What? Its been over a month since updating??

Oops! I've fallen victim to the lure of Twitter - quick and easy updates (see sidebar). Life has been extremely busy over the last month or so, and updating the blog just has not been happening. Where to begin??

Vance Playground Project... Amy of Crankypants has organized a fantastic raffle in the Hyena Cart charity shop to benefit her son Henry's school. They are building the children a new playground - the charity event will help raise funds for the project. Lots of amazing items including these beauties:

this beautiful set from Hibiscus Baby, auction - I notice a familiar name in the bidding! ;)

Fishy Fish Quilt - raffle to win, lots of tickets left!!

And, my contribution - some skully Dundies!

Auctions and raffles end today - so head on over and score some great stuff for a great cause!

I've been busy brewing up new ideas and am excited to announce the opening of my new wah business! My good friend, Rebecca, and I have been busily working away at our new project. We debut tomorrow at the Cathedral Village Arts festival. Our business is called Joyful Earth - sustainable solutions for your home. Our product list includes market bags, produce bags, unpaper products, and food storage solutions. We plan to continue to grow the brand and continue to develop products that make caring for our earth easy, economical and joyful!

Here is a sneak peak:

Our logo - by the always amazing Jenuine Products:

Our heavy duty market bag - reinforced handles beautifully topstitched. We've upcycled some duvet covers for these rockin' bags - this bag collapses into a smaller pocket for easy portability!

Our basic market bag, serged seams, french seams secure the handles together for extra strength, some of these bags are made using designer cottons and others using upcycled bed linens. The following pictures show how our market bags collapse into small pouches.



all scrunched into the little pocket


and the top flips over to secure your market bag inside!


bamboo/organic cotton french terry unpaper towels


muslin produce/bulk foods bags - and as i was sewing these up last night i also thought - bread bags!

Still a few more products without photos - they will come soon! We're opening our Hyena Cart in mid to late June with some special guests to help us celebrate our grand opening. Until then, if you are local, head down to 13th Ave in the Cathedral area on Saturday and be the first to own some Joyful Earth products!

Up next.... some Dundies customs, Lily Pad landing stocking and Venus Vanguard - stay tuned!

i love crossing people off the customs list!!

this one's been a long time coming! thanks for your patience Jen, hope Lauren enjoys her Dundies!

oh yeah.. the blog!

Oops! It seems I've been ignoring the blog as of late! I've got a few moments right now, the kids were up ridiculously early so they are parked directly in front of the television as I veg on the computer and drink large amounts of coffee.

Busy few weeks! We've begun homeschooling our eldest daughter Chloe. As I've blogged about before, it is something we've always considered doing but have always felt strongly about keeping her at school as long as it was enjoyable and working for her. A few weeks ago, she just stopped wanting to go. She faked illness for a good week before we asked if she would prefer to be homeschooled. She did, so... we are! We're still in deschooling mode, and likely will be for the next while. I took the plunge and ordered the Rosetta Stone French curriculum last night, and I imagine she'll dive right into that when it arrives. I'm hoping we'll fall into a rhythm over the next week or so... right now things seem so disorganized and messy!!

Venus Vanguard is stocking tonight (Thursday April 2). I really wanted to stock for this theme, Gaia Learns to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle! It is such a great theme, but I just couldnt get it together in time! There are some excellent items going up though, and in true VV style the stocking is really pulling together at the last minute! We're welcoming our newest member Tickety Bu to the congo this month, who puts me to shame with her 5 item stocking - Kristi is supposed to be babymooning!! Impressive! Her bamboo velour prefolds look so cushy and soft!

Anyone following me on Facebook these days knows that I have spent a fair amount of time hanging out there as of late. The other day I noticed this. Virtual fluffy mail! How cool. So, I thought Venus Vanguard needed one! The ultimate eco friendly gift!! Send some Virtual Venus Vanguard to all your friends today! I'll be adding more items regularly, the more items you send the more you unlock!

While we're talking Facebook - come join these groups:

Venus Vangaurd
Tush Cloth Diapers

Still a few items left at Lily Pad Landing too! I made a pair of great Dundies for boys... they are made using a non lycra knit so they are a little roomier for boys. Of course, I'd put these on my girls anyday! Check em out!

Working on customs and trades this weekend, I should have lots to show on Monday!

britanie

for her daughter:

Hope she enjoys her new Dundies! :) They'll ship out tomorrow.

I'll be quiet over the next few weeks as I prepare for the Regina Baby Expo. Its definitely my most anticipated local event. I'm really excited to see that this year will feature 4 booths with cloth diapers (perhaps more!) - tush, Groovy Mama, Clothology and Zennegen (see below). When I first attended this event 3 years ago (its inaugural year), I was the only cloth diaper retailer in attendance. I think its pretty darn exciting that in only three short years cloth diapering has become so popular and more local retailers are starting to offer both mass produced and handmade cloth diapering items.

My friend Jennifer is going to have a booth at the Expo with her sister in law Erin. They've started a little company called Zennegan which will feature diapers, soakers, quilts, mama pads etc.. Jennifer is the first official tush diaper licensee and she is currently licensed to make my newborn, size 1 and size 2 patterns. Check out her photobucket gallery here. (you can see some of her tush newborns in the gallery, she does them t&t and I think they look fantastic!!)

Watch out for a few quick stockings at Lily Pad Landing and Venus Vanguard in the next month, I'll be sure to update here - otherwise the customs list is closed and I am buckling down to business!

samantha

Some Nocturne's for a mama about to venture into nighttime cloth diapering!


I'll be spending the rest of this weekend working on my items for my debut at Lily Pad Landing this Thursday. Watch for sneak peeks sometime after the weekend!

p.s. brrrr..... its cold here!! I was so optimistic with my "defrosting" post, but unfortunately we are back in the deep freeze again. I can honestly say, I have never really wished for spring quite as much as I am this year!

defrosting

donna

Donna is excited for the arrival of baby A., her first girl after two boys! Needless to say, we went a bit girly for these newborn diapers. Donna gave me free range with fabric choices, I hope she likes them. I chose all of my favorite prints. I love the way the Heather Ross Mendocino mermaids worked out - by far my favorite of the batch.Cant wait for news of her arrival Donna - hope you enjoy the diapers, they are in the mail for you!

Coming up this week, Venus Vanguard is stocking on Thursday March 5th. I've been looking forward to this theme - all about celebrating boys and girls who march to the beat of a different drum. "Punk Rock Girls and Renaissance Boys" - 8pm HC time (EST). I'll be working my butt off to get some boys Dundies sewn and stocked! Watch for them last minute!

In other news - I've been asked to join the Lily Pad Landing Congo! I'm pretty excited about this news and cant wait for my first stocking with this amazing group of artisans! I'll post stocking updates as soon as I have them.