a super giveaway sponsored by felted kitten!

dear blog,

it's been a while since i've written.  sorry about that.  too much to do, not enough time to do it.  hope to see more of you soon.  xo, katrina

***
with that said, my latest post is all about a super giveaway in honor of my 30th etsy sale.  i'm feeling very lucky right now & want to share some of that good stuff with you in the form of a felted kitten crown.  the winner gets to pick one of the following superhero style crowns:

superhero style bright yellow and red star wonder woman inspired felt crown

or

superhero style three point mottled grey and blue star felt crown

    here's how to enter:

(please leave an individual comment & email address for each!)

follow my blog = 1 entry

heart felted kitten on etsy = 2 entries

http://www.etsy.com/shop/feltedkitten

fan felted kitten on facebook=2 entries

http://www.facebook.com/feltedkitten

share giveaway on facebook=3 entries

tweet about this giveaway=3 entries

blog about this giveaway=4 entries

buy something from felted kitten's shop=6 entries

http://www.facebook.com/feltedkitten

giveaway ends monday, july 12th! 

winner will be notified  tuesday, july 13.

many will enter; one will win.  feeling super yet?

good luck!

field trips & fairy tales

on tuesday, mars & i joined lexa's kindergarten class on a walking field trip to crystal springs rhododendron garden.  the garden is close to our house (we live one long block from lexa's school) & i can't believe the girls & i hadn't explored it before.  what a gorgeous place--beautiful plants & waterfalls for our viewing pleasure, rocks to hop over water on, ducks to feed, canadian geese to ogle (if one ogles such a thing) & many fabulous nature items to explore & find. 

luckily, i came packing my camera with every intention of documenting one of lexa's last days as a kindergarten. however, i soon found myself distracted by the beauty of the place and, instead of taking pictures of my older daughter & her school friends, i started snapping away at everything else--ducks, geese, waterfalls, bridges, trees, flowers, mushrooms, water, etc.  as i surveyed & clicked, i decide this would be a fabulous place to base a children's fairy tale book with photos taken at crystal springs overlaid by either other photgraphs or hand drawn pictures ala knuffle bunny (mo willems is big in our house--especially his elephant & piggie series for my budding reader) or

 lauren child's version of the princess & the pea (i love this book).

in my mind's eye, my fairy tale book would visually go something like this:

involve a quest, of course, and will be filled with fairies & elves & trolls & dragons

& griffins (i've always l o v e d griffins) & such.  i'd need to take more pictures

& really think this through but there it is.

mars & i have had the good fortune to accompany lexa & her classmates on all of their field trips this school year as well as volunteering in the classroom 3-4 hours (or more) each week. luckily for me, lexa's teacher has allowed mars to tag along all year which has allowed me to volunteer frequently.  it's been a great experience for us & has hopefully helped build a solid base for both lexa's & mara's future schooling (mars will start preschool at the same place in the fall.  again, luck for me ;).

since lex informed me after tuesday's trip that she doesn't want me to accompany her on any more field trips, that will give me more time to write this fairy book that's humming about in my head. 

plus, make more crowns & things.  check out my new ones if you haven't already

(shamefully shameless plug inserted here) at felted kitten

princesses + potions + one token prince = an awesome 3rd birthday

my daughter, mars, turned three on may 30th, and ever since her older sister lexa's 6th birthday party in april she talked about having a purple & pink princess party.  now, princesses are all well & good and purple is my favorite color but as i started gathering supplies & ideas for the party it very nicely morphed into more of a garden fairy princess party with purple, pink, orange & green to add balance & whimsy to the mix.  luckily she picked pretty, mulitcolored flower plates & napkins over character princess, or even pink ones (boy, was i surprised) which helped set the tone for the party and grounded the purple & pink a bit. 

add some princesses, potions, a prince & a heavy dose of cupcakes & you've got yourself a party.

earlier that day, we'd gone to a very fun & fabulous harry potter/wizard party complete with magic wand & potion making tables.  lexa was so enthralled with the potion table that she wanted to add potions to the princess mix.  who know that kids are secret mixologists & love mixing up brews?  call a fruit juice or fresh or frozen fruit by a fanciful, magic name (dragon's breathe, phoenix tears, magical berries from the forest of lothlorien, etc) and your prince, princess or wizard will brew until they can brew no more.

in addition to brewing, the princesses + prince made necklaces, wore crowns with fancy glasses (because, after all, everyone need fancy glasses), hula hooped (or, as mars would say, 'whobee hooped') & devoured hot dogs, white on white cupcakes with pink & green sprinkles & white chocolate covered strawberries decorated with pink & purple sugar (so easy & so delish).

at the end of the eve, i'd say princesses + potions + one token prince = a very awesome 3rd birthday indeed.

p.s. yes, mars did have her very own fancy felted kitten crown but i ended up substituting it for a mistaken custom crown purchased via etsy on tuesday. 

my little princess will have to wait.

it's party time in portland

this past sunday, my little ladies & i went to a purplicious party for a very fancy 6 year old at a local portland park.  although the weather was touch & go (the frequent rain here right now is becoming a drag) the party was full on fantastic.  luckily, i had the opportunity to make a very fancy crown for said purplicious party & created felted kitten's most fabulously festive crown yet. 

the party circuit seems to be in full swing at the moment & i've been working on custom crowns this week.  purplicious was followed by a sweet pink on pink crown for another soon-to-be 6 year old in san francisco and i've almost completed a pink & purple variation on the purplicious crown for a little lady who turns 4 tomorrow.  next up, a black, red & gold crown & banner for a harry potter party this sunday followed by a pink & purple crown for my girl mars who turns 3 on may 30th. 

great party themes abound right now: star wars, purplicious, ninjas, harry potter, rock climbing (not quite a theme but a super fun party nonetheless).
mars is having a garden princess party and is in full on pink & purple mode.  hoping for fair weather sunday & looking forward to decorating.  will post party pix early next week.

now, back to work on my next crown.  and, yes j, i am watching 'dr who' (getting ready to queue up season 2, episode 13).  i'll hum the theme music for you soon. 

long time listener, first time blogger

it’s the middle of the night here in portland, or, & unfortunately I can’t sleep so for some odd reason this seemed like a good time to start that blog i’ve been thinking about.

a little about me before I begin…i’m a creative, artistically tempermented (you know what I mean), introverted wallflower, bookworm, mother of two girls—newly 6 & soon-to-be 3, who, btw, are currently sleeping—living & crafting in portland, or.  thanks for stopping by my new blog.  hope to see you again soon at a more decent hour of the day (or night).

what i’m currently:

watching—my latest television venture is the bbc series dr who which i like to watch on the computer while creating crowns. somehow sci fi & felt crowns seem to be working for me right now.

listening to—volume II by she & him. i love to sing and this suits me much better than the nickelodeon & disney channel tween/teen songs that have been stuck in my head as of late. i have a strange knack for easily remembering song lyrics and am apparently far too impressionable. plus, it bugs my kids when i sing.

reading—i started ‘just kids’ by patti smith earlier this week. haven’t read much yet but love how lyrical her writing is. would love a long quiet chunk of time to sit down with a nice cup of english breakfast tea with milk and sugar and read.  maybe that’s what i should be doing right now (sans the ebt, of course)

crafting—currently working on a full on tri purple blinged out crown for a 6 yr old’s purplicious bday party this weekend. will post pic on facebook later today. next up: a pink on pink (on pink) crown for a friend + a custom crown for my youngest daughter, mars, who turns 3 on may 31st.

bonne nuit.