New "Black and Whites" Collection

 

So Kristi gets the credit for this one as it was her idea and she choose all the fabrics!  And a fabulous idea it was!   I literally gasped when I took these out of the box for pictures.  I don't know what it is about the black/white contrast but they are stunning.  My friends really liked them too.

See all the pictures HERE

 There are 5 prints. I think they would be fab for Christmas, well especially the one with the red bird (first picture above) with red straps (you can see a picture of it on the site).

They seem a bit more formal but I think that is just because of the contrast and black straps in general come across as more formal, as you see they also look good with jeans.

Not a fat roll, but my 22 wk baby belly

 The prints are canvas like the straps, but a more of a med weight canvas.  I like this because they should wear at the same rate as the straps.  Black can fade but if you take care to spot clean or hand wash in cold water they hold up nicely.  Most of my black Kozys look almost new and they are a couple years old.

Of course if you don't want black canvas, most of them go well with natural too.

You can order them or see more pix HERE

 

We also have a new colorful print (huge contrast to the above Kozys)

WOODSTOCK 

I saw a swatch of this print sitting at Kozy with some kid prints that were potentials for Kiddy Kozy pockets, and I was like . . . 'we have GOT to have that as a Kozy print!'

It is eye popping!!  Very fun and with red straps . . . bright!!  Totally makes a statement.  

For more info and pictures, you can find it on the site HERE

We have gone jar crazy! Check out our Autumn jars!

I love, love, love these lighted jars.  I love the ambiance they give the room and the house.  They are a perfect accent!  So when I took down our Halloween Jars everything looked blah, and I didn't want to wait till after Thanksgiving to pull out the Christmas Jars (and we need to make more anyway because we gave some as gifts).  So I said . . . hey, lets do autumn jars!! 

I figured we could just do autumn colors and to make things simple, we would just collect leaves from the yard and decoupage them on.  Much easier for me because the kids weren't cutting, making a mess with paper etc. 

I am not going to get into the process again, but if you want to know how to make them check out my 2 previous blog posts HERE and HERE.

Finally I got a picture of all 5of them gluing their leaves on (well Thrace is just watching)

 I had them choose which color or colors they wanted for their jar out of what I had.  I only had orange and rad tissue paper so I improvised and used napkins to get yellow.  I wish I had some brown because I was curious how it would turn out, but alas, none to be found (and I was not going to the store).  They really did most of the work again, with me helping mostly the little ones.  The napkins were a bit tricky so I did do most of the mod podge on those.

Then we went out and each kid collected their own leaves! We live on a mountain in the woods so we have plenty of trees and leaves.  The leaves on the ground were too hard so we picked smaller leaves that were left on trees.  The cool thing is that they could learn about the types of leaves and trees while we were at it (Charlie knows all that stuff, I am clueless.)

 I had them just glue the leaves on with glue (some were tricky and I had to work with them to get them to curve around the jars and stick) and then we did the mod podge once they were stuck well.  I know they will turn brown (though some were brown already) but it doesn't matter, they are for the silhouette against the colored tissue paper when the jar is lit.

 I used the multicolored lights again because I couldn't get to the white lights, but I think ideally white lights would provide the best light . . . though the colored lights are softer.

You could really do anything you want that is autumn theamed, but these were easy for us!  We actually did these start to finish in 1 day (had them lit by evening) which is a record for us (usually I have a table full of scrap paper and partially decorated jars for days before we are finished).

I love these jars so much that I am thinking of how I can have them year round . . . Valentine jars, Easter jars, July 4th or summer themed . . . so many possibilities!!

Now, for an added photo . . . because hey, pumpkins are autumn themed and I didn't want to do a separate blog post with just a picture of me . . . but I did want to show y'all how I dressed up for Halloween . . . . 

21 wks

I did the same thing the only other time I had a belly on Halloween, when I was 29 wks pg with Ever . . . LOTS of fun (and lots of comments from people).

Babies wearing Babies . . . Finally, we have Kid Kozys!!

This is Piper (8) and Ever (3) carrying their dolls in their Kiddy Kozys!  (Ever's doll of choice is his baby, Piper has her LPS penguin)  I made my first Kiddy Kozy for Piper LONG ago, I have made some for friends and for gifts since then but that is as far as I have gotten with them.

I have been wanting to add these to the site for years and thanks to Kristi and Dad (who worked out all the details of having them made, cost, materials etc. because goodness knows I can't find the time most days to wash my hair, LOL) FINALLY we have them!!  Check them out HERE

 What better way to teach our kids natural ways to nurture babies . . . how to meet their needs and keep them close, than to example babywearing!!  Kids have this desire to copy us and nurture their baby dolls in a similar way (and I know many of us have experienced seeing our kids nursing their baby dolls.)  This is why there has always been a need for kid sized baby carriers.  Yes you can use anything to make a baby carrier for your child to carry his babies, but it is also fun for them to have something that looks like ours!  

I only hope that my children remember the things they have seen me do and how I have treated them and their siblings, so that they keep that nurturing outlook into adulthood (and yes, I make sure to talk about it often too so they don't forget  ;0)

In coming up with the design for the Kiddy Kozy were trying to keep them as close to the adult Kozys as possible.  Most aspects are the same, only downsized for little ones.  There is no padding (not needed) so it is really lightweight.  It has a body pocket so they can carry extra toys if wanted (or toy diapers) and it has a cute little strap pocket and ties right on, just like Mom (or Dad's) Kozy.  

In order to simplify things and keep costs down we make them solid bodied and you choose the fabric for the body pocket.  But if your little one wants a Kozy matching yours we can custom make it for you for an added charge.  

Of course they are NOT reinforced to hold any weight so remember it is ONLY for dolls!  That is always the first things the kids ask, they want to carry their baby brother in their Kozy, LOL!!  I tell them that they can wear him in a regular Kozy (I can fold it to fit them) but that this Kozy is specially made just for their baby dolls and favorite toys (notice Ever has an airplane in the pocket of his).

For more info and to see fabrics and order just go to the Kiddy Kozy page at the Kozy Website.