New Product of the Week #2

Here is the second new product that is ready for this week’s event:

…scarves for little girls!

I actually bought some fleece to make some of these last year for my girls, but I never got around to making them. This year they are ready just in time for winter! Yes, it was 70 degrees today, but the cold weather is coming. We had a small taste of it a couple of weeks ago.

Each scarf measures approximately 48 inches by 6 inches and is made out of incredibly soft fleece! Perfect for all of the little girls in your life! These would make great Christmas presents too!

Here is another pattern that I have available:

This one is definitely my favorite…especially since it goes so great with Addysen’s new jacket (thank you to one of my friends for passing on this great jacket!) I have one other pattern available at this time...watch for pictures in my shop! The scarves should be going up in my online shop next week along with the tags!

As always, if you don’t see a pattern that is the right color, just let me know and I’ll see what I can find. I can get almost every solid color!

Hopefully I will have my third product up in a couple of weeks!!

If you are local, don’t miss the Ladies Night Out event at the Virginia Beach McDonald Garden Center tomorrow night from 5-9pm!

New Product of the Week #1

A couple of weeks ago, I was going through my fabric. I have quite a collection at this point. I love fabric! Fabric makes me happy!! Just putting that out there. :)

I came across some clear vinyl that we had used on a project about 3 or 4 years ago. We only needed a little piece, but we bought a whole yard for some reason. I decided that I needed to come up with a project to use up this vinyl, and this is what I came up with…..

These tags can be used for so many things! My original intention was for them to be used on diaper bags, but they can also be used on luggage, gift bags, lunchboxes, and more! They would be great attached to a gift bag at a baby shower so that the recipient can then use it as a diaper bag tag!!

Help your luggage stand out from the rest on the luggage carousel for quick identification! Choose something colorful and you will be sure to spot your luggage on your next flight!

Each tag measures approximately 3.5 x 5 inches with a 6-inch strap. The window measures approximately 2 x 3.5 inches (business card size). A lot of seam-ripping thought went into the size of these tags. I made at least 3 tags before I made one that I was happy with. I hope to have a smaller version out soon as well.

These are the patterns that I have available for my Ladies Night Out event this week, but I have a nice stack of fabric ready for more!

Do you have a diaper bag that you would like a matching tag for? Just send me a picture or color choices and I’ll make a custom tag for you!

Watch for a post tomorrow with my 2nd new product of the week!

Here are some pictures from my last craft show:

I still have about 5 more shows until I am finished for the season! Hopefully I will have my 3rd new product ready for the last couple of shows!

Let the Fall Craft Fairs begin!

This was the second time that I have participated in the Little Lamb’s Consignment Sale and Craft Market at Tabernacle Church of Norfolk. I saw a lot of familiar faces, but I also saw a lot of new faces too!

I restocked my crayon wallets ,with most of the new fabric that I had purchased recently, just in time for this craft market. As always, they were a big hit!

I also debuted a couple of new items….

These are my new countdown blocks that I have added to my products! They measure 3 inches x3 inches when put together. The two blocks on top can be rearranged to countdown each day until a certain event….Halloween or Christmas in this example! I will also be adding blocks that say “Days until daddy (or mommy) comes home” very soon! I am also taking custom orders for “Days until {name here}’s birthday”. These are great for helping small children to understand how many days are left until a big event!! I am selling them for $5.

The second item that I debuted was the “Baby Sleeping Signs” that I have started making.

These each measure 5 inches x5 inches. I am selling them for $8 each! Any new mom (or experienced mom for that matter) will tell you that this is a necessity if you have young children in your house. My UPS driver makes his deliveries in our neighborhood right in the middle of naptime. I am not a happy person when he rings my doorbell which causes my dog to bark which causes my kids to wake up!

I also had the diaper pouches available in some new fabrics:

Last, but not least, the burp cloths:

It was a very hot day with temperatures reaching above 90 degrees! I was fortunate enough to have been able to mostly avoid sitting in the sun all day….a necessity for me and my fair skin! I met a couple new local crafters too….one being Missy from Missy’s Musings.

For those of you who complain that I never have picture of myself at the craft fairs, you can thank Nina for insisting on taking my photo at my craft table:

I have quite a few more events planned through the end of the year so watch for future posts on those! Happy Fall!!

Joy Frameworks $40 Giveaway

Heather from Sew-Over-It just shared information about a giveaway over at Joy Frameworks! Up for grabs is a $40 gift certificate to her etsy shop: Joy Frameworks.

