of my pairs of black flats and would run around the house saying "my new shoes!" Good thing you're cute Jean...

I think they might be a bit big...

We also had fun going down to Beacon Hill Park and checking out the children's farm. Jean is getting to know her animals and although horses are "neigh neighs" and roosters are "doodles" (for cock-a-doodle-do I believe), she seemed to enjoy the park and it was fun seeing all the peacocks hanging around:

The goats were another fave and although she was too afraid to do more than poke one the rest of the week she's grab my phone or ipad and ask me to show her the goats on them. She also decided that washing her hands was the most fun activity of all:
 

Even though our visit was short (and I worked every day she was here), I think we had a pretty fun time and hopefully Jean will remember the trip fondly. I even got to take her to a park nearby where Jean had a blast playing and Leslie tried to avoid heart attack while Jean climbed on everything:

Hooray! What a cute kid! In other good news, there's another baby on the way too! Yup - my sister is pregnant again and come xmas they'll be another little bundle of joy I'll get the pleasure to play with once a year! Yay!

Happy 1st Bday Jean!

Happy Friday and a very happy 1st birthday to my wonderfully adorable neice Jean!


Ahaha! What a sweetie! Even though I'm sure she's enjoying taking all the presents I sent her and either 1) putting them in her mouth 2) throwing them across the room or 3) smashing them and trying to hide them inside things I can't share any pictures of that since she's all the way up North and I'm busy living up the wonderful sights and sounds of the Rifflandia Music Festival! Hurrah! If you haven't had enough cute Jean (which, clearly, you haven't) you can come check out my facebook fan page and see the sweetest little 12 second clip of her awkward attempt at walking, and while you're there, feel free to like me too! Yay! What are you up to?

Artisan's Market - vol IV

Yesterday was my fourth round at the Artisan's Square Market and boy was it ever a gorgeous day! I woke up to a beautiful cloud free sky and no crazy wind to battle! Hooray! The morning set up was especially speedy with all the practice I've had this year and Fraser (as always) was a wonderful help. I was back on the warm side of the square (it doesn't matter that it got to 32 C, I am always cold) which was another bonus. Check out this week's display:


Hurray! I've been busy this week working on my yarn themed illustrations so no new goods for the table, but good news on the consignment front! Funktional (a super awesome shop in downtown Kelowna) contacted me about getting even more cabochon studs! I figure I'll send them my left over stock once I'm done with my final market next week, making that my third re-stock for the earrings. Woo hoo! I love getting mystery cheques in the mail after a month of sales in stores. It is just wonderful! Oh, and while we're on the consignment end of things - have you checked out my shop tab on my blog? I added it in with the redesign and included lists of upcoming craft shows I'm doing and stores I sell in! Yay! Much easier to find me (either online, in person, or in a shop)!

As for the market, the sales were pretty good (not my best week for money making, but still worthwhile) and I got the pleasure of some lovely visits from some friends and family (thanks Quinn and Sarra)! Plus the whole lack of wind blowing over all my products thing makes the morning market all that much more enjoyable! I went back to the top of the clean laundry pile for today's outfit (all Joe fresh and insanely inexpensive) and sported some of my light blue rose earrings. You can't actually see them in any pictures I have from the morning, but my hair growing experiment seems to be going well - look how long it's getting:


I haven't had it cut all summer and it has grown at least 2 inches (my last cut had it shorter than chin length). I did make one hair appointment for some massive thinning about 6 weeks ago and trust me, that was one of the smartest decisions I've ever made! It has made growing out my thick mop much more pleasurable (and not super annoying where I give up and get it all chopped off). I'm hoping my progression into longer tresses works well with my upcoming move to the coast so my naturally wavy/curly/wild tresses can be set free a humid climate! It also gives me the wonderful excuse to pay extra close attention to all the cute hairstyle up-do tutorials on pinterest! Yay! Any tips for long thick hair styles I need to try?

