the new year

Any new plans for you?  There has to be something small or large to look forward to in the new year.  I feel like a change is coming for katie jean in 2010. 



There is always something new to make. Like more aprons out of vintage fabrics.  But I feel the need to move out of my home studio.  I would love to find someplace new to work out of.  That is my dream for the new year.  I would like my living room back.

I'm not sure how this will come about, but I am moving forward in new ways for the coming year.  Keep an eye out for me!

What are you dreaming of?

design team

I have started another collection, again without my knowing it.  My wallet opens up, and magically I hand out a few one dollar bills. I have been buying up little pieces of jewelry. One by one.



They are broken pieces, a lonely earring, and missing stones.  But this is what I buy and love to use in my craftiness. Misfits.



I think that Claire from Glitter and Grunge must know this about me!  She invited me to join the G&G design team.  And my first challenge for January  is to use some little piece from my jewelry drawer.  And I do have a few to choose from!

The little fancy item that I made will debut January 1, on the g&g blog along with a tutorial.  So you can make your own!  I'll keep you posted.

coming to town

My girl drew this picture for Santa Claus.  We mailed it out today.  I love it so and had to have a copy of it for myself. 

And in case you are in the need of  Santa's address too, here it is:  North Pole, Alaska 99705

Merry Christmas from me to you!

meet the girls

You must know how much I love my sisters.  And like all sisters, you must also know that it wasn't always so.  As grown women, I am so proud of them.  They are living their dreams, that each one created for themselves.  They inspire me and motivate me to be better each day!  Kinda corny right?  But believe me, it's true.

All this love made me think of the other sisters that I have known and am related to.  My grandfather was born in 1900 and had 3 sisters, Molly, Fern, and Judith.  My Dad's had 5 brothers and 1 sister, Kathleen.  And my own three sisters, Mary, Judith, and Susan Margaret.



I hadn't realized how many sisters there were until now!  So, I wanted to introduce you to my sweet sisters.  Each is named for the all the sister's that came before me. 



Please meet: Fern, Molly, Judith, Mary, Margaret, and Kathleen.  Visit them at Glitter and Grunge.  Merry Christmas!

around my house

Every year at Christmas time we (I mean my husband) go into the garage and pull out our boxed up Christmas tree.  But this year is a little different, and I love it!

My 88 year old father-in-law is staying with us for most of the month.  He lives in a remote mountain area of California.  So last weekend when my husband and kids drove the 4 hours to get him they of course stayed the night.

Then the next day the got a license to cut down a tree in the Plumas County National Forest.  It was even in the snow.  They cut it down and tied it to the top of our van.  And had the best time ever!  All for $10.00.  Not bad for making memories.



At first I thought it was a little bit on the Charlie Brown side.  But once we cut off a few low branches and got all of the ornaments on.  It filled in nicely.  The paper chain was left over from the early years with our kids when I filled our tree with just paper decorations.  It has faded a bit, but I love the homey touches to our homey tree!

It looks nothing like my Macy's trees!  And I think that's a good thing.

making aprons

I have had aprons on my mind.  I sewed up three new aprons over the weekend for a new shop opening up in Sacramento.  All using vintage fabrics.  Which I am very proud of using.



And vintage buttons too!  I love my vintage fabric stash and it is difficult for me to use sometimes because  well, I love it.  But I did it!

Then I received an email a few days ago from a woman who had previously purchased an apron from me.  She wanted a similar one for her other granddaughter.  So I finished that one today.



This is the apron that I made last year.



And here is the apron that I finished making today.  They are a little different from each other.  But I can't believe how similar they are, and I didn't even look up the older apron before I started the new one.    I just remembered the polka dots and the pom-pom's.

So I think the two little girls who will be wearing these aprons while decorating cookies will be happy to look like twins.  And I am happy to add to their Christmas cheer in my own little way.

aprons

I will be busy today posting aprons in my store.  I just listed this one today.



And it has the cutest little attached pocket trimmed in ric rac.  It is the perfect size for your recipe card.



Here is another half apron that I had listed.  It sold in just one day!



Thanks for looking! And remember FREE SHIPPING!

 

a little gift

Just for you.  As a way of saying thank you for all who have been following me and my katie jean creations.  I am offering free shipping on my site.  Now through December 15th all shipping will be free!  Just visit my etsy or katie jean to see for yourself.