I love this large picture frame made from an antique ceiling tin:
And how great is this "Give Thanks" sign:
Head over to Joy Frameworks before 9/24 to enter this great giveaway!! Tell her "Handmade by Kiki" sent you!

Fall is quickly approaching!!

I just had my first pumpkin spice latte of the year last night, and to me that means that Fall has arrived! I know we still have a couple more weeks until the official first day of Fall, but it has already started for me.

Fall brings the first day of school for my Kindergartner. She has been waiting for so long to finally start Kindergarten. I decided to make her something special to wear for her first day of school. Per her request....a mermaid shirt...courtesy of Handmade by Kiki:

Fall also brings lots and lots of craft fairs and events! I am so excited to participate in these this year. I have already added quite a few to my calendar and am in the process of adding more.

I also am looking forward to the nicer weather that is soon to arrive and the fact that I will be able to leave my windows open! Once that time comes, I usually get the urge to do some "fall cleaning" in my house. I don't know if it is the fresh air blowing through my house or the yummy fall scented candles, but a good "fall cleaning" gets put on my to-do list! I recently came across the Shaklee cleaning products...and I am hooked! They work better than anything I have ever used, and more importantly, they are non-toxic!

I am now aware, more than ever, of how many dangerous chemicals are in products that we use everyday! I don't know about you, but spreading toxic chemicals around my house doesn't feel very "clean"! I feel like this information is too important not to share so.....I decided to become a distributor. I have started a new blog dedicated to making our homes safer and healthier for our families by sharing the information that I have learned. Introducing....

Safe and Healthy Solutions

I would love to have you follow me over there and join me as a Facebook fan as well! I will be doing occasional giveaways and special offers and following my blog and Facebook page will be the best way to stay updated on these!

Happy (Almost) Fall!!

MIA

Sorry I have been MIA, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been creating things! Here is a collage of some of my most recent custom orders:

I also made a "Baby Sleeping" sign for one of my friends who just had a baby girl. I'll have some more completed soon, but here is a quick photo of hers.

It's also time for me to start prepping for the busy season for craft fairs. I hope to be adding some craft shows to my Fall schedule soon!

Baby Shower Surprise

I was so excited to be able to attend a baby shower for one of my friends this past weekend. Her story is truly miraculous and they are expecting their first child in August. Let me tell you, he is one lucky baby to be joining such a wonderful family!!

I didn't keep every part of her gift a complete surprise....I let her pick out the fabric. I'm glad she picked this fabric from Riley Blake because I had been "eying" it for a while!


I wanted to put together some sort of gift set for her. At first, I was trying to make something that played off the idea of a diaper cake....except with burp cloths, onesies, and a blanket. I couldn't ever get it to match the "picture" that I had in my head. My 5 year-old commented on how she liked the "basket" I was making out of the blanket! So....the end result............


I started off with a blanket with a soft orange minky on the back:

I even added some fun stitching around the edges:

I also included 4 coordinating burp cloths, 2 outfits (not made by me), 2 ribbon pacifier clips, and a monogrammed onesie and baby cap with his name on it on top!

I had so much fun putting this together! This kind of gift set can be customized to include any of my handmade items. I also have a few more ideas for bundling things together for gifts so keep watching for those!

Success in Suffolk

I was very happy with how the craft show went on Saturday at the Suffolk Seaboard Station Railroad Museum!

The weather was perfect! I had a nice shady spot for most of the day and it wasn't too windy. (which meant I was able to put up my pennant banner on the front of the table since the wind wasn't blowing it around too much)

These were some of my neighbors during the show:






I couldn't figure out if it was a good thing or a bad thing that I was near the petting zoo. On one hand, the interest in the petting zoo drew people over near my table. On the other hand, people would start looking at my table and then notice the petting zoo and get distracted. At least the area was set up so that the walkway took them back by our tables after they had spent time at the petting zoo.

My table was also next to a very nice lady from Suffolk who was attending her first craft show.... Carly's Classy Clips

The crayon wallets remained in the spot of the #1 selling item. Here are some photos of the newer version that I have been making.

I started placing the crayons in sideways to prevent them from slipping out if it was turned upside down. I haven't had any problems with the original style that I made, but I just wanted to prevent it from possibly happening.

Also, the new designs have crayon pockets large enough to hold either 8 regular sized crayons or 4 larger toddler sized crayons.

They now measure approximately 11" x 5.5" when opened and 4.5" x 5.5" when closed.

These make great birthday gifts. Please contact me if you would like a crayon wallet made with a specific fabric pattern or with a certain licensed character.

