Pampers Pure Diaper Review

Hello KVC blog fans. I am sorry I haven’t been updating the blog much in the last year and a half. Life has been crazy including a new baby in the house.

Thomas arrived on July 29th, 2019 at dawn weighing a whopping 9 lbs 6 oz. He bypassed the newborn diaper size and went straight into size 1’s. At 2 weeks old he is just about out of size 1 diapers already, we grow our babies large in the KVC household.

Speaking of diapers I received complementary package of Papers Pure Protection diapers from Influenster to try on my newborn, which was super awesome because if you have ever bought diapers you know that cost adds up quickly.

I did compare the Pampers Pure to the Pamper Swaddler diapers. The Pure have a softer lining and are about 1/2 an inch larger all around compared to the Swaddler.
The Pure was also very absorbent which is important for a baby who is a pee pot like Thomas is. The designs on the outside of the diaper were adorable as well.
All in all the Pamper Pure diapers were gently on my newborns tush and did not cause a rash unlike other brands that have the same features.

Thank you Influenster for these free diapers and allowing me to review them for you.

~Kristen

It’s Been A While

I know it has been quite sometime since I last wrote a blog post, not that I didn’t try it was my internet not allowing me on to WordPress. Stinks I know.

The last half of  2017 brought many changes to my household to include sending all of my school age children to public school, the have previously attended a private preschool and were homeschooled. So that was one heck of an adjustment for my oldest daughter and myself. While they are at school I was lost on what to do with myself other than go back to bed for a few more hours with my toddler. I started volunteering at our local food pantry, help has been desperately needed there as most of the volunteers are at least 65 years old or older. One of our volunteers just turned 94 years old, I can only hope I can look as good and be as active as she is at 94.
Volunteering takes up two mornings a week and the occasional extra day when we have our food deliveries, I have enjoyed volunteering and giving back to my community. I even bring my toddler with me while I volunteer, she keeps the ladies entertained on those morning.

Another change is buying a farm, my husband and I are in the process of buying our own farm, while we haven’t closed yet we have taken over the care of the farm and animals that live there. We won’t be moving for a while as the house will need a large amount of renovation to it, so look for those renovation blog posts hopefully starting sometime in April or May.

That is all I have time for, I hope each and everyone of you have a blessed day,

~Kristen

Sailor Girl

In another installment of story time. A fictional story I made up about a dress I have in my shop.

Just like the yellow sister dresses I found this pretty sailor girl dress at a flea market, I instantly fell in love with it and made sure it came home with me. This pretty is already listed in my shop, you can check out the listing here.

Sailor Girl

Daddy just bought a yacht much to Mama’s dismay, she told him not to but he never listens and buys what he wants. A new boat means new boating clothes and Mama ever the proper one made sure I was dressed in the best. She found my new sailor dress at Lazarus on a freshly brought in rack of clothes. I do have to say of all the sailor dresses I’ve had to wear this is my favorite. It is an off white dress with blue trim and red sailor knot bow in the front, plus the fabric is this so I won’t be too hot out in the sun. Mama said it was A Kate Greenaway Keepsake dress, I don’t know who that is but I hear she is a great designer of children’s clothes and Mama said I should be honored to wear one of her creations. I mean it is a nice dress and all but it is still just a dress. Now my friend Betty, her Mama sews all of her clothes and she always has the best looking dresses in school well at least I think so.

Today we are heading to the yacht club now that Daddy bought a yacht we are now card carrying members of the yacht club. It seems a little pretentious to me but I’ll go anyways because I heard that Burt Conway’s Dad owns a yacht and I want to see if our yacht is bigger than his so I can hold that over Burt’s head when he is mean to Betty. I asked Mama if Betty could come with us today but she told me maybe next time because she was afraid Betty would embarrass her for some reason. I don’t see why she would I mean I’m usually the one that embarrasses her. Accidents just kind of find me. Just last weekend after church I was walking slowly and lady like to the car like Mama is always instructing me to and I tripped over a large rock and landed face first into a big mud puddle. I was covered from head to toe in mud and gross water,  put a hole in my new stockings and my shoes squished when I walked in them.

Daddy is very understanding of my clumsiness, he usually holds my hand when we go somewhere in case I do fall he can catch me. On Sunday he skipped church and went to buy a yacht much to Mama’s chagrin.
The yacht is beautiful, all white with gold stripes down it. It’s tall to, I think it has 3 levels in it Daddy said, I really don’t care about that. I just love to sail, Daddy always takes me sailing on the weekends during the summer. Sometimes we go out for a few days and come home all sunburned, when that happens Mama usually throws a fit since young ladies of 10 aren’t suppose to be sunburned and look like a pirate. I don’t know where Mama gets these silly ideals but I go along with them for the most part because it is just easier than fighting with her.

Thank you for reading another one of my stories, I hope to be bringing more of those to the blog soon.

