Oh What Fun!

Image via Morgan of Etsy Labs

Here's a picture of me and a lovely customer in action at the totally awesome Etsy Dallas Jingle Bash!

Applications for the Etsy Dallas team are open now through the 28th! Crafty Dallas folks go here to sign up now! You won't regret it. I promise.

Image via EtsyDallas

A Roller Skating Birthday! Let's Derby On!

My soon-to-be 9 year old has decided she wants to her next birthday to be at the local roller skating rink! Oh yeah, I am beyond thrilled! As you probably already know, I do indeed love my roller skates, and she is finally at an age where I think she and her friends will really enjoy this kind of a party. 

The best part about planning a 9 year old's party is she can help! So we searched the inter-webs and came up with some fun touches for her party on wheels.

Yarn Pom Pom Cake Bunting Garland by JillMadeThis

Isn't this Pom Pom Garland from JillMadeThis adorable. The pom poms remind me of the ones we used to wear on our skates back in the day, and I think we're going to do our part to bring that trend back starting with these...

Roller Skate PomPoms from Amazon

A pair for each guest to attach to their own skates? Y-E-S! 

Vintage Roller Skate Necklace from HeyYoYo on Etsy

We adore these necklaces from HeyYoYo. They would make a fun addition to the goody bags.

Roller Skate Rubber Stamp by CupCakeTree

And oh, the things we could do with this rubber stamp from CupCakeTree...invitations, thank you notes, and the goody bags too!

Wood Cutouts by TexasArtCraft

We are planning to have few of the guests over after the rink to sleep over. These wood cutouts would be fun to paint as a craft before bedtime.

And this just sums it all up...

 

Keep Calm and Derby On Print by PosterPop

Happy Birthday to my little RollerGirl! Thanks for always making your Momma so very proud. Can't wait to Derby On with you!

Regal Loves: Recycled Dublin Dr. Pepper Glassware

Recycled Dublin Dr. Pepper Glassware from BottleHood

With the sad news that Dublin Dr. Pepper will be no more due to trademark issues, these recycled Dublin Dr. Pepper drinking glasses by BottleHood just got a whole lot sweeter. I really love these repurposed soda bottles as drinking glasses. They are perfect for the kids to hold, and don't hold too much (translation: smaller spills), and they don't seem so fragile like typical water glasses.

I'm so glad to hear that the Dublin Bottling Works and Old Doc's Soda Shop will still be open for business.

The Greener Goods at Regal Cottage

I would like to take a moment to share with you why and how our Regal Cottage products are better for the environment and better for your little ones.


We have created our own eco-fab combo for our toys that includes organic cotton, vintage fabrics, recycled vintage chenille, eco-felt and sustainable fiberfill.

Certified Organic Cotton

Organic fabrics have come a long way and now come in so many adorable styles.

Organic Cotton is grown without the use of toxic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. Fabrics are dyed with low impact dyes. This helps keep our air and water cleaner, and is safer for little ones. We are so lucky today because many quilt fabric designers are now offering organic options, and they just get better with each new collection. We love including these fun, organic fabrics in our toys.

Recycled Collectible Vintage Fabrics, often these are Old New Stock

Old New Stock fabrics give our products a retro cute vibe.

Old New Stock is an industry term for vintage fabrics that were stored and never used. It has happened to virtually every sewer-fall in love with a fabric and go way over board in buying it all up. It happens in factories too. These old fabrics are usually my favorites because they have retro graphic styles that just aren't made any more. I spend alot of time on this end of the business. Why? Because I love the retro designs, and because I love knowing that these fun fabrics are getting the new life they deserve.

Recycled Vintage Chenille

Recycled vintage chenille gives our products vibrant colors and fluffy soft texture.

We hunt down vintage chenille bedspreads that are ready to be recycled. They typically come from the 50's -70's and are no longer usable as bedspreads. We sterilize them. We meticulously comb through them to select the best pieces to be used in our products. We do this because we believe that these old fabrics are truly treasures from the past, and by including them in our products, we give each of our toys a unique look and feel. It's a fun way to put a piece of history right into little ones' hands.   

Eco-felt

Tooth Buddies are made from Eco-Felt.

Eco-felt is a mind-boggling product. It is felt made from recycled post-consumer plastic. It looks and feels just like regular felt, but is better for the environment. Lots less plastic floating around in the world is definitely a wonderful thing!

Ingeo Fiberfil

Ingeo Fiberfill is what gives our toys there fluff factor!

Ingeo fiber is fiberfill made from corn! You can read lots more info about this ingenious product here, but there are many terrific reasons we choose to use it in our products. 
*It's a renewable resource that is produced in the USA. 
*It's also hypo-allergenic. So many kids today are allergic to so many, many things. It's nice to know that our toys are not likely to be one of them. 
*Unlike other eco-friendly filers, Ingeo is machine washable. Kids get dirty and so do their toys. It is very important to me that our toys be easy to clean. Everyone of our products are machine washable. We recommend placing them in a pillowcase to wash. Most can also be machine dried too. Only our toys that include eco-felt should be air dried.

Why Our Family Strives to be Green

The idea of striving to make a smaller impact on the planet occurred to me and my husband when we had our first child. Eleven years ago little did we know what joy he would bring. He also brought many new worries. He had asthma, allergies and eczema. 

Aaron and I worried a lot about our little guy. We spent way too many hours in the pulmonologist's and allergist's offices. We learned about eliminating dust and allergens. We listened to the weather reports daily for Ozone Alert days and avoided going outside on those days. We gave our son a lot of medicines: breathing treatments, inhalers, and what felt like gallons of antihistamines.  We worried what all these meds were doing to his little body. Would he grow properly? Would it affect his behavior in school? Could he participate in sports?  

We believed that way too many kids had problems like our son's, and felt that one of the reasons kids might be having problems like our son's was because we live in such a polluted world.  We started taking steps to recycle more. We bought a hybrid car, and Aaron started taking the bus and Dart train to work. We started shopping for organic foods and clothing. These were small steps that we could easily make. 

We are still striving everyday to live a greener life. Our son has grown to be a brilliant, athletic young man. I'm so proud to say that he is on swim team and swims laps for an hour straight 4-5 days a week! And he is one heck of a gamer! His asthma and allergies are still there, but much less of a problem than they were when he was little. Luckily our other three children don't have asthma or allergies, and we are so thankful for that. 

On Rotation Today: Sarah Jaffe

Clementine by Sarah Jaffe 

I've been enjoying this clip of Sarah Jaffe at the Wyly Theatre in Dallas. Beautiful. Makes me wish my name was Clementine too.

All Better!

Everybody is all better at my house finally, and we actually squeezed in 2 days of school this week. It was so wonderful to see everybody happy and bouncing again. It was also so nice to have some time to myself. I found a way seize the moment and got tons of stuff done.

It feels so good to be productive. I've been busy, busy, busy with ninjas, ninjas, and more ninjas! They are getting a bit of an update, and should be up in the shop next week.

A Brick Wall

Just when I thought we were ready to take on the new year and head back to our normal routines....we hit a brick wall of SICK! Uck. First day back to school after a long winter break, and three of our four kiddos have come down with a tummy bug. Not bad sick, just enough of a nagging pain to miss school. Poor things. They were all so eager to get back to school to see their friends, lunch, library, and recess! Everyone's favorite parts of the school day, right?

So what do you do when you hit a brick wall? Keep on keeping on, even when it's the hardest thing to do?

Keeping my fingers crossed that this passes super duper quickly.