Custom Orders & Projects

I've been busy. But good busy, not bad busy. I've really been pushing to make my Etsy shop thrive and taking steps to make "Ivy & Co" grow in general. I've had a ton of requests for custom orders, and then there's always those special presents I make for friends. 

A friend from the East Coast contacted me about making an apron for her 4 year old daughter. She had one request: purple. Ironically, that's one color I barely ever buy. But I knew she'd give me the liberty to get creative, so out came this apron and matching head band. The vintage fabric had the slightest bit of lavender in it!

I love the color of the felt heart, the yellow pom pom fringe, and I must say, this looked awesome in the packaging. I love when random things like packaging make me happy!

My good friend Katie was heading inter-island to visit her niece and new nephew and gave me some zebra print and pink fabrics. She said she wanted a baby soft block, a head band and a blankie. I've never done any sort of blankie/lovey thing, but here's what transpired. 

Ivy's little friend was turning 4 last month and I whipped up this apron. Ivy insisted that I make a rag for the pocket (that polka dotted fabric in the pocket). But she told me, "it needs to be a rag for dancing, not a rag for cleaning." Let me explain... 

 I first made this style of apron for my dance company, (Ampersand Dance Company), to wear about a year and a half ago. It was for a piece where we were a sort of "desperatehousewives/maids/meangirls" character. I custom made cleaning rags for the dance and we danced with them, threw them at each other, dabbed our make-up, etc. Ivy's seen the dance a million times, so now she thinks cleaning rags are for dancing, especially when you're wearing the heart pocket/pom pom apron. 

Pardon the messy backstage area. All in all, I really need to just call this the Ampersand Apron already. Oh, and you can read my Peter Pan Collar tutorial here.

Next up were two custom baby bundles for twins! A boy and a girl. This was such a fun project. I had the blue/grey scallop print, and I knew Sew Special carried it in pink, and I thought it would be perfect for a twin bro and sis! Ironically my 2 new fox fabrics matched perfectly. 

I just started carrying baby bundles in my Etsy Shop! They come with mini-bunting, a baby soft block, a burp cloth and three matching clothes pins.

I love when my friend Jamie calls on me for projects. She owns Sophie Grace Designs, an adorable jewelry boutique. She uses semi-precious stones, recycled coral, freshwater pearls, and a variety of metals. Her jewelry has landed in the Sports Illustrated 2013 & 2014 swimsuit edition the past two years! Whenever I wear her designs, I get so many compliments. 

So my first project for her was 3 grey polyester table cloths and white suede squares for a poolside location. I ended up making 10 more of them for all the other vendors in the area…!

As we were finishing putting all the table cloths on, she brought me back to her section and inquired about me making 3 earring displays. She wanted them light colored as to make the earrings stand out, and heavy enough to hold up against wind, but not bulky.

Those are the Tusk Earrings. One of my students actually gave them to me as a gift. Aren't they awesome?! Seriously, go check out her website: www.sophiegracemaui.com. If you're local, her main shop is in Paia right on Baldwin Avenue. Browse around. Tell her I sent you. Here's the direct link to these earrings: http://www.sophiegracemaui.com/jillian-earrings.html

With a few art canvases, some fabric, hinges, and a little help from my dad, (I just need to learn how to use a table saw already), I got them done and they're ready for pick up! 

On top of all this I finally finished my Line Sheet for people interested in purchasing my products wholesale. That was a big accomplishment, because now I can venture out to having Ivy & Co products in shops across the world. Ok, maybe not the whole world, yet, but you know what I mean. (Send me an email if you are interested in carrying Ivy & Co.)

So that's what I've been up to. Busy, but fun busy. 

Oh, and have you seen my new head band "model shots" in the Etsy Shop? Let's just say my professional photo shoot got rained out, so my impatience got the best of me, and I made Kit do a photo shoot with me in our dining room. Hahahahaha.

Aloha, Rebecca

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Teaching Memory Verses to Pre-Schoolers

In my first month of blogging, over 2 years ago, when Ivy was just 2 years old, I talked about teaching her to recite the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & self-control. (You can read that post here). That was the catalyst to where we are today. She's now 4 years old and learning her 10th Bible Verse. 

A couple of weeks ago (when we were only on 9 verses) I wrote them out on flash cards, because she's starting to recognize more sight words and bigger numbers (past 10), so I wanted that educational aspect of learning to correlate with our biblical learning. But, flash cards is not how we learned these verses. 

Most of the verses I am teaching Ivy are verses I had learned as a kid, mainly from growing up in the AWANA program at Hope Chapel Kihei. Also, my mom kept a couple copies of the "Four Spiritual Laws" in the console of her car, and whenever I would be waiting on her, I'd pick it up and start memorizing the verses, because that's what I always heard you were supposed to do with that little yellow book. Memorize it! You never know when someone is gonna come asking you how to get saved! (I'm not even joking… this was/is my thought process.)

