Posts Tagged ‘Etsy’

I came across the sweetest dresses that would perfectly compliment any girl with graceful simplicity at the Etsy store Practical Inspirations. These lovely dresses are quaint enough for every day wear but also fancy enough to be worn for those special occasions.

I was blessed with the opportunity to review one of these lovely dresses for my daughter. And it has beyond met my expectations! This dress like the others found at this store are sewn so that a child can continue to grow with the dress from age 2 to 5 years old.  This dress is very versatile as my daughter can wear a shirt long or short sleeved under it as well as a cardigan over it.

Not only dresses can be found at Practical Inspirations but also very whimsical  texture books that are perfect for any baby, infant, or toddler. I honestly can’t wait too see what wonderful things will be added next!

I enjoyed getting to know Kim creator and seamstress behind Practical Inspirations and hope you do to with my Etsy Meet Greet questions below. Read on!

1.Why did you decide to start doing this on Etsy and how long have you been?

I had hear about Etsy from a friend and had been working on publishing my texture book for several years with no avail and decided to try and “self-publish” if you will on this site.

2. What do you enjoy the most when creating your products?
I enjoy the practicality of creating beautiful things, they are both functional and pleasing to the senses.  I enjoy seeing children grow and explore their world.  It is always an adventure and I enjoy finding new ways to express my creativity.

3. Apart from creating things, what do you do?

I teach sewing at my local sewing center, enjoy time with my kids, read, try to keep in shape, and enjoy the little moments that slip through your fingers too quickly.

4. What inspires you?

Like my shop says “Practical Inspiration”.  I am constantly looking at things and creating better, more practical solutions with a hint of whimsy.

5.In five years you’d like to be…?

I would like to have a successful internet business that allows me the freedom to be home as well as the freedom to share and help others with their practical solutions.

If you’d like to keep up with Kim, check out her blog which also features fun projects and more!

Win It!

Kim is offering one of my readers a dress from her shop Practical Inspirations!

To Enter: Visit Practical Inspirations and tell me what you love or what’d you like to see!

Extra Entries:

1. Blog this giveaway, link back to this post. (2 extra)

2. Follow on Twitter @erinlowmaster & Tweet (daily entries available)

3. Post this giveaway on a Giveaway Linky/Site and let me know where!

4. Email a friend(s) about this giveaway. (Leave name of friend)

5. Subscribe to my blog by RSS or E-mail (Feed Burner) and let me know!

6. Become a Facebook Fan of Connected2Christ and leave me a comment there letting me know you are coming from this giveaway.

Giveaway running till 05/04/11 . Winners will be notified shortly afterward by email. Please respond within 48 hours or you forfeit your prize to another participant. USA only.

DISCLAIMER: My thoughts are mine own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any compensation for hosting this giveaway or review other than the sample above mentioned.

Baby Bee Haven makes the most adorable covers for cloth diapering!
I enjoyed quite a bit browsing the selection from busy trucks to little lady bugs just perfect for both boys and girls! How lucky I am considering myself to be able to review a diaper cover of my choice for my bouncing baby boy!

I have a thing for sock monkeys so it’s no surprise that I decided to review the Blue Sock Monkey diaper cover for my son. Currently this cover is one of my favorites in my growing selection.  It has held up fantastically preventing any unwanted leaks during the day or evening hours. And care for the cover itself is super easy of which I am glad, I don’t have all the time in world with two kids under the age of three!

This cover makes changing my baby boy quick! It’s closures are constructed with Aplix (a hook and loop similar to Velro). The edges of the hook side have been bound with a woolly nylon thread to create a smooth non-scratchy surface.  I’m sure in future I may not use this one as much because in past history I had a little one that loved to remove her diaper. If it’s not the case with my son, I’ll stick with covers like these. I’m not a huge fan of snaps because they are hard to fasten with a squirmy little baby!

I really enjoyed getting to learn all about the mom behind Baby Bee Haven through my Etsy “Meet & Greet” questions and hope you do too!

1.) Why did you decide to start doing this on etsy, and how long have you been?