There are two other reasons for me doing this.  I know that everyone is tight for cash this year.  And I would really love to encourage everyone to buy handmade.  The other reason is that I haven't planned any upcoming shows for the holidays.  I couldn't find any dates that worked for me and I don't really like doing December shows.  It cuts into my family time, and my own personal Christmas gift making!



So if you love katie jean, please visit my site and do some shopping.  Remember *free shipping!*  I will be adding new items daily!  And thank you!!

surprise!

I went to Disneyland last weekend!  Totally surprised my oldest son, Q who hasn't been there yet.  I told him that morning we were driving down to LA.  He didn't believe me.  It was just the two of us!  I felt so lucky to be sharing the magical day with him.  So lucky to be his mom :)



He was such a trooper.  We got there at 8:30 and left that night at 10:30!  Such a cool day and no huge lines.  My favorite was finally going on the Matterhorn.  We sat in the very front.  Q didn't like it as much as I did!



Since it was so close to being Christmas you know I had to take pic's of the decorations.  These were the lamp posts in the New Orleans area of Disney.



Aren't they so fancy!  I just love the vivid colors.  Only in Disney!



I think I'll have a pink and purple Christmas too!  Feliz Navidad.

just look

Look what Sadie Lou did!  She put my little hanky apron top on the front page of Lollishops.  Such a cute site and a fun place to shop.  Have yourself a look around!



Thank you Sadie Lou for the little surprise.  You're the best!

finding a new home

Ella has been my inspiration for some time now. But I am finally ready to release her to a good home and allow her bring some sunshine in on someone new.  So today I am listing Ella on katie jean.

Ella was handmade by me, using a vintage toy as my pattern. The origianl ella was made by my husband's grandmother from Kansas. It might be more of an antique than simply vintage.

Ella is made using vintage linens in the cheeriest shades of pink, yellow, orange, and green. The eyes are sewn on buttons and she has a moss green ribbon tail.  Although Ella is not intended for small children, she would be a cute addition as a little shelf decoration.

treasury

My baby jean organics has been featured in an etsy treasury!  It features all shades of softest blues.



http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=91502  Be sure to check it out and view talies items too.  She uses a unique combination of plastics, papers, and fabrics for her fun eco friendly creations.

feliz navidad

OK, so I'm not fluent in Spanish, but Christmas has been on my mind during the month of October.  And instead of saying Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, sounds cooler some how.



So here is the story of my stint with Macy's and their Christmas trees.  With lots of photos of trees that I decorated.



Hi, my name is Katie and I decorate Christmas trees.  I have been decorating Christmas trees during the whole month of October.   I feel like I'm confessing something.  It seems like I was at a different Macy's everyday but I really wasn't.  Just 11 stores.



And thanks to my friend Ralph, I had such a great experience doing something that I had never dreamed of before.  In the midst of burn out from travel, not enough sleep, and too much glitter, I had the best time. Now I have only the best memories.  And three days after I had decorated my last tree, I found myself at the Macy's Holiday Lane, looking at the trees that I had decorated.  And I was ready to do it again next year.

[caption id="attachment_1487" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="my favorite tree, I just loved these colors"][/caption]

Thank you to all of my friends, my husband, and kids for letting me have some grown up fun working and earning a paycheck.  Thanks for letting me be a working mom.  It has made me appreciate being a stay at home mom.  Te amo.

[caption id="attachment_1488" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="katie, ralph, marshawn, our last day of work in monterey"][/caption]

hola!

I have been so busy this month of October and have so very much to tell you about.  I am just struggling today thinking about where to begin.  I am often reminded of Julie Andrews whenever I have this problem.  Just start at the very beginning, a very fine place to start.

But here is a little bit of background.  I have been working at Macy's decorating Christmas trees for their Holiday Lane shop.  Visual Display!  I also went to Quilt Market in Houston with my sister.  Went back to Christmas trees and 16 hour days.  My neice was married and my daughter was asked to be a Leaf Girl.  A dress and shoes had to be found, for the both of us.

This is all the stuff of lengthy blogs, but little time to blog about it!  So back to the beginning.

[caption id="attachment_1473" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="taggie blanket"][/caption]

If you look at my etsy you will find a new category called Baby Registry.  I have a special girlfriend who is going through her fourth pregnancy and we decided to do a baby registry for her.  Rene is already really familiar with all of  my special vintage baby creations.  So when she came to my studio (home living room) we had fun looking through my fabric stash.



