I have had aprons on my mind.  I sewed up three new aprons over the weekend for a new shop opening up in Sacramento.  All using vintage fabrics.  Which I am very proud of using.

And vintage buttons too!  I love my vintage fabric stash and it is difficult for me to use sometimes because  well, I love it.  But I did it!

Then I received an email a few days ago from a woman who had previously purchased an apron from me.  She wanted a similar one for her other granddaughter.  So I finished that one today.

This is the apron that I made last year.

And here is the apron that I finished making today.  They are a little different from each other.  But I can’t believe how similar they are, and I didn’t even look up the older apron before I started the new one.    I just remembered the polka dots and the pom-pom’s.

So I think the two little girls who will be wearing these aprons while decorating cookies will be happy to look like twins.  And I am happy to add to their Christmas cheer in my own little way.

I will be busy today posting aprons in my store.  I just listed this one today.

And it has the cutest little attached pocket trimmed in ric rac.  It is the perfect size for your recipe card.

Here is another half apron that I had listed.  It sold in just one day!

Thanks for looking! And remember FREE SHIPPING!

Just for you.  As a way of saying thank you for all who have been following me and my katie jean creations.  I am offering free shipping on my site.  Now through December 15th all shipping will be free!  Just visit my etsy or katie jean to see for yourself.

There are two other reasons for me doing this.  I know that everyone is tight for cash this year.  And I would really love to encourage everyone to buy handmade.  The other reason is that I haven’t planned any upcoming shows for the holidays.  I couldn’t find any dates that worked for me and I don’t really like doing December shows.  It cuts into my family time, and my own personal Christmas gift making!

So if you love katie jean, please visit my site and do some shopping.  Remember *free shipping!*  I will be adding new items daily!  And thank you!!

I went to Disneyland last weekend!  Totally surprised my oldest son, Q who hasn’t been there yet.  I told him that morning we were driving down to LA.  He didn’t believe me.  It was just the two of us!  I felt so lucky to be sharing the magical day with him.  So lucky to be his mom

He was such a trooper.  We got there at 8:30 and left that night at 10:30!  Such a cool day and no huge lines.  My favorite was finally going on the Matterhorn.  We sat in the very front.  Q didn’t like it as much as I did!

Since it was so close to being Christmas you know I had to take pic’s of the decorations.  These were the lamp posts in the New Orleans area of Disney.

Aren’t they so fancy!  I just love the vivid colors.  Only in Disney!

I think I’ll have a pink and purple Christmas too!  Feliz Navidad.

Look what Sadie Lou did!  She put my little hanky apron top on the front page of Lollishops.  Such a cute site and a fun place to shop.  Have yourself a look around!

Thank you Sadie Lou for the little surprise.  You’re the best!

Ella has been my inspiration for some time now. But I am finally ready to release her to a good home and allow her bring some sunshine in on someone new.  So today I am listing Ella on katie jean.

Ella was handmade by me, using a vintage toy as my pattern. The origianl ella was made by my husband’s grandmother from Kansas. It might be more of an antique than simply vintage.

Ella is made using vintage linens in the cheeriest shades of pink, yellow, orange, and green. The eyes are sewn on buttons and she has a moss green ribbon tail.  Although Ella is not intended for small children, she would be a cute addition as a little shelf decoration.

My baby jean organics has been featured in an etsy treasury!  It features all shades of softest blues.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=91502  Be sure to check it out and view talies items too.  She uses a unique combination of plastics, papers, and fabrics for her fun eco friendly creations.

OK, so I’m not fluent in Spanish, but Christmas has been on my mind during the month of October.  And instead of saying Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, sounds cooler some how.

So here is the story of my stint with Macy’s and their Christmas trees.  With lots of photos of trees that I decorated.

Hi, my name is Katie and I decorate Christmas trees.  I have been decorating Christmas trees during the whole month of October.   I feel like I’m confessing something.  It seems like I was at a different Macy’s everyday but I really wasn’t.  Just 11 stores.

And thanks to my friend Ralph, I had such a great experience doing something that I had never dreamed of before.  In the midst of burn out from travel, not enough sleep, and too much glitter, I had the best time. Now I have only the best memories.  And three days after I had decorated my last tree, I found myself at the Macy’s Holiday Lane, looking at the trees that I had decorated.  And I was ready to do it again next year.

my favorite tree, I just loved these colors

Thank you to all of my friends, my husband, and kids for letting me have some grown up fun working and earning a paycheck.  Thanks for letting me be a working mom.  It has made me appreciate being a stay at home mom.  Te amo.

katie, ralph, marshawn, our last day of work in monterey

I have been so busy this month of October and have so very much to tell you about.  I am just struggling today thinking about where to begin.  I am often reminded of Julie Andrews whenever I have this problem.  Just start at the very beginning, a very fine place to start.

But here is a little bit of background.  I have been working at Macy’s decorating Christmas trees for their Holiday Lane shop.  Visual Display!  I also went to Quilt Market in Houston with my sister.  Went back to Christmas trees and 16 hour days.  My neice was married and my daughter was asked to be a Leaf Girl.  A dress and shoes had to be found, for the both of us.

This is all the stuff of lengthy blogs, but little time to blog about it!  So back to the beginning.

taggie blanket

If you look at my etsy you will find a new category called Baby Registry.  I have a special girlfriend who is going through her fourth pregnancy and we decided to do a baby registry for her.  Rene is already really familiar with all of  my special vintage baby creations.  So when she came to my studio (home living room) we had fun looking through my fabric stash.

She is doing her nursery using the Peter Rabbit line from Pottery Barn Kids.  And I found some quality yardage in the fabric that was close to what she already had.  So she picked out about ten different items for me to sew up for her.   Isn’t that a special gift to buy for someone?  I love it and love the idea of doing this for my friend.

It’s all custom handmade work.  I’ll be sharing most of the photos of the baby items through my flickr account and you’ll also be seeing some here as well.

So now the Baby Registry is a new service that I am providing.  If you know of someone who is pregnant or interested in any of the other items that I make, pass it on please.  Thanks!

So I guess that I was the last mom in Lincoln to have taken her kids to Disneyland.  That’s what it sounded like to me weeks before we left on our trip.  I honestly didn’t understand all of the hype and excitement.  What was the big deal.  Isn’t it just another amusement park?

Now I get it.  And now I am already saving money up for my next trip.  I want to visit every Disney location.  Euro Disney, Tokyo Disney, Disneyworld.  Any place else?

My girl went right up to Mickey, and Pooh Bear, and Eyeore, and Tigger.  I was so surprised.  Her shyness was gone for the moment when she saw those character’s that she is so familiar with.  And quickly went to each of them for a hello and a hug.

Grandfather made this trip possible for us.  He is 88 and swears this is his last trip away from home.  He had just come to Anaheim from the Grand Canyon.  He has really been all over the world and I’m sure that if he can get on the train, he will be out the door again soon!

Once my kids got their ears, I told them that they had to wear them to get on all of the rides.  They didn’t pick up on the fact that I wasn’t wearing any myself.  And the night we went out to IHOP, I told them that they would get a free glass of water for wearing their ears too.  I know, I’m bad.  But aren’t they so cute!

Thanks to all of my friends and family for all of the Disney help.  Especially Gram who watched my Q when I was gone. And thank you to Beth and Grandfather for making the trip with us that much more fun to share it with you!