I've also been paying extra special attention to gardens these days in preparation for my (hopefully fantastic) balcony garden I'm planning! Since our current rental turned out to be a weed nightmare I'm hoping the fresh start (and smaller size) of our new balcony pots will be a great change to start anew! Plus the humid mild joys of living in a coastal city will be like a whole new adventure in plants! One day I hope to develop a green thumb like the gardeners at Ghalardi Square - I mean look at the lushness behind my tent:


What a joy! I did get random orange pollen stains all over the back of my shirt and arm when I was taking the tent down with my dad (Fraser had plans for the day so my good ol' parents came to lend a hand). Any tips on pollen removal? I've scrubbed and scrubbed my arm but it appears to have stained my ultra pale skin. How odd - I didn't know flowers could do that! Note to future gardening Kate - stay clear of tiger lilies, especially while wearing white.

My final perk from the day was a nice little visit from my sis and baby Jean before they depart back to the bug infested north (see Leslie - one more reason to move closer to me). Jean is still adorable as ever and has discovered the joys of playing (i.e. smashing and flailing) on my ipad:


Looks like I've got one technology loving niece on my hands! Coincidentally I also now have an ipad covered in gooey mum mum cookie smears. I wonder how that happened?

All in all, even though the sales end of things was a little dismal this week I ended up having a wonderful time and got to enjoy another wonderful summer day! I'm hoping the nice weather sticks around for at least one more week so I can make it through my next (and last) market next week and then I'm packing my life away and off to Victoria! Eep! So much to do! What did you get up to this weekend?

what i wore: artisan's market vol II

After two busy weekends of weddings and crafting I finally got back to the Artisan's Market this past Saturday! Fraser and I got up bright and early to greet a beautiful sunny day (which is warmly welcomed after weeks of rain, thunderstorms, and wind) and headed down to Galardi Square to set up for the market. I was a little more organized and prepared for this show than the first one so the set up went extra smoothly. Even though we followed the care instructions two of the plastic joints on the canopy rails snapped. Ack! It was only the third time we set it up! Unfortunately Costco isn't carrying our tent anymore, so I'll have to look around to see if we can find a replacement before returning out faulty tent (anyone have any ideas?). Despite that little set back I was super pleased with my table this week. Take a peek:


This week I got moved to the opposite (and nicely sunnier and warmer) side of the walkway and there were loads of other talented vendors this week! I moved around a few things in my display and even added extra flags to my pennant flag to give it a bit more volume and colour:


I also made a plethora of cabochon studs and rings over the last few weeks so instead of just laying them on the table, I got to use my Ikea cupcake stand I bought for my table! I also had my fun glass tile pendants and rings I set up on my ceramic jewelry tree. I put them both on the end of the table with the mirror and am really happy with the added height and colour they add:


The church yard was in full bloom and since my set up was so efficient I had a little bit of time to snap some pictures before customers started arriving. Just look at that blue sky and huge blooms:


The even coordinator Mel even picked a bouquet of white flowers for her Heritage Society Donation table. Aren't they amazing?:


Now if only I had the patience and time to grow such an amazing flower garden! I guess all that stormy rain added to the greenery but I was pretty excited to finally get some sunshine! Plus the nice day gave me the perfect excuse to wear the vintage dress I bought online from owlet vintage (Amber's etsy shop from the Hoot-n-Annie blog)! I made a few minor modifications to the dress when I got it (such as sewing new buttons on the shoulders, sewing up the belt tie, and fuzz busting the little pills off of it) and boy am I ever pleased with my purchase! I've always been a little weary of buying dresses online but this purchase has certainly changed my view on it! The dress fits like a dream and I am in love with the great stripes and colours! I decided to accessorize it with the red coral ring Fraser bought me last summer and my favourite new glass tile pendant necklace (Al the love robot). Check it out:


What fun! Because I was so frozen during the market I did on July 2nd, I opted for tights (which also hide my permo-bruised shins) and was super comfy the whole day. Take a peek at a full body shot of what I wore:

Outfit details: dress = owlet vintage, tights = joe fresh, shoes = payless, necklace = homemade, ring = Fraser bought (my favourite kind of ring), watch = fossil

Okay, so that picture above sort of makes me look like I am floating and legless, but I assure you it is just the lighting. I am still experimenting with breaking into budget fashion outfit posts so if you've got any thoughts of tips for me I'm all ears! Fraser has improved significantly with his picture taking skills (we now just take like 100 pictures and hope at least a few of them turn out) which seems to be working well. Hurrah!

