An announcement and a call for photos!

A Lovely Start in finally getting ready to launch an online store!  I will be opening a Hyena Cart in the new year, so stay tuned for the big Grand Opening Announcement!

If you have purchased any item from A Lovely Start, I am calling on you!
Do you have an action shot of your little one in A Lovely Start wears? Or some A Lovely Start gear in action? If you have one (or more) and don't mind sharing, I am looking to add some photos to my gallery here on my blog and on Hyena Cart, so be sure you want to share the photos you choose online.
Please email photos to alovelystart@gmail.com
All the photos sent will be entered into a contest that will coincide with the Grand Opening of my Hyena Cart in the New Year! Detials and prizes will be announced at a later date!  Thanks so much for your help!

Christmas Break!

A Lovely Start is taking a much needed Christmas Break to enjoy all the blessings and beauty of the season with my family!

I will be offline for the month of December. If there is something in stock (links to photos and prices are posted on the in stock page) you are interested in, please send me an email (alovelystart@gmail.com), I will check my email a few time a week. I will not be taking any custom orders for now and other inquires will be responded to in January 2011!

Current orders will be finished up this week.  If you have any questions about your current order, please email asap.

I want to thank you all for the support this past year and look forward to working with you in the new year!  May you all have a blessed Christmas!  See you in January!

Embellished Upcycled Woolies!

These embellished longies were so fun to do! I made them for a local craft fair and they all sold within minutes! I cannot decide which is my favorite!

Some upcycled wool Footies! I love Footies!

A few things that will be for sale at the craft fair...

Don't forget, next weekend I will be at the AP Village Craft Fair in Calgary, so come on by and say HI!
Sunday, November 21 · 10:00am - 3:00pm
Winston Heights Community Center 520 - 27th Ave NW Calgary, AB

Here is a sneak peek at a couple things that I will have with me.
Newborn Pink Giraffes Set includes Upcycled wool footies, crossover shirt, hat and bamboo diaper.

Fleece soakers and matching Quick Dry Bamboo Fitted Diapers

Calgary Mama's! Come visit me on November 21st!

Oh my poor neglected blog!

I have been busy this fall filling custom orders and getting stock ready for my first ever craft fair!  I am very excited to have a table booked at the AP Village Winter Craft Fair & Bake Sale!  Here are the details if anyone wants to come down and see what I have for sale:

Date and Time:  Sunday, November 21 · 10:00am - 3:00pm
Location:           Winston Heights Community Center

                         520 - 27th Ave NW

                         Calgary, AB

Details:          
Come find the perfect Christmas present!
Please join us for our Craft Fair & Bake Sale. We will be selling a variety of home-made items, baked goods and coffee & tea.
Please share this event on your wall and invite your friends!
All proceeds will go to the non-profit group, Attachment Parenting Village Canada.
Free admission
$1 for tickets for some FABULOUS door prizes

I have lots of great things on the go for the sale.  A sneak peek at a couple items is in order, more to come when i get the camera back out!

Newborn Rainbow Snap Wrap made with wonderfully soft upcycled cashmere!


Leather Soled Slippers made from upcylced wool - These are lined with 100% cashmere! I have 2 pair - one in size 2-3 years and one in 12-18 months.


Leather Soled Slippers fully lined with soft fleece and accented with 100% cotton knit prints in size 18-24 months.


Each pair of slipper has a coordinating print Quick Dry Bamboo Fitted Diaper!


Wouldn't it be cool if I did coordinating soakers for all these prints as well! Kinda like this custom I completed a couple months ago... hmmmm....


Stay tuned for more pictures of craft fair items! I also need to do some posting of some of the recent customs I have been working at...

Custom Diapers...

I am trying to enjoy the summer and the children as much as possible, so I have been taking a bit of a hiatus from computers and orders.  But I am still here and will be back in full force come fall!!

In the mean time I wanted to share some of the custom diaper orders I have been working on this summer.

XSmall constructions print and a Medium Fast Cars print Quick Dry Bamboo Fitteds.


This one is a Medium Quick Dry Bamboo Fitted with an additional stay-dry topped night doubler.


I am testing out a onesize diaper pattern I developed this summer.  I have never been a huge fan of onesize diapers, but I thought I would dabble a bit.  The green one with black snaps is being tested by my 2 year old and the Cute Cow print is off to a little newbie to try out!


