It's Hard to Believe That This Little Man Is One...

We are some of the luckiest people... we have great neighbors. We live in a unique neighborhood, and we so sad when our neighbor Joan put her house on the market almost three years ago. My husband and I could not imagine having a better neighbor... so I prayed that God would provide us with a great family to move in the house next door. And He blew our socks off... The "A" family moved in the spring that Doodles was 18 months ish and then I quickly became pregnant with Sweetpea. They have been there for us in SO many ways... When Sweetpea was about ten months old they welcomed to their family a fabulous little boy. He just had his first birthday... I cannot believe how fast a year has passed. And when Doodles found out that C was having a birthday, he asked if we could give him some racing cars that he and his sister have enjoyed, and he wanted to know if I would make C a birthday shirt. C had an under the sea themed party at the park. The day was wonderful and we came home with a party favor that keeps giving back... a beta fish. Here is the bib and shirt that I created to match the party...





I love the way that the the two pieces blend, but are not the same. Mommy A and I talked at length about whether we do a true birthday shirt, but we decided to provide more wear, I would design something that coordinated with his precious party invitations. Here is what we came up with...

This is the bib that we decided upon, I think it is so CUTE.

And this has to be my FAVORITE piece. I love the texture on the octopus and the way that we added his name, but only as an accessory, not the main feature. The octopus was hand appliqued on and I love the way that it turned out.

I really enjoy creating custom pieces for special occasions.

Here we come to save the day...

I had so much fun this past Friday creating these new items, I think I have a new favorite. Although they are truly a work in progress... I am offering them now, and will provide a pic of the new one as I have made adjustments to the capes... My little guys just LOVED them. What started off something I did for my children, has now turned into something I just CANNOT wait to share and make for others...

The little man was "Daring Doodles"...

and the little girl was... Jentile (gentile) J, those who know her are probably LAUGHING... as she is anything but gentile... she truly is my Sweet Pea though.


Their favorite part was the fact that the wind was slightly blowing and when they ran, the capes just flew behind them. They had SO much fun wearing these, and I did not even mind that they wore them to the stores as I just thought that they were too cute.

Can you ever have too many bags?

Are you looking for a unique gift.
Bags are like purses, can you ever have too many?

I love this gift... it is so cute and personal. Both Doodles and Sweetpea had a bag just like this... I love to pack it when we were going out for the day or on a trip. You can fill it to the brim with extra diapers, wipes and several changes of clothes or with just a few items. Each bag is personalized with your choice of font, different ribbon and matching tread color. It is hard to go wrong with a great bag like this.

This bag is canvas and has a zipper closure... so that none of the goodies will fall out.

THRIFTY

Many of you know that I consider myself thrifty. I love a very unique and warm look for my home, but I HATE spending a lot of money (there never seems to be enough anyways). I want people to feel welcome, calm, and loved despite the chaos that might be going on in our home with two little ones. So when I needed wall art for our upstairs bedroom, I had a limited budget. I looked through SEVERAL magazines for inspiration, and came up with the follow for the walls. It provides something very custom and expensive looking... but its really is not. My mom found these frames at a DEEP discount and we removed the prints and glass. We went to our local fabric store and they just happened to have just enough on the precut sale aisle and away I went (there are actually 4 frames in total. One is on the opposite wall with a family portrait that was taken when we had Doodles.) I must say that I LOVE these. This design could be replicated for any room and would be GREAT in a nursery. You could do all first initials, all three initials, the possibilities are endless.

See all of those market totes, I will explain more in my next post... I cannot wait.

I Have Not Disappeared

I promise, I have not disappeared. In the next couple of days I will be updating the blog like CRAZY so that you all can see what has been going on... but here is just a taste...

One minute they just love each other and then the next...

Bow Head?

This is SweetPea, and yes I know that the bow on her head is about the size of a dinner plate, my husband gives me such a hard time ;). In this picture SweetPea is approximately nine months old, and she has little to no hair. When Doodles was this age, he had beautiful curls. So when I was pregnant with SweetPea, I was so excited, curls and a bow... YEAH!!! Well no, not so much... Many people mistake her for a boy, even when she was is dressed in all pink... GRRR!!! So I decided that it was time to take matters into my own hands, and this is what I came up with, a BIG beautiful bow. And now there is no way that someone could call my SweetPea a boy anymore.