As for sales at the market, there were loads more customers this week than on the 2nd and I got tons of positive comments and new fans! Sales were up from last week and although I wasn't crazy busy by any means, the pace was perfect for me to give ample attention to each customer without feeling rushed/stressed at all. Double hurrah!

Oh! And I even got a special visit from my niece (and family)! What do you think? Can I train Jean up to be my new scientific culture craft show helper?:


Boy is she ever a cutie! Leslie and I even got to play around with some mustaches during the slow parts too:


Haha. Don't we look good with facial hair? Well...not really. I'm not ready to start growing a mustache any time soon but this light coloured one sure does look adorable on baby Jean:


I can't believe Jean is already 10 months old! She's teething right now and pretty much everything you hand her goes straight into her mouth. It's pretty cute but after trying to play with her for a bit I opted to not have baby drool over all my products. Overall, the show went really well and I am already looking forward to next week's market! I do think I need to try to fit some crafting time to make more coffee sleeves though since they are a pretty consistent seller and I only have two left (oh dear!). What do you think? Any suggestions for new crafts or display ideas?

Oh! I almost forgot! Keeping with my "thanks for reading my blog and commenting" summer long weekly giveaway theme this week's winner is Beka from Ginger Urchin! Beka please email me your address so I can get your badge in the mail! And just in case you're drooling with jealousy over free kate-made goodies - not to worry there are still a handful of weeks left to participate in the giveaway and all you have to do is keep being your wonderful self and comment on my blog posts! Yay! Happy Monday everyone!

Why is it?

Why exactly is it that after my week and a half of carefully picking out fun little presents to bring home to my niece Jean that she enjoyed the bag I brought them in the best of all?


Oh what a cutie she is! I'm sure she'll enjoy her adorable garden plate, little crab puppet book, and mr. teeny t at some point, but that bag was just too tempting! And what a perfect fit:


It is so nice to have her here to visit with (hint hint Leslie - time to move closer)! As for me, I'm still pretty under the weather as far as my vertigo so I'll save my cruise recap for another day when I have a little more time to give to spend sifting through the hundreds of pictures! For the time being cute baby pics will have to do! Happy Wednesday!

Friday Find: Tie Dye Diva

This week's friday find is brought to you by my sis, leslie! She was kind enough to write me some blog posts back when I was frantically crafting for my big show and I never got a chance to share this one with all of you. Here we go!

Based out of Davis, California is the wonderful etsy shop, Tie Dye Diva. This amazing seamstress sells e-book copies of her own delightful designs. I’m particularly smitten with the sunny day sun hat, since I just got a sewing machine for my birthday and was able to have the project finished in under an hour! Here's the finished product on Jean:

I’m a total sewing beginner, but this doesn’t matter with Tie Dye Diva’s patterns. She walks you through the steps, clearly illustrating everything with photos in her pdf e-books.

Most of her designs are aimed at babies and children, though I think anyone could appreciate the 3 Peas in a Pod plush toy, and the Easy Envelope Pillow Cover is super cute.

I can hardly wait to whip up the fun fleece hats, ruffle diaper cover, and Sweet Summer Halter dress! Jean will be the cutest baby in town (not that she isn’t already). Which one would you make for yourself or a wee one in your life?

Friday Find: Sleepy King

I'm not sure why I've never done a post about the adorable wide-set eye cuteness that is sleepy king - but no time like the present! I've seen these cute plush over etsy before and thanks to that wonderful "suggested shops" tab they have I quickly realized that sleepy king never got its way into my favourite listings! Ack! What a mistake - I mean look how darling they are:


The colours are wonderful and their mash of wool felt, fleece, heavy suiting, and safety eyes (some of my favourite media) just call to me! I think the cute simple offset images add to their appeal and really inspire me to get sewing! What do you think? Will my niece jean's life not be complete until she has a gimpy wide set eye cute forest creature to snuggle with? Well..more like chew on...seems to be quite the trend of hers:


Yeah - not too sure if sleepy king's cute plush are ready to be drooled on quite yet. But just in case you can't live without one either you can take 10% off your order by entering "poppytalk10" at the checkout until the end of the month! Hooray!

jean and mr. t.

