It's a cat drumming a drum that says "Rad" by Deth P. Sun

Yesterday Mikah kept asking us “What’s that awful sound?” And then Ben & I would giggle. It’s our inside joke.

Mikah enjoys helping Ben make Kitty Egg Crayons, and one part of the process is using a metal palette knife to scrape off the spilled crayon waxes from the work table. Mikah is a pro at this, though scraping a metal palette knife against dry wood at high speeds can make sounds similar to nails scratching a plate.

Ben, not wanting to just rip the palette knife away from Mikah’s hands, will scrunch up his face and say, “What’s that awful sound?”

My funny boys.

There aren’t a lot of sounds that personally bother me, though I managed to make a list:

• cotton balls rubbing together
• high frequency whirring sounds of appliances (like bathroom fans or old tv’s)
• fork scratching on a plate
• AC/DC

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Crochet Dragon by Olga Farberova

I didn’t actually figure out this resolution til 10 minutes ago- but here it is. I’m going to do 1 post a day on the blog.

I’ve been looking for more writers to collaborate on our blog to share great resources for you guys- but it’s always better to lead by example. So please look forward to seeing great posts on tutorials, recipes, and shopping guides. I’ll be including my daily ‘love notes’ in between.

For now, Happy New Years! 2012 is the year of the Water Dragon. Dragons are passionate and hard-working, but can fizzle out quickly. However 2012 is the year of the Water Dragon, as such……

Water Dragons – Years 1952 and 2012

Water calms the Dragon’s fire. Water Dragons are able to see things from other points of view. They don’t have the need to always be right. Their decisions, if well-researched, are usually better since they allow other’s to become involved. (source)

In our house, Ben is our dragon, born in the year of 1976, making him a FIRE dragon- which means he is extra firey and passionate…. a definite ‘doer’ of things. If you don’t have your own dragon in your family, consider getting one from Olga Farberova, who I found just searching on etsy for a dragon. I love that it’s a papa dragon with his baby- how adorable!

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This is how we feel. From the amazingly awesome family movie, My Neighbor Totoro

Thank you to everyone who helped make this project a success and for all of your positive comments and words of encouragement. We really would not be doing this if it weren’t for your support.

Since the project ended we’ve been busy getting all our scores settled. Of course monkey wrenches pop in when you least expect it- though I feel like that’s the spice of life.

We’ve had to delay our bulk production due to mishaps in shipment from one vendor, expired materials from another vendor, delay in communication from another different vendor, etc, etc. The list goes on.

The only part of production that went perfectly was printing for our new packaging. We used Ander’s Printing, a local company in Portland. They did an excellent job with everything- from communication to execution.

New packaging from Andersons Printing in PDX

The good news is that we got enough supplies together to start production ourselves. We’ve been handmaking the kitties for the past 2.5 years, so we figured, why not.

Mixing pigments in our garage

This ended up being a blessing in disguise- a couple colors that worked out in small test batches ended up not so pretty when scaled up. We got those tweaked and started pumping kitties out. Ben is in charge of this department and with all our new professional materials, he was able to make almost 500 kitties just this past week!

The new kitties ready to go

Thanks to that, we have been able to keep to our shipping schedule and just sent our first batch of eco kitties last night to our best Canadian vendors, Collage Collage and Hip Baby.

Sample of our new packaging, though at the time we took this photo we didn't yet have blues and purples- hence the aqua and brown as replacements. We also tweaked the green to be more green instead of yellow-green.

On a personal note, we’ve been adjusting to the winter here in Portland. It’s SO COLD! Mikah caught the sniffles, though his spirits are up. We also got word that Ben’s mother passed away. She had spent many many years suffering from a debilitating mental illness as well as from other physical ailments, so this news came mostly as a relief that at least now she can have peace.

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Sara entered with a tweet and a $35 pledge. As such, she won our $50 reward.

she also has quite a cute etsy shop- check it out!

saraink.etsy.com

and in case you are curious,

How I Picked the Random Winner

1. I used Google Docs to create a spreadsheet and listed the
   Name, Email, and Pledge amount (if applicable) each commenter left. 1 entry per row.
2. This made it easy to click & drag additional entries for commenters- especially pledgers who received sometimes HUNDREDS of additional entries (since $1 pledge = 5 entries)
3. I used random.org to generate a random drawing.
   
4. The row number in the spreadsheet corresponded with the winner entry. In this case, it was #286- yay!

   

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Join our blitz giveaway for our new Soy & Beeswax Kitty Egg Crayon + a coloring book! Valued at $38. Ends 12/4

10 reasons to support Kitty Egg Crayon

10. They make an amazing gift. Imagine opening a package to see little kitty eggs sitting in a nested egg carton staring up at you. Who wouldn’t be delighted!

9. Be the first. These will be our first official batch of eco Kitty Egg Crayons. Not only will you have one of the first sets ever made, but you’ll have the knowledge that you actually helped manifest these cuties into reality.

8. Long lasting. Each kitty is the equivalent of 8 standard sticks of crayon without paper wrappers or broken stubs to worry about. Mothers, say goodbye to the unsightly mess of broken stubby crayons.

7. Durable. Their chubby bodies break their fall. We don’t recommend using them in place of your golf ball, but they do handle hard pressure and table falls much better than other crayons on the market.

6. Rich colors. Have you used eco crayons that were dull or had a waxy texture? Kitty Eggs don’t do that. They have vibrantly rich colors with a smooth texture- you’ll be amazed.

5. It helps tots promote grasping skills. Their bodies fit perfect in the palms of small hands, helping to promote the use of tripod muscles- critical for pencil and pen holding.