These bows are great and the monogram button is a perfect touch of personalization. I got the band from a friend who has a GREAT site www.avaclaires.com (she also writes an incredile blog, www.spitupandheels.com). She is so sweet, she allowed me to list a couple of things on her site, and she used my sweet little girl as a model, thanks S.

I also posted below a picture of Doodles and SweetPea that I think is too sweet, and I always laugh out loud everytime I see it. SweetPeas face is the "tell all" of the situation.

Sophistication with a Touch of Whimsy

My neighbor has the SWEETEST little man... he has such a little personality, he laughs, smiles and is SO CUTE. Right after Little C was born, she wanted to do something extra special for his bathroom. Their house has the same layout as our house. There are two bedrooms downstairs, and one upstairs, and each bedroom has its own bathroom. C's bathroom is also the one that company uses, so she wanted something that was cute and would look nice for company. So after a lot of thinking, and many ideas swimming in my head, we came up with an incredible plan. We went to our local craft/fabric store and found thread, buttons, and fabric that would tie into the colors in his room. Look at the finished product...

Okay... don't you love it... sophistication and whimsy all rolled into one. But the next part will make you laugh. We are running a little behind at our house. So when I delivered the curtain, I also delivered their Christmas gift, yes it is a little late. But someday, I will be all caught up, at least that is my goal over the next couple of weeks. I created these three hand towels for their company to use. The applique is created out to the same fabric, the same font was used (their last name starts with an A) and thread that was used on the curtain so that they match. I think that it provides a bit of sophistication, but still VERY fun... just like their family. THANKS so much for being such GREAT neighbors.

Cabin Fever

Okay... I am getting Cabin Fever. I am ready for the days to warm up, for sundresses and sandals... bare feet, and children's feet running in the grass. This spring and summer, we will have two little ones with bare feet running in the grass, and I am so excited that Sweetpea will be able to experience the world in a new way this year. I have great visions of the two of them, Sweetpea running after Doodles... How incredible these new memories will be.

With this, I dream of Sweetpea playing in this dress, running in the grass. This is a varation of a pillowcase dress. The dress is fully lined and is created out of a small pink dot on white fabric with deep brown ribbon embellishment, a deep brown classic monogram, and large floppy brown bows on her sholders, she will be so cute I could eat her up. But what I must admit to you is that I love the most about this dress is the fact that she will be able to wear it for years to come all year long. As she grows, we will be able to add leggings and when it becomes too short to wear as a dress, we can then wear it for a season or two as a shirt. The shoulders are completely adjustable, and can be layered with a long sleeved shirt under allowing it to be worn even when the weather is cool. So despite the fact that it may cost slightly more than you normally might pay for a dress, if you are cheap like me.. it is well worth EVERY penny you spend.

This beautiful picture was taken at Sweetpeas 9 month photo session. This is one of the few shots that we got without her on the move. It's hard to believe how much she has grown.

Here is the dress off of Sweetpea. This will be one that we treasure for years.

P.S. I started this post yesterday, and now we have 4 inches of snow in our backyard...can't wait for those warm days!

Six is such a BIG number

We have long time friends who have the smartest little man. T is so good to play with Doodles when we get together. We recently went to his sixth birthday and had a fabulous time. T's mom and dad have decided to take on the same idea that we have for future birthday parties... smaller is better. So this was his last BIG party, and it was fun. T's mom contacted me a couple of days before the party and asked if I could create a special t-shirt for him. She gave me FULL creative rights, but wanted to use the fabric that was used in his nursery. After a couple of days, and a lot of prayers, the creative process was off and going. I love the large path of blue fabric attached to the shirt with a zig zag stitch allowing it to age and create depth. And the Six is super cute in the classic applique, especially with the frog peeking from around the edge of the six drumming a little drum. I just love the way that it turned out...

Four of a Kind

My husband and I have friends who have their hands FULL, really full. J and I share a common bond with them, it was a little harder for them, okay, a lot harder for them to have a family than it is for many. But with LOTS of prayer, God has blessed them with four miracles within three years, all four boys, what an incredible miracle... I love to give all the boys a personal gift for the first birthday of the year so that they can enjoy them all year long. Mom and Dad are huge Auburn Fans, just as we are, so this year I designed the following shirts for "the boys." I just love them. Hopefully Mom will allow me to share a picture of the boys in their matching shirts...