When my sister had her daughter jean back in september I was thrilled to become an auntie and (as all good aunties do) be able to buy my new neice lots of fun presents! After all, buying kid toys is certainly up there on the "fun shopping" category and since I'm her only aunt I feel it is my responsibility to spoil her! One of my favourite buys was a gund corduroy t-rex I picked up in victoria (and had to fly with as carry on since he wouldn't fit in my packed suitcase). His given name (tristen) certainly wouldn't do so I renamed him "mr.t" and passed him onto his new owner when I visited jean in october! Jean wasn't overly impressed with him at 2 weeks old but leslie thought he was great and even decided to use him as size reference as jean grew! In fact, leslie has been taking pictures of jean each month she gets older and it's amazing to see the size difference (and increased cuteness) already! Let's take a gander:

One Month - tiny jean trying to shove mr. t out of the way



Two Months - getting bigger! and still not quite at that able to support her own weight stage



Three Months - mr. t is still a pushover (and baby jean sporting a threadless onsie)



Four Months - Crud! She's bigger than him already! and so smiley!



And...that's it. She's only four months old. But I am looking forward to seeing her progress into a full grown child soon! In the meantime I think this may be my favourite jean/mr.t picture so far:



Hehe! Rar! What do you think?

update

Since my sister and niece are still at my parents house on extended holiday break (lucky) I've been attempting to spend my spare time with them! This isn't the easiest of tasks since my life seems to be jam packed with work, chores, and the sketchbook project! (eep - deadline is looming - tomorrow even!) but the time I have managed to squeak in certainly has been adorable. Just look at how big jean is getting:


I've also discovered that jean really likes to put everything in her mouth...and drool all over it...even when in a jolly jumper (so cute!):


I think percy is jealous....


Boy does he ever look regal there! Maybe jealousy is the wrong word...he's more the type to scheme ways to get attention while remaining evil. Oh stinkums. In other exciting news I'm learning how to knit! Just check out that knit progress:


Haha! Yup! I've successfully made a loop for that knit bow I posted about a while back! And...that's pretty much as far as I've got. Mind you as jean's only aunt I feel my duties have been a necessity while she is here:


Just look at those little feet! Too cute! Now to get back to frantically colouring my sketchbook project! I'll be taking pictures of it once it's done so I can share it with all of you too! Even if my "sketchbook" sort of morphed into a "semi educational children's book"...Did anyone else manage to successfully complete one? I had no idea 80 pages of illustration would be so difficult!

Road Trip: Smithers

I'm back from a week in british columbia's north (ish) and boy what a trip! I've decided to share all my vacation highlights with a series of pictures for your viewing enjoyment! Hooray! Let's go!

The trip started off with a lot of trees and a lot of driving (11 hours to be exact):


It actually got pretty monotonous after a while but the fall colours were lovely! So much yellow! After the epic drive we arrived in smithers to meet my niece jean! Hello sleeping baby:


Oh so cute! We also got to see loads of wildlife on the trip including bears, deer, and sea otters! And this mountain goat?:


Okay...so the goat is just a statue but smithers has loads of them! My sister really wanted me to do a post on all the cool statues there, but unfortunately car sickness cut that plan pretty quickly. We did however get to enjoy some more lovely fall when my sister and I walked down to the park to visit my dad fishing on the river:


Got to love abnormally warm pre-thanksgiving weekends! The rest of the trip pretty much revolved around jean and soaking up all her adorableness:


I can't believe how tiny we all start out (okay...most of us start out...I had a good 2 pounds on jean when I was born...). And it also gave me the opportunity to give her first present from her auntie kate! Mr. T the corduroy dinosaur! Little kid shopping is so much fun! I have a feeling jean is going to be quite the spoiled child. Oh and in case you haven't seen enough of her - here I am holding that bundle of sleeping cuteness:


Hooray! Whirlwind super fun trip! And crazy speedy blog post writing from me (in case you couldn't already tell...) with lots of exclamation marks! Yay! !!!