Until next time,
~Kristen

The Sister Dresses

This past fall while at a flea market I found this set of yellow cotton sister dresses. So adorable and the price was right that they just had to come home with me, if only I had 2 girls close enough together to have them wear them but alas my oldest is a 11 and the youngest is 18 months old. While I was photographing these I kept wondering about the girls who originally wore them. So I decided to come up with my story. This story is completely fictional and original to me.

The Sister Dresses

Mama, Patty and I went shopping for some new Easter dresses since Mama didn’t have the time to make new dresses for us since she started her new job as an office clerk for Papa’s dentist office. She made us try on 6 or 7 dresses before settling between a soft buttery yellow and a pair of pink dresses. Patty kept grabbing the pink dress in her size as she loves the color pink but I asked if we could get the yellow dresses instead. Mama said “Patty don’t cry please, we will get you the pink dress next time sweetheart but for Easter you must wear yellow this year.”

Patty always gets what she wants, so imagine my surprise when Mama chose the yellow dresses like I asked. I knew if I asked if we could get different colored dresses that she would say no because Mama insists that we match for every holiday. For Christmas Mama made us wear dark green plaid, I hate green and I hate plaid. I looked like a human gift complete with a giant red bow on the top of my head. I almost had to walk sideways through doorways so I wouldn’t knock my bow off the top of my head it was so large. Patty of course just loved that stupid big bow, I took mine off and threw it in the back of the closet when Mama told us to get ready for bed. Mama still asks what happened to that stupid bow, after I threw it in the back of the closet I haven’t seen it since and I did try to look for it. I’m pretty sure there are Borrowers living in our house as we are always losing socks but that is a story for another time.

Well Mama got our dresses cleaned and starched for Easter Sunday, Patty and I wore little white gloves, white shoes and stockings and pearl necklace that Daddy got us for Christmas. Grandmother bought us matching yellow hats with small white daisies on the brim, I loved how I looked that Easter morning. Patty fussed the whole way to church because her dress was yellow not pink even though Mama bought our dresses 3 weeks ago. Papa finally got her settled down right before we pulled into the church parking lot.

After church we went to Grandmother’s house for Easter dinner and to hunt Easter eggs, we were very careful not to get our dresses dirty but Patty found some old lipstick and got a bit of it on her dress and Mama was not happy. Between Mama and Grandmothers tricks to get lipstick out but that was one stubborn stain.

Only I got to wear my dress one other time after that Easter and it was to church in June, I grew out of my dress after that. I’ll never forget that Easter and my yellow dress.

The end.

Until Next time,

~Kris
http://www.kvclothing.com

Another Suitcase Upcycle

Several weeks ago my parents held a fishing tournament fundraiser to raise money for the Alliance Crisis Pregnancy Center in Alliance Ohio. I was asked to donate something for the Chinese Auction being held during the fundraiser. After racking my brain I decided to decoupage another suitcase, this one being much smaller. Perfect for an overnight suitcase or to hold their favorite toys.

I had found this suitcase at the Springfield Flea Market and Antique Show Extravaganza back in May, the outside was a little beat up but the interior was perfect. So I knew this would be the perfect candidate for decoupage.

I decided to do a Disney themed on the suitcase since Disney appeals to children and adults a like, I looked through the books from my Grandmothers Estate but I didn’t find what I was looking for. So off to Goodwill I went and I found the perfect book for $1.00, it had so many nice pictures of different beloved Disney characters I only needed the one book. I actually cut out more than I needed so I am saving those characters for another project down the road.

Once I had all of the pieces cut out, I had to decided how and where to put them on the suitcase, after many layouts I decided upon doing a “boy” side and a “girl” side of the suitcase. I felt it was more visually appealing and kept the theme better.

Over all I am happy with the results and the best part is one of my nieces won it from the Chinese Auction and has been carrying it around ever since.

Until Next Time,

~Kristen

Vintage First Grade Flash Cards

Several summers ago while out on the hunt during a weekend long yard sale along Rt 40, I found these really cool first grade flash cards. They originally belonged to a 1st grade teacher who taught for 36 years before retiring. At one time there was a complete set of 20, however I broke them up in to sets of 4 and 1 of the sets sold. Of course it was cards 1 through 4. After having them sit in my Etsy shop for a while I decided to put them altogether into one large listing instead. Which meant new pictures and an updated look. For the record scanning them into the computer is much easier and faster than photographing them since you don’t have to worry to much about correct lighting.

The back of these cards say

First Grade – Card 1B5
Reading Essentials Teaching Aids
The Steck Company, Publishers, Austin Texas

History of The Steck Company.