Is the Warm Weather Ever Coming?

If you are like me, I dreamed from the moment I found out that I was having a girl of dressing her in pretty dresses, bows and many other girly things, my husband would just roll his eyes when I would tell him about all of my thoughts and dreams. Also, for those of you who know me, my creative juices started flowing. I dreamed of the different outfits I could create for her... Let's fast forward months and here we are. I cannot wait to show you all my pillow case dress. This was created for her Nine Month Picture sesssion with our incredible photographer Kathleen Bowie of http://www.vkp.me/. This dress is in the ever popular pink and brown with a Brown monogram and brown ribbon embellishment, and this dress is fully lined. This dress can be created lined and unlined, and I will be offering more of thes in the next couple of weeks. Keep checking back... I am so EXCITED, and cannot wait for the weather to warm so that Sweet Pea can wear it again.

Growing Pains

Many of you may think that I have disappeared... but I have not. I have just been working through some "growing pains." I like to think of myself as creative, very creative. I definitely am learning what I do not like to do... and one of them is designing anything on the computer, they truly frustrate me. I need to feel something with my hands to feel that I can truly know how to work with something... and computers do not allow you to do this. I am therefor VERY thankful for my friend A, without her, I think I would pull my hair out and throw myself over my second story balcony.

Thanks to A... I now have advertising. I decided a couple of weeks ago to advertise at a local consignment sale which happens twice a year here. We looked long and hard for just the perfect one, once we found the perfect ones, we or really A worked her magic, and we placed the order. They were guaranteed to be here a couple of days before we needed them, I was SO EXCITED. In the end, they did not make it here.... I called A in a panic. Between A, her husband R and my patient husband J, they saved the day. Sorry for all of the pictures, I am just SO proud of all our hard work, thanks for indulging me...

Sorry if these pictures aren't very clear, they were taken with my phone!

BYOG?

Bring Your Own Garment...

Each time a local client brings me a garment to monogram or applique I cannot wait to get started... the possibilities are endless. Here are a couple of things that my good friend brought to me to complete for a baby gift. She wanted something special to add to a gift basket she had created for a second baby. So exciting...

Matchie Matchie?

Are you like me... or maybe I am just a little over the top as my husband might say. I like my children's outfits to blend more often than not. I often find this a challenge due to the fact that one is a boy and the other is a girl. A dear friend of mine is a woman after my own heart and shares this thought too. She has a school age boy and a preschool daughter, and this is the solution that we came up with... I love the outcome, see what you think. Cannot wait to get started on shirts for Sweet Pea and Doodles.

If you're interested in purchasing this item, click the link below.

Life Happens...

I just wanted to let you all know that we are now back in business and so excited about what 2010 has to offer. You may be wondering where we went, an I just wanted to give you a quick update. My husband Jason needed some surgery that turned into a major 17 day stay in the hospital and more recovery than we could have ever imagined. In addition, my two little ones needed sometime to get back into the swing of things. Thank you to all that prayed for us during this time. We could have never made it without you all. God has truly used this time to bring us closer as a family and to Him, we are truly blessed. Here are a couple of updated pictures of our family. Cannot wait to start posting all of the new and exciting items that we have to offer...

All of us...

Doodles : His 3 year picture... Too Big

Sweet Pea: Her One Year Pictures... Amazing how fast a year flies

Sweet Pea and Doodles... Sibling Love

They look like they are going to get in trouble. This is a common scene at the house, but I love it.

These two are my constant inspiration. The incredible pictures were taken by Kathleen Bowie of http://www.vkp.me/. She does an such a GREAT job... Stop by and see her work.

Single Letter Applique Long-Sleeve T-shirt

Here is our Little Man at a friend's school festival this weekend. He had such a GREAT time. This is one of my newest creations... an appliqued shirt sporting our Little Man's first initial. The "J" is created with brown corduroy fabric giving it a great texture for those fall and winter days, and the stitching surrounding the letter is completed in a warm blue. I just love a crisp white shirt, it really allows the dark letter to pop out. I can create a custom shirt for your little one with different fabric or a different color of stitching with a dark letter on it... I just love this custom look.

