Waterproof Doll Diapers

I premiered doll diapers this week in my store. Coming up next will be waterproof doll diapers for dolls that potty, such as the baby alive doll. I will also be expanding the doll clothing I make, to winter outfits as well as summer outfits, and dresses. I will also continue making the adorable doll diapers that I am currently stocking, and will be introducing new cute prints for the diapers. If you have a request, please let me know.

Introducing new items

This week I'll be stocking a bib made with USN Digital Fabric. I can also do bibs in Desert Maripat, and Woodland Maripat as well as the ABU and ACU. I have this particular bib backed with a lovely blue cuddle soft embossed fabric to be nice and soft against babies skin.

Another thing I will be debuting on my store this week are doll diapers and a doll outfit. Pefect for that little girl who wants to play mommy changing her baby's clothes and diapers. With cute doll diapers, there is no waste for a diaper that doesn't get messed, and she can change the diaper as often as she wants.

I've also started making pacifier clips. I can do them with pretty much any ribbon you desire, but the first ones I'm making are with ACU fabric. If you are intersted in anything I mentioned above, e-mail me at craftsbychristina@hotmail.com

Black Friday is coming

Black Friday is right around the corner (just a week and a day away) and I thought I would do something special for it. So, while I'll be listing some items at great prices, I will also be listing a Military custom order spot, with free embroidery for words (phrases). That's a $5 savings. So you could get a dress, diaper cover, diaper, or tea dyed shirt for the regular price, and get it personalized for no cost. I'm still drumming up other ideas for Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, but I thought that this offer would be especially great I'm also going to *try* to stock an ABU Mei Tai. I just got in quite a few yards of ABU fabric a week and a half ago, and plan to get cutting on it, to make something for those baby wearing AF mommies. Check in at my store to see what I have listed and what's coming up.

www.hyenacart.com/creativemamas

And the Hunt is on!

Saturday and Sunday were the Bazaar and everything went really well. There are a few more cloth diaper users out there now as a result. On Sunday the GCDH also started. It seems to be off to a great start. If you haven't checked it out, please do so. There are some wonderful family and earth friendly stores along the way. Creative Mamas is once again sponsoring, so I spent Saturday night/Sunday morning putting up clues to make it a little easier, not to mention fun, for people to find the icon. If you are interested in doing the hunt go to www.diaperdecisions.com and let them know that Creative Mamas sent you.

The Great Cloth Diaper Hunt, and Ft. Leavenworth Bazaar

I have some busy weeks ahead of me. On the 31st of October, and 1st of November, I will be at the Ft. Leavenworth Spouses Club Bazaar. I will be featuring many of my camo items as well as some non-camo items. The first will also be the start of the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt. Creative Mamas is a sponsor, and by virtue of that, Crafts by Christina is.

This week I was able to make myself an embroidered ACU Mei Tai. I was able to make some modifications to it, such as embroidery, and more padding. I'm designing a pouch to put on it as well. I was also able to make a reusable bag out of ACU nylon that I plan to sell both in my store on HC, and at the Bazaar. It is similar to a Chico bag, but is lined making it, in my opinion a bit stronger.

Last week I did several custom orders for coats. One of the coats I made was for my son, James. attached is a picture of him modeling the coat.

It's been a busy week, and will be a busy day tomorrow!

This week I have been occupied with two custom orders. One is a one-size pocket diaper in ACU fabric, and the other is an ACU ruffled tie back dress with matching ruffled panties. In the midst of all this bussiness I've also been getting ready for our stocking on Creative Mamas. We are having an auction for the last available Spotted Box, as well as a Halloween stocking. We have lots of great items ready to stock tomorrow (I'm eyeing a few myself) as well as some already in stock. The Spotted Box is particularly special because it is an anniversary box. There are many full sized items that went into these boxes, and despite my effort, I couldn't snag one. The congo has graciously decided to auction off our box, so that our customers will have a chance at it. The auction starts tomorrow at noon.

Now for the details on the diaper. It is a One size pocket diaper, meaning that the rise snaps down to fit from 8-38lbs, as well as having a pocket opening to stuff the absorbant material in. The diaper comes with a rayon (bamboo) fleece insert that snaps to fit the three different rise settings. It also has snap closures, as well as a newborn setting with overlap snaps. The picture is a front shot of the diaper on the largest setting.

New Diaper Cover and a Diaper Contest

This week I have a diaper cover to show off. It is trimmed in celery foe, and I think is quite nice. The foe is very complimentary, both to the PUL, and to the ACU pattern (see picture to the left).