Steck Company started out in the late 19th century as a Christian publisher, printing weekly bulletins and songbooks for the Church of Christ. In 1912 it was taken over by E. L. Steck and was renamed E.L. Steck Company, once it was renamed they began to grow their commercial printing. They had several name changes over their 89 years in business, the last name change was Hart Graphic Inc, which closed its doors March of 2001.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/286460035/vintage-first-grade-rhyming-illustrated

Updating Children’s School Desk

Last September my husband and I bought this child’s school desk for our now 4 year old to use for school work and coloring as his older sister already had a desk I had updated the same way in the same color. We bought this treasure at the Springfield Antique show and Flea Market Extravaganza in Springfield Ohio for a mere $15.00

As you can see this desk was in pretty rough condition rust wise and need some TLC which I gladly gave it.

We whisked the desk over to the family farm pole barn for a good sanding while the children played with the farm kittens. I used an electric sander, so the whole sanding process took less than 15 minutes.

Sanding really cleaned it up quickly, don’t you think?

Once this beautiful was completely sanded I wiped it down with a rag to remove any particles from the surface before painting.

I then with the a little bit of help from my children covered the seat and a few other area’s with painter tape. I used a spray paint and didn’t want to get any on the seat, back or desk surface.

A well covered seat kept all of the paint off. Once the desk was sanded and taped up I had to wait a few days before I could paint due to time constraints and the fact I had to go buy paint which was easily attainable.

The final step took a day to achieve, after 2 coats of paint and 1 1/2 cans of gray spray paint. An adorable desk is brought back to life and is ready for its next student.

     

Until next time,

~Kristen

Studio Renovation Part Ten: Organizing

Finally an update. I know it has been awhile but having a new baby tends to put everything but baby on hold.

I did get a chance to go work in my studio last Saturday with my youngest 3 children in tow, we went during Abigail’s afternoon nap so she slept while I worked and her brothers played with their blocks and dinosaurs.

I finally finished hanging up all of my inventory. I needed to purchase more hanger thus the hang up, pun intended. Once that was completed I started the arduous job of organizing all of the clothing which I should have done all along but didn’t as I was trying to get as much done before Abigail made her appearance. After much debate with my 4 year old son Z, we decided to organize by type of clothing then by decade within each type. I only got about halfway of organizing by decade when I broke up a fight between the boys and that sent me on a another task.

So all in all I started my wall of hats, cleaned some trash up, hung the hooks for my backdrop, organized my clothing inventory and some general clean up.

Noticed my husband put in a light for me one day, he did a great job picking it out and installing the chandelier for me.

I love it.

My husband also claimed one of the other bedrooms as his office so I told him he needed to paint it since I’m so over painting anything right now. He picked a lovely light blue and did a pretty decent job of painting. I really should have had him help me with the rest of the studio.

   If you noticed the pile of foam in the door way, that was carpet padding from the living room that has been sitting there since last fall. My husband also got rid of that along with several other bags of trash that needed removed. So I can now walk into the living room without climbing over all of the carpet and carpet padding.

Also the reason the door is off is that my husband purchased a very large desk that won’t fit in his office without removing the door and door jam.

It was wonderful being able to put in a few hours of work and seeing progress made even a little bit is better than none.

Until next time,

~Kristen

Introducing Abigail Elizabeth

Abigail Elizabeth Willis was born June 25th at 3am in the front seat of my SUV after very short 2 hour labor (we were enroute to the hospital when she decided that she was ready to be earth-side). My husband caught her in the parking lot of a Dollar General Market/Tractor Supply, all I can say is I’m glad they have large bright lights in their parking lot. She is perfect in every way.

She weighed 8 lbs 15.5 oz and was 21 1/4 inches long at birth but has since added almost a pound more to her weight.

I have her wearing vintage already.

Until next time,

~Kristen

Studio Renovation Part Nine – Moving Day

Yesterday day I along with help from my daughter we moved 3/4ths of my inventory into the studio which equals to 5 loads in the back of my SUV. Thank goodness the seat lays down so we could move a lot of it without stacking or worrying about damaging anything.

 

First load of the morning

 

 

Pile #1 of clothing awaiting to be hung up

Pile #2 of clothing waiting to be hung up

Shoes and Handbags

 

And Hats too

More hats and a few books

 

Clothing already on hangers that were on a single clothing rack in my house.

 

 

We celebrated our success with ice cream cones at our local ice cream stand.

 

Today I moved the rest of the inventory from the main part of my house including another set of shelves and then I started to arduous task of organizing and hanging all the dresses up. I made a huge  dent in hanging everything up but I’m not quite done as I need more hangers to finish the job.

By the time I was done today, this is what the room looked like.

Most of the clothing had been hung up.

All hung up and ready to go.

 

Instead of 2 mounding piles, I have 1 small neat pile.

Now  there isn’t any function or organization to my racks just yet, that will be step two once I get everything hung up. I have figured I will have a rack for each era and then address it by type of clothing. The only selection of clothing that will not have its own era is children’s clothing and that is because I have such a small selection of it right now, but I will put it in order by decade/era.

Until next time,

~Kristen