She is doing her nursery using the Peter Rabbit line from Pottery Barn Kids.  And I found some quality yardage in the fabric that was close to what she already had.  So she picked out about ten different items for me to sew up for her.   Isn't that a special gift to buy for someone?  I love it and love the idea of doing this for my friend.

It's all custom handmade work.  I'll be sharing most of the photos of the baby items through my flickr account and you'll also be seeing some here as well.

So now the Baby Registry is a new service that I am providing.  If you know of someone who is pregnant or interested in any of the other items that I make, pass it on please.  Thanks!

photos

So I guess that I was the last mom in Lincoln to have taken her kids to Disneyland.  That's what it sounded like to me weeks before we left on our trip.  I honestly didn't understand all of the hype and excitement.  What was the big deal.  Isn't it just another amusement park?



Now I get it.  And now I am already saving money up for my next trip.  I want to visit every Disney location.  Euro Disney, Tokyo Disney, Disneyworld.  Any place else?



My girl went right up to Mickey, and Pooh Bear, and Eyeore, and Tigger.  I was so surprised.  Her shyness was gone for the moment when she saw those character's that she is so familiar with.  And quickly went to each of them for a hello and a hug.



Grandfather made this trip possible for us.  He is 88 and swears this is his last trip away from home.  He had just come to Anaheim from the Grand Canyon.  He has really been all over the world and I'm sure that if he can get on the train, he will be out the door again soon!



Once my kids got their ears, I told them that they had to wear them to get on all of the rides.  They didn't pick up on the fact that I wasn't wearing any myself.  And the night we went out to IHOP, I told them that they would get a free glass of water for wearing their ears too.  I know, I'm bad.  But aren't they so cute!

Thanks to all of my friends and family for all of the Disney help.  Especially Gram who watched my Q when I was gone. And thank you to Beth and Grandfather for making the trip with us that much more fun to share it with you!

just a recap

Before I tell you about Disneyland, I wanted to tell you about the Roseville show.  It was great!  Our booth looked great and was well attended.  The Tattered House girls put together a terrific event with great shoppers and fantastic sellers.



This is just a few of the items from the Glitter and Grunge table.  Vintage patterns, papers, full of scrap booking and collage fun.



These are just a few of the little bits of goodness from my side of the table.  The little Get Well Soon card sold.  Isn't it just the cutest!



Claire at the G&G table helping customers.  See the collage work, it's done by artist Alexa Lett.



I had a ton of aprons for sale.  And they were really well received.  I also borrowed the mannequin from Claire and dressed it in a groovy dress that I bought in San Francisco on Haight Street.  The mannequin is also wearing a bag from newest Glitter and Grunge artist Julie aka Ona.



I walked through the other booths and saw this.  My son's initials! Since my days doing calligraphy I can't resist all sorts of lettering.



Some more handmade goodness, and it's vintage.  Aren't they just beautiful.  Jewelry is so popular right now, so I am trying to wear more.  I'll have to show you a photo of the rings that I bought at this show.



But for now, I'll just show you this perfect bag.  Julie pulled out this bag that she handmade and I grabbed it right away!  It was just what I needed for my Disney trip.  A few people even commented on how they liked it!  You can now see her other work as the newest artist to join Glitter & Grunge.

little pillows

These little pillows are made especially to soothe your eyes and your brain.  They are filled with lavender and organic flaxseed.  So you can relax and rid yourself of that headache or just have a little time out by yourself.



I was inspired by Melly and Me when I learned how to make one of their quilt squares using only scraps.  And that is how these eye pillows came to be.  I have such a good time going through my bags of scraps now and mixing and matching.  It's great color therapy.



 

Aren't all of these colors just delicious.  I never get tired of looking at them.  Silly, I know! 

I hope to post again tomorrow with some other new creations to show you before the Roseville show on Sunday.  But after that it will be a week before you hear from me again.  I am leaving on Monday for Disneyland.  So have a great week!

my ironing

Would you like to see what I have been busy cleaning and ironing?



Now can you just guess what this is?



This one has a beautiful pocket with ric rac trim.



This one is super colorful with a rainbow of sewn on strips of fabric.



These are all photos of the vintage aprons that I have been collecting.  Some of these I bought just for the fabric.  They never got cut up though.  Probably because these aprons are all in great condition.  So it became a collection without me really knowing it.

I still have about five more aprons that need to be ironed.  Getting ready for my booth this Sunday!  I think they will all look wonderful hanging together.