Every kid is different, but here's the steps we took with Ivy in memorization:

1. Pick a specific time of the day to learn and review the verses with your child. 

It worked best as part of Ivy's bedtime routine. Maybe for your kid it could be after dinner, or as soon as they wake up or while driving in the car or even while they're in the bathtub. Whenever it is, do it at the same time every day.

2. You need to have it memorized, before they can have it memorized. 

You and your child will have most success if you memorize the verse first.You're going to be repeating it over and over for them, in a variety of ways. And some days, they won't feel like saying it at all, so you might as well memorize it right off the bat. 

3. Teach each verse in segments. 

For the Fruit of the Spirit, I taught her the first 2 (love, joy) one night, then added in the 3rd and 4th the next night (peace, patience), then the next night taught her how kindness and goodness both ended in "ness", then the next night told her how faithFUL and genTLE had the same "UL" ending, and then finally finished with self-control. We stuck with this verse for a week or two. I didn't even add in "But the fruit of the Spirit is" or "against such there is no law" until later. For each of the verses you see in this post, pay attention to when the verse goes to the next line. These are good groupings to teach them in segments. (i.e.: teach line 1, then line 2, etc).

4. Repetition is key.

Say the first line, then have your child repeat after you. For the following verse, I would have Ivy repeat "I can" after me 3 or 4 times, before moving on to "do all things" and repeating that 3 or 4 times, then repeating "I can do all things" a bunch, then add "through Christ" and so on. Repeat. Repeat again and again. Combine. Repeat. 

5. Teach the Verse Address.

"1 Corinthians 11:1" may sound like a mouthful for a pre-schooler, but if you don't teach the reference now, it's way harder to teach it later. It's also helping to teach them numbers. I screwed up and taught Ivy the following verse as "2 Corinthians 10:1" for like 6 months, and then I realized I was wrong, and it's taken quite a few weeks to re-teach Ivy, and she still says it the wrong way most nights. :( My bad!

6. Some days you'll be the only one saying the verse.
There were some nights where Ivy just didn't feel like saying the verses. Of course I tried to encourage her to do so, but in the end she would just ask me to say them. So I did. Happily. I never wanted it to become something negative. After all, this is God's Word! And it's okay for her to hear it being said, even if she's not the one saying it. That's still helping her learn.

7. It's okay to simplify for kids.
I'm not trying to push for a new kids version of the Bible or anything, but sometimes you can let words go… like "hath," or "yet" or repeating "might" a million times. Believe me, I took many courses in New Testament and Old Testament and have listened to countless teachings on the importance over which translation is most accurate, most inspired, most understandable and I respect all the research being done to try to find the purist form of God's Word. But just like you would bring over a stool for your child to reach something up high, sometimes you have to make adjustments to make these verses accessible to your children. For example, the following verse actually reads: "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." Our version isn't too different, but a little less wordy.

8. At this age it's about memorization, not meaning.

Again, don't start a debate with me on this. Of course the meaning is ESSENTIAL. It's why we teach our kids Bible verses! But, some things they just won't understand until they are older. Sure, I explained the word "abundantly" to Ivy, but she would be bored out of her mind if I forcefully explained the entire verse in detail, the way I would to an adult. My goal is that these verses are being "written on her heart" so that when she is older, she will remember them and things will start to click, just like they did for me. I memorized the following verse when I was 5 years old and have never forgotten it. And how cool did I feel for being able to say a word like "abundantly" at that age?! 

9. Spend at least a week or two on learning a verse before moving on to a new verse.

Ivy can say the first 8 verses listed in this post, and we've been working on #9 for about 4 weeks now. She always remembers the last part of #9 "it is the gift of God." Remember, I started the Fruit of the Spirit over 2 years ago, and we are just starting our 9th verse… it takes time and repetition. The older she gets (she's 4 1/2), the easier it is to teach new verses, but I'm in no rush. Neither is she. 

10. Recite each verse, in order, every day. 
This goes for all the verses you've learned (not the ones you haven't learned yet). Prompts are okay. For example, all I say is "And it shall" and Ivy will be able to finish the rest of Acts 2:21 on her own.

11. Choose the verses you want your child to learn.

I chose these 10 verses for a few reasons: either I knew them myself, or my husband knew them, or I felt like they were important yet simple/short enough for her to grasp, or I heard them in church and quickly wrote them down because I liked them and wanted to teach them to her. You can totally use the verses I use (they're tried and true for us) or make up your own. 