Please check out my etsy site to view fabric choices & purchase one of your own...
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33430334

Bibs & Burpcloths

This has to be one of my favorite gifts to give and is so popular with my clients. You can mix and match, give just one set or several. This Bib and Burp Cloth gift set can be customized for you, your friends or loved ones. I have a set of stock ribbon or a seasonal stock of ribbon which can be found on my Etsy Site. You can pick your font and the color of thread based on the color of ribbon chosen. There are so many fun ways to customize this gift. We could add a bow for that precious little girl, a cool font for that sweet little guy, use initials, a single letter monogram, a full name or even a cool applique. I have some sets which will have set designs or I would love to customize a group of items for you, just contact me and we will work it all out.
Click on the link below to see more examples and pricing for this set...
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33138951

Lovie

I created this Lovie/Car seat blanket for a friend of mine a little over a year ago, and it has to be one of my favorites. It is super soft and has many different textures. Many mommies use this in the car seat to keep there little ones warm and cozy when they are little and then as the grow, many children use this as a comfort item that is used at nap and bedtime. This would be a perfect gift and more information can be found on my Etsy site. As always, this item can be customized with different choices of fabric, binding, and thread color, so that you can have a unique gift that fits you, the one that you are giving the gift to or your little one.

Onesie with Reverse Applique

I am so excited to be starting this adventure. It is something that I have wanted to do for a long time and I am now taking the plunge. Here is a picture of the Little Girl. She has on a super cute onesie that I created. If you look on my Etsy site, you can find out more. Each one can be customized with your choice of font, color of thread, and fabric from my stock. I like to call this one a Reverse Applique. It has an incredible amount of texture as it has chenille fabric and instead of the fabric on top being appliqued, I chose to place the accent chenille fabric on the bottom and then cut away the onesie leaving a small edge of the onsie material around the thread for a little added texture. This was inspired by a college friend's daughter's t-shirt. THANKS Kendra.

I will be posting frequently, but probably a lot in the next few days so that I can get A LOT of my FAVORITES out there. Thanks so much for looking.

P.S. Little Girl is my 9 month old daughter (she was about 7 months old in this picture). Little Girl, Little Man, my son (who will be pictured soon) are two of the reasons that I have decided to take the PLUNGE.

About Me

Hi, I'm Katie Jane (or as I'm known by my close friends and fam- "Kajan"). I would like to take a quick minute of your time to tell just a little about myself and how I got started. I have been married for over ten years to my husband J. We shocked everyone after J asked me to marry him after only a couple of months. I finished my degree from Auburn University and started working right away with children. J and I quickly decided to try for a family as we knew that I would possibly take us some time due to some complications I have. We tried on our own, and when it did not happen, we decided to seek help from a specialist. After 7 years of trying, several heartbreaking miscarriages, four specialist, and an incredible amount of prayer and belief in God, we were able to carry a full term baby boy, Little Man. Then a little over a year later, we embarked upon our journey again and within 4 months I was pregnant with Little Girl.

During the time that we were trying to become pregnant, J purchase a machine which monogrammed (I think in hopes to give me a hobby to take my mind off of all that was going on). All of our friends were pregnant, having babies, and having birthday parties for their little ones. As hard as this time was, God provided me with this creative outlet, as protection for my heart. I would sit down and create a handmade item to take, allowing me not to focus on what we did not have but on what we would have some day, praying for our future and also the future of the child that I was creating the item for. Many friends asked me to start doing little things for them and it has just taken off from there. I find in the times that my life seems to be the craziest, I am at my most creative. After the birth of our Little Man (aka. Doodles), the creative juices seemed to increase and now that we have Little Girl (aka. Sweet Pea) they are overflowing. God has been so faithful to allow my business to grow in such away that I am able to stay at home, a true calling.

At the requests of my friends and customers, I'm beginning a new adventure in the world of blogging. My business will be primarily run through Etsy, but this will be a starting point for y'all to check out my work. Each item I create is unique and personal. Please take a look around, and if you would like to place an order visit http://doodlesduds.etsy.com/

Thanks and God bless,
Katie

P.S. I just wanted to take a minute to thank my husband J. You have always believed in me, encouraged me, pushed me when I needed it, and put up with my insanity. Without you and your prayers, this is not possible.

Also to my friends and family who have helped encourage me along the way and prayed for me, THANKS!!! You have a chosen to ride this CRAZY roller coaster ride with me, thanks for not getting off :). A special thanks to A for taking me by the hand and pulling me along. You truly put up with a lot.