In my etsy shop it says that I’ve been opened since May 2010. However, my first listing was not until February 2011. So I’ve been at this etsy thing for about a month. I’ve been designing and redesigning my covers since I was pregnant with my youngest. So about 3 years. I cloth diapered about half the time ( or a little less) with my oldest, and was determined to use cloth exclusively with my second.  I bought several brands of covers, many of them lovely, some not so, and realized that I could make them just as well or better, and became slightly obsessed with creating the perfect cover, while also making them super cute.  When I got to the point where my first choice from the diaper cover pile was always my covers, I felt compelled to share them with people.  So here I am, selling on etsy. I sell at a few shops locally, but much prefer this. I feel closer to the customer (oddly enough), and I don’t have to pay a high percentage.  The other reason for me to sell on etsy is that I am a stay at home mom during the winter months and only work part time during the growing season, June-October. Also, my husband is deployed for a year, so the busier I am,  the faster the time goes!

2.) What do you enjoy most when creating your product?
I am a bit of a perfectionist, though you would never know it walking into my house on any given day. Being a parent there is no room for perfectionism, there is always something out of order. My house is rarely tidy, the yard is weedy, there is an eternal pile of laundry on the guest bed and the kids always need something, naturally. When I sew, I can channel my inner perfectionist and  I have full control of the outcome (well, much of the time). I enjoy the puzzle part of making the patterns, whether its diapers or dresses or lingerie or bags, Everything I make is my own. I learned to make my own patterns early on, so just making something up comes easier to me than using commercial patterns. I also enjoy shopping for fabric of course!

3.) Apart from creating things what do you do?

I’m a dish washer, clothes launderer, cook, taxi driver and keeper of small things. Mother of 2 and sole parent for the next 12 months, while hubby is on military deployment. During the growing season May-ish through October-ish I work on an organic flower farm, creating floral arrangements for weddings and also selling at our local farmers market. I keep a very large garden for our family and grandparents and spend alot of time in my head plotting for our own “someday” farm (sustainable agriculture was my major in college).  Another reason I like sewing is that it leaves room for other streams of consciousness, yet I still feel productive and creative. I also enjoy hiking, biking, weight lifting, cooking, food preservation (goes along with keeping a huge garden)  and going for walks in the woods behind our house with the girls.  Oh, yes, and I raise chickens for eggs and meat.

4.) What inspires you?

For the diapers I get inspiration from trips to the fabric store and seeing other peoples work, and I just think cloth diapering is the better choice. There is nothing like a cloth diapered bottom.
For life and living inspiration comes from meeting people and getting to know other characters, especially if they offer a completely different point of view, and put me out of my comfort zone, reminding me how many ways of living there are on this planet.  I spent the better part of my late teens and twenties in random travel and aquainting myself with people and customs I wasn’t immediately (or at all) familiar with, so this is a big part of who I am and how I function.

5.) In 5 years I’d like to be….

So my husband is a helicopter pilot  so this means that change is inevitable and we move to where the work is. As adventurous as I was in my twenties, I really like the idea of never ever moving again. So in 5 years I’d like to be in our forever house or at least on our forever land. Our goal is to build a timber frame/straw bale home powered by solar/wind etc (all dependent on the home site of course). We would like to be as self sufficient as possible. I would like for my farm to be up and running and for the diaper business to be going along smoothly as well.

My Overall Thoughts…

We love Baby Bee Haven diaper covers and will defiently be keeping an eye on what  future designs and pordects will be added to the store in future! If you are interested in purchasing these covers, note that sizes run from xs (6-15lbs) all the way up to extra large (35-45lbs) and are $15.00 each.

**Disclaimer: The product/s mentioned above will be given to me free of charge from the company or PR firm in exchange for being featured on Connected2Christ.

A few weeks ago while searching for diaper covers on Esty, I discovered Zookies. I fell in love right away with the one of kind handmade, stylishly cute diaper covers! I also noticed some really cute burp cloth sets, bibs, and reusable snack bag sets that would be fun to own!I was given the opportunity to review a  Zookies diaper cover for my baby boy. It took me awhile to decide which cover to get because all of the fun fabrics used are so adorable. I went with the “Pirate Booty” diaper cover.

I loved how personal and ready to gift the diaper cover I received was when I chose to review was! It was wrapped in tissue paper and around the diaper itself was a red ribbon tied in a bow. Attached with a safety pin was the instructions on how to care for the diaper and a cute business card. It always great to see such care when purchasing an item whether for yourself or as gift for someone else.