4. It sparks imaginative play. It doesn’t matter if you’re “too young” or “too old” to use crayons, everyone will be compelled to touch and play with these chubby kitties. We guarantee it’ll instantly brighten your day.

3. Fantastic tool for explorative art. There are no paper wrappers or pointed edges to guide a “right” or “wrong” way to use Kitty Egg Crayons. Use all sides of the kitty to make marks- from thin ear marks to broad butt strokes… there’s so much to discover!

2. It is better for our Earth. Cheap crayons use cheap materials that can draw on finite resources- like paraffin wax, an oil by-product. We will be using renewable ingredients such as beeswax and soy that will be natural or organic.

1. It helps support our local economy. We’re lucky we found all that we needed right here in the Pacific Northwest. From production to packaging, the Kitty Egg Crayons will be fully home grown. That means your money goes directly into pockets of families and artisans right here in America!

To Enter: Help us raise funds!

1. Help share and recommend pre-orders for our new eco Kitty Egg Crayon this holiday season. Post the link to your blog, twitter, face… etc.
   http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kittybabylove/kitty-egg-crayons-made-for-small-hands
   (suggestion: use the links immediately below the video)
2. Please make it more than a generic link- include a short blurb with one of the 10 points listed above or your own words of approval.
3. Leave a comment below linking to your post. If you post to a social network, be sure that you have the post set to public so we can see it!

Additional Entries:

1 additional entry for each different site you post to. Max of 5 sites. Reposting on the same account doesn’t count- please don’t spam your friends! Again, leave a link for each site you post to.

5 additional entries for each dollar you pledge on our campaign ($1 minimum). $1 = 5 entries. We start offering rewards at $5- a mini PDF coloring book. That means by pledging $5, you’ll not only receive 25 additional entries for this giveaway, but you’ll also receive a mini PDF coloring book!

If you pledge $35 or more, we will automatically upgrade your pledge reward to the next level as a winning prize. So if you pledged $35 and won, you’ll actually receive the $50 reward. Likewise, a backer who pledged at $50 will receive the $100 reward if they win.

1 additional entry for a local gift shop recommendation. Max of 1 recommendation (make it your favorite shop!). Do you have a really cute gift shop in your neighborhood that you could see our kitties in? Let us know so we can get in touch with them- please only recommend locally owned gift/baby/eco shops. No chain stores.

In a nutshell…

• Last entry will be accepted 9pm PST 12/4
• 1 winner will be chosen at random on December 5th, 2011
• No purchase necessary
• International friends welcomed to enter
• Winner will be announced on our blog and notified via email on December 5th
• Seperate comments not needed for each entry

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Getting things started again

It’s been a while… about 9 months actually.
Life presented some life changing directions to take and I took them!
One of the biggest changes was that I took a full-time job with full health benefits for the entire family. On top of that I got paid on a regular basis, for work that I had been doing anyway and also had a lot of interest in. Awesome, right? It was! For a while.

But soon I started noticing things like…
spending all my energy at work. Being constantly ‘tired’ when I came home. Having a short fuse when it came to relationships with people I loved. Feeling a constant need to just zone out. Feel the need to decompress and have a drink every night (I resisted). Feeling like I missed the whole day with my son.
In a nutshell, I felt depressed.

After some reflection it became painfully obvious that I was not doing something that reinforced the person I wanted to grow into. Sure this was ok for now, but as far as who and where I want to be in 10 or even 5 years? No.
While I was highly encouraged to accept, mostly by family, that these pangs of unhappiness was normal and what 90% of society experiences for financial stability (because financial stability outweighs happiness), it just wasn’t a good enough reason to stay.

On the flip side, it was hugely important for me to experience what a “real world” job felt like. It was extremely affirming to go from college grad to mother to manager of a department, and to have other more experienced workers affirm my competence. Up until that point I felt like I had always just been winging it, though now I feel like maybe I really do know what i’m doing.

So now comes change.

"they sacrificed everything to the stars"

Now that i’m back full-time, doing Kitty Baby Love, the first step for me is to turn what has been something that helped us scrape by into something that really works for our family situation.

Here is where we jump off a cliff again.

After some soul searching, we have decided that it is finally time, after a year of dodging and being insecure, to manufacture our Kitty Egg Crayons from our own blend of natural & organic ingredients.

Its an exciting and nerve-wracking time for us. I’ll write a separate post for it soon.

In the meanwhile, write to me in the comments below, about an exciting opportunity that scared the cheese out of you, and how it all turned out.  I want to know!

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If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13

And with that, I leave you some simple tutorials to give to friends, family, yourself, or a stranger.

Origami Heart Tutorial by Kitty Baby Love (from the archives)

Valentine Lightbulb Tutorial by Design Sponge

Fabric Heart Garland by How About Orange

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Found on etsy!

a. WarmCountryMeadows . etsy has some great terrarium sellers and this is one of them. Love the DIY kit she has too!
b. babyjives . how cute is this?! Love how dimensional the clouds are… check out her shop to see her awesome bird mobiles too
c. KLTworks . i’ve already mentioned these cutie slugs before, but here they are again. I don’t think i’ll ever get tired of how cute they are ^^
d. fogandswell . I absolutely love how detailed this is for a simple creature- and generally I just love the theme of the creatures in her shop. check it out and you’ll see what I mean- looking forward to seeing more items from fogandswell!

More crafted pinecones, slugs, mushrooms and moss here!

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17 months as a family!

more on our flickR account, kittybabylove

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Another reason to love living in Portland!

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