Featured Etsy Artist: Courtney Cates

Pink and Green Surround-A-Loopy Bow

For my first featured artist, I chose a newbie like myself. Courtney Cates is from Fort Deposit, Alabama where she is a full time student as well as a crafter. She has just opened her Etsy shop, BowsEtc09, a couple of weeks ago. I met her on Etsy on the forums and I wanted to help her promote her shop and get her some sales! She makes beautiful hair bows, bow boards, pillowcase dresses and burp cloths. Read on to see how she got started in crafting....

"I got started in crafting when my niece was born. I never could find hairbows that I wanted for her in the stores... they were all too expensive and all the same colors. I had a little experience in crafting already from when I was little. My mom made some hair bows and sewed a little and my dad did a lot of woodwork. I started making hair bows to match my niece's outfits. When I saw that she had too many hair bows, I started making the bow boards."

LadyBug Hair Bow Board

"Then, this past year I decided I wanted to start trying to sew because I knew I had the talent to do it if I could just get the time. So, I started making the pillowcase dresses. Then, a friend of mine had a baby and I did not know what to get her for a baby shower gift... and that's when I started making the burp cloths. "

Lime Green and Pink Pillowcase Dress

So, I was up to hair bows, hair bow/picture boards, pillowcase dresses, and burp cloths. I also make door bows (for Christmas, etc) and Christmas tree topper bows... and I made my first "real" dress a few weeks ago... by a pattern!! I also make baby blankets and what I call 'tie fleece blankets' and I'm working on trying to make a quilt... we'll see how that one goes! "

Pink and Green Polka Dot Trim Burp Cloth

All of Courtney's items are made of quality materials and are made to withstand the wear and tear that comes with children. If you need something unique and handmade for a baby shower or for your own baby, head on over to Courtney's shop on Etsy!

Back to Blogging

Ok well, here I am again. I must be the worst blogger in the world. But to be fair, I did just have another baby. Yes, Nasir and I are now the proud parents of our baby girl! Zahra Noor was born on September 15, 2007, so she is now 4 and half months old. I have visited some of the blogs that I used to read, so I have yet again been bitten by the blogging bug. I am sure there are millions of people who are clamoring to see what I have written ;) But seriously, even if there are only a few people who do take the time to read this, I think I just like doing this for myself. I could describe myself as one of those old-fashioned girls who still wishes that people wrote letters to friends and reltives instead of sending an email, however efficient it may be. Don't get me wrong. Technology is great and email and all that is fun and fast. But there is just something so wonderfully romantic about sitting down with a cup of tea and some beautiful stationary and writing letters. I am so glad that Nasir and I wrote letter, not emails, to each other during our engagement. Even though I was in Oklahoma and he was in Pakistan, we wrote letters. Of course, computers over there had not become that common as they are today (we're talking about late 1990s here). So now I have this bundle of our old letters all tied up with a ribbon. I can't imagine doing that with email. I might have printed them out and then tied them up...but somehow it's not the same thing.

So, now dear readers, I have now finished with my musings for right now. I have some serious tending I need to do to my blog. And of course, I have forgotten the slight amount of HTML that I had taught myself so I will have to brush up on that so that I can update everything. So please, stay tuned!

Initiation into BabyLand!

Hi everyone!! Well my last update was around the time when my baby was due. He was born on August 27th and he is already 6 months old!! We named him Fazal, which means God's blessing. So far everything has been so wonderful with him and we have a great routine set. I can't take all the credit for that; I think he was just born that was because he sleeps and wakes at the same times every day.....AND he sleeps through the night **gasp**!!! But seriously, I got really lucky with him and I think I see him as more precious because I had to suffer losing 2 pregnancies before finally having him. He is at a great stage right now, just starting to sit up and roll all around but he still needs me...but that will probably change in a few more months as we go to crawling and then walking. He has started solid foods now, actually for a couple of months now, and now he wants to feed himself. He of course lacks the motor skills to do so, but that sure doesn't stop him from trying!!!! All in all, it truly is a life-changing experience (excuse the sap here), and I can't even begin to imagine my life without this 15 pound love of my life!! Right now he is sleeping, so I thought I should probably get some things around the house, but my blog has been seriously neglected, so I figured I'd take a few minutes to give it some much needed TLC. Stya tuned for some more updates coming soon.....and I promise this time, it will be soon as in a couple of days, not a few months!! Ciao!