I’ve been using the “Pirate Booty” cover for over a week now with my prefold diapers and it’s been working out wonderfully on my 6 week old baby boy. The inner layer of the diaper covers is waterproof PUL (polyurethane laminate) and the outer layer is 100% cotton We haven’t had any leaks at all, I must say I’m extremely impressed! Note that for my own personal preference,  I choose to review this cover with the double row of snaps option but note Zookies also offers the “Crossover” hook & loop closure.

I’d like to  introduce you to all to Michele Zook of Zookies. I really enjoyed and was beyond blessed in getting to know her better. I say she’s got a lot of passion in what she does and I hope she continues to do well with Zookies! Here are the interview questions I so much enjoy hearing answered by Etsy artisans.

Getting to know the Artist…

1.Why did you decide to start doing this on Etsy and how long have you been?

I was an elementary school teacher before having children. We knew we wanted me to stay home with the kids. What I didn’t know was how much I would love being at home with the kids. Our oldest will be starting kindergarten this fall. But my husband’s job is very demanding with an erratic schedule, so we thought it would be best to have someone at home for consistency (even once the kids are in school full time). I did not want to go back to teaching which is a rewarding job but very emotionally draining and time-consuming! I wanted to find something from home that I could do to justify staying home, while supplementing our income a bit. I used cloth diapers, so the idea came about that way. I began researching patterns, etc. eventually drafting my own, and began practicing on my nephew. The Etsy store opened in the summer of 2010. We launched our own website Zookiescrafts later in the fall.

2. What do you enjoy the most when creating your products?

Well, honestly, first, I love shopping for fabric! I am even getting my three-year-old daughter excited about fabric. I enjoy taking fabric and transforming it into something functional! Most of the time, I do my sewing either late at night or early in the morning. It is quiet except for the hum of the machine. It is my time to think or not much at all and just decompress.

3. Apart from creating things, what do you do?

I mentioned my previous career as an elementary school teacher. I have a wonderfully supportive husband and two happy, healthy children. I am active in church as a Sunday School teacher to the preschoolers and playing on the praise team. I also play with a community band. I always wanted to play the flute and decided to learn before I had kids. I enjoy it so much that I still do it. It is my one night out each week. I absolutely love performing. Other than that, I try to scrapbook, run, and read.

4. What inspires you?

What inspires me? This is probably a bit off topic, but I feel led to share. My father was adopted, and I decided to start looking for his mother about two years ago. I just found her in December of 2010 and we met her on Jan. 22 of this year. She was young and unwed and forced to give him up for adoption. She shared that she never even got to see him. So, seeing a mother see and touch her son for the first time was and is beyond description. I had prayed daily for this reunion for almost two years and to see it come to fruition is inspiring to me that prayer is a powerful thing. That relationships are important, and we as a society are often too busy for one another. I continue to thank God for reuniting this mother and son. The entire family is very large with my grandmother having 10 children in addition to my dad. What a blessing!!

5. In five years you’d like to be…?

In five years, I would like to be no other place than where I am right now. I have my health, my family and friends, and a job I love doing. God has truly blessed me, much more than I deserve, and I am humbled by it each and everyday.

Buy it!

Zookies start at $15.00 ranging in sizes extra small (7-10lbs) to large (25+ lbs), burp cloth sets of 3 are $12.00, Set of two bibs for 10.50, and the reusable sandwich/snack sets are only $10.50

Win it!

To Enter: Visit Zookies. and let me know what diaper cover you’d like to have if you won! (Giveaway is open to USA and Canada).

Extra Entries:

1. Blog this giveaway, link back to this post. (2 extra)

2. Follow on Twitter @erinlowmaster & Tweet (daily entries available)

3. Post this giveaway on a Giveaway Linky/Site and let me know where!

4. Email a friend(s) about this giveaway. (Leave name of friend)

5. Subscribe to my blog by RSS or E-mail (Feed Burner) and let me know!

6. Become a Facebook Fan of Connected2Christ and leave me a comment there letting me know you are coming from this giveaway.

Giveaway running till 03/12/11 . Winners will be notified shortly afterward by email. Please respond within 48 hours or you forfeit your prize to another participant.

DISCLAIMER: My thoughts are mine own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any compensation for hosting this giveaway or review other than the sample above mentioned.