Also, this week I'm starting a contest that I'm going to try to do once a month. The contest if for a FREE diaper. What's the catch? Well you have to have a blog with at least 50 followers and blog out the diaper and cloth diapering in general. What brought this on you might ask? Well, before summer started, I was made away that some disposable diaper companies are sending out samples to moms to blog about them and how great they are (getting nervous about the cloth competition are they?) so I figured I would counter their plan with one of my own. People will e-mail me with a link to their blog, I'll check how many followers they have, and then take down their name for a random drawing. They only have to pay for shipping, and then blog about the wonders of cloth diapering, and this particular diaper.

So, you up for a contest?

ACU Mei Tai and Newborn Romper

I've been working on some new projects over the past few months, and as promised, here are some pictures. The diaper on the left can be found exclusively at the Ft. Campbell Legacies museum gift shop. They also have bibs available that go with the diaper. The covers are a size medium, but smaller and larger sizes can be ordered through the museum as well.

The next pictures is a newborn ACU romper. I have a simliar one listed in my store on Bitty Fluff. I will making the matching newborn dress soon, and will post pictures of that as well. Nothing like a little newborn goodness.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e382/ncfjj/backfullonofACUMeiTai.jpg

I'm also working on some bibs and keychain wristlets, as well as a onesize all-in-two, and pocket diaper. Check back for more photos.

Getting back into the groove of things.

Summer is wrapping up and the school season is upon us. In honor of that we will be having a "Back to School" themed stocking this month. We will also be welcoming guest vendor Henderson Family Farm LLC. She makes goats milk based products, from laundry detergent, to dog treats, to soaps and other skin products. Stop by and check out all the things we have to offer!

Finally settling in.

Well, more than half of the boxes are unpacked that we will be unpacking, and by this afternoon, my sewing area should be set up, so that I can get back to work. I plan to start working on the items on my customs list this week, so if you are on there, be ready for an e-mail. In the meantime, I'm also putting together the curriculum that I'm going to use for my 3 year old as I homeschool him again this year. There will be some busy months ahead, and I'm very excited to see how everything goes.

New items coming to Crafts by Christina

I now have olive fold over elastic for the diaper covers, as well as celery foe. For the desert maripat covers, I also have brown foe. When I open back up for customs, if you would like a cover made with one of these colors instead of white. I also have snaps to match these as well. I'm also now making Mei Tag's and wraps using the military fabric.

Crafts by Christina is on the move.

My household goods are packed up and gone, and as my husband clears from work, we are getting the house cleaned and getting ready to leave. I have a few last orders I'm working on with my supplies that I have kept behind, and then we are headed on our summer vacation.

We leave Tennessee on the 15th to head to Ohio, where we pick up my MIL and FIL and head to Boston. We spend a little over a week there before heading back to Ohio for a visit, and then on to N.C. and S.C. and finally Florida. We will be there for a week for a wedding and in general to relax and have some fun. Once the vacation is over, we head to Ft. Leavenworth, move in, and being unpacking.

I expect to get back to custom orders in the beginning of August. I'm going to start and add to my customs list here to keep track of what I have going on.

1. Yvette: ACU customs spot. Finished and shipped
2. Coilj17 : marine Fleece blanket Finished, waiting for shipping
3. Ft. Campbell gift shop museum and seperate order for the manager of the gift shop.
4. Natalie Valentina: ACU coming home outift Put on hold
5. Rebekah: ACU Diaper Cover No response to e-mail
6. Dawne: ACU Diaper Cover: Newborn and large Finished, shipped and received
7. Lease M.: medium aio ACU diaper. Being cut and sewn

Wait for it. . . . wait for it. . .

Tomorrow Creative Mamas Congo celebrates its 1st Birthday. Crafts by Christina has been with the congo since the very beginning and is rather excited about it. I'm also excited because I've watch the congo continue to thrive since I first took over the congo. On the same day that the birthday celelbration begins, the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt also begins. It is massive and will last all month. I already have quite a few items up, and plan to do some more great things through out the month. If you haven't stopped by in a while, you might want to check the congo out, as we also have a new look, courtesy of Christina of Joyful Rose. I think you are going to like it.

Wrapping up customs and getting ready for vacation.