Mini Break Vol II - Smithers!

Looks like it is time for my mini break number two! This week I'm on my way to the Canadian (sort of) north of smithers to visit my sis leslie and...


my neice jean! Yup! That's right, that baby my sister was working on in that belly of hers has made its way into the world (on sept 23rd actually) and is ready to meet her auntie kate! I can't wait to give her the super adorable purchases I made on my last mini break to victoria! Lindsay thinks I need to work one of them into "jean's daydreams" blog post taking after the mila's daydreams post I did a week or so ago (and naturally I totally agree)! It will also give all you blog readers a chance to see the entire cute baby and not just the picture of her feet my brother in law neal took! Sneaky! We'll see if I can muster up that much creativity, but I suppose I will have my mom and sister to help out! Fun!

Besides bonding with the baby I've got the entire week off work to visit so I've got big plans to get ahead on some crafting projects, work on being a good penpal (assuming I find my address book...), whip up some entertaining blog posts, catch a little r&r, and make a trip to prince rupert (to shop at the coolest store in the north of BC, homework!). And even though I'll be away from my etsy shop I won't be away from the internet so I'll be able to stay up to date with blogland! Woo! Hopefully this time I'll do a better job of photo journalism too...but only time will tell on that one...that baby is pretty cute. Chances of getting over excited and forgetting to photograph? Medium-high. Rats...

Knitting Alligators

With leslie's baby on the way I am keeping my eyes peeled for cute baby/kid crafts! And here is one tutorial I was particularly taken by - mochimochi's knitted alligators!


Eeee! So cute! And since I still don't know how to knit (nor do I really have time right now) I thought I'd post this tutorial since there's no hope of me making them before the baby arrives! Hooray! And if baby gators aren't your thing, she's got loads of other cute knitted critter patterns available in her shop! Fun for everyone! Yay!

Friday Find: Baby Threadless

This weeks find comes from the wonderful suggestion of my ever-lovin' sis. If you aren't up on all the hot gossip (okay - not that hot of gossip), leslie is preggers and being in the secluded (sort of) north of british columbia, she's resorted to online shopping for cute baby attire! Being a threadless fan for the last few years (I have racked up a good 15+ t-shirts now) I was pleased to find out they have a kids section too! So behold - a selection of my favourite threadless onsies:


How cute! Leslie even purchased two of these (I'll leave it up to your imagination which two she's bought) and as it happens I also have one of these designs in adult shirt form! Hurrah!

In case you aren't familiar with the threadless site (which you soon will be by reading this), it's an online t-shirt company from chicago with an ongoing open call for shirt designs. Anyone can submit ideas and if you're chosen you get your design printed and a butt load of cash! Double win! New designs and reprints come out every monday and once they're sold out they're gone so you need to snag them quickly. They have a plethora of witty, spectacular choices and I'm so pleased to see that they are available for wee ones too! Your baby will be the best dressed smithereen for sure leslie! For sure!

Mad Scientist Baby Blocks

With my sister's first baby on the way I've had my eyes peeled looking for great baby purchases. As you can imagine, I totally couldn't resist these awesome mad scientist baby blocks from the maker's market:


That tentacle block is for sure my favourite! I like their off -beat sort of educationalness too! Nothing better than some geekiness to raise a well rounded child right? or a social outcast...either way...

Hooray!

If it wasn't overly obvious from the months of my sister's baby related comments, my sister leslie is preggers! This will be the first baby in my direct family (making me officially an auntie!) and the second in the extended fam (oh, I guess more like 6th in the extended extended family - if you include all those 3rd and 4th cousins..). I told her I'd do a post about it once she put up some images and behold - my new niece/nephew at four months(ish):


Can't really tell how cute it is going to be, but I'm sure it will be adorable! This also gives me the wonderful excuse to start searching out baby crafts to get working on! I may have already purchased a super adorable baby craft book a while back in kelowna, but don't really want to write about it here because then my sister will see and ruin the surprise! Same with a few items I've been checking out on etsy. But I'm still all for ideas! Any great baby tips and crafty resources you have to share?