Are you in the SF Bay Area? SEESAW has its grand opening tomorrow!
They are a play studio, lounge, and workshop to inspire children curiosity, creativity and connection. It’s run by husband and wife duo, Sabrina (child psychologist) and Niels (software engineer). Additionally they will be carrying our Kitty Egg crayons, so please check them out and tell us about it.
(SEESAW on facebook)

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I’ve been referenced as being Wednesday Adams, Marla Singer, and Tim Burton something… so I’m pretty darn pleased to be apart of the Crafting In Color Etsy Team! I have never claimed black to be my favorite color, ever. But I do admit my wardrobe was 95% black from the ages of 14-23. So this is a pretty big deal for me- I am officially embracing my inner rainbow.

To commemorate, I made this treasury on etsy. As always, comments appreciated!

[CIC Team] treasury:
top row: beckykazana, therainbowroom, HamjArt, KIMONOS
2nd row: PoorRobin, sunshinegrovefarm, kittybblove, ahouston
3rd row: sugarandcream, alatceramics, MistyAurora, swiedebie
4th row: tekaandzoe, happycloud, bprdesigns, thefuzzymonkey

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Since we mix our own colors, we sometimes get swirly kitties in between batches of colors… like moving from a batch of orange crayons to red. They’re fairly popular when we sell them on weekends at Portland Saturday Market so I haven’t had time to list and sell any on etsy.
Behind them are some peace sign crayons too… another item yet to be listed on our shop…

What do you think of the swirlies and peace sign crayons? Any color combos or particular things you’d like to see?

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This was designed with older kids in mind. The pointy tip of the drop function like a pencil tips for detailed coloring and drawing. We’re still working out the kinks and it probably won’t be available for at least a couple more weeks. The one above is one of our prototypes. He still needs a face and maybe a *little* shorter and thicker tip to prevent breakage from heavy duty crayon users. I also still have to figure out how to package these guys so that their tips stay protected during transportation. Hmmm

What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments.

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Mikah thinks he’s *sooo* cool- he is throwing his toy car around his back.

I woke up one morning and found this on the chalkboard. I love how just the little kitty’s head is peeking out of the bottom.

Aahh, life.

Mikah is showing more and more of his personality- He is super friendly, social, and a bit sassy too!
The bad – He discovered how to take things out of place (like pulling clothes out of the laundry)
The good – Ben and I have been firm about having him put it all back. Generally once we do 1 or 2 items, he’ll copy us (he loves to copy things we do), but sometimes he’ll put up a fight. Once it took a good 10 minutes to get everything back in order (that’s like an eternity in baby time). It’s all worth it though. Better now before it turns into a bad habit. When he finishes putting it all back he’ll sign to us “finished” and sometimes clap his hands. It’s really adorable.

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It is rare for me to find long periods of uninterrupted time where I don’t feel compelled to do something “productive”. After we came home from a long (but fun) morning of exploring Portland, I found myself alone. Mikah and Ben were fast asleep and I was not tired. It felt natural for me to fill the time with a drawing… something to do for fun. This is my first doodle in a very long time. I feel happy about it and inspired to start a drawing journal again.

When I finished the sketch I found that had Vasia joined Mikah…

Life is good.

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Actually we missed all of last month at Portland Saturday Market. Ben got a job (yes, a “real” job). So we were still adjusting to our new routine. Today was our first day back at market. It was wonderfully warm and sunny. We all wore sunscreen but still got a little burned. Mikah got a few hugs back from babies around his age (Mikah likes to give a lot of hugs)- and generally just stole the show with how amazing he is.

Dont mind the wrinkles…

The bright colored square garland is a new addition to our booth. I wanted to add some color since everything is pretty monochromatic. I like the way they look but I think I’ll upgrade the look by having the colors more closely match our bottom “Kitty Baby Love” logo colors. Also putting it on fabric with frayed edges (for a homemade/rustic look).

Mikah says *I know you!! You’re my mommy…. mommy = milk (he’s using baby sign language)*

Mikah’s Words
baby sign language –> milk, more, finish/no more, amen (we’re nonsecular but we do like to eat dinner together and give our thanks to the universe for being able to do so), twist (he likes to twist on/off bottle caps), brushing teeth (he made this one up.. sticks his finger in his mouth and swooshes it around while going aaaaaaa)

verbal words –> dada (word of choice), egg, guitar (gui gui gui), banana (nana), light (ite ite), vehicle (brrrrr), mama

words he recognizes but can’t communicate –> shoe, eye, nose, mouth, ears, head, hat

I’m sure theres more, but that’s all that we know of. ^_^

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It was my birthday yesterday. We went to Peninsula Park where they were having “Sunday Parkways,” a big bike & pedestrian friendly event. It was my first time seeing the rose garden there- it was so beautiful! I felt like I was in the Queen of Hearts court from Alice in Wonderland (at least from the classic Disney film… havent seen the new one from Tim Burton yet).

Here is our 13 month anniversary photo. Mikah has a rock in his mouth. He is enjoying it very much

Exploring the rose garden…

hula hooping…

Mikah watching me..

My favorite feature at the park was this water play yard for the kids! They had a cool spiral frog thing, a giant flower that sprayed water some 20 or so feet into the air! Also a bunch of little fire hydrant poles around the perimeters. It was awesome.

Afterwards we went to visit my friend Lupe of uglycowpretty who totally made my day with a surprise birthday cake + bouquet of sunflowers! Her husband also grilled us all a delicious lunch while the tots played in a tent in their backyard. It was great.

As displayed on our fireplace mantle…

While sometimes stressful, life is good…

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A visit to the library this past week (on Fathers Day actually) brought us across this great children book, Wabi Sabi. It is about a simple and ordinary (but beautiful) kitty named Wabi Sabi. Wabi Sabi discovers that his name has a meaning and searches for that meaning. On his journey he realizes the essence of Wabi Sabi through dialogue with other animals, but mostly from the sights, sounds, and feelings he encounters.

Wabi Sabi is a Japanese worldview based on impermanence, incompleteness, and imperfection. It finds beauty in the simple ordinary feelings. It is modest, humble, simple, intimate, and associated with darkness.

The illustrations in the book are a perfect example of Wabi Sabi- they are done in a collage, but with lots of rough and ripped edges. There is so much depth and texture even though you are looking at a printed image. The format of the book opens vertically like a wall calendar rather than horizontally. Throughout the story are short haiku’s (Japanese poems translated in English as 5 syllables, 7 syllables, and 5 syllables per line). The illustrations themselves hide more haiku’s in Chinese characters that are translated in the back of the book.

Overall I just really loved the message of the book- appreciating the simplicities and natural processes of life as beauty. I thought it might be beyond Mikah’s comprehension level, but he seemed to enjoy the book as well. He was quiet the entire time I read, and the page-filled textured illustrations definitely captured his attention. This is a book we will revisit again and again as he grows older…

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What Kitties Feel has been made into a coloring AND activity book! We now have it available for print or as a download on our etsy shop as well as kittybabylove.com

So now we have 3 options:
a:: Coloring book download
b:: Coloring & Activity book download
c:: Coloring & Activity printed book

I was thinking of doing a free activity page on a monthly basis for our newsletter subscribers. I think I need to do a year’s worth (12) at one time so it is all ready to go without me having to worry about it. When that is ready i’ll post about it here.

Till then, enjoy the download or printed book!

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