Summer is creeping up (or at least when you have a busy May ahead of you) and I will be wrapping up custom orders next month and getting ready to move and go on vacation. Sound like a lot to do? Sure is. I will be taking the last of my custom orders this coming week, and then will only be doing crocheted custom orders for the rest of May and majority of June. At the end of July I plan on opening back up custom orders for sewing (crocheted custom orders will be avaiable off an on through June and July). We (my husband, two sons and I) will be moving to Ft. Leavenworth, and Crafts by Christina will be relocating there for the 10.5 months that my husband is at ILE. In the meantime, I will still be stocking at Creative Mamas, probably just not as much as usual. When I open back up, I will be working on a few new items that I am currently doing testers for (Mai Tei, and wrap in military fabric themes). So check back frequently to see what new items I will have available, and in the meantime, get ready for the GCDH!

Creative Mamas Congo and (by virtue of that) Crafts by Christina is in the Great Clith Diaper Hunt

It's that time of year again! The Great Cloth Diaper Hunt starts May 1st. The GCDH is just that, a great scavenger hunt. It starts at www.diaperdecisions.com and takes you through various family and earth friendly websites to look for the "diaper" icon. There are prizes worth hundreds of dollars to be won either daily or the big prizes at the end. There is no charge to do it, and it is really rather fun. My congo participated last year and I did the hunt as well (sponsors don't qualify for the grand prize). If you interested, I'd say go check it out, you might really enjoy it. Let them know that Creative Mamas sent you too.

Military Custom Orders

I will be able to take military themed custom orders until 30 May. After that, I will be taking a small break, and will be doing one order every two weeks roughly. On June 16th I will be starting on a much deserved vacation with my husband. It will be the first real vacation we've had together since before the deployment in the fall of 2007. We plan to settle down in our new home middle/end of July. Once we get settled, I will open military customs back up again.

In the meantime, I can do crocheted orders, as those only require yarn and hook, not sewing machine, cutting table, fabric, pins, and patterns. If you would like to place an order, I often have a custom spot stocked at my store Crafts by Christina on www.hyenacart.com/creativemamas. I also have a WAHM listing on www.clothdiapernation.com as well as www.diaperswappers.com, but am more likely to respond quickly on my HC or CDN.

Small victory, but it's a start

Well, on the evening on 30 January, there was a stay put on the CPSC law. This is a good thing, but it doesn't stop there. We still need to push to make sure that the law is modified in a way that protects small businesses without endangering children. So, don't stop the phone calls and letter writing, we've been heared, but we can't let them forget just because it has been put on hold for a year.

Today is the last day

This is the last day to get a message in to the CPSC about exempting either certain items or certain sellers from the new law that goes into effect on February 10th. The link that has the e-mail addy and instructions is: http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/ComponentPartsComments.pdf

Hopefully they will listen and make ammendments or exemptions, or else hand made goods and small/work at home businesses that make things for children 12 under will become few and far between.

You can also use this link to call your Congressman and let them know what you think about this.

1) First look up your member of congress (if you don't know already) http://www.votesmart.org/index.htm 2) "Then call your member of Congress. The Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121, just ask for their office. (If you don’t know who that is, find out.) Don’t worry, they won’t actually answer the phone. An eager 23 year old staffer will, though, so please tell them that you are a constituent — they’ll probably ask for your name and address — and you’d like to see a delay in the implementation of the CPSIA to consider exemptions for one of a kind items and those made with natural materials."

The countdown to the new CPSC law

Word is spreading as we are in the countdown, so you might have heard already. There is a new law that was signed back in November of 2008 that was written with the best of intentions, but could seriously harm many small businesses. The law requires component testing for lead and phalates. Only resale stores such as consignments and thrift shops are exempt from the testing, but they could get in serious trouble if they sell something that has either of those two items in it.

Unfortunately the testing that is required is expensive, and items made for children 12 and under are assumed to have these unless otherwise proven. The problem with this is that there are many items that by their nature are free of lead and phalates, but unless they are tested, they will be considered illegal. Get caught selling items that haven't been tested, or don't have a certificate and face a fine and potential jail time.

Now mind you, big retailers are coming together to try and get certain items exempt, such as fabric, and yarn, wood, but unless something is done. Many work at home parents (wahp from this point on) will be going out of business.

I personally may have to restructure my business. Instead of selling childrens clothing and diapers, like I have loved doing for the past year, I may have to change to making things for older children and adults, or else pay at minimum $75 per component to have things tested (to give you an idea, my diapers generally consist of 5 layers of fabric, touch tape, and elastic, so that is a lot of money). A dress would require anywhere from 3-5 componenets tested.

So to sum this up, many wahp just can't afford cost like this and will be closing up shop, unless changes are made to the law. The law really was designed with the best of intentions, but it was poorly written, and not very well thought out.