Thanks for all of your encouragement on the knitting. I stayed up to around 2 am that night working it out and then spent the weekend working on it. I got about half way done and decided to start over. There were just too many holes in the beginning. And it is a gift, so we’ll start again.

But, I did take a picture to share with you. But, I left my camera at a friend’s house about two hours away so… No picture. I’ll get my camera back this weekend and share with you my lovely holey hat.

In other news, we spent the weekend with four other couple friends and their toddlers/babies. All in one house! It was amazingly beautiful. But again, no pictures until this weekend.

So let me go through iPhoto and see what we’ve got in here to share. Oh yes, there it is.

We’re in business! I ordered my business cards and clothing tags from Etsy sellers. I just fell in love with the little bird on the cards. I’ve received three four more custom orders for the Mexican dresses and have a few more items in the que I need to list in the shop.

I always seem to make lists to travel, now I think I need to carry it with me to make sure I bring everything back home. At least I didn’t leave a kid behind. Although with five kids, I could see that happening.

My favorite little dress.

I made it this weekend for a custom Etsy order. If only the adult dresses were easier to come by I’d have a shop full of them.

After reflecting on yesterday’s post and feeling pulled outside with the kids I just have to let you know that they won! Out came the water sprinkler for the first time this year and it provided endless entertainment. Until I decided we were wasting too much water. Ah, the internal struggle of a parent. Then I let them play a little longer, vowing to take a shorter shower this morning to make up for it. That makes sense right? Ah, probably not but what the heck.

Since having children I have become more aware of our carbon footprint. You know, those marks we leave behind on the earth. Tread lightly is what I tell myself.

We have made some changes around here such as shopping with reusable bags, recycling, buying local, eating organic, buying old rather than new, etc. I do think the greatest thing we can do is to teach our children about the earth and how to nurture it. Instinctively, they enjoy playing outside and digging in the dirt. It’s the simple things with our children that make them the happiest.

I’ve been toying around with opening an ETSY shop for some time now. I’ve been kicking around the idea of what to sell. What is my craft? Earth day got me thinking about re. Those two little letters stuck in my head all day long yesterday until it hit me. I will open a chikaustin re store where all items are either recycled, repurposed or reused.

So during nap time I hurried upstairs and got to work. I’ve only got a few items listed but will be adding more today. I’m going to take custom orders for vintage pillowcase dresses. Most of what I have on there now are all vintage embroidered pillowcases. Very sweet. Just the thought that someone a very long time ago sat down and spent a good portion of her day creating this pillowcase for her family makes my heart melt.

I also made a storybook bird mobile featuring Where the Wild Things Are. I will also take custom orders for these as well. The mobiles are made using repurposed materials, recycled cardboard, an old children’s book and newspaper.

And of course, you all know my love for thrifting so I will list some items that I find while out and about. Right now there is a rockin’ 1970’s hand tooled vintage leather wallet.

The shop is small right now but I needed to start somewhere. I would love some feedback from you shoppers out there and even you ETSY shop owners. The shop will continue to evolve as needed. Thanks for checking it out and all of your comments!

I’ve been running around all week trying to get ready for the big weekend.  Miles’ sister is getting married in San Antonio and I’m the matron-of-honor while Makena is a flower girl.  So I’ve been running in circles, or as my dad so eloquently phrases it ‘Jade, you’re like a dog chasing his tail.’  I do a lot of chasing my tail!  Can anyone else relate?

With a weekend full of events coming up, I was in the market for a small handbag to bring along.  As I was checking my flickr page I noticed that my friend Beki had posted pictures of a beautiful green and black handbag.  I loved the contrast with the green and black fabrics.  I rushed to her blog to see if she had blogged it.  Not yet.  My next stop was to her ETSY shop to see if it was there.  Bingo!  Found it before she could blog it and it arrived in the mail three days later.  Beki’s got quite the following and I knew it would go fast.  She even threw in a great button pin.  Thanks Beki!  Keep making beautiful bags sweetheart!

Good news here concerning Makena’s finger.  Yesterday, the pins were removed and it looks really good!  Now she starts rehab for the next four weeks and we go from there.  It does look like it is healing, and that my friends is a miracle.

Speaking of contrast, this past weekend we went to Cousin Connor’s 6th birthday party.  It was a reptile themed party and had a reptile guy as well.  I kept my distance as the kids were in awe with all of the creepy crawly creatures that he brought along.  And to answer your question, yes those are Makena’s boots and her feet were in them!  Keegan was even enamored with the snakes.  As he was trying to get a good look at this big snake, the snake slithered up to him and went right between his legs as one very nervous mama looked on.  Eeek!