I also started listing some of my items on Dreamaid today. 10% of the money I make will be donated to the Dreamaid Charity. They provide staffing, internet access, computers, cameras, etc to third world artists which helps them to promote their art around the world. It is obviously not as popular as Etsy is right now, but there is still a large variety of handmade items available to purchase from artists around the world.

Here comes the clothing...

A couple of weeks ago, I posted some pictures of a couple of the clothing items I had been working on. I had to put that on hold until this week because I had some custom orders to complete and a craft fair to get ready for, but it was very hard because I had so much fun doing the clothing.

These techniques had been on my forever growing "to do" list for a couple of years now, but other things always came up. The day before Thanksgiving last year, I finally decided to put some shirts together for my daughters...hand print turkey shirts.

They came out very cute and just made me want to make more, but of course......other things came up that kept me too busy.

So, now that I finally made the time to work on some, here are some of the designs that I have come up with:

Please let me know what you think! I am always open to suggestions on things you would like to see. Trust me...I have a huge list of designs to use, but you will just have to keep watching to see those!

Travel in Style

Here is a new product that I am going to have available very soon.....a travel Hair Accessories Wallet.

Take it along for your vacation or even for a short day trip. It will keep all your hair clips neatly in one place and prevent them from getting damaged in your bag. There is a pocket on one side to hold hair bands and other accessories that won't clip onto the ribbons. The two wide ribbons can hold up to 24 hair clips.

There are seams at the folding points to make it easier to close. It measures approximately 15"x7" when opened and approximately 4"x7" when folded. It folds up easily with a velcro closure. The inside pocket measures approximately 4"x6" and also has a velcro closure.


The Hair Accessory Wallet will soon be available in all the fun and stylish fabrics you can expect from Handmade by Kiki! Also, like most of my products, custom orders are always accepted!

Treasure and Craft Market

On Saturday, I was able to participate in my second Craft Show.....The Blair Middle School Treasure and Craft Market in Norfolk.

All week long there was rain in the forecast for Saturday which would mean that we would have to move the craft show into the cafeteria rather than be outside. Obviously, this would not have been an ideal situation since the craft show would not be visible from the street. Thankfully, the rain held off for the show and we were able to set up outside!

The thing that I was not planning for was the wind!! I brought a tablecloth this time, but that almost made things worse because the wind would get up under that tablecloth and try to tip everything off of the table. I probably spent the first half hour of the show troubleshooting how to set the table up and tie the tablecloth down so that my items remained on the table. I was so glad that I had found a cute tray and basket this week for my display. They really helped to anchor the tablecloth! I had originally thought that it would be nice to have a pop-up tent for upcoming craft shows, but I changed my mind after watching people wrestle to keep their tents on the ground the whole time. I really can't complain though because it turned out to be beautiful weather.....besides the wind!

In the above photo, you can see I have redesigned how I am making the crayon wallets.....more on that later!


I had made a cute little pennant banner to go on the front of the table that matched the fabric I was using for the tablecloth, but it just kept blowing around. (like you can see in some of the photos) I ended up taking it down and using the safety pins I had brought for it to pin the corners of the tablecloth around the legs of the table. Hopefully next time I will be able to leave it up! Now I know to keep my fingers crossed for no rain....and no wind!

I'm really looking forward to the upcoming craft show in Suffolk at the Suffolk Seaboard Station Railroad Museum. Between the seasonal re-opening of the Suffolk Farmers Market adjacent to the museum and the Rattle & Roll Spring Car Show just down Main Street, I am hoping for a great turnout!


I'm also hoping to be able to bring my clothing items that I have been working on. I have a busy week ahead of me trying to get ready for this one!

Pink, Pink.....and more Pink!!!

I had to take a break this week from sewing in order to get ready for my daughter's 5th birthday party. Only a couple of days after her 4th birthday, she decided that she wanted to have an all-pink party. All year, she has been pointing out everything pink and saying that it could be for her "pink party."


I secretly (well, I guess not secretly anymore since I am posting it on a public blog) dream about being Amy Atlas so this party was so much fun. I am a very visual person and have been faulted by some as being too "matchy-matchy" so I loved the monochromatic look!

Just ignore the rust colored wall. I seriously considered painting it pink.....ok, maybe just putting up some pink fabric....so that it wouldn't clash so much! (remember......matchy-matchy).

Kylea helped me with the goody bags a couple of nights before the party.....everything pink of course!



We had a great turnout for the party.....all little girls dressed in pink....and the weather was beautiful!






Now......back to sewing!!