Let me know if you have any questions about this. It's been super rewarding for us to do with Ivy. We live in a world where our religious freedom and freedom of speech is slowly being taken away, and I wouldn't doubt that in our kids' lifetime the Bible will be somewhat inaccessible. In preparation, I want God's Word written on Ivy's heart, so that it will be with her always. 

Aloha, Rebecca

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Etsy discount code! "LUCKY"

Feeling Lucky? Save 25% off any order at http://ivyandcompany.etsy.com by entering LUCKY at checkout.

Tons of new items listed over the weekend!

Have fun shopping! Offer expires 3/18, midnight. 

Aloha, Rebecca

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Ivy and Clovers - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Like I said on Facebook earlier today, I like green things. My first business was called "Green Light" and I named my daughter "Ivy." Have you read my "favorite things - the green edition" post? I'm not big on blogging about holidays, but being that it's the "greenest" holiday, I think it's only fitting for me to share this St. Patricks Day riddle with you:

Poor Ivy will probably get called "Poison Ivy" a million times in her lifetime. I held back tears the first time I heard a kid, (ahem, her cousin), call her that last November. But, if she's gonna get teased, I think this is probably one of the coolest names to get teased with. Plus, have you ever seen an ugly "Poison Ivy"? Nope. They're all gorgeous. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day and don't drink too much beer.

Aloha, Rebecca

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Help! I'm painting all my furniture black!

Ok, seriously, I'm painting everything black, and I can't stop… do I have a problem? My husband is thrilled, because he's been trying to get black into our home for years, much to my opposition. That was before I discovered Miss Mustard Seed's "typewriter" black. Yes, milk paint black. The perfect answer to the "farmhouse industrial" look I'm all about right now. I love it, and everything is being attacked with it. 

Let's recap:

First, these two dressers got covered in "typewriter": 

The Wizard of Oz dresser and the Refurbished Antique dresser

And I love them.

And we can't forget about the Black Wicker Chair!

Well, before we talk any more about black, we need to talk about blue. When I moved home from college, I "redecorated" my room from high school, had my dad build me this desk, and my mom picked up this little table for me at a garage sale. I painted it all a deep blue. (They're actually the same color, like the desk on the right but the lighting was weird). 

 Well, they were being sacrificed to my world of black "typewriter." But not without depth...

I gave them a quick white wash with "shiloh" first.

Then I went over it with Miss Mustard Seed's Luckett's Green. I told you, I wanted depth.

Excessive much? We can't just go straight black, we need layers, people!

And finally they ended up black, with a coat of hemp oil. Can't see the "layers" on the desk, but you can on the little table. 

I don't have a great picture of the little table, but here it is in my bedroom:

 After a few weeks, I felt like the desk needed to be more durable, so I cleared it off and gave  it a coat of Miss Mustard Seed's furniture wax. Perfection.

I feel super organized at my desk now. :) 

(I actually had another desk I was using, but my sewing stuff took over… see that post here.)

(the white cloth was on the desk for a bit because the hemp oil wasn't quite soaked in yet, and I REALLY wanted to bring it in the house, haha) 

So here's the recap of black furniture in my house:

My other furniture better run and hide!

Aloha, Rebecca

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Playing On My Pod

I told you before in my Gungor post (click here), as a dance teacher & choreographer, I spend HOURS on Spotify and iTunes scoping out music for work. My iPod is used on a daily basis, solely for work purposes. So if I'm going to listen to it for hours on end, it better have some good stuff on it! So why not share the wealth with you all? Here's my top song pics people. Enjoy!

Holding On For Life, by Broken Bells
Give Me Love, by Ed Sheeran
A Life That's Good, by Lennon & Maisy (The Music of Nashville, Original Soundtrack)
He's A A A Able, by The Nevels Sisters, PK & Lecrae 
Place For Us, by Mikky Ekko

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Kitchen Sink Green Smoothie

I drink smoothies year-round. It's a perk of living in Hawaii. I wrote a really yummy, well-calculated post about a Raspberry Oatmeal Smoothie that has be pinned hundreds of times on Pinterest. Well, this smoothie recipe is a little different… it's my Kitchen Sink Smoothie. Basically, if we've got it, it's going in the blender. Except for bananas, I'm allergic.

Here's what we normally have, that I use in this smoothie:

-Almond Milk

-Some kind of juice

-Ice

-Peanut Butter

-Honey (mine comes from the Big Island)

-Frozen Raspberries and Pineapple

-Ivy's leftover Strawberries and apple pieces that she doesn't finish

-Stevia (don't overuse!)

-Frozen Basil from my friend's garden (Thanks Bethany!)

-Green Super Food powder in Orange Dreamsicle flavor

-And a couple chocolate chips… for my own sanity

No measurements, just eyeball 'em. What do you put in your smoothies? Do you calculate it carefully, or just toss it all in? 

Happy Saturday! Aloha, Rebecca

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