These are XL pocket diapers that I would also like to test as pocket trainers.  In the first picture, they are stuffed with a nice thick trifold bamboo fleece insert and in the second picture they have a thinner microfiber insert.  These are Robots, Aliens, and solid periwinkle.

Win a wetbag!

Congrats to Lindsie for winning this cute wetbag!

It is time for a little giveaway to thank everyone for their support!

We are giving away a small "Pirate's Life" wetbag  measuring 9.75" x 12" by random draw on Sunday June 13th.


How to enter:
1)Become a fan on my Facebook page and comment where instructed.
2)Leave a review on my Facebook page if you have purchased or used an A Lovely Start item!
3)Leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite item is that you have seen on my site.
4)Leave a comment on my "Customer Feedback" post with a review of a product you have purchased or used.

Good Luck!

A Lovely Gift for a Lovely Little Man...

A few weeks ago I did some hand dying for the first time on some wool. (which I have been meaning to post about...now on my blogging to-do list!) It was so fun and seeing the new colors at the end was very rewarding.

I have been dying - pun intended - to try it out on some organic bamboo velour. So when hubby brought my new roll home I couldn't wait to get some color on some. I could not find any fabric-reactive dye locally, so I used a tie dye type dye this time until I have a chance to order some proper dye. I think it turned out quite nice and the dye set up better than I expected. After a couple washes, there is not trace of any color running.

I used turquoise and steel blue dye and 'crinkle' dyed a couple pieces of OBV. Then I sewed the front panel in a patchwork style and attached a solid back to it then top stitched all around. It is the softest squishiest blanket! I sure hope it is loved by the sweet little boy it is on its way too!

A few Wetbags and Pail Liners...

Wetbags and pail liners are a great way to 'handle' your soiled diapers without actually 'handling' them! Pail liners can be placed inside nearly any type of bucket, garbage can or diaper pail to make a great "dry pail" storage system. When baby is changed, simply dump any solids in the toilet then toss the entire diaper in the liner. On laundry day, take the entire liner to the washing machine, dump the diapers and then toss in the bag. Easy Peasy! Be sure to have a second liner on hand for when one is in the wash!

Wetbags are a must have when cloth diapering or for anyone with a baby or toddler. Simply put your soiled diaper in the wetbag and toss it back in your diaper bag. The PUL and zippered top keep moisture and smell contained until you can get home. Unzip the bag and toss the entire thing in the diaper pail or washing machine. A small bag is handy to keep one diaper and a couple wipes in for emergencies - keep one in the diaper bag, one in the car and one at Grandma's! Larger bags are great for daycare or longer outings. And they are awesome to have handy to toss soiled outfits, training pants, bibs and washcloths in when unexpected accidents happen on the go! Don't forget to take them with you to the pool for that wet swimsuit as well!

A Lovely Custom for A Lovely Mama!

I had such fun creating this wonderful custom order.  I had just received this pink pony print and couldn't wait to turn it into something lovely.  It soon became two squishy Quick Dry Bamboo Fitted Diapers with extra microfleece-topped nighttime doubler.
The inside of the diaper and the nighttime doublers.
Next I created two fleece soakers to put over those sweet little diapers to keep this little one dry all night long! One soaker was created to match the pony themed fabric and the other is one of my faves, a cupcake bum!
The matching diaper and soaker!
Ditto Daddy Night Trainers, too!
Well, we couldn't leave out big brother! He needed some new nighttime trainers to keep his sheets dry. We are trying a couple options here. A two layer brief coupled with a beefed up insert backed with PUL for extra protection, should be a great combo to keep wetness contained. We are also trying a fleece boxer brief with a regular PUL backed insert, as well as a non-PUL insert. It was important to incorporate some orange into these for this little guy, so the snaps are all orange, PUL is orange, and the brief is lined with orange. And what boy can resist some fast cars with orange flames coming out the back!

Potty learning Daddy Ditto style!

I am excited to have this fabulous boy stash of Ditto Daddy trainers packaged and ready to ship to a very patient mama!  This stash of Ditto Daddy Briefs are constructed from a layer of cotton knit print outer and a smooth bamboo lining.  Each trainer comes with a snap-in insert made from 2 layers of bamboo fleece, topped with a layer of bamboo velour and backed with a layer of PUL for a bit of moisture resistance.

I hope these great prints and fun colors encourage this little boy to keep his unders dry and clean!  Happy potty learning!

All ten pair!

A few individual pictures of some of my favorite prints!

It's a Snap! Some BumGenius Snap Conversions...

I just finished up a bunch of snap conversions for some terrific local mamas!  I ordered in some of the BumGenius matching snaps for these and have decided I do really like the look.  I typically like contrasting colors more than matching, so I am glad one mama let me do a few with a bit of contrast.

One dozen freshly converted BGOS all in the "new" bright colors with perfectly matched snaps.  They are so pretty!

17 BGOS original colors - 14 with perfectly matched snaps, and 3 with a little contrast!  I also added a snap to the top of each of the "newborn' inserts.  This mama uses her NB inserts as doublers and is tired of reaching into the wet diaper pocket to fish it out.  Now she can simply snap it to the regular insert and they will pull out together!  Great idea mama!

Two-Handle Hanging Diaper Pails and a wetbag...

This custom order consists of 2 two-handle hanging diaper pails and a matching large wetbag.  I think these are going to be baby gifts for a couple lucky mamas!

These diaper pails are fantastic!  They save on space - hang them from a change table in the nursery or a towel bar in the bathroom.  The inner waterproof PUL layer is sewn completely separate from the outer decorative cotton layer layer to prevent moisture wicking out of the bag.  The two-handle design keeps them hanging neatly and puts less stress on the fabric for a long life.

Here is the entire order together.  I think this is the only picture you can really see the handles.  they are a pretty chocolate brown, but I had trouble getting them to show up in the dark background in the other photos.

Front view of a two-handle hanging diaper pail.

Side view of a two-handle hanging diaper pail to show the gusset (flat bottom).

Large basic wetbag with loop handle.

Girly Ditto Daddy Dry Nights Briefs...

This set of Dry Nights Briefs has been created for a little girl to give her some nighttime confidence!  These size 4 briefs feature a mock-fly which gives the wet zone of the briefs a double layer of fleece for extra protection.  They come with a beefed up insert backed with PUL and a snap on doubler.  When used together that is 7 layers of absorbent bamboo to keep the sheets dry at night!

An Adorable Stash of Girly Ditto Daddy Briefs...

I tend to do a lot of Ditto Daddy Trainers for boys, so I have been thrilled to be working lately on some girly trainers.  This is a stash of trainers for a petite little girl.  The leg and waist measurements of this little girl would make finding stocked trainers a little difficult.  This stash should take her through the different stages of potty learning and keep her covered day and night.  I hope she enjoys wearing these as much as I enjoyed sewing them!

All 12 girly Ditto Daddy Briefs hanging out together!
These are just adorable! Trendy 100% cotton print outer layer with an
inner layer of soft bamboo make these trainers absorbent even without
the insert!  Your little one can wear these as underwear after they
have gained more potty confidence.  Each trainer is equipped with one
standard snap-in bamboo insert backed with waterproof PUL.
Close up of the sweet little mock-fly that make these trainers so popular!
Inside of a Ditto Daddy brief lined with soft bamboo.  Notice the trainer has no inner side seams or leg seams to cause irritation. The inner "knap-flap" that the insert snaps onto is sewn in separately to allow the insert to stretch and adjust for the perfect fit!
These four pair of trainers are made from soft cozy fleece and include a beefed-up snap-in insert.  These are great for early daytime learning, outings, and for light to medium coverage for overnight.
Two Dry Nights Ditto Daddy Briefs.  These are sewn with 2 full layers of fleece to keep wetness contained.  Each includes 1 beefed-up insert with doubler.  Inserts are made from bamboo fleece and topped with silky bamboo velour and then backed with a layer of PUL.  There is a total of 7 layers of bamboo to keep this little one dry all night!
Three extra snap-in inserts made from 2 layers of bamboo fleece topped with silky bamboo velour.  These thinner, lightweight inserts have no backing and will be great as a 'reassurance' once little one has gained some confidence with her potty learning.
Two fleece soaker to use over the cotton trainers in the very early stages to keep wetness in.